Wizard Ride 168: Good Fortune
Thursday, 8/12/10
This summer, good fortune has been with Wizard and me. Everything has come together after spending a lot of time and money. Before/after frames tell the whole story of our fitness and hard work (THIS is why I try to have as many pictures taken as possible):
January 2009:
August 2010:
We rode in the large outdoor arena, mostly at a relaxed but forward pace. I encouraged stretching in the beginning of the ride, followed by forward responsiveness off of my leg at the end of the ride in order to create impulsion over fences while maintaining relaxation. It took one try to pick up the left lead, and he got his right lead on the third try.
I set up a trot-in pole before a cross rail, followed by two strides to a small vertical. The first time, he took it really long because I made the distance wrong (set up for cantering in and not trotting in), but once the distance was corrected, he took it smoothly:
It was a really nice ride, and I’m grateful to be working with such a game horse.
Wizard Ride 167: This is a Test
Wednesday, 8/11/10
Muggy, sticky, humid. Blech. I rode Wizard indoors for a change of scenery. After our warmup, we continued our work on transitions. Walk, trot, walk, halt, etc. We did transitions on serpentines, on circles, and on straightaways. I re-introduced shoulder-in and we practiced it on the long sides in each direction. Right was far better than left, but that’s because I ride way better to the right :^P When I got him nicely engaged, I asked for a canter. On the right lead, it took several tries. On the left lead, he picked up the wrong lead as well, making me wonder if I need to keep tinkering with my signals.
On a lark, I rode Training Level, Test One. OK, it was a loose interpretation! We did not exactly stick the transitions, etc, but I was thrilled that he can ride the basic shapes and perform the basic tasks. Of course, we would have gotten the lowest score ever, but it was a fun exercise.
After the ride, I hosed him off, gave him some alfalfa, and put him to bed.
Wizard Ride 166: It’s Nice to Know You Work Alone
Monday, 8/9/10
One of the best parts of riding horses in the summer is the cool nights. Monday was a hot day, but a little breeze picked up in the evening. Some weeks, the barn is packed with riders on Mondays and some weeks it’s quiet. This week, we had the place to ourselves. Some horses don’t do well when they are by themselves, but Wizard is just peachy with being alone.
We rode in the big outdoor arena under the lights, starting out with a nice forward walk, followed by some limbering trot work. Wizard tends to slow down a little when he’s realllly stretched down and on the buckle, so I concentrated on maintaining my position and keeping my leg on him as he stretched. We did some lateral work, which engages his hind end and gets the inside leg to outside hand connection established.
In the middle of the arena, there were nine trot poles- one set of three, a few strides, then a set of six. I’ve never done that many trot poles with Wizard before, but he cruised through them with no problem. We took them twice in each direction. Once, he tripped over one pole but regained his balance and went through the rest quite nicely.
I could feel that Wizard was motoring along nicely so I did a little test. I asked him for a halt and then a trot. He bounced into a trot from a halt within a step or two- marvelous!!!
Our canter work was fantastic. He picked up his left lead on the first attempt and we did circles and straightaways, lengthening and shortening his stride. The right lead was stickier and it took about four tries to get it right. I’m still trying to get it figured out. I try to do twice as much work on the bad lead as on the good lead so he develops balance and strength.
As we cantered around the arena, I felt much more self-carriage than he has had in the past. His fitness is helping his stride. He was remarkably responsive to my rein signals, and for fun, I did a little neck-reining. We did some circles with neck reining, and I could feel him sitting down a bit on his hind end. I think he remembers rollbacks from his barrel racing training :^)
On a lark, I gave a little outside leg, and he performed a lovely leg yield away from the rail. I think leg yielding is easier at the canter than it is at the trot for him. Part of it is the built-in impulsion of the jumping stride of the canter, I think. It was a blast, though. It makes me so happy that we’ve really taken our time and every time I ask for a new behavior, he complies. These are some of the things we’ve done in the past few weeks for the first time ever:
– hand gallop
– leg yield at the canter
– turn on the forehand
– halt to trot transition
– taking a jump at a canter
– jumping a vertical
– cantering in a small arena with shorter turns
In all, he’s been quite the star pupil.
Wizard Ride 165: (Dawning of a) New Era
Thursday, 8/3/10
One of my favorite barn buddies visited and watched me ride Wizard. She had not seen him for several months so I was excited to show off our progress. Last time she saw him, we were just doing a little trot and were nowhere near canter work. I rode in the indoor arena since the bugs were pretty bad and the sun was STRONG. I put Wizard through his paces, and he gamely complied. We did a little demo of our lateral work, our long and low trot, our cantering, and I popped him over a cross rail at a trot and then a canter. He hit the rail once with his back foot, but it was my fault because I had a trot-in pole and it was too close for him when he cantered in. The last time through, he took the jump perfectly.
