Round Pen Lesson

Today  I had a round pen lesson for handling the canter. Annie did well, after running in circles a few more times. I have to work out my fear of running into the metal panels. She come close and I am afraid my foot will get entangled. This does not help me with trying to learn to canter on Annie. I know what I need to do. I just need to get my mind on the same page.

Now my legs hurt but I am getting close to getting better control and Annie is learning to get her balance. She is getting fit whether she likes it or not. She does need to loose a few pounds... We only did a half hour. After twenty, I thought we were at it for an hour....

Alex came to watch. He got a little cold standing there. Had him walk Annie around the arena to cool her off. We had a great day.

:-)

Last Thursday of 2011

We had a great drill team practice tonight. Only Carol, Natalie and myself were available but we did two-three runs of the patterns and it was good enough. Guess what? I had Annie cantering smoothly. She had no issues to canter tonight. I was pretty excited about it. I think I am starting to get it more and more. This riding thing is getting easier. LOL I find myself not wanting to leave her and missing her on the way home because we had such a nice ride together.

I got Annie huffing and puffing tonight. She is out of shape and fat. She should not be huffing and puffing, we did not work too hard. We will have to find a good work out regiment for her. I have a lesson tomorrow. Maybe get her a good warm up before hand. My son Alex is going to come see her for the first time tomorrow. Perhaps he can hop on her to warm her up (walk) a bit. It will be fun to have him come to the stables with me.

TTFN

My muscles are hurting ....

Okay, It was to be a normal lesson on Thursday, but turned out to be a gruel lesson. I needed it and so did Annie. She is unbalanced (so am I). We are learning to balance each other together. We worked on half halts quite a bit and she is a quick learner. This can be a bad thing if she learns the wrong thing...so I have to be careful.

We worked on cantering in a circle. I had spurs on and was afraid to bump her with them. Her canter is very rough. She also is heavy on the forehand which makes it hard to keep good balance on her. I think it will take time to bring her down to a controlled canter. And I am paying the price for it. My calves, lower back, upper back and especially core muscles are feeling it today. It is Christmas eve and she gets to rest too. We both deserved it.

After the hour lesson on Thursday, and a long break/rest, we did the drill team practice. It went well until Annie decided that she had enough of working. She would trot nicely around the short side of the arena, then speed up on the long side. I tried half halts, nothing. I tried sitting deep and pulling, nothing. I had to use the one rein stop. WTF? She had her marish moment. I guess it gave the idea for Crystal (another mare on our drill team) to act the same...she too began to dis-obey. What an evening. Before I got off, we worked on walk-halt-walk. Square one again. When she listened good then we stopped for the night. Sometimes I feel like on a roller coaster and the ride is not always fun. ("hang in there, it will take time for both of us to get it right")

Next lesson: whoah's. She needs to remember that one good, everytime at every speed.

Adele Set Fire To The Rain (Thomas Gold Remix) by Lando-Fernan - Download Trance mixes from United States

Adele Set Fire To The Rain (Thomas Gold Remix) by Lando-Fernan - Download Trance mixes from United States

Stuffed

Thanksgiving went by pretty fast. I feel like nothing was accomplished. We ate too much as usual and I became a bit lazy for the remainder of the weekend.

Friday afternoon we had a drill team practice. A few showed up. It was hard to predict who would come as this was a holiday weekend. Annie did well, and I even think she is memorizing the course. I bought her a Tough-1 cooling blanket. Her coat is getting thick and any bit of work she does makes her sweat.

Saturday we did some round pen work.

I kept her at a trot because the ground was wet and very soft after this past week's rain. Nonetheless, she was huffing and puffing, sweating at the brow. I even saw a droplet come from under her fur and roll down her cheek. She was glad when this was over. I let her cool under her new blanket in the cross ties. Meanwhile, her tail was a mess and I deicded to shampoo her tail only. She was very patient with me. She IS a good girl. I say that because she was getting an attitude with the other mares eraly summer, but now is with two mares (similar attitudes maybe?) and they all get along fine.

