Wracking Up The Stars

Harley is on a roll.  He has collected many stars in the past two weeks.

Star number 1: A body condition score of 5+ and clean blood work

Star number 2: Super floaty trot (Dare I say, cadence?!)

Star number 3: A smooth, flying change from left to right

Star number 4: Being a model ambassador for the horse

Star number 5: Lungeing through a deep puddle of water

I just can't keep up, but I am loving it.  

The fall vet visit was a blast, because we did not have to have the conversation about how to improve his weight.  I also had blood work run to ensure that he does not have an infection hiding in there.  When you have a horse with allergies who periodically coughs, you have to be careful that the allergy symptoms are not covering up another illness.  His blood work came back absolutely perfect.  He is healthy as, well, a horse!

Harley has had two sets of children visit with him in the past two weeks.  He stood like a champ for both visits, waiting patiently while little hands patted him, brushed dirt off his coat, and laughed at his funny faces.  Little children inevitably forget that they are not supposed to walk behind the horse.  Harley is a good first-horse for children to be around, because he is very forgiving of those types of mistakes.  He stands solid and, even with his sensitive nature, is not bothered at all by the excitement and unpredictability that accompanies little kids.  I was so proud of him and it was a lot of fun to introduce little children to a big horse.  Parents and grandparents alike commented on what a nice horse he was.  They were preaching to the choir, but I still liked hearing those compliments.

I rode him during afternoon lessons last week, so we had a little audience.  Harley was moving out so beautifully.  I could feel the energy traveling from his hind legs to my seat, up to my elbows and down my lower arms to the bit.  There was no break or kink in the lines.  I could adjust the tempo or stride length and the connection remained, true and powerful.  At some point, I could see and feel his shoulders coming up and swinging freely.  I almost called out to the barn visitors,

"Are you seeing this?"

But, this would have been in vain, because they were not riders and would not have been able to see what I was feeling.  I kind of laughed to myself at that thought.  I would have to enjoy it alone. 

Harley was floating. 

I have been working on myself a lot lately.  I keep imagining that there is room from his hind legs to keep traveling forward through my seat and waist each time we make a transition or while we are moving forward.  This is keeping me more upright and reminding me to keep my core fully engaged.  I have discovered that I have a bad habit of collapsing my waist and opening the back of my seat.  I think the image of his hind legs stepping forward has made me aware of this.  It is almost like his hind legs step forward and tip my seat forward out of alignment if I am not thinking about keeping my seat closed and receiving that energy.  I did not realize that I was doing that and quite a lot, especially in the canter.  My position must be better as indicated by that floaty trot and he gave me some of the absolute best walk-canter-walk he has ever done on the same ride:  relaxed, balanced transitions with barely anything in the reins.  He was listening so closely, I could feel him in my mind.  Please allow me to remind you that I am a very scientific person, but that was how tuned in he felt.  I could hardly believe it, because walk to canter is very challenging to his relaxation and canter to walk is very challenging to his balance.  Improving the rider's position is such an effective way to improve the horse.  It was like all the static was gone.  I love relearning that over and over again.   

And to think, when I started years ago, I thought that dressage was more about the horse.  
I was so wrong.

The clean, smooth, gorgeous flying change in his more challenging direction arrived on a previous ride after lots of circle work, tempo changes, and more walk-canter-walk transitions.  Harley felt very through and connected along the inside of his body.  This is work continued from a previous post where I described how I have been using the inside rein more.  That's right.  The inside rein.  I have been neglecting it for a long time, with the feeling that using it was bad.  I guess I had "inside-rein-guilt-issues".  They are dissolving quickly and as a result, I believe that Harley's suppleness, throughness, and relaxation have improved, with his balance following closely behind.  Having the inside rein improve his balance is so counter-intuitive to me.  I see use of the inside rein as something that sets a horse off balance, but this has not been the case.  I guess that I should acknowledge that the inside rein is not working in a vacuum.  All of my aids are present.  I must just be learning how to let the inside play its part more effectively.

And finally, I lunged Harley yesterday.  He walked.  He trotted.  He cantered.  He stretched his neck and back, all in a plain halter.  No extra gear necessary.  We practiced transitions and then I drew the line in to decrease the circle.  He trotted smaller circles around me with beautiful bend and balance, as if he had an invisible rider.  Then I asked him to trot through a big, deep puddle at one end of the arena.  I let him enter the water and do whatever felt natural to him.  I fully expected him to walk or stop, but he didn't.  Harley kept trotting and picked his feet up as he pranced through the water.  He did try to drift to the side a little, but the puddle was so wide that there was no going around it, so with a couple repetitions he was marching straight through.  He started dropping his neck, in stretchy circle fashion, and dragging his mouth through the water, coming up with water dripping from his cheeks and jaw as he continued to trot around me.  Tons of praise and "Good Boy's" were in order after that!

Harley.
You are a five out of five!

Stars sound delicious.  More, please.

Lungeing: Trying Walk to Canter

Last week, Harley and I finally had a regular schedule.  I was able to ride him for two days in a row, lunge on the third day, and go on a short trail ride the fourth, before heading out for a family reunion for the weekend.  The weather was very pleasant with temperatures in the low to mid eighties.  We were in heaven.

Harley gave me some excellent stretching work and sitting trot.  He was very happy to reach forward and down and stay there for as long as I kept the reins long.  I could feel his back swinging as his hind legs stepped under my weight.  Once I shortened the reins we went to sitting trot.  I felt him do something kind of interesting.  It seemed like he sort of steadied himself for a stride to balance under my seat.  Then he trotted forward and was very easy to sit.  He stayed light in front the entire time he was trotting and through changes of direction.  We practiced some trot-walk-trot transitions and I paid special attention to keeping him marching to the bit in the walk.  This is our most challenging transition, because he likes to drop the contact and curl up a little bit or root down asking for a walk break.  I have been trying to incorporate the medium walk in more of our work sessions so that he doesn't just associate the walk with a break.  This seems to be helping, but, like with people, horse habits die hard.

