Casey in her color

I dug out the maroon pad I have for Casey. While I also have matching leg gear-  polos, SMB's and bell boots- shes wearing the rubber bell boots (no longer white) and the open front jump boots (also no longer white) as their hard outer shell means the mud all washes off easier.  Because we have Mud. Which is why both splint and bell boots are no longer white.... Lol 

Not quite sure if I'm leaning here or its just my head tilted a little, camera angle, combination of everything resulting in such things as a clusterf*ck? but the takeaway's.... Straight line from elbow to bit. Nice long reins allowing her to reach out and down to find contact. Heels back underneath me where they belong, niiiiiice reach up under her behind- engaged and using her rear end thru the back, lifting her shoulders.... 

All the things again here too. Present and accounted for. Hands, heels, reach, relaxed and yeah. 

Nice almost perfectly square halt. Casey is starting to "listen for" the feeling of asking for a halt. Two Step process- 1) "Step into it" taking my legs off and 2) "Sit and Quit" Sit down a little deeper and Quit following her movement with my hips, lower back and body in general. 

After the halt above she got 'stuck' and didn't want to move or walk forward. I don't rely on a whip, crop or spurs unless they just seem so dead sided af which usually comes from over-use of these things. Instead I gently pull them around to one side, hand low and wide where they can see it for a visual cue, my white string gloves help them see this. Inside leg comes back a little to push the butt over to the outside, which sorta forces the front end to turn the direction I'm asking for. Outside leg helps encourage forward and bend keeping the shoulders from falling to the outside. It all puts them off balance just a little that they have to take a step- breaking them loose from being 'stuck'. Once they're moving again it's easy to keep them moving. 

Doing the above process to get them 'unstuck' helps encourage them to move off our leg and away from pressure. It also helps us use our legs independent of each other, but also with everything else. As the inside leg comes back we turn our body and the heel stays under us keeping our weight and balance centered. Hand coming out to the side we are guiding them around rather than pulling, inside shoulder back keeps our body posture straight and keeps the horse straight as well rather than falling into the circle. 

This is all going on just at a walk so far. The next time anybody thinks riding is so easy. All you do is sit there.... You can tell them otherwise and they can shove it! 😂🤣😂🤣

Mazy back at it

Mazy and I rode out about a month ago and while we were riding in the hay fields I was taking video with my cell phone. As we were coming up on where to cross over from the front field to the back, she spooked and spun. Literally spun right out from under me. I sort of somewhat have it on video. No I haven't watched it yet. So for now we are working in the arena because my body hurts. Yes. Please laugh at me, with me... Lol

So we put on our cowgirl clothes, Mount the cell phone on the fence and see what we can do. We are working on spins because why not? Shes really stepping across in front at least going to the left. 

More crossing over steps going left. 

And more loping trying to get her to just relax and chill the hell out. At least here my feet are more back underneath me, hands lower, I seem to be looking up where we need to go. Still a nice gap between the back legs. And the front legs. But between the front and back? We need to work on that. 

Oooof! Leaning much? Dayum girl! Sit up straight ffs.

Yep. Still leaning. Check. Please don't fall over.Please don't fall over.Please don't fall over.  

Then we're on to more lope pics. We're still working on getting her rocked back and lightening up the front end.... Notice the shortened gap between front and rear legs again. Ugh! Frustrating. 

While this pic above could be better... I still like it for a few reasons. 1) look at the reach in her hind end. That inside hind leg is still traveling. Can you imagine riding that if the front right is too? Because I have seen her do it. I have pics. 2) Sure my hands are a little high and elbows a bit far back to keep that straight line from elbow to bit, but she is finally starting to relax into contact. When she relaxes and reaches down, my reins are long enough that my hands come down with her and things are still good. 

This one, again could be better. Could show her rocked back more, outside front could still be reaching out, not so much leaning and she could be a lot more relaxed and steady in her tempo instead of doing everything at warp speeds. But.... Her head is a bit lower, she is comfortably bent to the circle, again the reach of the hind leg, my hands are a tad lower and wide apart giving her room to work in there. 

The hands being wide is breaking a bad habit I work on a lot. I try to keep them as wide apart as my hips, not together perched on the horses withers. Don't know when or where I picked up that habit, but it needs to stop. Perching my hands on the withers added to my hunter hunch as I've heard it called. Not a good position for anything or a good look for anyone. 

As much as I struggle keeping my hands wide, I had a judge at a show tell me once that I needed them closer together, almost On their withers. She was a breed show judge and sure, maybe for rail classes thats ok, but this wasn't a rail class kind of show. Sometimes we have to learn when, where and how to accept constructive criticism while ignoring all or part of it at the same time. We also need to know how to pick out the tiny tidbits of good things from the same statements.  

Adapting

While Casey has been coming along really well in harness, she has also been started under saddle. Part of this is because she seems to have an issue with bending to the inside when going to the right. On her back I can use my seat and legs to teach her to shape her body as it should be while giving to the bit. 

The tripod I use was a little loose so the camera angle is a touch wonky here, but shes on the vertical with light contact and just trucking along down the rail. 

Here we're making a circle to the left and she is bent to the inside as she should be. You can also slightly see the over step in her stride. This is Why Bell boots are a way if life for her now. 

Here you can really see the amount of overstep in her stride. She is also actually bent to the inside going right, which we fixed with ground driving and long line work. You can also see how she's stepping over and under herself. Wahoo! It's clicking in her brain! 

Under saddle we worked at the walk mostly so far. Either because of mud or like the last ride- because she just doesn't want to trot yet. I was just about kicking her every step, kissing, clucking and telling her to trot and heapings of praise when she did.... 

but it lasted a few strides at best and she would stop dead in her tracks. Just stop. And not want to move. At all. 

Teal is really not her color 

So I would pull her head around one direction, clicking, clucking and kissing, legs on and encouraging to break a hoof loose and start moving. Just. Go. Forward!

We did recently get 2nd gear with a bit of strong encouragement. Next time I ride we may get more. Or not. She will let me know. Lol 

Open Spaces

Dan Seals has a song called God Must be a Cowboy at Heart. "He made wide open spaces from the start...." Yes. Yes he did.

Where I board, I am lucky enough to have access to this, literally right out the back gate. The neighbor has somewhere between 300-500 acres of hay fields he allows us to use. So once in a while, Mazy and I put on the cowgirl clothes and go ride in it. Why Not???

Kind of a messed up pic, but this is from the furthest south east corner of the field we rode in that day. The dinosaur looking tree is up towards the gate back to the barn and on the other side of the ditch. Excuse the random body part blocking the lens. Lol

This ride started out a okay, then Mazy got a little excited and wanted to rush things starting to nervously try to jog. This pic is on the way back. The gate is behind us to the right and on the other side of the round bales theres a deep ditch we need to cross. No we don't go thru the ditch (although that would be Awesome for hill work!) because it has been raining lately and I imagine sinking in it while trying to climb out of there would be exhausting for the horse. It would also tear things up for the land owner making them Not want to allow us to ride there anymore. Its called being respectful. To the land, to the entire property, to the people that own it and just in general.

This is right outside the back gate. (Dinosaur tree to our right) I had gotten off to go thru and Mazy decided she needed a few bites before we got there. Why not? She kept her mind in her head, kept it at a walk for the most part and we had a good time. 

When we crossed over the bridge back to this side of the ditch, the smell of the hay.... It's such a sweet smell. If you have ever smelled it, you know. Now I just need to get Casey going under saddle and take her out there too. Its good to get the horses out and let them have some time off away from the arena.