Wordless Wednesday - New (Bad) Habits

 

Cisco's newest thing that he's been doing for the last couple of weeks whenever I tie him up.

You Try To Do Something Nice For Someone...

 I was scheduled to teach a lesson on Sunday morning. Alas, the storm that merely threatened in my area of the city overnight apparently hit full force at the barn. They had pouring rain for at least two hours, leaving everything very soggy in the morning. 

Phantom has been using mud-based hair styling products again.

No worries. I was up and ready to go so I went out early anyways. I mean, I was already in the car when I found out, but was still in the garage, so there wasn't much point in heading back into the house (although I was tempted for a moment).

Since the road wasn't going to be dusty, I decided that I would put Cisco back out with Phantom and his recently returned from summer camp BFF Pete. He'd have a couple of hours to socialize and move around a bit more than he will in the individual paddock he's been in for a few weeks. 

It all started well. Cisco and Pete immediately sniffed each other with no squeals or strikes, and Phantom emitted huge fuck off vibes so Cisco smartly stayed out of her bubble.

They had gone down to the far end to look for the few blades of grass that might have been previously missed. Cisco was trying really hard to encourage one of the others to play with him, but not being overly rude about it. 

Phantom got down to have a roll, and I got the video ready thinking that when she got up she would take off and hijinks would ensue. Wrong. She got up, shook herself off, and went back to searching for that elusive blade of grass.

They were being boring so I was just about to leave the gate and head back to the barn to find something to keep me occupied for a couple of hours when somebody made a break for it and they all galloped towards me. There was some leaping around, mostly by Cisco, and then I don't know if Cisco got a bit possessive of Phantom, but he kicked out at Pete - and one hind leg went right through the fence, and got stuck on the other side. 

Just the good bit in slo-mo.

I was still at the gate and realized right away that he was stuck. Thankfully, Cisco also realized right away that he was stuck, and he stood perfectly still and waited for a responsible adult to help him out.

The bar that he got his leg over was pretty well at the same height as the front of his leg extended behind him. His leg was in a flexed position, so the bar was resting on the flexed front of his hock. 

Think this, but the bar was higher, more level with the bottom of his stomach, so the leg was flexed more and higher. (Hind legs at odd angles are really hard to draw.)

I tried to grab him by his hoof and lift the leg up, but that did absolutely nothing. I had yelled "help" a few times as I knew there were a couple of people around, but no one came running. I frantically called the BO's SO, who I had chatted with a few minutes earlier, and told him my horse was stuck on the fence. He had just gotten to the gate when Cisco shuffled his front legs just a bit which put him at a different angle to the fence, and his leg mostly slipped free, with just a bit of assistance needed from me to get the rest of his hoof clear. Phew.

He was probably only stuck for 2-3 minutes, and thank God, he barely moved. I was behind him, and he knew I was there, but I'm honestly surprised that he didn't try harder to escape, although I'm not complaining! In the video you can hear me saying "stay there, stay there" to him as I was running towards him, and had a moment of panic wondering if me running at him would cause him to panic. That might be something useful to teach your horse - not to run away if you run at them!

Poor Cisco was a bit shaken up by this. He wouldn't let me catch him right away, though I had him within a minute or so. We went into the barn, he had some bute, and I hosed off the leg. The scrapes all seem to be superficial, so I'm not too worried about them. I'm much more concerned that something will have happened to his stifle, not that there is currently any evidence of it. He was maybe a bit off at the trot within about 15 minutes of the incident, but I was trotting in hand and trying to evaluate, so I'm not quite sure. 

Hosed off and waiting to dry.

Emma - this coating of Blu-Kote is for you!

I won't be surprised if his leg blows up by the morning. One of the ladies who rides with me is going to have a look at him in the AM and give him some bute if it got big or seems sore, and I'll be out in the evening after work, armed with wraps and maybe ice packs. Fingers crossed that he won't be worse than a bit stiff for a few days.

The Pad Experiment

 For the first time in a very long time, Cisco was ridden five days in a row this week. We are still BFF's, as on day four he galloped across the paddock to meet me at the gate when I called him. Mind you, he didn't even look at me on day five when I went out to catch him, but I'm pretty sure that was because it was pouring rain and he wasn't inclined to leave the shelter.

On Wednesday night, I had called Pony Grandma (aka my mom) to see if she would be able to come out with me on Thursday and help me with something. I have been wanting to try using the Surefoot Pads with Cisco while under saddle, but there never seems to be anyone around to put the pads under his feet for me while I'm riding. 

At some point on Thursday, this video link popped up somewhere on the interweb for me, and it seemed fate that I had already planned something similar for that night. There's some really good info in this video.

Pony Grandma (PG) hasn't been out to the barn since last summer. This wasn't the best ride to show her the progress that we've made - I wasn't riding my best, and thus Cisco wasn't really going his best - but she saw a huge difference in his relaxation as we warmed up. 

Cisco was inclined to go in a long, low frame on this day, something that we've often struggled with. The challenge is always keeping his nose out. He was doing pretty good with it though.

After some w/t/c, we started with the pads.

Cisco has done them many times before, so he is very familiar with them, and generally made it very easy for PG to place them under his feet. However, he wasn't as inclined to stand on them as long as he normally would, which I assume is because this time he had the extra weight and balance of his rider. Still, I was able to feel him do some twitches, sways, and little body adjustments while standing on the pads.

Did I notice a difference in him after standing on the pads? An assured yes!

Cisco has always been a high-headed horse. Getting him to stretch his nose down has always been a challenge. 

It didn't take long for him to do so at a walk. And after a while, he let me know that he wasn't wanting to let me bring his head up as when I tried to shorten my reins a bit before picking up a trot he kind of snatched them out of my hand to continue stretching down. 

The trot took a little bit longer for him to relax into, and surprisingly he was more inclined to do it on the left rein versus the right rein. I tried really hard to let him have a loose rein, and then we couldn't seem to steer at all, and when I would have to take a bit of contact to guide him in the direction we needed to go he went behind the bit, but popped his nose out again when I released. He felt soft in his body and light in his step.

Also of interest, was that in the beginning he really tried to take me back to the middle of the circle where the pads were lying on the ground, and where PG was standing. This didn't help our steering issues!

