tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48410455989959933462024-02-19T08:50:36.132-08:00The Redheaded Standardbred2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-36679263170689452152016-02-18T20:40:00.001-08:002016-02-18T20:43:33.131-08:00Western Pleasure for the Standardbred<b>Western Pleasure for the Standardbred</b><br />
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Even the most ardent Standardbred devotee has to admit that the breed isn't the first to come to mind as a western pleasure candidate. Certainly, the Standardbred is a solid choice for pleasure riding on the trails, but show pen western pleasure, largely the domain of slow-moving Quarter horses mincing around the ring with low heads and loose reins, seems a little far-fetched for a breed developed to fly down the racetrack, pulling on the lines at the trot or pace while hitched to a sulky.<br />
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But two of the breed's greatest attributes, willingness and a good work ethic, coupled with a good measure of patience and perseverance, make the Standardbred a surprise contender in the western show pen. <br />
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<b>Start With a Good Foundation</b><br />
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Before you venture into <i>any</i> specialized riding discipline, whether dressage, jumping, or western pleasure, your Standardbred needs a solid foundation under saddle. Your Standardbred should be comfortable carrying a saddle and a rider, and should have a working knowledge of basic aids and commands. The horse should know the basics of steering, speeding up, slowing down, and stopping in response to rider cues. He should be able to be ridden at the walk and trot, should halt and stand quietly, and should know how to back. In addition, teaching the green Standardbred to yield to the bit is key to submission and obedience in any discipline. Standardbreds are raced with an overcheck which holds the horse's neck in an upright, somewhat hollowed position. This encourages the horse to maintain his racing gait while making it harder for him to break into a gallop. This head carriage may take some time to overcome, as this upright position may have become a "comfort zone" for your horse. It is easiest to initiate yielding to the bit at the halt or even on the ground. I like to lightly see-saw the bit back and forth in the horse's mouth, rewarding even the slightest amount that the horse gives to the bit. I also teach the horse to give laterally by gently tugging on one rein at the halt until the horse bends his neck around to touch my foot or stirrup with his muzzle. Be sure to work both sides. There are also methods to encourage yielding to the bit through side reins and other training aids. Whatever methods you use, be consistent and forgiving. <br />
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<b>Comfort Is Key</b><br />
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The green Standardbred under saddle is likely to be forward moving, bouncy, and uncollected in the initial stages of his western pleasure training. Because of this, it is often easier to start them in English tack, whether a dressage, hunt seat, or cut-back saddle. In any case, the rider should select a saddle that they are comfortable riding the horse in, and one that allows the rider to maintain a balanced, correct, and effective riding position no matter what awkward efforts your green Standardbred may throw your way. An effective riding position means that, at the halt, your heels should be aligned with the center of your hip and with your ear. Your elbows should follow a natural bend which allows your forearms to align with the bit when your horse's head is in a neutral position. Your stirrups should be short enough to allow some heel flexion and to allow you to post to the trot without losing your balance or relying on your hands for balance.<br />
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<b>Snaffle First</b><br />
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One of the hallmarks of a finished western horse is the ability to work in a curb bit with very light contact, guided with just one hand on the reins. This is achieved only through hours of slow, meticulous training and a solid foundation. This foundation is achieved by starting the horse in a simple snaffle bit or even a bosal or hackamore. DO NOT BE IN A HURRY TO TRANSITION THE HORSE TO A CURB BIT OR TO RIDE WITH ONE HAND! Rushing this step will make it difficult to teach the horse proper self-carriage, softness, and collection. Use the mildest snaffle that the horse will consistently respond to. As a racehorse, your Standardbred was encouraged to take hold of the bit and drive down to the finish line. As a result, you will initially need more rein contact than if you were starting with a previously unbroken horse. Having some contact with the reins will allow you to administer rein cues more quickly, smoothly, and subtly than if you first have to reel in a foot of loose, flopping rein.<br />
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<b>Half-Halts & Collection</b><br />
