Yes! Neep! And also, Kittens.
Dec. 20th, 2008 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseI mean, what else do you come here for? Really?
The kittens are now universally Purrfect. Genghis got his snippage in November, and the girls coming on two weeks ago. I had been concerned about Minnow, as tiny and sickly as she was, but opted ultimately for the cheap clinic rather than the very expensive regular vet because, well, experience. The spay-and-neuter vet does this for a living. Has for twenty years. It's what she does.
Having seen what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darcyk_j is going through with her male kitten (ten days in a satellite dish! ye gods!), I truly appreciate the quality of this woman's work. Genghis had a sore butt for a couple of days, a tiny blue line in lieu of stitches, and full recovery well inside of a week.
The girls were even more amazing. Fully internal stitches. Quarter-inch incision sealed with a little glue. They were sore for three or four days, and Minnow took it harder than Trouble, slept more and seemed to be more sore. But within five days, even she was back to her normal self. Again, no satellite dish, no stitches to chew or incision to open, and as time has gone on, my fragile tiny kitten has grown like a weed, and has more energy than the other two put together. I start to wonder if her repro system wasn't causing her stunting and malaise, and removing it has allowed her to grow and develop like a normal kitten. Instead of crashing for the final time with the trauma of the surgery, she's a completely new and much healthier kitten. We call her Miss Perky: she bops around with her tail in the air, pursuing the essential cat goal of world domination.
Animal Birth Control in Tucson. Two locations. Dirt cheap, superb work. Recommended.
As for the horses, well, that's been interesting. In a good way, I hasten to add.
We continue with our reclaiming of Skilz. I've been riding a fair bit even amid the holiday hysteria and attacks of Weather, have ridden Pandora and Capria as well as Pook, and will be getting back to Camilla and keed after the New Year.
Last Saturday crystallized what's been happening. A severe windstorm was on its way. I hastened to work horses before it hit. Lipizzans don't usually mind wind, but it can be hard not to get blown out of the saddle. Pandora got her ride and enjoyed it. The wind was picking up at that point. I decided to ride Capria out, which usually means I pony keed along, but he wouldn't go. Too windy, he said. I took her out alone for a short turn around the "other" block--the one to the north with the steep hills that are good for tuning up the muscles.
About halfway around, up on the hill, we saw some dogs in the road. Not an issue; the local dogs know the horses, and Capria, like most bitchy mares, does not take crap from dogs.
Except, as I got close, I realized they weren't dogs. I also realized they were all around us. And the mom and the baby crossed right in front of us.
Javelinas.
Ooops.
Capria decided Up was a good direction to go in. Very Very Fast Forward wasn't bad either.
I stayed in the middle, stayed as calm as possible, let her jig a bit, but the bolt came out as a collected canter, and she stayed more or less near the ground. The javelinas didn't threaten us. The boar was watchful, but having a stallion, I can read Male On Guard, and he wasn't going to do anything if we didn't make a move toward him or his family. They went their way, we went ours, and we made it home intact.
Best part? It was fun, in a highly adrenaline-charged sort of way. I haven't felt that sense of "Wow! Cool!" in a long, long time. Just one more thing that was taken away from me by the Toxic One. Along with the recollection that, you know, I have Mad Skilz when it comes to riding. I've ridden in a lot of places on a lot of horses for a lot of years, and I like a hot, smart, sensitive horse (though I dislike hot, stupid ones). Being balanced on the horse means no matter what the horse does, you go along with it. As long as she won't throw herself down (and Capria is far too smart to do anything of the sort), you can settle in and have some fun.
That kept me smiling for a while. She was pretty chuffed herself. Capria likes to get all bouncy and snorty.
That was a happy day. I rode Pook later, too, and did good work.
This past week had Weather Issues, but riding got done. On Tuesday I had postponed the list because of scary weather forecast, but it turned out to be blustery and chilly but not rainy, so we had a schooling ride instead. We worked on canter. Haven't done that in a very long time. Because, you know, I can't ride well enough, and he needs extra help with his balance, and...
Well, he was all over the place behind, and his left lead pretty much wasn't, but canter we had. Lots of trot-canter-trot. He had such fun he started volunteering. And the walk and trot afterwards were beautiful--always a good indication of whether the center is [a] timely and [b] doing its job.
That was a watershed, as they say. I really am back, baby.
So, yesterday, lesson happened. I was holidayed out, exhausted and thisclose to not being able to focus on lesson-level riding. But S had a Plan.
