I've got a few horse related blog posts on the way (ya know, still in my head and haven't had the time to type them out) so here's a quick today by the numbers:
10 - Jelly bean's eaten (I love me some "Island Punch" flavored jelly beans!)
9 - Horses I put my hands on today
8 - Miles ridden on my bicycle
7 - Times I tried to take photo's on my phone. The dinosaur phone, a 6 year old HTC Incredible because my iPhone finally died, failed to take all but 1.
6 - Houses I passed on a new bike route and thought "holy shit, I'd totally live there!"
5 - Hours put in at my "full time" job
4 - Unread e-mails.... from the past hour
3 - Wagons of straw unloaded at work
2 - Dogs walked
1 - Time I careened off the road on my aforementioned bike because I was trying to turn too quickly. (Don't worry, I'm fine! I may however need bike riding lessons from a small child...)
0 - Digby's ridden
Since my camera wouldn't work today, here's a Digby photo from 2010!
Digby has been perfect lately! I rode with a friend on Saturday and he was great. As an odd note, he did try to lay down when we were done in the ring? He wasn't colicking, as he had pooped while I was riding and was otherwise chipper. The only thing I can think of is his girth was a hair tighter than normal. He's been putting weight on (whooooo!!!) and he's in between holes on my girth. If I leave it at one hole, it feels like a hair too loose but the hole up is a hair too tight. Well, I was nervous because we were going to walk around the property (aka mini trail) so I put it to the tighter one. That's the only thing I can think of. If he ever does it again, I'll definitely have the vet or my chiro come out and look.
We've been sticking to the mostly walking plan, although I had some trotting thrown in there to make sure he was thinking about going forward. I've been doing a lot of reading as of late, both online and via actual books. I'm working on fitness, as part of my July goals, and a lot of that is developing muscle in his topline. He is very much lacking after his time off and weight loss issues this winter. We worked in the ring and then followed my friend and her horse out for a stroll around the property. The hony was pretty well behaved! Some jigging, lots of super forward walking and no near death experiences. Win!
On Sunday, I lunged for about 15 minutes. I don't typically lunge much, especially not twice in a week, but I have lunged him in a chambon before and it tends to make him go well. It's a good reminder on how I want him to be thinking. He really focuses on stretching down and out and coming over his back. I like that it's effective, I can keep the session short and he gets to stretch out and build some muscle without me flailing around on his back.
First off, Happy Fourth of July!! Hopefully everyone has off from work (or isn't working all day) and is going to relax by the beach or a pool with some BBQ and adult beverages. :) I know I will be after work!
I'm sure you're all waiting with anticipation to see if my horse has tried to kill me again between Wednesday and now. Based off the title of this post, you can safely assume that the answer is no. Your assumption would be correct.
Such wild. Much craze.
So the wild hony has been well behaved since his meltdown on Wednesday. On Thursday I had full intentions of working him in hand and doing a quick lunge as a reminder of what proper behavior is without worrying about me being on his back. Lunging isn't my favorite tool since it's hard on their legs but I think it has it's purpose. For me, it's good to get some solid transitions and I tend to keep it as short as possible. Sadly, by the time I got to the barn around 6:15 PM it was raining. There was a 20% chance of rain (go figure) so I turned out the horses. I did make sure that Digby behaved on his way out to the field. It started raining harder. It rained various levels of heaviness from around 6 PM until 8 PM. I waited around until 8 but eventually had to leave as I had other stuff to do in the evening. Of course it stopped raining shortly after I left the barn but such is life!
Friday evening I made it to the barn a bit later than I wanted so I turned the horses out. let Digby graze for about half an hour while I set up poles in the ring and got his feed and hay ready for the next day. I was going to actually put tack on him to lunge but got lazy based off the time and just put on his rope halter. We laid down some solid walk/trot work and he was perfect. I mean, PERFECT. Never whinnied, never went around like a giraffe, didn't even think about melting down. Granted there were horses outside today so that probably helped but all in all, I was pleased. I'm planning on hopefully riding tomorrow and Sunday in the ring again.