The theme of keeping the working mindset in walk carried over into our lunge session on Wednesday.  I warmed Harley up in the walk and trot and then over four trot poles.  He floated over them without touching a single one or missing his stride.  Five of my feet, toe to heel, seems to be the magic distance.  I think that is about four to four and a half feet between the trot poles.  I always praise him for a good trot over poles, because he used to hollow over them.  Now he finally knows how to carry himself and judge the distances at the same time.  Then we moved on to canter and he demonstrated what a pro he has become once again.  Not only did he canter smoothly and in rhythm, he kept the canter nicely until I asked him to trot.  I encouraged him to keep cantering and then realized that he was going on his own. 

Good Boy.

We went to the left after warming up on the right.  Harley did a nice free walk at the end of the lunge line, taking a break and waiting for me to ask him to move up a gear.  When I wanted to trot, I bounced in place, imitating the energy needed for trot, and clucked.  Instead of picking up the trot like he usually does, Harley stepped calmly into the canter.  He picked up the outside lead, but the transition was so nonchalant and smooth that I praised him.  I repeated everything that we did going right in the new direction, but I kept Harley's new trick in the back of my mind.  Once we had cantered a couple times on the left lead, I asked him to come back to walk.  Of course he thought this meant he was done, but I wanted to see if he would canter from the walk at my request.

I waited until he walked half a circle and then I lifted the line a little and gave my verbal half-halt "And..." with a higher tone, which means that we are going to move up a gear.  Harley's head raised inquisitively; he was listening and realized that I might be asking for something he was not expecting.

"...caann-terr."  I hopped a canter stride, imitating the gait as I had with the trot.

Harley was momentarily flabbergasted.  He leaped at the end of the line, incredulous to what I was asking.  He did not canter, but looked at me with wide eyes.  Apparently, I was challenging his idea of how things should progress on the lunge line.

I calmly asked him to walk on and after he had walked half a circle, I repeated my request.  This time he ran a little bit in trot and then burst into the canter.  I praised him and immediately asked him to come back to walk.  Now that the wheels were turning, bringing him to walk was a bit challenging.  His excitement was up and he could not resist trotting around me with his head in the air.  I gently made the circle smaller, asking him to walk the entire time.  When he was still trotting a twelve meter circle around me, a couple well-timed half-halts on the line brought him to walk.  I gave a long steady pull on the line when his inside hind was on the ground.  This steadied his weight onto the inside hind, encouraging him to shift down a gear.  I do not watch the hind leg to get the timing.  I just feel it out, like when I am riding.  Harley finally relaxed and walked a small circle.  I allowed the circle to get bigger and then asked him to canter again.  Harley leaped into the air once more and pulled back on the line.  I coaxed him to continue going left by swishing the lunge whip slowly with my right hand.  I asked him to canter again and told him that he had the right idea.  He turned and trotted a couple steps and then cantered.  I praised him and immediately brought him back on the small circle and repeated the half-halts until he walked.  I did not care if he only cantered one stride.  The goal was to pick up the canter from the walk, nothing else.

By the fourth try, Harley was ready to think more and react less.  I watched him gather himself and organize his inside hind before picking up the canter.  Even though he did not pick up the canter directly from the walk, like he did by accident earlier in the lungeing session, he demonstrated that he understood what I was asking and was trying to figure out how to honor my request.  As a reward for his efforts, I let him go forward in a big trot on a larger circle around me.  He immediately dropped his neck and started relaxing and moving his lower jaw.  When he looked calm, I asked him to canter from the trot.  I wanted to make sure that he was not anxious about cantering on the line, even though the new request had clearly been somewhat stressful for him.  He smoothly transitioned into the canter, just as he had before the new exercise.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  That was a major accomplishment for my horse.  I had been able to push his comfort zone on the line and he worked through it and found his confidence after the exercise was over.  Anxiety used to linger for a long time on the lunge line, which was why it took me years to teach him to canter without galloping like a madman at the end of the line.  Now, he is seasoned enough to bounce back from a training exercise that raised his excitement level.  That is a seemingly small thing, but a very rewarding feat to witness.

Memoirs: A Horse Girl Goes To College

It is really easy to look back on one's life experiences and think, "I wish that I had had this opportunity" or "I wish that I had learned that when I had the chance" or "I wish that my parents had won the lottery and bought me a horse farm and schoolmasters and enlightened trainers" (okay, that last one sounds pretty good), but the truth is, when I look back, I was pretty lucky.  Actually, maybe luck isn't the right word.  I was reasonably opportunistic.  I grew up very close to Centenary College, home of one of the few colleges in the country to offer several majors in equine studies.  Founded in 1867 as a preparatory school, Centenary College was well-known (at least locally in New Jersey) as a four-year college offering a Bachelor's degree in horses.  Of course, I professed to go there for college one day, but my parents thought better of it.  They were not about to fund a trip to college to earn a degree in horses even if it was their daughter's passion.  My parents knew that passion rarely pays the bills, so, although I was disappointed at the time, I am glad that they steered me elsewhere for my undergraduate studies.  However, that does not mean that I missed the opportunity to learn at Centenary College.

The entrance to the main indoor arena and classrooms.  This huge arena and the building did not exist while I was taking lessons at Centenary College.

In 2009, I revisited Centenary College for a NARHA (now PATH International) Regional Conference for therapeutic horseback riding instructors.  The buckskin pictured is not Harley, but looks like it could be his cousin!

