Category: Uncategorized

First things first: turned in my show entry for the barn’s schooling show last night. Beginner Novice A and 2’0″ jumps. Talked to T. last night and he said I should be concentrating on building from positive right now instead of challenging myself, which settled the decision in favor of 2′ instead if 2’6″. Which made sense to me, so: easier jumps it is!

Warmed up, and Tris was a bit snarky in the walk work, but settled into some really lovely trot. We worked on introducing even more roundness and collection, reallytruly getting him on the outside rein. Mixed success on that one; I still have a tendency to hang on the inside rein when Tris does his brick wall impression.

In the canter, my lower leg was MUCH better than it was in Sunday’s jump clinic, so huzzah for that. (At least in the beginning of the lesson.) Consequently our canters were much better.

We ran the test, which went better than I had expected. I am falling into a tendency to wait on transitions until the exact right moment: there’s something to be said for the requirements of nailing a transition at a letter, come hell or high water. I really quite like the test; it’s a good one for Tris. Lots of kick-kick-kick and settle in, just truck along. It rewards good geometry and a workmanlike attitude, which is pretty much my niche. Tris, though dearly beloved, is not a horse to show really brilliant moments in dressage tests. He’s much better at consistency and evenness.

T. mostly liked the test too, had a few pointers: I wasn’t quite as accurate as I should have been, Tris’s free walk didn’t really click in until the second half, and my circles were a bit lopsided in the open part of the ring. But not bad at all other than that.

We walked for a bit after the test and Tris did NOT want to pick up and work again. We need to break a bit the pattern of warmup – walk – work – done. He’s not amused when he gets two breaks, and usually the second work isn’t great at all. It’s important for both fitness and training though that he learn that he CAN and SHOULD come back on the bit even if he’s a bit tired and has decided he’s done.

I worked mostly on canter transitions, especially the trot 20m, canter 20m, down the long side piece that’s in the test. Just a few minutes in holding the right lead canter got ugly, and I kept pushing him HARD, got a little more pissed off than I should’ve, but was still progressing, not regressing, even breaking multiple times. Once he gave me his neck and stretched out, I brought him back and we had a power trot on a long rein around a few times. Et voila.

Long time, no talk. Mostly very very good, straight uphill as Tris is starting to learn to not just accept the bit, but push through his hind end, up into his back, and in line with his shoulders. He’s getting stronger, and the canter is coming along nicely.

Alas, tonight, after a week and a half of scheduling disasters that left him mostly-off-with-just-C.-riding, I went out and while grooming him, discovered a whopping big edema on his chest, about the size of my fist. Further investigation revealed a tick buried in him at the origin point. Fifteen minutes of some rather excruciating digging with tweezers and I still couldn’t get all of it – the area around it was swollen, and it was dug in pretty good. Tris was a trooper, only shifting his feet occasionally to show his displeasure, and checking for my face after kneeing me in the forehead once. We had words, and he was very sorry.

So on second diagnosis: not an edema, an abscess from the tick bite. He always gets them, though usually before on his face. I cleaned and swabbed away with Corona, showed a few people who will be at the barn all weekend so they’d know to keep an eye on him, and rode.

Riding was…eh. He was stiff and fussy in contact, and sort of jumpy-forward, not power-forward, which I had some trouble channeling. I was also not navigating the outdoor ring very well, couldn’t find a good circle until halfway through the ride, and all the changes of direction and bend so early were not sitting well with him. But eventually he settled in to work nicely, and we even blew out for some gallops down the long side.

The problem, though, was his trot to the left. Something funky’s going on. It could be a veryvery mild lameness or it could be his new style of resistance. He has switched sides again, and was superb to the right and a beast to the left tonight, so that could have triggered this newly weird bracing to the left. But his head is jerking ever so slightly, and he’s not nearly as consistent in the contact as he was. He showed a tiny hint of this in my lesson last week, but T. didn’t say anything, so I set it out of my mind. This time, though, C. saw it as well, and I don’t know. She agreed that it’s tough to place. If he’s still doing it next Tuesday for my lesson with T., I will bring it up and get his word on whether it’s my riding, Tristan’s resistance, or we need to give him a week+bute or something first-line like that.

The slightly good news is after the ride, the abscess was better, had clearly drained a bit, and the Corona stuck on nicely. I am away for the weekend – again! – so C. will keep an eye on him. I don’t think this will need hot compresses, just scrubbed out with hot water and swabbed with Corona to keep the wound site itself clean.

