Thursday, March 21, 2013
Lessons
I've been taking lessons for a few months now. I mentioned it in an earlier blogs. I've decided to change trainers for my lessons. The end result with both methods will be the same-having a horse that collects while walking, trotting, or cantering. The new trainer breaks things down in sections, things that I can work on, get a handle on it, and progress to the next step. The previous trainer had me doing alot of things at once. Zoe and I seem to learn better in smaller steps. So today we worked on getting her hind legs underneath her and getting her off her front end- and in order for that to happen we needed to do an extended and somewhat collected trot. Her hind foot fall wasn't even meeting up with her front foot fall, we needed the hind to reach farther. So we did it and exceeded it, but it was alot of work on both Zoe and my part. But once she "got it" she was light on the front end and was really moving out. It reminded me of riding her mother-Skippy. Skippy has an awesome extended trot only she does it with her nose up in the air. The trainer said that in order to gain the hind end under her and to get her off the front end I might lose some of the collection-but that was okay for now. As long as we get her moving the way we want we can always work on the position of the head. But today we did it collected, the head wasn't in the perfect position but we can work on that later.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Watching my horse go out with someone else
Last weekend my daughter, her husband, and a friend took all 3 horses out for a ride. My daughter took Zoe. It was interesting to watch someone else take my horse out. I knew both the horse and my daughter would be fine. It's not something that happens very often. The last time was when we were camping in August. My daughter was one of the people that taught me how to ride. She even said my horse did fine on the ride and that I've done a good job with her. She said she was "glad that I gave you that little rascal." Part of the credit goes to her, she was one of my teachers.
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| At Look Out Rock |
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| Skippy |
Lesson again
We had another lesson last week.
I think we are doing better getting used to working in the arena. The day in February was warmer than the one in January. Zoe isn't as sweaty after the February lesson.
We did make some progress. We are working towards cantering a 20 meter circle collected. Of course we can't just hop into the canter. We have to make sure we are walking and trotting collected first. And we did make progress in that area. She needs "help" with my cues as we go to the right, and different "help" with my cues as we go to the left. It's interesting how each part of my body can control and help her with collection. But we definitely did better at the trot.
Cantering is still a work in progress. Throughout this whole process Zoe has learned not to drop her head down too far, except at a canter. At the canter she tends to drop her head too far and hasn't quite learned to lift her front end and keep it lifted. She gets strung out. There are moments that we do it correctly but more work needs to be done. She is a "down-hill" horse and has some balance challenges to work on. We work on just cantering in a 20 meter circle without collection to get used to working in a circle. I think it's helping because she wasn't so tired after the February lesson.
We get to work on this at least 3 times a week - Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings. We do some collection work out on the trail too but not as much as we do in the arena. It's nice to be able to "mix it up" with different kinds of rides. I think Zoe likes to get the break out on the trail. She does seem to be trying really hard to get it right.
Maybe the next lesson we will be better. I'll have to post some pictures later.
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| This is from our lesson in January |
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| This is from our lesson in February |
I think we are doing better getting used to working in the arena. The day in February was warmer than the one in January. Zoe isn't as sweaty after the February lesson.
We did make some progress. We are working towards cantering a 20 meter circle collected. Of course we can't just hop into the canter. We have to make sure we are walking and trotting collected first. And we did make progress in that area. She needs "help" with my cues as we go to the right, and different "help" with my cues as we go to the left. It's interesting how each part of my body can control and help her with collection. But we definitely did better at the trot.
Cantering is still a work in progress. Throughout this whole process Zoe has learned not to drop her head down too far, except at a canter. At the canter she tends to drop her head too far and hasn't quite learned to lift her front end and keep it lifted. She gets strung out. There are moments that we do it correctly but more work needs to be done. She is a "down-hill" horse and has some balance challenges to work on. We work on just cantering in a 20 meter circle without collection to get used to working in a circle. I think it's helping because she wasn't so tired after the February lesson.
We get to work on this at least 3 times a week - Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings. We do some collection work out on the trail too but not as much as we do in the arena. It's nice to be able to "mix it up" with different kinds of rides. I think Zoe likes to get the break out on the trail. She does seem to be trying really hard to get it right.
