Und Now Ve Neep
Mar. 9th, 2006 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseThe Girlz are most pleased that so many humans are so properly worshipping their gorgeousness. Singing hymns and everything. They say Carrots will do. Also Sugar. And Cookies. Cookies are good. With scrrrrrritchies.
In further notes: We had SNOW yesterday. Nothing significant, just a sudden squall that dropped the temp from the high 50s to high 30s, then hit with a whomp! I ran out and got Pooka's blankie on him; the others were OK as their coats are still thick. Five more degrees and a few more minutes of Mixed Precip and it would have been Blanket Brigade.
Then it was 32F this morning. Winter seems to have taken a long detour around the planet but has shown up at last.
I am in lesson coma and must write sticky chapter of MIP but want to get the neepage down while I can still remember the details.
Sunday's lessons barely happened: after a solid hour of exacting work with keed, Teacher started to feel ill. We managed a few minutes with Pandora (who was extremely spooky, and I was tired and shellshocked from burying the goat the night before), then she went home to recover and I went horizontal myself for much of the rest of the day.
So today we made up for it. Keed was his lovely self--I rode him on the trail Tuesday, and that made a difference. With Capria out for two weeks and therefore no ponying, and me not riding him for various reasons, he wasn't doing as well with his Teacher Torture as he has been. He needs more work than he's been getting. (He'll get it. He's moving to Teacher's on Monday to keep Gaudia company and become a Dressage Star.) Today he showed the effects of having been ridden--very nice indeed, Teacher said.
Then I decided to do a short rehab ride on Capria. She came out of her bandage yesterday, now has a dramatic gentian-violet splotch halfway down her hind cannon, protecting the scab (which is still healing). She wasn't up for much, but we did a short walking lesson with her doing suppling exercises (lots of serpentines of decreasing sizes) and me working on keeping my midsection toned and still and letting her move my seatbones instead of me rocking and getting in her way. Keeping the lift of the seatbone and not letting the other one drop too much and block her. She loosened up very nicely and was pleased, and the bit of swelling in her leg was all gone. As Teacher noted, this is a horse who has to keep moving, and who has to keep doing dressage or she stiffens up. (Well, she is 18 in May, but she's been like this for most of her life, with various injuries and all.)
Doomed to Dressage. Woe.
Next up was Camilla, who stated her case by shoving her nose into my pocket when I put Capria back in the paddock. She was very happy and floopy--was not so much last Thursday after her great session the Sunday before. She had tacked up nicely and for the first time put her head down and took the bit, but as she came out into the arena, she had a muscle spasm in her jaw that made her quite miserable. All she ended up doing was getting a jaw massage and being put away with Pooka getting in-hand work in her place (more on that in a bit). She was Not Happy At All with that.
So today she was eager to come out, very nice about her tack, and I didn't feed her any treats as I suspected last week that either a piece of cookie got caught between her teeth or chomping down made her jaw spasm. I had Teacher bridle her--so she would have the experience of someone else doing it--and again she took the bit as sweetly as you please. She likes that bit. Then Teacher led her out, and her usual pause and need to be bribed did not happen. She bopped right on out and headed out into the arena with Teacher almost trotting to keep up. She wanted to Go! She wanted to be Forward! She was Loaded for Bear!
Wild cheers from the stands. Camilla is the original Not-Forward Girl. We have spent years convincing her that horses do not grow roots, and the proper response to any new stimulus is not to make like a mammoth in Siberia. It's been a long road to convince her to think forward instead of think freeze-in-place. Especially since with a horse like this (highly intelligent and hypersensitive War Mare with very bad temper), harassing her or whipping her is distinctly counterproductive. I've seen real progress over the past year, taking her out and convincing her to follow me, helping Teacher trailer-train her, training her for evaluations, and free-longeing and line-longeing her with lots of praise when she volunteers a faster gait than a dead stop. She loves to trot around me because I clap and cheer, and I tell her how gorgeous she is (she has an astonishing, elastic, tremendously powerful and floating trot).
And in today's lesson, all this came together into a horse who wanted to go forward. Happily and in preference to stopping. Teacher had to convince her it was a good idea to stop and get some neck and jaw flexions--she did them the minute she stopped and felt the hand on the rein. Did some experimenting with her head and neck, asked questions about what we wanted, gave us soft and happy suppleness from end to end. She was working the bit beautifully: had the exact right quantity and texture of foam, just a little greenish-cream "lipstick" to soften the bit and show it was comfortable in her mouth.
