Awesome Lesson!!

We had such a great ride today. Kathy got here early and she watched our long rein warmup. Basically, just forward, stretchy, round, big loopy figures like broken lines and serpentines. At the canter we even did a lead change on the long rein. He was so loose, round through his back, powerful, thrusting from behind. I remember working hard just to get gaits 1/2 that good by the end of an hour, forget about starting out like that. :-) (I have to figure out how to insert emoticons.)

I mentioned to Kathy about playing with the haunches in on the 5m circle to get the canter transition and she upped the ante some. On the open side of a 20m circle, do a turn on the haunches (walk pirouette) 180 degrees and pick up the canter. Canter the circle, then walk as we get back to the open side. Turn on the haunches and pick up the other lead, canter the circle. Repeat. Each time we did it, the canter transition just got better and better. I could really feel him lifting up through the withers. After doing that, we did some canter 1/2-passes and those went really well. We did one that felt really good, no loss of rythm, no stickiness, just slid right over. Kathy said it would have been a 7 in a test.

Then, we did the "squat" exercise that she us do the last time she was out and again she upped the ante on us. This time, we stayed on the long side (last time she had us do it on the 1/4 line), three strides canter, walk. Maintain the activity in the walk, pick up the other lead, 3 strides, walk, etc. We did that down the long side, through the short side and down the next long side. As we approached the end of the long side, doing the 3 strides of canter, she asked me to do a lead change without the walk. He did it, though!! Woohoo!! Walk, drop the reins for a break, then we changed direction and did it in the other direction, including the flying change at the end. Tempi changes, here we come!! :-)

After doing those, just a long stretchy trot to make sure he stretched out all his muscles after that collected work.

It's amazing how a good ride can just make my day. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day, despite having to go back to work and deal with some difficulties there. I just thought of that ride and a big grin would steal across my face. Who cares if my system isn't working, I had an awesome ride on my awesome horse! Nothing else matters.

Back to Normal

Jeeves's legs are back to normal. Yesterday morning he had a small bit of fluid in his hind. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking for it. This morning, nothing. Soooo, I don't know what it was. Maybe it was something in the flax seed? Maybe the weather change, as Victoria mentioned? Perhaps with the cooler weather and all the rain we've had, there are some new things growing out there in the paddock? Who knows. I'm just glad he's back to normal.

The weather this morning was quite fall-like. Temp was 38F when I got up. :-) I love it. I love the cooler weather. It makes me feel energized. I greatly dislike summer heat and humidity and when this time of year comes along, I'm always grateful that I survived another summer.

It was back to work with Jeeves today. Trot 1/2pass was really good. Nice bend, hind end not trailing, maintained the rhythm nicely. Canter 1/2pass not quite so nice. He lost the rhythm at times. So, I kept it short and accepted what he could give me.

I did an exercise that Kathy gave us last year. It's been a while since we've done it and I thought it would be good to use that today, since he needed more engagement. Walk a 20m circle, then go on a 5m circle inside the 20m. Do this in haunches in and pick up the canter while still in the haunches in on the 5m, but continue on the 20m. One circle, walk, repeat.

Jeeves's reaction the first time Kathy had us do this last year was "You want me to do WHAT?!". When I asked again his reaction was "You can't possibly be serious." Third request, a big, long suffering sigh from him and he did it. :-) Today wasn't quite so dramatic, his first reaction was "Oh, darn, I remember this exercise." Second request and he picked up the canter. He's such a good boy.

This exercise is really good for engaging the inside hind and collecting the horse. In the canter transition, I could really feel him lift up through the withers. The transitions to the walk were balanced and light and the last one was awesome. It was up, forward, prompt and still engaged. It reminded me of what a clinician once told me about a good down transition -- it shouldn't be like a rock plummeting to the ground, it should be like a snowflake floating gracefully to ground. I just dropped the reins, patted him, and gave him a walk break. It was a great ride.