All in all, it was an excellent experiment that I will for sure be repeating. Cisco has been working really well lately but he has a tendency to get a bit stuck and short in his neck. He also still needs to develop the muscles along the top of his neck, especially in front of the withers. They're coming, but slowly.

I just need a person ready to pop the pads under his feet at different times of my ride so that I can use them to release tension through the ride. That should be easy, right?

Carl's Words of Wisdom

Since I started using the soundproof ear covers for Cisco last spring, I've had a different horse. He no longer splats every time he hears a sound, and thus no longer spends his time in the arena tensely waiting for it to happen because it happened last week so it's obviously going to happen again and he'd better be ready for it because he needs to make sure that he wasn't going to be the one eaten by the horse murderers that hide in the corners at the end of the arena.

The chances of horse murderers jumping out at you are less when wearing ear covers, but never zero. 

Now, I generally get onto a llama for the first lap around each way, but when the horse murders stay hidden, he stops worrying that death is imminent and releases the tension in his body.

And, it turns out, Cisco is actually quite lazy.

I don't know how to ride a lazy horse. I've always had pretty forward horses.

The theme of the year so far has been to get Cisco thinking forward. We finally have relaxation, now I need to put some energy back into him.

It was a bit of a struggle. We had many rides of transition after transition after transition, insisting on a forward reaction from a light leg. He'd do it, but wouldn't maintain it. It was exhausting to ride.

About a month ago, I had an epiphany. 

I needed to take my legs off the horse.

Huge difference. Yuge.

You've probably heard the mantra "Keep your legs on a hot horse, take your legs off a lazy horse". I've generally always ridden hotter horses, so I've always kept a light feel with my leg. Until recently, I would have said that Cisco was a hot, reactive horse, so he needed my leg on for reassurance. 

But now he's not reactive. And I want him to be hotter. So I have to keep remembering to take my leg off, only use it when I need to apply an aid, then take it off again.

It has helped with the forward immensely. I am much less tired after my ride. And Cisco has started offering much bigger trots with much more impulsion. Two rides ago as soon as we picked up our trot he trotted big and relaxed in his body - he used to always start off forward, but very tense and up and down. This was a trot that was taking me somewhere. It felt great. 

The forward with less tension has also made a big difference in straightness. I can finally ask for flexion and not have him fling his shoulders in that same direction. 

We've also started to work with the counter-canter. And whoo-boy, does that make him work. We're going to be doing a whole bunch of that!

We're finally at the point where I feel I can really school my horse. I don't really think I've changed a whole lot on my end (other than taking my legs off), it's just that Cisco is finally relaxed enough that I am not fighting negative tension for most of a ride. 

Thank god - it's only taken five years!!

 

Cisco Sans Selle

 Oops. I kinda fell off the blogging wagon.

Mostly because I've been so darn busy, which is mostly because of the horses. But in a good way. 

So I'll attempt to catch you up.

In this episode of Gray Flannel Horses, I tell you about how Heather has put on her big girl panties and has been riding her horse sans saddle.

I used to ride bareback all the time. You know, when I was young, fit, skinny, and had a horse that spooked once every couple of years (mostly at cows). If I could do it in a saddle, I could probably do it bareback (well, maybe the jumps were smaller).

Then I didn't ride for a few years, got older, fatter, and less fit. My balance on a horse (and on the ground at times) is not what it was when I was younger.

Between 2009 and this summer, I've hopped on Phantom bareback a grand total of four times.  And it felt awful.

Looking back now, I think that Phantom, aka Miss Sensitive, was always trying to adjust her balance to stay with my balance, which made keeping my balance much more difficult. She was kind enough to do a tiny little walk, and the slowest jog she's ever done, but anything more than that was too much movement for her and she didn't like it. I do recall cantering once on her, during which I almost slid off  over her left shoulder about three times over 2/3's of a 20m circle. 

So riding bareback on her just wasn't fun.

I hadn't attempted bareback on Cisco prior to this year for a variety of reasons, including my short legs and his very wide barrel, his level of spookiness, and, well, my age (much closer to 50 than 40 these days).

One of things I always liked about hopping on bareback was the speed in which I could get ready - a quick brush, pop on my helmet and a bridle, and pretty well good to go. And lately, I've been looking for a way to sometimes have a quick toodle ride.

There's also been a big change in Cisco this year. He's become quite reliable. And for the most part, quite chill.

So, a few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and slid a leg over without a stirrup to place it in. 

And he was super!

He quickly figured it out and wasn't phased by me sliding around on his back. I'll totally admit that I held onto mane for most of the ride, including at a walk, but we did some trot before calling it a day. 

Since that ride went so well, I decided to try it again on Mother's Day when I was in a bit of a rush to something done with the horses before family dinner. This time, it was super windy out, and Cisco was in the arena by himself. What could go wrong?

Potted fake plants in the doorway could blow over. That's what could go wrong.

I mean, he gave me fair warning while I set up the Pivo that he was going to be a bit on edge. Staring into the scary end while doing that loud blowing snort (you know the one) does not bode well for a quiet ride. But he kept his shit together other than when he was almost killed by the fake plants and we were able to do some trot (most definitely holding mane) - but only in the safe end of the arena. I did have a dinner to attend, and my brother is quite a good cook.

On our next bareback attempt, the goal was to rely a little less on the mane for my balance. Cisco is helping me in my task by rubbing his mane out like he does every summer due to trying to eat the grass on the other side of the fence (it is greener, after all). There isn't much left in the grab mane zone to grab.

On the fourth ride, we cantered. On purpose even!

As I suspected, getting the canter was the hard part. He wasn't quite confident that I was really asking for it. But once we got it he cantered quietly and gave me a soft downward transition back to walk. 

My balance is definitely starting to feel better. I can let go of the mane and stay in the middle of my horse, but I need to relax and allow my body to follow the movement more. I'm pretty tense in my back and not sitting on my seat bones enough. There are also some moments when I realize that I'm sitting a bit more to the left than I should be and am at risk of sliding off his left shoulder. Thankfully, Cisco has been very kind to me and hasn't taken that second step that does me in. 