I decided not to go on Sunday as it was raining all day and I had to put my xmas tree up. That took me all day. Next year, a new tree is in the plans. I also did some shopping online preparing for Cyber Monday shopping spree. Monday I bought Annie a new bridal, new snaffle bit, dry shampoo (she stinks) and new stirrups. Yeah, owning a horse gets expensive because you buy all this stuff!

Tuesday the ferrier comes. I have to remember...another $40.

Until next time...

Mo

Drill team practices

So last Thursday we did a drill practice. We had many patterns to learn and since I had missed the week before, I had to learn some for the first time. Thank god we did them at the walk. Takes longer but it makes it sink in better and we don't run into each other.

After the session, I had to come up with the next patterns in the series. A scheduled practice was set for Saturday. Only two from Thursday was able to make it, but four additional riders joined in. They had to learn everything from scratch. That was a bit challenging. But my pattern turned out really nice. I was not sure about the length of the arena and how many horses, etc. It was great.

Annie die well. She likes it because we walk and we trot a little. When we have to work harder is when she gets a little bitchy. She is lllllazy!

Tomorrow night is Drill Team Practice @ Hide Away Stables

So now we are back to current time. The barn people have been participating in drill team practices and I have been able to attend only one of them so far. It was fun and challenging. For those who may ask, an equestrian drill team is a group of horses and riders performing choreographed maneuvers to music. Here is an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lORTZyDQSAQ

Thursday is another practice. I missed last week's so I am not sure if I could keep up. The gals at the barn are much better riders than me. But I worked extra hours earlier this week to be able to get off early today, and be ready for tomorrow nights practice. I am looking forward to it. Heather is doing a great job coaching and directing.

Mo

Annie - introduction

Annie is my newly aquired QH Cross mare. She is 11 yrs of age and 15 Hands. Her coloring is very interesting. She is a Bay Roan, however in the winter her main body hair is predominantly white. She alsmot looked like a buck skin when I got her last March. Her long black stockings and black tail/mane with a grayish body really gave her an interesting look. In the summer she was a normal Bay roan with seldon white hair showing.

Annie was mainly used for trail riding. She loves the trail and does very well in any position. We went camping a couple of months after I got her. I was not sure how she really was going to act. She did fantastic. The voyage was long and she did well. She is making everyone jealous because she does so well on the trails. I did notice however that if you stop she gets antsy and wants to keep going. Or eat. She loves to eat. She tries to eat on the go when we pass tall grasses.

Back in June-July, she began to act like a bad mare with the other mares in her pasture. She beat up one horse so bad, we had to move Annie to a different pasture. We tried three different horses with her, two of which were geldings. To no improvements, well maybe a little, she ended up alone for a while until September came along and Sassy was turned in with her during the day. They get along very well. I even think Sassy knows how to handle her marish attitude. She will just have to pin her ears and Annie backs off.

I have been riding her three times a week all summer, in the indoor arena, and on trails too. Now that darkness falls upon us early, I only get to the barn on the weekends. I am working hard with her to slow her trot. I also am taking lessons to better myself, my seat and all. Her trot is so big. She carries heself very elegantly. She could do well in dressage. Her movement is beautiful. However, we need training if we go that route. I don't think she likes it much, but practice will set in and she is learning to slow her trot down.

As for the lope, it was okay in the begining. A bit big, and for short strides, then she would break into a trot, a long and fast trot...Now we have more of a problem, she bucks once when asked to lope. I think it is behavioral. She does it when I lunge her too. She doesn't want to work. So I now reverted to the roundpen and move her feet so I can gain total respect with her. Hope this works. I can't have a bucking horse with my lack of experience.

I will try to keep you updated on her training as I am having her worked on when I can't be there. I will log her progress. Otherwise, she is a sweet mare with great potential.

Mo