I've been a bad blogger lately! So, here is the skinny on the last few weeks.
Last week I was battling a 2 week cold/flu that was trying to make its way into my chest. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep and what little I did wasn't very good. I showed up to my lesson determined I wasn't going to miss another one so soon (I‘d missed the previous weeks lesson because of fevers). It was basically a lesson in why rest is very important before going riding. Luckily my lesson horse is this dead-head Percheron cross that only registered mild shock/surprise over my tom foolery.
The focus of last weeks lesson was trotting over a series of poles with my eyes closed. This was a fun lesson and good for learning to feel the rhythm better.
This week I worked on transitioning from trot to canter back to trot over poles. I had a very difficult time transitioning from canter to trot. I was getting really frustrated with this lesson. A good trainer though knows how to recognize this though and that is exactly what I have, a good trainer. She had me take a walk brake and told me a story of one of her other students who started riding late in life and was training for dressage. I won't go into the story here but the moral of the story was that sometimes we think we are doing more poorly then we really are. So, I stopped being hard on myself and it suddenly became easier to do the transitions.
I was also really proud of how much more stamina I had last night. I can't wait for next week's lesson!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Last Night Lessons and Training Update
Getting older is the pits.
It used to be that when I would have a bad day it would be contained within that day. I could go to bed and wake up the next morning like the previous day never happened. Anymore, not so much. Now, if I'm down for a day it effects my whole week. Gods forbid I might be down for a whole week!!!
After I came back from Denver I had my first migraine headache along with a week of neck, back and head pain. I finally got in to see my chiropractor on Tuesday and since I've been sore but the pain is gradually going away.
Last night I went back for my next lesson. I've already got the equipment worked out again so I was able to get myself together and collected much more quickly this time. So, we worked on my body form some.
My biggest posture faux pas is how I hold my shoulders. It's so hard to get that big Percheron moving that I tend to start rounding my shoulders and hunching forward. So, we worked on keeping my shoulders back which in turn keeps my head more up which in turn means I'm looking ahead.
During the course of riding my instructor asked me if I had injured my left ankle. I hadn't recently but I began to realize that I may favor it because of an old injury. When I was about 12 years old I fell down a flight of stairs and broke my ankle. Ever since then my left ankle hasn't been as strong but it isn't something I normally notice. Next week we'll work on exercises to strengthen that ankle.
I really found it hard to keep up the trot for very long periods of time last night. I was winded really fast. Even though I've had some relief from the pain a few days before it's still affecting me. Even with my improved health and physical strength I have to come to terms with the fact I am getting older. This is just another one of those reminders.
I want to make an appointment for a massage this weekend and maybe get another adjustment next week.
Oreo Update
After I came back from Denver I only was able to get one day in with my horse. We worked on the ground with flexing and giving ground. I also worked on hopping up on her back and getting right back off again. She just looks at me curiously and even kicking her butt with my feet doesn't seem to faze her too much. So, the standing for mounting (bareback) is going swimmingly.
I need to order a girth strap and saddle pad. Once I get those in I will start the process of standing for the saddle. All last year that was her biggest upset (I was using a friend's saddle). She just couldn't stand still for it so we'll start from scratch. Maybe this weekend I'll toss a bareback pad on her and see if her problem is with the cinch.
It used to be that when I would have a bad day it would be contained within that day. I could go to bed and wake up the next morning like the previous day never happened. Anymore, not so much. Now, if I'm down for a day it effects my whole week. Gods forbid I might be down for a whole week!!!
After I came back from Denver I had my first migraine headache along with a week of neck, back and head pain. I finally got in to see my chiropractor on Tuesday and since I've been sore but the pain is gradually going away.
Last night I went back for my next lesson. I've already got the equipment worked out again so I was able to get myself together and collected much more quickly this time. So, we worked on my body form some.
My biggest posture faux pas is how I hold my shoulders. It's so hard to get that big Percheron moving that I tend to start rounding my shoulders and hunching forward. So, we worked on keeping my shoulders back which in turn keeps my head more up which in turn means I'm looking ahead.
