There is actually Neep here
Jun. 14th, 2007 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseAgain, thanks to all for the kind words. I'm getting back to the regular routine now, with lessons, and catching up with email and contacts (finally!). Still having periods of radio silence, but I was having those before the bad stuff got really bad. It's been a killer of a year.
Breeding season lurches on. Ephiny is all for the boy if there's a wall between them, but put him in the same space and she freaks out. My big alpha grrl is actually scared of the little cupcake stallion. So, they're turnout buddies. He's gentle and isn't pushing her, just waiting her out. She's settling slowly. We'll miss this cycle, most likely, but this gives him time to sweet-talk her and explain things in ways she'll understand. I've decided not to try hand-breeding but just let them work it out. She's not the killer kicker that Pandora is, and she hasn't been terribly aggressive; mostly she's been defensive, and he's not responding in kind except for an initial flurry that told her he's not a pushover--essential in herd dynamics.
Gold is moving on toward Baby Day. She's due around July 20th. She got her tetanus toxoid today. I also did the flu shots for the rest--came armed with cookies and they were lining up. So far so good, though Camilla is having a reaction. I'm monitoring and will get the vet in if necessary. He's in the loop, tells me which vaccines to get and I let him know what I'm doing. This way I save a trip charge, and the horses take the shots Much more calmly if I give them.
This weekend, the Divine Miss Ember will arrive. We'll all be glad to see her. She was supposed to make a Quarab, but made sure there just wasn't an acceptable one to be had. Lease lady has given in to the inevitable. Ember makes Pooklets. And That is That. So Pook gets another lady for his harem--making three in all (Tia wants to be included, but she's too young). He's a happy guy.
And yes, I've been working with him--riding and longeing. I knew I'd finally got over the green-horse hump when he went Up on being asked for his first trot under saddle in months (thanks to his bruised foot and my Horrible Month of May), and I didn't budge. He'd locked his neck and freaked himself out. We rode through it and all was well.
Lesson pony for the month is Capria. I needed her initially to get my brain and body back together, and I'm still not up for Camilla, so there we are. Pandora is my homework horse--I need more core strength before I'm ready to do this work in lessons with Madame Supertanker. Pook goes back to lessons next week, if my homework goes well in between. We've been working intensively on seatwork, especially the core and arms/hands, and with Capria I can comfortably do all three gaits. Big leap in comprehension of seat and balance and use of hands, and my rushy, long-backed, opinionated girl is loving it. Today we were riding TL's squared circle, and I started being able to ride the figure by visualizing it and then just letting my body follow it. Thumbs up and banana congas from Teacher, especially when we did several rounds in canter both ways. Fascinating feeling to be plugged in that solidly and riding figures pretty much just with seatbones. Capria, who can be very irregular and fussy with her rhythm, was on the aids and on the rhythm almost all of the time. Like all Lipizzans, she is most comfortable on the aids and collected. With Pook and Pandora, who are much more dramatic collectamatics, this is a lot easier--so doing it on Capria is a great setup for riding them.
I am very lucky to have a trained Lipizzan who can do anything I'm up for doing. When we get to the higher collection, which she may not have the strength or soundness to stay with (she is, after all, 19--though she looks and acts half that age--and has a lot of old physical issues), there's Pook, who will be ready for these exercises quite soon. Just needs a couple more weeks of tuning up.
This afternoon, however, ow. My abs and torso muscles are letting me know they're there. I've collapsed in the middle for all of my riding life, and stabilizing it has made a huge difference--but there's some pain amid the gain.
Emerging from lesson coma to work on book now. The passage people have finally come back with a blitz of assignments after months of "you'll be back to work in just a week or two!", just in the nick of time for me, so I've got all the work I can eat right now. And that is good, because I kind of like to eat, and the horses Really do.
Breeding season lurches on. Ephiny is all for the boy if there's a wall between them, but put him in the same space and she freaks out. My big alpha grrl is actually scared of the little cupcake stallion. So, they're turnout buddies. He's gentle and isn't pushing her, just waiting her out. She's settling slowly. We'll miss this cycle, most likely, but this gives him time to sweet-talk her and explain things in ways she'll understand. I've decided not to try hand-breeding but just let them work it out. She's not the killer kicker that Pandora is, and she hasn't been terribly aggressive; mostly she's been defensive, and he's not responding in kind except for an initial flurry that told her he's not a pushover--essential in herd dynamics.
Gold is moving on toward Baby Day. She's due around July 20th. She got her tetanus toxoid today. I also did the flu shots for the rest--came armed with cookies and they were lining up. So far so good, though Camilla is having a reaction. I'm monitoring and will get the vet in if necessary. He's in the loop, tells me which vaccines to get and I let him know what I'm doing. This way I save a trip charge, and the horses take the shots Much more calmly if I give them.
This weekend, the Divine Miss Ember will arrive. We'll all be glad to see her. She was supposed to make a Quarab, but made sure there just wasn't an acceptable one to be had. Lease lady has given in to the inevitable. Ember makes Pooklets. And That is That. So Pook gets another lady for his harem--making three in all (Tia wants to be included, but she's too young). He's a happy guy.
And yes, I've been working with him--riding and longeing. I knew I'd finally got over the green-horse hump when he went Up on being asked for his first trot under saddle in months (thanks to his bruised foot and my Horrible Month of May), and I didn't budge. He'd locked his neck and freaked himself out. We rode through it and all was well.
Lesson pony for the month is Capria. I needed her initially to get my brain and body back together, and I'm still not up for Camilla, so there we are. Pandora is my homework horse--I need more core strength before I'm ready to do this work in lessons with Madame Supertanker. Pook goes back to lessons next week, if my homework goes well in between. We've been working intensively on seatwork, especially the core and arms/hands, and with Capria I can comfortably do all three gaits. Big leap in comprehension of seat and balance and use of hands, and my rushy, long-backed, opinionated girl is loving it. Today we were riding TL's squared circle, and I started being able to ride the figure by visualizing it and then just letting my body follow it. Thumbs up and banana congas from Teacher, especially when we did several rounds in canter both ways. Fascinating feeling to be plugged in that solidly and riding figures pretty much just with seatbones. Capria, who can be very irregular and fussy with her rhythm, was on the aids and on the rhythm almost all of the time. Like all Lipizzans, she is most comfortable on the aids and collected. With Pook and Pandora, who are much more dramatic collectamatics, this is a lot easier--so doing it on Capria is a great setup for riding them.
I am very lucky to have a trained Lipizzan who can do anything I'm up for doing. When we get to the higher collection, which she may not have the strength or soundness to stay with (she is, after all, 19--though she looks and acts half that age--and has a lot of old physical issues), there's Pook, who will be ready for these exercises quite soon. Just needs a couple more weeks of tuning up.
This afternoon, however, ow. My abs and torso muscles are letting me know they're there. I've collapsed in the middle for all of my riding life, and stabilizing it has made a huge difference--but there's some pain amid the gain.
Emerging from lesson coma to work on book now. The passage people have finally come back with a blitz of assignments after months of "you'll be back to work in just a week or two!", just in the nick of time for me, so I've got all the work I can eat right now. And that is good, because I kind of like to eat, and the horses Really do.