Blurry, but at least you get a feel for the Olympic-sized indoor arena.  Centenary hosts Intercollegiate Horse Shows in dressage and the hunter/jumper disciplines as well as the annual AA-rated Garden State Horse Show.

I started taking lessons at Centenary in middle school with one of my best friends.  It was actually her Mom who got us the "in", because she was an adjunct professor at the college.  We started taking lessons with one of the college students, Barbie, who was very unlike the famous doll.  Barbie was tall with a strong frame and a down-to-Earth smile, long, dark, wavy hair, and glasses.  She preemptively joked that her fiance was not named "Ken" whenever she met people, as that was usually one of their first questions.  Barbie was a hard-working college student.  She worked in the barn to help pay for her horse's board and she gave lessons to a few community riders, yours truly included.  She was prepared for the long-hours required by the horse business and had already been assigned numerous responsibilities at the stables as well as landed a few exercise gigs at local professional facilites.  She was kind and personable and exceedingly competent.  I was one lucky young rider to find myself under her watchful eye.

The outdoor arena where I had many, many fun lessons and rides.

Barbie taught us how to safely wrap a horse's legs, give a proper shower to a hot horse, and how to clean stalls to conserve bedding.  She let us ride extra horses during the summer in exchange for helping her clean stalls.  My friend and I would ride three horses a day, cleaning their stalls before we rode.  This was mutually beneficial, as Barbie had tons on her plate, the lesson horses needed to remain fit over the summer, and we were horse-crazy kids who needed to ride.

Even on a cloudy day, the cross-country fields are beautiful.  I remember being in awe of a daunting jump called "The Bear Trap".

I used to hack around this field and enjoyed cantering along the treeline.  I had a few jumping lessons out here, but they were over standards.  I was not experienced enough for the large jumps shown here.

Occasionally, Barbie saved enough money to have a lesson herself.  She bathed and primped her horse before the trainer arrived, explaining to us that you must never enter a lesson with anything but a spotless horse to show respect for your trainer.  I watched her ride her huge Cleveland Bay in a lesson one time.  Her horse's name was Pirate.  He had a black tail with waves just like Barbie's hair.  His tail was so long that it brushed the ground when he was standing still.  He is the only Cleveland Bay that I have ever seen in person.  He was stunning.

Pirate was a project horse, if my memory serves me.  He was big, strong and talented, but nervous for reasons that I did not know.  Barbie told us that some one experienced had told her that she would have her hands full retraining him with the insinuation that she should consider passing him up.  However, that was not Barbie's style.  I remember watching her canter Pirate around the indoor arena.  His hooves sounded like thunder and the wake of his movement through the air made me gasp in genuine awe.  They were so gorgeous together.  Despite whatever haunted him, Pirate had learned to trust Barbie to ride him, just as I had learned to trust her in my horse education.  That was my first glimpse of a horse and rider team that was so much more than a rider on a lesson horse.  I knew that I wanted that some day.

Barbie contributed to my early horse education in many positive ways.  She allowed me and my friend time to practice outside of a lesson by working for riding time.  This also taught us the importance of work ethic and that horses are not just about time in the saddle.  She chose horses for us to ride that were safe, but also challenged our abilities.  I remember riding a mare named Lena in one of my first lessons.  She was a tough ride for me, but a year later I was allowed to hack her on my own.  That was measurable progress to me.

Barbie arranged an opportunity for my friend and me to audit a Centered Riding clinic with a woman named Sandra, a high level Centered Riding Instructor.  I vividly remember some of the ground exercises that we did.  I also remember watching a women sit the trot as she had never done before and Sandra commenting that a very nice "shoulder-in" could be accomplished by rotating the torso.  I did not know what a shoulder-in was at the time, but the image of Sandra demonstrating it on her own two feet has stayed with me.  I also borrowed Barbie's copy of Centered Riding by Sally Swift and read it cover to cover.  I have since purchased my own copy, which rests on my coffee table.

The "small" indoor was the only indoor when I was riding there.  This is where I had my lunge lessons and watched Barbie ride Pirate.  What a beautiful facility and a true luxury.  I would not have an indoor at my next barn of ten years.

Of all these things and the countless wonderful lessons that Barbie gave to me, the absolute best was the series of lunge lessons.  This was her equine studies research project.  Barbie assessed our riding positions and balance before lunge work and then again after several weeks of only lunge line lessons.  I remember learning to post and sit the trot without stirrups and with my hands doing all sorts of exercises as we trotted in a circle around Barbie.  I was nervous at first, but Barbie had good control of the lesson horse and she knew when to push and when to encourage.  I loved her so much that I tried even though I was afraid.  I learned to initiate transitions from my seat and achieve balance in the canter.  The culminating exercise was cantering without stirrups, my arms stretched out like wings, and my eyes closed.  That was a remarkable improvement, as I used to fall off during every stirrup-less lesson at the hunter/jumper barn where I initially learned to ride.  The instructor just told me to hold on tighter with my legs.  Was she ever wrong!  Thank goodness Barbie showed me the light and took the time to teach me true balance and independence in the saddle.  She told us that she got an A from her professor for the research project.  To me, the experience was priceless.

By the time I reached high school, Barbie had graduated and (I believe) moved to Florida to become a big-time horse professional.  My friend and I were transferred to another willing college student for lessons, but it was never the same without Barbie.  She was one of those special teachers whose lessons stay with you forever.  I moved on to a private dressage barn by the beginning of ninth grade and in true dressage-instruction form, I had to relearn everything and discovered that I was doing almost everything wrong.  This included more lunge lessons, but I was very good at those!

