Solstice & Christmas Eve Rides

I had one one last chance to ride Halo before leaving town for Louisiana last week. It was solstice, and it seemed to get dark before I even left my house to go to the barn. The moon was low in the sky and bright orange!



Here is Halo in the dark, begging for treats at the tie rail. I just got the box in the mail this week with the brand new pad and girth for her, so I'll be trying those out later this week.



Her expression here says it all. "Mooooooom, stop taking stupid pictures!" I wanted to get a good conformation shot, but she wasn't very keen on standing square while I took pictures. Her condition is looking good to me if a little on the tubby side. I'm especially happy with how her neck is looking, given that when I got her everyone said she had a horrible ewe neck. I didn't have the greatest ride on her this night, but it wasn't awful either. Just a day where she was a little more hyped than usual, and a little less focused.



The ride was a good reminder that Halo is a horse who needs an active rider. I probably had my brain halfway on vacation, and she knew it. Yes, some days are easier than others, but for the most part since she is green, I need to be paying attention. One of my riding instructors used to tell me to imagine that riding the horse was like channeling water. You have to hold the channel together to direct the water, and if you don't, the water starts splashing out all over the place and you lose impulsion and/or direction. Halo reminds me of that often.

While I was out of town, I had the opportunity to ride in Louisiana. I got to ride a big palomino paint named Shadow. He had one blue eye and one blue/brown eye.



We rode out in some of the farm fields neighboring the land where the horses are kept. I think the men I was riding with thought I was a little nuts for taking pictures, but this isn't really something you see near Austin. The fields seemed to go on forever! The fields we ride in out behind the barn in Austin are hillier, and most just grow hay.



Here's me and Shadow alongside a ditch. We rode for a couple of hours around the edges of the fields, mostly just walking. I have to say, I loved the saddle I rode in, which surprised me. It was a saddle made in Monroe, Louisiana, not too far from where we were riding. I hope I have the opportunity to ride again next time we visit!

Saddles and Padding and Hooves, Oh My!

I had another great weekend with Halo this week. On Saturday, I was fortunate that my previous hoof trimmer agreed to come out to my current barn to work on my horse and my friend's horse, who is suffering from contracted heels and the beginnings of navicular. I was long past due for an accountability checkup regarding Halo's feet.

The trimmer said I'd been doing a good job with Halo, and her only comments were to make sure to keep her bars shorter (cut them with the nippers instead of the hoof knife), and be slightly more aggressive with the flares on her front feet. She said her hinds look great. I'm happy to hear that I've been doing decent work on my horse's feet, and even happier to have some tips on how to continue to improve my trims.

I only rode Halo briefly (western) after her trim, but she was a very good girl. The next day, I put on the English saddle with some extra padding in front. I've come to the annoying realization that while the saddle fits her, it is not such a good fit for me. The seat tends to tip me forward and put my weight further over her shoulders than I like. Sigh. The saddle odyssey may never end. Anyway, it may be due to growth, because she is going through another lopsided phase, so for the meantime I tried padding up the front of the saddle with a foam riser pad designed to go between her shoulders and the saddle.

I had a GREAT ride that day. I can't emphasize it enough. I don't know if the padding was putting me in a better position, which helped, or if Halo was just in a good mood, but everything went well. She wasn't a dead head by any means, especially since I didn't longe her before riding, but I liked that I didn't have to fight her for forwardness. I had some trot work with which I was extremely pleased where I felt her starting to really round out and step under herself. The feeling is hard to describe, but it's like her trot goes from feeling like riding a choppy pony to riding a big 16.2h horse. Sometimes I have to remind myself to let her go when she's like that. I want her to have the biggest, stretchiest trot she is comfortable doing for now. There is plenty of time to half-halt her later. She isn't ready for any sort of collection yet.

