I actually got to ride my poor neglected horse yesterday. It was the first ride in 2 weeks. :-( This work stuff really gets in the way of my life. Sigh. He was good. I just did some basic suppling work, w/t/c, trying to stay focused on response to my leg aids and keeping him light in the reins. We did some walk half-pass down the long side--track to quarter line back to track repeat as many times as we can fit in on the long side. Then, I let him stretch through the short side. It's so nice to have him follow the bit all the way down when I let the reins slide through my fingers. His stride lengthens and I can feel the swing in his back. Those little details show me that he was truly connected to the bit, not just faking a pose. He was really taking shorter steps in collection, not just being lazy. I like doing work like this at the walk. It's so much easier to feel these little details. And, it's paying attention to these little details that keep us going in the right direction.
The short stretches through the short side are a really good part of the exercise. He used to get stiff in the collected work. Letting him stretch out after brief periods of work let him know that he doesn't have to stiffen. It helps him realize that I'm not cramming him into a "frame". It's helped so much with his longitudinal suppleness. He still gets a bit fussy with his face when I pick up the reins, but he no longer shortens his stride and hollows his back. He keeps marching forward.
No ride today. The work calls started at 8:00 am and the last one finished just before 6:00 pm and no time to squeeze in a ride in between all the calls. I don't have lights in my ring, so another day without a ride passes by. Tomorrow will be stormy--they're actually talking about SNOW! It's not going to stick, just enough to make things messy...and keep me from riding again. Grumble, complain, whine.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Winter's Coming
We've had a real weather change the last few days. Hard frosts up here. This morning it was 26 degrees when I got up. Brrrr! I actually like this. I much prefer the cooler weather to the oppressive heat and humidity of summer. The horses like it, too. They've been running around their paddocks, kicking up their heels and just having a grand ol' time! No bugs to bother them.
The only thing I don't like about the cooler weather is the shorter daylight hours. :-( My alarm goes off before 5:00 am every day and it's sooo dark now. It makes it harder to get out of bed in the mornings. And, it's very hard to walk three dogs in the pitch black. When it was just 2, I could carry a flashlight, but with the 3 of them, it's too hard. So, I've taken to checking my e-mail and doing a little bit of work before I head out to walk the dogs. Then, when I get back from walking, I feed and turn out the horses. By that time, the sun is just dragging itself over the horizon.
I haven't started blanketing, yet. I go through this every year--to blanket or not to blanket? The last two winters we've had more ice than snow, so my riding has been limited to mostly walking. Had I known that, I could have NOT clipped Jeeves and not blanketed. But, you just don't know. I start out the winter with hopes of being able to ride. If there's enough snow cover that gives me decent footing in the ring and I can do trot and canter work. Can't do alot--have to keep his strides shorter and more collected. He sweats alot, so if I do much work, he needs to be clipped. Decisions, decisions.
Of course, the way work has been, I haven't ridden in over a week now. I'm very upset about that, but i've just had conference calls and deadlines and just haven't been able to eek out a block of time long enough for a ride. I even worked over the weekend--and it was a glorious autumn weekend. Oh, well. There's always next weekend. And, in this declining economy, I'm just happy that I have a job.
The only thing I don't like about the cooler weather is the shorter daylight hours. :-( My alarm goes off before 5:00 am every day and it's sooo dark now. It makes it harder to get out of bed in the mornings. And, it's very hard to walk three dogs in the pitch black. When it was just 2, I could carry a flashlight, but with the 3 of them, it's too hard. So, I've taken to checking my e-mail and doing a little bit of work before I head out to walk the dogs. Then, when I get back from walking, I feed and turn out the horses. By that time, the sun is just dragging itself over the horizon.
I haven't started blanketing, yet. I go through this every year--to blanket or not to blanket? The last two winters we've had more ice than snow, so my riding has been limited to mostly walking. Had I known that, I could have NOT clipped Jeeves and not blanketed. But, you just don't know. I start out the winter with hopes of being able to ride. If there's enough snow cover that gives me decent footing in the ring and I can do trot and canter work. Can't do alot--have to keep his strides shorter and more collected. He sweats alot, so if I do much work, he needs to be clipped. Decisions, decisions.
Of course, the way work has been, I haven't ridden in over a week now. I'm very upset about that, but i've just had conference calls and deadlines and just haven't been able to eek out a block of time long enough for a ride. I even worked over the weekend--and it was a glorious autumn weekend. Oh, well. There's always next weekend. And, in this declining economy, I'm just happy that I have a job.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Annoyed
I'm so annoyed, about several things, but mostly because I'm out here in California all week in training for work. After my fabulous lesson last Monday, I was only able to ride Jeeves two more times. I hacked him out on Tuesday--he had been working so hard, he needed a light ride to just stretch out. Then, Thursday, we did an easy ring work day. It started pouring rain on Friday and it was still raining Monday when I left. So, we're getting another week without riding. Sigh. Oh, well, I keep reminding myself that I need the job to pay for this hobby.
The other annoyance is the farrier. He was supposed to be out Monday at 8:30. Since I wasn't going to be there, I arranged for Terri to be there and, also, Jenn came out to hold the babies, since they're still a bit anxious about the farrier handling them. He NEVER showed up!! Terri called him left him 2 v-mails on Sunday just to confirm that he was coming out. She called him several times on Monday. Argh! I'm not sure if anyone has even heard from him, yet. I've been so busy with the training and then catching up with my projects when not in training I haven't had a chance to call anyone.
What is is with farriers?! He's a good farrier. It's hard to find a good farrier out in the boonies where I am. But, he does have a reliability problem. Usually, he will call, but sometimes he'll just show up hours late. He's never just not shown up at all, so I am a little worried that something happened to him.
Oh, well, hopefully, he'll get out there....soon. Grumble.
The other annoyance is the farrier. He was supposed to be out Monday at 8:30. Since I wasn't going to be there, I arranged for Terri to be there and, also, Jenn came out to hold the babies, since they're still a bit anxious about the farrier handling them. He NEVER showed up!! Terri called him left him 2 v-mails on Sunday just to confirm that he was coming out. She called him several times on Monday. Argh! I'm not sure if anyone has even heard from him, yet. I've been so busy with the training and then catching up with my projects when not in training I haven't had a chance to call anyone.
What is is with farriers?! He's a good farrier. It's hard to find a good farrier out in the boonies where I am. But, he does have a reliability problem. Usually, he will call, but sometimes he'll just show up hours late. He's never just not shown up at all, so I am a little worried that something happened to him.
Oh, well, hopefully, he'll get out there....soon. Grumble.
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