So tell me people! When, if at all, do you use lunging as a training tool? Do you prefer other forms of groundwork? Why do you like/dislike it?
I'd like our rides to eventually look fun, obedient and relaxed like that video above. Bonus points if it's a freestyle because I'm DYING to do one, even if it's at Training Level! They currently look more like this:
Yeah.
So you all should see what direction this post is going...
Digby is a bit of a nervous horse, opinionated to boot, and thus can be QUITE bad. I know, I know. But Becky, he's usually super sweet, he's generally well behaved, so how could he possibly be bad!? Those who know some history of Mr. Dig My Size know that he can be very, very naughty. I can't stress this enough. He can be actively trying to kill you bad. I wish I had pictures or video footage of just how bad he has been before I purchased him because people who meet him now never believe me. I'm 100%% ok with never showing off this old side or people not believing me because I prefer my horse to not try to kill me, ever. I love and enjoy the cool, generally well behaved Digby. Luckily I am still young(ish), dumb(ish) and unshakeable(ish) still. I'm actually much more easily frightened when I'm on the ground than if I'm sitting on a horse in a ring. I'm at the point in my riding life, especially with Digby, that I'm like "oh? You're going to pull THAT trick out of your hat? Lolz. Alright, whatever, I'm going to ignore your meltdown, kick on, and you're going to eventually do what I want so really, it's easier if you just do it now versus in 5 minutes after a long fight that you're going to lose. Now do it. Cool, thanks." If I'm in an enclosed ring, I'm pretty much solid mentally regardless of what bad behavior happens. If I'm out on trails, I'm less confident. If I'm jumping, I will have a full on meltdown. It's not pretty. Luckily, we no longer jump. I haven't jumped any horse in a very long time. I suspect one day I will jump again, mostly because I think I missed my calling as an eventer, and will deal with those demons at that time.
Back on topic, I sat on Digby yesterday with the intention of minimizing any meltdowns and mostly walking. I don't want to do too much trotting given that he's, on the grand scheme of things, pretty out of shape. He rarely huffs and puffs but I worry about his legs holding up. The last thing I need is to create MORE opportunity for lamenesses and go scooting around with zero regard to fitness. I recognized that he was going to be pretty up most likely since it was a new ride and we were likely going to be riding alone, without any other horses in sight. The ring is situated at the top of a hill. You can see the pond, a neighbors house, a field, and the turnouts from the ring. You can sort of see the barn but none of the horses. I knew this could be tricky and hard for Digby to deal with so I came into the ride with a flexible idea of what "good" was going to be. I was hoping for at least some small signs of relaxation (no screaming for other horses, not being a total giraffe) and a few transitions which would include a halt that didn't involve dancing and not wanting to actually stop.
We tacked up ok. Digby was diagnosed about a year ago with limited/no vision in his right eye. This really doesn't effect our daily life at all but it can make new wash stalls and grooming areas a bit tricky. He doesn't like to go into any areas (trailers, stalls, wash stalls, etc) that are dark or small. I used to think he was claustrophobic but I think it's more vision related, as the vet had said his vision has probably been going for a while now, and it seems to be worse when it's dark or when he's going from really bright light (like a sunny day) into a darker (like the inside of a barn) area. I don't blame him. He stepped up into the grooming area after some hesitation and gentle reminder from me with my dressage whip that "yeah hey, I'm attached to this rope, you go forward when I say so." Digby's reaction to EVERYTHING he doesn't like is to go backwards. If anyone has a good tip for this, please, please, please let me know. I try my best to have a whip if I know it's going to potentially be bad but it's always his first reaction if he doesn't want to do something for whatever the reason may be. In the case of new wash stalls, trailers, etc, I try not to get upset because I think it is likely because of his limited vision so I give him a few tries. I accept any forward movement and, really, anything that isn't flying backwards. He got into the cross ties, we groomed, we tacked up. There was some yelling and dancing but he's a nervous dude and Rome wasn't built in a day, you know? I led him down to the ring. He stopped once on his own accord but otherwise was happy to walk next to me down to the ring.
