Thinking Forward

I'm back to work this week (sad face) so Stitch is getting his workload dropped down to three days a week (maybe a lunge on a fourth day on occasion). He was ridden six days last week, which is too much, but the first few rides were only about 10 minutes each and most of the rides have been at a walk. I wanted the repetition for the first few rides, but now that we are past that I'll drop it down. I'm kind of going with the 3 years old = 3 days a week rule. 

Ride #8 was on Monday. Again, the focus was on forward at the trot, with generally minimal steering. If all went well, I was hoping to take him for his first walk around the yard under saddle. It gets tough to get outside when I have to ride after work at this time of year as it's getting dark so much earlier, so I like to take advantage of the daylight when I can. 

Stitch had had two days off, so I was hoping that this would help him think forward - and he was!

I used my brain and started the trot heading towards the gate. The impulsion was kept through the short end and I didn't have to work as hard to keep him going down the long side.

Unfortunately, the arena footing was a little wonky as they had watered but hadn't harrowed yet (the quad used to pull the harrows had been out for repairs, they were picking it up that afternoon) and there was one spot that he keeps tripping over something. I can't figure out what, other than that the footing changes a bit from deep to shallow maybe? So I tried to avoid trotting through that section, which meant I didn't get full laps. But I was much happier with his forward thinking through this ride. He wasn't perfect, I'd say he got it about 80% of the time. 

Again, we didn't do a ton of trot, but we did go outside for a walk. There was quite a bit of activity happening, and other than trying to look at something and gravitating to the right when I was trying really hard to go left, he was quite good. We didn't fall into any gopher holes so I would call that a win. 

Redemption

After the previous day's ride where Stitch's butt came up behind me when he had a little hissy fit about having to keep trotting past the gate, the focus for ride #7 was going to be just focusing on forward. I really don't care too much about steering at the trot, he's not diving all over the place, he's just cutting the ends a bit short, but until we get forward I don't want to fuss about anything that's going to back him off. 

The first trot was definitely not as forward as I am looking for, but it got better and better as we got going. We didn't have any issues getting through the short end by the gate, he backed off a bit but kept going, but then he kept backing off heading down the long side into the opposite end. 

I was going to be done, but thought, nah, I just want to do one more short end by itself, from B to E on the track. 

And Stitch nailed it. It was super forward, no stalling out, with definite intent of going forward. It was the perfect decision and the perfect place to end the ride. 

We found a lovely little laneway at the end of our road that I would love to ride down when the leaves start dropping. Unfortunately, the people that live at the end of the road are not horse people and do not like anyone trespassing on their property. We might have to try to get some pictures from along the road.

Our rides are still quite short- homeboy is not at all fit (and neither am I judging by the amount of huffing and puffing I hear in the videos), and I want to make sure that he wants to keep trying for me. 

There were some moments on this ride that I finally felt Stitch getting a bit steadier underneath me which allowed me to anchor myself better in the saddle. There's nothing like a baby horse to make you feel like you are a beginner rider again!

No Longer the Golden Child

The golden child's halo slipped a bit on ride #6. 

I had gone into the ride with the plan of just working on getting him trotting forward, with the goal of being able to trot a full lap of the arena. Turns out that was exactly what was needed.

I've always said that Stitch has more whoa than go, and I figured that getting him going was going to be my biggest problem. He has a natural engine behind him once he's moving, just convincing him to get moving might be tough. 

He'd had the Wednesday off, and I was hoping he wouldn't go too much backwards. Sometimes the greenies seem to forget everything after a day off.

He seemed ok at a walk; still remembered how to steer. 

Eventually, I picked up the trot to the left, starting at the end opposite the gate. He picked up the trot fine, trotted forward down the long side towards the gate, and stalled out as we approached the corner. I asked him to trot again, got no reaction, ramped it up a bit, dug in my heels, and up popped his back end. 

Very much the toddler equivalent of no, I don't wanna.

Very much not acceptable. As cute as it was, I can't condone it. 

It's also not a complete surprise that he got sticky at the gate - the first couple of times that I lunged him at that end there was a little bit of a hissy fit about the expectation to keep going.

I had my assistant stand in the end with the lunge whip to help encourage him through the short end, which got him through the short end, but then he stopped and planted his feet on the other side. 

Enter Mr. Tappy.

