How to deworm a difficult horse

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Subi and I are on different pages when it comes to medication.

Or food.

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I’ll be watching you… 

But let’s talk medication. He just KNOWS when I have poison.

But, over the years, I’ve become more successful because, sneaky doesn’t work.

But, let’s talk talk specifically about dewormer, because, we HATE dewormer.

I could really use the dental contraption to help with deworming, just saying…

In the past, when Subi was a young, spry, individual, deworming involved a chain, blind fold, a prayer, and quick reflexes. If I could friend someone brave and suicidal, a person willing to hold up a leg helped too. Basically, the goal was to get as much of the dewormer down his throat before rearing ensued. Sometimes holding a leg up helped, sometimes it was a suicide mission. Sometimes the blindfold helped, other times, ha!

Now, that we’re mature at 20, we’ve ditched the blindfold, the chain (we ditched that last year), and the leg holding (ditched when no brave idiots were “available) and found a new method–the sneak attack. OH CRAP. We’re not 20 anymore, WE’RE 21 and I JUST REALIZED IT! SHIT.

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We don’t like dewormer. Dewormer is EVIL.

So, on Tuesday night, armed with dewormer and a terrible virus, I headed out post dinner to dewormer the 3 beast after dinner. The kids were separated. Batty and Jiminy together and Subi alone. I thought this would help. He wouldn’t know. I had 2 eager volunteers in the piggy clan–they just subscribe by the philosophy of eat first, think later–and deworming went off without a hitch (Jiminy is a wierdo and enjoys his dewormer a little too much).

Unfortunately, despite being NO WHERE NEAR the scene of the CRIME, Subi just KNEW what was happening (15 points Subi). My easy to catch senior who loves me more than life itself decided to play hard to get and, in the dark, frozen drylot, I wandered after him for 15 minutes while he remained just out of my reach. Damn horse. I love you too. I swear, he could smell the dewormer a mile a way.  I though the darkness would be my friend. Thwarted again (5 more points Subi).

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I don’t want to know the score if Subi had friends helping or some daylight…

Finally, armed with 2 stud muffins and 5 peppermints, we reached an agreement and on his head went the halter (5 points Subi, 5 points Sarah). And there we stood while he chewed his treats while I stealthily uncapped the dewormer. Finally, after all the treats were chewed, I stepped back so that my shoulder was behind his head (I must NEVER be in front of his head of the mission FAILS and I wear the tube of dewormer). Quickly BUT QUIETLY I pushed the dewormer into the corner of his mouth and before he could react, pushed his head up as high as possible and held it there (15 points Sarah).

For the next 10 minutes, there we stood. Me holding a heavy chestnut head in one hand while rubbing his throat with the other hand, begging him to swallow while Subi stood grinding his teeth, angry that he had been foiled once again (10 points Sarah). Finally, I left go, removed the halter, and watched as my ANGRY CHESTNUT  unsuccessfully tried to cough out to AWFUL POISON he inadvertently swallowed (5 points Sarah). Entire tube consumed! No dewormer on Sarah! (50 points Sarah)

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Thankfully, he forgives (though I reuse old media)

Final Score:

Sarah: 85
Subi: 25

Total gameplay: 33 minutes

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Practicing our angry face…

During this time, my husband never though to send out a search party… Nice of him, right?

Ranger Recap: On Hold

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I should recap while my lesson is fresh in my mind, but instead I just want to say this.

Sometimes  for no reason you have a bad day.

Sorry Michele. Thanks for letting me vent yesterday. Work. Life.  Stupid people. Stupid horses who don’t drink perfectly good water.

But I got to ride Ranger last night and  suddenly all was right in the world.

He was a mud pit (THANK YOU BLANKETS), but he is Ranger.

I got on early and just sat on his back for about 5 minutes and watched the 3 ring circus around me and life was suddenly good.

If I had to dismount after that, it wouldn’t have mattered.

So, instead of recapping my lesson now, I’ll just leave you with this.

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Thank you Ranger. Still feeling the zen today.