My friend was so happy with our progress. She could see HUGE changes in his fitness and topline, and she said he was so much more relaxed and his gaits were much improved. We have moved out of one training phase and into another. It was so rewarding to hear her kind words.
Wizard Ride 164: Where is my Mind?
Monday, 8/2/10
A beautiful system of cool, dry air came blowing through central New Jersey today. The outdoor arena footing was lovely and was holding a bit of moisture from recent rain. It was a perfect night to ride outside in the big arena under the lights.
We warmed up for about 5 minutes on a loose rein at the walk and then worked into a trot, also on a loose rein. I asked for serpentines on a loose rein and we rode some figure 8s. Wizard was really stretching into the bit. Sometimes, when he gets really long and low, he slows down so I tried to keep the tempo consistent.
During the ride, I found my mind wandering and I was not really asking for focused exercises. So I doubled my efforts and we finished the ride with far more purpose than we began it.
I was finally able to do an excellent exercise that was given to me many months ago: ride down the quarter line at the trot, leg yield to the wall, and ask for a canter at the wall. It helped to get Wizard on the outside rein, and it also boosted up our impulsion a few notches without pushing him too hard. It worked beautifully, and he only needed two tries to pick up the “hard” lead, his right lead. We took three laps around the arena at the canter and then did the same exercise to the left. And he nailed the correct lead! We did three laps, and I focused on my equitation, making sure my hand was following the bit and my leg was stable and strong.
We then moved on to some more trot work. We rode serpentines, transitioning to the walk at each change of bend. I then asked Wizard for a forward trot on the straightaways, followed by a “stretchy circle” in each corner, smaller than 20 meters, maybe 15m. To close out the ride, I asked for one more canter on the right lead. It felt relaxed and focused. I had gotten my wandering mind onto the task and Wizard responded nicely.
After our ride, I was fussing over him on the cross ties- on a lark, I attempted to pull his mane. In the past, he objected stridently to mane-pulling and I was forced to scissor the mane to look as much as possible like a pulled mane. But tonight, he decided it was okay. We’ve been working together for a little less than two years, and I find it fascinating that tonight was the night he decided he could trust me with mane-pulling. Perhaps it means he is ready for a horse show :^)
Wizard Ride 163: Expecting to Fly
Thursday, 7/29/10
Another sticky, sticky summer day in New Jersey. I rode early in the day, so it was a little cooler, but by the time we were done, we were both quite sweaty. We warmed up in the small dressage arena, working on transitions within the gaits, serpentines, and our first-ever canter in the small arena. Wizard’s self-carriage has improved so dramatically that he can handle much smaller spaces for cantering. He did break into a trot in one corner and it took a few times to strike off the correct lead, but once we were rolling, it was really nice.
We moved on to some work over little fences. We had not done any jumps in a while, so I had all sorts of fun ideas in my head. We started out trotting over some trot poles to loosen up his topline and so I could get my position where I wanted it. We then moved on to a little exercise of a trot pole, then a cross rail, then a landing rail. The rails were about 6 or 7 feet before and after the jump to help him learn distances and for me to retrain my eye. It’s been a while since I jumped with any regularity :^P
Wizard did the exercise beautifully, trotting in, taking the X, and bouncing out over the final rail. We moved on to a line of two fences, a cross rail to our first-ever “real” vertical. I made the mistake of trusting the distance between the fences, but it was a little funky since we were trotting in to the X and cantering to the vertical. Wizard handled it gamely, though, and took the long distance… and… WHEEE! He flew. Knees up to his eyeballs, back rounded, he jumped the jump like a true Thoroughbred. We took the vertical a few more times. Once, he hit the rail with his hind leg, but every other time, he felt great. It was a wonderful schooling experience.
On the first approach, my position is defensive and not soft- I’m not expecting the huge leap or the long distance.
On the second approach, my release is better and Wizard appreciates it and is rounder to my following hand. But I got ahead of him and I’m not as balanced as I was in the first frame.
Wizard Ride 162; Straight Line
Wednesday, 7/28/10
The farrier put new shoes on Wizard on Wednesday. He gave me the wonderful news that Wizard is not wearing down the outside of his right hind shoe nearly as badly as he did in the past. YESSSSS! Hopefully, this means that he’s fitter and he’s traveling less crookedly than he was in the past.