Barbie's lessons of balance and confidence have endured keeping me firmly glued in the saddle over the years.  I have borrowed some of her exercises with my own students, sharing the story and how much lunge lessons helped my balance and confidence.  Thank you for taking the time with me, Barbie!  I am forever grateful.

Related links:
"Centenary College's Equestrian Program Teaches More Than Good Riding", The Chronicle of the Horse (2010)

Lungeing: Back To The Future

I am finally feeling better, although I also feel like I ran the gauntlet this week.  There were deadlines to be met, meetings to be had, projects which never gelled, and me with my energy at half mast.  I am so glad that it is Friday (yesterday)!  This was one of those days where I had to force myself to go to the barn.  That does not happen very often, which demonstrates how drained I was feeling.  Gray clouds and the weather forecast threatened rain, as I backed out of the driveway.  I decided that today might be a good day to lunge.

At the barn, a deliciously muddy Harley met me at the gate.  The mud was dry so he cleaned up pretty easily.  There is something satisfying about making a dirty horse clean again.  Harley was very helpful and bright-eyed, lifting each foot for me before I even reached to pick it up.  I brushed him on Wednesday, but we had not ridden since Sunday, which was promptly followed by my cold shutting me down for the week.  He obediently lifted a front leg when I touched his elbow.  Oops!  I forgot that I had originally used that cue to train our version of the Spanish walk.  That was a year ago.  Harley did not forget!  He was hoping that we were going to have some fun together.

Out in the ring, I set up a couple trot poles.  Harley stood like a statue while I unwrapped the lunge line and snapped it to his halter.  I like to use the inside ring on the nose band to encourage him to flex toward me as he circles.  The lungeing session started out pretty normal, except that the trot poles were not working out too well.  He has been trotting over them undersaddle better than ever, but now he seemed to be having trouble with the spacing on the line.  I adjusted them once and then demoted the trot poles to walking poles when he almost slipped trying to push over them.  I guess the ground was too sloppy.  Harley stretched his neck very nicely in trot, reaching nearly to the ground at times.  I thought how nice it was that we could pick up where we left off the last time we lunged many, many months ago...

...and then I asked him to canter.

HELLO!  What is this?  Harley started hopping around and then racing at the end of the lunge line.  Thankfully, he does not try to run off the circle, but he did show me some creative and rather acrobatic leaps.  I tightened my grip on the lunge line and felt like I woke up for the first time all day.  It was not totally clear what Harley was doing at the end of the lunge line, but I saw some counter canter, some lead changes, and some cross-cantering.  He also tossed his neck, leaped up in a very nice uphill way, and motorcycled like the good ol' days.  Wow!  I have not seen that Harley in a long time.  I felt like we went back in time.  My horse turns fourteen this month, but you would not have guessed it by the antics he was pulling on the lunge line this evening.  What happened to my experienced statesman on the lunge line?

I do not know if it was fun, pent up energy, better condition (He is looking GOOD!), or some of the disobedience that I have met undersaddle at the canter recently (him wanting to change leads on his own), but Harley was a bit of a maniac.  Although I believe that he was having a good time at first, I think that my horse started to scare himself, because the look in his eye changed.  I have noticed that when my horse is stressed or upset, he gets this extra rim of reddish brown around his eye.  It almost looks bloodshot at the edge of the brown iris.  That was how his eye started to look.  He may have been goofing off or having fun in the beginning (i.e. being full of himself!), but his fun quickly changed to a loss of balance and that made him start to panic.  The more he panicked, the faster he ran.  He started to snort forcefully through his nose and turn his head and neck in toward me.  This did not help his balance, but it did show me, beyond a doubt, that he was worried and not sure how to stop "freight train Harley".  I did my best to stay calm, but I had very little control with the line.  Sure my horse was circling me, but the line felt like a wiggly piece of spaghetti.  I knew that Harley needed to find me at the end of the line to feel confident.  Only then would I have a chance to help him rebalance.

I took up some of the slack in the line and bridged the line between my whip hand and my leading hand.  I tried to keep the line from getting slack by keeping some tension on the line with my whip hand and reaching forward up the line with my leading hand (in this case my left hand, since he was traveling left).  Harley was bouncing around at the end of the line very unpredictably, so this is easier said than done.  I talked to him, but I could see my soothing words were not helping.  He would transition down to trot, but the trot was worse than the canter and he kept turning his head and neck in like an exaggerated shoulder-in.  He was very off-balance and his nerves were escalating.  I was concerned that he might slip and fall, so any hard, fast corrections with the line were out of the question and certainly were not going to take his weight off the forehand.

I asked him to canter again by slowly cantering myself at the center of the circle.  Cantering allowed him to slow his feet down, which were moving at a crazy tempo in trot.  I exaggerated my canter strides making them as slow as I possibly could.  I brought him back to trot and then to canter again.  With each transition, the connection on the line became more consistent and his tempo slowed.  At last he slowed down enough to find a rhythm in his gaits and a connection with me on the line.  I actually saw him lick and chew in the canter.  That was a really good sign.  Harley's neck arched, his tempo returned to normal, and his hindend engaged with noticeable lowering of his hindquarters.

The year was twenty-twelve.  Harley was BACK!

After two very nice canters on the left lead, I was certain that my horse had regained his balance and his confidence.  He stretched his nose all the way to the ground in trot and then walked with lots of relieved snorts.  He halted on a dime, like he always does, and I walked up to him to tell him what a "Good Boy" he was.  For all that activity, he was barely warm with just a little moisture around his chest, neck, and legs.  His eye looked bright again and he relaxed his neck down as I stood next to him and patted his soft fur.  His excitement was not completely gone.  He repeated some of the same airs above the ground going to the right in canter, but returned to the Harley who knows how to balance himself on the lunge line before we were done.  He performed one very nice left to right lead flying change somewhere in the middle of his goofing off.  I swear he looked right at me to ask, "Did you see that?"  I praised him for that one and did my best not to praise or punish for the rest of it.

