2017 Goals

     I’m honestly not one for making goals with deadlines.  I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions because I try to make any changes that I want as I notice them.  I think it’s especially hard with horses because as soon as you make a goal they’ll get injured or just really struggle with a concept (in Mort's case it's always both).  With all those disclaimers—here are my 2017 goals!

Horse Related:

Show First Level

     Schooling show or recognized
Counter Canter
Simple Changes

Haunches-in

Attend a dressage clinic

     More than one would be great, but we’ll see how that budget goes. 

Train Mort to be quiet for clipping

     This mainly applies to ears.  He’s awful about them and I should work on that. 

Poles

     I want my horse to be able to w/t/c over a pole without falling apart. 

Massage

     I really want to get him checked out by a professional.  He’s so tense with the chiro that I think a massage might be better for him at this point.  I’m at least curious as to what she would have to say.  I conveniently have one who boards where I do, so I need to hit her up. 

Human Related:  

Run Half Marathon

     I ran my first one in October and while I finished I didn’t finish in my goal time so I need round two.

     Also continue running 3-5 days/week with at least one hard and one long. 

Become a better trainer

     More lessons—someone to watch me and keep me honest

     Get better about knowing when to push—just got to experiment and be bolder/more demanding

     Continue riding 4-6 days/week—only way to get better is to keep trying to get better

Start seriously saving for a house/property

     Our lease is up in April and we’re tired of renting.  I’m also for damn sure tired of moving. 

Keep the family life good 

     As with most horse-obsessed folks I need to make sure that not all of my time and our money goes toward the pony stuff.  Balance in life and crap.  Luckily Steven has his own hobbies too so we’re good about doing our own things (yay for not being dependent), but this is something I always need to keep in mind. 

I guess that’s it for now.  I think some will be more difficult than others (and some will be ongoing forever and ever), but overall I’ll definitely achieve some of them (right?).  I’m already regretting writing about his ear clipping and the poles because I am lazy, and I’m not sure about counter canter and the simple changes.  They honestly weren’t on the first draft because they seem far away, but when I think about where we were last December/January it seems more of a possibility. 

A Review of Last Year:  

     Just a short year ago we were working on recovering from an injury, his canter was a hot mess, and he had never been to a horse show.  By March we were showing intro and discovering how well he traveled.  The summer set in to working on his education both in the arena and on trails.  Fall continued with me working harder on my education and things starting to click for Mort.  As much as I know how far we have to go we are still miles ahead of where we were.  Every once in a while I get a feel of the horse that I’m working for--hopefully the trend continues.  Here’s to another year in the horse world (and I guess the regular world too)!

Another Day, Another Ride

     Of course since this past weekend was very cold and even more icy I didn’t get out to the barn.  This meant not only three days off for Mort, but also limited turnout.  He let me know on Monday that it wasn’t his favorite.  I did decide to start with a short lunge and kept it a simple ride.  He moved off my leg some and did the gaits that I asked for so I called it a win.  I could feel the energy bubbling below the surface. 

     Tuesday we had a more in-depth ride with some really satisfying trot work.  He is really catching on to those leg yields even when they come in places he doesn’t expect.  I did some canter each direction that was not very satisfying.  He was either dragging me down on the forehand or he was awfully unbalanced with his head high in the air.  He hung on the inside rein and he fell on that inside shoulder in the left lead.  He burrowed down and fishtailed in the right lead.  It was not ideal.  I just felt like all of the progress we had made last week fell away with just a few days off. 

     While obviously our schedule flew out the window I did still give him Wednesday off so that I could get in a long run.  This week will be spent getting him back right before he gets another few days off when I go home for Christmas.  Horses are fun and training is fun especially when it’s like 15 degrees.  Just keep riding.  

     Thursday I went out to find a fun, swollen scrape that ran behind his left elbow down to between his front legs.  Cleaned it up, gave him some meds and went home.  Hopefully by the time I get back Monday he'll be ready to get back to work...or at least get a lunge if it's still swollen.  Merry Christmas Mort--more time off.  

Let's Make a Schedule

     Mort is sometimes stepping up to put on his big boy panties, so I need to step up as a rider/trainer/hopeless adult amateur and ask him to be a big boy consistently.  I have to consistently ask him for good work if I want him to consistently give it to me.  It seems to be especially important to Mort since he's really into anticipating.  Not only does he anticipate, but he gets offended when I tell him something he doesn't think should come next.  It's a hard horse life.

     Barn manager/trainer/instructor gave me the idea to come up with a schedule of what we will do each day so that I can't use the excuse of Mort seeming tense/nervous/upset/whatever and step down our work to meet him.  He's darn well trained enough by now that sometimes he's going to have to step up his work to meet me.  We're not talking crazy stuff here, just relax in the lateral work and carry his own damn self.

