ADVICE

We had a day off today, after getting right back to work this weekend. Belle is getting better and better with the saddle--only a matter of weeks now until she's reliable enough for me to sit on. And B has his homework for the next few months: Nailing the movements in second level test four and third level test three. He's been very cooperative for the past few days. We've been working on elasticity at all the gaits--having him jump through at the canter, rise over his back and into the bridle, and sit down on his haunches for push.

Heels down. Leg back. Leg forward. More forward. Too forward. Be lighter with your aids! More leg. Left shoulder drooping. More connection! Not enough. Ask for more. Too much bend. Not enough bend. He's overbent...

I'm on the home stretch! Working hard on finishing my book, The Adult Longeing Guide, which is a compilation of longeing exercises for everyone.

It's been fun to write- I collected the exercises during teaching by wearing my digital recorder in my pocket, since lots of times I'd have a student doing this and that and then forget to come in the house and write it down.

Do you have a favorite training exercise? I'd love to hear about it. What do you like to do to warm up before riding? How do stretch out on horseback?

Write and let me know, I'd love to hear your ideas.

I wish I knew! He's just always been kind of a dink on the longeline. No amount of "forward" energy really comes through for him. The only thing that gets him going in a forward rhythm is me, going Trot, Trot, Trot, Trot (in the rhythm I want). It's pretty weird.

Okay, so, we took a bit of a hiatus on loading for a few weeks, but today I thought we'd try again. First I brushed up her ground work, making sure she was longeing correctly, and leading her all over the property. She did great at the longeing, and I even got her to canter a bit (she's so smart) for the first time. Now she walks, whoas, trots and canters on voice command on the longe. I also did a bit of natural horsemanship type driving with her--swinging the rope and pointing in the direction I wanted her to go.

After a few attempts at trying to just lead her in (she'd put two feet in and then stop), I decided to try to drive her in. I could tell right away this was what she was comfortable with! Right away she looked like she was ready and eager to just jump in, and after our third attempt (turning, but never letting her go past the trailer--just asking her to step to the side and head off the other way, then turn toward the trailer). I got her walking briskly, swinging the rope and pointing to the trailer and low and behold, she just jumped right in and stood there. I even asked her for a few more steps forward (from outside) so she'd be all the way up to the front. Then I gave her a carrot! We did it twice more, and I'll probably do it again tomorrow. I'm so pleased it didn't turn into a big deal! She learns really fast. Sometimes she stands and stomps, and has a mini-trantrum, and then she just does it!. She's looking more horse-like every day, so I'm thinking of sitting on her pretty soon.

1) Clean and disinfect the stall where he'll be living. Even though I'm no neatnick, this is a step I never skip. There's plenty of disease out in the world that your new horse could get. Make sure you remove all the old bedding and scrub down the walls.

2) Check the pasture fences for any weakness. A horse in a new environment tends to wahoo around--make sure everything is safe, nails and driven home and there's nothing that could hurt him.

3) Hand walk him around the fence lines and the property so he gets a feel for his environment.

4) Bring hay and grain from the old place so there's no sudden change in diet. If he hasn't been out on grass don't turn him out right away. Give him a gradual introduction, starting with 10 minutes of hand grazing and adding time over the course of two weeks. Change his diet gradually and only if you must.

So today I used the Parelli yo-yo game to work with Belle on the trailer loading issue. At first she was much worse than yesterday. She still will take one step in, and then feel insecure and just stand there, like she doesn't know how to get the other foot in. So I yo-yo-ed here in and out and in and out, but she'd still only put one foot in. Then she got frustrated, stamped her foot, kicked out, and generally said, Look Ma, I'm trying, I really am. And then. She got both front feet in! I rewarded her and made her stand there and eat cookies for a few minutes, and she didn't seem at all afraid of the trailer.

Since we're having this discussion on trailer loading, I thought I'd give it a try with Belle, who is just three.

As a foal, I trailed Belle over to a friend's house, to a horse show, back to my house, to another friend's house. She had absolutely no issues with the trailer. But today, after a year's hiatus from the trailer (i just haven't gotten around to it), we tried again.

It wasn't easy.

She didn't seem afraid, just more confused about how to get her feet up inside (it's a step up). She's put one foot in, and then stand there. The first few times she managed to get both feet in, she backed up very quickly, as if the noise had startled her. After a few more tries, she got both front feet on the trailer, and stayed there. I rewarded her with a treat and lots of praise. I tried to repeat it (just to make sure) and again we struggled with the one foot in, three feet out thing.

I had one of those "I'm going to cry" moments today during my lesson. I haven't cried (out of frustration) during a riding lesson in years, so this kind of surprised me. Nicole's always great about telling me in detail about my progress, so it had nothing to do with her. It was just plain old, "why am I still struggling with this"--this being true throughness of the horse over his back, and my own shortcomings, which include but are not limited to: busy hands, a droopy left shoulder, and a general lack of coordination.

Dang dressage is hard.

"I only want to make it easier for you, so you can feel it," she said, when she suggested she get on.

One of our members wrote me offline after I sent out one of those nagging emails about contributing, and said, "but I'm not a writer!"
So here's a quick guide on how to contribute to this site, especially blogging and comments section:
Blogging: is short for weblog. It is, essentially, a web diary.
And like a diary, it doesn't have to be letter perfect, grammatically correct or poetic or writerly in any way. You don't even have to capitalize. It's just your thoughts about all things horse sports oriented.
It is completely free form, and can contain just about anything (within the standards of decency, of course).