Remembering the idea I picked up during my last blog post, I made sure to stay centered during her canter transitions. It was much, much easier for me with the saddle padded up in front. She picked up the right lead with no hesitation. The left lead was a little stickier as usual. I could feel her thinking about picking up the wrong lead when I first asked, but when I sat deeper and tipped her nose to the inside in response, she picked up the correct lead. It wasn't a pretty transition, because her trot fell apart in the few strides before canter, but I was still thrilled that she got the correct lead without any false starts. We only did about one lap around the big arena each way at the canter. Right now my main goals are to get her to pick up the correct leads, and also to work on getting a nice, low, stretchy walk and trot.

There are currently some ground poles set up out in the big arena. There are four poles, then a ground pole gymnastic (basically a ground pole set up where each jump would be with a stride in between. Halo and I trotted them a few times. I was reading on a forum I frequent that sometimes the best thing you can do for the horse is to get out of the way. That resonated with me, especially in light of our improved canter departures with me keeping off Halo's forehand. So I gave her the opportunity to figure out the poles on her own without rating her strides. She did very well, and surprised me the second time we went over by trotting the rails, and then breaking into a canter and taking little pseudo-jumps over each of the poles. I'm excited to try some more ground pole grids with her. It really seems to help her rhythm, and it is very, very good for my position. I am reminded each time I go over that I need to look up, keep my heels down, and work on my two-point. I don't have the leg strength right now to maintain it for a long time.

I know every ride is not going to be perfect, but right now I am very pleased with how she is coming along! I hope I can get someone out there to take some pictures or video soon so that you lovely readers aren't forced to endure my ramblings on their own.

A Good Ride, and Cantering

I tend to post here when Halo and I do an event, or if I'm having training frustrations. We haven't had much of either lately, so it's time now to write about a good ride. I went out to the barn on Wednesday night. It was already dark when I got there, but there was a group jumping lesson going on, so all the lights were on in the outdoor arena. It was unseasonably warm, which was good because I forgot to bring a sweatshirt. I grabbed Halo out of the pasture, tacked up in English tack, and went up to the arena.

I hadn't ridden since last weekend, so I intended to longe. However, it's difficult to longe in the midst of a jumping lesson, so she only got about 5 minutes of longe line warmup before I got on. She was very mellow, and we did a nice warmup under saddle, mostly walking on a loose rein. As we were warming up, I observed some of the jumping lesson. I was watching a girl do a short course of jumps that included multiple lead changes. When her horse made an incomplete flying change (switched in front, not in back), the instructor reminded the girl to sit back when asking for the change. It was a light bulb moment for me.

Obviously Halo and I are not schooling lead changes. We're still working on getting the correct leads each direction on cue. Halo has a harder time getting her left lead, even though it is my good direction (supposedly). When the instructor told the girl to sit back, my light bulb moment was realizing that I have a tendency to lean forward when asking for the canter. My leaning is caused by two things - 1) leaning forward to indicate "go" and 2) nervousness on my part when I was first starting canter work with Halo.

I was nervous when I first started schooling canter work with Halo, and my body is doing what most human bodies do when nervous - curl up into the fetal position, which on a horse manifests itself as leaning forward. I'm not nervous any longer, but the habit managed to form over the past few months and stick with me. When I was teaching beginners, I would always start out explaining why you need to sit tall - because if you get scared and lean forward, most horses think, "go!" So in one way, it was effective, because Halo was picking up the canter and responding to my cue to go. But on the other hand, leaning forward was forcing her onto the forehand, and causing her to fall into the canter instead of making a strong transition from her hind end.

I decided to try out my new theory, that if I sat back and got out of her way, Halo would pick up the correct lead, and also have a stronger canter depart. What do you know - she nailed her leads the first time. Success! I was very glad for that jumping lesson, and happy to have a great ride on Halo. Hopefully our canter work will continue to improve from here.

Also, Halo is just shy of 15h now!

100 Posts, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sheesh, it only took me three years to get here...I should blog more! We've been busy this past month, but Halo has still been getting some ride time. She's almost perfect on the longe line now, with all her up and down transitions in place, and even several speeds of trot. She's finally figuring out how to rate her lope a little bit too.

