May 2012

May 31, 2012: Moving Forward

I am a little subdued at the moment as Skye has managed to hurt her left hindleg a little bit; she's barely lame, enough to feel but not really see unless you are a horse mutterer (i. e. an expert) and to make me fret. She is enjoying some time off, twice-daily cold hosing and extra carrots. The slight swelling of her pastern was probably caused by treading in a hole and twisting it a little, and it doesn't seem to be bothering her much at all, so I'll hop on again this weekend and see how she feels. I used Siobhan instead of her for the riding lessons, which made me fret a bit again, but to my surprise the little pony was an absolute star and even trotted nicely under her beginner rider. Go Siobhanny!

Get well soon, Skye... I miss riding my wonderful fireball.

Poor Thunder's bad run has continued; most lately, his teeth have been giving him problems. He got a bang on the cheek somehow and the resulting swelling rubbed against his sharp molars until he could eat hardly any meal and no hay at all. He was a very sore and unhappy little horse until some phenylbutazone cleared up the swelling. After that he could eat again, but it was plain that those sharp molars needed fixing, so for the first time I had to call out an equine dentist.

I admit to being a little nervous; I had seen a horse having its teeth rasped/floated before and it was quite an intimidating business. The horse was sedated and felt next to nothing as the dentist rasped away, but the rasps seemed about a foot long, and I wasn't sure of how Thunder would react.

In the end he was superb. The dentist is a nice, soft-spoken horse lover and was kind to my colt. It took about ten minutes and Thunder was just amazing; he had no sedation and being only eighteen months old he'd never so much as worn a bit before, but all he did was take a few paces backward now and then when it got a bit too queer. No rearing, no leaping around or pulling or having a tantrum, just the somewhat bewildered calm that's typical of him. The dentist let me feel his teeth before and after and there's a huge difference. No wonder the poor guy was having trouble eating, his teeth were really sharp. Now he should pick up some weight, too, which is great; he's still growing, but he's definitely fallen behind Dancer in terms of condition. I was very impressed with him and the dentist said that he was very good compared to other horses. He's really one of the gentlest horses I have ever had the pleasure of handling, and though I know backing him will involve plenty of frights and falling off, I think there will be a vast difference compared to Achilles and Siobhan provided I get my act together and pull my own weight, too. 

I can scarcely believe Secret is already six months old and for once in my life I have finally managed to wean a foal at an acceptable age, not ten or eleven months. Secret is almost the same size as Siobhan now and poor Arwen was rapidly losing condition, so it was definitely time to wean the little guy.

He has surprised me by being an absolute star when it comes to training. Dancer is a regular pest, fiery, bursting with energy and much too smart for her own good; she likes to have her own way and to explode when she doesn't get it. Her little brother, though, is quick to cotton on and rarely acts up. Part of this is undoubtedly the fact that Arwen is ridden out without him several times a week, so he's very used to being out of sight and sound of his mother, but he also has a nice personality and I'm enjoying him. He caught on to halter trained pretty fast and it was without mishap that I led him over to meet Thunder and Dancer for the first time yesterday morning.

Yesterday afternoon, under the mutterer's supervision, I moved Secret in with Thunder and took Dancer down to live with the mares; she has started coming into heat and escaping from her paddock and it's only a matter of time before we have another teenage pregnancy, so it was high time she was moved away from Achilles. Thunder is a stallion and could probably cover a mare but for all he knows he's a girl, poor thing. He hasn't even started any stallion behaviour, though his neck is getting big and strong. I was going to have him gelded this winter, but now that he's nowhere near any mares, I think he can wait until he's two and nicely grown up.

The other mares - Skye, Arwen, and Siobhan, plus little Copper - were very interested in Dancer when I put her into their paddock. Siobhan, Arwen and Copper hung back a bit, sniffing curiously, but not doing anything very much; Skye charged in on the scene and it was wonderful to watch the interaction between her and Dancer. She strode up with her ears flat, demanding submission; Dancer wasn't too sure and lowered her head, breathing loudly, ears still foward, marching around the camp at a brisk walk. Skye followed, ears still flat, and when Dancer still refused to submit, she put her in her place by flattening her tail, spinning around and kicking fiercely in Dancer's direction. The kicks missed, but Dancer got the message. Through the evening Skye established her dominance and the two of them left each other alone. This morning Skye is still reminding Dancer who's boss by making flat ears and biting, but it's quite peaceful, and no one was hurt. Arwen and Siobhan are friendly, but flatten their ears at her if they think she's being insolent. Copper thinks it's Christmas. He now has a gorgeous, playful older sister and follows her around adoringly wherever she goes.