     Obviously not every day can be demanding and educational or both of our brains will crack, so some of these days are easier on him.  However, I will always make sure that he moves off of my leg and carries himself properly for whatever we're working on.  Below I have outlined our schedule and what those different items mean to our training.

Mondays:   Hard work day
     This means that Mort and I come out to play.  I'm talking transitions boot camp (both within and between the gaits).  He's got to move off my leg without complaint and sometimes with more sideways and/or bend than he may think he can handle.  Hard work days should be filled with changes of speed and direction to make him really think about listening to me and waiting for me to tell him what I want next.
     We've done a couple of these days and they've actually gone really well.  They sometimes start off tense, but with all of the activity he can't help but think and listen sometimes which means that the rides turn out fairly well.  They are both physically and mentally hard so once he's really with me I only play a little longer before I let him be done.  Hopefully someday the time it takes for him to be with me will be shorter and the playing can be longer.

Tuesdays:  Pole day
     My least favorite.  He's bad at them, and I'm never going to jump him so my motivation is low.  I know poles are wonderful for so many dressage things, I'm just a lazy turd.  I honestly didn't want this to be a part of our winter, but BM (Barn Manager) made a good point that he needs to be angry about something other than my leg/seat.  He finds so many things offensive that sometimes it'll be good for our relationship to have it be a dumb stick on the ground while I sit up top quietly just asking for forward tempo.  It's important and I know once he's better at poles it'll actually be fun to be able to play with them in our future.

Wednesdays:  Off
     He always gets Wednesdays off.  They're the mornings I wake up at 3:15am to feed and turnout the ponies.  It's also my LSD (long slow distance) day for running.  He gets a day off and I get in better shape.  Win-win.

Thursdays:  Long & Low/Fitness
     This is sorta a mix between a happy relationship building day and muscles.  The hardest part is making sure he still is using himself properly and not just bombing around on his forehand.  Being a dressage horse is rough stuff.  He's usually a very happy with long and low and stays fairly relaxed for me.
     I can also see these days being phased out over the next several months.  I do long and low at the beginning and end of every ride and fitness comes from regular hard rides as well.  I'm thinking someday Thursdays will be a ride where we work on things which we are good at doing and he's happy doing for me.  That's sort of what long & low is right now, someday soon I think it'll easily be more than that.  Thursdays:  Reinforce good stuff

Fridays:  Lunge
     Honestly sometimes Fridays are a second day off, but most of the time I do get out there.  Lunging can be a lot of things for Mort.  Sometimes I let him do long and low and work on that topline.  Sometimes I slap a bit in his mouth and make him work on a million transitions.  Sometimes I play with small circles and big circles.  Ideally we do all of these items.  Since I have a long & low day scheduled in for riding I do tend to go more with difficult items on the lunge--especially canter transitions!
     We also long lined for the first time last month.  I should work on playing with that more in our future because it gives me better feel of him than just lunging but he still doesn't have my body getting in his way at all.  So many things I want us to accomplish.

Saturdays:  Hard Ride
     Same as Mondays--a little bit of everything and a lot of something that seems particularly difficult that day.  Want to scoot into the canter transitions?  We'll work on that. Whatever we're struggling with, we'll do.

Sundays:  Trail/Fitness
     I still think that a lot of his canter woes come from a weak hind end.  Strong hind ends come from lots of things and trotting hills is one of my favorites.  It gets him strong and forward and swing-y to be outside.  We both also get some mental breaks from the arena.

Obviously I ride a horse and not a machine.  He's never going to be perfect (lord knows I'm never going to be perfect), so one still does have to take into account if it's a off day.  But overall I should probably hold his hand less--he's going to be eight soon and I've had him almost a year and a half now.  We need to step up if I want him showing first level next year (or ever).

Blog Hop: 10 Questions

I'm not really sure whether I give credit to the person who I stole it from or who they stole it from, so I'm going to credit Confessions of A Dressage Barbie (http://www.dressagebarbie.com/2016/12/blog-hop-december-10-questions.html?m=1) and if you're interested you can jump over to hers and see who she got it from.

Does your horse need shoes?
When I first got him he was barefoot for a year.  This past summer I opted for front shoes because his feet were wearing down too quickly and he was ouchy on gravel.  I have kept the front shoes on.


What do you think of the barefoot vs. shoe debate?
I think people should shoe or not shoe their horse based on what that horse needs at that time.