Sigh. Not exactly what I was hoping for on such a gorgeous day…

Again with the sucking about keeping this up.

First: unexpected jump lesson on Tuesday, and it was awesome. Tris came out spunky and a bit tight, but forward and ready to rock and roll; he hadn’t been ridden in four days. He warmed up great, and I got to work on floating my seat and half-halting him to a better tempo instead of booting him forward into one. The trick with him is balancing on that edge, keeping that gathering without letting him think he gets to slip back down a gait to make it easier.

Jumping went well – when I ride better, he jumps better, surprise. Some of his new maneuverability in the canter translated beautifully in the rollbacks we were trying. I had a couple of reallllly nice jumps, and only one truly awful one; he took a teensy bit of a long spot, I wasn’t as deep in my stirrups as I could’ve been, and just…never got into two point. T. described it as parasailing. Quite the flyer.

At the end, we got to just canter around and jump what we wanted, and Tris was a bit tired and punky, kept breaking his canter or not rating, and after each jump I was thinking about many things and kept getting a teensy bit more and more into my knee rolls and out of my stirrups. Which resulted in a brief time out as we circled and re-organized, and had 2-3 quite decent last jumps. But for reference: the loose ring he’s going in now is not going to be enough bit to jump anywhere but the indoor. It is a bit too subtle for my black-and-white pony.

Last night was…not nearly that good. It wasn’t even 5% that good. It was one of the worst rides I’ve had in weeks and weeks. Started off not awful: bending nicely in the walk, then springing in the trot but not quite through, and still tense enough that he wasn’t blowing out like I was hoping. He was also reluctant to move off the inside leg, though he had outside leg down cold – spiral in was great; spiral out was a negotiable thing. I just couldn’t quite fix it, and am still nervous about riding in traffic, so couldn’t really shove him out the way I wanted too.

I asked for canter earlier than I usually would to try and blow him out – sometimes that will loosen him up. And it. was. AWFUL. It felt like riding a washing machine that’s out of whack. He was off balance, high-headed, cranky, and my seat immediately went to hell and my legs came up, we had horrible fights about not running through his shoulder, no semblance of softness to speak of, hard to keep him there more than a few strides, constantly got the wrong lead…you name it. I was practically in tears after a few attempts – and it didn’t even accomplish what I hoped. I settled for a decent down transition and a bit more forward swinging trot, and gave him a break.

Picking him up again after his break felt better. Still not what I’d call “good,” but his trot came back quickly, and I asked for a better contact – really into the outside rein instead of just curling his neck. He was tracking up a teensy bit more, though he never quite got where I wanted him. Canters were…well, better, but again that’s not saying much. He was at least getting some circles through, and not trying to fling his head around and crash into the other horses, though Bobby, who was cooling out, was not convinced, and tried to swing and double barrel Tris when we came around one circle. So that was fun. Can’t really blame him; it probably looked rather out of control.

He got a teensy bit soft at the end of each canter, and I called it done on that work for the day. Back to the trot, then a break. After the break, walk-trot transitions on a circle and through leg-yields to try and inject more energy into his walk, then some stretching in the trot, and then done.

I don’t know what to do about his canter anymore. I can’t ride it well, and we keep taking one step forward and three steps back. I don’t know if he’s stiff from the cold, or if it’s mental, or what. I spent most of the ride home nearly in tears sorting out what I’m doing wrong: I’m out of shape, I’m not riding him enough, he’s getting older and stiffer, and in the end, I’ve had this horse for over four years and we still can’t canter decently. I can’t go down to the barn any more than I am; I’m already struggling to pay for gas each month and staying up until midnight to read for class, not to mention getting to M.’s and crawling straight into bed. I can’t afford to put him in any kind of extensive training, and at this rate, if we don’t get his canter in a place where I’m not worried about him bolting sideways out of the dressage ring, we aren’t going anywhere this summer. Shipping out to ride Intro tests just doesn’t seem worth it to me. I just don’t know.

Quick update, my first ride in over a week and a half:

– Forward really is the key to everything.

– I can’t really describe in words how satisfying it felt last night to be working on sitting Tristan’s trot down – half-halting and posting slowly to ask for scope and a bit of suspension and more through his back. Really good thinky stuff instead of fighting and stiffness.

– Last night, for the first time EVER, I had actual control of his outside shoulder in the canter. Just right, but – when I put my outside leg on, he spiraled in. I had him between four aids, on a 20m circle. I even said out loud to L. how weird it felt, having my horse that completely underneath me. Consequently, his canter smoothed out it was like all of a sudden riding a hunter hack and not my motorcycle mustang.