We have a lesson scheduled for Monday afternoon. Hopefully, the weather and everything will cooperate and we'll actually get to have our lesson.

Jeeves's Relatives

Billie mentioned that she has been checking out Cleveland Bays and I thought I would write about Jeeves's siblings that I have met.

Shortly after I brought Jeeves home, my neighbor and her daughter came over to admire the horses and they asked if Jeeves was a Cleveland Bay. I was surprised because Cleveland Bays are rather rare. Turns out the daughter used to ride and there was a Cleveland Bay, High Five, at the barn she rode at and they said Jeeves looked just like him.

A few months later a woman I didn't know drove up my driveway. She got out of the car, introduced herself as a student of my then-instructor and said that she owned Jeeves's 1/2-brother! She had pics of him and he and Jeeves really did look alot alike--especially the head. They're the same size, also. About 17.1-17.2h.

Then, winter before last, a friend and I accompanied another friend on a horse trying trip to Vermont. Another friend (our former instructor who abandoned us when she moved to Vermont a few years ago, sniff) met us at the barn where this potential horse was. As we were standing around talking with the owner of the horse, waiting for her to get tacked up, etc., another boarder walked past us leading a horse to the indoor. All 4 of us looked at the horse and at about the same time said "It's Jeeves!". Of course, this was a mare, so it wasn't, but again, the head looked just like him! Turns out she was his 1/2-sister.

All three were by Fryup Marvel, Penelope De Payer's stallion. Jeeves was bred by her, out of one her mares. High Five was bred by his owner and I'm not sure if the mare was Penelope's or if someone just used Marvel for stud. Conformationally the three are very similar, but Jeeves, if I do say so myself, is the better of the three. Jeeves also got the best attitude of the three. High apparently has quite the buck in him, something that Jeeves does NOT do and would never dream of doing under saddle. The mare, while sweet to people, had an attitude towards other horses. I watched her being ridden and every time another horse approached her or she approached another horse, she tried (or thought about) kicking it. Another thing Jeeves has never and would never do! We've been out on trail rides and had other horses run right into his butt and he never even switches his tail.

Jeeves's little quirk is that if all is not exactly "right" in his world then he gets very upset and can be very difficult, if not impossible, to handle from the ground. And, "right" is hard to define. One spring, there was a wood duck in the big tree in the paddock, quacking...as wood ducks are apt to do. Jeeves was convinced this was not really a duck but must be some alien and he absolutely could NOT possibly come in for dinner. He had to stand watch and make sure this 4 pound duck didn't sneak up on him and the other horse in their stalls. I got the other horse in for dinner, but there was no way I could catch Jeeves. So, he spent the night outside, standing watch. I brought him hay out there. This kind of thing doesn't happen that often. Last time it happened was last October when the next door neighbor was burning brush.

The odd thing is that when he's like that, if I can manage to keep him still long enough to tack him up and mount, he will behave like the perfect gentleman he always is under saddle. He might look at the smoke from the brush fire and he'll look towards the tree where the wood duck is, but he won't bolt, won't buck, won't misbehave at all. Which is fine by me. I can deal with this one idiosyncrasy.

Apparently, his siblings have similar quirks and attitudes about what their world is supposed to be like, although they're not as well behaved under saddle.

From what I understand, Cleveland Bays do have these little personality quirks. But, over all they're great horses, a very versatile breed. Jeeves was actually bred to be a hunter, but I don't think jumping is his thing. He's good at dressage and I think that is his forte. High is currently doing hunters and loving it. He never enjoyed dressage.

All three horses are also very good out on trails and love the trails, at least as far as I could tell in talking to the owners of the other two. I can trailer Jeeves somewhere he's never been, hop on, point him towards a trail and he'll march off like he knows where he's going. I've never had a horse like that before! He'll go through mud and water up to his chest. I know, I know, you western riders are wondering what the big deal is, but for a DQ, having a horse that will even go through a puddle is a Big Thing! ;-)

So, it's not much, but that's what I know about the Cleveland Bay.