Maybe the next lesson we will be better. I'll have to post some pictures later.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Rain ride
Today turned out to be a nice rain ride. We started out for Inspiration Pt., got there, stood around for a while, then on the way home it started to rain. A light rain-it was just the right kind for riding. The horses did great. And it smelled so nice. The temperature was warm-here it is March 3rd!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Vaccination/teeth visit
Thursday we had a vaccination clinic at the barn. I vaccinate my own horses except for Rabies (only a vet can give here in CA) and Internasal Strangles. I gave the horses their Flu/Rhino on Feb 7th. I will give them their 3-way/wn later. I don't like to give too many vaccinations at one time.
Zoe walked up to the vet truck, took one look at the truck and decided this wasn't a good idea. She tried to dance for her Rabies vx, but didn't put too much energy into it. Tech got the vx done while I held her lead, and the Dr put his had on the butt that was trying to circle around. It just took the Drs hand there gently to "bring her back to her senses". The internasal strangles was the same. But the Dr succeeded. She went back to her pasture. I forgot to have the vet check her teeth. So later we went over to her pasture and he took a look at her teeth. She had to deal with him and his gloved hands. Her head went up and she tried to back away but then I held her halter and she stopped, then decided that he was okay and let him look into her mouth. Silly horse. Anyway sometime this year she needs her teeth done. I skipped last year. So she seems to need it done every 2 years. I've tried playing with her nose and mouth with gloved hands and she doesn't mind me doing it at all. I even smell like a vet office/truck sometimes because I work there. But the actual vet-that's a different story. Her reaction wasn't that bad and she was very easy to convince that she wasn't going to die. I can vaccinate her no problem. I guess it's just the different person-the vet!
Skippy and Sky were no problem for vaccinations. Sky had his melenomas checked out. He had a few more, but they aren't big enough to cause any problems. They are just something to watch as the years go by. He also needs his teeth done this year. Like Zoe, he seems to need it done every 2 years.
Skippy had her teeth done today. I try to do hers every year since she has a wave mouth, and cavities that I've been keeping an eye on. So this year the cavities in the #9 teeth on the top are now at the point of needing to be filled. The #9, #10, #11 teeth are in the back of the mouth (#11 being the farthest back). The roots of these teeth reach into the sinus cavities. If cavities are left unchecked in these teeth, she could have major sinus problems. Good thing I work at the vet and can get some sort of discount on this procedure. I was told it would be around $500 and I don't think that includes the xrays. Time to set aside some money.
Zoe walked up to the vet truck, took one look at the truck and decided this wasn't a good idea. She tried to dance for her Rabies vx, but didn't put too much energy into it. Tech got the vx done while I held her lead, and the Dr put his had on the butt that was trying to circle around. It just took the Drs hand there gently to "bring her back to her senses". The internasal strangles was the same. But the Dr succeeded. She went back to her pasture. I forgot to have the vet check her teeth. So later we went over to her pasture and he took a look at her teeth. She had to deal with him and his gloved hands. Her head went up and she tried to back away but then I held her halter and she stopped, then decided that he was okay and let him look into her mouth. Silly horse. Anyway sometime this year she needs her teeth done. I skipped last year. So she seems to need it done every 2 years. I've tried playing with her nose and mouth with gloved hands and she doesn't mind me doing it at all. I even smell like a vet office/truck sometimes because I work there. But the actual vet-that's a different story. Her reaction wasn't that bad and she was very easy to convince that she wasn't going to die. I can vaccinate her no problem. I guess it's just the different person-the vet!
Skippy and Sky were no problem for vaccinations. Sky had his melenomas checked out. He had a few more, but they aren't big enough to cause any problems. They are just something to watch as the years go by. He also needs his teeth done this year. Like Zoe, he seems to need it done every 2 years.
Skippy had her teeth done today. I try to do hers every year since she has a wave mouth, and cavities that I've been keeping an eye on. So this year the cavities in the #9 teeth on the top are now at the point of needing to be filled. The #9, #10, #11 teeth are in the back of the mouth (#11 being the farthest back). The roots of these teeth reach into the sinus cavities. If cavities are left unchecked in these teeth, she could have major sinus problems. Good thing I work at the vet and can get some sort of discount on this procedure. I was told it would be around $500 and I don't think that includes the xrays. Time to set aside some money.
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