During the course of riding my instructor asked me if I had injured my left ankle. I hadn't recently but I began to realize that I may favor it because of an old injury. When I was about 12 years old I fell down a flight of stairs and broke my ankle. Ever since then my left ankle hasn't been as strong but it isn't something I normally notice. Next week we'll work on exercises to strengthen that ankle.
I really found it hard to keep up the trot for very long periods of time last night. I was winded really fast. Even though I've had some relief from the pain a few days before it's still affecting me. Even with my improved health and physical strength I have to come to terms with the fact I am getting older. This is just another one of those reminders.
I want to make an appointment for a massage this weekend and maybe get another adjustment next week.
Oreo Update
After I came back from Denver I only was able to get one day in with my horse. We worked on the ground with flexing and giving ground. I also worked on hopping up on her back and getting right back off again. She just looks at me curiously and even kicking her butt with my feet doesn't seem to faze her too much. So, the standing for mounting (bareback) is going swimmingly.
I need to order a girth strap and saddle pad. Once I get those in I will start the process of standing for the saddle. All last year that was her biggest upset (I was using a friend's saddle). She just couldn't stand still for it so we'll start from scratch. Maybe this weekend I'll toss a bareback pad on her and see if her problem is with the cinch.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Traveling
This week I'll be in Denver training with my new company.
I really love this state and if the price of land wasn't so high I'd move in a heart beat!
I'll be back on Friday. Have a good week!
I really love this state and if the price of land wasn't so high I'd move in a heart beat!
I'll be back on Friday. Have a good week!
Friday, July 18, 2008
History
English Riding 101: Early Life
Years ago, when I was knee high to a grasshopper, I learned to ride at an english riding/boarding
stable located in PA. I was the fat dumpy girl who couldn't quite get the girth strap tight enough or figure out the lead changes. You know the one that everyone rolled their eyes at? Yeah, that was me. I was that girl.
It wasn't that I didn't want to learn it was more like my parents really couldn't understand why I wanted to go hang out at a barn all day long and eventually pulled me when I started learning the really hard lessons (like how important a tight girth strap really is). Being as the stable was a good distance from our home (too far to ride a bike at that age) I had to put it aside for a time.
They did their best to distract me from horses but I'm stubborn and when I like something I don't let go of it easily. They wouldn't budge on lessons but as I got a little older my father met a lady who had a small breeding stable nearby. She raised Standardbreds for racing. She told him she was looking for some help around the barn so my dad (always the big softie) brought home the news to me and it wasn't long after that I was working for her.
I learned a lot about scooping poop and my next very valuable lesson came into play. I learned the value of gloves and how they protect the hands from rope burn and around farm equipment.
Sadly, I was too young to drive and this lady lived even further away (about 45 min). My mother wasn't particularly amused with me wanting to hang around a barn again and one day told me it was too far away and she was tired of driving me out there. That ended my career as a stable hand.
Life After Horses? Doesn't Exist!
After that I pretty much turned into a rebellious and very depressed teenager. I started dying my hair funky colors, wearing black clothing and listening to music that was mainly about corpses and lost love. Yeah, I was every parents dream child. I still never lost my love of horses though and dreamed of a time when I might make my own rules.
Life pretty much went on and I grew up, went to college, moved to a new state (OK), got married and didn't have kids. I started taking in "rescues"... which pretty much consisted of dogs and cats left on the streets. I even took in a few lizards and birds that were no long wanted. Some of them we kept and others were re-homed. I tried my hand at fostering pets for a local no kill shelter but I got burned when a few times the animals were released from the vet carrying kennel cough or had behaviors that made them pretty much unadoptable to the average home.
This was the point in life where people saw us as the pet dump and we saw lots of them. Our vet was pretty good to us at the time and we got plenty of discounts as one of their bread and butter clients.
Hubby and I pretty much decided after many years that we wanted to move out to the country. We were getting tired of dealing with the stress of living in town with loud neighbors and we wanted to have some more space for the dogs to run. It was a good choice and set me up for the inevitable.
A Horse Of Course!
