Lesson #7

My old trainer T is leaving soon for Vancouver and has been getting really busy with her new students at her current barn so it has been getting harder and ahrder to get in to have a lesson with her at my barn which is partially why i had switched to my new trainer M, i still wanted more than anything to have T out to see how much progress we have made and i finally got that on Tuesday night.

G was on his best behaviour it took very little time at the mounting block for me to get on which was nice. So we started our warm up going around the arena in both directions doing little circles at each letter after we did this both ways we started the lesson.

T has always pushed me because she knows what i can do and as my best friend she knows that i hold back sometimes that i let my fear get a hold of me, she doesnt allow me to do that she will push me and push me until i get annoyed and i just do it, she knows how to motivate me and push me past everything and i love her to death for it.

She set up cones in the arena and wanted to work with me on a 20m circle, for some reason i am HORRIBLE with distances so it was something that we needed to start working on if i am hoping to be able to do a few training or intro shows at the end of this summer. So we started working on a circle and T was trying to teach me that on a circle i should be using my inside leg to push G's hind end over and my outside leg and rein to prevent his shoulder from bulging out and the inside rein should be lose aparently this will give him a nice bend in his chest... wtf? for some reason at a walk i couldnt grasp this concept i still cant i know with time it will become habit and i will rely less and less on my inside rein but im still sitting here writing this being like uggghhhh? At the Trot we were for the most part able to do what she was asking which was make the circle bigger and smaller using this technique but she still had to keep reminding me to give away the inside rein.

We did about another 10 minutes at a posting trot changing directions and asking for circles. Then as T always does she wanted to challenge me and asked if we had cantered yet... i told her no and gave her a bunch of excuses about how we were waiting till we were really comfortable in the posting trot and had more control.... blah...blah...blah yeah she didnt buy it she gave me a look like i was crazy and said point blank "im not going to push you but i think you guys are more than ready to canter" i knew she was right and i was holding back because of my fear that is still there down in the pit of my stomach, but i trust G and new that no matter how crazy it was he would not try to hurt me or put me in danger so we went for it.

We went counter clock wise and it was beautiful his canter is so smooth his transition was quick, there was no fast trot or anything like that he opened right up into a canter (my transitions still suck going back down in the gaits) when it came to slowing him down it was a little clumsy but we survived and made it to a walk (he didnt pick up the right lead btw). I figured that was GREAT lets try the other side, disaster, i dont know what happened but i lost my stirrup and was bouncing all over the place trying to keep myself on... but i did realise at that point... i could probably ride a trot without stirrups because i didnt fall off instead of completely panicking like i would have previously i wrappped my legs around my horse and tried to keep my shoulders back and not collapse into his neck... i wish i had a video of it... because even though it was a disaster i did REALLY good at NOT falling off lol.

I think we are going to wait to canter until i can get him to slow down by using my seat lol but all in all it was a great lesson i have some stuff to work on definatly but i am getting a lot more consistant in my riding and in the work that i am doing. Hopefully this weekend i can get Alex out to take some videos of my riding... maybe then i will post a comparision video that i have been hiding on my computer lol..

Happy trails everyone!

Finally a round pen-Videos

Finally the round pen is cleared up enough that we can use it. I got a picture and a few videos, they are not very good but i am trying to get more video proof of how amazing he is.



mom i love the round pen



Im sure you can hear me saying stuff lol sorry i had my headphone on and didnt realise my phone caught sound lmao!