Update on Jeeves, his stocking up seems better. I gave him 2 bute last night, and hand walked him at dinner and again at bed check for about 20 minutes each time. This morning he was stocked up again but not nearly as bad as yesteday. I gave him 1 bute with breakfast. I rode him in the ring today (oh, my instructor had to cancel our lesson today) but kept it fairly easy. We did a long walk warm up, with some walk 1/2 passes. Then, some trot and canter work, focusing on transitions, bending and straightness. Nothing too strenuous and his legs looked fine after the ride. When he came in at dinner, there was a little bit of puffiness in his hind legs but only noticeable because I was on my knees looking at and feeling his legs to see if I could find anything! LOL!

Stocked Up

Last night, I noticed Jeeves's hind legs were a bit stocked up. I was somewhat surprised, but figured with the weather and I haven't ridden for several days it's probably not a big deal. This morning, his hind legs were QUITE stocked up and the fronts were stocked up about halfway up his cannon bones. Sigh.

I rode him lightly in the ring--just long and low, walk, trot and canter, to see if he was sound. He started off a bit stiff, but if my legs were that swollen, I'ld be a bit stiff, too. He warmed up out of it, then I decided to just go for a hack. He enjoyed that. I wish we had better/safer trails here. Alot of the trails have been flooded by beaver dams and are impassable. The ones that are left are frequently used by dirt bikers and ATVs, usually going at very high speeds. So, I keep my trail riding to a minimum. If I had someone to hack out with, I would do more. But, living alone and working from home, if something happened out there, it could be days before my absence was noticed. So, I figure it's better safe than sorry. We stick to walking trails, usually about 30-45 minutes. It's a nice change from the ring, relaxing, and we both enjoy it.

Anyway, the swelling his legs came down after the ride, so I was encouraged by that. By dinner time, they were stocking up again, so I added a couple of bute to his grain.

I had started him on a flax seed supplement over the weekend, to help move any sand out of his gut. The girls are getting that, and have been since late July. They have been fine. I wonder, though, if that could be causing this? I'm taking him off it, just in case. Nothing else is different.

Always something to worry about, eh? We're having a lesson tomorrow, so we'll see how he is then.

Meet The Pack

I've introduced you to the herd, I figure it's high time you meet the pack. First up, is Riley. He's my old man. He'll be 12 sometime this winter. I'll have had him 10 years this coming October. I can't believe it's been 10 years already. He was my first dog and my first Belgian Malinois. I adopted him from the ABMC Rescue. At that time I was giving up on horses. The horse I had then was the one that broke my back and my confidence. I lost the joy of riding. I decided enough was enough. Riding is such an expensive and time consuming hobby that I'ld darn well better be enjoying it. And, I wasn't enjoying it.

So, enter the dogs. Riley had been bounced around to 3 homes before I got him. Poor guy. He's a good dog, tries to please, which is typical of a Mal. Within 24 hours he had figured out that I was the best thing to ever happen to him and he's been stuck to me like glue since then. He's kept me company on long weekends to Virginia. He was with me the day I first saw this property. He gave it his stamp of approval before I bought it. He's put up with my mistakes as I learned how to train dogs instead of horses. Similar theories but different in practice.

When I first got him, he was very "interested" in the cats. I was really scared he was going to kill them. He spent the first 3 months with me either in the crate or attached to me via leash. But, by the end of the 3 months, he stopped trying to chase them every time one of them moved. He has protected them from visiting dogs who want to chase them. They've become "his" cats. I can't say that the cats feel that way about him, but they've adjusted.

I did some agility with him--never competitions but lots of training. He taught me alot and I just hope I've given him half the happiness he's brought me over the last 10 years. He keeps up with the two young 'uns. Still goes for 4-6 miles of walks every day. Plays ball. Runs around with the other two. He just had his annual physical last week and he's doing great.

