It's the Tiramisu that did it

From dancingwriter

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Breaking the Surface

I was surprised to see how long it's been since I posted an Update.  I've been in a weird place mentally--nothing to worry about, just not in the mood to talk about things. Am contemplating some big changes, on which there will be more when I'm clearer on what I'm up to.  For now, I'm inclined to be quiet and express myself in fiction.

Rewrite From Hell is done and handed in.  Hallelujah and Frabjous Day.  Anthology story (actually novella, oy) is finished and is sitting for a day or two before being proofread and sent in.  Novel for Tor is humming along finally, which is a very good thing considering it's due June 1st (will be late, but not by more than a month, I hope).  It needs to be just right, and getting it that way has taken time.

Breeding season is starting to get serious about itself.  Pook will be getting some mares in the next few weeks.  Next week Carrma and her new owner's Ayrab mare are going to the spa for prebreeding exams.  Pandora should be ready for Pook the week after that.  Curt the Wonder Shoer, who also breeds Ayrabs, is going to help with the logistics of Huge mare and tiny stallion.  In early May we are making another Twix,  and Carrma will be bred to a SRS dropout from WA.  Pook should get a mare or two in there as well.  Not much compared to the numbers some stallions get, but as Lipps go, this is pretty good.  It's nice for the future, that's for sure.  We'll have some lovely babies coming next spring.

I've been getting in a lot of riding.  Keed pulled a shoe last week--stepped on it while ramping around and twisted it off.  This meant he missed his Teacher Torture last Friday.  Major bummage.  When Curt finally showed up on Monday, keed practically put his own shoe on.  He was so glad to be back to work.  He loves being a dressage pony.

In his place, Camilla got to play with Teacher and me.  Speaking of being in weird places mentally, she seriously cannot deal with being forced to do anything--and for her, force means being told what to do.  Period.  Pook was like that.  It runs in the family.  We decided to pull out all the stops on this and let her tell us what she wanted.  We ended up playing a long game of Follow Me, turning her loose with the saddle on and letting her move us around, then follow us where we wanted to go.  The wind was blowing up a major gale, so I didn't think I'd sit on her, but eventually she went to the mounting block and Looked at me.  All she wanted was that I sit on her.  I obliged.  Get Off Now, she said.  And I did.  And that was her lesson.

Regular lesson  was with Pook.  It was blowing so hard Joni could hardly stand up, and we were getting knocked sideways, but we managed to work on outside aids in walk circles and figures.  The main deal was analyzing how he moves.  All horses are naturally crooked, so making them straight is a key to dressage training.  Straight means straight through the body, tracking evenly in all four feet, following the shapes of figures without drifting or falling in or out, and achieving longitudinal flexion: rounding up through the back and neck from tail to ears. 

Pook has an asymmetrical atlas--he cracked it during birth;  we think he was born with Carrma standing and landed on his head (I got there a few minutes after birth and found him wet and all born, but with his right ear drooping and his head tilted a bit)--so the left side of his neck bulges behind the ears but his right side is a bit hollow.  He has no movement faults and it's not genetic, but it's a PT issue.  Also he tends to be lazy with the right hind--so do both his parents and Camilla.  So, on his own, he tends to go hollow when bent to the left and stiff when he's bent to the right, and he likes to fall on his left shoulder and go veering off on the right one.  On circles, I have to keep him from falling in going left (make the left hind push more and keep the right rein solid) and from veering out going right (must have Very Clear outside aids and sort of push him to the inside).  To further add to the fun, going left he has more trouble turning his head to the inside, and he wants to kink his neck to the right even while the rest of him is kinking in the opposite direction.  He's been moving this way on his own all his life, so  I have to remodel the way he moves. 

It's a complex geometry.  The reason to fuss with it is because, being a Lipp and therefore being a Balance Hysteric, he can't do much of anything unless he's straight.  Once his body is all on the same line or curve with all his feet tracking evenly into even aids, which is the dressage ideal anyway, he has no problem with any movement in any gait.

Worrying about it now removes any need to run fixes later.  Often in dressage, horses hit a wall somewhere along the levels, when all the holes in their training catch up with them and they can't go on.  If the holes are really bad and/or the training has been really off base, they can actually break down.  This happens when riders don't want to spend years doing boring basics and go straight to the fancy tricks, forcing them on horses who are unbalanced, uneven, and unready;  this will, over time,  do physical damage, break down the joints and cause muscle and ligament tearing.  Hence the vets' adage, "Dressage always trashes the hocks."  Which having used dressage as hock rehab with Capria, I know is not true.

So, Pook the greenie is working on quite advanced (for modern dressage) concepts of aids and straightness.  His breeding and talent are starting to come through big time in the speed and ease with which he gets the point.  He's having a great time, too.  This is what he was designed for, and he has infinite patience with his clueless and often clumsy human.

Last week we worked in walk.  In between, I longed him (studying how he moves on his own) and rode him but concluded I needed more input before I really got the idea--so he got today's lesson, too (which did not amuse Capria, who keeps count and who knew it should have been her turn).  The wind wasn't bad, in fact it was breezy but beautiful, so we were able to focus on trot as well as walk.  This week was about proper round circles (the bedrock of dressage--it's really hard to do a correct 20m circle) and proper changes of direction onto new circles.  Bedrock basics, all about straightness, balance,  and correctness of aids.  Lots of walk, some trot.  Outside aids on, straight in the saddle, shoulders straight, withers straight, ears moved out as far as they would go (i.e. longitudinal stretching).  I noted to Joni that I've been so up close and friendly with those ears for so long, now they're moving away, I miss 'em.  Going right (my bugbear), must not block him with right rein when he threatens to pop into reverse bend during transitions.  Outside rein on, dammit.

That horse never once showed any sign of temper.  Did exactly what I asked, when I asked it.  Just kept on going.  He's like Capria that way.  Put in a real effort to ride him right and he can repeat the exercises endlessly without ever losing patience.  Happy ears on and mind right in the groove.

Dressage Machine, yep.

And he's in spring whees, too.  We had a Do Not Try This At Home during his tacking up: Pandora ten feet behind him in the run, making majorly seductive noises, and Carrma right in front of him getting her saddle off (and being on the verge of coming into heat).  He never batted an eyelash.  When he's working, he's all business.  If I tell him he can go talk to the ladies now, he clicks right over to stallion mode--but if I say it's work time, it's Work Mode On and no fussing.

So, good stallion there.  The others are doing nicely.  Pandora is very happy that the humans finally figured out the score--she's my big huggy baby, snuggles and whickers at me and generally acts like an Impressed queen dragon (she's just about the size of the White Dragon, actually).  She wants me to ride her.  A lot.  I'm working on it.

And Carrma is absolutely delighted with her new human.  Just beams when she's ridden, and has been much huggier and nicer with me.  She's here until she confirms in foal--we decided it's less stressful than hauling her back and forth, since DHF is 50 miles closer to the spa than her new owner's place and my vet will make house calls if necessary--he doesn't go as far as her new home.  She'll be here for another month to six weeks, probably. 

Meanwhile she's getting Joni lessons and trail rides and living the good life.  This is a happy conclusion.  We like it.