As In2paints questioned on a previous post, yes we are still seeing the crappy, crabby lope up here too. Despite being in the middle of nowhere we have some of the top AQHA horses in our area. Last year at the congress out of the top 15 in the Maturity WP finals, 3 were from our area.
Ty and Karen Hornick were up about 2 months ago and Karen said something that I thought was spot on, basically that we are doing the same thing the saddle bred and TWH people do to there horses, it isn't natural, its a gated horse, we just do it to the lope.
I've seen naturally slow lopers, but to get that reach everyone wants, with the slow foot falls, its just about impossible for a horse to do that on its own.
Anyways Lucy is in stage 4 of a most likely 15 step program of which I will only take her to about step 7. When I warp my legs around her and sit up, I want her to rock back and slow her legs. We.re getting this... about 50% of the time :) She can lope relaxed on the rail with a round back and her head and neck level and relaxed. Sure I want her to drive more from behind and take slower steps but that will only come with fitness and strength, which will take much longer.
We did some showmanship tonight which I was really happy about, Lucy not so much! I really think she just does it to make me happy! However she's really gotten the hang of it so I'm very happy with her for putting up with me and my silly ideas.
I'm riding tomorrow night and Wednesday than showmanship and a bath on Thursday. Were off to the show on Friday Am. I've asked several parents to take photos and some of the kids are coming up without horses so I'll see if they can take my iphone and take some pics of us all dressed up.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
I got video...
C was able to take a few minutes last night and did some video. I learned a couple of things,
1) too baggy dark sweater makes me look huge up top!
2) Our jog is awesome
3) I'm perching a bit at the lope, not a whole bunch but in getting me out of the habit of leaning too far back I've gone a bit too far in the other direction. (also its a bit of a defensive move to protect my back)
4) Because of the perching I'm not rocking back in my seat enough to push her off the hind end. (which is why you only see one direction of a lope)
5) I need to work on my lope departs and practice setting her up better (as witnessed in the jog video to the right!)
Lucy is short, but the horse that is in there with us is a hair under 17 hands.
1) too baggy dark sweater makes me look huge up top!
2) Our jog is awesome
3) I'm perching a bit at the lope, not a whole bunch but in getting me out of the habit of leaning too far back I've gone a bit too far in the other direction. (also its a bit of a defensive move to protect my back)
4) Because of the perching I'm not rocking back in my seat enough to push her off the hind end. (which is why you only see one direction of a lope)
5) I need to work on my lope departs and practice setting her up better (as witnessed in the jog video to the right!)
Lucy is short, but the horse that is in there with us is a hair under 17 hands.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Slowing the lope
Although I am super happy with where Lucy is right now I would love her to lope a little slower. Her head and neck are relaxed and level, but we are lacking consistency in our speed controle. It will come with time, and fitness. I do not want the super fake 7 beet lope that is popular now in the AQHA/APHA/ApHC show ring. However I to want to be able to rate her speed better and be able to ask for transitions within the gait. Right now we have one speed, and somewhat jerky portions of slower lope. I can ask her to move out and then suck back at the jog so its coming.
I do have to say that in our exercises to rock her back on her haunches, is to counter bend them in a circle and spiral in to a very small circle. It gets them opening up the inside shoulder, rocking back on the haunch and moving away from the outside leg. When we started the exercise last month Lucy would often break or end up loping a not so small, small circle. Last night we were able to do a less than 10m circle and she was so light and slow but with such good rhythm, it make me so excited with how fit she is getting and how much possibility there is this summer.
I was so busy fighting to stay on Lucas' good side we never got to pushing our boundary's like this.
I do have to say that in our exercises to rock her back on her haunches, is to counter bend them in a circle and spiral in to a very small circle. It gets them opening up the inside shoulder, rocking back on the haunch and moving away from the outside leg. When we started the exercise last month Lucy would often break or end up loping a not so small, small circle. Last night we were able to do a less than 10m circle and she was so light and slow but with such good rhythm, it make me so excited with how fit she is getting and how much possibility there is this summer.
