Trot!

So yesterday was a big big day for me. I need tiger balm today, haha!

First, let me give you a little update on Solomon. He's doing well! Here are some pictures from the other day, when I did trailer loading with Teddy Bear. I didn't bring my camera yesterday, which was of course when I got him sparkly white and clean.

He still has fuzzies on his belly and in a few other places. Solomon takes forever to get fuzzy and forever to shed it out.

Not too bad for a 25+ year old horse with a lot of old injuries who isn't in work, eh?



His chest is... not very wide, haha.



*grabs his lip*





Teddy Bear getting moved out of the way by Lilah, who wanted attention for herself.



Lilah is a pretty mare-mare.



Okay so yesterday, which was sunny without a cloud in the sky, I pulled Tedders out of her pasture and groomed her up. She was feeling really mellow and friendly. Several times when I groomed her, she very gently nuzzled me and blew her breath into my hair. She was very soft and kind. She let me touch her chestnuts, which she gets really twitchy about. She picked up her feet for me without trouble. I've gotten into the habit of picking up a horse's first hoof, and then moving to the next leg and just saying "next, please!" They tend to get it pretty quickly, and pick their hoof up for me. It spares my back, and shows softness on their part.

Bo saddled her up, but I think soon we'll be getting to the point where I will be doing all of this myself. I used to saddle Solomon, but I tended to feel like I needed to triple check with other people to make certain the saddle was on right. The last thing I want to do is make a horse sore.

Bo's saddles are crazy heavy too, haha. But that isn't so much of an issue.

When we got Teddy Bear into the round pen, Bo had me stick my foot in the stirrup. She is so tall and my legs are so short that my knee seemed to be just about level with my head. I have NO clue how I am going to manage to mount a horse as big as her from the ground. D: I could have probably mounted Kizim from the ground, but Tedders? Well, maybe eventually...

So. I mounted from the block, and then dismounted a couple times because the girth ended up being looser than we thought, and not quite even enough. It was good practice for me. From a block, I think I'm pretty good at mounting nowadays. I no longer feel like I'm having to haul myself on, but instead must be careful to not overjump and going flying over the other side of the horse. Of course I do my best to not thump down into the saddle either. I feel echoes of physical memories of being an athlete, long long ago when I did gymnastics. I used to have so much strength and flexibility, balance and control... I'll never have that body again, because I'll never be 13 again... it will never be that forgiving again. But I think I'll get back way more than I thought possible.

We did the whole lesson in the round pen, and I was focusing fiercely. We used a different saddle from last time, and I found that I was able to sit in it pretty well, with my heels under me. The best part of all, however, as that I found myself beginning to actually get how to move with the trot. Oh, I have a long way to go, but I had some great moments where I was really moving with Teddy Bear and not bouncing at all. She seemed to appreciate it, haha. I got some lovely little jogs out of her.

Bo got in the middle of the round pen and got her moving faster than I have ever ridden a horse. He told me "now, if she breaks into a lope for some reason, you grab onto that saddle horn!"

Then he gave her the opportunity do to that. He kissed her up a bit, but she decided it was probably best to just trot really fast, and I didn't push it. But I lived! And I really didn't feel out of control much at all. There were a few moments when I was bouncing too much and not with the movement, but I really feel like I was starting to get the hip movements down. We went around and around and around.

Bo told me, when the lesson was over, "now Ev, you go ahead and dismount to the left this time."

I always dismount to the right by default. I know it isn't traditionally proper, but I haven't gotten my sort hilt hung up yet. ;)

Still, it is good for me to dismount with equal ease on either side. It felt kinda weird dismounting to the left, but I did fine. Teddy Bear braced herself, and I said to her "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" but Bo said "you stop apologizing to that horse, you did fine," and I realized that her bracing didn't look pained or stressed at all. She was bracing because I was dismounting, so she was holding herself steady, nothing more.

Now I just need to learn to consistently move with the horse, while at the same time keeping my heels down, my legs draped, tapping a steady rhythm to tell the horse what speed I want her to go (it's a reining thing,) keep my hands quiet, my arms down, my shoulders back and not braced, my upper body still but not stiff, oh and steer properly as well.