– \o/

I’ve been bad about this lately, but: life goes on. Tris is doing well, a teensy bit stronger and more balanced each time. Canter transitions are more through each time we try them, and the trot is really starting to develop some power. The more dressage-y he gets, the more Spanish he looks, which is a nice and unexpected bonus.

Last night, we toyed with counterbending on a 20m circle, walk and trot. He fussed and fretted and wouldn’t, couldn’t…until he came through beautifully for one step. I could practically see his brain go BOOM. Following close behind was a “wait…wait a minute…ACK” as he realized how completely his outside hind had engaged. Then he retreated and we spent the rest of the lesson getting back there. But by the end, much better.

My own seat and legs are…in and out. Monday night: plugged in from start to finish. Last night: always just a teensy bit out of reach; I wasn’t riding poorly, but I had nowhere near the feeling of solidity and facility that I’d gotten so effortlessly on Monday.

One last ride on Friday, perhaps in a jump lesson, and then C. will have the riding of him as I will be away for a much-needed vacation.

So yeah. I knew we’d take our steps back at some point.

After a nice jump clinic on Sunday, Tris came out for his lesson tonight and decided the pile of poles in the corner were scary. He skittered sideways, I applied the dressage whip and pushed him through the corner anyway.

Then we got to the corner with the chairs, where T. was sitting, and it was like a little light bulb went off in his head: if I pretend that’s scary, too, then I don’t have to work!

Cue 50 solid minutes of: spook, half-rear, spin to the left, land, try to bolt. Everywhere. All the time. It was one big battle royale of who gets to control Tristan’s shoulders now?

I also got a nice little remedial lesson from T. in riding a hard spook. Tristan doesn’t spook! This horse is not afraid of ANYTHING. But: turn his head to the inside, boot him off the inside leg, half-halt him on the outside, leg-yield him through the turn. Lather, rinse, repeat, even when that means a 3m spinning skid of a circle, as long as I’m keeping him doing what I want.

We settled for actually working in a 20m circle in the middle of the ring; lots and lots and lots of leg-yields, spirals, and transitions. He got a 2 minute walk break only once; other than that, I kept his little butt moving. Some of the work, especially the canters and the transitions, was quite nice, but I was really far too pissed off at him to praise him as I should’ve.

By the end, we trotted past T. on the bit, but ohhhhhhhh my was I ever considering selling him to the lowest bidder. Or just putting him out front with a sign – “Free Horse!”

Sigh. Could’ve been weather, could’ve been soreness from jumping, could’ve just been he woke up on the wrong side of the stall that morning.

I emailed C. to give him time off until Saturday, see if that sorts his brain out, and I will jump on Saturday morning. Fingers crossed this was an aberration that he’s had time to regret, and not a new trend.

Very mixed; Tris was doing spectacularly for a little while, and then on Tuesday we had the most godawful ride we’ve had in months. He was not willing to be cooperative, I succumbed to getting good and pissed off instead of staying impassive and correct, and T. had to remind me, once again, that ain’t nothing going to get done unless I can actually keep my $#@$@ leg on my $#@$@ horse.

But, in lieu of that, a fun story.

Among the things you probably don’t know about my horse: he farts. Like, a lot. Like, he’s known for it. Lead him off the cross ties – fart with every step down the aisle. Step into the ring – let a long one loose.

Then he tenses up for the first 10 minutes or so of the ride, and then he lets loose with every stride, sometimes as long as a few 20m circles. It’s rather amusing, and I’ve decided to take it as a sign that he’s releasing tension. T. says he’s also making room to suck his belly up and engage his core muscles, come up through his back.

During my lesson last Tuesday, several of the young girls were cooling out their ponies bareback during my warmup, and Tris, as he does, let loose. I learned then that a) they think it’s hilarious, and b) that they’ve decided it’s part of his system of locomotion.

I quote, “how else is he going to get the extra push he needs to go forward?”

So nice to have a horse with capital-P-Personality…

Is it totally cheating to just post someone else’s riding notes on your horse? I don’t even care, I am so delighted with this, from C., received about an hour ago:

Oh pony was magnificent tonight! After just a wee bit of the obligatory argument he settled right down to work. We did all sort of figures and leg-yielded everywhere. We did stretchy-round-stretchy. We did spirals. Then we had an AWESOME canter. Really! Left we were round (really!) and once we did the canter 20m circle, trot spiral in and out and canter he had this “OH!!” moment. We took a break while he processed it and did it again. I think that is a very helpful exercise for him! Even to the right he got round after the spirals. Then he lost his balance but the effort was there. He must have thought i’d lost my mind cause I was patting him so much!! We quit at the half hour mark as really it wasn’t going to get any better.