I was so busy fighting to stay on Lucas' good side we never got to pushing our boundary's like this.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Long weekend is over
Had a great weekend at the barn. Paisley's mother Reba is doing much better today and they were able to turn her out with her old turnout buddies from last fall. She's still out of sorts, but she is eating and drinking much better and no longer going frantic.
I rode on Saturday and Sunday and has some very good rides. Rode most of Sunday one handed in the new show bridle and Lucy went great. We need to work some more on body controle this week and then have a lesson next Saturday with D to work on our patterns.
I did some showmanship this morning in the show halter, and we ran though our pattern a couple of times. Lucy is doing awesome, she's planting her foot in the pivot, her set up is quick and she's really trying. I don't think showmanship is her most favorite thing to do, but she does like to learn new things so its a good challenge for her.
For those who asked, Lucy is bred to a son of Zippos Mr Goodbar, out of a 100 AQHA point earning mare. The stud was sent to a trainer in the states as a 2yo but the trainer basically screwed off and didn't do anything with him. So when he came back after 5 months he could only walk, jog, lope. Considering that he went to the trainers broke to drive, and had been wearing the saddle for a month, the trainer in the USA did nothing. Unfortunately the AQHA shows around here barley have enough horses for the winner to earn a point (which was the reason they sent him to the USA in the first place) so they don't know at this point if it is worth trying to get him to a show or wait for his babies.
I rode on Saturday and Sunday and has some very good rides. Rode most of Sunday one handed in the new show bridle and Lucy went great. We need to work some more on body controle this week and then have a lesson next Saturday with D to work on our patterns.
I did some showmanship this morning in the show halter, and we ran though our pattern a couple of times. Lucy is doing awesome, she's planting her foot in the pivot, her set up is quick and she's really trying. I don't think showmanship is her most favorite thing to do, but she does like to learn new things so its a good challenge for her.
For those who asked, Lucy is bred to a son of Zippos Mr Goodbar, out of a 100 AQHA point earning mare. The stud was sent to a trainer in the states as a 2yo but the trainer basically screwed off and didn't do anything with him. So when he came back after 5 months he could only walk, jog, lope. Considering that he went to the trainers broke to drive, and had been wearing the saddle for a month, the trainer in the USA did nothing. Unfortunately the AQHA shows around here barley have enough horses for the winner to earn a point (which was the reason they sent him to the USA in the first place) so they don't know at this point if it is worth trying to get him to a show or wait for his babies.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
And.....
Chilly, Lucy's 2 year old is starting her under saddle training and is really coming along. She's been lunging with the saddle and bridle on and will be ground driving in the next week or two. She's already taller than her mother!
We had a nice ride today even after almost a week off. With the IV last week for me, and Lucy getting new shoes on all 4 feet we just mostly worked on showmanship. We had a nice ride though, had some awesome transitions to the lope and down from the lope going to the right and I'm so happy about that. We'll have to start working on patterns this week and work on getting our transitions right at the cone.
We also did some showmanship, which was also good.
AND thanks to my weight loss I fit into my chaps!
The only bad news of the entire week is that C and D lost a foal yesterday. Paisley had a small hernia that was fixed at the local vet college. She came home and seemed ok, but started getting restless, and not herself last weekend. C and D took her back to the college, and the vets tried there best but she went septic on Thursday and they put her down on Friday AM. Her poor mama is so distraught and upset, that even the sedative the vets sent her home with isn't working. If you can spare some thoughts and prayers, Reba needs some for the weekend.
"God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.'"
- Paul Harvey
The circle of life and death, farming ain't for the faint of heart.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Good news
Some good news to start off with, since December I have now lost (at least according to the scale at home) a total of 30lbs! For the most part being 6 feet tall it doesn't 'look' like I've lost that much weight. However the pants that I bought/ordered at Christmas that were almost too small, now fit perfect. And my dress pants for work all need to be held up with a belt. Its a good direction to be going in, especially if I want to be riding more horses this winter!
In other good news, for the first time for as long as I can remember I rode a horse without lunging it first. I know, I know some of you are thinking "what? why?" Well for a long time I was riding really green stuff, then when I got sick, lunging became my pre-flight test drive, letting the horse warm up and work out silly ness while allowing me to get on when the horse is ready to work and allowing me to enjoy the 15-20 minutes I could handle being on the horse.
