Gorgeous Saturday and Sunday

I drove out to the barn on Saturday and what did I find? A hay wagon full of hay ready to be unloaded. There was a bunch of family types running around chasing kids and dogs so my ride wasn't very long. I tried to get my goofy IR remote on my camera to work but it didn't quite do what I expected and I was embarrassed to do more experimenting in front of a bunch of people. Hehe. I rode around the pasture a bit before I started getting quite warm. I didn't want Axel to sweat too much again so we decided to stop. Plus one of the dogs was named Axel and they kept yelling at him and I think it really confused Axel the horse! So when I was done riding and had put all my junk away I helped haul hay into the barn. Luckily the bales were not very heavy. The hay looked pretty nice though.

Sunday after our little sleepover at Tricia's, Stephanie and I went back out to the barn to do some work with the horses. She still had an hour left to work with Kiko from the past week. Instead of riding we decided to take the horses for a walk across the bridge and into the woods. Kiko and Kalani haven't been over there yet so it would be a good learning experience. We started with Kiko and Cody. Cody was actually just about an angel with Kiko around. He acts a lot more respectful on the lead than he does under saddle. He even walked up and down the little dip he always wants to run on. Kiko was just fine on the trail as well. We had one minor fight in the usually spot at the top of the hill on the way back. I don't know what his deal is, we were already heading back and he was acting like a total fool. Trying to rear and spin around. Somehow we're going to have to figure out what to do with him. As soon as we started walking down the hill he was fine, especially if his nose was right up Kiko's butt. He even walked the rest of the way back to the barn on a loose lead. I did lunge him and do some ground work when we got back to the barn to try and show him that the barn isn't all that great and it meant working.

It was so warm at this point we lost all our jackets and went to work with Axel and Kalani. Kalani had a tendency to be a bit more spooky so we paired him up with Axel who's as bombproof as they come. The benefits for Axel were that he had a saddle put on him and didn't have to lug around a rider. Axel led like a pro but he really wanted to eat more than anything. I spent a lot of time trying to get him to not eat. It took Kalani a few times across the bridge to really get the feel for it. On the way back he actually lead across the bridge and Axel followed. Kalani was pretty good on the trail on the way out, but on the way back he was acting up and trying to run over Steph. After some ground work with him he calmed down and we went back to the barn in peace. In total we were out there about 2.5 hours. It was a good way to spend a warm November day, that's for sure!

Dressage Lesson #24

Last night's lesson wasn't terrible but it wasn't the best either. Just one of those days I suppose. Steph was lunging Kalani in the pasture to get him used to something besides the round pen. She had planned to ride but he was pretty worked up to say the least. So she's gonna hold off on the riding until later. I tacked up Axel as fast as I could. Not that it really matters, it's dark instantly when I get to the barn. Tricia hadn't arrived yet so I did a few circles at the walk to warm up and things were okay.

We started tracking left this week since that's Axel's more difficult direction. I wasn't totally on and Axel wasn't totally on so it was kind of a mess for the most part. We had our moments that were decent but we also ran into the tree once. And then coming down the long side by the bushes, Axel took a quick side step and darted through them. He may have spooked, in anycase we were now on the wrong side of the trees. He's still loosing it on the corners and most of the time I try and put some outside leg on and he speeds up so now I'm bouncing around trying to not fall off. And I'm supposed to be really supporting him with that outside rein and leg and I just can't get the leverage on that leg, so zoom, off we go falling out of our turn.

Near the end of our lesson Axel was being his usual lazy self and stopping ever few steps. We were getting sick of it and I kicked him a good one (which was nothing at this point my legs were like jello), and he got both back feet off the ground and bucked. But he moved after that and actually felt fairly good. We switched directions and the right side was better but not perfect. There were a few canters in there that were horrible as usual, though on the right lead occassionaly. By the end he was sweating buckets. It was 50F and he's in his full winter coat. So I walked him around to cool him off. This was the first time I've had to use a cooler for him. Unfortunatly I haven't sewn the ribbons on yet and in any case the cooler isn't big enough for him. I'll have to get an old wool army blanket to make into a cooler instead. He finally cooled down so we let him out to roll and then brought him back in for dinner. We dried him off the best we could while he ate and then turned him back out. Hopefully he was dry enough at that point. He must have really been cranky to work up that sweat, we really weren't doing any more work than usual. Though we did start and spend most our time on his bad side.

I need to really work on my seat so I can start giving him the support and cues that he needs to do this stuff properly. Instead of falling out of the turns and me bouncing around not being able to cue and Tricia on the ground yelling "outside rein outside rein!" Luckily she's there to tell me what's going on, there's no way we would have gotten this far even, without her help. Whew!