Good good boy!!!

He has been going similarly for me – really really trying in his canter, and figuring stuff out, and just an absolutely delightful ride.

I could do a whole post on how wonderful C. is too and how asking her to ride Tris one or two days a week was one of the best decisions I have ever made, both for my sanity and for Tristan’s training and guys, she’s just awesome. I have to get her something amazing for Christmas. Any suggestions?

In conclusion: Best. Horse. Ever.

Weekend’s worth of rides, under the cuts.

Took His Highness out back to one of the jump fields with two goals in mind: get him a bit better through working up and down hills, and test out the accelerator and brakes before the hunter pace on Sunday.

Through – and occasionally soft – was much, much better than I could have hoped for. He was able to keep his hind end somewhat engaged both up and down hills, and after 15 minutes or so of warming up, around corners. We played around, threading jumps, up and down hills. He even offered a canter a few times, especially going uphill. On the one hand, it was technically evasion; on the other, he NEVER offers a canter and then actually follows through on it. I let him go, and he came back from it easily.

Brakes worked out mostly well save for one incident. I was trying to confirm a left-lead canter/hand gallop down the long side. His left lead canter has reacted to attempts at being through by not being as expressive as I would hope. Embarrassingly, I’m occasionally having trouble spotting the lead. So I wanted to get a nice transition, then a circle, then send him down the long side to work up some speed. Circle went fine 3/4 of the way around, and then faced with maybe 3-4 of open room left before he would have to complete it, he jerked his head around, pivoted on his hind legs, swapped leads, and BOLTED down the long side to the right. (Picture a circle in the corner, with his option to go down either side.) He surprised me enough that there was a distinct moment of hanging in the air over his left shoulder. I remember quite clearly thinking “What? Huh? Oh, HELL no.” Shoved myself back in the saddle, brought him back down, and put him back in the corner. Four more bolts right, kept my seat just fine, and on the last try I made the circle more like 12 meters than 20 and did.not.let.him. even think about going right. He came through it after much fighting, picked up speed down the long side, and I dropped the reins and let him be done. We cooled out with a bit of a stroll through the woods.

Sunday morning I got to the barn to find my idiot horse impossible to catch; just kept walking away. Poor Frosty, who I was also fetching, followed me patiently as I walked after Tristan for about 10 minutes. I put Frosty in the barn and yelled back at Tristan that maybe I’d just take this OTHER, nicer pony to the hunter pace. When I went back out for Tristan, armed with treats, he walked right up to me, ears pricked, even before he knew I had treats. Spaz.

Trailer-loading was…sub-optimal. Swerving, backing, and then as is his wont, one big OKAY, FINE and he stepped up fully and stood quietly for Hannah to do up the butt bar. She remarked that he refuses so completely and vehemently for so long, and then gives over all in one wave and is great after that. He just has to make his case.

Trailer ride however, did not go so well; Tucker couldn’t find his balance, and was scrambling badly enough that we headed back to the barn to find he’d cut himself. We called it a day, and while I was helping with Tucker, dumped the hay bag in front of Tristan’s stall. Turned around a few minutes later to find that he had upended the entire bag and created his own little buffet in a 5′ ring around his stall door in the aisle and was leaning over the stall guard, taking a piece, and watching everything in very contemplative fashion.

I opted for a short dressage school in the outdoor. I had some energy to work with, probably a combination of trailer stress + outdoor ring + neighbors across the street sawing metal. It was great – it’s pretty rare that I get to work with jittery energy instead of sluggishness, at least in dressage. 15 minutes or so of suppling and circles and he came through wonderfully. He’s not really a horse that gets springy and light; he gets light, but there’s *power* behind it, a great big wave of push with each stride. It’s really neat to feel when he can put it all together.

So we worked that trot for a while, and then I asked for some canter to play with that energy, and – oh, niiiiiiice. Some of the best canter work we’ve ever done, heavy as an anvil on the forehand but trying SO HARD, and several glorious strides of that deep in the saddle, sitting with the horse instead of just on the horse connection. Both directions! I was holding him up far more than I’d like, but for him to even let me hold him up – especially in the left lead – was so, so huge. Cooled out with a walk around the big field out back – and a trot through the stream to get there, his first trot through water under saddle – totally unphased! Atta boy. 😀