Indoor arena ride #4

I did make it out to the barn yesterday.

I was biding my time, watching wunderground for the best moment to go.  It said:

winds 10-15 mph

I thought, "Great.  I can deal with that."  And I got in my car.  By the time I was outside of town it became apparent the winds were a heck of a lot stronger than 15.  My car blew all over the road.


I arrived at the barn outside of Glenrock in the middle of a windstorm so fierce Chev was sure we were going to die in the blowing sand while she tried her best to go around me on the line.

But--whatever.  I was already there.  I tacked her up and we had this kind of ride.





When I got up there the barn owner was just finishing up a lesson with a few little kids.  I had one of those moments when I mounted my horse where I felt like I was on top of the Sears Tower.  Or, Rockefeller Center.  Since I've never actually been on top of the Sears Tower.  But, anyway--

I forget how freaking tall my horse is until I'm around other horses...and we are just towering over them.  Yikes.

I started the video camera after we had done some warmup.  The other horses left, and Chev was sure she'd be stuck in the indoor arena with the howling wind for all eternity.  It was very stressful.  Poor girl.

I like the foam between her buttcheeks.  At least she was working with her hiney a bit!

I swear that my horse does stand when I get on.  It's really hard to tell how nervous she was in the video--as long as I kept her working she didn't lose her mind too much.  The sound of the wind was really agitating her.  A lot more than the last time we rode in there.  Of course, the wind was a lot stronger, too.

I was thinking a lot about forward, and how a forward horse is much less likely to come up off the ground (either in front or behind you).  I feel like it's just as much a mental thing for them.  It never occurs to the forward horse to rear.  So I tried to be happy with all the exuberant forward motion I was getting most of the time.  Again I'm surprised at how quiet she appears in the video, and how train-wrecky she felt in my hands.

On the downside I'm having to almost stand in my offside stirrup to keep her balanced in such a small space.

I can also see how crooked I'm riding.

And you can see how heavy she is on the forehand at the canter.  But four canter strides along the short side of the arena does not an adequately sized arena make!

We did manage to get outside for a brief ride afterwards, when the winds died down to about 40 mph.

I'll show you that video if I can ever get it to upload.  I think it's a good comparison video--she's being ridden with no contact and behaving herself pretty well despite all the wind in her face.  I'm not really putting her together at all, just letting her motor around.

Please check back by soon to view the outside arena video!

ETA:  Here's the outdoor video--at times I did feel like I was going to be blown right out of the saddle.  I'll try to get an angle next time that shows more of the arena.

Lunging vs. Longing

Which term is correct?

Actually, they both are.

I choose to use lunging, because I feel like it's the easiest to understand and the closest English gets to the original French pronunciation.  It's also correct in terms of "lunge line".

I found this great blog by Donkey Sense that gives as good a description of the words and their use in the horse world as I ever could:  Longing vs Lunging

Read & enjoy!

Brands

What would you do if your horse was lost or stolen?

Do you have paperwork that proves you are the owner without a shadow of a doubt?

I don't.

Baby Chev with her dam, 2005

Chev's story is, for me, pretty heartbreaking.  She is by Classical Hancock, who apparently stood at the Turkey Track Ranch in TX, and also near Creswell, OR at some point.  My attempts at finding him over the years have failed.

She is out of a mare with a name something like Diamond Skip.  That can't be quite right though, because that registered name belongs to a stud.  She was a buckskin with a thin blaze, and supposedly a Doc O'Lena bred mare.

The girl who brought her to the auction had purchased the dam already bred.  They tried to get the papers on the mare for the sake of the foal, but the man who sold her to them wouldn't hand them over.

Eventually he admitted to switching the papers on another mare he had sold.

Besides that being incredibly illegal--somewhere out there is a buckskin mare being bred on with papers that aren't hers--it breaks my heart knowing I have a talented, lovely, pure-bred quarter horse and no way of obtaining her the papers she deserves.

It has closed off her ancestry to me forever.

It eliminates her from showing at any quarter horse shows, and, of course, renders her unable to be bred (even if she had the front legs and the show record to support that notion).  I'm certainly okay with the no-breeding thing--Lord knows there are plenty of nice horses in the world already--but not being able to paper her really annoys me.

Likely she'll carry the stigma of being a grade horse the rest of her life.

To counter her lack of papers, I've felt like she needs all the more training.  She needs to have something to fall back on--something you can only get through hard work and education.

In the meantime, she is a totally sorrel mare, with a nondescript star and snip.

Could I prove she was mine?  No.

I don't have a shred of paper to prove it, aside from the auction slip that's in my friend's name.

And that's why I'm going ahead with branding.