I'm excited to continue this over the summer months. Sometimes, in the heat, you just want a quick ride, and it's just so easy to convince myself to actually do it when I don't have to go through all the effort of tacking up. 

Hit Your Mark!

During the winter months, it's not uncommon for me to pop the ponies into the arena to have a chance to have a bit of a play. Our weather is erratic, the ground in their paddock can be icy (especially this year), and when I can't ride somewhat consistently it's just easier to give them a day to get the sillies out without me on their back.

Phantom knows the routine and once she gets warmed up, she pretty well keeps herself going. These days I usually have to stop her well before she has used up all her energy.

Cisco has never really gotten into it. Not because he doesn't have an excess of sass though - it's because he walks into the arena, looks into the scary far end, and immediately decides that he doesn't want to risk getting eaten by the land sharks that are lurking in the corners and that he must stay as close to the entrance gate as possible (just in case a quick getaway is needed).

If he comes off the track along the short end of the ring, he only uses about 15 meters of the arena. Tiny circles, usually back to the gate, or back and forth along the short end - if left to his own devices, that's the extent of his free lunging. 

This video is from last winter. He's a bit better than normal here, but you can see his desire to get back to the gate.

I suppose that I could chase him around with a bag on a whip and maybe he'll go a whole 20 meters away from the gate. But this is a horse who needs to learn how to relax - he's quite capable of running frantically around in a llama posture. As much as I want him to work through some sillies, he isn't a horse who gets too ridiculous, so really he just needs to move around for a bit and that's enough to make him rideable the next day. I'd prefer to have the arena be a place that he enjoys and is relaxed to be in, and not a place that he associates with stress and frantic running.

So, much like being under saddle, I try to put his brain to work, and have taught him how to go to a mark. 

Not the best video as I was trying to manage my phone, a whip, and cookies all at the same time, but I love how it shows you how he makes deliberate decisions to go to the spot, and how much different his posture is versus the first video.

This has worked really well. I'm usually able to slowly move the mark further down the arena, and more often than not, Cisco will continue to seek it out. I can often get him to about 2/3's the way down the approximately 100-meter arena - much better than 15 meters by the gate!

The other thing that this work does is change his posture. Instead of going around like a llama, he is much more relaxed in his frame. I'd rather not strengthen any llama muscles!

We do not need to encourage this posture!

A tarp is the preferred option for a mark, but as I don't always have one handy, I've also used a lead shank on the ground in a circle shape (which is what I am using in this video). I think that the tarp is far more visible - when I move the lead shank down the arena he doesn't seem to find it right away (maybe if I used a clean shank it might help!).

Depending on how worried he is about the scary end he is, we have had some success with clicking for a treat when he gets a little bit braver and goes a little further than normal from the gate. Once he gets the first click he will incrementally go a little further, for which he gets a click and a treat.  But this totally depends on the perceived imminence of the land shark invasion. Today, it was quite windy, and the land shark threat was high, so my attempts to get him to be brave with just a click didn't pay off and I had to use a visual mark.

Who knows, maybe this will develop into a film career for Cisco. He takes a great headshot!

Throwback Thursday - Way Back to June

 I'm on my 5th day of being stuck in the house with a head cold. My Covid test was negative, so my stuffed up sinuses are definitely just due to a cold. Problem is, in these pandemic days, I'm legally required to stay quarantined until my symptoms have subsided. With my negative test (and vaccinations) I just have to wait until I am symptom-free and then can leave the house. 

Not that I would want to go anywhere with cold/flu-like symptoms - I'm pretty sure everyone would treat me like a leper.

Since I have had so much time on my hands and little incentive to do anything useful, I finally managed to edit some video I've been putting off.

Cisco's first gymnastic line!

We did it way back in June. And haven't jumped since. Sigh.

Overall, he was a very good boy on this day. I tried to keep it short - he went through a couple of times, and we would start on the next jump. 

I used my brain and set the line up so that we would jump it out of the scary end towards the main door. He likes to suck back heading into the scary end and I didn't want to give him a reason to think twice about jumping. Unfortunately, our turn into the line was not as straight as I would have liked on many an occasion as he dropped his shoulders in an attempt to GTFO of the corner as fast as he could.

This was also my first time jumping anything with related distances in something like 8 years. I was just happy I stayed on and didn't fuck up too much!

I should have had the line a bit tighter so that he didn't have to reach so much if he backed off. I have no idea how long his stride is, but I'm pretty sure that it's not 12'. I mean, the jumps were tiny, so there was no need to be anywhere close to 12' (and they were set as such).

I was just about to raise them a wee bit when he got a bit worried and started thinking about his options. We went through one more time with him being a bit more forward again and called it a day. I was quite happy with him and didn't want to risk things going backwards. 

It's not a terribly exciting video - the jumps are tiny, and I didn't come anywhere near falling off. Sorry!

I'd like to jump once or twice again this month before I stop riding Nov/Dec due to work - but I need to get rid of this stupid cold first. I'm hoping to head out to the barn this afternoon, but don't think I'll ride. I should be able to get back in the saddle this weekend though.

The Try-Guy

 A couple of weeks ago I had a proper schooling session on Cisco and told him that he actually had to make an effort at canter and not go around like a llama. 

Always a llama for the first pass at the end of the arena.

I wish I knew what magical words I whispered to him that night, because ever since then, he has been fantastic.

He hasn't turned into Valegro or anything like that. But something has clicked and he's just become very rideable. He's super willing and has been trying really hard to work with me.

The reason for that schooling session was to figure out if I had broken the right lead canter, the better lead for both of us. 

Ever since that day, the right lead has been lovely. I could ride the right lead for hours.

There's got to be a dressage test where you only canter one way, right?

To the left... well, it's a work in progress.

 

The canter at the beginning of the ride. The right shoulder isn't flinging out, but I've got no bend to the left.

The alternative method of left lead canter - the right shoulder bulging out.

Unfortunately, it's the tougher side for both of us. For me, I have the left-hand-itis - the left hand that loves to hang on the rein like a dead fish, and a much weaker left leg (also the leg that I pulled the adductor on last summer).  For Cisco, he likes to push his shoulders to the right, so the struggle is keeping that right shoulder falling way out in the circle, while getting him to bend around my left leg. Of course, if I could keep my left leg on reliably, and turn my fricking shoulders to the inside, it might be easier for him. 