Next, is sweet little Lyca. She'll be 5 this fall. Another rescue. She was supposed to be a temporary foster, but she's just so darn cute! Actually, she was supposed to be my ex's dog, but like most things with him, I'm the one that took care of her and he left her when he moved out. She supposedly had been living outside before she came into Rescue, but she quickly figured out the joys of living in a house.


She is a bundle of energy, always running around at top speed, ready to play. Mals are supposed to be aloof (not shy, not aggressive, just aloof) to strangers but she didn't get that gene. Everyone is her Best Friend. The worst she will do to someone is lick them to death. Very un-Mal like. But, her enthusiasm for life is typical of the breed. During the summer, we take our morning walk over at the pond. Every morning I throw sticks into the pond. Every day, she chases each stick as though it's the first one she's ever gotten! Leaps into the pond with the biggest leap she can get, swims at top speed out to it. When she gets to shore, she runs full tilt to me just so that I can toss it back into the pond for her to chase again. :-) She has taught me about enjoying the simple things, remembering to get as much joy and laughter out of each day as I can.


I did some agility training with her, but she doesn't the focus that Mals usually do. Indoors she would do well, but outdoors, when we were running a course she would get distracted and go off chasing a bug or a toad or whatever happened to catch her eye. It was too bad, as she has the speed to be competitive. Not that I have the time for that anyway.

Finally, we have Dutch. Technically, he's a foster dog, but since I've had him for over a year now, I think I'm stuck with him. He's about 6 yo, a product of divorce. I can understand people's lives change and they might not be able to keep their animals, but after 5 years, they just dumped him in a kill shelter. :-( He was very depressed when I got him, very thin. I had a heck of a time getting weight on him. Did all sorts of medical tests, tried different foods. Long story short, it turns out he had very atypical clinical symptoms of a low thyroid. Normally, hypo-thyroid dogs gain weight and are lethargic. He was so thin I winced when I looked at him. It took 6 months to figure that out, then another couple of months for his weight to adjust. He's still thinner than I would ideally like, but at least I can't count his ribs and vertebrae anymore.

He is very much the typical, high drive Mal. Always on the go, always wants to play. He would play ball 24 hours/day if he could. In the hot weather I have to be careful not to let him get overheated. In the winter I have to be careful he doesn't slip on the ice and break a leg! Last winter he would cut his paws on the ice--there would be blood all over, but he still wanted me to throw the ball for him.

He's been a challenge. He's very reactive, barks at most anything that moves. He didn't have much concept of self-control when I first got him and that's still a bit of a challenge for him. I used to have to walk him separately from Lyca and Riley because he would bark and leap and lunge about uncontrollably on the leash at other dogs or people or cars. He has pulled me over on more than one occasion and at 5'11" I'm not exactly a lightweight. Now, after a year, I can usually just tell him "No" when he sees something while we're walking and he'll behave. Sometimes, I'll still have to put him into Sit to make sure he'll behave. Small, slow progress.

I feel guilty because I don't have the time to put into him that he deserves. He learns things very quickly, wants to please, and is very quick. He would be awesome at agility and probably fly ball--his reactivity isn't a problem when he's "working". With the horses and the farm and the job, I just don't have the time or energy to do anything with him. But, he doesn't seem to mind. Like Lyca, he enjoys every minute and chases each ball that I throw as though it's the first time he's seen something so fun! His tail is always wagging and he's always sure we're going to do something fun.

So, that's my pack. They all sleep on the bed with me, spoiled rotten as they are. Sometimes, there's not enough room for me in the bed!

Stormy Weekend

We got the remnants of Hurricane Hanna up here Saturday evening into Sunday morning. Fortunately, the wind wasn't very strong, but we got a good 6" of rain in 12 hours! Fortunately, I had additional drainage put into my basement last spring, so I did NOT have to spend any time wet vaccing water out of the basement. :-) I opened the door to basement this morning with great trepidation and peered down the stairs, afraid I would see water pooled at the bottom of the stairs. But, all I could see was dry basement floor! Water did get in, but the French drain handled it. Phew!