Ever have someone tell you "riding a horse isn't exercise, the horse does all the work and you just sit there?" Yeah not really the case, hah!

My muscles are all sore today, and yesterday I was hurting, but it was worth it!

After we untacked Teddy Bear and brushed her out, I hand-grazed her a bit, then got Solomon. He was really excited to see me, nickering up a storm and pacing the fenceline until I pulled him out. Little did he know, it was a day for extreme horsey torture!

It was sunny and warm. Solomon was filthy. I decided it was time for a bath.

HORROR! TORTURE! ATROCITY!

Worst of all, I not only scrubbed him down TWICE, once with mane-n-tail and once with a betadine solution mixed with water, but I also washed his FACE. This is akin to murder, as far as Solomon is concerned. He was so horribly upset. He was furious with me. He snapped his teeth right next to my shoulder, to tell me how upset he was! It was totally a bluff, and I knew it, but I did scold him. Then when I was washing his butt, he lifted up his back leg and kicked! He didn't kick at me, but the statement was pretty clear. I caught his ankle mid-kick and made it a point to scrub his leg and thigh down really thoroughly. Hah, he did not try that again. It was all pawing and head-shaking and passive resistance after that. I mean, I could have smacked him, I could have kicked him back, but geldings do that crap back and forth to each other all the time. He wanted to get a big reaction out of me and he didn't, so he gave up on it.

But man oh man was he mad!

Then, to add insult to injury, I soaked his feed so he wouldn't be able to filter out the probiotics.

Awh man, I think I forgot my feed pan in the field. D'oh.

Anyway, he had to eat a lot more slowly as well. He was so upset by this rising tally of indignities that he was pawing whilst eating. He managed to tip over his own feed pan, and then insisted on righting it himself. When I went over to give him some fly spray, he stalked off about 15 feet, but then came straight back to me.

I think I'm kind of starting to understand why parents sometimes laugh when their kids have a tantrum over something really inconsequential. It's really no big deal, but emotionally to them it is a HUGE deal. He's such a sweet boy though that he just had to make a point, then came straight back.

I stuck him in the round pen and started to, ya know, roundpen him, when Bo asked me to bring in Lil and Shin, who were having a grand time grazing together. Earlier when I was leading Solomon off to his sad, sad fate, Lil and Shin came running up to us. I growled "go find something else to do!!!" and they went running off, haha. no, they don't speak English, but I think horses are better at reading intent than we'd like to think.

So then I needed to bring them in. I just used Sol's halter. Lil made it a point to trot off about 20 feet, just to tell me that she COULD get away if she REALLY wanted to, but then I was able to halter her and walk her back to her paddock.

As for Shin, I just looped a rope over his neck and said "come on, boy." He placidly walked along with me. I'm not sure I ever really had to lay the rope over his neck.

Solomon did really well in the round pen, which he had of course rolled in while I put the two loose horses away. He WAS sparkly white for about 15 minutes! Ah, well. I am used to this. The real point of the bath was to kill parasites and fungi that might have been living in his dead skin and coat from the winter and spring rains.

Solly then got to go out and free graze on the property himself. I went in and chatted with Bo for a long time about computers, and then I took Sol back to his pasture. By then, all of my transgressions had been forgiven, and he was his usual soft nickery self again.

After that I had dinner with sensei and his son, and then the three of us played Scrabble. I won by about 100 points, haha. I love that game.

Then it was time for a karate lesson, though it was a short one with not very many crunches, as sensei took pity on me. I'm also catsitting right now, which includes giving medication to one of the cats. It's too bad for that cat that I've had a lot of experience worming Solomon. There is nothing he can do that makes it as challenging as Solly... though Sol cannot hide under the bed for over an hour, grr...

I bet he would if he could!

NOT THE TRAILER, ANYTHING BUT THAT!

When I went up to the ranch on Monday, Bo had some big news for me.

"Ev, there's a gymkhana coming up sometime soon. It's going to be a lot of fun, with a lot of nice supportive folks. If you feel up to it, I think it would be great for you to come and participate in a couple of the events for new riders."

