Hands

Since things have slowed down somewhat....I've had some time to reflect on things.  Lately it has been hands.  How we communicate with our hands, the physical things our hands do and how we take care of our hands....
Communication.  I can still hear my first horse teachers voice in my head...something like "whenever you let the pressure off that is what you taught your horse to do" or "try to be as light as you can with your cues" or "don't pull on your horses head".  Our hands are part of the way we communicate with our horses.  When we ride, when we groom, when we lead them, when we lunge them, when we just hang out in the pasture with them-our hands are part of our body language and those horses are soooo good at reading body language.  Sometimes my hands are yelling at Zoe-when she isn't paying attention to my "look, leg, rein" and I have to dig my spur into her side and use my hands to smack her with the reins, or use my hands to over and under her with the reins.  My hands need to be quick sometimes.... if Zoe tries to nip me or move into my space my hands are quick to smack her.  Sometimes my hands are comforting-Zoe loves it when I rub my hands over her eyes, she just drops her head and I swear I can hear her sigh.  I can gently rub by the base of her tail and she will lift it so I can rub better.  She has her favorite spots to be scratched.  My hands can give direction when I lunge her, just point in the direction I want her to go...usually works.  I can wag my finger when standing in front of her and she backs up.  I've never worried about having Zoe be afraid of me because I've used my hands in a corrective manner.   I once talked to somebody that was worried about using her hands to correct her horse-she didn't want her horse to be afraid of her.  And I guess if all you used your hands for were reprimands then I guess that would be a concern...kind of like always talking by yelling-yikes!  I think horses can tell the difference when hands are being used for comfort or direction or reprimands.  We use our hands for many things.  I think it is part of the body language life that they lead.  In the pasture you can see two horses get mad and snap at each other... later you can see the same two horses scratch each others back with those same teeth that were just snapping at each other 1 hour ago.  Ears can say "out of my way" or can say "want to play?"  I don't think they attach a permanent meaning to a certain body part.  They are just really good at reading what that body part is saying.  So my hands can be used for many things and it's okay.   I find that I need to pay more attention what I'm saying with my hands when I'm riding.  When Zoe and I are really in tune with each other it really doesn't take alot of pressure with my hands to make a request.  The amount of lightness needed with the bit & reins to make a move is amazing.  Sometimes I find myself getting heavy handed with her.  I need to learn to communicate better with my hands.  As a human I probably rely on verbal cues to get along in life.  Humans can talk with their hands, gesturing in an animated way, but that is different than the way a horse looks at my hands.  I guess learning to talk with my hands-the horse way- is a life long process.
I'm usually not afraid of getting dirty or working hard with my hands.  The only "dirt" I don't like is greasy car dirt-the kind you find in engines--won't find me there.   That being said I usually spend time getting dirty with just about everything else in life.  I find gardening and horses are hard on my hands.  Every winter I get cracks in them and I know it's from dryness but do I find time to do something about it? No-too busy.  The dirt seems to imbed itself in my hands.  Recently I started wearing gloves.  I spent a week helping out with my grandson-no horses or gardening.  At the end of the week my hands were sooooo clean.  I thought, maybe I can keep them this way-hence I started wearing gloves.  But I still can't bring myself to ride with gloves-it has to be VERY COLD before I pull out the silk lined riding gloves.  So I'm still working hard with my hands but now they are covered.   We will see how long this lasts.  It's obvious that I do alot of outside work with my hands, they are working hands.  I'm also getting arthritis in them-I can see it in the thumb joints-a bit bigger than normal.
Zeke's tiny little hands probably got me to thinking about hands.  His being so little compared to mine.  I love it when he holds onto my little finger.  He doesn't know how to use them yet...they can be tight in a fist waving around, hitting himself in the nose or pulling his own hair...or relaxed and limp as he is sleeping... or grasping something that you put in his hand.  Anyway all hands start out that way....and now look at them.  It's amazing to me that my hands can be used for very fragile things or very harsh things.  I can use my hands to pick up Zeke....he's small enough to fit into both of my hands or use my hands to gently touch my horses muzzle.   If needed-I can smack my horse with my hands or use the whip as an extension of my hands for corrective measures.  I googled "phrases with the word hand" and got ALOT of information.  It is really amazing all the different ways we use "hand".  But I got to thinking about them....they are all based in human thought and in the horse world....it doesn't really matter.  What matters is the body language I'm trying to convey with the use of my hands.  Such a little part of our bodies but it can speak volumes.

This blog has been interrupted

This blog has been interrupted by......a baby.  I know this is a blog about my horse Zoe and me, but I got a little excited by the new addition to our family.  Meet Ezekiel James...or Zeke as we like to call him.