Hind sight is 20/20. This ride was a job for my running martingale. I haven't used a martingale in several years so why would I right? Ok, so it was brand new area, I didn't hand walk around him or lunge him before, and I should of put it on just for a touch more control. Nonetheless, we marched around for about 10 minutes. He was pulling out some standard "fun" tricks, such as rooting on the bit HARD (he pulled me so hard once that I felt like a small child on a pony by how far I got pulled forward), jigging, grinding his teeth, chomping on the bit, flinging his head around, whinnying, going sideways, generally just being nervous about where he was and why he was suddenly the only horse alive in the entire world. He was pretty good about forward and was responsive to my leg. I got a few good transitions, he eventually stopped yelling, and we even had two good halts that lasted a second or two with no movement until I put my leg on. I was able to lengthen my reins a little bit more and he didn't try to kill us. I thought "ok perfect, this is fine. We lived, he learned he won't die and nothing in the ring is scary." I was JUST about to get off when a fellow boarder started turning out two horses. Digby saw them before I did. Their field is next to the ring. Digby LOST HIS BRAIN. He was SO upset that these horses were here, he decided that he needed to express his disapproval for me still riding by rearing.
Ok. So. Yeah. You read that right. Rearing? NOT OK. Never.
Not us, not my photo, but I suspect it looked similar to this.
I'd be lying if I said anything other than he reared and I just sat there like "What? What is happening?" I was stunned. I expected the jigging, grinding teeth, head flinging. I did not expect my horse to rear with me on him. He has never reared under saddle with me before. For him to do it twice in a row was mind blowing to me. Digby is the perfect size for me so I can sit out his naughtiness with minimal issue. I was never worried about falling off or him flipping over. I was mostly stunned and puzzled as to why that just happened. I knew that this was a "kick on and worry about it later" situation so I did just that. I booted him to get him to go forward. His response? Fly backwards with much head shaking. Also not ok, nor what I asked for, Digby. So we had a discussion about what the correct response to leg was, ie GO FORWARD OR I WILL END YOU. I believe the exact words out of my mouth were "are you f*cking kidding me? Hell no." I've got a potty mouth and it gets worse in stressful situations, what can I say?
Where is poor boarder who just wanted to turn some of the horses out during this debacle? She was at the end of the ring asking what she should do. I was trying, in between, you know, riding Satan (aka my horse), to tell her that if she could stay there with the horses just for a minute or two until we calmed down, I'd appreciate it because Digby was now very much near the edge of the "actively trying to kill his rider" tipping point. She stood at the end of the ring with the two horses and Digby eventually (mostly) accepted that whole stop when I say stop and go when I say go thing. It should be noted that I actually turn out the horses most days, including last night, to "work off" some of my board and the boarder was just trying to be nice. I was not riding during turnout time. I did not expect horses to be walking past the ring or I would of stopped riding before that happened. I know that on his first day in the ring, Digby would not be able to handle that without having a total meltdown. I was right. She walked away with the horses after I said ok and I made Digby keep his big boy undeez on. He didn't love it, I couldn't get an immobile halt but he wasn't trying to kill me. I can handle teeth grinding, chomping on the bit and head tossing. I'll put it in the win column for the night, I suppose? I mean, we lived right? Ugh.
Afterwards, we walked back up the barn. He didn't try to bolt back, which I really was expecting him to do. We untacked, with about the same amount of dancing as before. The aforementioned boarder came over and we were chatting. We may eventually put out our horses together, as Digby still needs a friend, so she brought her gelding over so they could meet. She did this without asking me, which miffed me a little, considering my horse just had a complete meltdown that could be been really bad for all involved and maybe you should ask? I chalked it up to me being a little bit angry at my horse and tired after working all day and then that lovely adventure. They met without any incident. I sponged off Digby because he was only sweaty in his saddle area. He walked out to his turnout like a gentlemen and left me with quite a few things to think (and swear) about.
As part of a blog hop started by Hand Gallop, I had full intention of taking new photos for this post and my phone has a new trick (TWO DAYS IN A ROW! CURSE YOU IPHONE!) in which it turns off regardless of battery life and refuses to turn back on until it's plugged in. Once plugged in it realizes "oh yeah, I've got battery left, duh! My bad!" and goes on with it's merry phone life at it's previous percent of battery life. Charming. It started a week ago but is getting progressively worse. So here are two old photos to demonstrate my tack:
The hony only does flatwork. One day, maybe, we'll get a dressage saddle but this one fits pretty well so it's staying for the time being.
