What about lemons?

Everybody knows the saying- when life gives us lemons, we make lemonade.... Well some of us add a bit of tequila, ice and a few other things- and make margaritas instead!  

So when your arena looks like a soupy mess, what do you do?  Well you grab your horse, cart and harness and you get out there! You go play in the mud! 

When competing, upper levels have water hazards. What better way to train for the water hazards than IN the water hazards.... 

If they are put to the cart In the mud, where do they have the option to go?  

Mazy slopping thru the mud. She lives for this... 

Trucking thru the slop...

Splishity-Splash

Wind them up and let them go

Oh My God! How do I Not? I don't want to get this all over me. Ooof!

After doing this with both ponies and having such a blast at it... All I can say is that y'all are a bunch of damned crybabies. Gotta get your redneck on now and then! Hahaha

Oh and by the way - wear your lace up boots for this. Slip On means they will slip Off in the mud should you have to get out of the cart. Just a helpful tip there. Lolz

Fail

I have failed to post anything new here recently and here's why. The last week I have been laid up with muscle strains or pulls, tears or just some kind of weird cramping shit going on. It Hurts. Sometimes a Lot. Before anyone asks.... I was riding Mazy again. She needs it, I need it, but it just isn't coming together and then this.

We were once again working on the lope and also playing with spins. Of course one direction is always better than the other. Maybe that's us, maybe its the horse and maybe it's a combination of both. It happens. 

Starting the spin and here she is really beginning to reach across, stepping over. 

Again shes stepping around, crossing over nicely in the front. This shows she is getting lighter in the front end, lifting the shoulders. 

Our lope needs work. Not much of a stretch or reach going on between the front and back legs. 

Leaning much?!?! Saying to myself-> SIT UP!!!

Love the reach here again, but the front end is still on the ground well before it should be. 

Here I am bracing against her a bit and she is doing the same in return. More so with my legs and seat than my hands. 

I really like the power Mazy shows in this pic, just wish the front leg was more out in front- in sinc with the left hind reaching up underneath herself. 

One of the biggest things I have been working on is not picking on my pony all of the time. So to relax we went out trail riding afterwards. Pics to come

Worst critic critique

I have been alternating working the ponies and so far it's going well. Today should have been a Mazy ride day. Yeah didn't happen.  I do have pics pulled from video from our last ride last week. And since we are all our own worst critics.... 

If you can ever get video of yourself riding- Do it! It is the best way to see what you are or aren't doing. Pics don't lie. Look at the good things, but also look at the bad. Acknowledge what needs to be fixed and start choosing 1 or 2 smaller things to improve. Above all, don't beat yourself up over this. We ALL have struggles. None of us are perfect and you fit right in! 

Looks like we are jumping right into this with the crap shots.  WTH are we doing? Breezing for the Breeders Cup?

Since we havent really done much riding lately its easy to say we definitely haven't done any work at the canter. We cant fix or improve anything we dont work on. Positives? Well Mazy is on the correct lead. I'm still on her back and I'm not sure there's much more I can say. Lol Negatives? Too many to list. Next pic

This pic much the same. Rider still on board, correct lead and sitting up in a better position. But the big glaring red flag is Mazy's legs. Sure she has a nice spread and reach in the back and also in the front, but between the two it's pretty narrow.  She's off balance and mainly working on her fore. Rider leaning into the speed in the first pic, doesnt help with this. Going to the right Mazy wasn't too bad. To the left it was off to the races. She just wanted to tear around like crazy. Yeah, no. 

Trot work was better. My lower leg needs to come back, stirrups maybe down one more hole which makes it feel like my legs are getting longer, but whateva. Line from elbow to bit is better but not completely straight as Mazy is finally working on a loose rein. Hands can come up a touch to fix this. 

And for the love of all things good- stop. looking. down. Look up where you want to go. Look around your turns. Look at things other than the pony under you. Sit UP a bit taller and lose the "Hunter hunch". Ain't nobody liking that.... 

This one is better. Both of us have our head up a bit more where it belongs with semi loose rein but soft contact. Mazy looks pretty good here but she needs to lighten up the front a little. Lower leg is also back underneath more where it belongs. Yay for that! 

This pic a lot of things about me were cropped out but I love her reach and swing in the stride both front and back. My hands are nice and wide giving her a channel in which to work, Mazy is starting to cross over to make the turn but we are both dropping our shoulders and leaning into it. Add that to the list of "Need to change". Next! 

Legs out in front again. Need to stop that. Inside rein could be a little shorter with contact but Mazy is moving out in a nice free trot. 

Again same issues- hands up a little more, lower leg back a little but at least someone is beginning to look up where they are going. 

Finally things look like they are coming together. Heels down and underneath the leg and seat. Rider looking up where they are going. Hands could still come up a touch but horse is on the vertical with a loose rein so self carriage is happening...  Front right is getting ready to come up, but right hind already has, indicating pony is still on the fore and need a to rock back on the haunches more. 

In the one corner there was a lot of ground gazing going on because as we come around the corner, my eyes spotted something in the dirt. Turned out to be something I won't call a nail, but more like a spike. A 4" long nail. Don't need that in a hoof or tire on the cart. 

