jump to navigation

Ahhh… Pretty Pony… July 31, 2008

Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse) Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 3comments

Sherene and I had a little “mojito party” last night and watched Borat (which is a ridiculously gross movie). In the midst of our fete, we totally forgot to figure out how to work our lessons with Paige. With Sherene leaving on vacation this afternoon, I decided not to put any more stress on her and see if Paige could do training rides on each of the ponies. Paige said it was fine, so a plan was made.

I lunged Shazam under Sherene’s eye the day before, so I kind of knew what to expect. He’s been a tad on edge lately, so he gets lunged before every ride. I tacked him up and brought him into the arena expecting a “manjestic” beast to start tearing around the arena. I love how when you expect fire you rarely get even a little sizzle. Yes, Mr. Firey Steed was very happy just to plod along.

Truth be told, it’s a good sign. It means he’s somewhat relaxed. When Paige showed up he was pretty mellow in both directions. My goal was achieved.

I next grabbed my horse while Paige worked Shazam. I was a little nervous: I really value Paige’s opinion, but I also think pretty darn highly of Tigger. Would she like him? Would she think he was a pain to ride? Would she enjoy working with him? It’s funny what goes through your head sometimes.

She finished with Shazam and we exchanged ponies. She got on and I walked Shazam out (who got his little butt worked) while she got acquainted with Tigger. After it was clear that both Paige and Tigger wouldn’t be bounding out of the arena unintentionally, I brought Shazam in to do his after care.

After turning Shazam back out I went to the arena to watch Paige. All I could think was, “Ahhh… Pretty Pony…” I don’t see him getting worked very often, so watching him from the ground is a treat. I think my boy is pretty handsome. Is he the most handsome horse in the world? Absolutely not. But I not only see the physical, but his goofy personaility and his willingness to please. These two traits can make even the ugliest horse something special in someone’s heart.

Anyway, it took a lot of focus to watch Paige and how she was working with him. I kept drifting to him instead of watching her. What I did retain from her ride with him is that lots of small releases are good for him. She was constantly encouraging him to fill the outside rein but stay soft on the inside. If he resisted, she met his resistence but softened the instant he did. It didn’t take him long to figure that one out. I also noticed that she really did look like she was encouraging him, not “telling” him with her leg. She was active, but subtle. I need to work on that subtle part.

I also breathed a little sigh of release when she said at the end, “Well, that was a fun little ride.” Obviously it wasn’t the horrifying experience I thought she might have. :-)

I’m excited to get on him again this weekend and apply my experiences from this week. I can’t believe how much fun I’m having from riding him. I’m beginning to think it’s too good to be true…

And in the true spirit of not being able to do two things at once, I have my 10k this Saturday. Nope, haven’t run all week. There’s nothing like being totally ill-prepared for a run. The race starts at 9am, and they close the course at 10:30. I hope I can run it in under 90 minutes!

Frame? What Frame? July 28, 2008

Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse) Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 1 comment so far

After the Henrik Johansen clinic, I’ve been very focused on applying what I learned.  I have been precise in not only where I am going when I ride, but also what the tempo is.  We’ve been doing lots of transitions within the gait and between gaits.  I’ve been picking a point in the arena and hitting it with deadly accuracy.  Tigger has been responding well, finally feeling that the person on his back is finally taking control.  The burden of making a decision on where we are going has been lifted from his tiny acorn-sized brain.

Except that I forgot to keep his frame.

Yes, Tigger and I have been deadly accurate in an upside-down, stiff, and rigid way.  In an effort to keep from pulling on the reins, I abandoned them.  I forgot to get flexions, and without flexions it’s nearly impossible to get the bend.  I don’t do “nearly impossible” well, so for two weeks I was riding an unbent (and therefore “un-straight”) horse.  It makes complete sense that today in my lesson Tigger was hopelessly stuck above the bit.

Luckily my trainer recognized this and hopped on him for a bit. She tuned him up for about 5 minutes, then I hopped back on to a much more supple horse.  From there we worked on further suppling while also incorporating tempo control and the accuracy I had been developing for two weeks.  By the end of the lesson, I felt he was nearly back to his old self. 