In my opinion, Harley is a good example of a horse who cannot be chased to "fix" his problem.  I have watched horses run in the round pen to fix certain problems.  I have even done so myself, with a very lazy horse that I worked with before Harley was around.  Chasing Harley would only make matters worse.  Creating hard tension against the line would allow him to brace and fall on his forehand more, while leaving the line slack left him feeling abandoned.  I had to find a way to keep him calm and slow down his feet, but just stopping them wasn't good either.  He stopped a couple times during his second motorcycle impression, faced me, and looked completely frazzled, almost vibrating with energy.  Standing still seemed to build his tension, because he had not found the balance that gave him confidence while moving.  It is a difficult thing to send a horse moving off again after he has been running on the line and now is stopped in front of you.  My instincts told me that he had to keep going.  He could only make it back to the future, if he was moving forward.

Buckskin Bloopers Video 2011

Happy 2012 Everyone!

Love,
Val and Harley

A Frisky Horse Is A Healthy Horse

At least that is what I am going with right now.  I am still waiting to here from the vet about Harley's blood work.  Usually no news is good news, so hopefully we have just been dropped to the bottom of the triage list and she will call me back when she has a free moment.  My vet is very, very busy.

I got to see my teacher today.  She was out giving lessons, which bummed me because due to Harley's bizarre health issue this weekend, I had to cancel our slot.  Even though I did not ride, I still spoke to her while she was working on a horse and it was very reassuring to hear her impression of Harley.  She said that he did not look like a sick horse at all.  She is suspecting allergy.  Maybe there was a funky weed in the hay or something else that elicited an allergic reaction.  Now this does bother me, because without knowing what caused the problem, I cannot avoid it for next time.  Since I personally get full-body hives from a sulfites overload, I know that weird food allergies can go undiagnosed for a long time before a pattern is determined.  And, if we are talking about a weed, it will be near impossible for me to prevent him for contacting the mysterious weed in the future, unless I do not feed him hay.  There are some horses that cannot eat hay, which is a management challenge (i.e. nightmare).  Let's hope that we do not have to cross that bridge.

Honestly, Harley looked really, really good today.  He was eager and alert.  His legs were tight as a drum and he was very social.  My teacher tried to resist petting him, since we do not really know if he is "clean" yet, but she quickly melted under his spell and ended up kissing his nose.  She lamented in realizing that she would have to change her clothes before her next client, but connecting with Harley is worth it.  I am telling you, he does this to people!

After grooming him, checking him over, and preparing his dinner to soak, I decided to put him on the line for a few minutes.  I did not bring a whip, because I expected to just move him around a little bit and see how he felt.  Harley had other plans.  He was frisky!  When I asked him to trot, he tossed his head in a very studly manner and jumped around before stretching onto a circle around me.  I had to laugh when we changed directions, because he repeated the stunt, but escalated his antics to a bouncyy canter.  He leaped and hopped and tossed his mane dramatically until I coaxed him into a trot.  He stretched his neck down and snorted with satisfaction.  I asked him to repeat the walk-trot transitions a couple times, so that he was not just burning off steam.  If he wanted to work, then that is what we would do.  He definitely had his frustrated look on,

"What are you waiting for?  Let's go."

Harley is tired of resting and I am very happy to see this.

There Is Just Something About Harley

I wear rose-colored glasses when I look at my horse. 

During our vet appointment, my vet challenged me to take those glasses off for a few minutes.  We discussed his weight and his inability to gain muscle mass in certain areas.  She pointed to certain parts of his body and said "this should really be filled in" and " his ribs are not showing, but he never gets any meater in his loins".  He's funny looking.  He's really funny looking.

Poor Harley. 

I knew what she meant, and I knew that she was being objective.  I can be objective, too.  I can see that my horse has a slight roach in his back, and knobby shoulders.  I would like his topline and butt to round out more, but they just don't.  He eats a high fat, relatively low starch feed and lots of beet pulp.  Unfortunately, the quality of our hay is a constant issue, but I pay for him to receive extra and I try to compensate with more reliable sources of nutrients, like a complete feed and beet pulp.  He has ample turnout (24/7) with a buddy and I work him.  During the summer we work 4-5 days a week and I do not mean little 20-minute jaunts.  We ride for about an hour with lots of variety in gait and exercise, transitions, cantering, and breaks.  He sweats and gets a shower and his skin shows the brilliance of his muscle tone complete with the bulging veins of a body builder.  Harley never bulks up, but he gets fit.  Really fit.  The kind of fit where he never seems tired and is always ready for more.  Although he is a quarter horse, I am certain that there is a fair amount of thoroughbred blood coursing through his veins and that this may contribute to his lean body type.  He is slap-sided and narrow-chested.  He has good sturdy legs, but his large quarter horse hindquarters accentuate his narrow frame.  He does not have a heart-shaped rump, no matter how much I feed him or work him, and was described by the saddle-fitter as "roof-backed".  In other words, do not ride Harley bareback unless you have installed some serious padding!  I am envious of riders who hop on their table-backed horses and go out for a little hack.  Harley and I both hurt if we attempt this.