I have also been working on my hands a Lot. Rein placement, keeping hands wide, soft contact and here's the big one- not nit-picking at my pony all. the. time. Leaving her alone to do her job. She's so much happier without me micromanaging every single step. She's happier and less fussy, which makes me happier and less fussy too. Know when to take the Win! 

Zoomies!

 

Mazy likes bouncing around in turnout. What can I say?

Ummmm, a bit of action much? 

Yep. Still ripping around.

I'm Queen of the Mountain! I Wiiiiiiin!!!!

Who moved my jump? Where did it go? Man I was crushing it!!!

Climbing ranks

While I wait to get a Pivo, I found a way to improvise and still manage to get video of the girls as they are working. Is it ideal? No. Does it work? Sure. Sort of.  I found a small cell phone tripod at the $1 store. The 3 legs are bendy so you can wrap them around say a fence rail? Yeah that works. Put it on the rail, set the phone up and attach it, then just hit record video on the phone and go to work. 

I usually get 20-30 minutes of video, but it takes me about 2 hours to go thru it and dissect it for pics.  While it only records in a certain section of the arena, there's dead space when you're out of view. But when you are in view, you can pause it, zoom in, frame by frame and screenshot what you like. Sometimes it takes me a few times going over one pass because I can see a frame I like, but getting it paused at just the right spot can be tricky. 

Casey looks incredibly downhill in all of these going to the left because of the camera angle being a tad jacked.  If you compare her topline to the fenceline behind her though you can see she's pretty balanced out or even uphill in her movement. 

And look at that reach. Girlfriend has some hang time. Lol 

Yes we share the arena with can chasers. In the video she actually hits one of the barrels. That was fun! But she didnt knock it over, no penalty points (lol) and we went on with our workout. 

She felt good and decided to lope. What did I do? I encouraged her of course! At some point she will be a Prelim or better pony and we Will be running on course so she may as well learn it's okay now. 

Only she was crow hopping. Every. Stride. Her ass end was in the air but the front end not so much. This one looks huge though. 

I only slowed her to a trot after a few strides because I don't want her keeping any bad habits for later on. I have to admit it was funny though. 

Hind legs together in this stride because it is after landing another crowhop. Otherwise she has a Lot of reach going on. 

Yeah she just doesn't so much look like a peanut roller western horse does she. 

And this. This is Why she is a "Bell Boots For Life!" horse. You would not believe how light in the bridle she is too. Just squeeze your fingers shut and we're turning.... 

A friend of mine that's also a trainer was surprised at the overreaching going on, but Casey has managed to adapt. She actually tracs a bit off to the side so there's little to no interference with front and hind hooves. 

She's def on her way to being a Rockstar!  I'm so excited for her. I doubt Casey had any idea what she was in for when I got her, but she is stepping up her game in Spades! 

And when we finish our work in the arena? I drive her out the gate and thru the yard, crossing ditches pipe culverts, mud puddles, past the picnic table with the umbrella opened up and whatever other crap I can find to get her used to everything before parking her in front of the barn to unhitch. So far she approaches everything with Zero (0) shits given! Drive #16 is in the books. 

Ch, ch, ch, changes

Lately there has been a hiccup in training with Mazy. She got a little sideways in the shafts the last time I drove her and when things like that happen, it's best to err on the side of caution and back up in training. Fix things so you can move on. 

So we went back to the ground and did some work in long lines. Fix the horse. Yeah she had other ideas. I tried to get video of her getting all worked up in her own head, bunching herself up, biting the air and ignoring everything around her including the person on the other end of the lines. Trying to turn her to go the other direction gets her rattled. She starts by ignoring the gentle tug on the outside rein to straighten herself going across the arena so that we can change reins and go the other way now. And if the lines happen to catch on any of the leather in the keepers on the backstrap and crupper- she shoots forward to get away from it because "Aaaahhhh! It's going to Get me!" Smh.... 

We had to break the cycle and change things up again. So I pulled the backstrap and crupper, tied one of the long lines onto the bit similar to a mecate with a bosal and hopped on. Now things couldn't get snagged and we could work on getting her to chill the hell out. Just walk. Nice big, wide sweeping turns, legs to help move her over or straighten, aaaaand we're walking.... 

Next time I grabbed a saddle and we worked on more lengthing over her back, pushing her more forward and loose rein, long and low, just chillax mare..... And she seemed to appreciate it. Until I asked for a trot. Little to no contact means Go fast! am I right? No honey. No you are not. A lot more breathing and relaxing on my part, don't engage, don't let things escalate, don't buy into her crap. Next thing we know- bam! She's engaged, calming down, reaching up under herself, bigger stride, more free swing to her movement and a lot less shits given to losing her mind on her part. Yay that! 

I know. Stop looking down. This is a Me issue. I'm working on it. 

Yes I forgot to put her boots on. My bad! 

I was able to pull these from video on my cell phone. Really happy to see our progress and check off things I think I need to focus on but really don't. 

