Way overdue update

I'm getting a little lax in my blog updates here.

1. Arena is done! Footing is in, its getting settled, and the horses are moving fabulously.

2. Krisi Harrison clinic this past weekend was as usual - awesome. She put every single one of us on the lunge. It didn't matter if you were a trainer, and FEI rider, or a low level ammy.... you got a stark demonstration on how incompletely you are connecting the horse from the inside leg to outside rein. For those of us with those super duper uber supple horses who can wiggle waggle and disconnect in the blink of an eye????..... Oh, My GOSH! Uh.... yeah.... that would be me. What WAS my inside leg doing down there? I'm not sure because its very apparently not driving my horse forward enough. Philipe was walking all over me errr... taking me for a ride. While he was not all too happy about honest complete connection (read: submission) he did make great improvements and has spent the last two days gazing after me from the pasture seeking more attention. Apparently he didn't like the process of changing the rules, but now that the new rules are in place he's more excited to go play.

3. I hereby declare Ernie is CONFIRMED in his flying changes. He changed leads on every request at the clinic. While he remains a teeeny weeeenyy bit slow behind on the right to left change, its only a coordination issue. He's not late, and he's not rushing the front. He's got it, but that right hind just takes more effort and you can see that effort. Left to right? ooohhh la la!
So, we have gymnastic homework. Poles, cavalletti, and I'm going to do some work on in the x-country behind the arena on the hill/bank and over the big poles in the grass.

4. 2 and a half weeks to Starr Vaughn..... 3rd test 2 and 3 for Ernie and 4th 1 for Philipe. I'm so excited!! Diet starts tomorrow. ;-) I'm sure I can find 5 -10 lbs that should find a home somewhere else and sit a little skinnier in the saddle- because what girl doesn't ride with more ShaZAM when she feels skinnier? Certainly you've seen this "shazam" of Katie Price aka "Jordan" at a recent demo in GB. Yes, I'd ride in that coat. ;-) (and on such a dear saint of a horse that allows a rider to hang on the inside rein... or any rein for that matter- I know a great lunge lesson that could help her! LOL)

5. I just realized Christmas is less than 2 months away. ACK!

6. The election is less than 1 week away... thank goodness. The "Yes on Prop 8" sign surrepticiously placed by the neighbors to look like its at OUR driveway as much as theirs has yet to come to any unfortunate demise. We certainly are taking the higher road on that one. But, well.... I wouldn't be part of a search party to find it should it disappear. And that's my only reference to my political views on my personal/business minded blog. I just can't allow it to be implied I might condone anything related to inequality or governmental dictation of religious belief.... two completely and utterly un-American ideas. On that note... some flag waving red, white and blue horse related video .... Spanish horses too. ;-)

Arena is almost done...

I failed to mention last week that our arena was being resurfaced and new footing added. Well, a two day project stretched into a 3rd day without being quite finished and suddenly we were at the weekend.... soooo..... tomorrow it should be done. I managed to ride both the "big" boys in the parts already done. The others have been on the lungeline and so have the lessons! No one dodged the bullet and found themselves working on their seats to my torturous albeit fun instructions. I'm sure I'll hear about a lot about how sore they were come tomorrow. :-)

My famous line is "ITS A SPORT!" Its simple, but its not easy. You should be calm and relaxed, but not just sitting there like you are on a couch. Poised, strong, supportive, moving and balancing. Riding is after all RIDING not sitting. LOL

I used to vault so I LOVE a lunge line lesson. I also love lunging in general. Ground work, work in hand, play and liberty etc. all appeal to me. The connection you can develop and awareness of your body language, posture, and subtle communication skills are invaluable and intricately fascinating- at least to me.

I also love to watch my horses and see the development in their balance and basic gaits.

Here are a few pics mom took of Breanna when we lunged today. I love the energy of the canter pic. Parts were chopped off and its not an angle to see movement, but its a 'moving' pic. Breanna seems to get a lot of shots that pop like that.