I've been combing through the huge, 196-page CD of abandoned Wyoming brands.  There are a few I like, but I think I might take a shot at designing my own.

 Available abandoned brands, page 1

It seems like a good use of most of my tax return this year.  Wyoming is a "brand state", so their laws are very strict regarding the transfer of animals with brands.  You can even get your truck and trailer impounded for transporting animals with brands for which you have no documentation.

Since I'm not stealing livestock, this is all very comforting for me.

Available abandoned brands, page 2

I've spent months researching branding procedure.  I've found a company in Texas to fabricate the freeze branding iron out of copper alloy to increase the chance that it will come out well.  I have a local vet lined up with many years of experience freeze branding who can dose out sedatives to help her stand still.

I'm ready.  Now all I need is a brand registered with the state of Wyoming.

Possible brand design--Crown Cee Bar

I've had a lot of people ask me why I'm wanting to brand my horse.

I have a few reasons, but these are the major ones:

1. A brand is a permanent form of ID that is not easily altered or removed.

2. A registered brand is prima facie evidence of ownership--it's like a title for your horse.

3. Brands deter theft.

4. Auctions and feedlots are required to check paperwork and ownership if a horse carries a brand.

I'm not considering microchipping at this point for a few reasons.  Microchips for horses aren't standard--very few large animal vets, stock yards, and auction houses have or use a chip scanner.  Also, there isn't a set location for chip placement, and a horse is a large animal.  During my 3 year stint at the veterinary hospital, I saw chips migrate everywhere.  Standard chip location for dogs and cats is in the scruff, at the base of the neck.  One ended up way down a dog's leg.  Imagine the subdermal surface area on a horse.  And lastly, if a chip is located, it's just a quick local-anesthesia nip to remove it.

All my kitties are chipped, though!

My gelding's freeze brand was the only way I was able to track down his history.  His papers were lost.  But his brand restored his identity, and I'll be forever grateful to his breeder for branding him.

Even at 25, his Arabian breed freeze brand, birth year and ID 

number were still clearly visable

So...what would you do if your horse was lost or stolen?  Could you prove ownership?  Would he be able to find his way back to you?

I don't want this to be a blog that slams other training methods...

But...What the hell were they thinking?

I actually titled this file "Parelli WTF.jpg".

I really don't want this blog to at all be about "I'm right" and "they're wrong".  If there's any one thing I can freely admit, without a "but" in there, it's that I am not a trainer, and I don't know everything there is to know.

In fact, I've said before that I know just enough to know I don't know enough.

And I really, truly believe that!

That's part of what makes horses fun.  There is always something more to learn, something to realize you're not doing right, and a way to fix it.  It's a learning process, and it can last you through your whole life.

That being said...is the Parelli camp actually advocating that I have to eat grass with my horse to "collect my horse's heart" and bond with him?  I seriously thought this was a cruel photoshop joke on Mr. Parelli when I first saw this cover.

If that's "Mastery", then I'll happily stay a dumb horse gal bumbling along in ignorance for all eternity...

Because that, folks, is just plain crazy.

Bits

I'm sitting here, sipping my latte (I am a still PNW girl at heart!), thinking about bits.

Flyin' Horse posted a great question to the Equine Mind Meld yesterday morning. 

Her basic question was about bits/bitting/why you would use a bigger bit.  She wanted to know why, if a horse can be ridden fine in a snaffle, you would ever "move up" to a curb.

I hemmed and hawed about submitting an answer.  As I said before, I'm always hesitant to jump right in with my opinion, even if it is based in a lot of research and scientific fact.  I guess I feel like, as I've also said before, there are always a lot of answers that could be correct.  In the end I didn't write anything.

But, basically (have you ever noticed when someone says "basically", they're about to launch into a long explanation that isn't basic at all?)--the goal is to move from less subtlety (bigger aids, less education) to more subtlety (smaller aids, more education).

Education, of course, refers to both the horse and rider.

I was really happy to see that in her post response today, Mugwump quoted Sustainable Dressage.

Particularly this great article I've mentioned before on The Bridle & the Bit.

Chev was started for her first 30 days under saddle in a basic sidepull.

The trainer wanted to stay completely out of her mouth at the time.  She wanted to just get Chev going.  Step one was just teaching her to move under saddle with a rider, and that's what she learned.  Her first 10 days were spent entirely out of her mouth, learning to walk, trot, and stop.  There wasn't a whole lot of steering involved.

After 10 days or so, she was moved into a basic smooth mouth broken snaffle on an O-ring (loose ring).  She learned to steer and move different parts of her body: shoulders, hips, ribcage.

She was off to a good start.

What do I ride her in now?

A basic smooth mouth broken snaffle on an O-ring.