Sunny Sunday Ride

I met Anne and her son out at the barn today for a ride. Both of her sons were going to come out so I had all three horses groomed and ready to go. But her eldest chose hockey over horses so it was just her youngest son. So Corey lucked out and didn't have to go for another ride this weekend. I rode Cody and Anne and her son doubled on Axel. Bjorn wanted to ride Axel alone so Anne led him around the round pen a few times while I finished fidgiting with Cody. We were all set to go so we headed down the back hill. Axel looked like he was feeling pretty good and he was really stepping out down the hill. Cody was cruising but it turned out he was just trying to distract me while he spun around and tried to head back to the barn. He tried twice before we go to the first gate. After that he wasn't too bad the rest of the way down the hill. We crossed the bridge and made a loop at the bottom of the hill. On the way toward the hill up the back trail Cody decided he was going to take a detour through the woods. Tom's son had cut a new trail so we weren't barreling through the trees or anything, I think Cody thought this was a quicker way home. When we came back out of the loop we were aimed back up the hill; I don't think Cody thought that far ahead.

So up the hill we went and we completed the loop at the top of the hill and came out to the meadow with no issues from Cody. We went for the woods first. As usual Cody was having none of me telling him that we were going to walk down and up the hills. I put a new curb strap on his bit so he was pretty pissed when he realized I had a bit more leverage than usual. He ran down the hill flipping his head all over the place the whole way. A little ways down the trail a tree had fallen in the path so that was the end of that ride. We turned around and headed back out of the woods, stopping on the way to pick some sumac berries for Christmas decorations. Neither horse was overly happy to stand still while we picked berries but we did our best.

Cody managed to walk most of the way down the first hill and could only canter up a few strides before running into Axel's rear. I have no idea what is up with that hill, he refuses to walk it. By this time he was already sweaty. Luckily it was warm and sunny out so he'd dry off quickly. We made a loop around the meadow and then headed for home. We ran into a hunter across the fence when we got to the bottom of the hill. Hopefully we don't ever run into hunters on our trails while we're riding, yikes.

Cody was excited we were heading home so I had to hold him back on the way up the last hill. He's such a goober sometimes. Both horses were sweaty under their cinches and a bit on their chests, but after some rolling they'll be fine. I do have to finish sewing my cooler just in case they get sweaty and it's too cold out. Bjorn rode Axel around the round pen again by himself. After we untacked the horses I still had a lead rope and halter so we grabbed Corey and Bjorn rode Corey around the pasture bareback. He was really cute, cuddling Corey and snuggling into his furry winter coat.

A Fairly Nice Saturday

Went out to the barn today to see if I could get a few things done. It started out kind of overcast but it wasn't freezing so that was good. I let Beau in the barn for his daily buffet while I went out to work in the round pen. Cody and I went to work first. I ran a brush over him quickly and got to work. He actually did the unwinding thing really well on the first try. He used to just back up instead of turning around. After that we worked on some lunging. He does pretty well but he still would rather pay attention to the other horses than me. He'll keep his eyes on me for a few circles and then he stops and watches his herd. We worked on backing up a little, and I tried to do some side passing but that didn't go very well. We also worked on giving to pressure from a rope around his legs. I've finally gotten him to back up a tiny step by wiggling the rope (ala Parelli yo-yo game) and telling him to "back."

Cody was getting bored with me at that point so I moved on to working with Axel. Axel did the unwinding thing well and even crossed his back feet over each other properly in both directions. I couldn't get him to lunge to save my life. He doesn't have much forward drive so he just spun around in circles instead. We walked over a pole a few times and then started working on our backing up. I didn't want to start with backing over the pole with his back feet so I walked him over the pole with his front feet first. Then asked him to back from there. He got it pretty well but he wouldn't pick his feet up all the way and would skim them over the pole. So we worked on that until he tuned out and I decided to stop. I ran a brush over Axel and then turned him loose, which meant he just stood there with his lip dangling. He's really dragging his feet lately, his hooves are all worn flat on the fronts. Hopefully he just needs a trim and it's not something else.

All of the horses were really listless today. They all look so bored this time of year, nothing to graze on, just standing around. I got out the blue tarp to play for a while. Everyone perked up when they saw that. Axel, Kiko, and Kalani followed me back into the round pen to see what the deal was. I left them to play with the tarp for a while while I went to put some things away. I came back out and did some more sacking out with the tarp, Kiko still jumps if you shake the tarp at her but she's getting better. After that I cleaned up the tack room, swept it out, put more feed in the bin, put away a bunch of my junk, and fixed up Cody's bridle.

The sun had come out and I wasn't inspired photographically so I decided I needed to go for a ride. Anne and her kids were maybe planning on coming out on Sunday for a ride so I decided to give Corey a try to make sure he was behaving well enough for a 10 year old to ride. So I tacked him up and down the road we went. We didn't go very far before we turned around. Corey pretty much bounced the whole way back. I half halted the whole way back with no response. Oddly enough he would halt when asked, but he would not walk. So a'bouncing we went. Goofy horse is 28 years old and he still spooks at random things. Luckily he just sprawls out before he regains his composure. He should be fine with Cody and Axel along tomorrow.

Just Some Riding Photos

Just a couple old photos to tide me over until I take some more. Ahhh remember this? It was last September after I had just bought the boys and moved them to their current barn.