Then she had a little more in-hand work, and at one point Teacher asked for just a little too much Forward and got a trot--easy and together and moving right on out. Her walk meanwhile was lovely, with major overstep and use of topline.
At which point Teacher said it was time to ride. I got on and for the first time felt that she was comfortable with the concept: she felt round and solid (no panic attack) and her back was nicely up. Camilla has the strongest back I've ever seen, and it gives her a very secure feel for a horse so green. We played with me asking for halt to walk with my seat, and it wasn't going badly, but Teacher was clearly turning herself inside out trying to get me to do the right things with my midsection, seatbones, and reins. Finally I said, "You know what you're doing, I don't. YOU ride her." So she did. Camilla didn't go as well for her as for me, partly because she's more used to me and partly because she's not fond of a stronger seat, but the aids were better and the rein especially was more knowledgeably applied, and she eventually settled down and had some very nice walk with wiggly bits. She was fairly done in at the end, but her eye was soft and she was happy, and when I untacked her and wanted to put her away, she didn't want to go. She wanted to go back out and do it again.
Success! Triumph!
Forward, happy, handled carrying two riders in a row without complete emotional meltdown. She's a Pod Pony.
Final victim of the day was da Pook, who got a second in-hand lesson on top of last week's. His feet aren't ready for ridden work and won't be for a while, but this is gentle walk work and it serves several purposes: it gives his busy stallion brain something else to focus on besides spring hormones (and his workaholic Lipizzan brain gets work, which makes a huge difference to his state of mind), it teaches him a great deal about acceptance of the bit and stretching over the topline and using himself properly, and in his particular case, it also serves as PT.
When he was born he seems to have landed on his head and cracked his atlas. His right ear drooped for several days after birth and he didn't want to be touched in that area. This went away and he was just fine, but as he matured, his neck became asymmetrical. He has a 'way overdeveloped muscle running down from the atlas on the left, and a 'way underdeveloped ditto on the right. We've had him checked out thoroughly and he has no movement deficits at all. But he does tend to pop his head to the left when tense or just hanging out. I encourage him to bend to the right as much as possible, and when I'm riding him I make sure he doesn't pop the left shoulder and then pop his nose to the left which he will do if left to himself. (Horses don't follow their noses. They follow their shoulders. The motor in the rear drives the vehicle, but the shoulder directs it. Left shoulder pops, horse veers off to the left. With Mr. Wiggleworm, the head and neck can be anywhere they like, but if the shoulders aren't straight, neither is he.)
The in-hand work is a sterling opportunity to get that neck rehabbed. Last week Teacher started showing him that yes, he can soften and round and give that big bulgy muscle. This week, like Camilla, as soon as he went out in his bridle, he knew what was wanted and gave it right away...in the halt. In the walk he had a classic horse meltdown: "I can't walk and bend my neck at the same time! You can't make me! I'll die!" This manifested as a very soft, relaxed, stretchy neck going right (the hollow, underdeveloped side) but a tense, upheaded, worried-eyed posture going left. He got about halfway down before he'd had enough, at which point we did sugar stretches to help set the lesson in his head: he can take a piece of sugar off his fetlock without any effort at all, and with beautiful rounding up and through the back (excellent in its own right for developing his topline while he's off ridden work). He's distracted then, you see, and forgets he can't do that.
So that was good. I'll study how to do this next lesson, so I can practice in between lessons. We talked about the SRS clinic in Dallas (July 12th-16th, auditors highly welcome and audit cost will be extremely reasonable, may be some ride slots available, inquire within) and agreed that we should try to do at least part of it in hand (since the SRS riders are great masters of the art)--and Teacher would take the lesson while I watch, then teach it to me later. Who knows, he might even manage to get as far as piaffe. Piaffe in hand is very good for young collectamatics, is really the best prerequisite to canter under saddle.
We are comatose, but we are happy. Good lessons. Much good learning experience. And a Forward Camilla. Who would have thought it?
In further notes: We had SNOW yesterday. Nothing significant, just a sudden squall that dropped the temp from the high 50s to high 30s, then hit with a whomp! I ran out and got Pooka's blankie on him; the others were OK as their coats are still thick. Five more degrees and a few more minutes of Mixed Precip and it would have been Blanket Brigade.
Then it was 32F this morning. Winter seems to have taken a long detour around the planet but has shown up at last.
I am in lesson coma and must write sticky chapter of MIP but want to get the neepage down while I can still remember the details.