She is still an uneducated horse, so she rides in the snaffle.  Even 4 years later.

I've found one she really likes.  The mouthpiece is medium-thick with a nice curve to it.  The rings are loose and fairly heavy.  It hangs low in her mouth--she's learned to carry the bit along instead of having the bridle hold it up for her.

I was always taught that horses should have two wrinkles at the corners of their mouth if the bit is adjusted properly.  Being the snot I am, I wondered, "Why?" 

For Chev, this was too high.  She couldn't relax.  I think bit placement has a lot to do with individual personality and mouth conformation.  And, at some point I wanted my horse to take some responsibility for the communication piece in her mouth.  By lowering the bit, it was an offering of respect.  Sure, she could evade it more easily.  A naughty horse would have gone straight to the "tongue-over-the-bit" trick (although I suspect they have their reasons).  But in my mind, it was giving her an opportunity to use the bit freely for communication too.

It was the difference between asking and telling.  And it did make a big difference in her behavior under saddle, and accepting the bit as something useful instead of something that was merely to be tolerated.

Lowering the bit a hole or two on each side allowed it to be a passive instrument instead of a constantly active one.

But, I'm getting way off track again.

Chev in her snaffle.  The noseband is just there for style--it's not tight enough to prevent her opening her mouth to play with the bit.

My horse rides in a snaffle because she is an uneducated horse.   I'm comfortable with people looking at her and thinking, "She is not in a curb.  She's not a finished horse."  Because that's exactly right--she isn't a finished horse.

Horses riding in bits beyond their means is a little bit like cars with tons of emblems all over and nothing under the hood.

I am a car aficionado.  I'll admit it, I love cars.  I first fell head over heels with a little Alfa Romeo Spyder when I was a senior in highschool.  My parents, wisely, did not let me buy the car.  But it started a love affair that continues today, resulting in the kind of insanity that compelled me to drag my '91 BMW e30 halfway across the country behind a U-Haul to a state where it is completely impractical to have--simply because I couldn't part with it.  We just rolled over 21,000 miles together the other day on the way back from the barn.

There are few things that annoy me more than pretending something is more awesome than it is.  I'd much rather have the sleeper car that looks like a piece of crap on the outside but has a twin turbo under the hood.

CRX...why, why, WHY??

Get what I'm saying?

I feel like riding a horse in a big impressive bit, whether it be the double-bridle, reining curb, or twisted dog bone "snaffle" barrel bit (which is not a snaffle at all!), when the horse obviously has no education, is just terrible.

Those bits were designed with a ton of pre-signal in mind, in the sense that they are meant to be "subtle" bits.  The barrel bit is almost never used that way.

I talked about this whole issue a little in my post on Feel.

You don't cram a young, uneducated horse into the double bridle or a curb bit without running into a whole bunch of problems.

That's because these bits all require EDUCATION and FINESSE to be used properly.  And that means education of the horse AND rider.

They were never meant to be used as forceful submission objects. 

They were never meant to be used as crude emergency brakes.

They were meant to increase transmission of signal between horse and rider.

So there you have it: the reason we "move up" in bits as the horse's training progresses.

Snaffle bits don't transmit cues with much pre-signal all by themselves.  Well, of course they don't.  All pre-signal comes from the rider.  But a snaffle doesn't amplify any of this signal the way a signal bit (like the ultimate in all signal bits, the vaquero spade bit) does.

Example:  The halt in the snaffle.

You have lots of opportunities to tell the horse what you want without yanking on the reins.  Or even touching them for that matter.

I sit deep and back first.  This shift of weight should tell Chev something is up.

Then I say "Hhhho."  

Then if I don't get anything, I pick up the reins.  She just about always stops at this point.

If she doesn't feel like listening, then I put some pressure on the reins--just enough to get a response.

This is all well and good if you're riding two-handed in an arena with no obstacles.  If you're ranch roping and riding one-handed, ever more subtle and correct cues are needed, so as the horse moves up through training levels, his education becomes more refined and so does the type of hardware he wears.

This is true for the Dressage horse, the reining horse, and the vaquero cowhorse.

And it's a pretty incredible process.

The problem is, you CAN fake results with a lot of hardware and gadgets--to a point.  It's not a good solution, but bits are used as forceful control devices.  I'm sure that's why we see so many horses riding in 5" shanks when they barely know how to turn or stop.

Holding the neck back with sheer force causes tremendous pressure on the nuchal ligament.  The horse breaks at the second vertebrae producing "false collection".  Image courtesy of Theresa Sandin at Sustainable Dressage

One of my pet peeves is draw reins.  What on earth are they supposed to accomplish?  I've seen them used extensively as they seem to be especially beloved in Western Pleasure training for "schooling a low headset".  What it really seems to teach the horse is to dump on the forehand and hollow out the back.