After living in the country for almost two years and verging on my 30s I started getting that itch I just couldn't scratch. All you horse lovers out there know the one. I was a girl without a horse and that needed to change. There were lots of horses pastured all around but I really didn't know anyone. Anyone who's lived in the country knows that people are pretty friendly but they also know an outsider and I definitely was one. I didn't feel comfortable just driving up and asking a person about their horses.
I work in the IT field and have spent a lot of time browsing the intertubes so I started doing searches and found that there are whole websites dedicated to buying and selling horses. I started drooling over profiles for horses online. I started reading over the many different breed types and the idea of a comfortable riding steed became alluring. I decided I wanted to try a gaited horse.
During all this research I stumbled upon a breed who hasn't been promoted all that much but what I did read sounded impressive. The Missouri Fox Trotter was a purported to be a horse that is smooth riding, reliable and level headed. Among the many sites I found one for a breeder in Oklahoma. Their site was well laid out and they sounded friendly and inviting. I decided to send them a message.
I really didn't intend to buy the first horse I came along. I really intended to do some more shopping but in this case the first stop was a good one. The horses were calm and friendly and very mindful of their human counterparts. I tried one out and she was the smoothest riding and easiest going horse I'd ever ridden. Unfortunately, she was over my price range. They had a few babies for sale and even though I'd worked around babies before I wasn't entirely sure about owning one.
I went home the first day and started looking online again. I didn't find any other of the local breeders to have quite as inviting a website and there were lots of great sites and breeders out there but they were all in other states. I wasn't quite ready to push out that far in my search.
I kept going back to the site for the first one I called. They had a black and white filly on their site that was coming two years old. Still a green horse but had plenty of ground manners taught to her. I decided to make another trip. the second time was like the first and I started messing with the different horses for sale. This one 2 year old was always there in my pocket just nudging me and whispering in my ear.
I can't remember if it was on that second trip or a third trip that I decided to sign a contract to buy her but buy her I did. I really didn't intend to buy a green horse. I knew better then that and yet she to this day has been a good match for me. She does have her moments (she is a mare after all) but she has been willing and smart with all her ground training.
I decided to wait to put her under saddle until she turned three. I had by this time found a lady who had a lot more land then I and horses for my girl to romp and play with. Her board was cheap and I knew her son as he worked with hubby.
When she turned three I sent her to a trainer... a local cowboy who was a friend of the lady I boarded with. She said he was quiet and gentle and she was right. He really just knew horses and could ride just about anything. My girl had pretty much been sacked out by this point and had so much round pen and ground driving put on her she was easy for him to break. He had no bucking or rearing from her and road her through one of the rainiest months we've had in a long time. She did well and I rode her lightly after that.
Still, I'm a big girl and I didn't want to work her too hard so I waited another year for her to put some more growth on. Sadly, I ran into some rough spots in my life so I didn't get to do much with her through the winter. I spent some time working on her lightly on a line and worked on standing still to mount and dismount. In the late part of spring, she developed an abscess on her front right fetlock and I put her to rest for a while.
English Riding 101: A new start
Last year I discovered I have an intolerance to wheat/gluten products. I had to go on a gluten free diet. One of the very nice side effects to this diet was that I lost 50 lbs. Woo hoo! I'm still a bigger girl but in the last year I've had more strength and energy then I've ever had in my entire life. Sadly, I've hit a plateau and without some serious dieting and exercise I won't be taking off that extra 60lbs I'd like to get rid of.
In the back of my mind this whole time I've really wanted to get back into english style riding. I had spent a good amount of time with a buddy and her horses riding western. While I enjoy it there is still a part of me that wanted to put on the fancy boots and helmet and hop into a hunt seat again... except that you don't just hop into a hunt seat after years and years of no practice. It is just the kind of workout that I need though to further my health so, I decided I needed some lessons.
I found a lady who teaches adults and children for english and western. Her stable is pretty laid back and she owns all her schooling horses. After talking with her I decided to give it a try. Last night was my first lesson. I was given this old Percheron cross who used to pony race horses around. He's basically a plod and I needed to show him a riding crop to get him to take me seriously.