Sunday's lessons barely happened: after a solid hour of exacting work with keed, Teacher started to feel ill. We managed a few minutes with Pandora (who was extremely spooky, and I was tired and shellshocked from burying the goat the night before), then she went home to recover and I went horizontal myself for much of the rest of the day.
So today we made up for it. Keed was his lovely self--I rode him on the trail Tuesday, and that made a difference. With Capria out for two weeks and therefore no ponying, and me not riding him for various reasons, he wasn't doing as well with his Teacher Torture as he has been. He needs more work than he's been getting. (He'll get it. He's moving to Teacher's on Monday to keep Gaudia company and become a Dressage Star.) Today he showed the effects of having been ridden--very nice indeed, Teacher said.
Then I decided to do a short rehab ride on Capria. She came out of her bandage yesterday, now has a dramatic gentian-violet splotch halfway down her hind cannon, protecting the scab (which is still healing). She wasn't up for much, but we did a short walking lesson with her doing suppling exercises (lots of serpentines of decreasing sizes) and me working on keeping my midsection toned and still and letting her move my seatbones instead of me rocking and getting in her way. Keeping the lift of the seatbone and not letting the other one drop too much and block her. She loosened up very nicely and was pleased, and the bit of swelling in her leg was all gone. As Teacher noted, this is a horse who has to keep moving, and who has to keep doing dressage or she stiffens up. (Well, she is 18 in May, but she's been like this for most of her life, with various injuries and all.)
Doomed to Dressage. Woe.
Next up was Camilla, who stated her case by shoving her nose into my pocket when I put Capria back in the paddock. She was very happy and floopy--was not so much last Thursday after her great session the Sunday before. She had tacked up nicely and for the first time put her head down and took the bit, but as she came out into the arena, she had a muscle spasm in her jaw that made her quite miserable. All she ended up doing was getting a jaw massage and being put away with Pooka getting in-hand work in her place (more on that in a bit). She was Not Happy At All with that.
So today she was eager to come out, very nice about her tack, and I didn't feed her any treats as I suspected last week that either a piece of cookie got caught between her teeth or chomping down made her jaw spasm. I had Teacher bridle her--so she would have the experience of someone else doing it--and again she took the bit as sweetly as you please. She likes that bit. Then Teacher led her out, and her usual pause and need to be bribed did not happen. She bopped right on out and headed out into the arena with Teacher almost trotting to keep up. She wanted to Go! She wanted to be Forward! She was Loaded for Bear!
Wild cheers from the stands. Camilla is the original Not-Forward Girl. We have spent years convincing her that horses do not grow roots, and the proper response to any new stimulus is not to make like a mammoth in Siberia. It's been a long road to convince her to think forward instead of think freeze-in-place. Especially since with a horse like this (highly intelligent and hypersensitive War Mare with very bad temper), harassing her or whipping her is distinctly counterproductive. I've seen real progress over the past year, taking her out and convincing her to follow me, helping Teacher trailer-train her, training her for evaluations, and free-longeing and line-longeing her with lots of praise when she volunteers a faster gait than a dead stop. She loves to trot around me because I clap and cheer, and I tell her how gorgeous she is (she has an astonishing, elastic, tremendously powerful and floating trot).
And in today's lesson, all this came together into a horse who wanted to go forward. Happily and in preference to stopping. Teacher had to convince her it was a good idea to stop and get some neck and jaw flexions--she did them the minute she stopped and felt the hand on the rein. Did some experimenting with her head and neck, asked questions about what we wanted, gave us soft and happy suppleness from end to end. She was working the bit beautifully: had the exact right quantity and texture of foam, just a little greenish-cream "lipstick" to soften the bit and show it was comfortable in her mouth.
Then she had a little more in-hand work, and at one point Teacher asked for just a little too much Forward and got a trot--easy and together and moving right on out. Her walk meanwhile was lovely, with major overstep and use of topline.
At which point Teacher said it was time to ride. I got on and for the first time felt that she was comfortable with the concept: she felt round and solid (no panic attack) and her back was nicely up. Camilla has the strongest back I've ever seen, and it gives her a very secure feel for a horse so green. We played with me asking for halt to walk with my seat, and it wasn't going badly, but Teacher was clearly turning herself inside out trying to get me to do the right things with my midsection, seatbones, and reins. Finally I said, "You know what you're doing, I don't. YOU ride her." So she did. Camilla didn't go as well for her as for me, partly because she's more used to me and partly because she's not fond of a stronger seat, but the aids were better and the rein especially was more knowledgeably applied, and she eventually settled down and had some very nice walk with wiggly bits. She was fairly done in at the end, but her eye was soft and she was happy, and when I untacked her and wanted to put her away, she didn't want to go. She wanted to go back out and do it again.
