We'll make a trail horse of her yet!

I love my horse. I love being able to take my horse on trails. I love this!

I can hardly believe that she is so calm and easy to handle on the trails, considering we went on our first trail ride, um, two months ago maybe? And before that, she had done her best to convince me that riding outside of the arena was simply impossible.

Anyway, yesterday I went out expecting to put in a nice dressage school.  I've been alternative dressage schools between lateral work and impulsion/getting bigger steps behind. 

Thursday we had a decent lateral day, mostly shoulder-fore and shoulder-in, with some leg yields and playing with bend/counterbend sort of things. She is difficult to get true lateral work out of, since she is SO wiggly, she can kind of contort her body into the general shape I'm asking for without using her body correctly. When we were first starting lateral work, that was acceptable because I was just looking for her to give me the correct reaction (aka leg=move over, shifting seat=move ribcage). Now that she knows what I want and is getting stronger, it is time to ask for some real work. 

Friday, we worked on impulsion. She likes to take itty bitty steps behind and either settle into a tiny western jog (almost) with a nice headset and using her back, or bomb away with her head in the air. I need to get better about holding contact and pushing her into it. She is good about getting the headset with minimal contact, and tends to get fussy/bracey when I hold harder and push her into it, but we both need to grow up and do some real work. So we worked on that, with some trot-halt-reverse-trot transitions which really help her. She gave me some fantastic work and even some gorgeous (for her) canters! I was incredibly pleased.

I have been cooling her out on the trails, since there is a nice little loop that is the perfect length for cooling down, so I started to head out. Just as I was leaving the arena, the barn manager mentioned that she and two others were going out on the trails if I'd like to wait and go with them. Beauty hasn't been out on the trails with other horses, so I figured it would be a great experience, so I waited. One of the girls, A, was taking out a trail-green horse, too, so the group was just going to walk and take an easy 

route. 

(I didn't get any pictures, sadly, because I am a super nervous trail rider and didn't trust myself to take pictures and control my horse)

We started out with the experienced horses in the front (a mother-daughter pair of Arabians, super cute!), the other green horse (a gorgeous big palomino, who turned out to be a nutcase) behind them, and Beauty and I at the back. Well, that quickly proved to not be a great arrangement because Beauty was the fastest walker out of all the horses (yes, even the 17.2 palomino!) and she was getting pissy that I was holding her back, so we became the leaders for a while. Beauty was fine, not even blinking an eye (until we encountered a deer, but she quickly calmed down). Eventually, I let Barn Manager go in front of us because I didn't know the way. 

It was a gorgeous little trail, farther that Beauty and I have even gone. We crossed two streams, Beauty's first time being ridden through water. She hesitated at first, but quickly got over it (literally and figuratively, ha!). She was calm and responsive most of the time, with only a few moments of excitement when a.) Barn Manager let her horse gallop up a hill and I ask Beauty to walk, which resulted in some saddleseat-esque prancing and jumping a small branch on the ground, b.) Palomino Nutcase wouldn't cross a stream, so his rider got off to lead him over, he jumped, she let go of the reins, he pranced around loose for a minute (I got off and B never did more than put her head up and watch excitedly), c.) we trotted towards home (ermagerd, so exciting!) and d.) we ended up at the back again and Palomino Nutcase jumped a stream ahead of us, so clearly we had to flail across the stream and up the hill until we caught up to the rest of the group. But mostly she was calm and I didn't get to nervous. We even jumped a little log on the trail on the way home and she was fine!

It was so fun and generally a great experience for both of us. Beauty needs more miles and I need to learn to freaking trust my horse, she clearly isn't going to do anything that I can't handle. There was a barn trail ride organized for this morning and Barn Manager was trying to convince me to go with them, but I opted to sleep in and work on the giant lab report and study for the test I have, both due Monday. 

If I get enough work done, I'll go out tomorrow to see my pony. She's going to get a whole week off next week, since I am going home for Thanksgiving break. 

Green nosed, green eyed pirate pony

...Is what happens when your horse tries to poke her eye out.

And then you get on bareback and make goofy faces, of course

I don't know what she did, but when I arrived at the barn, I had a squinty, weepy eyed pony waiting for me. She didn't look like she was in a ton of pain, but didn't want to open the eye for long. Asked the assistant barn manager for help, and she stained her eye (hence the green eye, then dripped out her nose). She has a few small ulcers in it, nothing serious, but going to require some eye squirting and keeping an eye on (ha, punny)

Slime nose!

That's about how much she'd open the eye

But, since I already had her out and had driven half an hour and brought my friend L out, I decided to torture my poor beast with silliness.

Always wear your helmet

We rode backwards and also tried bareback sidesaddle!

Things that aren't scary: Rolltop edition!

So I should just be used to the fact that things that I think will be a big deal for Beauty, never are. But I keep being surprised!

Our latest Ain't No Thang moment happened on Saturday. I was a gorgeous day and I wanted to be out of the ring, so I headed out on the trails. Beauty quickly told me that I was NOT going to enjoy a relaxing trail ride and was instead going to be battling invisible demons in the woods, which is not a thing I was in the mood for.