Lesson #6

I finally managed to connect again with my new trainer yesterday to have another lesson. We are making amazing progress I couldn’t help but have a huge smile on my face the entire lesson.
We usually only have 30 minute lessons because both G and I needed to work on our physical fitness but yesterday we pushed past the 30 minute wall he has to 45 minutes of good hard work. As usual we started out at a walk working on half halts using my seat and bending to the left and to the right. Since having his teeth done he is bending much better to the right than before but he still fights me in that direction.
We spent the majority of the lesson at a trot, working in both directions. We have picked up the posting trot so quickly M was surprised so we moved into working on our walk trot transitions. The biggest issue at the trot currently is going to the right, doing a circle to the right when we come towards the wall on the one side of the arena he would try to go left instead of going to the right, the first couple tries resulted in a half circle left so I can get him back going right, it took some testing each time we came to that spot but I finally found (or some what grasped the concept of) in that direction my reins and inside leg are not enough to get him around that corner I need to alternate between my inside and my outside leg to keep him from trying to change direction and to have a better circle. By the end of the lesson we were doing much better in that direction but it is something we will have to tackle every lesson and every ride to find out the right amount of pressure so I do not have to use my legs at all.
I also need to focus on my chin up, as soon as I put my chin up my posture becomes much better and G slows down his trot a little so I will be practicing that during my rides as well, apparently it doesn’t look as silly as it feels.
We also worked as I mentioned on my walk trot and trot walk transitions which I have not mastered as well as I had thought. They are defiantly not as smooth and fluent as I had wanted them to be the walk – trot is fairly good since G is very responsive to pressure I just need to remember to use my calves more and less of my heel, I tend to bring my heels up when squeezing. My trot – walk transition is far worse, I am struggling to keep my butt in the seat when I am asking for the transition I tend to bounce around and it takes about 30 seconds for G to go into a walk, I know this will come with time and I shouldn’t focus on it to much since we are both fairly green and are learning what works for each of us but tonight’s ride will be a lot of trot – walk transitions.
Alex had come out to watch my lesson, it was nice having him there, as soon as I can afford a camera I will have him start making some videos of my riding so there is more to look at on here.  It was +20C at the barn yesterday so we took G for a walk to cool him off since he was fairly sweaty and found a nice patch were we could sit on some old logs and let G eat some grass it was so quiet and peaceful which is just what I needed. Working 2 jobs is really starting to burn me out and it has only been 3 weeks I don’t think I will be able to keep this up to much longer but thankfully pretty quick I will have a bunch of my little debt all paid off.
I might have a lesson with my old Trainer T next weekend if I’m lucky I might be able to get in 2 lessons next weekend. I really want to show T how far I have come and how much she has helped me get past all my fears especially since soon she will be moving to Vancouver. Anyways I’m at work and should probably help some clients, have a great  week everyone.

Mine All Mine

Checked my bank account this morning... i got my tax refund and i finally have enough money to pay off what is oustanding on Gjonstone. Within a week he will be mine all mine!! We have already started the process of changing his registration over to my name as well as his microchip. No more horse payments woo!!

Dentist Day, Angry Vet Rant

Today we had the Equine Dentist out to do a few horses. I put G's name down on the list because i was curious to see if his teeth were maybe the cause of the stiffness to the right and the head tossing. In Canada an Equine Dentist is no longer allowed to sedate unless they have special training to do so, silly considering most have more experience with sedating that some Vets do. Anyways out Equine Dentist teaches at the school of Equine Dentistry (trying to see how many times i can type that in a paragraph apparently lol) and has been specially trained to give sedatives, and comes highly reccomended by other boarders so i chose to have him do his teeth opposed to the Vet.

G was panicking in his stall all morning he could hear the drill and wanted nothing to do with it. He stood great while being sedated the only bad thing he did other than his usual head tossing was try to "sack" the dentist, this i found slightly funny but the dentist did not. Upon purchasing G i was informed that he had had his teeth done but im not sure how long ago that was because his teeth were terrible they were extremely sharp and the Dentist was able to tell me that bending right was his issue i was quite impressed. G stood very well for him while he balanced and floated his teeth, G has 2 out of 4 of his canines in and we got a good example of just how sharp those teeth were when G accidently bit through his lip, Dentist was VERY impressed that G went backwards respecting our space instead of forward and complimented him on how good he was.

His teeth look so much better now and the Dentist was fantastic he took the time to explain everything to me he even showed me before and after the jaw movement from side to side. G is going to spend the day in his stall eating and relaxing before i put him out tonight. Dentist did however as me that when i ride him next to work to the right at a walk and a trot then halt and ask him to bend to the right and when he does ask to bend to the left and see how it feels he should be more responsive now in both directions. Im glad that i was able to get his teeth done i feel so bad i would have had a dentist out much sooner had i known that bad shape they were in, i would toss my head and be pushy with my face too if it was painful to eat, Im sure ill see G put on some weight now as well since eating will be more comfortable. The dentist even showed me how to confirm G's age and what to expect from his teeth the next few years. I highly reccomend a Dentist over a Vet! Oh, and the teeth i thought were wolf teeth... turns out they are canines lol oops!!