As for the saddle, the only one that fit her the last time we did this? Well it doesn't fit like it should but it's better than the others. And for me not liking how I sat in it- I have changed a few things and now it seems a lot more ok. I dropped my stirrups another hole to #8, which is a big difference from #12 or All the way UP how I used to ride. I sit a bit deeper as opposed to being perched up on top. I'm more 'with her movement' instead of trying to find that sweet spot to posting her rushed trot. I'm able to relax my lower leg and spread my toes, less likely to Feel the Burn in my calves as I posted around the arena. Yeah things have certainly changed a lot. For the better thankfully! Lol 

Not & Not

I was going to post this as a Wordless Wednesday, but  it's not Wednesday and definitely not Wordless. So there's that. Lol 

A couple weeks ago I snapped a few pics of Casey standing all chill in her stall. She was standing there and I had to go get my phone, come back and fiddle with the phone before snapping pics and yet she stood there the whole time. 

Look at the chest on her. I was all Daaaayyyyuuuummmm Giiiirrrllll! I also like how she so casually crosses her hind legs all feminine and petite looking. Home Girl is looking like a body builder pony. All buff like that. 

I'm tempted to send this pic to the previous owner, now almost a year later. That and a short clip of going to get her out of the pasture- where she comes trotting to the gate from the far corner, whinnying the whole way of course.  She's definitely Not the same pony that came to me a year ago. 

Miss Mazy

While Casey has been doing her best to stay sidelined, Mazy still needs to work and lately I have also gotten a chance to fix a few things on me too. 

First we needed to work on her bending and not counterbending, especially thru the turns. I put her back in the lines for this and a friend of mine has suggested a book called "Bending the Driving Horse". 

I can ride the ponies and we work on bending that way. It seems to be working since last Wednesday when working Mazy, we had bend to the inside, we drove deep into our corners and a few other things happened too.  

Mazy has been light and quiet in the bridle. I have been working on a few things with my hands lately. Placement on the reins for one. Quietness is another. Not just asking for the bend but also allowing it. Having an even hold on the reins is something I work at a Lot. Not too long or short, holding them both at the same spot (this one I struggle with) and letting them have light contact on the inside rein for guidance and support while using the outside rein to guide them back to the rail, but also letting it out some when asking for a turn. 

When I'm working a horse in long lines, it's easy to just have quiet hands. The lines go thru the rings and the rings don't move around like our hands do when we ride. Quiet hands help achieve a horse that's quiet in the bridle. They're not gaping at the mouth or as Mazy likes to do when she's bored, impatient or pissed- she bites her teeth. You can hear her going around biting the air to vent her frustrations. 

She's just such a fancy mover. She knows it too. Lol 

Another change we made was the bit. You can see in this last picture that she is going in a simple d-ring snaffle. It has a little thinner mouthpiece and she really seems to like it. The funny thing is I bought this bit for Casey. Well Casey did okay in it, but she prefers the French link for driving. Mazy has been going so well in this d-ring snaffle that we have also been able to work on a lot of long & low movement on a loose rein. The loose rein part is where we struggle also, but Mazy is learning to work with it. When she is working well on a loose line I give her a little bit more. If she speeds up then I can half halt and check her to make sure she understands. As she's moving though I just tend to let her do her own thing. We've done a lot of big circles, small circles, serpentines and just about everything in between and we're getting to the point where Mazy can be working on a looser rein, maintaining her frame and looking amazing as ever. 

What now?

So Casey is on the mend and we get a good workout in on Friday. She's a little lit and giving it her all, but we work thru it and have a good experience. Lots of bending left and right, moving this way and that, circles and serpentines, loose rein and contact, just about everything we can do, we do. 

She has a tendency to stop whenever she hears me say anything so to fix that- I pull out my phone and hit the Pandora app. With music the horses learn to deal with noise around them. It also has a rythym they can adjust theirs to and usually they just plain like it. Sure they like different genre's too like us and different songs more than others. 

I like to sing along, so it helps keep me breathing and relaxed. Music also helps the horses pick out when to listen to me and when they can sort of ignore the noise and keep moving. Besides it's not all voice commands. They should be feeling the reins & bit and I will lay the whip acdoss their hip or down the side of their body. Honestly I forget to use it most of the time. Rules are that you have to have it in your hand or on the cart so I carry one but forget to use it. 

So ffwd a week and yesterday am when I went to feed and swap the mares around. Casey comes walking to me from across the pasture. My eyes immediately drop to her lower legs.

WTF???? So I call over the other border for a second opinion. As she walks up I asked her take a look at Casey tell me what you see. Her eyes immediately hit the same thing. Right front fetlock and pastern are swollen and at first to me it looks like her hoof angles are off as well.

But then as I'm colld hosing I glance up and see this in her girth area. She's managed to get herself all tore up on who knows what.  Ugh! 

And then there's this.... The first night it doesn't look all that bad. 

But then a day later? Yeah. WTH? This is the outside of the front right. I'm just really glad its not any deeper. 

I took a walk along the fenceline in the pasture to see if I could find anything there and no such luck. There are no feeders, no ring for a round bale or anything else she could be getting hung up on so who knows. Some horses seem to invent shit to hurt themselves on. I'm hoping Casey isn't one of them.