Getting better. It still needs more left bend, but he's not dropping onto the left front nearly as much.

With the flinging of the shoulders to the right, it also means that he doesn't fill up my right rein, which means I don't have a very effective half-halt when tracking right. All around, the left lead is more of a struggle than the right.

I think there might actually be a bit of lift on the left shoulder!

But it's coming. I've been keeping the left lead canters shorter with the intent of getting a chance to re-organize before the wheels fall completely off the bus. It's generally easier to start with and keep a good canter than to fix a bad canter. It also gives me a chance to reposition myself in the saddle to give the poor horse a fighting chance of doing what I'm asking of him.

I'll take this trot. (It would be better if I would shorten my damn reins!)

It's working. Every ride we manage to get a few more strides of a canter with a left bend that I can steer off my outside aids. When I remember to put my inside leg on, he tries to bend around it. We'll probably lose it after a few steps, but at least I'm getting the desired response. 

Getting a well-deserved cookie at the end of the ride. I tuck it into his cheek - it's kind of adorable.

Cisco has always been a horse with a lot of try. I've been trying to alternate rides between proper schooling sessions and hacking so that I don't give him a reason to lose his willingness. It seems to be working!

The Canter Struggle Bus

Cisco's canter has been on the struggle bus as of late. He's been picking up his leads with no issue, and in general the transitions have been prompt and without drama. 

I got some usable Pixio footage (lots of non-usable footage). It's taken forever to be able to get on this horse and walk around on the buckle at the start of the ride.

But once we get into the canter, he's a llama. A left-bending llama.

It's a little dark, but this moment totally shows our struggle with dropping the right shoulder tracking right.

I've been wondering if it's a physical issue, a tack issue, a training issue, or an idiot rider issue.

One training hole that I know we have is not being able to get flexion at the poll without following with his shoulders. I spent so much time trying to get this horse to go on a straight line forward that I kind of neglected to work on getting flexion at anything other than a walk. We've been working on it, and I'm pretty sure that this will help our canter immensely.

On a ride last Friday I decided to tackle the canter. I only wanted him to give me some bend, and not carry his head straight up in the air. Was a decent ride lead canter something he couldn't do, in which case I'd have to look into getting a vet workup done, or he didn't want to do (because it's hard)?

I like the uphill moment, but would like the neck a bit longer and my butt to stay in the saddle.

We went back to doing lots of transitions on a circle. The first couple of canters were ugly, but it slowly started getting better. He started softening his back and allowed me to influence and ride the canter, rather than just sit on top and steer.

Magic colour change pony - he's now a palomino!

We made some progress in being able to ask for some flexion and have him reach down into contact. There were also some lovely, soft transitions into canter.

And then we had an amazing trot around the arena! Forward, straight, even contact in both my reins - it felt fantastic!

I would like his neck a wee bit longer here, but I was starting to ask for some right flexion. Also - as evidenced by these pictures - I can't sit up straight anymore.

Just Do It!

 It's long been my goal to start seriously jumping again.

Twenty-plus years ago when I had my gelding Farly we did the 3'3" hunters and jumpers. He was a super honest and brave horse (except in gymnastic lines - it took a couple of years before he would reliably go through without running out in a one-stride, which often left me wearing a standard). He was also very rideable and adjustable, so he was very easy to place to the jump if I saw a distance, and at 3' and under he didn't worry if I screwed up.

Probably 1998 or 1999.

He had to be retired from jumping at the age of 13 due to a suspensory injury that turned out to be affected by ringbone that was found around the same time. Here's a tip - don't buy a horse you want to jump that has tiny quarter horse feet.

I had him for another six years before he went to the big field in the sky due to laminitis. I took about three years off from riding before I was given the chance to ride Phantom for a friend of mine. 

Phantom actually quite liked jumping. She is quite brave and bold. Unfortunately, she is not so rideable between the jumps. She dislikes any backwards contact or hanging on her mouth. It will cause her to become erratic in her pace, blow her leads behind, and make it difficult to get to the distance you saw. Then, to top it all off, if the distance was icky she would jump like a deer - and not in a good way. Of course the goal is to not have to pull backwards or hang on her mouth, but when you need to balance your canter quickly before turning into a line sometimes things happen, and it just never went well.

I gave it a go for a few years. It got a bit better when I found a bit she was happier with, but after I fell off  twice at a clinic due to her deer-style of jumping I kind of lost the desire to jump her. (One day I'll look for that video.)

I think this was the last time I seriously jumped her, which was in 2014. I don't think we had jumped for a bit at this time.

Then she decided that my jump saddle didn't fit her and must never be used again. She was happy in the dressage saddle, so we stuck with that.

She also would land 90% of the time from a jump on her right lead and I've always wondered if there was a physical reason. After dealing with Farly's ringbone I didn't want to risk ending Phantom's riding career early due to an injury that I could have prevented if I looked at the signs.

Farly went lame in 2000, so over the last twenty years I've maybe had 2 or 3 years of consistent jumping, and done just a few handfuls of small jumps otherwise. I'm a whole lot out of practice, and a whole lot worried about doing anything bigger than minuscule. 

But I really want to do it again.

I'm not in a position to take regular lessons, which means that there isn't the drive to do it regularly. I won't jump if I'm by myself, and though my mom is quite happy to watch me and call 911 if needed since Covid hit I haven't really taken her out to the barn with me. I ride at a barn with a bunch of eventers, so even though jumps are set up for half of the week, they are often tricky exercises that are not suitable for a green horse who isn't super brave (not to mention his rider). If I move jumps around I have to move them back, and that takes time that I often don't have.

Thus, I haven't jumped Cisco very much.

Cisco actually likes to jump. He's gotten better and braver the last few times that I've popped him over some little things (we're talking like twice in the last six months). He is far more rideable between the jumps than Phantom ever was. His stride isn't very long (I doubt it's anywhere near a 12 foot stride) and his canter can get really bouncy so my two-point position is horrible - thankfully I have no issues sitting in the saddle between the jumps. I find him really fun to ride.

On Monday everything lined up to do some jumps. There were a few little ones, someone responsible was riding with me, and I wanted to do something else instead of flatwork with him. 

