and so it begins...
sunburnt today from all the out and about-ness i got up to.
meh.
first, lesson with carly. beejy was quite sooky until i got on & then Zoomed off. figured the saddle was too far forward or something, so got off & rearranged things, then back on.
he was UP. now whether he's picked up on my thoughts or whatever, who knows. but still, VERY up. thank god carly was there to talk me through it or i may jsut have lay down & had a cry. instead i was very calm & cool & had ONE "i think i should get off" thought (about halfway through a crazed canter on the 5m circle) but with carly talking, i stopped worrying & started riding.
so. LOTS and LOTS of redirection. 5m circles, 10m circles, spirals, serpentines. ride the corner, clover leaf pattern etc. any time he had 5m or more on the 20m circle he'd get antsy so there was A LOT of bending. he was sweating after about 3 minutes.
we worked over trot poles & he wasn't allowed to bend/go in the same direction after doing them, so he wouldn't get into a pattern/predict things.
carly was like, "hrm, has he ever been like this before?"
"yup, but he works out of it."
"hrm, how long does he normally take to work through it?"
"maybe 10 minutes or so."
"hrm."
in the end, we got some fucking FANTASTIC canter work. like, WOW. very exciting.
...
so obviously talked with carly in depth about selling him today. she agreed that he needs someone to give him a job & as much as i've toyed with the idea of going out eventing (which i did as a teenager & always thought i'd get back to) i probably won't get serious about it, and he really needs someone who's serious. someone like me who just potters and plods is never going to make him happy - and as a result, i'll never be happy.
so yeah, i guess he's pretty much on the market. i'm not going to advertise just yet. carly's keeping her ear to the ground as she knows 'real' horse people (her words, not mine, LOLOLOL) and she's already mentioned this girl who is a friend of stacey's who is an eventer. he's going to be a bargain for whoever gets him. he's a NICE horse - can *really* move & jump and is pretty enough as well...
oh, she also suggested a calming paste (Tranquil or Be Calm) for the floating stuff. yeah...
and he needs to be campaigned as well. another thing to think about.
...
then after sorting out beejy's dinner and everything, straight out to see tazzie.
saddled up, rode out to a new place we haven't been before. i saw this track when i was driving so i scoped it out in my car beforehand. turns out there's quite a few tracks around there (hey Jaana, we should go. have you been out that side of park street? very nice).
my aim has been to try and get taz to canter. haven't been riding in a saddle for the last 6 weeks, so cantering hasn't been a big issue... but today i pushed and pushed him and he would break into it for a few strides. after a while, he sussed it & began to get some confidence & balance.
WOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
for the first time in... o what, 3 years? i was HOONING in the bush.
aw yeah. so good.
and may i also just say that taz is fucking hilarious? he is VERY looky & he's got these tiny little adorable pony ears & they're pricked so far forward they practically touch & he'll be marching along quick smart when he'll see a concrete snake (or an iron one like we saw today) and he'll stop DEAD.
concrete snake = congrete verging along road. iron snake = random bit of long iron, maybe from a roof? yeah, it's all about safety here.
he had a big "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??!@#$!@#$!" moment when we passed a big tree stump snaking out of the shadows looking very menacing. i had a moment of thinking his eyes were dodgy, but he was fine in other shadowy areas.
i also found a lonely glittery purple bell boot, so promptly jumped off and attached it to taz (it had velcro). getting on was interesting as he was a tad concerned about the front end loader in the paddock RIGHT NEXT TO US. in fact, right after i got on and was rearranging various bits, the loader dropped something & made a huge clang & he about flew out of his skin & i nearly tumbled off.
good thing with him tho is that he has his fuss & deals with it within seconds. like he doesn't worry that the concrete snake is going to come after him, or the tree spider will run up his bottom.
i've been riding him in a french link bit cos i want to start schooling him properly (but the trails are so enticing!) and he gets his damn tongue over the bit, so every now and then we have to pull up so i can poke his tongue back in his mouth. i'm going to try a mullen mouth bit with a flash noseband & see what happens there. a few ppl have recommended that to me. we have to sort something out so i can ride him at ARC & shows.
he's not at ALL hard in the mouth or anything tho & has no trouble steering (even if a concrete snake appears out of nowhere) & is very very responsive to seat. i tried to get him to lower his poll/soften his jaw a bit (not that he's like a giraffe or anything) but no show. we'll see.
oh, yesterday at adult riders, carly was like, "Does it canter???" and i had no answer for her... so i'm glad to be able to say now that "yes, it does canter."