A video still from May when we had been working on Dressage for a few weeks.

This one should be entitled "Sit up and heels down!" Because that's what I *should* be doing. But I'm not. :>

And here we are, surprisingly this was shot after the one above. It was like we went from fall back to summer for a while. Too bad that's not the case now. I might be doing more cleaning in the tack room than riding tomorrow. Brrr.

And finally, Jeff shot this one and since he likes squares I cropped it in a square for him. Actually I only cropped it on the left and right, the bottom cropping was original.

Dressage Lesson #23

Another dressage lesson in the dark tonight, so I'm recycling photos from when it was actually light out. I'll have to take some photos this weekend if it's not pouring rain. Axel was feeling quite feisty this evening and went for a canter right off the bat. We let him run with it even though he was on the wrong lead as usual. Since he was offering it we decided to keep asking. He was less than balanced most of the time and Tricia could hear his back feet hitting each other. And the more cantering we did, the more annoyed he got and he'd start bucking, almost real bucks this time that I had to pull him up from to get him to stop. Tricia figured he doesn't canter much because his feet hit each other. If it hurts, why do it, right? I've been putting bell boots on his back feet but I might have to add the neoprene boots as well so he's fully protected. Last tiime we put the boots on him he was not overly happy with them, they're hand-me-downs, so I might need to pick up a pair of new ones that aren't worn out. We got a few more canters out of him, ending with one that was on the correct lead but it sure wasn't fun to ride. He was pretty much pulling himself along with his front legs which makes it feel like his butt is way up in the air.

After all the excitement we worked on the spiraling in and out around a barrel. He was just about through with us at that point and wasn't really into it any more. We tried getting some circles at the trot but they were more like flattened eggs or amoebas. So we tried a large oblong shape and then a circle to try and trick him into engaging his hindquarters. Circling to the left was the toughest, and of course the last direction we went. Next time we're going to start with the left. Wow it's hard to ride in the dark though. I can't wait for it to be light out again. We'd be going around in a circle sort of okay and I'd shift my focus or move my head and off we'd go out into the pasture. And since I can't see a darn thing but the white barrel we were going around it's quite disorienting. Amazingly enough, even in the dark, he hasn't been tripping nearly as often. He kind of looses his footing once or twice in the dark but he must be picking up his feet more these days. And so far the temperature hasn't been an issue for me. I'm usually working so hard I work up a sweat even when it's only 30F outside. Luckily we've worked Axel enough this year that an hour of trotting doesn't really make him sweat at all. I should sew the straps on my cooler just incase I need to use it ever though.

After the lesson I fed Axel in the barn since the other horses were already finished eating. Tricia and Steph had to give Coco, the barn cat, a shot of wormer because he's infested pretty bad. Hopefully when the worms are gone he'll slim down a bit, he's huge these days. And since we weren't done chatting at that point, we went into Carver to a little barn to continue our conversations where it was warm.

Riding in the Dark: Dressage Lesson #22

That Axel never ceases to amaze me, sometimes good and sometimes not so good, of course. Tuesday I decided to go out to the barn and try and have a lesson, even if it was dark. I rushed through grooming and tacking and jumped on right as it was getting almost too dark to see. I thought we'd be okay since it was a full moon but it ended up being cloudy. I had 15 minutes before Tricia was due to arrive so I set out to warm Axel up a bit. He was so good. He was walking out like he had a mission, even in the dark. We did a couple walks around the "arena" in both directions. I barely had to ask for a trot and off he went. We did a couple figure 8s at the trot and when he'd stop without being asked, I'd ask for a back up. He's not great at backing so we have to keep working on that. We moved up to the round pen where I thought we could see better. Axel wasn't terribly excited about the round pen but we made a couple circles around at the walk when Tricia arrived.

We went up to the paddock to meet her and I think Axel decided he was done at that point. Maybe he should have been but we had only worked for 15 minutes. To make matters worse, Tom came out and fed the rest of the horses right as we were getting started. We moved into the other pasture and started at the trot extending on the long ends. Then we worked on spiraling in and out on a 10m circle. It took quite a bit of work to get Axel to spiral in and out the right way. After we did that in both directions we worked on some 10m circles trotting before we finished up.

A gal came out to meet Cody. She might be interested in leasing him part time which would be a great help to me. I'm hoping if someone rides him on a more regular basis he'll shape up nicely. Right now he gets ridden less than once a week, and though he's probably happy with that arrangement he needs more work than that. He was kind of acting like a fool when she came out to see him though. He was mad he wasn't out with Kiko eating hay. He wouldn't stand still and kept rocking back and forth. She was trying to groom him and pick his feet but he wouldn't pick them up for her. So generally just being the embarrassing child in front of guests. I invited her to come ride this weekend so she can get a little better taste than just seeing him in the barn. Hopefully she'll take me up on it. Granted having the extra money would be great but having Cody back working on a regular basis would be really great.