We trotted over the couple of crosspoles with no hesitation at all from him. There was one more jump to try - a vertical.

I totally admit that I have a mental block about verticals (don't get me started on oxers). It's totally just because I haven't jumped one in years, but I was worried about it. I realize that there's no logical reason to be worried, it's just a different jump, but I think I've always found comfort in crosspoles - even those ones where the cups are set at the top of the standards and the horse has to do a really tight jump to stay in the middle - I always liked doing those.

I yanked up my big girl panties and trotted Cisco towards the single rail vertical, which was probably no bigger than 18". It was his first vertical, and he totally didn't care. I had a slight panic coming into it, my supervisor told me to breathe, I took a deep breath in, and just waited for the jump. Cisco popped over it and loped away with no concerns.

\We did it the other direction, which he had so little concern about that he barely jumped it, so we had to do it again.

Since things were going so well, I figured I might as well start working through my other mental block - cantering into jumps.

I know this is because I'm a control freak, and I don't like it when I don't see my distance into the jump and don't know what's going to happen. With Farly my eye got pretty good, but I'm so out of practice I don't trust myself. I know that I need to practice over poles on the ground. I also know that I am pretty accurate off the right lead, but for some reason I have a much harder time on the left lead.

I totally chose a short approach turn on the right lead - something I hardly ever miss.

I swear this canter felt much faster than a crawl.  And I think you can see a bit of his bounciness.

And we nailed it.

I was going to end it there, but my supervisor said she thought I was going to canter the vertical, so I should do it again. 

I succumbed to peer pressure. 

There was a slight moment of panic coming into the vertical where I didn't see my distance about five strides out, but, instead of panic riding and chasing Cisco into it (and probably past the distance) I just waited, and realized that it was going to be a wee bit short, but it would be okay. I was quite proud of myself for that!

Now, I get that getting over these tiny little jumps is no huge feat. When you haven't done it in ages it's just such a mental thing. Add-in being a perfectionist control-freak, and it's even harder to get over that hurdle (pun intended).

Next week I'm on vacation and I have no plans with the ponies that will prevent them from being ridden for the week. I'm going to drag my mom out with me and attempt to start Cisco on a small gymnastic line. My goal is to jump twice next week, and then at least every other week after that. The jumps don't have to be big, I just have to start doing them. 

My other tip to all those reading - don't stop. It's so hard to get started again.

The Secret to Horse Training

 I have found the magical piece of equipment that has turned Cisco into a fancy prancing horse!!!

I wanted to try it for a long time and finally found a cheap one that made it worthwhile to see if it would work. I spent a whole $12 on this magikal, prancing unicorn-making device. 

What is this revolutionary product that must be made of fairy dust and the tears of middle-aged amateur horse-owning women? 

Are you ready for this? Can you contain your excitement??

Here is my secret:

Soundproof ear covers.

Cisco is so much better in this bonnet. He can concentrate so much more, and because he's not worried about something going on around him (like a pigeon that might potentially flap up unexpectedly somewhere in the ring) he's gotten steadier and more consistent. I think he's only spooked maybe three times since he started wearing it, and they weren't scoot spooks, more of a plant a leg quickly for a step kind of spooks. Huge difference.

I know, I know, it could all be a coincidence - he had a chiro adjustment last month (another one this week), most of our rides have been with other horses in the arena, and I've been working on some basics that he should have by now but he apparently picks and chooses as to when thinks he has to do them.

But the few times that we have been by ourselves in the arena or someone has left partway through our ride, or when the murder door opened up at the end of the arena and horses disappeared through it never to be seen again, he's mostly just glanced at it and gone back to work with nary a hissy fit. 

I managed to get the Pixio mostly working this past Sunday, which turned out to be a ride I was really happy with. 

Cisco noticed the mirror panels that have been placed behind the kickwall during some renovations and his vanity kicked in.

Right from the beginning of the ride he was really relaxed and waiting for me. One of the things I've been really reinforcing is going into the corners of the arena - he prefers to drop the shoulder, ignore my inside leg, and cut the corners early. So we've spent a lot of time riding straight into the corners and halting - even the scary ones. It's definitely gotten way better, and it's helped with the spookiness in the end - if he's not thinking gtfo as we approach the corner, his reaction when something spooks him isn't nearly as big (not that he's spooked since he started wearing the bonnet). This was the first ride that when we approached the first corner at a walk on a loose rein, he went straight into the corner and stopped like he knew that that was his job. It was even the scariest corner in the ring! We warmed up at the trot stopping in the corners, ideally with no hand, and he stayed straight and waited.

Ignore the western trainer and lesson that decided to work right in front of my camera. There should be no sound so that you don't have to hear him. And hopefully, you can see me behind the round pen (super annoying and it better only be up for another week as we were told). The gate in the second corner was wide open so I had to use some hand to stop him there or he would have happily trotted through it.

Another thing that I've been working on is a forward, relaxed pace. When Cisco is worried he can be a little overreactive and quite wiggly. When there are other horses with him and he's chill he's behind my leg. Lately, he's been chill most of the time so I've had to get him sharper off my leg. Turns out he's actually pretty sharp off my bodyweight for going forward, but I need him to be sharper to the leg if we want to jump. 

On this ride I really liked how he felt - just the right forward, relaxed, and, dare I say it, steady. He's never been a horse I would apply steady to. 

Canter was much the same - relaxed, trying hard to stay in a relaxed frame, and we had some lovely forward and backs within the canter, including on his harder left side where he usually gives up because it's hard.

This was a ride where he did what I asked so I kept it short. It wasn't perfect by any means (like our ugly, sticky canter transitions) by I'm trying really hard to reward the try, and on this day I thought he tried really hard.

The rest of the week hasn't worked out to ride - Cisco had a chiro appointment on Monday and was told to take Tuesday off. I booked a massage for myself later on Monday, which originally felt great, but after being up for 20 minutes the next morning I made the fatal error of looking down at my phone, which tweaked something in my neck and I couldn't turn my head to the left - 10 minutes before I had to drive to work. Shoulder checking was awkward. I decided it would be smart to not ride for a couple of days, it's much better today (Thursday), but there's a clinic booked in the arena this weekend and the arena won't be free until late evenings (which actually might work out ok for me). I have to work ridiculously early on Friday so I think if I go home and have a nap in the afternoon and then have supper before heading out to the barn I can make it work. I'll make sure I put on Cisco's magic hat!