There's just one hitch: Dancer is much too clever for her own good. She remembers Arwen. She suckles from Arwen. Arwen, being patient and not very bright, allows her to do this. (She isn't very worried about Secret). Dancer is twenty months old and was weaned eight months ago! She hasn't been drinking much, since Arwen's poor udder is still very tight, but I saw her doing it this morning. Aarghh. I will have to run screaming to the horse mutterer for help.

Secret is taking it very well; the poor thing has been neighing quite a lot, and ran around yesterday evening, but this morning there's been none of the frantic galloping and neighing that makes weaning so heart-wrenching. He doesn't have a lot of sweat marks on him, either, so I think he had a peaceful night. Thunder is being good about it; I thought he would be very stressed out because Dancer wasn't with him anymore, but though he ran around to keep Secret company yesterday, he has settled nicely now. He's also decided to be the dominant horse, being older and bigger, but much more peacefully than the mares. As long as Secret stays out of his feeding place, he's happy.

Rain and I have been riding out a lot on Skye and Arwen. Skye loves the idea; she much prefers riding with another horse to riding alone - she likes to have something to race. There are few things more wonderful than having the whole world unrolled at the feet of your mount, a horse as gold as sunshine, my shining Skye. A sister by my side makes it even better!

May 5, 2012: Dressage!

I like jumping. It's fast and exciting, and I love the feeling you get when you drift over a big jump (big being around 90cm for me), and I can't help but admire the supreme guts of the jumping horses I ride. If I had a rider as clueless and pumped full of adrenalin as Firn Hyde on my back there is no way I would tackle anything taller than a ruler. However, Skye and Arwen are both brave and forgiving of my myriad mistakes, and as long as I don't make Skye jump too often she rather likes it. Arwen likes it too and she's pretty solid, she knocks a lot of jumps down but she's really improved on her habit of stopping just in front of the jump (once resulting in myself involuntarily taking the leap instead and crashing headlong into the jump, much to the horse mutterer's amusement).

But much as I like jumping I'm continually reminded that flatwork is extraordinarily important. At my last lesson I was (attempting to) jump a course of four jumps in a figure of eight. None taller than about 65cm. Jump the one with the small pole, canter on in a (sort of) straight line to the next jump with the big pole, (hopefully) clear it, ride around in a big curve to the jump made out of tyres, scrape over on a wing and a prayer and then kick on in a straight line to the jump made out of tyres and the mounting block. Then around in a big curve to Jump Number One. That was the theory, anyway. It started off okayish; I rode Skye first and she was being a real star, flung herself at the jumps, jumped hugely and shot off in eager anticipation. This was all in a trot. When we started to canter it all went a bit runny. Skye is very stiff on her left side and doesn't like to lead with the left leg and of course her daft rider insisted on turning her sharply right in front of the scariest jump. She jumped every time, but she kept knocking them down, which was totally my fault because I wasn't giving her enough time to sort her legs out. This went on for so long that when even his dismayed yelp of "Terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE!" didn't work, the horse mutterer gave up on picking up the jumps and made us jump (not canter over! Yeah, it didn't work so well) over poles on the ground because "You two are playing the fool!"

Skye started to get frustrated. She didn't stop, but she lost her rhythm, added a little half-stride and then jumped hugely, which I guess was her way of telling me to get my act together or bite the dust. Poor Skye. The lesson ended with H. M.'s instructions to teach Skye to lead properly with her left leg, so that's our job for this week.

I got on Arwen in a quite unhappy but determined frame of mind because she's been driving me crazy lately. She keeps getting lazier and lazier and lazier. Anyway, we started with a short warmup, with Arwen pulling her favourite trick of cantering with her forelegs and trotting with her hindlegs, then into the jumps. She was actually quite good, nice rhythm and only one run-out which was entirely my fault, and I think I was riding a little better too because unlike Skye who will go for it even if you're kind of half-hearted Arwen has to have you right behind her all the way or she'll stop, so I was concentrating better.