Some serious dressage

Its no fluke... Ernie has now been able to demonstrate multiple flying changes (clean and straight) on the quarterline in 3 different sessions. WOO HOO!!!

Romeo has been learning to do Walter Zettl's Shoulder-In Entwickeln exercise which is an all time favorite of mine. He's getting more supple through his body and coming over his back to both outside reins very nicely. Along with that, we've upped the ante in our canter work, playing between greater ranges of collected/medium canter on the 20m circle. This balance has allowed us to do some steeper counter-canter work and last week I lost his lead, then simply asked him to 're-depart' back to the left lead and he performed a flying change. They are going to be EEAAAAssssy for this horse.

Philipe is his usual "Reluctant Rock Star" self and we spend the first part of our rides helping him decide to go forward. Once achieved he is a monster. Lovely, hyper, uphill, eat up the movements and spit em' out kind a horse. I LOVE him!! :-) I made a decision a few weeks back that if Anky doesn't have to halt (*jk*) Philipe doesn't HAVE to walk.... so, here's the deal. By the time I get him where the rest of the work is easy and light, happy and free he says to heck with the walk. Or at least he gets a teensy bit jiggy when we go from extended to collected walk. Its all anticipation I know and he offers some nice little half steps. I was insisting on walk and he was feeling shut down. I made the executive "I'm-the-trainer-and-we'll-do-it-my-way" decision that having a happy horse who felt excited about his job was more important. Is he impulsive? Yes. Is it a form of tension? Yes, but it feels positive not negative. Is he trying to work with me? Yes. Is he happy? Yes. And that was that. I don't say anything, no half-halt, flex or correcting transitions. I merely stay passive and wait for him to realize I'm still walking. Its working WAY better than anything else. Now he still has a jig step or two, but they are a pure trot... almost piaffelike steps. Will we lose points at a show, perhaps. I reviewed tests and video and where he's done it, I've only had a comment/deduction half the time. I'll take the gamble.

I suspect that this is the case for a few other riders and trainers out there. I'm no Anky for sure, but its my horse and my decision. There is such a balancing act between everything in dressage. It might as well be called balanced horsemanship. There is balance physically with the horse and rider, balance of thrusting power and carrying power, the balance of impulsion and submission, the balance of straight and supple..... too much of one is likely to impact the other. Not enough of one impacts the other. When one is just right its only because the other is also just right. What we must all come to grips with in this sport is that we are NEVER just right. Its a sport always seeking perfection and yet never attaining it. In that vein, its purely an art form- dynamic, changing, turbulent, and alive.

Procrastination bites back. I take a stab at E-bay.

I don't know if its really procrastination or simply being practical. I like to hold on to things in case they have a purpose and value later. Case in point being saddles. I have a few used saddles that have been very purposeful for the horses they were intended for some for a long time, others a short time. When I started riding in the saddles from Custom Saddlery, I was quickly taken and the horses got to enjoy the benefits of a fully fitted saddle.

That left me with a few saddles that I used on occasion, but those occasions became fewer and fewer. Horses don't always stay in training very long so a saddle that was useful on the tall lanky half dutch warmblood or that tanky Friesian aren't used once those ponies head home from boarding school. For the past year, I've had a very stable stable. The horses here have not been short termers looking for a little boost, but long term horses moving up 1 or 2 levels, and clients staying for the long haul that is learning dressage. These folks have their own saddles for these horses, and thus my extras have been collecting dust.... on their dust covers of course. ;-)

I'd decided quite a few months ago to sell them, but I just couldn't bring myself to part with something that could be used. But, I also knew it isn't particularly practical to keep a good saddle that is worth something. It ages, and you have to continue to care for it so that it stays "healthy". I SHOULD have sold them back in the beginning of summer. I put it off. Too much to do I'd say. Practicality was a bit of an excuse.

I finally got off my bum to do it and viola... the consumer market is in the dumps. My procrastination has taken a big bite at me in the lower prices I'm going to have to ask for them.

