Ride Number Three
Sep. 16th, 2010 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseA little randomosity first, then the neep we're all here for.
If you're on Goodreads, Tor is giving away 14 copies of House of the Star. The window for getting yourself into the draw is open until October 15th. Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
janni for the tip! I wouldn't have known. Though I know I'm being flown to Denver next Thursday to hang with independent booksellers, and the week after that, a filmmaker is coming to make a book trailer staring--how not?--the horses. All fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that this book does well. I want to write the sequel!
Remember I mentioned Breaking Waves, the charity anthology from Book View Cafe? It's out in all digital formats. We're figuring out a print version. This is a kickass collection of stories, essays, poetry, cartoons, and photographs by a great group of writers, and all the proceeds go for relief in the Gulf. I have two stories in it.
I'm putting together all my horseblogs into an ebook, with expansions and explanations. That should be out from BVC in November.
Busy. Yes. Got to keep the horses in hay.
And now, about Ephiny...
There's been a bit of a hiatus between ride number two and ride number three. The second ride was quite intense, with a lot of balance work, and Ephiny found it difficult to process. Carrying me, no problem. Carrying herself equally on all four feet and moving forward? Borderline meltdown.
This isn't abnormal, though her sensitivity and her need for lengthy processing time is a bit out there even for a Lipizzan mare. Most horses, like most humans, are naturally crooked. Learning to go straight is hard.
So I gave her time to think about it. I worked with her on the ground--little bits at a time, some balance work here, some work in hand there. Last week withtcastleb's help, I did a little work on the long lines, showing her how steering works. Each session left her very, very thinky. She'd go off and stand by herself and literally chew over what she'd done.
A couple of days before her long-reining session, it was Camilla's turn for an evening ride. And Ephiny came and slid in between us. Tried to hijack the halter. Gently laid her shoulder against me and tried to nudge me away from Camilla. "No! ME!!" I had to tell her no, Camilla really did need to work that day. She was not amused. She tried to hide behind Camilla and sneak into the grooming area. I had to peel her off.
We like it when the horses love their work. Even when we have to tell them Not Today.
Yesterday the stars aligned to try another ride. T was there, Ephiny was in a lovely soft mood, and the preliminaries went fairly smoothly. Ephiny is happier balancing in motion than trying to line her feet up at a standstill. Like me, she's better off not thinking about it, just doing it. So we worked on Forward and on balanced halts.
Then it felt right--she was calm, mellow, soft-eyed--to go over to the mounting block and see what we could see. She took a few tries to set up nicely, but then she did. With T at her head, she stood for me to mount. No anxiety. No butterflies in the stomach. Having me on her back feels perfectly comfortable for her.
Moving forward, not so much. She was kind of stuck. T did a little rocking with her, side to side, loosening her up. I applied a little gentle leg and some verbal encouragement. After a minute or so, she unstuck. We tried a couple of steps. Stopped. Thought about it. Tried it again.
Walking straight is hard, she said. But the penny dropped on Forward. Not on Leg Means Go yet, and certainly not on Steering. But for a first ride without S there to provide professional input, it was excellent.
Ephiny loves T, which helps a lot. They have the same gentle energy. We'll try this again in a couple of days, see how it goes, and then experiment with T letting go the bridle and Ephiny learning to go forward and steer from the saddle. Step by step. Doing it in balance means it's a little slower at first, because we're not using the horse's natural imbalance to get her to stagger around and eventually find her way through. But it's much more reassuring for the horse, especially this horse, and results in a much calmer, less adrenaline-charged experience.
This morning when I went out to feed, Ephiny was all snuggly and sweet. As I went to do the chores, she plugged into the earth--stood almost perfectly square, as she would for me on her back, and watched me for several minutes before she went back to her normal slouch.
Breakthrough. She's figured it out. I'm really looking forward to the next ride, to see what else she's got a handle on in that lovely brain of hers.
It's been a week for breakthroughs, really. Camilla had her first ride outside the arena--very short, because the War Mare is all about the drama and I wanted to be sure she kept it together throughout. She did very well, she didn't get stuck more than a little bit, and she didn't freak out or bolt, though she thought about it more than once. Definitely a win. There will be more.