I kind of figured he'd be a horse who would need to be ridden with a whip, but was hoping to not have to do it so early. But if that's what it takes, so be it. 

Mr. Tappy worked his magic, and Stitch decided that he could keep on going. 

We ended up doing a lap and a half at trot in both directions, so that we could go through the short end twice and we didn't come back to walk on the long side until he was trotting forward.

And then he redeemed himself by figuring out his first steps of turn on the forehand.

This horse is smart. I need to make sure I keep him thinking that this is fun, or he may choose to use his brain for evil.

No Ego

When people have asked me if I was going to start Stitch myself, I said that was the plan. I'm in no rush, I don't have a demanding client that wants the horse to be doing all the things within 30 days, so I can take my time and do things slowly. 

I've been saying that I have no ego in this - I will be asking for help. Hopefully, it was just of the lead me and hold my horse the first few times type of help, but if I felt it was warranted I would employ the services of a pro to put the first few rides on. It doesn't appear that they will be needed. 

Thankfully, Stitch has not yet developed an ego, because he's been getting so many compliments from people at the barn that it would go to anyone's head.

He keeps hearing things like:

He's so handsome.

He's so shiny.

He's such a nice shade of bay.

He's got such a good brain.

He's looking so good.

He's so tall. (This came from a quarter horse person, lol)

He's so cute.

He's so friendly.

Now that he's under saddle, he's such a superstar.

I really need to just let him get scruffy over the winter so that I don't have a 4 year old who thinks he's the shit next year. I don't want him to get a big head and have to buy a new bridle to contain it.

Ride #5

The original plan on Tuesday was to meet my assistant at about 3:30 after her appointments and do a bit more trot on the lunge with Stitch before hopefully trying it loose.  It didn't work that way - my helper's day ran late and she couldn't come until early evening. I had gotten out to the barn at the original time and could have done something useful like clean tack, but instead I sat on my butt and watched the colt starter work on some of her new horses. 

This porcupine was crossing the road on my way home. He plunked his butt down and stared at me and had no inclination to move very fast.

I thought we would be in the clear to get Stitch done before lessons started, but no such luck. That meant that we wouldn't be able to lunge. I wasn't worried about trotting him by myself but figured I would need help with getting him going, and if the arena was too crazy it would still be a good experience for him just to walk around the chaos.

I only had her lead me a few strides away from the mounting block. He steps back a couple of steps when I get on, and I don't love that feeling. I'll work on that in the next few days. 

There were three intermediate riders and a few jumps set up. Stitch walked all the way around the ring like he'd been doing it for years. He steered exactly where I wanted him to go, and other than the fact that he bulged a bit to the inside as we walked down the track you wouldn't think this was only his fifth ride.

When it came time to trotting, we went right first, and I had my helper "lunge" us by waving the lunge whip behind us. We did it about 3 times, getting a bit more trot every time, though as soon as I tried to steer we lost the trot. I was trying really hard to stay off the contact and out of his way, but being a baby he's wobbly and that makes me wobble and I end up pulling on a rein at some point. 

When we swapped to the left, I asked my helper to wait on the whip, I think he has the idea and let me try to ask him to trot first. Sure enough, we got it! The first time took a few steps of revving up into the trot, the second time only took a couple of steps. We managed to get down one long side and most of the way around a turn before we lost it. 

Also, wtf is my left wrist doing? I'm sure it's because my reins are long (and I'm sticking to that story) but I'm gonna have to work on that!

After we trotted, I picked up a light contact at a walk, just enough to keep a feel but not put him in any type of frame. He didn't change his walk at all. Tracking right (the better side for both of us) I was able to keep a right bend shape, going left is going to be our tough side. 

Super happy with the ride. There were jumps to dodge, horses to stay away from, horses all resting in the middle while the baby had to stay out on the rail, horses cantering towards and past us, and he did it all with no concerns on his part.

The only thing he did was a little stumble on a front leg when we were trotting. Not sure if he stepped on something or forgot that he has four feet to figure out. We'll keep an eye on that - I haven't seen him do it to date.

Ride 4

Stitch's fourth ride happened on Monday. My helper was the same person who helped me on ride #2, and she immediately noticed how much his confidence had grown in just two rides.