lol.
meh.
first, lesson with carly. beejy was quite sooky until i got on & then Zoomed off. figured the saddle was too far forward or something, so got off & rearranged things, then back on.
he was UP. now whether he's picked up on my thoughts or whatever, who knows. but still, VERY up. thank god carly was there to talk me through it or i may jsut have lay down & had a cry. instead i was very calm & cool & had ONE "i think i should get off" thought (about halfway through a crazed canter on the 5m circle) but with carly talking, i stopped worrying & started riding.
so. LOTS and LOTS of redirection. 5m circles, 10m circles, spirals, serpentines. ride the corner, clover leaf pattern etc. any time he had 5m or more on the 20m circle he'd get antsy so there was A LOT of bending. he was sweating after about 3 minutes.
we worked over trot poles & he wasn't allowed to bend/go in the same direction after doing them, so he wouldn't get into a pattern/predict things.
carly was like, "hrm, has he ever been like this before?"
"yup, but he works out of it."
"hrm, how long does he normally take to work through it?"
"maybe 10 minutes or so."
"hrm."
in the end, we got some fucking FANTASTIC canter work. like, WOW. very exciting.
...
so obviously talked with carly in depth about selling him today. she agreed that he needs someone to give him a job & as much as i've toyed with the idea of going out eventing (which i did as a teenager & always thought i'd get back to) i probably won't get serious about it, and he really needs someone who's serious. someone like me who just potters and plods is never going to make him happy - and as a result, i'll never be happy.
so yeah, i guess he's pretty much on the market. i'm not going to advertise just yet. carly's keeping her ear to the ground as she knows 'real' horse people (her words, not mine, LOLOLOL) and she's already mentioned this girl who is a friend of stacey's who is an eventer. he's going to be a bargain for whoever gets him. he's a NICE horse - can *really* move & jump and is pretty enough as well...
oh, she also suggested a calming paste (Tranquil or Be Calm) for the floating stuff. yeah...
and he needs to be campaigned as well. another thing to think about.
...
then after sorting out beejy's dinner and everything, straight out to see tazzie.
saddled up, rode out to a new place we haven't been before. i saw this track when i was driving so i scoped it out in my car beforehand. turns out there's quite a few tracks around there (hey Jaana, we should go. have you been out that side of park street? very nice).
my aim has been to try and get taz to canter. haven't been riding in a saddle for the last 6 weeks, so cantering hasn't been a big issue... but today i pushed and pushed him and he would break into it for a few strides. after a while, he sussed it & began to get some confidence & balance.
WOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
for the first time in... o what, 3 years? i was HOONING in the bush.
aw yeah. so good.
and may i also just say that taz is fucking hilarious? he is VERY looky & he's got these tiny little adorable pony ears & they're pricked so far forward they practically touch & he'll be marching along quick smart when he'll see a concrete snake (or an iron one like we saw today) and he'll stop DEAD.
concrete snake = congrete verging along road. iron snake = random bit of long iron, maybe from a roof? yeah, it's all about safety here.
he had a big "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??!@#$!@#$!" moment when we passed a big tree stump snaking out of the shadows looking very menacing. i had a moment of thinking his eyes were dodgy, but he was fine in other shadowy areas.
i also found a lonely glittery purple bell boot, so promptly jumped off and attached it to taz (it had velcro). getting on was interesting as he was a tad concerned about the front end loader in the paddock RIGHT NEXT TO US. in fact, right after i got on and was rearranging various bits, the loader dropped something & made a huge clang & he about flew out of his skin & i nearly tumbled off.
good thing with him tho is that he has his fuss & deals with it within seconds. like he doesn't worry that the concrete snake is going to come after him, or the tree spider will run up his bottom.
i've been riding him in a french link bit cos i want to start schooling him properly (but the trails are so enticing!) and he gets his damn tongue over the bit, so every now and then we have to pull up so i can poke his tongue back in his mouth. i'm going to try a mullen mouth bit with a flash noseband & see what happens there. a few ppl have recommended that to me. we have to sort something out so i can ride him at ARC & shows.
he's not at ALL hard in the mouth or anything tho & has no trouble steering (even if a concrete snake appears out of nowhere) & is very very responsive to seat. i tried to get him to lower his poll/soften his jaw a bit (not that he's like a giraffe or anything) but no show. we'll see.
oh, yesterday at adult riders, carly was like, "Does it canter???" and i had no answer for her... so i'm glad to be able to say now that "yes, it does canter."
lol.