We rode with 2 other horses but they were ultra sounding Lucy before hand so everyone else was ready and riding by the time I got to the ring. (Nothing definite on the ultra sound yet, doing again in 2 days). So I said no time like the present and got on. I had lunged and done some showmanship the day before, but nothing other than that since Friday. She was very good. A little "hot" but once we started loping she settled down very quickly. Although I most likely will continue to lunge for 5 min before I get on most of the time, it was nice to know that we could both handle it if the need arose. For the most part I will get to lunge in the mornings of the shows but not right before I get on, so it was a good rehearsal.
He lope is really coming, last night we did loping figure 8's with either a halt or a walk transition though the center. Her transitions going into the lope are really coming. Our pattern at the end of the month calls for a 360 turn on the haunches then a lope off on the right, we practiced that once or twice and although she thought I wanted to keep turning, we did work it out in the end.
In other good news, for the first time for as long as I can remember I rode a horse without lunging it first. I know, I know some of you are thinking "what? why?" Well for a long time I was riding really green stuff, then when I got sick, lunging became my pre-flight test drive, letting the horse warm up and work out silly ness while allowing me to get on when the horse is ready to work and allowing me to enjoy the 15-20 minutes I could handle being on the horse.
We rode with 2 other horses but they were ultra sounding Lucy before hand so everyone else was ready and riding by the time I got to the ring. (Nothing definite on the ultra sound yet, doing again in 2 days). So I said no time like the present and got on. I had lunged and done some showmanship the day before, but nothing other than that since Friday. She was very good. A little "hot" but once we started loping she settled down very quickly. Although I most likely will continue to lunge for 5 min before I get on most of the time, it was nice to know that we could both handle it if the need arose. For the most part I will get to lunge in the mornings of the shows but not right before I get on, so it was a good rehearsal.
He lope is really coming, last night we did loping figure 8's with either a halt or a walk transition though the center. Her transitions going into the lope are really coming. Our pattern at the end of the month calls for a 360 turn on the haunches then a lope off on the right, we practiced that once or twice and although she thought I wanted to keep turning, we did work it out in the end.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
3 weeks until the show
I know you guys are getting tired of hearing this, but I had a great lesson last night! We loped and loped and loped took a short break and then loped one handed. My standards are high, but she's really doing her best each and every ride, I hope I don't mess her up once we get to the show ring.
I am tired out today, so I skipped riding this am and helped with doing chores up. C and D are having a huge barn party/BBQ to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and as an open house for the barn so everything needed to be spotless this morning.
I am tired out today, so I skipped riding this am and helped with doing chores up. C and D are having a huge barn party/BBQ to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and as an open house for the barn so everything needed to be spotless this morning.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Photo update.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Not as good as I once was...
But I'm as good once as I ever was. I'm learning to live with RA. Its been years, but I finally feel like I'm almost riding really good again. Like before I was sick. I've had a couple of moments over the past two rides where I'm fixing and feeling stuff with Lucy that is improving each time that I ride. I'm not really doing any specific exercise to make it better, but as my muscle memory improves or something I'm able to get more out of the two of us.
Like getting her hip to the inside to help with her loping transitions. When we started I couldn't get much side movement from her, tonight I was able to bend her around my inside leg to get her to lope off correctly, and without her running into the transition. I'm not spinning her around with my spurs or anything, but as we both get fitter and more used to each other we're improving by leaps and bounds.
Tonight was her 5th ride in a shank bit (6th ride ever in a shank bit) and we were able to do most of our walk/trot work one handed. Our loping needs two hands for our transitions but its coming.
I had a good talk with Oscar's owner on the weekend, she's really happy with how Oscar is going and how relaxed and easy he is this year compared to years previously. We talked about bit options to show in pleasure with and she might try one that I found that he liked.
Its going to sound funny to some, but I personally never thought that I was a great rider, even at my best when I was keeping jumpers tuned up, or when I was prepping horses for the show ring. Lucy has made me feel like I actually know what I'm doing, and its so nice to ride a horse that makes you look good!
