Back on the Long Lines

I was determined to do some work last night since it's been forever since I've gotten anything productive done at the barn. I grabbed Axel and cleaned him up the best I could. He apparently laid down at some point as well as ran through something sloppy that was splattered all over his opposite side. I outfitted him with a saddle pad, the training surcingle (on the last holes, fatty), an ace bandage to keep the surcingle from spinning, and bell boots on all his feet. Once we got past the "OMG I can't walk with these things on my feet" I put him in the arena and let him move out a bit just to get used to the boots. On his own accord he trotted around a few circles at a very forward and almost sound gait. Go Axel. When he finally stopped I put his bridle on and hooked up the long lines and set to work. He moved out well at the walk in both directions and did a decent job at a figure 8 to switch directions. About that time Steele came into the arena with his owner so Axel really wanted to go pester them. It was a bit more work to keep him focused but we did okay in the long run. Several more circles and a few more changes of direction later he was getting pretty fed up with me and started yanking on the reins. All I have to say is thank god I was on the ground, had I been on his back I would have had my arms pulled out of the sockets by his yanking. Maybe if we do enough long lining he'll get over that before someone rides him again. It's an old habit that we had broken when he was working every week but apparently boredom brings it back.

Following the long lining I walked him down the road to the neighbor's mail box just to get him out. He was moving forward and well and seemed pretty content being out and about. I happened to be positioned at his shoulder so when I moved up to his head (whether it had to do with my positioning or the fact we were further from the barn at that point) he started in with his head flips and almost-crow-hops. I corrected him a couple times and he settled down. He had done that last year when I was hand walking him to get him back into shape after being off so long, I'm guessing it's just the usual extra energy.

Incidentally the bell boots on the front were an attempt to get him to pick up his feet a bit more but it didn't really have the affect I was after. He actually tripped on the driveway while I was watching, basically just didn't pick up that right front and skidded his toe on the ground. Maybe I could try some chains like they use on Saddlebreds. Maybe the jingly feeling will make him pick up his feet more. I know he hates SMBs, I could try those but that might just be flailing rather than picking up his feet.

When we got back to the barn Steele was done playing so I turned Axel loose to let him roll or whatever while I put some stuff away. He didn't seem interested in rolling at all so I thought I'd see if I could coax him into moving a bit more. I won't be out to the barn for a while and figured he needed a little more time to stretch his legs. I hardly had the whip off the wall when he bucked and took off. Apparently he was ready and was just looking for an excuse to run, without Cody there to help him. So he cantered both directions, bucked, and tried to convince me to play with him (sorry guy, I can't play that way with a 1200lb animal). I always love his posture when he's done cruising around like that. You almost can't see his pregnant belly and he stands up nice and tall. He was a little damp on his chest but not steaming at all and apparently did not want to roll. I had a lasagna in the oven I had to get back to so I out to the pasture he went.

I said "hi" to Cody before I left and noticed it's been a few days since they've had a round bale. Not sure if they're done with round bales now for the winter but it'll be interesting to see if Axel's swelling clears up before the snow or not. Cody's swelling seems to have gone away completely, so there might be something to the whole exercise thing. I think I just can't keep up with the rate Axel eats. Maybe if someone was riding him daily we could affect the swelling with movement.

Axel back on the long lines

I ran out for a few minutes before the Christmas holiday to drop of gifts and check on the boys. I put them both in the arena together again and was ready with my camera. And I got nothing. They apparently were not feeling it so I groomed them both real quick and put them back out to enjoy their round bale.

Cody rolls from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

After the very cold holiday I picked a warm melty day to go visit again. Though the warm and melty means it's supposed to rain and snow and freeze this coming weekend, ick. Both ponies were excited to see me, go figure, and came right up to the gate. I was crinkling some plastic and they were sure it was something truly great. Unfortunately for them it was dewormer. But I managed to deworm both horses without very little issue. Axel did end up spitting some of his out but I think Cody kept all his where it belonged.

I grabbed Axel and brought him into the arena. Another boarder and a friend were coming in at the same time and Axel started acting like he was going to have a nice run but as soon as I untied him he just stood there. I groomed quickly and tacked him up to do some ground driving. I think he could have benefited from a bit of a run. He did pretty good at first but started in with the bucking when the combination of two other horses being lunged and a dog barking got the best of him. At least that solidified my idea to not ride him any more this winter. I'm hoping this ground driving thing will help him. He has a hard time staying on the rail right now without leg aids but that should improve. He seemed to be walking out pretty well and didn't seem like his knee was bothering him too much. He even had a few moments of a very light trot that almost seemed sound. Though I can see how crooked he is while I'm walking behind him. I'll have to figure out how to get him more straight despite his sore knee. He might need an appointment with the chiropractor this spring if I can save up some money.

New Friends

I am such a bad photographer's wife/horse mom. I did not bring my camera out to the barn yesterday and it would have made for some nice photos/video. I met with a gal that's going to be riding Cody once a week to help me keep him in shape as I become more and more out of shape as it were. We put both boys in the arena since they were getting fidgety in the cross ties. And that's when I should have had the camera. Axel jumped around, was rearing and running along with Cody. They were playing a little and having a decent time. But of course I did not catch any of it to show. I've never actually seen Axel rear like that. I've seen Cody play with other horses like that before but Axel usually just hangs out.

When they were done messing around, N tacked up Cody and I got Axel set up with the long lines. She tried out Cody and I long lined Axel for a little while. Cody seemed to be behaving well enough. She had him canter on both leads which he did but he'll need a little work, he gets a little stressed out. Axel did pretty well on the long lines and his knee didn't seem to bother him at the walk at all. Next time I'll have to set up some cones or something to weave around and make it a little more interesting, maybe some ground poles or something.