However, when the dogs and I headed out for our morning walk, I discovered the driveway did not fare as well. I had just filled in the end of the driveway with the left over graded base from the shed flooring project. I thought I was all set to get through the winter. Sigh. Mother Nature does like to remind me that she is a force to be reckoned with.

Fortunately, Jenn (owner of the fillies) and her boyfriend Dave came over this morning to borrow my trailer. Dave is great with a tractor and enjoys doing site work. When they pulled in to the driveway, Jenn said he asked her if she thought I would "mind if he fixed the end of the driveway". Mind?! Ha! Immensely grateful is more like it!

So, Dave hopped on my wonderful little Baby 'bota and smoothed out the end of the driveway. :-) It looks much better, but I do have to figure out a more permanent solution as this does happen far too often.

There's always something to deal with. I never seem to get caught up with the To-Do list around here and more things just keep getting added.

In the meantime, Jeeves and I had a great ride this morning. It was still rather humid and the sun came out and it got uncomfortable so I only schooled him for about 20-25 minutes. But, we did trot and canter 1/2-passes, counter canter (3-loop serpentines) and lead changes and he did everything really well, so he deserved a break. The "squat" exercise seems to be really building him up. I just wish my riding was improving as quickly as my horse is.

There's a beautiful, bright half-moon out there now. I think I'm going to wander out there by moonlight and give my buddy a good night snuggle.

Moving Along

I had a lesson the other day--first one since the last one I posted about several weeks ago. It was really good. It's nice to get the feedback and to realize that even though I'm riding so much on my own, we're making progress! His topline muscling is coming back, he's really bulking up in his neck. I don't know if his hind end is muscling up as much, but Kathy said it's looking good. And, she started us on an exercise that should bulk up his hind quarters pretty quick. :-)

We started out the lesson on a loose connection, just letting him stretch out, but asking for energetic strides. We basically did Training 1, without the walk. It was a nice way to start out the ride. Then we did some trot and then canter 1/2 passes, all the way to the centerline from the track. He's really doing well with those--maintaining the bend, not trailing his hind end. He loses energy, but it's getting better. Some of the canter 1/2-passes felt so cool--like he was just sliding right over to the center line. During a break, Kathy commented on how much the 1/2 passes had improved from when she first started working with us almost 2 years ago. I mentioned that I still had echos in my head from a previous instructor about not losing the quality of the gait for the exercise. If he had lost the energy in the gait while doing the 1/2 pass, she would have me stop the 1/2 pass and get the energy back. Kathy believes that it's the exercise that helps improve the quality of the gait and I have to say, I do like this way better. It works for Jeeves and that's what matters. Perhaps a different horse it wouldn't work so well with, but that's what's so challenging about riding. Every horse is different.

When we tried some lead changes, she had me turn him straight across the arena, from E to B and ask for the change there, instead of on the diagonal. I tend to let him get too strung out heading across the long diagonal and then he has trouble with the change. This really set us up so that he wasn't anticipating the change and I didn't let him fall on his face. It worked and we had clean changes on both directions. :-)

Anyway, towards the end of the lesson, she had me pick up the canter and turn down 1/4line. Then, 3 strides canter and walk. Make sure the walk is established, no jigging, then pick up the other lead, 3 strides and walk. Continue this down the to the end and forward canter back up the long side and repeat. We did this twice in each direction, then gave him a good long stretchy trot to get the kinks out. This is a really collecting exercise--it's the equine equivalent of doing squats.

This is an exercise we had started last June, just before everything fell apart with his tumors and surgeries. It was fun to try it again and nice to know that we're finally back to where we were last year! He fell on his face a few times in the walk transition, but that was me paying more attention to counting the strides and not setting him up. When I played with this on my own yesterday, I paid more attention to sitting him back and he stayed more balanced.