Ranger Recap: Bending Lines

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Let me start by saying, I should have written this Friday, but I didn’t. And without media of ANY kind, a new ring set up,  and a deteriorating brain, this will be interesting. Still, instead of letting this lesson go,  I’m going to try…

I showed up Thursday to a (basically) empty barn and quickly falling temperatures.  The temperatures aren’t important, but, whenever  it’s cold, all the barn doors are closed which requires me to side open/closed lots of doors to get in/out of the barn to the indoor. It’s a  pain. 2 sliding doors to get  out of the barn then a short walk across to the indoor and 1 more  sliding door. Basically, when opening/closing, it’s 6 doors which is a  lot when holding horse. Thankfully  Ranger doesn’t care, but I’m not coordinated in the dark.

Anyway, enough about sliding doors.

We walked in to an entirely new course. Which was nice, but also meant  I had to work. Ranger sort of “memorizes” courses and it takes him about a week to learn the strides and  all that. So, the first week with a  new course means I work harder (as does everyone else who rides him). Jump height doesn’t mean anything, just everything else. I don’t mind having to work harder (it’s good for me) so I kind of prefer new un-memorized Ranger. Unless I’m not into working. Unlike last week, we had the ring to ourselves (until someone joined us to practice) so it was really nice. But, do to having the ring to myself, I got to work, HARD.

On the flat, Ranger was falling in HARD to the left, his difficult direction which would be the theme for the night. I seemed to be able to fix it at the trot and then we first picked up the canter to the right. I hate cantering right first as it’s my weak direction, but I didn’t get a say. We did lots of circles because, yay, before a simple change of direction at the trot across the center (where Ranger saw a jump, got excited, then disappointed) and more canter. Then, after canter around for a couple minutes (we had a really nice, forward canter, we added in the single placed at the end of the ring (see awkwardly placed single referenced below) and cantered that on a circle a few times. Finally, we got to walk for about 2 seconds before being told to canter to out next fence. I ignored the directions to catch my breath. It’s hard to breath when it’s cold! Fine, it was only 26, but I was struggling. Normally we don’t canter that long!

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So, with the new ring setup, the evil jump did not disappear. And lucky me, that was the jump we jump 1,545,346,544,353,467,456 times. And I still am convinced it’s evil.

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I’m telling you, this jump has spikes. I don’t  know why people don’t believe me… 

We began with a left lead canter (theme of the struggle of the night. Not the lead, but the drift on to his shoulder) to the grey boxes to the spiky straw bale gate jump (the straw bales are fine, it’s the damn gate). Unfortunately, the turn to the first jump was a struggle for me all night. The first time through, we broke and then got the canter back but I had to then work on the landing of the in to get the 6 to the evil jump. Because, who wants to really die at the jump the hate? But, it appears that I have a talent to nail the out even when I screw up the in…

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We tried this again and got slightly better, but I really struggled to turn hard when a certain someone was leaning so hard… But, it got better-ish? We then continued cantering around on our right lead (the nice lead of the night) and came back to the the same first jump off the right and did our other broken line — boxes to boxes (or maybe one of those was a gate… Who knows–you get the point). This was a 7 even though you can’t tell from my picture. This line was so much easier though the first time though we came in slowly and had to land and gallop. Oops. So. Repeat. Over and over. Until we got both lines several times. Except the last time when I completely missed the first spot of the first line, but we moved on. I was ready to quit there.

 

Ready to be finished with the evil spike jump, my luck did not end.

We switched from broken lines, but I continued to work on the stupid spike jump.

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The GOAL was to canter left lead over the outside single and continue around to the straw bale diagonal line (straw bales to sharp spike jump) and then continue around to the blue and  white single in the middle of the ring that  my trainer was, up until that point, using as chair. However, it would  be about 20 minutes until we made it to the single. See, the stupid line became  our undoing.

The single was easy. Sometimes we even landed correctly. But, the STUPID LEANING. First time. I did something  I NEVER DO. I turned too early. Who does that?  Normal people. Not me.  I do weird things. I am the QUEEN of Turning Too  Late. So,  I saw ABSOLUTELY NO SPOT. So, we launched a MASSIVE spot (thanking Ranger) and I was forced to land and ride and  make up for my screw ups. We stopped there and repeat.

Take 2. Decided  I HATED  turning  too early because, I just CANNOT do that, we fixed that by turned on time and hard (damn that leaning Ranger!) but had zero speed.  The  spot at the in was actually fine, but we got 7, not 6 as requested. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

There was drifting to left.  What a shock.