Lately, she's been teaching Casi how to ride!



What surprised me most is that with Casi she is slow, slow, slow, and rather stubborn about it. They've had some epic battles just to get to a trot. This is making me analyze how I'm specifically asking Halo to do things, because there is obviously more to my cue than what I'm describing to Casi as I teach her. What am I doing differently that implies "trot" to Halo more strongly than the leg and voice command? It could be something as subtle as the way I move my seat, or the way I'm changing the length of my reins before asking for the trot.

Halo and I are still working on leads, and she is getting better. I don't think she's quite figured out that outside leg means canter. She is still heavily relying on my voice cue, saying "canter" and giving her a double kiss. I need to start working with her on making the leg my pre-cue, and then ask her to canter with my voice. Hopefully she will begin to associate the pre-cue with cantering and we can go from there.

Fingers crossed--I think I finally have an english saddle that fits! It's a Stubben Edelweiss. It is not as comfortable for me as the last one, but fitting Halo is more important. I think I need to invest in some half-chaps at some point.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope you and your ponies are well.

Flying Dirt

It seems that pastures are all gone for the summer, which means that Halo and her friends are now confined to their dry lot. Despite the heat, that means Halo has exponentially more energy! I took her out and longed her last night with the bareback pad on. She was very hyper, and wanted to go, go, go. She did buck some at the canter, but I pushed her forward. Fortunately, it didn't take much cantering in the heat to decide that maybe listening to me so that she could stop was a good idea.

After 15 minutes or so of that, we moved into the round pen. I took off her halter and did some free-longeing work. I wanted to see if I could get her to do rollbacks on the fenceline. Sure enough, she can roll back. I had her do it once or twice each direction and then stopped. I don't want to push the issue since a) she was very good about it, b) it was hot out, and c) it's tough on her hocks to do a lot of that. I didn't get the best pictures, but it was beginning to get dark outside. Still, you can see all the dirt she sent flying.



This second picture is really odd. I think I caught her post-roll back at the point where she was launching out of the turn.



And here she is as I'm sending her out at a walk to cool off a little bit.



After this I slipped on her sidepull, did about five minutes of walking/steering from the ground, and then I bit the bullet and jumped on. I wore my helmet this time! We worked on the very basic concepts of walk, stop, and back. We did some turning through the middle of the pen, but mostly walked around the perimeter. As long as she was moving forward where I pointed her nose, I stayed completely off her face. I want her to have a relaxed frame. I think too much contact was a mistake I made with the first horse I started. He was very well-behaved, but didn't stretch down as easily or as much as he should have. Hopefully I can avoid that pitfall with Halo.

She was fantastic! She had typical baby moments of wanting to toss her head while backing, but she quickly figured out that if she lowered her head and backed I would immediately release pressure. We only backed up one or two steps at a time - just enough to let her know that she was doing the correct thing. Then we'd release and stand for a few moments before picking up the walk. To keep things clear, I tried to pause between each thing I asked of her so that each action was definitive. We would walk, whoa, wait a moment, back, whoa, wait a moment, and then walk again. As I said before, she was wonderful.

Afterwards she got hosed off and walked for a little bit, and then got her dinner. She was a happy filly, and I was a happy horse mom.

Summer is Here

The heat has arrived in Texas with a vengeance! It is this time of year that I begin moaning to Casi about hell, and how close we must be living to it in order for it to be this hot. Fortunately Miss Halo is more heat tolerant than I am, because yesterday night it was her turn for a workout.

As usual, I cobbled together an odd assortment of tack for her to wear. I decided it was time for her to have something on her back, but I didn't want to use my english saddle since I'm still worried about it being a poor fit. All the synthetic western saddles were in use, so this was the solution. It actually worked out well. There's not much weight, but it does give her the feeling of the cinch. Also, it's a good thing for her to wear if I decide to get on. Strange as it seems to some people, I do like to get on babies bareback at first.




