Come a Long Way
Because Z wasn't feeling well I drove Michelle's Morab mare Tenacity on Thursday. I haven't driven T since last year as we've been focused on getting Z going in harness. Michelle does CDEs with T at the Intermediate level I think. She has a good amount of training just the same, not a beginner horse, but a nice drive if you know what you are doing.
We stayed in the arena rather than going out. As I told Michelle I think I'm pretty good at the straight line thing at this point so we worked on bends and turns. It ended up being pretty much self-guided and me just having fun playing with T. There were a couple little things to tweak here and there (releasing a little early in the halt), but not much. Thinking back to the first few times I drove and even considering the last 18 months or so I am very happy with my progress. I am almost as commfortable and confident driving as I am riding and I feel like I can assess a horse's training level pretty well. I won't "screw up" a trained horse and I can improve one who has holes (see Bud, massive holes!).
So Thursday we were able to do some nice pivots around the inside tire at the walk and had some good, tight turns at the trot as well, in which she essentially takes a renvers position on a small circle. I think once we get Z comfortable walk and trot in the cart we're going to have some fun getting her up to Tenacity's level (and beyond?) in the coming years.
I need to call Chatham in the morning and get Z's bloodwork results. He aaid he should have it this afternoon, but he hasn't called and I know he was heading out of town tonight. I called around 6, but it went straight to voicemail and his mailbox is always full anyway.
Z gave me a pulse at 54 this afternoon and then I had to keep listening and she popped back above 60. I didn't check her this evening, but will in the morning. Poor thing had a horsefly pestering her while I was mucking. I zapped the thing with Pirahna and sprayed her down. Hopefully it died.
This morning the S's and I mucked and as we mucked I had Panda on her lead so she had to deal with herself as the three of us were raking and shoveling into the cans. She actually stood really well and the only time she goobered was when I was pulling the can (Panda in hand following behind) and I dropped the can back down as she passed. I did it again and she was better. After we were done mucking I had Keara work on the head down cue with her and desensitizing to being approached by a person (walking up and away, working towards jogging up and away). My cheating is working. Keara said Panda did much better with the head down cue than last week. At least once when I feed her, if not both times a day, I have been doing the head down cue on both sides of her to get it established without having to stand around a long time waiting for her to drop and it also becomes very self-rewarding. Not only do you get the endorphin release, but food!
I ended up throwing the surncingle as well as the Vienna reins on Panda and lunged her. The ad says she's in driving training and so it shall be! Step one: get her lungeing nicely in both directions at all three gaits. She did quite well, but a little trotting and all the time cantering to the right she wanted to hang pretty heavy on the lunge line. In one way this might balance out her current tendency to want to dive in under saddle. She is more wary on her right side and I imagine that is the main reason she is trying to move out: to get away from the spacial pressure of me on her right side. So current thing to work on lungeing: getting her more relaxed going to the right.
Her stop was pretty good, though again on the right she was wanting to creep a little and attempt to turn in/around to present her left side more instead. I also see a lot of direction changes on a shorter line in our future. Once she's doing well on the single line we'll bump up to the long lines and maybe see about throwing one of the harnesses on her. She is shorter in the back than Kitt so Kitt/Z's harness should work fine through the body, but I am guessing the collar might be too small. I'll have to measure her if we get to that point. I doubt she is as large as Ruby and Charm-N, but I don't think Kitt/Z's collar will be big enough. I guess that will be a question for later. Technically Panda drove before we bought her, bit that wa seven years ago now and I haven't had the skill to bring her along/see what she knew until after we sold her.
After Panda I grabbed Marty's mare Sunny to work. I don't think sunny is entirely happy in the Dr. Cook's bitless bridle. Sunny doesn't/can't use a bit because she had some nasty lesions in her mouth that caused her lips to heal off-kilter so you can't have a bit sit evenly in her mouth without it pulling on one lip more than the other. Marty has a really nice Hackamore/Bosal she had custom made for Sunny (because she has a fat head for a Quarter horse, heh), but she wanted me to work her in the other as I brought Sunny banck into work.
At the moment Sunny braces up every time I pick up the reins to slow her down, and actually she'll do it if I start asking with my seat too. She is also doing a couple other things with her face that make me wonder if she doesn't quite like how it sits on her face. I know she HATED the mechanical Hackamore so maybe it is the under jaw pressure? Either way I want to try the Bosal and see how she is in it, if she isn't happier in her face since it doesn't have the under jaw pressure.
Sunny is being quite good, especially since this is ride three after um... three years off? Maybe just two, but probably longer since she was REALLY ridden. Other than not being quite happy in her face her big thing is the canter. She is actually going into it brilliantly. I even got a walk-canter transition out of her, but her canter goes from OK to feeling like she's bouncing up and down on her shoulders. Like riding a horse on a pogo stick. I had a really hard time sticking with it when she did that. If she was OK I could feel a good, solid connection with my seat, but when she braced in her front end it was nigh unto impossible to follow with my seat, feeling her drop and bounce right up underneath me. I tgink some two-pointing is in order to save her back and my seat!