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Now that you and your Standardbred are outfitted with correct and comfortable tack and have mastered basic riding position and cues, it's time to start refining your western pleasure performance. During your day to day riding, work on slowing your horse's tempo and shortening his stride at the walk and trot. You want your horse to be collected and stepping under himself, but unlike in hunt seat, dressage, and saddle seat pleasure classes, he should not track up or overstep his front feet with his hind feet. Initially, his jog will probably resemble a collected trot more than a western jog, but over time, he will learn to soften his steps and relax into a jog. Use your voice, seat, leg, and hands to perform a half-halt to slow your horse. When my horse is jogging faster than I'd like, I use the command "Easy" (pronouced Eeeee Zee with the emphasis on the first syllable) when I ask for a half-halt. On the second syllable, I squeeze the reins, resist his motion slightly with the seat, and use just a bit of leg to keep him moving into my hands. Eventually, he will learn to associate the vocal cue with the half-halt, and your other aids can become more subtle or even non-existent. When you need just a little slow-down, you can resist his rhythm with your seat ever so slightly to encourage a slower tempo, You can also use frequent but methodical transitions and changes of direction to rate his speed, slow his tempo, and encourage relaxation and focus while keeping his balance centered over his haunches. For the horse that just doesn't seem to grasp shortening his stride, 3-5 trotting poles placed just a few inches tighter than his usual trot stride can help him learn to shorten up. Over time, the distances can be further shortened until you have achieved a more acceptable jog.<br />
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As your horse tries to figure out what you are asking for and how to move his body at the jog, he may have a tendency to get a little disjointed and fall into an ambling, half-walk/half-trot gait. Calmly add a bit more leg and a little less hand to correct him back into a slow 2-beat trot and then repeat your efforts with the half-halt. Being overly harsh and kicking or spurring him will only destroy his relaxation and willingness to try to go slow. Some horses have more aptitude than others, but be sure to recognize and reward whatever honest effort he gives you. The same basic premises apply to the lope, but in depth discussion is beyond the scope of this article and will be addressed at a later date. <br />
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<b>Repetition & Relaxation</b><br />
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A winning western pleasure performance should look relaxed and effortless. This is the result of hours of practice and repetition, as well as preparing the horse for the sights and sounds he will encounter in a horse show environment. I like to cross-train my Standardbreds in a variety of disciplines to prevent boredom and sourness, and also to make them well-rounded and adaptable. If your horse is sour or tense and nervous, he will not be able to give you his best performance. Though horses will be horses, my goal is to get my horse used to as many unusual sights and sounds as I can and bring him to believe that horse shows are boring and nothing to get excited about. Since I show primarily in judged events that focus on obedience and harmony, I don't do any speed events, games, or other events likely to get him riled up until I'm sure he has a very solid foundation of showing and has proven that he can keep his wits about him in most circumstances. <br />
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<b>Gimmicks and Short Cuts</b><br />
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Western pleasure has gained an untoward reputation in some circles relating to artificial head sets, stilted gaits, and two-tracking horses. You may hear some people swear by equipment and techniques like tie downs, hock hobbles, or weighted bits. You may see 4 beat lopes, riders popping their horses' mouths to "correct" them every time the judge isn't looking, horses traveling with their haunches canted to the inside to keep them slow, or horses being made to hold their head down by their knees. I don't practice these techniques; I believe that there is no substitute for steady, methodical training and time, and that a true pleasure horse is one that enjoys his job and is a pleasure to ride, no matter what the breed or discipline. <br />
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<b>Look the Part</b> <br />
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While you don't need a blinged out show saddle and trendy custom outfit to compete in the western pleasure pen at a typical open show with your Standardbred, you want to give the impression that you and your horse belong. You should be at least as well turned-out as the average competitor at the shows you compete at. Your presentation gives the judge their first impression of your horse-rider team, shows your level of respect and understanding for the discipline(s) in which you are competing, and gives the judge their first clue as to whether you are an imposter or true contender. <br />
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For your horse, a good working outfit is acceptable for most levels of western showing. A leather saddle is preferable to a synthetic one for giving the impression that you are a serious western competitor. Whether plain or ornate, your saddle, bridle, and cinch should be clean and well-fitting. An underpad with a woven wool or cotton/acrylic saddle blanket is considered correct for the show ring. Most everyday work pads work fine as underpads so long as the saddle blanket you use is large enough to completely cover them. Suitable basic saddle blankets can be purchased for less than $20 new so there is no excuse for showing with a gaudy fringed Navajo rug hanging askew under your saddle.<br />