After doing those, the big canter down the long side felt sooooo coooool! He was forward, he was up, he was round. My seat felt molded with his back, I really had that feeling of being part of the horse, not a rider on top of a horse. It's been a long time since I had that feeling, since my first horse, almost 20 years ago.

The really exciting thing for me is that this exercise is a lead up to tempi changes. It helps build the horse's hind end and helps me get a feel for the timing and rhythm and the aids I'll need to ask for the tempis. Cool!! Who ever would have thought I'ld be working up to tempi changes?! Certainly not me!! I don't know if we'll get far enough along this fall before frozen footing and snow stalls us for the winter, but, we'll have fun playing with this until then. After all, this IS supposed to be fun for both of us. It's hard work, but as long we're having fun, it's worth it.

The Shed Dilemma

Thanks for the comments everyone. My original intent was to have dirt floors, but my property is on a hill and the guys who built the shed didn't level the site first. :-( So, some sort of fill had to be brought in. That's where things went awry. I'm thinking that this stone dust was a mistake. The urine isn't draining through it. I can't keep digging the stone dust out, plus I don't want that in the manure pile. It's not very organic, since I do use the manure in my gardens. Argh! If I get mats, that's going to cost another small fortune. Plus, if I get mats,then I'll have to bed it, which I really didn't want to do. Argh.

What to do? What to do? I hate making decisions. Especially when I've already made bad ones and have to fix them.

There's always something, eh?

Oh, and Linda--hands off my baby 'Bota! ;-) I love my little Kabota tractor. I couldn't live without it. Every time I use it, I feel like a little kid. It's so much fun! :-)

Busy Weekend

Again, I disappear for the weekend. The weather was fantastic up here in New England--no humidity, cool (temps in the mid-70s), and enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away. Just delightful!

On Friday, I had 10 yards of graded base and 14 yards of stone dust delivered.

Earlier this summer, I had a run-in shed built. Originally, I had decided to build the shed so I could have Jeeves and Lance go out overnight and stay in their stalls during the day. Jeeves is especially bothered by the heat and bugs. So, this was ideal for him. He was much happier being in his stall during the day, with minimal bugs, and out in the cooler temps overnight with his buddy. They both did really well this summer and I'm very happy about that.

Then, my friend needed a place to keep her fillies, so we figured they could come here and spend days outside while the boys were in and then spend the nights in the Jeeves's stall while he was out. This was working fine until Cara coliced. :-( Best guess we came up with was sand colic from the base I used in the shed. I had what's called "gravel" put in, but it's really a very sandy soil and on days we had t-storms forecast, i would put the hay inside the shed. So, Cara was probably getting alot of sand nibbling all the hay. Since the girls are going to be living out there and eating hay and grain out there, this needed to be fixed.

I did some checking and asking around, and the best I came up with was to put down 3" of graded bases, topped with 3" of stone dust. My vet has stone dust in her run-in shed, so I figure if she thinks it's safe, then it should be safe.

All I can say is I'm very glad that I have this tractor. It's a life saver around the farm. But, even with the tractor to move the materials, I still had to rake and shovel to even it out. Then, there was the compacting. Ugh!

Last night, I could barely walk up right. Everything from my feet to my hands hurt. But, hopefully, the shed is now a safe place for the girls to live. Just in case, we're still going to feed them psyllium, to keep any sand moving through their gut.

What do any of you with horses in run-in sheds have for footing? Do you bed the shed? I wasn't planning on it, but now I'm wondering what do I do about the wet spots? I'll be digging up all this stone dust and will have to replace it every week. :-( Why aren't things simpler? Sigh.

Oh, and does anyone need any stone dust? I bought waaay too much stone dust. I think I have over half of it left and now will be spending a day moving it from the driveway to the behind the riding ring where it will be out of the way. At least I have plenty left for patches. :-)