Then, on a really unfortunate incident, we chipped so badly at the base of EVIL JUMP,  I though I was going to eat the jump and die.  And on a normal horse, I might have, but it’s Ranger and  he doesn’t care.

So, refusing to EVER make that mistake again (seriously,  I’d NEVER jump that thing again), we started  over, then actually got a forward canter out of our single (never a problem, YET), cantered into our corner, used BOTH hands to steer, landed galloping forward (I was so not missing the damn spot,  nailed the  evil jump, was told to keep going, and promptly looked a the other outside single, then realized that wasn’t the jump was to be jumping, asked which one, then second guessed in, looked at the outside standard, and Ranger laughed in my face…

…And ducked out.

DAMNIT!

And we had to start the entire thing over again. This time, for the first time ever, we had zero pace to the outside single and chipped it.  (I was tired). But, I landed, galloped (well, I felt like galloping though it was likely just a forward canter for 2 dead tired individuals) and we THANKFULLY jumped everything else perfectly. Knowing where the last jump was when I landed from the evil jump REALLY help and Ranger knew I was actually riding and didn’t try anything.

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So tired. So in need of carrots. 

We ended there.

Thank god.

He got carrots.

I went home and collapsed.

Ranger Recap: Riding again!

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After last week’s bomb cyclone and arctic temperatures (though it was comparatively warm last Thursday just steadily dropping to… 7), I didn’t have  my lesson last week. I don’t actually know if there were lessons. I just know that I cancelled. Anyway,  I DID  have a lesson last night and it was  WARM. We’re talking 50s during the day and probably high 40s when I got on? Crazy for January. Of course,  as I’m typing this it’s 61 and pouring. Tomorrow the high is 34 and the low is 11. No wonder my migraines have been insane…

Oh by the way, while I didn’t end up going to the awards banquet, Ranger and I managed to snag 3rd place in Pleasure Horse for the series! Not bad for my first year back showing! Thank you  Ranger for saving my butt some many times last year!

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Ranger’s accomplishments (and Batty’s random ribbon from Ludwig’s which mean’s just as much as all of Ranger’s) (and those 2 6ths are as important as the champion/reserves so they get places of honor)

Back to Ranger. It was so good to see that muddy beast. Thanks to the warm weather, he was a little muddy anywhere his blanket didn’t cover. But, after a nice long grooming (yay for getting to the barn early enough not to have to rush!), he looked respectable enough to head into the ring.

Unfortunately, my weeks of having the indoor to myself seem to be over. Our indoor isn’t tiny at 75×200 but with a full course of jumps and a few other rides, it sometimes feels that way. Plus, there are walls. We use smaller jump standards inside, but still. When I first walked in, there was a beginner lesson finishing up with my trainer, a girl hacking, a teenager hacking, and a lunge line lesson. So, trying to figure out where to go was a little complicated. Especially since I needed to navigate around everyone but the teenager… Eventually the beginner lesson left as did the young girl on the pony. But I hate navigating around lunge lessons! She luckily left before we finished our flat work.

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My face when I have to share the ring (or rather my kitten’s face after getting locked in the pantry for 3 long minutes)

Ranger was basically dead most of the lesson. I sort of miss the “I’m going to take off!” Ranger of the summer. Not that I like him taking off on me, but he was so happy and relaxed that it was sort of boring. Not that I mind it, because, I mean, I love happy Ranger, but he was so low key. Where’s crazy Ranger? I’m sure he’ll be back the second someone turns out his friends when he’s standing in the cross ties instead of when he’s in the indoor… My arms were a mess at the trot (I need to work on that… my left arm was out too farm instead of bringing it back and I can hold my hands a bit higher at the trot) and at the canter I needed to give him a pony club kick just to get him to move out to a forward canter. He was cantering, and I wouldn’t even say he was behind my leg, he was just slow and happy and had no need to move out and was content as can be. After a kick (both directions–because no amount of leg was helping), we got the forward button. Before the kick, I was doing a bit too much leaning to the right. I need to work to the right more. But, in general, I got the comment that Ranger just looking insanely happy. That was the theme of the night. Happy Rangy.