I explained to the vet that I do have a trainer and I strive to ride him in a balanced frame with a lifted back.  I told her that he may not look like a dressage horse, but we did receive some decent scores at first level under two judges and he knows how to carry himself.  He wears a well-fitting saddle (after a long, long journey and several saddle purchases), but Harley will not develop the luxurious, voluptuous curves of a solid saddle horse.  He just will not.  We have tried bodywork and lungeing.  He is able to do what we ask, but he doesn't get any rounder and he stays lean.  I joked with the vet that there are horses who sit in the paddock and do nothing with more "topline" than my horse.  She has seen him for years, so she knows what I mean and she knows my horse.  She said that every time she looks at him, she tries to see why he is not quite the right shape.  He is not sway-backed.  He is sound and his joints are good.  She tells me that she is stumped in that regard.  I told her that he is a horse who looks better in motion.

August 2011: Harley demonstrates his ability to go long and low without any gear except a halter and a line.

My body position and energy seem to affect how well he stretches and engages.  Can you see my smile over his back?

He does this equally nicely in walk.

Canter right gives the least impressive stretch, but this is not surprising since cantering on the lunge calmly and in balance has been a very long project.  Good Boy.

A nice stretch in canter left.  On a smaller circle, he can collect his canter, which transforms his slight frame into a generous ball of muscle.

And he is.  When he is moving, Harley just looks amazing to me.  I see him on the lunge and he takes my breath away all the time.  I watch videos of us riding and I muse at his expression and drive.  He is one fantastic horse.  Is his conformation perfect?  Goodness no!  Does he give the picture of a horse that can really move?  Nope.  Even my teacher says that when she looks at Harley, she would never expect him to move the way he does.  I am not saying that he has some crazy elevated front end or extremely released shoulders, far from it.  There is just something about him.  Every clinician and trainer that I have ever ridden with has liked him.  Judges like him, even if he does not receive huge scores.  There is just something about Harley.  He has talent, even if it is not the textbook kind.  Something that makes people roll their window down and take a picture and makes neighbors hang over the fence and watch us ride for twenty minutes.  My Mom says that this is his gift.  He draws people with his good spirit.

I think that the vet's assitant had a sense of this, because she stroked his nose and consoled him, "Do not worry, Harley.  Looks are not everything."

The vet was wondering if he suffered an accident, in his life before ours.  Did he fall and suffer damage to the nerves in his back?  She explained that if the muscles are not innervated properly, they will not develop regardless of what you do to work them.  We will probably never know the answer to that question, but if the answer is "yes", that does not change a thing, because Harley obviously is coping with his body very, very well.  He is athletic and sound and seems to relish training challenges that are physically and mentally challenging.  I do not care if he does not own the picture perfect body.  Who of us does?  I love him and he is gorgeous.  I cannot believe that he is my horse.  My vet said, "Thank God you have him."  I hate to think of anyone taking him for granted or being dissatisfied with him, but I appreciate her sentiments just the same. 

My rose-colored glasses went right back on and they are not coming off any time soon.  Love you, Harley.

Lungeing in the Rain

Let it rain!  We need the moisture.  Our lawn and flowers were thirsty and I am sure the wells on the farm were thirsty. 

Home from the barn

My flower garden

Through the rain drops

Rain does not stop Harley and me.  I like to trim feet on rainy days, especially if the hooves have gotten a little soak.  The rasp cuts through much more easily, reducing the time and effort required for four over-sized pedicures.  Today was not a trimming day, though.  We did a fair amount of sitting trot and canter work yesterday, so I wanted to give his back a rest.  Time to lunge!

Harley felt great on the line.  He adjusted his stride to match the trot poles from the very first attempt.  His canter transitions were smart and relaxed.  He cantered from my own body hopping into canter.  I tried taking slow relaxed strides like a large pirouette in the center.  I am happy to report that Harley watched this and slowed his tempo and adopted more self carriage.  I dare say that I was collecting my horse this way.  We both trotted right before the poles.  He did not miss a beat, even as the large rain drops spotted his coat.  The left lead was also very nice.  He picked up the outside lead a couple times on the circle, but was attentive enough to drop back to trot and pick up the inside lead before the poles.  His neck carriage was lovely.  I especially liked seeing his eye on me, although once I think he was saying, "I would be dry in my shed right now."  The rain was intermittent at that point, so we really just got a little sprinkle now and then.

We tried a couple different things in both directions.  After some canter-trot transitions over the poles, I let him trot down the long side.  At first, I watched him keep the same stride length, then I tried to ask him to lengthen.  I tried clucking.  I tried tossing the whip a little.  Both of these things did elicit a response from him, but the response was more energy and a faster tempo.  This was a good response, just not exactly what I wanted.  One time he cantered, which I liked, because that meant he was slowing his legs down and adding more energy.  So where did I go from there?  My own steps.  I took bigger steps as he trotted down the long side.  I also tapped the whip in the air in rhythm with his steps.  I think that these things helped, because he did lengthen a little.  I need to return to this, so that I can figure out what I am doing.  Then I can be clear. 

After a couple good tries we returned to the circle.  Harley had a nice solid connection to the lunge line.  His neck was probably the most consistent that I have ever seen on the lunge line.  His neck was long from the middle of his shoulders and his poll was released but with an open throatlatch.  I tested the connection by combing the lunge line with my free hand.  I reached forward and took the line and then gently let the line slide through my fingers.  I invited Harley to provide resistance to slide the line through my hand.  He did this happily and this was where I saw the stability of his head and neck.  He was carrying his body as a unit.  His neck was not snaking around to the side or raising with a hollow back.  He will do both these things very quickly, if I chase him with my aids or lose my sense of groundedness or tighten my shoulders against the line. 

