More building blocks

Another day above 10 degrees (but not much...).  Today we worked on two elements of trail courses: walk-over poles, and lope-over poles.  The walk-overs were spaced 24 inches apart.  The new twist:  there were six of them.  Typically we have been working with up to four.  The first time through, Sarah ticked the fifth and sixth pole.  The second and third times through though, no ticks, just a little hesitation.  Fourth time through, smooth, no change in speed, and no hits or ticks.  Done.  Then, the lope-over pole.  Just a single pole today, we need to get back into these again.  Usually this is more difficult to the right than to the left.  But today, traveling to the right was her strong suit.  No problems with this at all to the right.  To the left, the first couple of times she had to speed up to get the foot placing just right, but the last time, there was no change in the speed.  Again, today I just climbed on her and went to work, she had no interest in playing on the line.  So, it was rather short!  When the horse does exactly as you ask, or, learns quickly what you are asking and then does exactly as you ask, there is really no need to drill, is there?
A weekly beauty treatment and manicure for Sarah, followed by the ever-winning combination of cubes and a peppermint.  She very well may have the freshest smelling breath in the barn!

Happy Saturday!

Hello, happy Saturday!  I love Saturdays and Sundays in the winter for riding; the arena is always filled with light.  Today, I set up a back-through L (like two wide V's spaced 3-4 feet apart) for Sarah to work on.  It is a nice obstacle, spaced properly, it also can be used as a trot-over in two different ways.  No longeing needed again today.  One look at the poles, and it was, "let's get on with it!"  First time through the back-through, a bit sloppy; haven't done one in awhile.  Second time, not too bad.  Third time was a charm.  No hits or ticks.  Listening to cues.  Atta girl!  Then, trot-overs.  One pole was raised.  First time through, Sarah forgot about this and hit the pole with a front foot.  Second time, up went her feet.  Good girl.  Then, through the "V" section of the poles.  This time this obstacle was a little more difficult, as there were two in a row, spaced 6 feet apart, and one pole was raised.  This gave her something to think about, and it took a few times through, but she finally figured it out: like last time she did one of these, she tried to go left of the v, then right.  Finally, she took them through the center.   Lastly, side-passing to the left, then right, around the corner of the poles using a turn on the forehand.  Sarah did a nice job with these.
Enough for one session.  Time to get back to her hay!  Oh, and of course, cubes, and "safe choice", her pelleted grain product.
Until next time, enjoy this "heat wave"!
Kirsten

January 26...It's baaaaaaaaack...

Tonight was a quickie.  The temp, being in the teens, and the fact that there was no wind made for comfortable riding, although a bit brisk.  Just a quick "go through the motions" tonight for Sarah.  No longing needed; Sarah preferred to get right to it.  An added bonus was a visit from good friend Cindy, who was down to work both of her horses as well.
When Sarah began her routine, she took great notice in the fact the Cindy was on the rail giving her a look-see.  Sarah, being very aware of her "public" at all times, gave Cindy the 'big eye'.  She went through her work, albeit a bit begrudgingly (rail work during this time of year is not Sarah's favorite.  It's as if she thinks that spring will never return...), but always with one eye on Cindy.  When Cindy left for a moment to put some tack away, Sarah actually did a double-take!  "Where did my audience go?"  Well, then I invited Cindy to take a ride on Sarah.  Cindy hadn't ridden Sarah since fall; I do not think that Sarah remembered her entirely.  When Cindy asked her to move forward, it was if Sarah's feet were frozen to the ground!  "You want me to what?  I couldn't possibly...it's so cold out, my shoes must be frozen..."  Cindy, being an experienced horsewoman, immediately slapped her with both legs.  With a big sigh, Sarah realized that Cindy was also one of those human types that would not stand for any nonsense; she then stepped off into the cutest jog anyone could ever see.
A good time was had by all; a new bed and cubes and a peppermint for Sarah finished up the evening.  Tomorrow will be in the single digits with wind; we will let all of that calm down before our next ride.
Stay warm!
Kirsten