So, we headed back and went to the outdoor ring, the next best thing. She was very good, but I did not feel like dressaging or working on anything that required mental stimulation. After some terrible jumping rides in the last few weeks, I was not keen on fighting with her, but decided, what the hell, point and shoot, don't care what it looks like.

And she was FANTASTIC. I guess the key has been me chilling out all along. Imagine that.

So after some decent lines and diagonals, I pointed her at this monstrosity:

In all of its < 2 foot glory

This had been the focus of some suspicious snorting and wary eyes on Beauty's part in previous rides in the outdoor, but the good thing about my horse is that once she realizes it is not going to eat her, she's fine with it (except the demons in the woods. Those are there no matter how many times we go out and we don't die.)

Feeling my current state of "What the hell," I trotted her up to it, she slowed to examine it, I put leg on, pop, perfect little hunter jump and a relaxed canter away. 

Oh. That was anticlimactic.

We cantered around and did it from the canter. Again, pop, smooth canter away. 

Alright, then. Good pony!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Just some pictures that my dad took when he visited in early October

Practicing two point (not that it mattered because I missed the deadline for the Two Point October contest by ONE DAY, even though my time went from 3:45 to 15:15 :( :( :(  )

I need to look up and bend my elbows, but she looks cute

MUST. NOT. TOUCH.

Back when jumping was fun..

ALL. THE. THINGS!

I haven't posted in a while, which is fine, except that I have ALL THE THINGS to say. I don't know why I couldn't motivate myself to blog, I just didn't. And now I have to play catch up.

I know how ya feel, B

Flower boxes ain't no thang for the B

Beauty has been excellent lately. Her feet got over their post-awful-farrier-ouchies quickly (love dem Morgan feets o' steel) and she was giving me some of THE BEST dressage schools we've ever had. She's picking up the idea of suspension and a more uphill frame, plus our lateral work is fantastic! I've been doing a ton of shoulder-in and shoulder-fore at the walk to strengthen her weak little hiney, and recently, we've started doing them at the trot. She resisted for a while and made grumpy dragon noises, but one day, I asked and she was just like "BOOM, no problem" and it was amazing. And they have been awesome ever since!

Canters are still meh, but getting slowly better. I really don't know what is going to make these canters work, it has been such a slow process.

We've jumped some verticles and a super baby oxer and started practicing with lines. Jumping is sort of falling apart lately, mostly because she's gotten more confident, so she doesn't think she needs to slow down and, you know, be cautious. She's started to lock on and bomb at the jump, but I am not in agreement that we need to be launched into orbit over every tiny crossrail. Half halts just get her hollow and stress her out, circles before the jump seem to be helping, but she still bombs, even from a stride out. She isn't naughty or worried, just UBER ENTHUSIASTIC.

Baby oxer

First line

The big news is TRAILS!!!!!!!!! That's right, the nervous rider and spooky horse have done TRAILS! Without dying! Last weekend, it was gorgeous and I had no obligations, so I said, what the heck, I'll lead her out on the trails. There is a little loop that is the perfect length for cooling a horse down and is minimally spooky, so we walked around there a couple of times. To my complete surprise, she didn't bat an eye the entire time. This is the horse that decided she was a park horse on crack last summer when we went down the dirt driveway of the neighboring farm. The horse that has always been a spooker, who I have never ridden outside much because she's just THAT BAD. So I got confident and decided to go back to the barn and tack up and ride her on the loop. So we did, and she was just as calm! And this is me, the rider who was nervous to ride her in the outdoor ring at our old barn and who has never been confident on trails, spending the entire time with every muscle clenched, waiting for her demise. And this time, we plodded along on a loose-ish rein with a relaxed me. WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?

Happy pony is happy

Fall is gorgeous down here!!!

And today, I went out just expecting to lunge her because she'd had three days off, thanks to college making me a busy, busy girl. I let her run in the round pen and then decided that after a stressful week, I just wanted to derp around and walk her out on the trails. We went further than our previous loop, to where a little obstacle course was set up. I didn't get pictures, but it is super cute. There is a bridge, a "hallway" between two walls, a "carwash" thing with hanging plastic, some logs and a seesaw. She gave one snort to the bridge, then walked right on, one snort to the hall, then walked right through, etc. She was hesitant to the carwash thing, but went through eventually. Seeing her being so good made me want to ride, of course, so I went back to the barn, got my helmet and got on bareback. Bareback. Our second time on the trails. And it went perfectly! We did most of the obstacles, except the carwash and seesaw. She was calm and happy, and I was calm and happy and it was amazing to feel the trust between us and finally be able to enjoy trails together.




In other news, RIP Beauty's mane. She was rubbed a big section out in the middle, which, I have recently deduced, is because her fat Morgan neck is too thick for the hay feeder, so whenever she eats, it rubs. -_-
So it was looking super rachet since it was long, then nothing, then long again. So I cut it to the typical hunter length (which makes her look super butch, rather than refined and feminine like her long mane). No, it isn't particularly better, yes it hurts my soul. I would roach it, but she lives outside, so I feel like she should have some mane to protect her. I don't know...

Before

After