Harley loves the vibration that travels down the line when I comb the rein or line with my hands.  He seems to like the feel of an elastic rein.  My teacher noted this, the last time we saw her.  He likes there to be a give to the line, but still with a connection.  When I have it right, I can feel his head gently oscillate from side to side as he moves.  I can also feel him swallow or lick his lips.  These little movements send a vibration back to me.  The connection felt so solid that I challenged him to come in to a smaller circle.  I combed the line, but let less slip through my fingers.  I kept a trotting energy in my body and continued to comb the line as he moved around me.  You can do it, Harley.  He was up for the challenge.  He adjusted his strides for the smaller circle and raised his head and neck a little, but kept this nice soft lift in his back.  His steps became springy.  I let the line slide and he returned to a larger circle, stretching his nose to the ground as he trotted.  From time to time the rain fell on us, but we did not care. 

Riding Reflection: Trot Poles Are For Jumping?

We had a short workout yesterday.  I decided to give the "trot poles mixed with canter" exercise a try under saddle.  We practiced the lungeing exercise on Saturday and Harley was so relaxed.  He handled all the trot and canter transitions like a pro and adjusted to the trot pole distance very quickly.  He is so smart.

After a walk/trot warm up, we headed for the poles going to the right.  He tightened as he went over them the first time.  I clucked to him and circled for a return approach.  He started to speed up too much.  I went to slow him down, but then I stopped myself.  He was trying to get his energy up so that he could match the pole distance.  I needed to just let him be and allow the poles to regulate his pace.  The second attempt was better and by the third time he was able to reach over the poles and stretch into the bridle at the same time.  This was great.  I have often avoided trot poles, because he would tighten over them, reinforcing the hollowing muscle groups instead of the carrying ones.  I spend too much time and energy trying to dissolve those muscles to use an exercise that strengthens them, but thankfully, today it was working.

On a circle to the left, he repeated the tightening business as he stepped over the poles in trot.  I let him be for several circuits, but when his posture did not improve I decided to help.  I put my legs on before the poles and gave small, supportive nudges in rhythm with his steps as he moved over the poles.  At last his head and neck lowered and he relaxed.  I repeated this the next time around and then tried it without my legs.  He immediately hollowed.  Oh well, he needs more support from me in this direction; I was happy to oblige.

Once we had a nice rhythm going, I added the canter after the poles.  Harley really needs to open up his stride in order to relax and he does not collect very well unless he has had a chance to warm up with some big canters, so this exercise was going a bit against his typical routine.  As we approached the poles, I felt him put more power into his stride.  Like earlier in the ride, I resisted slowing him with my hands, because I wanted the poles to teach him.

I asked him to trot.

He trotted.

And then he leaped over the poles! 

Weeeeeee!

It was a nice smooth jump, and my body stayed with him even as my brain was like "Harley?".  I kept him in the canter for three-quarters of the circle, brought him back to trot, and he repeated the leap of faith over the poles.  Now, I just had to laugh.  Someone was having fun.

After he jumped them for the third time, and he missed his mark, knocking them askew, I decided that we were done with trot poles for the day.  Interestingly enough, our lack of success in completing the exercise did not rob him of the benefits.  A couple nice jumps had set his canter into a lovely tempo with delightful engagement and he carried this into the trot as we practiced transitions and changes of direction.  I threw in a little counter canter to avoid the disheveled trot poles and he blew threw his nose as he stretched secluded muscles behind the saddle.  He wanted to drop back to trot a couple times, but I encouraged him with my position and my voice.  I felt him dig in, as he rocked his hindquarters underneath himself and maintained gait.  I can feel his strength and stamina in canter improving with each ride, but I must coach him to pass his comfort zone and challenge his muscles.  At last, we trotted and I let him stretch.  There was not a tight muscle left in his body and I felt the same way.

I guess it might be best to leave the "trot poles mixed with canter" exercise for lunge work, since he seemed to benefit more in that venue.  And to be honest, I do not really enjoy circling over poles.  I got my horse's message though.  The jumping saddle has been dusted off and is home for a safety check.  Look out world, Harley is a jumping horse!

Lungeing: Trot Poles Mixed with Canter

Lungeing continued...

I set up two trot poles on the track about four and a half of my footsteps apart.  I asked Harley to trot and he started over the poles in a large circle.  We do not work trot poles very often, so it takes him a few circuits to step over them without adjusting his stride length every time.  He is so cute with trot poles, because he makes a bee-line for them even if I am not actively steering him towards them.  He was like that with the jumps the other day, too.  He walked up to the cross-rail and stepped over it all by himself.  If he were a human child, I am pretty sure he would be the kid to insist that he tie his own shoes and would refuse help from Mom even after struggling with the bow for ten minutes.

Next, I decided to try an exercise that I have not used for years.  I learned it long ago from my original dressage instructor, who was a gifted rider and tough as nails.  I have never used this exercise with Harley, because learning to canter on the lunge has been a long process.  When I first started working with him, he would flat out gallop on the line.  It was dangerous.  He tried to stay on a circle around me, but he was leaning in (Harley-cycling) so badly, that the risk of injury was too high.  I noticed that he would clip the fetlocks of his hind legs and I could just imagine him falling or pulling something.  Even worse than the canter was the crazy trot he would assume after "landing" from his wild canter.  So we did not canter on the lunge for a long time.  Every couple months or so, I would try again.  Gradually he improved, but cantering on the line was the measurement of improvement, not a means of training.  Now, we are finally at the point where he can travel on the line in a controlled canter and he can relax.  He still has some trouble balancing himself to pick up the left lead, which is why I use the leg yield to help him.  His right lead is downright stately.  He looks like a seasoned traveler who has been cantering on the line for ages.

The training of the horse should be considered in units of months or years rather than days or weeks.

The exercise is simple.  On a circle, trot over the poles.  Transition to canter.  Transition back to trot before the poles and repeat.  The closeness of the transitions determines the difficulty of the exercise.  The horse must be obedient and attentive.  He also must be able to maintain his balance in each gait and through each transition.