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For yourself, if you are not familiar with the ever-changing world of western show fashion, it is best to err on the conservative side. Western pleasure is judged on smoothness and the ability to give a pleasurable ride, so fringed shirts should be avoided as their movement will make your horse appear bouncy. Likewise, it is preferable to avoid busy and gaudy shirts sold by so-called western wear stores; most are meant to be worn to honky-tonks and country western bars rather than the show ring. You really can't go wrong with a solid colored button-down shirt and contrasting handkerchief tied around your neck. Clean, starched jeans or dress pants are acceptable with or without fringed chaps. Paddock shoes or cowboy boots are appropriate; your pants should be worn outside your boots, NOT tucked into them. Tie it together with a coordinating western belt and belt buckle. Though they lack the traditional western look of a cowboy hat, riding helmets are acceptable if you do not have a cowboy hat or simply prefer to err on the side of safety; one or the other should be on your head when you enter the show pen. Before your first show, check the overall impression that you and your horse make by having a friend photograph or video tape you and your horse during a practice ride, fully outfitted in your show ensemble.<br />
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<b>In the Show Ring</b><br />
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There are a few subtleties about showing western pleasure that are different than flat classes in other disciplines. Technically, only horses 5 years of age and under should be shown two-handed in a snaffle bit or bosal. At open shows, this rule isn't generally enforced unless the classes are divided by age of horse into Junior (5 year olds and under) and Senior (6 year olds and over) Western Pleasure. Given that most Standardbreds won't begin their riding training until much later than a western pleasure futurity prospect, I feel that most judges would be understanding of making an exception for a green older Standardbred, though you may have to explain yourself. It is certainly better than overbitting and overfacing your horse. Besides bitting, another difference between western pleasure and English flat classes is that circling to avoid traffic is generally frowned upon. Passing on the inside of a slower horse is acceptable, though it is preferable to minimize this as much as possible. Use the corners of the ring to your advantage to maintain space between yourself and the other horses. If you are gaining on a slower horse in front of you, try going deeper into the corner to buy yourself a little space. If you just finished passing a slower horse and the announcer then asks the class to reverse, take your time changing direction to put more distance between yourself and that horse. Before you even enter the ring, try to gauge which horses are likely to be slower than yours, and don't tailgate them through the in-gate. Also, be prepared to back at some point during the class. In 95% of western pleasure classes, you will be asked to back, either on the rail or in the line-up. Have your reins short enough to cue smoothly for the back in the line-up if the judge hasn't already called for the back on the rail. <br />
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It is my hope that these hints will help you venture successfully into the western pleasure show pen with your Standardbred. Good luck and have fun! <br />
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<b>About the Author</b><br />
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Long-time Standardbred owner and amateur trainer Laura Harbour has trained and ridden her Standardbreds Veruca Salt and Heavymetalthunder to multiple Standardbred National and World Championships in a variety of disciplines, including western pleasure, and competes regularly (and successfully) against Quarter horses and other traditional western horse breeds at open shows in western pleasure, horsemanship, trail, and other western disciplines. 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-35417773775390771132016-01-21T14:57:00.001-08:002016-01-21T14:57:37.407-08:00Life Hacks for the Horse LoverWhatever you call them: tops, secrets, simple tricks, life hacks, there are a multitude of little ways horse owners have of saving time and money. These are a few of my favorites. Use them for your favorite Standardbred, or horse of any breed! <br />
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1. Make any cross-tie or trailer tie a breakaway tie by tying a loop of baling twine to the tie ring, and snapping your cross-tie or trailer tie to that. It will break automatically under pressure, leaving the tie attached to the horse's halter for easy catching, it's safer for the horse than non-breakaway or person-activated ties, and it's free! <br />
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2. Replace the broken breakaway crown piece on your leather halter or breakaway halter by cutting up old worn-out stirrup leathers and punching holes on each end.<br />
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3. Reduce the workload of your trough heater, save money, and reduce ice build-up in your water troughs over the winter with insulation. Wrap foil-bubble-foil insulation around the sides of the water trough and tape it in place. Scraps of plywood and 2 x 4s can be fashioned into a "lid" for the top of the trough. You want it to cover about half to two-thirds of the top of the trough, leaving a section open for the horses to drink from. Attach more foil-bubble-foil or foam insulation to the underside of the plywood for a thermos-like effect. A clay brick can also be heated and dropped into troughs for electricity-free warming (not recommended for plastic troughs). <br />