I was reminded that riding is not a black-and-white kind of thing. There are various shades of gray and part of the journey that makes horseback riding fun (and sometimes frustrating) is that those shades of gray are a continuously moving target.  Depending on how you and your horse are feeling, you have different levels of pressure that need to be applied.  Today I needed to have a little more presense on that inside rein.  Maybe next time I need to be a little lighter. It all depends on the horse you have that day. And it’s always changing.

I’m super happy with my consistency in riding. I feel like I’m getting into a groove.  My running has tanked (and oh YEAH, I have a 10k on Saturday) but I’m okay with that. If I had to choose between the two, I would definitely choose the horse thing. But luckily that’s not the case.

Walk with Kristi July 28, 2008

Posted by kimayars Walk Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , add a comment

I got up to go to the gym with Kristi. I was going to run, but figured that I needed to “ease” myself back into this again. Ha…

The gym got some new cardio equipment in and for the life of me I can not figure out how to work it. It was the most unsatisfying stair-climber workout ever.  There has got to be some instructions with these things somewhere.

I wonder if I can find it using my iPhone?…  :-D

Workout:

Tour de Peaks July 27, 2008

Posted by kimayars Cycle Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , add a comment

Today was the 20th Annual Tour de Peaks — a fun little bike event out here in our small town. They have lots of different scenic rides, including a cute little 4-mile family ride which we did as a family this year.  Jeff (weakly) tried to borrow another tag-a-long so that I could take Samantha and he could take Veronica.  Since that didn’t pan out, Jeff had the dubious honor of carting both girs: Veronica on the tag-a-long and Samantha in the sidecar:

Along the family route they had a “rest area” complete with sidewalk chalk, an obstacle course, and face painting.  And I’m not kidding when I say face painting…

 

The girls had a great time, I got to deal with my fear of riding in traffic, and Jeff got lots of comments on the sidecar.  Overall, a splendid outing! (Although my butt is REALLY sore.)

Wide Open Spaces July 26, 2008

Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse) Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , add a comment

Sherene’s arena is a really nice one — especially for a personal arena.  It’s about 60′ x 120′, has a decent base, hogsfuel footing, and half of it is covered.  Three walls of the 60′ x 60′ covered area had probably 6ft walls.  The horses are unusally spooky down in this area of the arena, so Sherene took off the top two rails hoping that if the horses could see what was making the noises on the other side of that solid wall, it might help the situation.  Today was my first ride in the “new arena”.

Let’s just say it looks SO much bigger now.  It’s much more open and from my perspective, I like it much better.

After I tacked up Tigger, we headed out into the arena.  I was wondering if he would even notice.  Yup he did.  Head up, nostrils flaring, ears at attention: He cautiously stepped into the arena. We walked around the uncovered part first, all the while he glanced down toward the covered area.  There was SO much more to see!  Eventually, we started down the wall toward the covered area.  here’s how it all went down:

“Oh my GOD! A wheelbarrow!  Where did THAT come from??” (*SNORT!*)
“Oh my GOD! A pile of rocks!  Where did THAT come from??” (*SNORT!*)
“Oh my GOD! A hose!  Where did THAT come from??” (*SNORT!*)
“Oh my GOD! A gate!  Where did THAT come from??” (*SNORT!*)
“Oh my GOD! A pile of boards!  Where did THAT come from??” (*SNORT!*)
“Hey… Is that a snack?…”

Just past letter “A” in the arena was a small bush that was orginally hidden by the two extra boards.  Tigger found it delightful.

After a few nibbles off the bush he decided this wasn’t such a bad arrangement after all.

I went ahead and got on him with a minor squirt (which makes sense since this was a pretty big change for him) but nothing like the mounting problems we’ve had in the past.  We spent the day exploring the arena and easing our way into the covered area.  He certainly had a fair number of shies and balks, but by the end he was trotting full arena in a semi-relaxed manner. Definitely a huge success.

So I really like the change to the arena. I like being able to see people approach and the extra light is also really nice.  I think in the long run the horses will like it too.  It’s definitely a room with a view!