We did a brief longe workout - just enough to have her walk, trot, and canter on command both directions. She was very well behaved with only one or two bouncy canter strides. Of course neither of us counted on me being a moron and not checking the cinch one last time! As Halo made some lovely counter-clockwise canter circles, the bareback pad began to slide around her big round barrel. I said, "whoa!" and she stopped on a dime, the pad completing its slide over onto her right side. Poor confused filly! However, you can see from her reaction that it was not of any concern to her. I got her readjusted and snugged up between fits of laughter. I am SO glad to have such a mild-mannered baby horse!





After our brief longeing session, I got on for a few minutes. Casi led us a couple of times around the arena, and then we walked independently for a few more minutes near the gate. She's pretty good about steering and following her nose, but the go button doesn't work very well yet. I imagine I may get up on her 1 or 2x per month and do a little bit of walking. In those sessions, when I have an assistant, I'll have someone lead while I teach her the leg and voice cues for forward motion. When I don't have an assistant I probably won't ride, but from the ground I can do long reining to work on voice commands. In fact, I think that is what I will plan to do for our next session.



Halo got a warm water rinse and a mane and tail bath after her light workout, and then we took her height and weight. The baby is now a tiny bit shy of 14.2h at the withers and 14.3h at the hip. She weighs approximately 850lbs. At the end of July last year she was 13h at the withers, 13.3h at the hip, and weighed about 575lbs. I can't believe how much she's grown!

I've been using a height/weight tape to chart her progress, but at some point I plan to do a more accurate check with the following formula:

• Measure girth in inches
• Measure length in inches (point of hip to point of chest)
• Multiply Girth X Girth X Length, Divide by 300, Add 50
• Example 70" x 70" x 65" = 318,500 / 300 = 1061.67 + 50 = 1111.67 lbs.

This formula is accurate to +/- 3%.

Cow Pony

Halo had a big day last Sunday, and so did I . It's taken me a few days to write about it because I've been mulling a lot over in my head. I can't say that I have everything sorted out, but perhaps sharing some of my thoughts here will bring clarity.

Sunday afternoon we arranged to go on a "cattle drive" with the barn owner and some other random people. We hauled 8 horses out to a neighbor's ranch, including Halo. It was Halo's first haul away from the property since she arrived in November. I'm proud to say that she was a very good sport about the whole thing. She loaded easily, and though she was a little bit nervous once everyone was loaded up (six horses in a trailer is a LOT), she was very well-behaved.

When we arrived at the ranch it turned out that we had an extra horse. Someone may have canceled their ride because the sky was looking stormy. It was good luck for me, though, because it meant I got to ride! I rode Choctaw, a big, rather cranky sorrel gelding I'd ridden back at the barn once before. He is best buddies with Rafter, who is the barn owner's personal horse. Halo got ponied off Rafter while I rode on his other side, and we headed for the cows.

The cattle drive was simple - we were just moving the cows from one pasture to another. They were eager to go because the ranch owners took off ahead of us with their vehicles to open the gate, and the cows probably thought they were getting fed. Either way, it was great fun chasing the cows! I worked on a cattle ranch the summer after my freshman year of college, and while I have chased cows on a four-wheeler, I've never done so on horseback.

Halo ponied very well off Rafter, and gave the barn owner almost no trouble at all. She was even out there cutting cows next to Rafter! It was funny watching them move in sync - she remained perfectly parallel to him at all times. I was amazed by her lack of spookiness, and how quickly she relaxed into the ride. It was a big contrast to one of the other horses under saddle, whose owner could not get him to walk for anything. He was so wound up that he jigged for the first hour of the ride. I hope Halo's calm demeanor translates to her under saddle work someday.