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4. Reduce snow from balling up in your horse's hooves in the winter by applying vegetable shortening or cooking spray to their soles. Though snow and ice balls may still form, they will fall out faster and easier. <br />
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5. Keep an electric tea kettle or coffee pot in the barn to warm water
for making warm mashes and thawing frozen water buckets in the winter.<br />
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6. Use feed bags to feed your horses in the pasture instead of buckets. Everyone gets their allotted portion of grain and supplements with no waste, and bullies can't steal more than their share. Colored duct tape can be used to color code or label the feed bags by horse, and they can be filled in advance and hung on stall fronts to save you time. <br />
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7. Before you discard a worn-out piece of tack or equipment, save any of the usable hardware from it, such as buckles, loops, straps, Velcro, and snaps. It may save you a couple bucks and/or a trip to the tack shop to repair an item in the future.<br />
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8. Old horse blankets or saddle pads can be repurposed as pet beds or equipment covers. An old horse blanket or cooler is about the right size to make a handy dust cover for your lawnmower. <br />
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9. A 3" quick link fastener and 1" bolt snap can replace the broken hardware on your nylon stall guard to extend its life. <br />
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10. An old metal tube gate makes a great rack for neatly hanging saddle pads or horse blankets. <br />
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11. Empty cat food or tuna cans can make great bridle racks. Just screw them onto a piece of wood and attach it to the wall. Be sure to wash them thoroughly before using them!<br />
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12. A 2-3 foot section of landscape timber (or other rounded pole), a screw eye, and a screw-in hook make a quick and easy fold-down saddle rack for your barn aisle. <br />
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13. Resurrect a worn-out fly mask by sewing a strip of polar fleece over the worn out fleece edging. The polar fleece will provide padding and the raw edges won't fray. <br />
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14. Diapers make a handy and absorbent hoof pack for abscesses or hoof wounds. Wrap the diaper around the hoof using the side tabs for a snug fit, cover with self-adhesive first-aid wrap (Vetwrap), and cover well with duct tape. Maxi pads also make absorbent wound dressings that can be stuck onto an outer bandage wrapping/cover. <br />
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15. Empty plastic peanut butter jars make great containers for a variety of
items around the barn such as horse treats or first aid items like
cotton balls or hypodermic needles. They're shatterproof, water-tight,
and their contents can be easily seen. <br />
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16. Old tube socks work great for cleaning and oiling tack. Don a latex glove, then slip your hand inside the sock to apply tack cleaner and oil while keeping your hand clean and dry. Tube socks can also be used as tail bags. <br />
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17. Bits and metal stirrups can be washed in the top rack of your dishwasher. Your spouse would probably prefer that you wash them separately from the forks and dinner plates. <br />
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18. A large memory foam bath mat makes a cushy orthopedic under-pad to slip under your English saddle pad. <br />
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19. Save money by stocking up on next year's supplies during end of season clearance sales. For example, buy next season's fly masks and fly spray in the fall so that you're ready the following summer.<br />
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20. Take good care of your tack and equipment. It will last longer, look nicer, and be less likely to break. <br />
<br />2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-10527223235385790642015-10-31T18:50:00.001-07:002015-10-31T18:52:51.423-07:00What Is It About Standardbreds?There's something about Standardbreds. Their fans will tell you about the something special within them - their heart, their work ethic, their indomitable spirit. To their detractors, there's something about Standardbreds that sometimes causes people to betray common courtesy and loosen their tongues, to make those detractors feel obliged to say some rather blunt and brazen things.<br />
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Back in the heyday of Veruca Salt's (Legs') show career, I initially had no compunctions about revealing her Standardbred heritage. I eventually tired of the often negative responses ranging from subtly irritating to downright insulting. "She doesn't look like a Standardbred." "Are you <i>sure</i> she's a Standardbred?" "But she canters." "But she jumps." "But she jogs and lopes." "But she's <i>pretty</i>." "She must be the exception because there can't be any other Standardbreds that can do what she does." "You got really lucky to find one so atypical of her breed." She got her share of compliments, certainly, but it's the insults that tend to stick with you.<br />
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A specific example that stuck with me was when I was at a cookout a few years ago where the host introduced me to some
friends of his who owned a very small Thoroughbred breeding operation.