After the farrier appointment, I tacked him up and we took a spin on the trails. We had not ridden trails in a while, mostly due to the flies. They were not as bad since it was getting dark, but we both still got a few bites. We trotted for most of the ride and it felt great to get out. When we returned, I rode him in the big arena for about 10 minutes, mostly doing more work at the canter, continuing our relaxation techniques from Monday night’s ride. I did not bother to turn the arena lights on since I could see enough by the lights of the barn. It was fun to canter around in the dark. When we were done, I hosed him off the put him to bed.
I always stand by walls and try to humour fools.
Am I moving in a straight line?
Wizard Ride 161; In which Mr. Spanky returns…
Monday, 7/26/10
My riding instructors always taught me to ride with a crop in hand. I rarely used it, but they said it was important to learn how to apply “artificial” aids like a spur or a crop so that you can use them effectively if needed.
When I started riding Wizard, he was so sensitive to leg contact that I never used a crop; in fact, I kept my legs quite still for several rides until he settled. Once he got more comfortable with me, we worked on responding to leg and he improved quite nicely. His one sticking point, so to speak, was when he was at a halt and I wanted him to “walk on”. He sometimes rooted his feet to the ground and would stand still, no matter how much pressure I gave him with my leg. If he did not respond to a squeeze or a little heel on my boot, I’d tap him with my hand and he would move forward. Although mostly harmless, it was an evasion of sorts and it meant that he could avoid my leg when he felt like it. This is not such a big deal when we’re bumming around in an arena, but it could turn into a very dangerous habit if we were riding on the trail, road, etc. As long as a rider is applying the correct aids, the horse should ALWAYS respond within a reasonable range of time and pressure. This is also why a rider must be judicious with commands and only say “GO” and “WHOAH” when s/he means it.
Since Wizard arena stickiness at a halt was turning into a habit, I employed my dressage whip, jokingly called Mr. Spanky, for Monday’s ride. When I was a kid riding lesson ponies, my instructor used to say, “squeeze, then kick, then stick”. I used a similar but slightly more subtle method with Wizard, touching his hip with the whip if he did not heed my leg. It worked like a charm, and within three tries, the stickiness was virtually gone.
In the past, I carried a crop on trail rides, just in case. Wizard sometimes gets a little choppy and tight when I carry a stick so I need to work on my riding and on settling him when I’m carrying a crop. Like everything else, I think it will come with time.
Our ride was nice- it lasted about 30 minutes. We did a lot of walking and I asked for some impulsion at the walk. Wizard has a spectacular walk when he’s moving forwardly. We worked on large circles and on our corners at the trot. In the beginning, I rode on an oval shape but now Wizard is advanced enough to start riding more deeply into corners. At the canter, I planted my hands in his neck, put a loop in the reins, and asked him to canter about 4 or 5 times around the arena in each direction. The outdoor arena is quite large, and it felt great to observe him as he adjusted his stride and settled into a lovely canter in each direction. He picked up the correct lead on the first try to the left and on the third try to the right.
Sometimes, it feels like summer will be here forever. I need to remind myself that I won’t have this lovely, large outdoor arena all year round and I should appreciate all the outdoor riding we’ve gotten to do in recent weeks.
Wizard Ride 160; Showoffs
Thursday, 7/22/10
Mary the Morgan‘s owner visited the farm on Thursday. She was up-to-speed on Wizard’s progress, but had not seen him under-saddle since before we had begun our canter work in April. I took the opportunity to put him through his paces so she could see our progress. I’ll admit it… it felt really good to show off all we’ve done. She was delighted to see his improved muscling, his freer trot, and our overall increased harmony. I did not ask for much training-wise, we simply ran through our new gears. All of this training does not feel huge until I think back and realize how much we’ve accomplished :^)
Wizard Ride 159; Another Gear
Monday, 7/19/10
One of my favorite kinds of rides at my barn is under the lights at night. On Monday, the footing was perfect and the air was cool. The large arena is perfect for working on fitness and legging up. It’s also very good for canter work because it is so spacious. We did an easy warmup, working on mostly straight lines with a few large circles. Wizard felt relaxed and forward. I eased him into the canter, and we worked on some large circles and also straightaways. Within his working canter, he felt relaxed and more confident than he has before. He was light on the bit, and responsive to my leg. I squeezed with my leg, opened my arm an inch or so, and he glided into a forward canter. I brought him back to working canter a few times and asked for the forward canter. It was pretty close to a hand gallop, but when I do a real hand gallop, I mean business :^) It felt great to find this new gear. It is a thrill every time we try something new.
Rock and Racehorses: The Blog 