I like barefoot only in that I really like the luxury of not ever getting the text "Your horse lost a shoe in turnout today".  Obviously with the answer to the above question though my horse's comfort always comes first.

Favorite season for riding?
Fall for sure.  I love the cooling temperatures and the spunk it tends to bring out in horses.

How many shows do you think you've gone to?
A lot--from a ton of fun shows when I was a kid (from hunter to western and things in between), to both recognized and schooling dressage shows in my more adult life.  

Do you consider yourself a good rider?
Yes, I think that I am generally a good rider.  My equitation can be really good when I'm on a horse who listens really well to the aids.  My equitation is OK when I'm training.  I am definitely not perfect, but I do continue to take lessons and constantly try to improve myself--which I think is the real mark of a good rider/horseperson.

How experienced do you think someone needs to be to own a horse?
I think it depends whether they plan on boarding/taking lessons/learning or keeping the horse at their own home.  I also think that the person caring a lot about listening to other equine professionals is important. So I guess my answer is less about experience and more about the person being willing to seek help when needed.

Of course they should know the basic handling/care/vitals to know when to contact that help.

This horse is tired of its novice owner probably

Have you ever gotten into a fight with your trainer?
No.  I'm an easy-going person so I don't fight easily.  I would only fight with someone if it came down to horse welfare issues--which I have thankfully never encountered with anyone who I have worked with.

Does anyone in your family ride?
My mother had horses growing up and I definitely got most of my care/medical knowledge from her (yay large animal vet techs!).
One of my sisters took lessons for a year in elementary school with me.
I have an aunt who had horses.
Currently I am the only one who actively rides and owns horses.

If you could ride any horse in the world, which one would it be?  Why?
Every dressage rider's answer:  Valegro
Honestly I'd love to ride a very well trained horse in all of the disciplines to get a taste of each of
them.

  

Who wouldn't want to ride that?

A Boring Lack of Media

Hello world; it's been a while.

I'd make excuses if I cared just a little bit more but I don't. I started this blog to monitor Mort's progress over our time and training together.  I should probably post more to get a better picture, but I find that running and riding win a lot more often than computer time.  I honestly don't even know the last time I cracked open my laptop at home.  It's been months and I have no regrets.  Christmas shopping has forced me to get back onto the computer machine (because I am not a fan of regular shopping) so here I am again.

Mort had a month or three weeks off during the "I think his legs are worse than they are debacle".  The following couple weeks we worked on getting back into some shape and mainly focused on relaxing.  For Mort this meant a lot of long and low trot work and happy trail rides.

Once I started picking him back up, more often than not, he started getting a bit sassy (aka angry).  We've done the pain thing that came up with no real reasons as to why he'd be angry.  After a frustrating ride of trying to convince Mort that he actually had to carry himself  I had two things I wanted to experiment with.  First, I did a ride-swap with friend/trainer/barn owner.  I wanted advice on what she felt in him and what she thought we should work on.  She got to ride my turd-y Mort and I got to ride her sassy Ali.

She said two things that I think really stuck with me.  First, stop letting him get away with stuff.  I am 100% guilty of wanting to find the relaxation and happiness and he's 100% guilty of being a horse and taking advantage of that.  Sometimes in training there will be tension; as long as it's fair and you're sure you aren't actually asking for too much it's the only way to progress.  She is definitely not he first person to tell me this, nor will she be the last.  It's a real struggle for me to know when to push.

Second thing she did almost immediately was some sitting trot.  I had played with that a tiny bit before Mort's time off, but not much.  She said it helped her get better control of him with her seat.  The next day I gave it a go and noticed immediately that my seat would follow his body more often than my seat telling his body where to go.  My bad.  Luckily sitting the trot gives me much more seat control and I could start to remedy that.  Hello moving off of my leg because my seat is enabling that to actually happen.

The other big thing that I wanted to try was some ulcer treatment.  Overall I see him becoming a less sassy and happier horse even when called upon for work.  Being a competition horse (and an OTTB) on an ulcer supplement sure isn't going to hurt him and it's an inexpensive way to ensure that his tummy feels good.

I've had two lessons with Tara since.  We've also been participating in No-Stirrup November religiously so we've done a lot of sitting trot.  He is moving off of my legs much better and definitely more consistently these days.  His trot work is becoming more and more established.  His canter work is slower to progress but I am seeing improvements.  Right now we're working on adjust-ability and shoulder control.  His transitions are still animated but I'm getting more that are round rather than hollow.  I'll take some small improvements.

Mort and I dressage-ing (with puppy dog hands from me of course)

I'd love to get to a couple of clinics this winter and be ready to show in the spring.  We'll see how it goes and how Mr. Mort wants to improve.