After a brief segue into political discussion with parent of teenager, teenager, my trainer, barn manager (where I think we may have all scared the parent of child on the lunge line who is not client of the barn owner/my trainer… oops) and Ranger took a nap, we started to jump, beginning with the outside line going away from the in gate–started with the line on the right trotting in. First time through was…semi OK in that the line itself was actually bad. But the trip TO the X was ugly. We trotted the cantered then argued down to the trot, lost our straightness then jumped the X ok and worked to get a lovely rest of our line. Because, if I can do one thing right, I can fix a line. But, I also forgot to count my strides which was not ok.

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Like this, but jumps were small cross rail to vertical on both lines (outs were height of the in)

Our second take was significantly improved and we rode in straight though with less impulsion which then required a bit of leg over and on the landing of the X but we rode the line and did a lovely 8 and landing in a nice halt (that I had to work a bit for… thanks Ranger).

From here, we changed direction and did the other outside line, also a cross rail (with a box in front) to a vertical. Thanks to the box, this one was significantly easier and since I got the turn, we just maintained everything for an easy, steady 7. And halted. Less challenges here.

We continued next by cantering over our gate in the center of the ring (there are straw bales on the other side of it) around to the devil jump. I tried to beg out of it even exclaiming how evil the next jump was as I passed my training, but I think I was told just to jump the damn thing because Ranger doesn’t care. I think I added leg and closed my eyes. He was having an awesome day though and landing correctly all night. We hit our first spot and didn’t have to do one simple change all night. I can’t comment on the second jump other than we made it over and no one was impaled. That doesn’t make it less evil.

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I’m convinced this jump will kill me. Especially when it’s a couple holes higher than this like it was last night… Ranger will be fine, I will die. 

From here, we continued and jumped our single on the quarter line going away from the gate and continued around to our grey box. The tricks for these are basically turn early enough for the quarter line which means LOOK. This one, even though I tend to struggle to turn early, I tend not to struggle too much with. Then stay out. Because Ranger was landing correctly all night, and jumping super well, we (and not rushing), we easily hit our spot, staying out and used the top of the ring and then rode the long side of the ring. Then we did hit a bit of an issue. To get to the grey box (if you look at ring picture, you can sort of see this), you can’t turn right after the outside line jump, but need to wait until you see the line to the single. Of course, remember, I have a habit of turning late. And there was activity going on at the end of the ring… So, cantering down our long side, we were both sort of watching that a bit too long rather than our jump. Then when I realized that and turned, we long our canter for 2 strides and had 2 trot steps because my leg had nothing and my hand (1 not 2… oops #2) was a bit more powerful. Nonetheless, we got the canter back, found a lovely spot, and jumped our grey fence without missing a beat. Which was good considering it was one of 3 fences that actually had height to it…

As a result, we tried that all again with better results. Whether I was more focused or Ranger knew what we were doing, I don’t know, but we had no issues the second time. Both jumps had the same lovely spots, but not trot steps this time. We ended there and just walked around (much to Ranger’s chagrin as the other horse left and he was all alone… the horrors!).

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Helmet hair! Bad lighting! Gross clothes! Who cares!

The night ended with carrots and a brief photo shoot since someone was misbehaving (pawing… do to carrot impatience) so I punished with photos before more carrots and turnout. Overall, it was nice just to be back with my Ranger!

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How to survive the arctic tundra…

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The Mid-Atlantic has turned into the arctic this past week and this coming week isn’t that much bettering (though it looks a little better even if next Friday/Saturday look pretty awful.

 

Needless to say, my focus has been keeping my ponies warm and surviving a trip to Connecticut that included a night without heat. On Tuesday before I left, I noticed Subi was having issues walking on the frozen ground and was sulking by his tree.my husband assured me that each morning he’s been at the round bale eating hay (my guys live out 24/7) so I tried not to worry and basically just dragged him forcefully from his tree to the paddock where we keep the round bale. Once there, he stuffed his face with hay. At dinner around 9pm, we moved him back to his tree and he happily inhaled a bucket of warm soaked alfalfa-timothy cubes, beet pulp, soaked sentinel senior, and omalene 200. We figured as usual, he’d walk back to the bale.

Freezing cold CT. Frozen lake anyone?