Regardless, they are now listed on E-bay. This is my first attempt at online selling. It means I have no seller rating. I have no rating at all as I've never purchased anything before through them.

But, in case you might be interested, here they are.

The County Competitor

and the Bates Caprilli

Look for a horse update soon and a great shoulder-in exercise.

Fugly Horse of the Day!: One simple rule that would fix the entire problem

This sums it up for me. Frequently... all too frequently, I get an email or a question from clients, associates, former clients, neighbors etc. about "who should I breed my mare to?". Everything from the person who thinks it will calm her mare down, NOT- to couldn't sell her, can't ride her, always lame, gets bucked off.... yeah do you really REALLY want to create MORE of those? I'm the biggest I-wanna-breed-her balloon deflater. From now on too, I'll hand you copies of these posts from FHOTD. They say it all and are absolutely on the mark. In fact, I'm going to print a copy to hang in the barn for all to read.

Fugly Horse of the Day!: One simple rule that would fix the entire problem

Truth or Dare?

I'm a visual learner, that's for sure. I can take the quick barrage of information during a lesson quite well. I thrive on that actually. But, once I'm home, with my camera hooked up to the computer and studying my videos, I can see it all and get a better understanding. That has really been the case since last weeks lessons with Krisi. There were subtleties in the connection, the degree of suppleness, and in particular how "active" we wanted Ernie to get behind that became crystal clear and completely understood once I saw it.

After watching, I have visual input to translate with what I felt on the horse at those moments. So, I've been riding for those moments, prolonging them and going for even MORE with Ernie.

Today I was rewarded when our very first attempt at a change to the right lead was just another canter stride. No change in rythm, no change in connection or suppleness, straight, uphill... all the things one strives for and light to my aids. We continued in our work and did a similar change left where I confirmed I'd found my timing of when to add an encouraging tap with the whip for him to jump through with a quicker right hind leg. Clean left change.

We'd done some other work in canter, and I was coming up the quarter line on left lead. He was "there" and so I just went for it. Could we change into a counter canter? Yep... no problem. "V" was approaching and Ernie was 100% on my aids.... Was this true? Was he REALLY 100% because it felt like it. So, I dared it. I dared to ask for a second change on that quarterline. And... yipee! We got it.

I've learned that sometimes you have to get a little greedy, try for a little extra, go for something you haven't done before to see where you are at. If you don't push the envelope, you won't progress. With horses, as soon as you stop making progress you begin to regress. Progress without preparation of course is a recipe for disaster. When we head the advice of "make haste slowly," focus our sights clearly ahead and make our way as quickly as possible without skipping steps, we build a solid relationship with our horses that is both honest and inspiring for both.

Clipper Happy

I just tucked the ponies in for the night. They are happily munching away on their soaked beet pulp/alfalfa pellets with the vit/min supplement, joint supplements for those who get them, and the rice bran and/or 'grain' substitute low NSC energy booster yummies they may require.

All is right and content in the world for them. And as I walked by each stall and paddockfor a final check over, I stopped proudly admiring Philipe's body clip job he got today. He absolutely loved the pampered treatment. It was a day off for him training wise. I love these days when he has nothing he has to do, but enjoy totally non-demanding time to bond over profuse grooming. The cookies were freely distributed, along with lots of caressing and fussing. (which he loves in spite of acting so tough and macho) It finished off with a warm shower to rinse off the clipped hair and condition it which meant being hand grazed in the sun to dry.

So, as I continued down the barn aisle tonight I gave fair warning to the other full training fuzzballs and fuzzball wanna-be's..... "Watch out! I'm clipper happy." I think Ernie is slated for tomorrow. (which could be uhh..... fun?)

If that doesn't sound like fun, check this out.

Is your horse a Rockstar?

Apparently, I own a Rockstar horse.... a Reluctant Rockstar, a Wild Card, a Boss, a Wall Flower, a couple People Pleasers, and a Steady Eddy.

Who is who???

Breanna??









Destino??










Ernie??











Philipe?