After we got back to the barn from our ride, we took the horses up to a small paddock in the front for a drink. The grass was waist-high or taller in some places, and the horses were in heaven! I got off and gave Casi a chance to ride for a few minutes while I minded Halo. Standing by the water trough while everyone's mounts got a drink, the barn owner encouraged me to hop up on Halo. This is where things got interesting.

I had a mental debate with myself about it for several minutes. I'd mounted her maybe 3 or 4 times total so far, and 3 of those times had been simply getting on, and dismounting a moment later. The fourth time we did actually walk about five steps. But it was only five steps! Who knew what she was bound to do if asked for more? And, most importantly, how ready was she mentally and physically for me to jump on her back in a strange place?

I can't even say what made me decide what I did, but in a moment of stupidity, I decided to go ahead and get on.

It took me a couple of tries, but I was able to jump up onto Halo from the ground. I rested my belly over her back for a few moments and then swung my leg over. I could feel my heart hammering in my head and my nerves come alive - all those physical symptoms I get when I'm doing something stupid or dangerous and I know it. The barn owner kept Halo by Rafter's side, and I grabbed a handful of mane. To add to my many bad decisions, Casi had my helmet on, so I wasn't wearing one. All I needed were a couple of toddlers to plop on in front and back of me and I'd have the perfect moron Craigslist ad.



While some part of me felt that I was surely attempting to win a Darwin Award, I couldn't help but have my chest swell with pride for Halo. She was so, so good. She ponied alongside Rafter the short distance back to the area where the trailers were parked, and we took some pictures. Then the group of horses headed across a small field to the ranch house and we were completely free. I thanked the gods for their benevolence and myself for the steering I'd already installed on Halo from the ground. We stayed by Rafter's side.



Up at the house, everyone stopped to let their horses eat some grass while we talked over the fence to the people up at the house. They were having a small gathering, and there were quite a few people there. Five dogs were in and out of the pool, running around like idiots. Halo whinnied a few times to who knows what, but stood calmly with the group...at least until Choctaw backed up several steps and kicked her square in the chest! I could see it coming, but Halo didn't. She teleported sideways, leaving me behind to land on my hands and knees in the dirt. She stopped and looked at me with a quizzical expression as if to say, "what are you doing down there, mom?"

I was a little bruised, but completely unscathed overall. Mostly I thought, a) that's what I get for getting on her out here, and b) I hope she didn't just learn how to dump me. I reassured Halo that everything was okay, and got back on her up at the fence. I didn't consider the accident at all her fault - she reacted in a completely normal submissive horse way to being kicked by Choctaw. Fortunately, when I got back on she was just as placid as she'd been before the kick, and once I was reassured that she was going to stay calm and not feel the need to dump me again, I dismounted and led her back to the trailers.

Here are the things I've taken away from the experience:

1. Next time I do anything on her back, I WILL be wearing a helmet.
2. Falling off really isn't so bad when you're that close to the ground!
3. It's actually good to fall off as a reminder that it isn't the end of the world. It had been a long time since I'd fallen off, and it was inevitable at some point anyway.

As far as my mental debate about "riding" her goes, it still continues. Here is what I believe, and in contrast, the questions I'm still working out.

1. 2 years old is too young to start a horse under saddle.
2. The definition of starting/riding is something I don't have 100% defined in my mind.

3. I know many trainers and riders break their horses at 2, but it is a proven veterinary fact that horses of ALL breeds are fully mature at approximately six years of age. Every person who works around young horses should read this article on skeletal maturation before deciding when to ride.

Here are the questions rolling around in my mind:

1. Is it harmful to Halo to sit on her for a few minutes or stand/walk around as we did on Sunday?

2. How can I best keep Halo's attitude about riding/sitting on her positive? I love her easygoing attitude now, and I want to maintain it.

3. What is the best way to stand up to or circumvent pressure to ride her early? People keep asking how she's doing and when I'm going to ride her. I haven't yet come up with a solid response, mostly because of these questions I haven't answered to myself. I want to have a scripted response about why I am choosing not to seriously ride her until she is older.