The next morning, he was still at his tree, upset and cold from having eaten no hay all night. In a panic, I found an old pair of Batts’s hoof boots and threw them on. While they weren’t the best fit, they fit and instantly I could see some relief in my old pony. He ate breakfast and a bucket of chopped hay and then I directed my husband to lead him into the paddock with a halter to the round bale. With each step, he grew more confident and sure footed and I breathed a sigh of relief and left the house only 15 minutes late to head to my mom’s to head to CT. For the next 2.5 days, after each meal, my husband led Subi back to the hay to ensure he ate properly. (To ensure Batty was drinking, he got extra water in his soup. Jiminy? He wanted to eat in the shed. No one catered to that request).

But I’m cute! Why doesn’t anyone love me?

Grumpy child. The Grumpy Chestnut. 

While I was away, I researched boots and chatted with my part time boss and friend. She has her senior in Easyboot Clouds. It was late by the time I got home Friday so on Saturday I measured him (there are things I trust my husband to do. This is NOT one of them), went back and forth on size, and finally placed an order through Amazon when I saw 1 day free prime shipping with Sunday delivery. Guaranteed 12/31 delivery.

So imagine my frustration when I get shipping notification for 1 of 2 boots. Yep. 1 boot shipped the other did not. New arrival date of Tuesday because this is so helpful. Meanwhile, the the right Cavallo is starting to rub Subi’s heal… but the Clouds fit so yay for that?

The Arctic tundra was also leaving my delicate flower cold as well despite 3 blankets (2 mediums and a sheet). Dover put their Northwinds on sale (@50% off) so we picked up a heavyweight detach-a-neck. Of course, while I wanted a detach-a-neck, I didn’t realize that’s what I bought and thought I just got the last 78″ heavyweight they had and the last medium neck cover. So now I have to go back and return the neck cover. But, he seems warm (FINALLY) with the heavy and a medium and a neck so that’s good.

 

The Arctic tundra was also leaving my delicate flower cold as well despite 3 blankets (2 mediums and a sheet). Dover put their Northwinds on sale (@50% off) so we picked up a heavyweight detach-a-neck. Of course, while I wanted a detach-a-neck, I didn’t realize that’s what I bought and thought I just got the last 78″ heavyweight they had and the last medium neck cover. So now I have to go back and return the neck cover. But, he seems warm (FINALLY) with the heavy and a medium and a neck so that’s good.

So happy and warm! Even though it was snowing… Evil snow. 

 

I braved the elements today to reblanket Batts and Jiminy. Batty was almost sweaty yesterday with his sheet and medium but with the 15 degree drop to our high he was shivering today so he’s got on 2 mediums as does Jiminy. Jiminy would prefer just to move inside the house though he’s making due with sharing the shed with Batts. Subi’s working on the round bale we stuck out this morning.

As for me, I still haven’t warmed up from late morning round bale/blanketing. And in 45 minutes, it’s time to go feed dinner.

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He just got so much older this year… Between not tolerating the ground, the cold, and his arthritis bothering him… 😦 But he seems so content here (his eyes in particular). And he’s crazy fat under his blanket. But still, I hate seeing him like this!

 

May the arctic move on… now! And Happy New Year!

Ranger Recap: it’s cold outside! And equestrian blogger gift exchange

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I headed out for a lesson today at noon (I love riding during the day because it’s light and warm–we had daylight, but no warmth…) and holy crap was it cold. I swear my car said it was 31 when I left the house but it was 25 when I got to the barn (1.5 miles away) and with the damn wind… My trainer needed to look up the temps and it felt like 16 degrees. So it was fun. But, looking ahead to the rest of the week, today was the warm day and probably the only riding day of the week so it was today or not at all (I’ll be in CT the rest of the week anyway. Yay. Said with no enthusiasm).

Anyway, unlike last lesson, Ranger was a little less pissed off. Another benefit of riding during the day? It’s not turnout time for Ranger and therefore there’s no temper tantrum when Forrest and Elliot go out without him. Seriously, those 3 are idiots. Today, he was much happier. And since he decided last winter that he needs to be out longer than day turnout allows (day turnout is 4 hours due to field space, he and his band of idiots go out at night so they can be out all night long and Ranger won’t run away with small children).

Last lesson on the flat I was having issues with my corners so I was determined to work on that. Our corners were fine but Rangy was a bit stiff and spent the entire first 2/3s of the lesson falling in the left. My left leg is sore from working so hard.