Raining, training

Holy buckets of water!  We are getting soaked in the Keweenaw.   No matter; Sarah has to have her daily challenge...
Today, I set up a large 12 foot box, which blended into a 12 foot "X" with a few more poles on the sides.  The object: to trot through the poles cleanly without breaking to the walk within the box.  This obstacle required Sarah to trot over the poles, make a tight left turn within the box at the jog, and then continue trotting out of the box, over poles again.  Doing this obstacle correctly involves the horse being able to negotiate differences in stride while maintaining gait.  Jack warned me that today, with the rain hitting the side of the arena, the horses were all silly and running around; I might indeed have to let Sarah run for awhile on the longe line.  Well.  When Sarah entered the arena and spied all of the poles, she looked as if she already had done the entire workout.  "I'm going to have to pick up my feet and move over all of these poles before the hour is done...can't we just skip it and go eat grain?!"  She was VERY lazy.  I tried to give her the usual longe-line warm-up.  It was too much work!  She did not want to go.  So, I climbed on her.  She then went right to work, taking all of her direction very calmly and routinely.  Things we need to work on:  making small circles at the jog within the 12-foot box.  I need to break this obstacle down into parts before setting it up in its entirety again.  She did very well trotting over poles, but the tight turn at the jog was difficult.  After that, the change in stride needs to be worked on.  Perhaps setting up a series of trot poles with a box at the end, and then stopping inside the box would be a good first step.  Another exercise that went quite well was trotting over the center of the X.  Sarah had never been required to do this before; so we started at the walk.  The horse is used to traveling over one pole.  Now, even though the placement of the feet is the same, the perception to the horse is that this is more difficult; "where exactly should I put my feet when all of these poles are under me in all directions?"  First time, she traveled too far to the right, placing her feet in between the arms of the X.  Then too far left.  Third time, she figured out that she could negotiate the X with the fewest footfalls by traveling exactly in the center.  She needed a few times when moving up to the trot, but it did not take her long to figure it out.  Good girl!  We ended up practicing side-passing in both directions around corners requiring turns on the hindquarters.  Sarah is better side-passing to the left.  Therefore, we practiced more times to the right.
Lots of ideas for next time!  As is usual for Sunday, beauty treatment, manicure, alfalfa cubes, peppermint.  Next time, it will be snowing....

January 20

Pressed for time tonight, I arrived at the farm to find that indeed as planned, Sarah had received her new shoes!  So, to give her time to adjust to them, we did a short showmanship practice.  This thrilled her to no end; it was as if she was thinking, "I finally got through to you humans!"  As mentioned before, showmanship involves showing the horse in-hand, and precision and accuracy is the goal.  We ran through squaring up, pivoting, walking, trotting, stopping and backing.  Sarah enjoys squaring up, I think she equates it with adoration!
A clean sheet and new bedding completed her evening.  Oh, and of course, cubes and a peppermint.  I could have sworn that I saw her smile...

A fraction of Kimura...

Is it Sunday already?!  Another warmer day!  It's nice to be so comfortable.
For Sarah's fun today I used one obstacle from a Tim Kimura trail pattern.  I think that the best way to describe today's trail obstacle is to draw a picture of it...thereby painting 1000 words!  Seven poles, four cones.  We took this at a jog-trot (follow the dotted line):

                              _______________
                             I   \                                                 .     .   .
                             I     .\   .                                     .                 .
                             I    .    \          .                        .        O           .
                             I      .     O         .     O  I      .                          .
                             I          .              .    .  I  .                                 .
                                             .        _____ I_______                   end
                                                 .     I
                                                 .     I
                                          O     .     I
                                                 .     I
                                                 .     I
                                                  .   /
                                                    / ...................start

First time through, Sarah rushed it.  She broke pattern; it was unpleasant; using a direct rein on her to force her to pay attention caused her to almost trip.  Second time through, she almost made it, but missed the last turn at the last cone.  At this point, I thought that the obstacle might be too difficult for her and considered widening the distances so that the turns would not be so tight.  But, just for grins, we tried a third time.  Third time was a charm.  She slowed her pace way down, realized that she had to pay attention to the aids, and made all of her turns.  Good girl!  We spent the rest of the time reviewing straight-line lope-overs and also did variations on trot-overs, and side-passing over poles.  Tomorrow will be her day off.

Enjoy this weather!


                                                                        
                                                                      

Good Saturday afternoon...

Good Saturday afternoon, all!  Today was another nice day with warmer temps.  I am enjoying this January thaw, especially since we did not have one last year.  Today, Sarah and I worked on a lope-over pole.  At first she wanted to break gate over the pole.  Again, adding a little more leg corrected this, but then, she almost jumped it a few times.  A few repetitions slowed her down, and then she started to think how best to place her feet.  We worked this in both directions.  In the end, she was quite good.
Then, I set up a gate obstacle with a pole placed lengthwise beneath the rope.  As before, Sarah was required to negotiate this gate while also placing her feet just so to avoid ticking the pole.  The first time that I asked her to do this, she ticked the pole with one hoof.  The second and third time through, no ticks.  We took the gate in both directions.  Sarah is still tempted to bite the rope.  At one point she actually did grab the rope in her teeth, and started to back away from the obstacle at a 45 degree angle.  She did this against my commands to move forward until the post holding the rope actually tipped over.  At this point most horses would spook and fly backwards.  Not Sarah.  She simply dropped the rope...who says that horses don't have a sense of humor?  Then it was discovered that the reason that she did this was because I had placed one pole in a bad position, one that was at 90 degrees from one gate post.  This allowed her no room to back up when negotiating the gate lest she be required to back over a pole.  Backing over a pole is usually a punishment for not paying attention.  She had done everything correctly before this, so of course, backing over this pole was offensive to her!  Realizing this required me to dismount, and move this pole so that there was a horse-width between it and the gate post.  This gave her room to negotiate the gate.  On the do-over, she performed flawlessly.  She is smart.  Fortunately, she is also quite affectionate and steady as well.  How lucky we are!
New bedding for Sarah today; also a new bag of cubes.  This mare is quite pampered.  And yes, we all love her so!