Her brother of course had to show her up. He didn't want a ring ride, he wanted Out. Rather emphatically. Took three tries to get him to stand still for mounting--and he's known the rules there since he was a snotty baby stallion. We had a rather snorty and elevated start, but I started doing lesson homework, connecting my seat to his hindlegs and doing shortening and lengthening of stride, and wow. Magic. Instant calmdown. We ended up riding all the way to the next street, past Scary Dog Number One, and were only a little bit looky. No bouncing or passaging. Nice long neck and calm walk back to the barn. GOOOOOD Pooka!
Homework FTW. Oh yeah.
If you're on Goodreads, Tor is giving away 14 copies of House of the Star. The window for getting yourself into the draw is open until October 15th. Thanks to
janni for the tip! I wouldn't have known. Though I know I'm being flown to Denver next Thursday to hang with independent booksellers, and the week after that, a filmmaker is coming to make a book trailer staring--how not?--the horses. All fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that this book does well. I want to write the sequel!Remember I mentioned Breaking Waves, the charity anthology from Book View Cafe? It's out in all digital formats. We're figuring out a print version. This is a kickass collection of stories, essays, poetry, cartoons, and photographs by a great group of writers, and all the proceeds go for relief in the Gulf. I have two stories in it.
I'm putting together all my horseblogs into an ebook, with expansions and explanations. That should be out from BVC in November.
Busy. Yes. Got to keep the horses in hay.
And now, about Ephiny...
There's been a bit of a hiatus between ride number two and ride number three. The second ride was quite intense, with a lot of balance work, and Ephiny found it difficult to process. Carrying me, no problem. Carrying herself equally on all four feet and moving forward? Borderline meltdown.
This isn't abnormal, though her sensitivity and her need for lengthy processing time is a bit out there even for a Lipizzan mare. Most horses, like most humans, are naturally crooked. Learning to go straight is hard.
So I gave her time to think about it. I worked with her on the ground--little bits at a time, some balance work here, some work in hand there. Last week with
tcastleb's help, I did a little work on the long lines, showing her how steering works. Each session left her very, very thinky. She'd go off and stand by herself and literally chew over what she'd done.A couple of days before her long-reining session, it was Camilla's turn for an evening ride. And Ephiny came and slid in between us. Tried to hijack the halter. Gently laid her shoulder against me and tried to nudge me away from Camilla. "No! ME!!" I had to tell her no, Camilla really did need to work that day. She was not amused. She tried to hide behind Camilla and sneak into the grooming area. I had to peel her off.
We like it when the horses love their work. Even when we have to tell them Not Today.
Yesterday the stars aligned to try another ride. T was there, Ephiny was in a lovely soft mood, and the preliminaries went fairly smoothly. Ephiny is happier balancing in motion than trying to line her feet up at a standstill. Like me, she's better off not thinking about it, just doing it. So we worked on Forward and on balanced halts.
Then it felt right--she was calm, mellow, soft-eyed--to go over to the mounting block and see what we could see. She took a few tries to set up nicely, but then she did. With T at her head, she stood for me to mount. No anxiety. No butterflies in the stomach. Having me on her back feels perfectly comfortable for her.
Moving forward, not so much. She was kind of stuck. T did a little rocking with her, side to side, loosening her up. I applied a little gentle leg and some verbal encouragement. After a minute or so, she unstuck. We tried a couple of steps. Stopped. Thought about it. Tried it again.
Walking straight is hard, she said. But the penny dropped on Forward. Not on Leg Means Go yet, and certainly not on Steering. But for a first ride without S there to provide professional input, it was excellent.
Ephiny loves T, which helps a lot. They have the same gentle energy. We'll try this again in a couple of days, see how it goes, and then experiment with T letting go the bridle and Ephiny learning to go forward and steer from the saddle. Step by step. Doing it in balance means it's a little slower at first, because we're not using the horse's natural imbalance to get her to stagger around and eventually find her way through. But it's much more reassuring for the horse, especially this horse, and results in a much calmer, less adrenaline-charged experience.
This morning when I went out to feed, Ephiny was all snuggly and sweet. As I went to do the chores, she plugged into the earth--stood almost perfectly square, as she would for me on her back, and watched me for several minutes before she went back to her normal slouch.
Breakthrough. She's figured it out. I'm really looking forward to the next ride, to see what else she's got a handle on in that lovely brain of hers.
It's been a week for breakthroughs, really. Camilla had her first ride outside the arena--very short, because the War Mare is all about the drama and I wanted to be sure she kept it together throughout. She did very well, she didn't get stuck more than a little bit, and she didn't freak out or bolt, though she thought about it more than once. Definitely a win. There will be more.