Over all I think it went well. It'll be nice having someone come out and work Cody for me. Especially with WCR stuff starting up in January again, then I just have to worry about keeping Axel moving around.

Lots of Ground Work

I'm getting a little bored of riding alone so much since I get to the barn more often now. To combat that I think I really need to start doing a lot more ground work with the horses. Starting today.

It was Cody's turn today to work on some cantering. But first we worked on some ground work. Axel stayed in the pasture and had a minor conniption about being alone. Cody and I worked on some of the moving away from pressure with turns on the forehand, which he got pretty well, and turns on the haunches - not so well. Worked on the bending exercises and some backing up. We did some circles at the walk and trot. We even worked on a little bit of ground tying which went surprisingly well. After that I rode for a while and tried to get some canters but we mostly ended up just trotting as fast as humanly (or horsely) possible. How did Steph get him to canter so well? We made a couple attempts at the various turns in the corners of the arena and then dismounted and did a couple stretches. I'm going to have to look at my horse massage/stretching books and get some more ideas for Cody to work on lifting his back.

I took Axel's screaming to mean he wanted to be worked with as well. The first thing we did was walk into the barn and then back out twice and he did it both times well. So he came into the arena and did some lunging. He did really well at the trot in the first direction, a little crankier in the other direction, and pretty cranky about cantering but that's pretty normal. I worked a little with the turn on the forehand from the ground, he got it okay but I think we'll have to keep working on that stuff with him a lot, he doesn't catch on and retain like Cody does. We then worked on some backing up, I wanted to back a whole lap of the arena but we made it around maybe 1/4 or more so that was pretty good. I decided I wasn't done yet and I didn't want to ride so I got out the long lines and the surcingle and we drove for a while and then switched to long lining. I think the long lines are too heavy though, despite having as much slack as he wanted he was still pretty frustrated and seemed like he was forced into a frame. Though good for him to stretch like that I don't think he enjoyed it. He was quite ticked when I asked for a trot and kicked out but manged to have a couple nice trots after that but they were very small and vertical. I tried to do some weaving but I didn't set up the cones before I hooked up Axel so I only was able to get out two and well it was just kind of a loss at that point. I did lunge him a bit more after the driving so he could stretch out the opposite way and he had a very nice extended trot. When we were done he backed out of the barn aisle one more time.

Spinning in Circles

Axel was first tonight. I put a training surcingle and a bridle on him and got out my new ropes. They are little heavy and that in combination with Axel forgetting what long lining was about made for some awkward driving. I wanted to start with regular long lining/lunging with the long lines but Axel was mighty confused about the situation. We drove a little, he fought with the bit and the lines and assumed an extreme rollkur position with his head. I wasn't pulling on the reins he was doing it all to himself so I just let him work through it, the side effect was that he was still stepping pretty well under himself and stretching through his neck to the poll. So I guess in the end some good will come out of it. We were finally able to trot around in a circle to the right. He did not like going to the left and would cut the circle short and then face me and get confused as to where to go. We'll definitely have to work on that more. He broke in the canter a few times and then startled himself when he'd hit the end of the lines in his mouth. I had him lunge a few times around without the surcingle and bit and just a single line so he could stretch out a bit and get into a canter. After the pseudo collected work he went into the canter really easily comparatively.

The shining point was when I was about to be done I decided to see where we could get with learning how to bow. I had no treats but I figured I'd give it a go anyway. The best I can figure is that it has to be done in parts. I was able to get his head down just by a bit of pressure on the halter. He'd keep his head down (probably just smelling the ground) so I picked up his front foot. I asked him to keep his head down and I pulled back a bit on his front foot. After a few seconds of encouragement he leaned back just enough that his lifted leg touched the ground and I let him up and rewarded him with scratches and praise. We did the same process a second time with the same results so I stopped there. Hopefully if we go gradual like that when he really puts weight on that knee he won't freak himself out. I'm not certain he can really stretch down physically like that but it's worth a try. I should probably teach him on both sides, it's a good stretch.

Cody was freaking out in the pasture while I had Axel in the barn. The other boarder had Danny in the arena at this time so Cody was pretty happy to work in there. He was very unresponsive when asked to circle so when she took Danny out to groom and saddle I started some work I saw at the Stacy Westfall demo. I wanted to be able to bend Cody's neck around and have him stand still while I asked for the bend. When I asked for the bend he'd spin or more commonly he'd back up. So we spun and backed up and spun and backed up over and over again. Ran into the wall, moved back to where there was room, rinse and repeat. I was ready to give up, he just wasn't getting what I wanted and I didn't think he was going to get it. But just as I thought we were going to be done he started to pause his spinning when I bent. So I kept it up and finally he understood. Danny was in the arena now and I think that might have helped as he was a bit calmer with life but I kept it up and I was able to bend him in both directions without him moving his feet. I tried some turns on the forehand after that but he's a bit sticky with that now because of the bending so we'll have to work on both so he can tell the difference. We spent a little time standing still while I chatted with the other boarder and he did pretty good with that.

I have to go over my notes a bit more and make sure I'm keeping up with what needs to be done to teach him to whoa and mean it. I did make sure that after I asked for a whoa I didn't move him forward but turned him instead. Axel screamed a little bit while we were in the barn but he quieted down a lot quicker than Cody did. I really should keep going out there as much as I can even if it's just to walk each horse into the barn for a few minutes while the other one learns that he won't be alone forever.