I had her only lead us around for a half circle before we walked around solo. We used almost the whole arena - there was a coil of white cable that had been left at the far end, I'm assuming for some improvement job, that many horses were convinced was a pile of snakes. Stitch noticed it, but I chose to turn early and not risk finding out what his spook felt like. So we used about 3/4 of the ring.

That was all going well, so it was time to try a trot!

I had my assistant hook us up to a lunge line and out on a circle we went. It took some encouragement from the whip, but the first trot was about 12 steps before I asked him to walk. He just felt a bit unsure, so I wanted to give him lots of praise and tell him how smart he was. We did it again to the right, about another half circle, before changing to the left.

By that point, he had it all figured out. He picked up the trot much quicker, and kept it longer. I was once even able to get him to keep trotting from my leg when he wanted to stall out near the gate where a horse was waiting to come in. 

We left it at that for the day with plans to do more trot the next day. 

There are a couple of things that we'll have to make an effort to work on in the next few rides. First - he's taken a couple of steps backwards at the mounting block after I've gotten on. I think I will need to do a ride where get off and back on 3 or 4 times and see if that fixes it.

Second - stopping to poop. Nothing major, but I'll have to convince that he can walk and poop at the same time.

Third - parking. There were a couple of times in this ride where I stopped to sort something out, and though he initially stood still, he got a bit antsy pretty quickly. He kind of does this unmounted as well, he loses patience and then wants me to play with him. We'll work on it as much as his 3 year old brain can manage.

It's been a good start to the week!

Ride #3

 On Sunday I had to get up bright and early (which sucks on your vacation) to be at the barn for Stitch to get his pedicure. Our appointment was originally scheduled for later in the week, but my farrier had a last-minute opportunity to take a trip to Norway so she asked to reschedule.

She's happy with how his feet are doing and said he's got good sole depth, which I noticed as he hasn't been ouchy whenever we've gone for a walk down the road. First time in a while that I haven't had to baby my horse when walking across gravel! It also hopefully means I can keep him barefoot for a long time to come.

I finagled someone to help me with my ride I tacked up right after Stitch's trim. It was early on a brisk morning and Stitch was being a little restless in the barn, so I wasn't sure if that was going to affect him in the arena. I did a minute or two of hand-walking just to be safe before hopping on. 

His first step was sketchy - it felt like his butt got high for one step, so I quickly grabbed the neck strap just in case, but my assistant kept walking and that was the only blip. Not sure what it was.

I had her lead us around one circle each way before unclipping the lead.

Stitch was much more forward than the previous day, with fewer sticky moments. His sticky spot changed to near the gate though. 

We did a bit more steering than the previous day and was mostly able to stay on my chosen path - I'm not going to call it a circle by any means.

Before hopping off we did a couple of short walk/halt/walk transitions, which he did promptly from light leg/seat aids and my voice. His brakes are fabulous.

It was still just a 10 minute ride. The plan will be to walk a little further around the arena on the next ride, and maybe introduce the trot on the lunge if everything feels good.

A very boring video - don't feel bad about fast forwarding or watching only a few seconds!

Ride #2

After sitting on Stitch for the first time I had a bit of a busy week during which I didn't really do anything with him other than hand-walking. I am now freshly re-certified in first aid, but please - don't trust that I can do anything other than call 911 for you!

This weekend I started my final vacation week of the year, so it's officially time to get Stitch going!

Ride #2 was on Saturday. 

I had someone lead us around for a couple of circles each direction, with some walk/halt transitions mixed in. Then we were unclipped and let loose!

We were on the left rein first, which is Stitch's least favorite side. When loose in the arena he always wants to go right, his left lead is the trickier one, and steering left when ground driving has been the side with the stickier turns. (Sadly, this is also my tougher side, so that's gonna suck.)

He got a bit sticky about going forward along the wall opposite the gate on the left rein, stopped a couple of times after a couple of steps, but nothing abnormal for a first time.

He started off a bit stuck on the open part of the circle on the right rein, but once we got along the wall he relaxed, and across the short side he dropped his head, lengthen his neck, and just marched along. Totally felt like an "I got this" moment.

Was it heading towards the gate? Most definitely.  Did I care? Nope, I'll take what I can get. Did I hop off right after that and shovel cookies in his mouth? You betcha!

Total saddle time was about 10 minutes. Again, there was a Pivo fail right at the end when he gave me the great walk. I really must put it in a different spot next time.

I'm On!

I did it! I got on my baby horse!