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Quarter line single, grey jump, straw bales, and in of the 6 stride outside line just to break of lots of text

We warmed up with the long ride to our cross rail and continued around to the long ride to the grey single. The mounting block was almost in the path of the grey single so I needed to be exact with my turn to that jump. But, since I chose today to steer, it was all fine.

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You can sort of get an idea of the ring… 

From here, we worked on our single down the quarter line around to the outside line. I think we repeated this not because the jumps were bad (they weren’t), but because my turn wasn’t as nice as it could have been? Again, Ranger = LEANING LIKE CRAZY. But, the in jump was nice and I moved him up and all was good for the line in an easy 7.

Next we cantered over the straw bales and continued around to our other outside line in the 6, goal being to stay out after the straw bales and then steer with 2 hands to the in of the line. I felt that we were a little slow for the 6 and I didn’t actually ride the line (and didn’t notice that I wasn’t riding it until stride 5), but thankfully when I closed my leg he listened and just took the longer spot for the 6 and didn’t chip it.

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Out of 7 stride outside line. Not an oxer today…

We ended by repeating those same 3 jumps and then adding the evil, Evil, EVIL (for some completely irrational reason I HATE THIS JUMP) picket fence that I swear I’m going to impale myself on after the outside line and then continued around to our other outside line in the 7. The first straw bale jump was are best fence of the night. The outside line was decent as well as the I moved him up a bit, though the out still felt a little long. The picket fence from hell we got over (Ranger has no issue with it, I just am convinced it’s going to kill me), and the other outside was nice AND our corner had no leaning! Yay!

 

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There really are spikes sticking out of that jump. They’re just invisible to everyone but me…  Ranger says take me back to the barn and FEED ME!

I’m pretty sure we ended there. I was finally warm and walked around for a few minutes to make sure I really did have feeling in my feet before heading back in the barn to stuff Rangy with treats. Because, why wouldn’t I?

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Grumpy Ranger.

When I got home, I have a lovely box waiting for me from my blogger secret santa! Thank you Emily! I have a great new blog to follow as well. And thank you Tracy for hosting! It’s my first year participating and it was a lot of fun!

Emily really out did herself! So many fun things! Awesome purple unicorn rainbow socks, a pin, an amazing calendar (including lunar stuff) that is going on my work desk that has never been this clean), treats and other goodies! Thank you so much!

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Hope everyone had a great holiday! Stay warm this week if you’re somewhere cold!

Ranger Recap: But I don’t want to work!

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Long overdue Ranger recap, but I had a crappy lesson last month (?) that fried my brain (first lesson in the  indoor of the winter) then skipped a week, had a fabulous lesson 3 week ago (outside! that I never actually got around to blogging about because I’m lazy and well, work took over my life and I decided to blog about something else and then I sort of forgot), went on vacation, then  I was sick last week and cancelled, and that brings me to last night and I FINALLY  rode!

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Poorly behaved treat monger

And needless to say, Ranger was NOT happy to see me. It’s not that Ranger doesn’t like me. I think he does.  And I may still be his favorite. But, Right. At.  The. Moment.  I put him in cross ties, Forrest and Elliot walked past him to go outside and his entire world turned upside down. From that moment on, he was miserable and made sure I knew it. He wanted me to know that he NEEDED TO BE OUTSIDE WITH HIS FRIENDS. There was no consoling him. I stuffed treats in his mouth (temporarily helped), but the pawing, oh the pawing. The attitude, oh the attitude. He was informed by my trainer’s husband that we all need to work for a living and then we lamented that adulting sucks…

Meanwhile, I managed to get the Ranger Beast tacked up. I was so thrilled that I EASILY found a 46″ girth only to find that someone put on weight and it came no one close to fitting. WTH Ranger? It’s only been 3 weeks… It’s not like you haven’t been ridden… So I had to seek out a 48″. (On a side note,  I can’t talk,  I often have to squeeze Batty into his 52″ double elastic girth).

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Me? Paw? Never!