Her brother of course had to show her up. He didn't want a ring ride, he wanted Out. Rather emphatically. Took three tries to get him to stand still for mounting--and he's known the rules there since he was a snotty baby stallion. We had a rather snorty and elevated start, but I started doing lesson homework, connecting my seat to his hindlegs and doing shortening and lengthening of stride, and wow. Magic. Instant calmdown. We ended up riding all the way to the next street, past Scary Dog Number One, and were only a little bit looky. No bouncing or passaging. Nice long neck and calm walk back to the barn. GOOOOOD Pooka!
Homework FTW. Oh yeah.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 06:27 pm (UTC)How do Lipizzan mares process things differently from Lipizzan stallions/geldings?
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 07:31 pm (UTC)The boys will often soften and give way if you get a little firm. The mares will fight back. War Mares.
Our mares are tough. The boys are the "easy" ones.
Ephiny is one of the most sensitive horses I've ever worked with. She has a calm, gentle mind, but she has a definite temper. On the one hand she's a joy to ride and work with. On the other, I always know there's a courbette in there, and I'd be just as happy not to get it under saddle, thank you very much. ====80
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 07:59 pm (UTC)That said, I like sensitive, tough War Mares. Ephiny sounds a lot like Mocha in some respects. Only I wouldn't get a courbette, I'd get a ballotade (I've seen her do it in turnout). levade, or else a Very Intense spin or rollback.
(If you ever read Mugwump Chronicles, her Sonita stories are about a QH performance War Mare.)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-18 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 08:34 pm (UTC)I added Breaking Waves to GoodReads.com when sartorias posted that the link was live - and bought it of course.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 08:38 pm (UTC)*sigh*
no subject
Date: 2010-10-18 08:26 pm (UTC)Lj is not sending email comments again. Grrrr.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 11:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-12 05:22 pm (UTC)Camp Lipizzan at DHF Lipizzans in Vail, AZ (20mi SE of Tucson--25 minutes from the airport). Horse camp for writers, both experienced and non. Writing/riding retreat on a horse farm in the Arizona desert (currently we have 8 Lipizzans), with activities geared to the individual Camper. Horse experience by no means necessary--if you need to research horses for your book, this is the place to come. We have a maximum of 3 campers per camp, so it's very much one-on-one. The usual arrangement is 3-5 days, and I encourage people to make one of those days Thursday, when we can get the trainer in for a session. Her website, with what she does, is here: http://deserthorseinc.com/ Lately we've added the option of horse-assisted yoga, which can be done either here or at a nearby ranch. That's usually on wednesdays but other days can be arranged.
The rest of the time, Campers write, relax, ride one of my Lipizzans, play with horses and cats, sketch or photograph the assorted flora and fauna, go for walks in the desert, etc. We're close by Colossal Cave, Saguaro National Park East, and fairly close to such sights as Tombstone, San Xavier Mission, and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Accommodations are writer's-workshop midrange, i.e. better than a dorm or a cabin in the woods but the Ritz it ain't. (If the word "doublewide" makes you twitch, you probably won't be comfortable here.) Single or shared guest room with shared bath and large library/sitting room, with wi-fi DSL. We have satellite TV and a couple of DVR's (and a Roku box). Meals are planned according to campers' needs and requirements. We can do pretty much anything if given enough notice--from vegan to diabetic-friendly to gluten-free. There are cats, so if you're allergic, there is a cat-free room but the rest of the house is pretty well cattified.
I do one of these per month in the cooler months, except December. June through August are only for the very brave--we get triple-digit temperatures and horse time can be severely limited. We're booked through 2010. In 2011 we MAY have one opening in January (2nd-6th), definite opening in February (you book, you get to pick the dates). Possible opening in May. Other months are booked, but if you reallyreallyreallywant&NEEDit, don't hesitate to ask. We'll see what we can work out.
Cost is $350 per person for 3 days/2 nights, which includes board, meals, and horse time; plus airport pickup and delivery as needed. We pick up from Tucson Airport, or from Arizona Shuttle on Speedway if you fly into Phoenix. Desert Horse and yoga sessions additional (they run around $55 and $15 respectively). Additional nights are $75 for the first night and $50 per night thereafter. People often start with the short form and end up doing the 5-day version in later Camps--we get a lot of repeat visitors. :) $100 nonrefundable deposit holds your slot. Payment in full due 60 days before start of Camp.
Any other questions, feel free to email me at capriole at gmail dot com.