I did find tonight I sat a bit more in the center of my saddle and it helped me keep from bracing against the back of the saddle. I'm still dealing with some pain issues in the left upper side of my back, but hopefully the chiropractor can figure that out tomorrow. I can do this!
Like getting her hip to the inside to help with her loping transitions. When we started I couldn't get much side movement from her, tonight I was able to bend her around my inside leg to get her to lope off correctly, and without her running into the transition. I'm not spinning her around with my spurs or anything, but as we both get fitter and more used to each other we're improving by leaps and bounds.
Tonight was her 5th ride in a shank bit (6th ride ever in a shank bit) and we were able to do most of our walk/trot work one handed. Our loping needs two hands for our transitions but its coming.
I had a good talk with Oscar's owner on the weekend, she's really happy with how Oscar is going and how relaxed and easy he is this year compared to years previously. We talked about bit options to show in pleasure with and she might try one that I found that he liked.
Its going to sound funny to some, but I personally never thought that I was a great rider, even at my best when I was keeping jumpers tuned up, or when I was prepping horses for the show ring. Lucy has made me feel like I actually know what I'm doing, and its so nice to ride a horse that makes you look good!
I did find tonight I sat a bit more in the center of my saddle and it helped me keep from bracing against the back of the saddle. I'm still dealing with some pain issues in the left upper side of my back, but hopefully the chiropractor can figure that out tomorrow. I can do this!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Sunny Sunday
Had a great ride today, worked on transitions and loping, Lucy got a shower then we did some showmanship in the outside ring. Shes getting more used to it, but still not as comfortable as she is inside. I guess its just something that we need to work on. Here she is looking all cute in her new to her Big D sheet outside with her buddies.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Update post
I have to apologise for my lack of posts this week. After a busy and productive weekend, I littery died on Monday. I slept from 9 to 5:30 got up made my mind up that I wasn't going to work and the slept again from 6-12:30. I then still managed to get back to bed at my regular time and sleep until it was time to get up for work.
I did chores on Tuesday night so D and C could have the night off, and worked on showmanship. Lucy was very good, we still have things to work on but we are ready to start working on patterns and flow now so I'm excited.
Wednesday night we decided to ride outside and Lucy was WILD! She was snorty and 'up about everything and I did seriously think about not riding her, but she's never tried to hurt me or spook out from underneath me so I got on and rode. We had a difficult ride and she was very hot, but she stayed underneath me, and we did work on some small things. She's only been out in this pen once before and there were a lot of horses up there with her at the time so she just needs either some time, or some equine comfort so that she doesn't feel alone.
Thursday night we rode inside, and had a great 3rd ride in the shank bit. We are still in the process of figuring out how much leg means break to a trot and how much leg just means slow down but that will come with time and miles.
I was very proud that I rode Lucy though her wildness outside, when you think that a year ago I thought that I would be done riding for good once I sold Lucas (or atleast done riding competitively) I'm happy with where I am right now. So what if her head goes up in the air during our transitions? We've had 2 months together, and I think its working good so far.
I hope to get some video or pics on Sunday as there should be lots of people around, I'll see what I can do.
I did chores on Tuesday night so D and C could have the night off, and worked on showmanship. Lucy was very good, we still have things to work on but we are ready to start working on patterns and flow now so I'm excited.
Wednesday night we decided to ride outside and Lucy was WILD! She was snorty and 'up about everything and I did seriously think about not riding her, but she's never tried to hurt me or spook out from underneath me so I got on and rode. We had a difficult ride and she was very hot, but she stayed underneath me, and we did work on some small things. She's only been out in this pen once before and there were a lot of horses up there with her at the time so she just needs either some time, or some equine comfort so that she doesn't feel alone.
Thursday night we rode inside, and had a great 3rd ride in the shank bit. We are still in the process of figuring out how much leg means break to a trot and how much leg just means slow down but that will come with time and miles.
I was very proud that I rode Lucy though her wildness outside, when you think that a year ago I thought that I would be done riding for good once I sold Lucas (or atleast done riding competitively) I'm happy with where I am right now. So what if her head goes up in the air during our transitions? We've had 2 months together, and I think its working good so far.
I hope to get some video or pics on Sunday as there should be lots of people around, I'll see what I can do.
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