To my embarrassment, I had to relearn all the equipment and posture. How easily we forget! Shoulders back, heels down, toes out! I did remember how to hold the reins at least! lol!
I was asked to walk/trot and hold my pose for 2, 3, 4 then 5 beats during posting. It's amazing how readily I found my rhythm and yet at the same time I felt like I was bouncing around all over that darned arena! Oy! I feel so out of shape!
Thoughts
If you've read this far you're either really bored or I'm a more interesting person then I realized.
I've been an avid reader of the Fugly Horse blog for a while now and her side blog about her Very Large Colt. A number of readers also blog about their riding/training experiences on their horses. I think it's an excellent idea and I'm putting myself out here. If I write about it then I can track my progress and hopefully keep moving forward. There's a lot to do between training me and training my horse and I don't dare let her (or I) sit around without a job. ;)
Years ago, when I was knee high to a grasshopper, I learned to ride at an english riding/boarding
stable located in PA. I was the fat dumpy girl who couldn't quite get the girth strap tight enough or figure out the lead changes. You know the one that everyone rolled their eyes at? Yeah, that was me. I was that girl.
It wasn't that I didn't want to learn it was more like my parents really couldn't understand why I wanted to go hang out at a barn all day long and eventually pulled me when I started learning the really hard lessons (like how important a tight girth strap really is). Being as the stable was a good distance from our home (too far to ride a bike at that age) I had to put it aside for a time.
They did their best to distract me from horses but I'm stubborn and when I like something I don't let go of it easily. They wouldn't budge on lessons but as I got a little older my father met a lady who had a small breeding stable nearby. She raised Standardbreds for racing. She told him she was looking for some help around the barn so my dad (always the big softie) brought home the news to me and it wasn't long after that I was working for her.
I learned a lot about scooping poop and my next very valuable lesson came into play. I learned the value of gloves and how they protect the hands from rope burn and around farm equipment.
Sadly, I was too young to drive and this lady lived even further away (about 45 min). My mother wasn't particularly amused with me wanting to hang around a barn again and one day told me it was too far away and she was tired of driving me out there. That ended my career as a stable hand.
Life After Horses? Doesn't Exist!
After that I pretty much turned into a rebellious and very depressed teenager. I started dying my hair funky colors, wearing black clothing and listening to music that was mainly about corpses and lost love. Yeah, I was every parents dream child. I still never lost my love of horses though and dreamed of a time when I might make my own rules.
Life pretty much went on and I grew up, went to college, moved to a new state (OK), got married and didn't have kids. I started taking in "rescues"... which pretty much consisted of dogs and cats left on the streets. I even took in a few lizards and birds that were no long wanted. Some of them we kept and others were re-homed. I tried my hand at fostering pets for a local no kill shelter but I got burned when a few times the animals were released from the vet carrying kennel cough or had behaviors that made them pretty much unadoptable to the average home.
This was the point in life where people saw us as the pet dump and we saw lots of them. Our vet was pretty good to us at the time and we got plenty of discounts as one of their bread and butter clients.
Hubby and I pretty much decided after many years that we wanted to move out to the country. We were getting tired of dealing with the stress of living in town with loud neighbors and we wanted to have some more space for the dogs to run. It was a good choice and set me up for the inevitable.
A Horse Of Course!
After living in the country for almost two years and verging on my 30s I started getting that itch I just couldn't scratch. All you horse lovers out there know the one. I was a girl without a horse and that needed to change. There were lots of horses pastured all around but I really didn't know anyone. Anyone who's lived in the country knows that people are pretty friendly but they also know an outsider and I definitely was one. I didn't feel comfortable just driving up and asking a person about their horses.
I work in the IT field and have spent a lot of time browsing the intertubes so I started doing searches and found that there are whole websites dedicated to buying and selling horses. I started drooling over profiles for horses online. I started reading over the many different breed types and the idea of a comfortable riding steed became alluring. I decided I wanted to try a gaited horse.
During all this research I stumbled upon a breed who hasn't been promoted all that much but what I did read sounded impressive. The Missouri Fox Trotter was a purported to be a horse that is smooth riding, reliable and level headed. Among the many sites I found one for a breeder in Oklahoma. Their site was well laid out and they sounded friendly and inviting. I decided to send them a message.