We worked mostly on the ground, in hand. She called it "dancing with your horse." I was rather dubious, because it looked kind of weird. Stand at the horse's shoulder, noseband in two or three fingers. Now, using your whole body, rock from side to side. Boogie if you can. See what he does.
Ho-kay, I said. Riiiight.
Except, his eye got all melty, and he started swaying with her, and pretty soon he was rocking back onto his hindquarters (similar to what we did last time, but flashier), and then she started including Forward in the equation. And then Sideways. And then Spirals In and Out.
I've never seen him move like that. Complete unit from back to front, flowing over the back and neck, wrapped around the human and matching her movements exactly. He was like butter. Crossing over, stepping fluidly sideways, and when she did a marching step, he collected and flowed with her.
He was, in short, connected. For real. When I did it, I could seriously feel him connecting, then he'd get all soft, and I could feel the flowing sensation that I'd been seeing while S did it. Going sideways, I had to turn my torso so my back was essentially to his shoulder, and I'd feel him behind me, wrapped around me. He likes to lean on his right shoulder (and get lazy with his left hind), so sometimes I had to actually bump him off it, but it was light didn't last. We did lines and circles and spirals, and I need to practice more. And do it with everybody. Especially Camilla.
It's almost Zen, how it focuses you, and calms you, and turns the whole thing into a unit. Definitely a Camilla necessity.
Then I did it in the saddle--first feeling how it was with S on the ground, then flying solo. Much easier for me than groundwork because I'm more used to riding, and keeping his shoulders even was just about effortless. Spiral out was a legyield. Spiral in was a half pass--smooth as could be--or the beginnings of a walk pirouette.
Lateral work for me is a big issue because of bad and forceful teaching (with screaming) long ago, so effortless half pass is huge. Here it's a natural thing you do to supple and balance the horse so he moves more smoothly and comfortably.
As we finished, S said, "You'll find a canter here." Connecting his back end in this way will show him how to engage for the depart.
Another interesting bonus: At one point he was passing by Pandora, who is in heat, and he did his rumblesnort thing, and instead of feeling the snap of testosterone, I just felt a smoothness inside. Even the hormones were integrated into the work we were doing.
Hard to believe I just started this a couple of months ago. The progress we've made has been impressive. Pook got a hug at the end of his lesson, and S told him how very well he's doing. He got all purry. She agreed that he is a lovely stallion and totally deserves to keep the optional equipment. Why, I might even keep him for another week.
The kittens are now universally Purrfect. Genghis got his snippage in November, and the girls coming on two weeks ago. I had been concerned about Minnow, as tiny and sickly as she was, but opted ultimately for the cheap clinic rather than the very expensive regular vet because, well, experience. The spay-and-neuter vet does this for a living. Has for twenty years. It's what she does.
Having seen what
darcyk_j is going through with her male kitten (ten days in a satellite dish! ye gods!), I truly appreciate the quality of this woman's work. Genghis had a sore butt for a couple of days, a tiny blue line in lieu of stitches, and full recovery well inside of a week. The girls were even more amazing. Fully internal stitches. Quarter-inch incision sealed with a little glue. They were sore for three or four days, and Minnow took it harder than Trouble, slept more and seemed to be more sore. But within five days, even she was back to her normal self. Again, no satellite dish, no stitches to chew or incision to open, and as time has gone on, my fragile tiny kitten has grown like a weed, and has more energy than the other two put together. I start to wonder if her repro system wasn't causing her stunting and malaise, and removing it has allowed her to grow and develop like a normal kitten. Instead of crashing for the final time with the trauma of the surgery, she's a completely new and much healthier kitten. We call her Miss Perky: she bops around with her tail in the air, pursuing the essential cat goal of world domination.
Animal Birth Control in Tucson. Two locations. Dirt cheap, superb work. Recommended.
As for the horses, well, that's been interesting. In a good way, I hasten to add.
We continue with our reclaiming of Skilz. I've been riding a fair bit even amid the holiday hysteria and attacks of Weather, have ridden Pandora and Capria as well as Pook, and will be getting back to Camilla and keed after the New Year.
Last Saturday crystallized what's been happening. A severe windstorm was on its way. I hastened to work horses before it hit. Lipizzans don't usually mind wind, but it can be hard not to get blown out of the saddle. Pandora got her ride and enjoyed it. The wind was picking up at that point. I decided to ride Capria out, which usually means I pony keed along, but he wouldn't go. Too windy, he said. I took her out alone for a short turn around the "other" block--the one to the north with the steep hills that are good for tuning up the muscles.
About halfway around, up on the hill, we saw some dogs in the road. Not an issue; the local dogs know the horses, and Capria, like most bitchy mares, does not take crap from dogs.