A horse in drawreins, breaking over hard at the 3rd vertebrae to escape the pressure.  Image courtesy of Theresa Sandin at Sustainable Dressage

I'll have to do an entry soon on various gadgets, because it seems like there are as many gadgets out there as there are problems people have with horses.

We're going on 4 years in the snaffle, and I'm pretty happy with where we are.  Her cues are becoming more refined, and her responses faster and more light.

For us the next step isn't the curb though.  It's the traditional hackamore. 

Video--Just for comparison's sake

I like to think Chev and I have come a long way in a year and some odd months.

This is from her second greenie show on 5/8/10.  I remember we didn't do cantering under saddle yet so I just showed her in the walk/trot classes.  We did two that day.  That was all my legs could take.  Believe it or not, we took second in this class.

I think this may have been the judge noticing Chev was the only one in the class who was actually "green".  There was a whole lot of crank/yanking going on with some of the other horses.  You can see some of it in the video.

But no matter!

My point with posting this video is to show how much her movement has changed from that time.

In case you can't tell, Chev is the Amazon...I am in the blue hunt coat simultaneously trying with all my might to keep her going, while attempting to steer clear of other horses (and the judge) on a horse that is just learning how to steer.



I remember I was actually, literally sweating through all of this.  Half way through I felt like my legs were going to give out.  Some of it was nerves, but most of it was sheer muscle exhaustion.
 
She took so much leg at this point to keep going that I remember I almost died when the announcer asked for "extended trot".  Crap!  That's what we were doing already!  Where do I go from here?

Are you surprised that one of my goals in her training has been for her to take light leg?  Ha, ha.  My equitation is understandably terrible in the video as I attempt to keep us from dying.

You can also see pretty easily how much she is "on the forehand" here.  She is really heavy up front.  And I am not helping the situation much with my death grip on the reins.

HOWEVER.  As a young horse Chev needed a lot of support from her rider.  She needed something to help her keep balance.  So my contact at this point at least has a reason behind it. 

There is a brief moment at 1:04 where she drops her head and powers up over her back from her hindquarters.  It lasts about 2 seconds.  That was about all the collection she could maintain back then.  But I remember it happening--it felt like she locked into powerhouse mode.  Like she was finally all the way in gear.  It felt great.  She could really move in that position, but she didn't yet have the muscle to keep it up.

I also submit this as evidence that I am actually a huntseat rider.

Not that you'd know it these days...

Chev as a 5 year old, her past life as a huntseat horse

Video--indoor arena ride #3

I had a pretty good ride on Chev today.

She looked absolutely FANTASTIC on the lunge today.  She was free moving and seemed to be in a darn good mood.

It was windy and cold again, so after her warm up we headed to the indoor arena for our 3rd ride there.

I was smart enough to bring the camera this time.  I unfortunately wasn't smart enough to bring more batteries, so the 2nd video I thought I was taking didn't work out so hot.  I did get this though.

I'm showing this to you for a few reasons.  

For one, a laugh.  Watching me mount up is pretty hilarious.  

I didn't realize I looked so ridiculous.  I mean, I knew if she were just a fraction of a hand taller I wouldn't be able to get up there, but this is just silly.  I will be using the mounting block in subsequent videos.

Mostly I want to post this as an example of riding I consider to be pretty sub-par.  It's obvious how nervous the horse is. 

She's fidgety and playing constantly with the bit.   Her body is stiff and over-reactive.  

In turn, I'm being way too heavy handed.

We both look pretty uncomfortable.  

You can see that at the far end of the arena, she's constantly either trying to break stride or rush out of there. There are also a bunch of sticky moments where bending either is happening too much or not enough.

Of course, you know the background for this ride already if you've read my posts on day 1 and day 2.

I like the part where she spooks right in front of the camera.

You can also hear the wind howling and her buddy screaming in the background.

Still--this is a vast improvement on her last ride in the indoor arena--ride #2.  Unfortunately this arena is too small to get any really good work in.  For a horse as big as she is, it's a challenge.  Her canter felt a lot more hair-raising than it looks in the video, but having said that, it still looks pretty bad.

After this we braved the wind and had some really nice canter transitions outside.  Again, my draped rein, nicely collected horse was back.

I noticed something today, too.  She can be straight as an arrow in the canter.  For a few strides anyway.  We had some really nice moments of her being lifted, straight and supporting her weight and mine without much help from me.

I'll try to figure out how to get a video out there sometime, so you can see me getting blown off my horse.

Obviously she's a lot happier working in the environment she's comfortable in.  Isn't that true of all of us?