(By the way - is anyone else having problems with Blogger not playing videos? I had to download them to Youtube to get them to work, they wouldn't work when downloaded to Blogger.)

Return to Work

 Since my area was the first to get the polar vortex a couple of weeks ago, it looks like we might be the first to get out of it. Daytime highs are back up around the freezing mark - which means it's time to get back in the saddle!

Cisco's new job description is pack mule as I made him carry in Phantom's blanket. She got to get nekkid for a couple of hours in the sun.

For the first time in ages I hopped on both horses yesterday. I couldn't ride two in the same day for most of last year due to my adductor injury (which hasn't totally disappeared yet). After three weeks of mostly sitting on the couch I'm sure I'll be paying for it tomorrow!

A couple of weeks ago I had snagged a couple of BR soundproof ear bonnets for $12 each in a sample sale. I've been wanting to try one for Cisco for ages but I haven't been able to find one locally for cheap and if I had to order it online it was too expensive for something that would maybe work. At $12 and free shipping - totally worth trying it.

They are full size but seem to be a small fit. On Cisco, who is generally more of a cob size, it's a bit of a squeeze to get his ears in without them getting folded up. I was also worried that the bonnet would pop off during our ride (although I got it over his ears it didn't want to rest atop his head), but happily it seemed to stay put under the bridle. 

Even more happily - I think it made a positive difference!

This was Cisco's first ride in about three weeks. He's been lunged a couple of times in the last few days so he's had a chance to expel some energy, but that hasn't made a difference in the past. This is usually when his spookiness is at its highest level. 

On this night we had only three moments where he thought about spooking, but got no further than planting a foot differently. Even when the end door opened up and horses appeared through it - usually this results in a giraffe neck, but he just quietly looked over at them while on a loose rein.

I definitely think the ear bonnet helped. It's going to be a regular part of our kit!

This was also Cisco's first ride after his bodywork on Monday. I think his trot felt a bit more up in his shoulders and he seemed better bending right (when he wasn't pushing into my right leg). Especially considering that when I tacked him up I was so focused on getting the ear bonnet on securely that I failed to notice that I had grabbed Phantom's bridle to put on him. I had a moment just before getting on that I glanced at his bridle and thought something looked wrong about the browband, but it was in the right position so obviously it's fine. Then it took me half a lap of the arena before I realized that I had the wrong reins on, and how the hell did Phantom's reins get of Cisco's bridle. Facepalm. Idiot moment.

The browband is a U-shape on Phantom but Cisco's wider noggin stretched it straight.

He didn't feel great at the canter, which I wonder if it was because of the wrong bit in his mouth, orif  he was still a bit body sore. He was really sticky to pick up the canter on both leads. This can be a problem when he hasn't been ridden for a bit, but our last ride had some lovely transitions with a pole exercise. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and just did a couple of short canters on each direction and basically called it a night. He was getting tired and I didn't want to lose the benefits from his adjustments that I had been feeling. 

Post-ride SureFoot pads sessions. Cisco isn't a horse to normally drop his head and neck like this so this was a good session!

I wasn't planning on doing much with Phantom. I figured she'd be pretty stiff after all the cold. I was planning to mostly walk and then kind of see how the trot felt.

Apparently the Previcox I'd given her the day before had done its magic because she felt pretty good! The fact that she hadn't had a chance to get the sillies out as I usually would do with her probably helped give her some extra forward momentum.

I pretty much confirmed that she is now deaf. Whereas when I had tested her using voice commands under saddle back in October and I felt she heard them, last night she didn't. I don't think I saw a single response to any of my clucking, kissing, hand-clapping, caw-cawing, walk, or whoa sounds. Not a single ear flick. 

Which means I have to find a way to slow her down when she wants to take off at a canter! Pulling on the reins doesn't slow her down - it just makes her get bouncier!

I'm trying to think of some options that I can use under saddle to replace my voice. I'm going to try a neck rope, and maybe see if I can install something like my hand squeezing her crest means stop. I also want to work on some hand signals on the ground. A quick google search didn't bring up too many solid tips on dealing with a deaf horse, so I'll have to be a little bit creative. But I love this kind of challenge! Thankfully, Phantom does too - especially if cookies are involved!

Cisco Got Adjusted

 Cisco had his first bodywork session yesterday. 

I've been wanting to get it done for a while, but I don't have anyone that I use on a regular basis. There's a vet that does chiro who used to come out to us and I had Phantom done a couple of times, but she won't come this far anymore. She's about an hour and a half away, and since Cisco isn't the best trailer-er I don't know if the trip would be worth it. I worry that he'd be so tense in the trailer that it would undo any work that was done on him before we even made it home. 

One of the instructors at the barn started using a lady who does chiro and acupressure last summer and has been really happy with the results. She lives a couple of hours away but does horses at the Belgian breeding place just down the road so she's in the area every month or so. I was going to get Cisco done in the fall, but she was coming out just as I finished riding before my two-month stint on nights so I decided to wait. Then she was scheduled to come out last week, but the polar vortex hit and the day she was supposed to come was going to be -30 so we rescheduled it to this week when it was a much warmer -18 (said with sarcasm).

Dentist is planned for the spring...

Cisco hasn't had any injuries that I had to inform her of, so I gave her my biggest concerns as to his way of going. Basically, his mouthiness with the bit which I wonder is a TMJ issue (I heard his jaw clicking recently when he was eating) and his preference to push into his right shoulder/rib cage and not step under himself with his left hind as much as his right. 

What did she find? 

Poor Cisco was out everywhere. Nothing significant, just a little bit in a lot of places. Withers, all parts of his spine, his right hip was lower, he stepped shorter on his left hind, tight in his shoulders, out in his poll, carried his tail to one side, he may have slipped and done the splayed hind leg thing at one point - yeah, everywhere. Cue guilty horse mom moment. 

Okay, so I'm not the worst mom out there.