Vespucci Fancy Stitch Hunter Bridle: Got it for a steep discount. I like it and it has lasted all the years I've had Digby. Not the softest leather anymore but I wasn't the best at cleaning it for a while. Can't blame the maker there. :) The one fault is that the reins are LONG since Digby is small. I don't mind it now that we just flat but it was a bit of an issue when we jumped. Digby was a wild child and I always worried the reins would somehow get tangled in his legs when we were jumping. If I were still jumping, I think I'd take it to a cobbler and have them shorten the throat latch (super long!) and the reins.
Happy Mouth Double Jointed Roller Dee: This bit seems to please Mr. Sensitive mouth the most, while allowing me some control. Digby goes best in the thinner bits because he has a tiny mouth. I think in an ideal world he'd like this to be a bit smaller but he goes the best in this bit out of all the other ones I've tried. He's never chewed through the plastic so I've had it for years now.
No name standing martingale/no name running martingale: I've used both. He either came with both or I got the standing martingale for free. I honestly can't remember. Typically he doesn't go in a martingale anymore but I'll throw one on if I think he's going to be bad.
Ovation Show Jumping XCH Saddle: Picked the saddle up at a local tent sale. Luckily it fits pretty darn well! I really can't fault this saddle at all. It's looks way nicer than what I paid for it, it's comfy, it fits both me and Digby. It's held up GREAT over the years.
Mattes Half Pad with Shims: Digby's a tricky saddle fit so at the advice of a local independent saddler fitter, I splurged and got a Mattes shimmable pad. I haven't regretted it for a day. It helps my saddle fit better and Digby goes better with it.
Saddle pad: I use basically any pad. I've got a fancy BOT one and then cheap ones. I do make sure that they're all high wither/shaped ones. He's got large withers and if the pad isn't shaped, the pads will sit on his withers when I ride. This displeases Digby. I usually buy pads on sale and based off their color. I'm not super picky.
Arc de Triomphe Anatomic Girth: Another splurge that I snagged at a discount. I've had it for a few years now and LOVE IT. Seriously. Great quality. It's lasted even if I don't wipe it off every ride. I try to since it was $$$ but let's be honest, sometimes I'm busy and it's either ride and don't clean the tack or don't ride. I'm going to ride!
Boots/Wraps: I used to ride him in Roma Open Front Boots but now that we don't jump, I don't use those much anymore. If I'm going to use leg protection, I typically use plain old polo wraps or a pair of cheap-o no name neoprene splint boots.
Hmm, so Blogger seems to have eaten my post about July goals... Ok then.
Us in 2010.
I realized while talking to Alli last Friday that I really miss having goals. While it's hard given the hony's soundness and my perpetual fear that he's going to come up lame, I wanted to make a few (small) goals for July.
Without further ado:
Digby's July Goals
- Stay sound. Enough said.
- Work on building up our fitness. Since he had all winter off (thanks -4 degree weather and ice/snow) and then some time in the spring until he gained weight and thennnn our June lameness issue, the hony has been pretty much out of consistent work. I'd like to start back with lots of walking and then slowly progress. I'm going to play it by ear based off of how he's responding.
- Get out on trails at least once. Ok, this seems like a ridiculously small goal but hear me out. We just moved to a new barn which is a big transition and I'd like to get some solid ring work down. Trails were never my favorite event (although I'm becoming a fan) and Digby can be a big jerk on them. The new barn has lots of surrounding acres and trails so I'd love to get out of the ring as often as possible. With my schedule, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to meet up with others and I don't want to go alone for a while. I'm planning to go at least once in the entire month of July!
Human goals
- Fitness. This should read, "Becky, stop being a fluffy marshmallow and learn to control your body. Love, your horse." I've got a schedule all printed out and I've mostly been sticking to it in June! I'd like to keep it going in July.