Okay, I'm really excited about this! Kind of nervous, too. I'm not nervous about riding, but I am a bit nervous about humiliating myself, hah. I have been to one of these before to watch though, and everybody cheers at everyone, even if they end up running past all the poles or knocking over a barrel. I'll probably be going up against 6 year olds on 10hh ponies, and they will probably beat me, 'cos a lot of those kids seem to have been born sitting in a saddle. That's okay, I am just so excited to be doing this. Something I never thought I'd do.

Well, Teddy Bear is not the kind of horse that gets excited about getting on a trailer. She isn't the kind of horse where you can say "load up" and the equine in question goes running in.

So I pulled her out of her pasture, and made her look like a million bucks. She loves having her mane and tail brushed. I think she'd happily get brushed for hours. She was not, however, very happy about getting asked to get on the trailer.

I am not really certain how to describe our first attempts. I did some stuff right, and I did some stuff wrong. Teddy Bear figured out that she could wing out to the right at the last moment, and then rear to yank the lead rope away. So not good. I got a little bit agitated myself, though I did my best to not show it. I didn't want her to hurt herself, and I didn't really want to get hurt either. We tried putting a bunch of pressure on her to load up, with not the best results. I got a bit of rope burn on my hands. Bo called a stop to things and told me to take her for a walk around the obstacle course.

We took a walk and I decided to have us run it off a bit. Running off the stress can really help a horse. Okay, trot it off, because I cannot run fast enough for any horse to bother with a canter. But we jumped over the little log out there a few times. Solomon, when he jumps, does this pretty thing where he tucks his legs up and arches his neck, ears perked forward, leaping. Teddy Bear kind of said "wait you want me to WHAT? I am a chunky stock horse, are you serious?" but she did gamely jump when I asked her to. Haha. I think she'd rather just step over, and mostly that's what we did. Probably not good to ask a trail horse to do all that much jumping.

Anyway, what it accomplished was engaging her mind, and getting her to listen to me more. I made things interesting and I redirected all the energy she had built up stressing about being asked to get into that scary scary trailer that clearly eats big sorrel mares. I sang the "big brown mare" song to her, which I wrote on the spot. Yes, I sing to horses. Yes, I am a dork. Yes, they really seem to like it, heh.

So when we got back to the trailer, we used a combination of cookies and Bo standing way back with a plastic bag on a stick. Yeah, I know... but it worked! He just used it very lightly to make sound the first time, and only a tiny bit the second. I think the third and forth times Teddy loaded up, he didn't use it at all. I let her back out as soon as she wanted to. Bo said it was better to just build on the success of the day than try to force more. He told me that one of the biggest risks in a trailer is a horse flinging their head up and hitting their poll on the roof of the trailer. Horses can die that way.

But she was reassured that the trailer was not going to eat her, and that maybe she could load up after all. We'll keep working on it, since she's the horse I will be riding at the gymkhana, and we'll have to be able to trailer her if we're going to do that.

I mucked three 30 by 100 foot paddocks. One of the mares that was living in one of them decided to decorate the entire paddock with individual balls of poo. I mean she managed to space it out over the entire surface of the paddock. It took me a long long time to rake it all up for picking up with the apple picker, and it looked like a giant Zen garden by the time I was finished.

These are from the 21st when sensei had the camera, but shoveling horse poo is pretty much the same thing any day.



Ahh, ranch aerobics. Bo told sensei that I thrived on exercise. Sensei has taken this to heart (all senseis are sadists anyway) and my abs are usually sore these days. Wheee, crunches.



Oh I ached after that day, but the next day I was just fine. Which meant more crunches.

Wax on, wax off!

Last week!

Hey folks!

So last week I got to RIDE! :D

See this?



This is a happy Ev. A happy Ev who should probably invest in some sunglasses. I'll have to remember that the crow's feet I'm getting are crow's feet of JOY.



Jooooy.

The weather was a little on the schizophrenic side that day. It would rain and then get hot and sunny, then it would get really windy and cloudy, then sunny, then rainy, then clear again.

Bo told me to go get Teddy Bear and see where she was at. I went out to her pasture and she would. Not. Budge. I tried a number of tricks that I use with Solomon when he locks up, but none of them worked. I thought about it, and decided that I didn't want to end up with a big huge conflict, and that I'd defer to Bo and DeDe on it. I came out and said "well she won't move, maybe she knows something I don't."