Then the work really started. Kiss-kiss races. Up and down the paddock at the best gallop we could manage. Then at a trot, with Arwen trying her best to do her dumb half-canter thing and me trying my best to prevent it. One good thing about Arwen is her brakes: she can go from a gallop to a walk, or a trot to a halt, in only a few steps. Of course the saddle and I end up around the ears if the girth is a little loose, but it's nice that she has such a soft mouth especially for Rain (who has been riding her out with Skye and I three or four times a week).

The kiss-kiss races woke Arwen up quite a bit and I started to get my act together with the horse mutterer constantly reminding me of his favourite rule: Ask once, then discipline. I was thoroughly sick of the whip by the end of it, though. I don't like using it too much; it's valuable but a) I don't like the hitting and b) it interferes with my hands which I was already struggling with because for some inexplicable reason my legs are linked to my hands and when the legs kick the hands jerk. Unhelpful. I think I'll get myself some spurs, the little ones like you use for dressage. I think they'll be quite a bit more pleasant and control over my lower legs is one of my stronger points. Spurs on a rider with flapping lower legs must be horrendous for the poor horse.

So, back to my original subject - flatwork - the jumping in a figure eight brought home to me how important dressage is for showjumping. If I had trained Skye on the flat to be supple on both sides, and if I had used my head and let her turn in a nice big curve so that I wasn't messing with her legs and if I had her cantering on the right leg then we would have done rather better. And if Arwen was as responsive on the flat as I want her to be, she would make both our jobs a lot easier and pop over those little jumps without any trouble (60cm really isn't that big for her).

We took Thursday quietly; I had art classes (or thought I did, forgot to check the timetable and found out I didn't) in the afternoon so Rain and I rode out in the morning with Skye and Arwen. Poor Rain wasn't having the greatest day and struggled with Arwen who was being Arwen (i. e. slow), as opposed to Skye who was prancing all over the place. She had apparently forgiven me for making her life difficult during the jumping and was as usual enjoying herself immensely. Jumping with her is fun, but nothing beats the outrides where she arches her neck like a rainbow and makes herself huge until it feels like she's going more up than forward. Rain couldn't get Arwen to canter for the first while, so we swapped; I rode Mrs. Donkey and Rain had Skye. Rain is rather scared of Skye simply because she likes to give a few happy bucks out of excitement when I ride her - not with anyone else - and she can be quite intimidating when she goes into Secreteriat Mode. However Skye was an absolute star and didn't put a toe out of line; Arwen remembered our lesson and was pretty impeccable and we even had a good canter up a hill without a single scream from Rain and without me having to even kick Arwen.

We swapped back after a quarter of an hour or so, when Arwen was being good and Rain was starting to beam because she had experienced Skye's habit of trotting on the spot out of excitement (feels like riding a piaffing Lipizzaner looks). We had some good gallops and cantered on the cow paths for a while, working on Skye's suppleness. Cow paths are lovely for that purpose because they are very narrow and very twisty but generally follow good terrain so you can take your eyes off the ground for a bit and focus. A good gallop home and it was all done. Arwen is just perfect for the purpose of building Rain's confidence. She was very skittish as a three- and four-year-old, but I presume that was mainly out of being so afraid of going away from the other horses; she is really very quiet right now and even when she is excited and galloping it's easy to calm her and bring her to a halt. Perfect for nervous but competent riders (with beginners she tends to dawdle off in her own direction, quite irksome but better than tearing about bucking). Skye is best for the beginners since she isn't half as lazy as Arwen and very, very soft in the mouth with the Pelham; she also tells me how well they're sitting at the trot. If her ears are flat, then they're not sitting at all. Ears up and pointing back mean they're getting better and ears pointed forward mean they're ready to learn to post.

I took my youngest students, Danielle and Tanya, on an outride last Tuesday, teaching them to ride up some quite serious banks. Arwen wouldn't stop grazing but apart from that she was very good and Skye with typical courage and gameness tackled contour after contour with a very cheerful expression. I do adore that horse, there really isn't another one like her in the whole wide world - gentle, fiery, patient and bold all at once. Poor Tanya looked very tiny sitting up there on Skye (she's only ten and not big) but she did awesomely, she's a talented young rider. Danielle is extremely patient with Arwen, for which I must thank her; I don't like making them ride a half-trained horse but at least she's reliable and good-natured. Once I had Danielle keeping her legs forward instead of clinging on with her heels it went much better. Lizelle, their mom, rode in the arena and finally got the hang of figures of eight at the walk; she also trotted a good two or three laps around with Skye's ears up and pointing backwards (i. e. she is getting there), which I'm impressed with since she hasn't trotted much at all - they haven't been riding for very long.