Once in the indoor (he tried to drag me to his field rather rudely), the attitude continued. We worked on manners until he would stand  at the mounting  block. He took offense to being in the ring and to the the lunge whip my trainer had for the little kid on Raisin… We started power trotting around the ring until I noticed my stirrups were crazy long, well, 1 hole too long.  WTH? I haven’t ridden since last lesson so  how did they drop a hole? After that adjustment which Ranger so rudely didn’t want to stand still for, we went back to power trotting. We attempted a halt and back. Halt was fine, back DID NOT EXIST. We continued power trotting with the understanding that he could trot as fast as his desired down his long sides to get out some energy… Eventually we walked. We also tried to add leg to avoid bowing in at on the sides.  “Tried” because I don’t think I had any real leg…

Eventually we cantered and he was… a perfect gentleman? No power canter, no pulling towards the gate, nothing. Just maintained a perfect forward, but steady pace. Considering his performance at the trot, we were not expecting that. He was lovely. Got to love him. Maybe he got over being in the ring and not in his field?

We started  over fences with a small single fence off of a tight turn around to a long ride (around the first jump of the outside line) down to our straw bales. Having not jumped in weeks, I told Ranger to take care of me. I was told the first turn was hard, so as I cantered past trainer (the end of the ring has a fence/viewed area where trainer coaches from) I needed to look at fence and turn with both hands but not to worry about being perfect. Last lesson in the indoor Ranger was ducking  out of everything (after we did the super hard stuff — that he was perfect for, singles, lines, nope. There we struggled so my confidence was shot and we had some similar problems last year. Plus indoors just feel small) and I don’t love riding inside. I probably shouldn’t have worried. The turn was easy (I guess if someone says a turn is hard its not, the easy ones are hard) and  then Ranger had pace coming out of it that once we got our simple change (he was more interested in doing front changes and ignoring me), we could maintain our pace thanks to his motor. Spot wasn’t perfect for the straw bale jump, but it was nice enough.

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Not to scale. Light blue = grey jump. Dark blue = straw bales, Green = outside line

Next course we took the grey single the opposite direction (coming towards the fence) and then continued to the outside line in a 7 and then around to the straw bale jump. First time through I landed from the grey single and sort of cut my corner causing me to leave out 2 strides and slow down to the outside line. I was also nervous because I’m me and we struggled with ducking out last time inside and the  the line was actually big.  But, it was fine and I marched him up for a nice 7 because I’m too good at correcting  lines (my second jump is generally nicer because of this…). Straw bale just was the nicest of the night as I really moved him up.

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This horse!

Needless to say, we redid that to focus on the damn corner after the grey jump so I could fix the in of the line. By forcing him out, I got my extra strides, but I did have  to be cautious about not letting him drift too far and turn too late (almost happened, but didn’t). The in was nice and I didn’t actually have  to do anything for the out of the line. The 7 was just there. Amazing how much less work lines are when you ride in nicely… The straw bales were fine, but less nice than the perfect jump  the time before.

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But I’ve missed him terribly!

We ended there as I was dead (I mean, no riding for weeks) and Ranger was basically done. But he got lots of (unappreciated) hugs and I stuffed him full of treats. I turned him out my light of my cell phone and I was pleased that he returned to the fence to see me (and make sure I wasn’t feeding Elliot his treats)

Cavaletti Clinic at Blue Goose

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I still need to recap my semi crappy lesson from last week where I seemed to forget how to ride, but I’ll save that for tomorrow.

On Saturday, Batty, my friend Sandra, and I decided on a whim to head over to Blue Goose for a cavaletti clinic with the stable owner Darcy. She was nice enough to let  the 2 of us split the session and the whole thing just seemed super casual and a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. All media is either my own paint diagrams or videos of Sandra riding. Warning this post is super long.

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For those of you who don’t know, Batts used to HATE poles. I mean, HATE, HATE, HATE poles.  He’d stop at them, duck out. If he’d go over them, he’d jump them like they were 4 feet high. If you’d have told me 7 years ago that I’d be taking him to a cavaletti clinic, I’d have told you you were insane.  But, thanks to one boarding facility were he had to cross a pole daily to get to food and water, he quickly got over some of his fear. The rest dissipated over time. Now ground poles aren’t too bad. Ground lines are something to look at, but poles, no big deal.

One thing I did NOT do was give him any bute or lunge him. He’s been SO SOUND and loose lately that I didn’t think to do anything. Friday night was really cold and I’d had a lot of mud… As a result, he was super stiff and it took him a long time to loosen up. But, we did push through. He gave NO indication that he did NOT want to work. This horse will always tell you when he doesn’t want to do anything. He was ears forward and curious and willing the entire time. But, I could have prepped him a little better… Mostly just with some lunging…. My fault. It’s winter and  he loosens so much better and faster without a rider on his back (He’s a little off, especially to the right but he’s OK to work and is more comfortable the more he works).