Success! Triumph!
Forward, happy, handled carrying two riders in a row without complete emotional meltdown. She's a Pod Pony.
Final victim of the day was da Pook, who got a second in-hand lesson on top of last week's. His feet aren't ready for ridden work and won't be for a while, but this is gentle walk work and it serves several purposes: it gives his busy stallion brain something else to focus on besides spring hormones (and his workaholic Lipizzan brain gets work, which makes a huge difference to his state of mind), it teaches him a great deal about acceptance of the bit and stretching over the topline and using himself properly, and in his particular case, it also serves as PT.
When he was born he seems to have landed on his head and cracked his atlas. His right ear drooped for several days after birth and he didn't want to be touched in that area. This went away and he was just fine, but as he matured, his neck became asymmetrical. He has a 'way overdeveloped muscle running down from the atlas on the left, and a 'way underdeveloped ditto on the right. We've had him checked out thoroughly and he has no movement deficits at all. But he does tend to pop his head to the left when tense or just hanging out. I encourage him to bend to the right as much as possible, and when I'm riding him I make sure he doesn't pop the left shoulder and then pop his nose to the left which he will do if left to himself. (Horses don't follow their noses. They follow their shoulders. The motor in the rear drives the vehicle, but the shoulder directs it. Left shoulder pops, horse veers off to the left. With Mr. Wiggleworm, the head and neck can be anywhere they like, but if the shoulders aren't straight, neither is he.)
The in-hand work is a sterling opportunity to get that neck rehabbed. Last week Teacher started showing him that yes, he can soften and round and give that big bulgy muscle. This week, like Camilla, as soon as he went out in his bridle, he knew what was wanted and gave it right away...in the halt. In the walk he had a classic horse meltdown: "I can't walk and bend my neck at the same time! You can't make me! I'll die!" This manifested as a very soft, relaxed, stretchy neck going right (the hollow, underdeveloped side) but a tense, upheaded, worried-eyed posture going left. He got about halfway down before he'd had enough, at which point we did sugar stretches to help set the lesson in his head: he can take a piece of sugar off his fetlock without any effort at all, and with beautiful rounding up and through the back (excellent in its own right for developing his topline while he's off ridden work). He's distracted then, you see, and forgets he can't do that.
So that was good. I'll study how to do this next lesson, so I can practice in between lessons. We talked about the SRS clinic in Dallas (July 12th-16th, auditors highly welcome and audit cost will be extremely reasonable, may be some ride slots available, inquire within) and agreed that we should try to do at least part of it in hand (since the SRS riders are great masters of the art)--and Teacher would take the lesson while I watch, then teach it to me later. Who knows, he might even manage to get as far as piaffe. Piaffe in hand is very good for young collectamatics, is really the best prerequisite to canter under saddle.
We are comatose, but we are happy. Good lessons. Much good learning experience. And a Forward Camilla. Who would have thought it?
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 03:45 pm (UTC)For Gaudia, in that photo from yesterday:
"The woman closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, causing her entire body to just sort of settle right there where she was standing." from Mark Rashid, Horsemanship Through Life, talking about an aikido centering exercise.
I read that, and saw Gaudia in that photo.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 05:05 pm (UTC)Teacher is reading the book right now--mentioned that passage today. GMTA. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 05:03 pm (UTC)She did enjoy riding the War Mare. After doing all kinds of cool things with ze keed. Then she got to work with Pook, which always makes her smile. She loves working with da Pook.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 05:04 pm (UTC)I hold the sugar, he curves down and around like a giant silly-putty netsuke and takes it delicately out of my fingers.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 05:17 pm (UTC)What a magnificent phrase.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 05:38 pm (UTC)In the walk he had a classic horse meltdown: "I can't walk and bend my neck at the same time! You can't make me! I'll die!"
That is a perfect way to put it. Tris had a small meltdown today over standing still at the mounting block - never know when it might suddenly sprout large teeth and come at your legs, after all.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-10 11:36 am (UTC)Work on the long rein is lots of fun. We did a lot of it with Camilla last year as part of installing that forward gear. I need to get Ephiny going; she's ready to work but her back is nowhere near ready to carry a rider.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-10 07:54 am (UTC)YAY CAMILLA!!!!!
Methinks that the world must have turned, hobbit did the same thing Camilla did the other day. Suddenly came out cooperative forward and ready to play? Color me confused! :-)