Friday was loads of fun. I went riding at Bushwillow Stables and managed to get hold of my favourite thoroughbred ever, Double Reef. It's refreshing and loads of fun to be riding a really well-schooled horse; the horse can cope on its own for a bit while you concentrate on your position, and they can do really cool stuff like canter at the same speed as most horses walk (not that I managed to achieve that, but I know he can). Reef can be very moody, but he's a lot of fun, and it's thrilling to ride a big horse now and then - at roughly 16.3hh he's a few inches taller than I am (although mounting him is not a very graceful activity).

Another apprentice was riding Romeo; he's doing so much better, his schooling really has progressed - due more to the horse mutterer's work than to mine - although the two of us took a bit of a tumble around a month ago (neither of us were concentrating on what his legs were doing and he tripped, catapulted me over his head and landed on his side. I think he was more dazed than I was). He was pretty well behaved, I think, but I didn't have much opportunity to watch him because the mutterer suprised me by teaching me to do what he calls parallel crossing and what I thought was called a half pass. Whatever you call it, it's a lot, lot, lot, lot harder than it looks. I have never ever tried anything like this before. Making each limb tell the horse something different was quite a challenge and there were a few exasperated sighs from the mutterer, but Reef was extraordinarily patient and I eventually got it sort of rightish, anyway he was crossing his legs and going sideways for about two steps (at which I squawked "We did it!" and he promptly started going straight forward again, sigh). We did best in walk, bad in trot and not at all in canter, we were supposed to be going sideways but did more sort of squiggles. Then the horse mutterer got on Reef and they did a parallel crossing in canter and it was like poetry in motion. Practice, practice, practice, only I tried to get Skye to do it yesterday and she thought that this meant "gallop on" (most new aids seem to mean "gallop on" to Skye).

Reef may have much better schooling, but there is no horse in the whole wide world with the guts and glory of Skye.

Poor little Thunder hasn't been doing so well lately. The little guy is his normal, patient, trusting self, but he's spent the last two weeks with sore legs. He must have fallen on his knee because one morning when I got there it was very swollen; it healed within three days, but a week later he had a hot, swollen and extremely painful fetlock. The mutterer reckons he trod in a hole and twisted it, but whatever the cause, he was a very unhappy colt. He didn't even want me to touch it. Siobhan or Dancer would have kicked me to the moon but little Thunder just flinched away and stood there all trembling and gloomy, poor creature. We gave him a course of phenylbutazone and a shot of pencillin, and luckily his neck didn't swell at all from the injections. He is vastly improved and hardly sore at all anymore, just a little swollen.

I really adore this colt. He is the gentlest, most trusting horse I have ever known; he never even stepped away when I injected him. He doesn't know what a hissy fit even is. When Siobhan was his age she got kicked and needed her leg hosed off; the resulting mushroom fireball could be seen from Antarctica. OK, not really, but she did break a fence and nearly my skull, and that was a foreleg. When I hosed Thunder's hindleg, he gave me an inquiring look and then went to sleep.

Attempt at a picture of Thunder's eye... I do love those eye pictures. I quite like it, my camera is good with focusing and Thun is good with standing very still and looking handsome. Plus I know how to press a button (that was my only contribution).

Oh, and I gave Arwen a haircut. Romeo had had some of his mane cut off where the bridle sits behind his poll and it looked very nice on him, so I asked the mutterer to teach me to cut Arwen's, too. She has such a pretty face with this huge bush of pony mane hiding half of it and I spend so much time wrestling with her mane when I put her bridle on. The result:

I guess it could have been worse, at least she doesn't look like a complete donkey, but we shall wait and see what the mutterer says next lesson. Rain whined that she wanted her pony's mane cut too, but not too much (she has managed to coax Siobhan into growing a lovely thick mane), so I did hers too and Rain did not strangle me so I guess it must have been all right.

Happy, happy times. I am so priviledged to live in God's world with God's loveliest creatures, the horses.