Except, as I got close, I realized they weren't dogs. I also realized they were all around us. And the mom and the baby crossed right in front of us.
Javelinas.
Ooops.
Capria decided Up was a good direction to go in. Very Very Fast Forward wasn't bad either.
I stayed in the middle, stayed as calm as possible, let her jig a bit, but the bolt came out as a collected canter, and she stayed more or less near the ground. The javelinas didn't threaten us. The boar was watchful, but having a stallion, I can read Male On Guard, and he wasn't going to do anything if we didn't make a move toward him or his family. They went their way, we went ours, and we made it home intact.
Best part? It was fun, in a highly adrenaline-charged sort of way. I haven't felt that sense of "Wow! Cool!" in a long, long time. Just one more thing that was taken away from me by the Toxic One. Along with the recollection that, you know, I have Mad Skilz when it comes to riding. I've ridden in a lot of places on a lot of horses for a lot of years, and I like a hot, smart, sensitive horse (though I dislike hot, stupid ones). Being balanced on the horse means no matter what the horse does, you go along with it. As long as she won't throw herself down (and Capria is far too smart to do anything of the sort), you can settle in and have some fun.
That kept me smiling for a while. She was pretty chuffed herself. Capria likes to get all bouncy and snorty.
That was a happy day. I rode Pook later, too, and did good work.
This past week had Weather Issues, but riding got done. On Tuesday I had postponed the list because of scary weather forecast, but it turned out to be blustery and chilly but not rainy, so we had a schooling ride instead. We worked on canter. Haven't done that in a very long time. Because, you know, I can't ride well enough, and he needs extra help with his balance, and...
Well, he was all over the place behind, and his left lead pretty much wasn't, but canter we had. Lots of trot-canter-trot. He had such fun he started volunteering. And the walk and trot afterwards were beautiful--always a good indication of whether the center is [a] timely and [b] doing its job.
That was a watershed, as they say. I really am back, baby.
So, yesterday, lesson happened. I was holidayed out, exhausted and thisclose to not being able to focus on lesson-level riding. But S had a Plan.
We worked mostly on the ground, in hand. She called it "dancing with your horse." I was rather dubious, because it looked kind of weird. Stand at the horse's shoulder, noseband in two or three fingers. Now, using your whole body, rock from side to side. Boogie if you can. See what he does.
Ho-kay, I said. Riiiight.
Except, his eye got all melty, and he started swaying with her, and pretty soon he was rocking back onto his hindquarters (similar to what we did last time, but flashier), and then she started including Forward in the equation. And then Sideways. And then Spirals In and Out.
I've never seen him move like that. Complete unit from back to front, flowing over the back and neck, wrapped around the human and matching her movements exactly. He was like butter. Crossing over, stepping fluidly sideways, and when she did a marching step, he collected and flowed with her.
He was, in short, connected. For real. When I did it, I could seriously feel him connecting, then he'd get all soft, and I could feel the flowing sensation that I'd been seeing while S did it. Going sideways, I had to turn my torso so my back was essentially to his shoulder, and I'd feel him behind me, wrapped around me. He likes to lean on his right shoulder (and get lazy with his left hind), so sometimes I had to actually bump him off it, but it was light didn't last. We did lines and circles and spirals, and I need to practice more. And do it with everybody. Especially Camilla.
It's almost Zen, how it focuses you, and calms you, and turns the whole thing into a unit. Definitely a Camilla necessity.
Then I did it in the saddle--first feeling how it was with S on the ground, then flying solo. Much easier for me than groundwork because I'm more used to riding, and keeping his shoulders even was just about effortless. Spiral out was a legyield. Spiral in was a half pass--smooth as could be--or the beginnings of a walk pirouette.
Lateral work for me is a big issue because of bad and forceful teaching (with screaming) long ago, so effortless half pass is huge. Here it's a natural thing you do to supple and balance the horse so he moves more smoothly and comfortably.
As we finished, S said, "You'll find a canter here." Connecting his back end in this way will show him how to engage for the depart.
Another interesting bonus: At one point he was passing by Pandora, who is in heat, and he did his rumblesnort thing, and instead of feeling the snap of testosterone, I just felt a smoothness inside. Even the hormones were integrated into the work we were doing.
Hard to believe I just started this a couple of months ago. The progress we've made has been impressive. Pook got a hug at the end of his lesson, and S told him how very well he's doing. He got all purry. She agreed that he is a lovely stallion and totally deserves to keep the optional equipment. Why, I might even keep him for another week.