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so. exhausted.

So we arrived and thankfully I was able to follow another trailer in to the field or else I would have turned down the driveway and discovered the gate was closed and would have had to back down the driveway like another trailer… Signs people. But thanks to leaving later than planned, I had a nice trailer to follow and  was able to park in the field as planned. We tacked up and headed down to the ring with 4 other horses, all of whom knew Darcy. We were the odd ones out.

We started with just a simple exercise of trotting over one pole turning to the left at the end of the arena and then ultimately trotting over other pole turning right towards the end and coming back up through the center and repeating.

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First easy pole exercise

Poles were added and we continued alternating which direction we turned coming up off the center.

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Building on it…

Then more poles were added and we continued alternating not only up the sides but up and down as well. We were allowed to pass the side by side as well.

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More poles! This one showed my weaknesses until I figured my position out.

Batty and I had some issues with multiple poles and we were trying to jump them at times rather than just trot. He wasn’t JUMPING, but jumping. The issue stemmed from me as I would tilt slightly as the base of the pole and Batts would take this as a cue to be enthusiastic and jump rather simply trot. To change this,  I needed to sit deeper and engage my core and pull my shoulders deep to encourage him too trot rather than jump. I also was told to stop looking so far ahead and to look down at the pole one pole ahead since we were trotting them and not jumping. The combination of these too things really worked and we soon trotting through without issue. Darcy very quickly asked though if I were a hunter rider… Um… Yes…

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Super cute barn kitty. 

At one point early on, one of the horses took off bucking and unseated her rider. We all halted and though she came super close to Batt, Batty just looked at horse with a look that said, “Why the hell would you work that hard? Are you insane?” That’s my horse. Why join in antics when you can just stand. I think I was holding the buckle why we were halted…

The last exercise I rode was more of the same with some diagonals thrown in. I wasn’t sure HOW Batty would take it. I screwed up the directions the first time and got lost (what a shock!). Basically, we headed over the sets of 3 poles heading toward the barn/sheds turned right went over the diagonal pole shoot thing turned and went up the center line.

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The last exercise I rode

The horses were a little tense going through the diagonal part so we were encouraged to scratch their withers to keep them calm and them make a fuss on the landing side. Batt was a star considering he’s done NONE of this (I mean, he’s done poles, but nothing this hard). I was complimented for my ability to keep him slow and not tense up on the reins. Once I figured out the body position thing, I didn’t need to be told again. I’m pretty good about having super soft hands.

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At this  point, Sandra hopped on and ran him through the 2 poles and 3 poles while Darcy swapped the course (she asked me how Sandra rode and I said semi similar which is true-ish).  She mostly just commented to Sandra on making sure she helps him out by lifting him up some–Sandra’s long rein weakness.

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Their exercise was completely different. Focused on straightness. Basically, it was a long line of poles both to go over and through. As the end there were 4 pieces of lumber forming an X. The needed to cross the center of the X and then continue trotting over the remaining poles. This was BEYOND what Batts has EVER seen or done.

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This horse was a star. He struggled in places but made it through (especially the X part). It took few times but eventually he did it without any canter steps. We were proud. At first Sandra clucked at places, but Darcy explained just to close your leg/thigh instead as clucking introduces more stimulation that he doesn’t need. He was MUCH better without the cluck. But, clucking is so ingrained!

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The last exercise (after everyone turned down the option to down something at the canter) was just for Sandra. Everyone else left the ring, but luckily Batty doesn’t care. It was just another straightness exercise but without the x part and more poles to go over. He did it SO well the first time that we called it a day there.

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We chatted for a few minutes after mostly about Batty and his history and how she could see his wheels turning. You could see how much fun he had and we both said we’ll do this again (though we’ll probably each do a separate clinic) — she’s doing winter clinics at Pink Ribbon Farm in Oxford. He reached confident and fun, but not cocky and bored.

All and all and really fun morning. Can’t wait to do another one! I liked Darcy’s teaching style too. While it was more about the exercises here, I got some nice tips that I can definitely use. Batty liked the farm too which was definitely a plus!