We stayed in the arena rather than going out. As I told Michelle I think I'm pretty good at the straight line thing at this point so we worked on bends and turns. It ended up being pretty much self-guided and me just having fun playing with T. There were a couple little things to tweak here and there (releasing a little early in the halt), but not much. Thinking back to the first few times I drove and even considering the last 18 months or so I am very happy with my progress. I am almost as commfortable and confident driving as I am riding and I feel like I can assess a horse's training level pretty well. I won't "screw up" a trained horse and I can improve one who has holes (see Bud, massive holes!).
So Thursday we were able to do some nice pivots around the inside tire at the walk and had some good, tight turns at the trot as well, in which she essentially takes a renvers position on a small circle. I think once we get Z comfortable walk and trot in the cart we're going to have some fun getting her up to Tenacity's level (and beyond?) in the coming years.
I need to call Chatham in the morning and get Z's bloodwork results. He aaid he should have it this afternoon, but he hasn't called and I know he was heading out of town tonight. I called around 6, but it went straight to voicemail and his mailbox is always full anyway.
Z gave me a pulse at 54 this afternoon and then I had to keep listening and she popped back above 60. I didn't check her this evening, but will in the morning. Poor thing had a horsefly pestering her while I was mucking. I zapped the thing with Pirahna and sprayed her down. Hopefully it died.
This morning the S's and I mucked and as we mucked I had Panda on her lead so she had to deal with herself as the three of us were raking and shoveling into the cans. She actually stood really well and the only time she goobered was when I was pulling the can (Panda in hand following behind) and I dropped the can back down as she passed. I did it again and she was better. After we were done mucking I had Keara work on the head down cue with her and desensitizing to being approached by a person (walking up and away, working towards jogging up and away). My cheating is working. Keara said Panda did much better with the head down cue than last week. At least once when I feed her, if not both times a day, I have been doing the head down cue on both sides of her to get it established without having to stand around a long time waiting for her to drop and it also becomes very self-rewarding. Not only do you get the endorphin release, but food!
I ended up throwing the surncingle as well as the Vienna reins on Panda and lunged her. The ad says she's in driving training and so it shall be! Step one: get her lungeing nicely in both directions at all three gaits. She did quite well, but a little trotting and all the time cantering to the right she wanted to hang pretty heavy on the lunge line. In one way this might balance out her current tendency to want to dive in under saddle. She is more wary on her right side and I imagine that is the main reason she is trying to move out: to get away from the spacial pressure of me on her right side. So current thing to work on lungeing: getting her more relaxed going to the right.
Her stop was pretty good, though again on the right she was wanting to creep a little and attempt to turn in/around to present her left side more instead. I also see a lot of direction changes on a shorter line in our future. Once she's doing well on the single line we'll bump up to the long lines and maybe see about throwing one of the harnesses on her. She is shorter in the back than Kitt so Kitt/Z's harness should work fine through the body, but I am guessing the collar might be too small. I'll have to measure her if we get to that point. I doubt she is as large as Ruby and Charm-N, but I don't think Kitt/Z's collar will be big enough. I guess that will be a question for later. Technically Panda drove before we bought her, bit that wa seven years ago now and I haven't had the skill to bring her along/see what she knew until after we sold her.
After Panda I grabbed Marty's mare Sunny to work. I don't think sunny is entirely happy in the Dr. Cook's bitless bridle. Sunny doesn't/can't use a bit because she had some nasty lesions in her mouth that caused her lips to heal off-kilter so you can't have a bit sit evenly in her mouth without it pulling on one lip more than the other. Marty has a really nice Hackamore/Bosal she had custom made for Sunny (because she has a fat head for a Quarter horse, heh), but she wanted me to work her in the other as I brought Sunny banck into work.
At the moment Sunny braces up every time I pick up the reins to slow her down, and actually she'll do it if I start asking with my seat too. She is also doing a couple other things with her face that make me wonder if she doesn't quite like how it sits on her face. I know she HATED the mechanical Hackamore so maybe it is the under jaw pressure? Either way I want to try the Bosal and see how she is in it, if she isn't happier in her face since it doesn't have the under jaw pressure.
Sunny is being quite good, especially since this is ride three after um... three years off? Maybe just two, but probably longer since she was REALLY ridden. Other than not being quite happy in her face her big thing is the canter. She is actually going into it brilliantly. I even got a walk-canter transition out of her, but her canter goes from OK to feeling like she's bouncing up and down on her shoulders. Like riding a horse on a pogo stick. I had a really hard time sticking with it when she did that. If she was OK I could feel a good, solid connection with my seat, but when she braced in her front end it was nigh unto impossible to follow with my seat, feeling her drop and bounce right up underneath me. I tgink some two-pointing is in order to save her back and my seat!