I'm not quite sure how this will be affecting my riding schedule....but I'm sure it will.  At this particular time we have an outbreak of EHV-1 and it is suggested to keep our horses off the trails and at home for about 2 weeks....so I have self-imposed trail restrictions for a while and that affects the riding too.  Good thing I don't mind arena work.   The last ride I took with Zoe was the ride to Rattlesnake on Thursday (got up at 4:30 that morning to go to work for 4 hours), that evening I went with my then pregnant daughter to a breastfeeding class.  I went to bed that night and maybe slept for an hour....then got a call that my daughters water had broken and we were off to the hospital.  I think we cat napped at the hospital between 3am and 6am but that was about it.  Zeke was born at 6:53pm Friday.  But I don't think I noticed being tired....must have been excited.
So I helped out at my daughters for a week, my friends took care of my horses---THANK YOU ALL.   On 5/21 I finally got back on my horse, Zoe was pretty good.  Obviously we just did arena work, but she was listening very well.  When I went to get her from her pasture, she sure gave me a "sniff over" - kind of like the dogs do when they smell something interesting or different.  I  hadn't bothered to shower before I went to the barn...so I probably smelled like a baby...a new smell for Zoe.  I thought it was funny that she had to check me out.
It will be interesting to see how all the pieces of life will fit together now.

Ride to Rattlesnake Bar

On 5/12 -  4 of us set out to Rattlesnake Bar.  We all took turns leading.  Zoe did better on the way there.  She had some trepidation going there and coming back.  The thing that made it better going than coming was the "wow" factor of going back home.  She was a little too excited on the way back, a little pushy, and had some head tossing thrown in.  But the funny thing was when I put her in front on the way back....well she wasn't in so much of a hurry.  The place where we took the lead was just before the last bridge.  She didn't want to go first over the last bridge on the way home.  Half way across she decided that backing up would be better-all the way off the bridge.  We went over finally, hesitating half way across.  It is really true that if you look at the obstacle - it becomes a BIG thing, but if you look beyond it-towards where you want to go-it really helps to get past the "scary thing".  I just focused on the trail beyond the bridge and I think it really helped.  There was a spot she did that on the way to Rattlesnake-don't quite remember the spot-but I remember doing the same thing-looking beyond and it really helped.  I want to do the trip again and again. She did better than she did last year on this trail....last year we had some refusals to go fowards on narrow trails that I just had to get off and walk her past it.  And last year she ran me into a tree on the way back, going up the hill towards Horseshoe Bar Road-no running me into trees this year.  So I guess progress has been made, but I want to see her do better.

Working hills

Thursday's ride was fun.  I went out with 2 friends to "work some hills" at the KBB hills.  We popcorned when we could on the way there.  I wanted to try Zoe out in the middle of the pack and the back of the pack before we got there.  I know she does well in the front.  We got there and chose 3 hills to work.  We practiced trotting up and walking down the hills.  We traded places in the line up.  We varied our speed some...but decided not to lope.  I've practiced that with 1 other horse but haven't done it with 2 yet.  Since this was the first time doing this work with 3 horses I decided that loping could wait until next time.  We went up and down the 3 hills many times.  The GPS looks funny...lots of lines in some places.  Zoe did some head tossing in the middle and in the back.  Once she even put her head down and I thought at least a crow hop was coming, but I asked her to pick up her head and yelled at her.  My partners asked if I wanted to stop but I said no...keep going and learn to do it right.  Then we went down the same hill and did it again...and she did it 100% better.  As we kept going up and down each horse settled down and went to work and paid attention to the rider's requests.  One of my partners had some work to do with her horse too and the more we went up and down the better he got too.  7.22 miles, max 7.61, av 3.99
Oh... and today I only had 13 ticks on my horse.

A tick conspiracy

Wednesday's ride was pretty good.  I was thinking of a way to get to the trail to Granite Bay without getting in a super muddy spot...I tried it and it worked.  Zoe did good because it was been a while since she has been on that trail and there was no spooking or temper tantrums.  We only went part way to Granite Bay since I wanted to get back and ride Skippy too.  She wasn't in too much of a hurry to get home either.  On the way home on Lomida the calling only happened our normal # of times-2.  6.84 miles, max 9.57, avg 3.86
Note...I took Skippy out to see where else I could go...since we have sooooo  much mud.  I tried Inspiration Point, but the boggy place was too boggy for us.  I even tried the high ground going around it and we were sinking a bit much.  I guess I will have to wait.
I think there is a conspiracy going on.  I took 2 horses out on the trails.  Yes, Zoe's ride was a bit longer than Skippy's...but Zoe got WAY more ticks than Skippy.  I pulled 18 ticks off of Zoe's legs, 14 on the right side.  I only pulled 2 off of Skippy...one on each side.  HMMMMMM!

Enchanted Forest update

Today I went back to enchanted forest to see how to get around the rock at the top.  I got off at the bottom of the hill and walked up the trail with Zoe.  When I got to the top I was amazed at how big the rock was....what was I thinking-walking over that rock.  Anyway the better way is to walk just up to the rock and step back down into the ditch.  The ditch by that time doesn't have a rut going thru the middle of it.  It works.  Had a nice ride today.  No GPS and just 1 picture on the way home.  I should have taken a picture of the rock I've been talking about-next time.