4. Where, precisely, do I draw the line between messing around on her back once in a while and actually riding?

The last question bothers me the most. I definitely do not believe that it harms Halo for me to practice mounting and dismounting. But I also believe that she is not physically or mentally ready for me to ask her to learn how to walk, trot, canter, and direct rein under saddle. Also, there are more fundamentals of her training I'd like to continue working on. We've done some long-lining, but our technique could use plenty of polish. It's something I would like to work on through the summer. On the other hand, how much can I truly do from the ground? Many people have the opinion that at some point, you just need to get on and ride. I can see some of the sense in that, but I don't think it means I need to ride her at age 2, even if she's at a point in her training where that might be just fine if she were 3.

I would love to hear the opinions of others on this controversial subject. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Both support and constructive criticism are always welcome here.

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday evening was the perfect night for a ride. I went out to the barn with the intention of riding Cash, but he got an eye injury this week. The barn owner let me ride a cute little Appaloosa instead. She warned me beforehand that he would want to go where he wanted to go, but he wouldn't hurt me or do anything spazzy. Well, that's just Appytude for you.

I got on bareback and rode for about half an hour in the outdoor arena. He did pull some when he wanted to go back toward the gate, but it was nothing I haven't dealt with before. I did what I usually do, and made the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. As long as he went where I wanted, he got nice relaxed rein contact and me quiet on his back. If he started to barge off in his own direction, he got a gentle leg aid to block him from barging. If he didn't listen, he got a stronger leg aid and a rein check. As soon as he quit, back to me being gentle and quiet.

Overall it was a fun ride. He's a mellow horse who has a been-there-done-that kind of attitude. I just walked and trotted, but spent a good amount of time working on my sitting trot. I was very pleased to notice that I didn't get nearly as sore or tired as I expected. In fact, I still feel great today! I guess the gym is helping more than I thought.

Anyway, here's a picture of the view from Caddo's back:



After my ride, it was time to work with Halo. She whinnied and came when I called, which made me a happy horse mom. I was thrilled to see that the barn owners have finally opened up the bigger pastures for the horses during the day. Halo had spent all day enjoying fresh grass and more room to run and play with her buddies. She also made a new friend, a cute chestnut arab with a flaxen mane and tail. The benefits of having spent the day out in a bigger field were evident in her workout. She was very relaxed, and had less spastic energy than she usually does during her mid-week workout.

Though she was fantastic on the longe line, there was one setback last night that is going to require some work. While tied at the hitching rail she usually stands relaxed with her head down, or tries to eat grass on the other side of the rail if she can. Tonight she was doing that, but managed to get her head caught under the lead rope. What ensued was a panicked spazzing, backing up, and sliding on the mats until her head came free, and then she continued to set back for a few more seconds. Thank god that hitching rail is rooted in cement, or it could have been a huge wreck.

She quieted quickly after the episode was over, but she now has a big welt on the side of her neck where the rope was caught. Poor filly. Ideally, it would be nice to have somewhere to tie her above her head where something like this couldn't occur. However, there isn't a safe place like that at my barn. What I am going to do instead is spend some time teaching her a cue that Tara, one of her former owners, worked with her on before I got her. Tara taught Halo that pressure on the poll means "put your head down." Halo still responds to the cue, but it is time to take it to the next level. I plan to start working with her with the rope until she will give to pressure anywhere on her neck, head or face. She also needs practice with ropes being tossed over her face as would be done with reins. Right now she's still a little head shy about that. With how good Halo has become about longeing, I guess I should be glad she's given me a new project to work on. I just wish she hadn't had to injure herself to let me know that I needed to work on it.

At the end of the night it was time for worming, so I weighed and measured her to make sure I was giving the right dosage. Halo weighs in right now at about 800lbs according to the weight tape, and she is 14h or so. What she lacks in height, she is definitely starting to make up in width. As soon as she finishes shedding out, I'm going to post some new conformation pictures.