On Saturday I finagled one of the barn rats to hold Stitch for me while I again put weight in the saddle, and hopefully swung a leg over. Just like last time, he was far more concerned about the speed at which the cookies were being doled out than what was happening on his back.

The first time that my butt sat in the saddle he kind of went "huh... that's new... where's my cookie?". So we just walked a couple of steps to clear the mounting block and I slid off. 

The next time we walked about 10 steps before I got off, and the third time we did about 1/3 of a circle with a couple of walk/halt transitions.

I was led the whole time and did my best to just stay balanced and relaxed in the saddle. I have no impression as to how he feels other than narrow and wobbly - the baby horse is going to take a bit to get used to!

We did some ground driving the day before and he did a pretty good job of steering - just not very good about straight lines. I guess he can't always be perfect.

Now we're really ready for work to start next week!

Getting Closer...

The plan is to start riding Stitch on my next week of vacation - which starts next Friday. We still have some prep to do before I think he's ready.

On Monday, we did our second attempt at ground driving off the bit. This time we used the full arena, which had some construction going on at the time. Stitch stopped a couple of times to stare, but I just let him have a moment and then asked him to walk again so there was no drama.

He did really well with the steering, mostly staying soft. There were a bunch of ground poles scattered around, and they gave us something to steer over and around.

I noticed that he was a wee bit harder to turn to the left. Whenever I let him loose in the arena he wants to spend 95% of the time tracking right. So, I'm guessing that left will be his tougher side, which sucks because that is also my tougher side.

On Wednesday I enlisted the friend who is going to help me with Stitch's first few days under saddle to hold him while I put full weight in the saddle. I've leant over his back lots, but when I tried to put my full weight over him without a saddle last week he kept stepping away from the mounting block. I'm too short (too fat, too stiff, too chicken) to not use the mounting block, so I waited until I could have a helper to try again.

I did the whole build up from just putting a little bit of weight in a stirrup to full weight in the stirrup to lying on my stomach across his back. Stitch was super about all of it, and was far more concerned about when the next treat was going to appear than what was happening on his back. The first time we asked him to take a few steps he was a little tentative, totally to be expected, the next time he took 6 or 7 steps that felt forward and confident so that's where I left him.

One day I'll figure out how to set up my new Pivo properly.

I'm sure I could have slid my leg over and he would have been fine with it, but I'm in no rush. The plan is to do it again on Friday, and if all goes well I might try it that day.

Over the next ten or so days I want to do more ground driving to make sure the steering is good, some lunging to make sure the voice aid to trot is prompt (it mostly is), and some ground work that will have him move away from my hand when it's where my leg will be. Then I will be much more confident when it's time to be let loose.

What We Did Last Week

How last week went:

Monday - I took Stitch into the round pen to try ground driving off the bit for the first time. We just walked, and he was very good and softly turned when asked - once I picked up a whip and got his ass in gear. This horse definitely has more whoa than go.

One problem with the lack of throatlatch on the PS of Sweden bridle - no where to twist your reins out of the way when lunging (or ground driving ).

Tuesday - Stitch wore his rainsheet overnight as the forecast was for a bunch of wind and rain. This is the same rainsheet that I made adjustments to to fit him back in May. He's grown enough over the last couple of months that I had to let the chest straps out by a couple of holes and it fits perfectly at the butt end. He still doesn't have enough cleavage that I can let out the darts I put in the neckline though.

Wednesday - we went for another walk down the road. This time, he was able to ignore the neighbours guard boulders, and only briefly glanced at the screaming stud pony.

Captured in the evening sun.

Thursday - Stitch went for a car ride.

He was a little bit sweaty so there were some nerves.

It was his first time being done up in my straight-load trailer. Getting him locked in was no problem, getting him out took a few minutes as he kept sitting on the butt bar and I couldn't get it dropped. I ended up putting the lead rope around the front of the head divider to give me a way to pull him forward while I was at his butt, and that helped. He wasn't being panicky about it, he just didn't understand that he didn't need to step back when I was back there. We'll work on it this fall. (Still way better than Cisco ever was.)

Saturday - I swear that anytime I skip a day this horse grows. Took his blanket off and it looks like his withers have popped up and his front is almost level with his back. I measured him at 15.1hh at the withers. He can stop getting taller anytime - he better not hit 16hh! My short little legs will have problems reaching that high to get on!