In the past this exercise would have been foolish to attempt.  In fact, the first time that I tried cantering Harley over a single ground pole on the lunge line, he regressed from relaxed and calm to completely bananas.  He launched over the ground pole and tore around the circle at a blinding pace.  It took a long time to convince him that he could safely canter over the pole.  Clearly, his confidence on the line was still very fragile.  This was a couple years ago, and his canter has improved so much that I felt we were ready for the next step, so we gave it a whorl.

Harley approached the poles with a long neck and a pleasant expression on his face.  A few strides after the poles I cued him to canter.  He calmly picked it and I cantered with him, thinking good thoughts.  Before the trot poles I called "annddd t-rrooott", dropping the tone of my voice.  To my delight, he dropped back to trot and zoned in on the poles.  He rebalanced himself over the first pole with a lovely reach in the shoulder.  Yes!  My horse did not freak out.  He came back to a relaxed trot AND it looks like the ground poles are keeping him calm and showing him how to rebalance after the canter transition!

This was so exciting!  We repeated the transitions several times and then in the other direction.  I challenged him by asking him to trot and then canter closer to the poles each time.  From this lovely balance he offered an incredible stretch!  He stretched his neck all the way to the ground.  His stride was long with gorgeous suspension.  I asked him to stay in trot so that I could admire his form.  He only raised his nose a bit to avoid bumping it on the poles as he trotted over them.  That's how close his nose was to the ground.  The exercise must have allowed him to access and release some very tricky parts of his body.  His expression said it all.  That stretch felt good!

We took a break and then hopped over a tiny jump a couple times.  He definitely needs more opportunities to figure out how to meter his stride to a take-off point, but the most important thing was that he was very nonchalant about the whole thing.  I think that we will definitely have to make the pole exercise and jumps a regular event.  I am loving how he stretched and his focus throughout the entire lungeing session.  It was time out of the saddle, but well spent.

Lungeing: Cues, the Correct Lead, and Stretching

I decided to lunge instead of ride on Wednesday.  I wanted to return to the jump from the left and offer him more support.  I lunge Harley with a flat cotton lunge line snapped to the inside of the halter.  I carry a lunge whip and I wear gloves.

I let him warm up walking for several circles to the left, before picking up the trot.  I encouraged him forward and kept a connection to him through the line.  I was looking for a stretch, but he was not ready to offer more than a little reach with his neck.  My horse needs to canter to stretch his topline and start the energy flowing from behind, so I kissed to him.  He picked up the outside lead.  I brought him back and gave him a circle to regroup.  Then I asked him to leg yield slightly away from me as I asked for the canter.  I moved him away by pointing my whip at his rib cage.  This also encouraged him to step under with his inside hind and assume left bend in preparation for the correct lead.  I opened my elbow so that he had enough line to move away and I lifted the line up a little to lead him to lift the inside shoulder. A kiss and BINGO.  Left lead canter.

I use the "kiss" to canter and the "cluck" to trot or speed up.  Alternatively, I say "can-ter" and "t-rot".  My verbal half halt is the word "and".  I raise the tone of the "and" to signal an upwards transition and I drop the tone to signal a downwards transition.  I have found that with careful repetition and consistency, horses pick up on vocal tone very quickly.  The verbal half halt is invaluable under saddle.

I have also learned to keep a rhythm in my body that matches the gait in which my horse is traveling.  When he is walking, I march in a small circle, stepping across with my "inside" leg just like I want him to step across with his inside leg when traveling in balance.  Walking a little circle prevents me from getting dizzy and allows me to keep my hips roughly parallel to his hips.  When he trots, I move in the same size circle, but with a spring in my step.  If we are working on a small circle and he is really engaging and round, my springs can become quite lively to match his energy.  It really feels like he will continue on as long as I do.  Often, all I have to do to cue the walk is to lose my spring and he walks.  For canter, I have tried hopping into the canter myself.  This works like magic!  I know that I look a little silly, but my horse departs so calmly when I ask this way that I cannot deny the benefits of mimicking his gait.  For the halt, I say "aannnddd  hoooo".  If I am not too engrossed, I remember to turn my hips to face his shoulders as I ask for halt.  When he is forward and we have been working for a bit, he will halt on a dime.  He listens for the "gooooodddd booyy" as a cue to rest as well.

With the canter work, Harley's trot develops more impulsion.  The lunge line feels like a rein and I stand with flexed joints and a soft lower back as if I am riding.  He starts to reach forward with his neck as his strides lengthen and he begins to track up in trot.  It feels like the contact on the lunge line is connected to my feet and the ground.  I do not mean that we are pulling on each other, but it does feel like I am offering him support as he ventures to stretch.  I keep the joints in my elbow and shoulder mobile so that I can follow his head and neck while keeping the contact.  I maintain a trot vibration to my energy and this travels down the rein.  He stretches more, reaching almost to his knees for a few steps.  If the canter had not motivated him to stretch, I would have asked him to spiral in and spiral/leg yield out in trot.  I gently reel the line in hand-over-hand to spiral in and let the line slide through my gloves to spiral out.  I add a "cluck" or gently toss the whip line towards his hindquarters if he loses impulsion.  Often one or two spirals is all that is required to initiate a nice stretch.  He can stretch at a fast, moderate, or slow tempo.  When he stretches at a slow tempo, it is really interesting to observe the articulation of his hind leg joints.  When he stretches at a fast tempo, I am taken by how easily he can move with speed and grace.

After confirming impulsion and suppleness in both directions, we headed for the poles for an exercise which I have not used in ages.

To be continued...