She worked some magic and Cisco slowly released his breath and started to give some releases. Seeing him yawning and dropping his nose to the ground is a big deal as he doesn't show these releases very often. 

She had me trot him up when she was done and he slowly realized that he was able to lift and lighten his shoulders much better. By the third trot up he had it figured out and seemed much freer in front. She said he was still a bit short in his left hind, but better than it was in the beginning. 

I'm always highly suspicious of how effective some of these bodyworkers are. Especially since there is a local "school" so we have a dearth of people at various stages of their training hanging up their shingle in this area.

The horse will be the best judge of the effectiveness of the treatment. I'm not supposed to ride Cisco for two days, which was my plan anyway as the next couple of nights are still supposed to be pretty chilly by the time I get out to the barn in the evening after work. 

But I might have seen the first indication of positive results. 

Cisco ate his dinner right after his appointment. He quite often picks his rubber dish up and flips it around after he's licked it out. This time was a little bit different. Instead of flipping it up and down, he twirled it. One of the things she had adjusted was something was hindering him from turning his head to the right, so I wonder if he was enjoying the new freedom in his poll when he was twirling the dish. He did it a few times for quite a few seconds each time and was in no rush to stop playing with the dish.

Fingers crossed that I notice a difference on our next ride (hopefully on Thursday) and that this 20-minute session fixes all our problems and he turns into a fancy prancing pony. That's how it works, right?

My Horse is Sometimes an Asshole

 After the terrrible, spooky start to trying to ride a couple of Friday's ago I decided that it was time to go back to some groundwork with Cisco. I haven't done much of it lately and I do think that it has helped in the past, so it was time to grab the rope halter.

Don't get sucked in by this innocent face.

I was hoping to get a free arena so that I could work with Cisco when he is in his high alert mode. And I did - for maybe three minutes. Within 15 minutes there were about six horses in the arena. Oh well.

We started with our TRT Method groundwork in the scary end of the arena. This groundwork focuses on getting the horse to relax. It took a few minutes, but Cisco was doing pretty good with it. He always wants to try to scoot out of the end, so I had to keep catching him at that moment to stop his feet with his butt towards the scary end.

We also did a bit of work with an umbrella, which isn't something that Cisco typically gets excited about. I was looking for reasons to reward him with a click and treat. I couldn't mess around as much as I would have liked as there were a couple of riders having a lesson on green horses and I didn't want to fry their horses, but we were getting stuff done. Cisco was being pretty good and didn't seem too worried about the end of the ring. 

We were standing at rest with his butt towards A (at the scary end), a few feet off the track, me facing him and a bit to his right. I was trying to decide what I was going to do next with him.

And then I suddenly got run over by a Mack truck.

Well, that's what it felt like.

My asshole of a horse heard something behind him while he was "at rest" - don't know what because I didn't hear it (might have been because one of the horses being ridden went behind him on the track for the 50th time that night?) - and did the same thing he does under saddle, which is the GTFO bolt. Unfortunately, I was in the way of his GTFO, and he slammed his shoulder into my chest and knocked me backward onto the ground.

I'm pretty sure there was an audible "splat" sound. I most definitely did not bounce back up.

I also didn't let go of him, but because I didn't bounce back up within three seconds I couldn't have that come to Jesus moment with him about my personal space. It happened so fast that I have no clue as to if he actually attempted to go around me or just blindly bolted, which is what I suspect.

I told you I needed this on a t-shirt!

Once I caught my breath, picked up my toque, dug the treats out of the footing that had fallen out of my pockets and brushed the dirt off my butt we went back to the groundwork. This time, I was a lot more firm about him needing to stop his feet coming out of the scary end.

He was pretty well foot perfect. And he even gave a huge yawn release, which is something he doesn't typically do.

We did a few more minutes before I decided to end the day - mostly because my back was starting to tighten up. The rest of the evening was spent with a heating pad and thinking up sales ads (not really, but it's a good thing he's cute).

Phantom is smart and would never knock over her mother treat dispensing machine. 

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday - Pony Squeals

I finally caught Cisco's adorable little whinny on video. This is the whinny he uses when he's calling to someone outside of the arena. It can be even more adorable when he does the same little squeal but under his breath and I'm the only one that can hear him. Makes me giggle every time. 

Make sure the volume is turned up!

It Was A Good Run

It was a good run, Cisco. Almost three years with no injuries or lameness to speak of.

He is now trying to make up for it.

I hopped on him on Thursday night. He was great at the mounting block and stood rock still after I got on. I savored that for a minute or so before asking him to walk. I knew immediately that he was going to be lame.

I couldn't really figure out where though. I walked him for a few minutes, then tried a trot before a friend left the arena. I started on the right rein down the long side, he definitely didn't feel right, but by the time we came out of the second corner I thought he didn't feel too bad.

Then I went left.

Oh yeah. He was lame.

Not really anything shouted out at us though. I definitely think its the left front/right hind diagonal pair, but my friend saw left front, I felt right hind. There wasn't a significant head bob, so I'm sticking with my hind thought.

I walked him under saddle for about 20 minutes with some leg yielding to see if he loosened up then tried another quick trot to the left. It actually felt pretty good. I just did one short end and hopped off and took him back to the barn. I tried some carrot stretches with him to see if that also helped. It may have all been too much as he seemed worse after standing when I led him back outside.

My plan was to hand walk him for the next few days. It's expected to get a bit chilly later this week again for about 4 days, so I thought I would wait until after the cold to try to hop on him again. I didn't go out to the barn Friday (work) or Saturday (abdominal pain on my drive home).

On Sunday I grabbed him from the field, took his blanket off and we went over to the arena for his walk. And I saw this.

Big fat upper leg, with a lovely gouge out of it.

And yay! (sarcasm font) The gouge is a puncture wound. You can kind of see the hole on the top right. I grabbed a syringe with some betadine water and crossed my fingers that it would all squirt back at me, but nope, it all disappeared up into the hole.

Thankfully, Cisco is a far better patient than Phantom is. I'm pretty sure she would have attempted to kick me in the head a multitude of times. Cisco stood at the end of his lead rope and wasn't really happy with it, but his feet stayed firmly on the ground.