I really didn't intend to buy the first horse I came along. I really intended to do some more shopping but in this case the first stop was a good one. The horses were calm and friendly and very mindful of their human counterparts. I tried one out and she was the smoothest riding and easiest going horse I'd ever ridden. Unfortunately, she was over my price range. They had a few babies for sale and even though I'd worked around babies before I wasn't entirely sure about owning one.
I went home the first day and started looking online again. I didn't find any other of the local breeders to have quite as inviting a website and there were lots of great sites and breeders out there but they were all in other states. I wasn't quite ready to push out that far in my search.
I kept going back to the site for the first one I called. They had a black and white filly on their site that was coming two years old. Still a green horse but had plenty of ground manners taught to her. I decided to make another trip. the second time was like the first and I started messing with the different horses for sale. This one 2 year old was always there in my pocket just nudging me and whispering in my ear.
I can't remember if it was on that second trip or a third trip that I decided to sign a contract to buy her but buy her I did. I really didn't intend to buy a green horse. I knew better then that and yet she to this day has been a good match for me. She does have her moments (she is a mare after all) but she has been willing and smart with all her ground training.
I decided to wait to put her under saddle until she turned three. I had by this time found a lady who had a lot more land then I and horses for my girl to romp and play with. Her board was cheap and I knew her son as he worked with hubby.
When she turned three I sent her to a trainer... a local cowboy who was a friend of the lady I boarded with. She said he was quiet and gentle and she was right. He really just knew horses and could ride just about anything. My girl had pretty much been sacked out by this point and had so much round pen and ground driving put on her she was easy for him to break. He had no bucking or rearing from her and road her through one of the rainiest months we've had in a long time. She did well and I rode her lightly after that.
Still, I'm a big girl and I didn't want to work her too hard so I waited another year for her to put some more growth on. Sadly, I ran into some rough spots in my life so I didn't get to do much with her through the winter. I spent some time working on her lightly on a line and worked on standing still to mount and dismount. In the late part of spring, she developed an abscess on her front right fetlock and I put her to rest for a while.
English Riding 101: A new start
Last year I discovered I have an intolerance to wheat/gluten products. I had to go on a gluten free diet. One of the very nice side effects to this diet was that I lost 50 lbs. Woo hoo! I'm still a bigger girl but in the last year I've had more strength and energy then I've ever had in my entire life. Sadly, I've hit a plateau and without some serious dieting and exercise I won't be taking off that extra 60lbs I'd like to get rid of.
In the back of my mind this whole time I've really wanted to get back into english style riding. I had spent a good amount of time with a buddy and her horses riding western. While I enjoy it there is still a part of me that wanted to put on the fancy boots and helmet and hop into a hunt seat again... except that you don't just hop into a hunt seat after years and years of no practice. It is just the kind of workout that I need though to further my health so, I decided I needed some lessons.
I found a lady who teaches adults and children for english and western. Her stable is pretty laid back and she owns all her schooling horses. After talking with her I decided to give it a try. Last night was my first lesson. I was given this old Percheron cross who used to pony race horses around. He's basically a plod and I needed to show him a riding crop to get him to take me seriously.
To my embarrassment, I had to relearn all the equipment and posture. How easily we forget! Shoulders back, heels down, toes out! I did remember how to hold the reins at least! lol!
I was asked to walk/trot and hold my pose for 2, 3, 4 then 5 beats during posting. It's amazing how readily I found my rhythm and yet at the same time I felt like I was bouncing around all over that darned arena! Oy! I feel so out of shape!
Thoughts
If you've read this far you're either really bored or I'm a more interesting person then I realized.
I've been an avid reader of the Fugly Horse blog for a while now and her side blog about her Very Large Colt. A number of readers also blog about their riding/training experiences on their horses. I think it's an excellent idea and I'm putting myself out here. If I write about it then I can track my progress and hopefully keep moving forward. There's a lot to do between training me and training my horse and I don't dare let her (or I) sit around without a job. ;)
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