Anyways, now to the angry Vet post. Last week we had A vet out to do the shots, it was not my Vet but i figured its just vaccinations and sheath cleaning, pretty simple stuff this vet and her techs should be able to handle that. Once the dentist finished up he asked me when G's sheath was done last i informed him last week and he just looked at me and asked if i was ok with him checking to make sure, i of course said sure but i figured he would find nothing since it was suppose to be done last week. I was wrong there was 3 HUGE beans there is no way his sheath was done last week, i was heart broken i didnt even think to check, it was so embarassing. Had the dentist not checked G would have gone a few months without it being done and i would have never even thought to check. I am livid... the Vet will be recieving an unhappy call from me and she had better not expect me to pay for that since she did NOT do it. Looks like from not on i will be cleaning his sheath at least then i know its done!

As Luck would have it!

I am so lucky to be with someone who knows how passionate i am about horses, a man that is willing to be on the back burner right now while i work 2 jobs ride and be a mother because he knows that i am trying to provide the best that i can given the circumstances. My second job is going great i will have all my bills caught up even the Vet bills for this month by the end of next month which makes me really happy. It is a step in the right direction thats for sure.

Back on track, i have changed my riding days to Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights since the remainder of the week i work job #2 at night. I cant go in the evening because that is time with my son i am just not willing to lose. So i sneak away to the barn when he is fast asleep, im lucky in the summer because that means catching my horse with some daylight left to easily find him.

Finding him easily is nice but right now our entire lower half of the pasture by the gate is 6 inches of much that you have to navigate through and my princess of a horse HATES having to walk through it so he will either stop or try to find a better way than the one i am taking.

I was covered in mud when i got back in from the feild, i didnt want to put muddy pants inside my riding boots, luckly i worse some cowboy boots out to the barn. I lunged G quickly with all his tack on something i do not usually do, he had a few bucks to throw in just to point out how much he hates being lunged with his tack. I also tried using a saddle pad as well as a fleece half pad because G doesnt have a lot of muscle built up on his top line i find my saddle does not sit flat on his back when i am not in it so i figured adding some extra padding would help while riding make sure that the saddle doesnt bounce on the back of his back while in a trot. Hard to tell if it helped or not but i did get a nice relaxed trot out of him. When i have a bit more money saved up or my current saddle becomes a problem i will have a saddle fitter out to check the fit to make sure we can prevent as many future injuries as possible.

We started our ride out at the walk doing circles at every letter in the arena in both directions he is much more flexible to the left than he is to the right. When it was time to change direction we would trot accross the diagonal and i would have to fight G somewhat to keep him from cutting the line i was asking for short and returning to the rail quicker than i wanted him too. We picked up the trot and had some great forward trot around the arena counter clockwise until he heard something that made him have a bit of a meltdown in the scary corner of the arena so i ended up cutting the arena short and only working on the trot on the one end.

To get his attention back on me we worked on half halts, i would ask for a quicker walk with my legs then ask for a slower walk with me seat it felt amazing to see how quickly he responds to the cues. Halting on the other hand is not our strong suit, i will as for the halt and he will stop for a second then start trying to walk off, i would try to put him back where i had asked him to halt and that would result in him tossing his head and swishing his tail. I know persistance will beat this so once i got a decent enough halt to call it progress we moved on from that.

I used my left rein to gently pull his nose towards my boot on the left side.. no problem he even had a second to nibble on my boot thats how easy it was. I tried to repeat to the right and it resulted in him backing and more tail swishing he wouldnt give me any bend at all to the right, that is something im not so sure how to fix i guess working a little more to the right and practice will get some results.

Anyways this post has rambled on for long enough, at least i added a picture at the begining this time, I wont be able to get out to ride tonight since i have an orientation with work. But our ride last night was only 30 minutes and i feel like i have accomplished a lot we did more work at a trot than i have ever done with him and we are only going to go up from here... Im going to look at some dressage tests today and see how possible it is we get to go to a show this summer <3 fingers crossed!

Why i could not be a jumper (another video)

Is it just me or at the begining of this video does the horse not look like he is on Stilts my goodess that horse is tall!!! Anyways i could not be a jumper because even watching this video when the horses head comes out of view my heart leaps out of my chest as i prepare myself for the worst an unimaginable fall, then you see his ears come back up and they carry on. I couldnt even watch the entire video!!

Enjoy!

(yes yes i am at work today bored out of my tree finding interesting videos on facebook <3)