I didn't go crazy with flushing it out as the water wasn't draining - I don't know much it would be safe to use. The vet is coming out in the morning to look at another horse so I sent her an email and hoped that she will have time to look at him. I'm guessing he'll need some antibiotics, and I'd like to know just how deep it is if possible.

I guess I'll be doing daily visits for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully by the time the front leg heals whatever else he did manages to sort itself out. No point in a lameness check now because he only has two good legs at the moment - I don't know which leg is more sore at the moment.

I thought that the original lameness was related to having a new horse in his paddock and the hijinks that inevitably occur. I figure that he tweaked something.

When I saw the gouge, I thought that I was a terrible mother and missed it when I rode on Thursday and that was why he was lame. But I guess there were some more hijinks in the wee hours of Friday morning, and his turnout crew pushed a fence down, so it is likely related to that. His blanket covers it (and has a bunch of blood on it) so you wouldn't be able to see it without looking under the blanket.

I'll see what it looks like for the vet on Monday morning. I have a feeling it's going to be bigger - his leg wasn't full-on stovepipe when I left, but I'm not going to shocked if it is when I arrive in the morning.

Wordless Wednesday Video

Not sure if Cisco was wanting to share his empty feed dish or if he was hoping to start a game of "Tug the Rubber Dish". Either way, it was really cute.

TRT Groundwork

Earlier this year I signed up for a year of the TRT Method. It's a system developed by Tristan Tucker that uses groundwork patterns to teach the horse to seek relaxation. If you haven't heard of it yet, there are lots of videos on Youtube you can check out.

I was looking for help in getting Cisco to chill the fuck out. I had a lot of issues with tension under saddle in the arena. Actually, it wasn't only while being ridden - he was tense in-hand or when turned out loose in there too.

We were mostly past the point of him barging into me with his shoulder when he wanted to leave the scary corners, but he was almost always on high alert. And he has always been a fast walker when being led - I would feel like he was taking me for a walk, not the other way around. Not in a bad way - more he was always on a mission type of way.

I had watched some of the free videos and started on a couple of the ideas in them. One was regarding leading. The horse was supposed to maintain the same distance behind you - like at least 7 or 8 feet behind you. You stop, they are supposed to stop, maintaining that distance. If they didn't, you would stand in the same place, use a "ssssshhh" voice aid, and create energy with the lead at the ground in front of the horse - not at the horse. The idea is that you create energy where you don't want them to be.

The videos were all taken on a different day than the post was written about. There were some distractions on this day.

This exercise had a huge impact on Cisco. It really got him paying attention to me, instead of things around him. We had many a discussion about staying behind me, and not to the side of me when he was trying to leave out of the scary end. I would lead him in and out of his turnout using this method, and anytime I feel he is distracted when we enter the arena I spend a few minutes on this leading, and it does wonders to tune him in.

The next thing to work on is a set of patterns that form the basis for everything else to come, including the under saddle work. The first part involves moving the hind end - having the inside hind step under and across into the outside shoulder, with inside bend through the body. The second part involves moving the front end. The outside front steps out, the inside front steps either in front of or behind the outside (if you have a horse who always wants to barge forward, you have them step behind. If they suck back, you would ask them to step forward). Again, you are looking for them to bend in the direction they are moving, in this case to the outside.

The first part is the part that is more of a struggle for Cisco. He would like to drop his inside shoulder and push it into me instead of softly bending through the ribcage. If he has any tension in his body, this is where it's going to show up. However it's getting better - he might start by dropping the shoulder, but after a few steps he becomes more supple and them generally maintains it.

The front legs he actually figured out much quicker. In the beginning, there were many times he tried to go past me instead of slowing himself down to step out and behind with the front legs. But then he started to get it, and it got really interesting to watch him put it together and be very deliberate about his footwork. I think that this exercise is his stronger of the two.

We were having problems on this day when I was on his right side. He kept trying to push past me. He's usually better than this on that side. 

Instead of lunging before a ride if I sensed a bit of silliness, I started to spend some time on this groundwork before getting on. And it seemed to work - he would quickly relax and start to tune in. However I never really managed to get him to fully release and drop his head and neck. He wasn't full-on giraffe, but he never got to the point of his nose around his knees either.

Since this spring, there has been a marked difference in Cisco. He used to always enter the arena and immediately look down into the scary end and look for imaginary demons. That stopped. He stopped being overly reactive to noises, and has been coming into the barn, cocking a leg while tied up, and looking quite chill. He has also stopped being a pooping machine while I'm riding - previously we would have an average of 3 poops per ride. Now we are usually down to one.

I don't know if the relaxation in the arena is just a coincidence, or if it is due to the groundwork. In a very short period it has felt like a switch was turned and he just stopped being worried. So I haven't been doing the groundwork as much.

To do the groundwork adds precious time to my ride. Plus I have to haul a rope halter and lead over to the arena. Not to mention that I have to review the TRT Method modules online in my limited spare time to learn the next step.

But I'm paying for it. So I really need to use it.

This week I spent some time watching a few videos to work on the next steps. And it went much better than I anticipated. Cisco seems to learn best when you introduce something to him, make a bit of progress, then put him away. He needs to think about it and generally comes into the next session ready to try it.

On this night though, I threw a couple of new exercises at him. And it didn't take long before he was doing them really well.

The first one involved moving the hind end again. But this time, I would stand in front of him, and use the whip to move him. He would need to keep his head in front of me, and maintain inside bend.

Still a problem to the right, not bending through his ribcage. It got better when I left the whip on his right haunch to ask him to step more with it.

He figured this one out really quickly. I thought that he would be trying to get past me, and he did a couple of times, but then he got backed up (move the front legs out and behind) and he soon figured out his footwork.

The second part involved the monthly challenge. I am going to video it so that I can submit it, so I'll leave the description for now and post the link when I get it done. This one is a little tougher for me as I have to figure out my footwork and handwork, but again Cisco did really well with it. I thought it would be much tougher for him.

The best part about this night was that this was probably the first night that he really relaxed. Like ears consistently below his withers relaxed, and at one part through one of the exercises his nose was only a foot off the ground. The exercises seem to be working - he's becoming much more supple in his body, and is finding some awareness about his feet and his tension.

I haven't really worked on the under saddle stuff, but I think it's time to start. Off to watch more videos!