Leo was set to give someone a ride later in the day, so DeDe said maybe I could groom up some horses instead. I said that would be great, 'cos I do love grooming up horses, but I think she might've heard a bit of disappointment in my voice. I try to not be a demanding princess, you know? Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. There are only a couple horses on the ranch that are right for me at the moment, as a novice rider of size who is still learning how to balance properly. Like, Vinnie? I think he could probably carry me just fine. Maybe Jewel too. But neither of those horses is appropriate for a new rider such as myself. Teddy Bear and Leo are both very well-behaved overall. Tedders is quite the babysitter, and she and I have been getting to know each other.

I went and got Breezy, and groomed her up. When I sprayed some show sheen in her mane, I covered her eye so she wouldn't get stung by the spray. At first she wasn't too happy about this, but I think she pretty quickly figured out that it was a good thing that would make her more comfy. I like that mare- she's really sensible.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw DeDe moving Teddy Bear. Tedders was acting up and getting circled, but she was out of her pasture.

While I made Breezy look nice and skritched her itchy itchy forehead, Bo and DeDe trimmed Teddy's hooves, which she took great exception to. She was in a pretty bad mood, haha. They were firm with her, but what I noticed most of all is that they solved the problem by giving her time to get used to the idea that she was going to have to get her feet done, and she was going to be working. Sometimes you just have to give them time to adjust their own attitude. If you can get them to acclimate and accept, you can avoid a lot of conflicts.

So eventually if was time to put Breezy away, and Bo threw a Saddle on Teddy Bear and had me get on! Teddy was feeling calm and laid back at that point.

Now I often have weird and serious expressions on my face whilst riding. I'm focusing hard, and we're working on slightly more challenging stuff now. I promise I'm happy and not grumpy, haha!



Oh hey look, proper riding boots.

I know, I know, no helmet. L____ at the ranch keeps dropping not so subtle hints about wearing a helmet, heh! "I've come off a horse badly a few times. THANK GOODNESS I was wearing a HELMET." *pointed look at me.*

When I was at Hossmoor I always wore a helmet, pretty much, when riding. I think I forgot once. Most of the boarders there wore a helmet. None of the trainers ever did, from what I recall.

I know some of you feel so passionately about this. I'm sure some of you will continue to call me foolish for not. Eh.

What WAS more of a source of distress was that since I didn't think I was going to be riding after all, I did not don the uh, proper support. Sensei did take a video of me outside of the roundpen trotting on Teddy Bear behind Bo, with Bo resolutely looking straight ahead, haha. I am SO not putting that video up on YouTube. It borders on obscene. Ooooops. Doesn't look so bad from above!

I swear that I am not eating a chili pepper or something in this photo. I am just thanking Teddy Bear for putting up with my noobishness and carting me around.



Teddy Bear has a big solid butt. It roans out in the summer. I mostly like my form in this picture, but I need to lower my hands a bit, and maybe move my heel back. Heels are down though! Back is straight, I'm not staring at Teddy's ears, and my legs are getting better at draping. With shortened achiles tendons it's hard to get my heels down AND get my legs to relax, but I think I'm getting better at that.



I could use a saddle that has a few more inches to the seat, haha! But other than that, I'm really liking how I'm sitting in this one. Need to even the reins a little bit, and maybe turn my knees out a bit to match my toes being out, but other than that, not too bad I think.



Oh look, I am cracking a smile!



I believe I was in the saddle for a good 30 or 40 minutes. Bo wanted me to spend time in the saddle, just get used to making every movement purposeful, and not squirming unnecessarily. The horse will read and interpret every movement and shift. A soft, sensitive horse, especially, will read and respond to many cues that a green rider is not aware that they are giving. Furthermore, the horse will learn to respond to these cues, and the green rider will end up training the horse to do things they do not intend to. As Bo says, a green rider can ruin a finished horse.

So now it is time for me to work hard at rising to the level of the horse. Physically, I am more able by far than I was when I first arrived at the ranch. I also have a long way to go, but between working with horses and martial arts, I'm making a lot of progress. Bo says that we are well beyond the idea of therapeutic riding, and now we're working on real riding.

I'm doing things that I thought I would never be well enough to do. I am finding my joy.