It started innocently enough; most non-horse people presume that all people involved with horses are basically the same, and I know there
was no malice intended in the introduction. Once introduced, I
explained that I rode and showed ex-racehorses, but not their kind of
ex-racehorse - mine were ex-harness racers.<br />
Them - (blank stare.) <br />
Me - "I have Standardbreds; they used to harness race and I retrain them to ride and show." <br />
Them - (sounding incredulous) "What <i>kind</i> of riding?" <br />
Me
- (handing them my cell phone) "Anything and everything. Here are
some pictures of my mare who could do it all - English, western, flying
lead changes, jumping, trail, mounted games, leadline with my friend's
toddler She was even chosen to do a demonstration at the World
Equestrian Games."<br />
Them (flipping through pictures) - "Huh."
(muttering sarcastically under breath but just loud enough for me to hear)
"That's really making a silk purse out of a sow's ear."<br />
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As Legs' show career advanced, I slowly tired of having to defend my choice to exhibit a Standardbred in the show ring. I wanted to start bringing along another show horse, and I owned a Quarter Horse for a while, in an effort to go more mainstream. I love Quarter Horses, and I appreciate the individual merits that they and every other breed of horse and pony have to offer, but ultimately my heart of hearts belong to the Standardbred. After all, it is through the chance crossing of paths with my first horse, Legs, that little brown mare who gave me opportunities beyond even my far-fetched imagination, that taught me that dreams really can come true. Thankfully, my skin has toughened over the years and I have happily returned to the breed that first captured my heart. <br />
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Saxon has certainly not been immune to the blunt and brazen comments, either. We've encountered a gambit of comments just like those Legs garnered and a few rather memorable incidents of his own.<br />
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He is a tall, muscular, nicely proportioned chestnut horse who is happy to adapt to any tack - hunt seat, western, dressage, driving. Accordingly, he makes a rather good chameleon. He is often mistaken for many other breeds; nobody has ever guessed Standardbred on the first try. Some type of Warmblood is the most common guess, followed by Thoroughbred, Appendix, Quarter Horse, and even Draft Cross. <br />
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One time that I unwittingly fooled someone into thinking Saxon
was a Thoroughbred. It was an especially cold and windy
fall day with lots of horse-eating things around the arena; Saxon had
replaced his usual calm, nonchalant persona with a high-headed rather fiery version. One of the guys helping with the show ( and wearing a Race Canada jacket) saw me with Saxon and said, "What is he? He's GORGEOUS!" I
replied, "Oh, he's an ex-racehorse." I didn't offer
further explanation, as Saxon's freezebrand was in plain sight. The guy
then asked, "What's his breeding?" I replied, "He's by Real Artist and
out of an Australian-bred mare." He nodded, so I assumed he knew a
little something about Standardbred bloodlines. I found out my
assumption was incorrect when the guy handed me a statuette of a
Thoroughbred racehorse with jockey as a prize for one of the classes. "I thought it was fitting that he should get the Thoroughbred statue." he said. <br />
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One of the more memorable incidents of breed slurring that stands out in my mind was a lady who was visiting my property. (She happened to own an unrideable Thoroughbred for whatever that's worth.) <br />
Me - (bathing Saxon at washrack)<br />
Her - "So my friend tells me one of your horses is a Standarbred."<br />
Me - "Actually, both my horses are. The little dark bay mare out there (pointing to pasture), and this guy right here."<br />
Her - (takes a surprised step back and reevaluates Saxon). Oh, right... I see it now. They call them 'jugheads' don't they?"<br />
Me "Hmmmpf." <br />
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Another one was at a horse show with some folks who were talking to me by my trailer where Saxon was tied. They'd seen Legs show back in her heyday and had just watched Saxon compete successfully in several hunt seat and western classes.<br />
Them - "So what breed is your <b>new</b> horse?"<br />
Me - "He's a Standardbred, too, just like my old horse."<br />
Them - (takes a surprised step back and reevaluates Saxon). "Oh... Now I see the head."<br />
Me - (my unvoiced thoughts - "Really? Because I'm pretty sure you thought he was a fancy Warmblood or Appendix, and you sure didn't 'see the head' when you didn't know he was STB.") <br />
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At another show, as I was entering the show ring, an onlooker said, "If that's not a Thoroughbred, I'll eat my hat." I replied, "I hope you're hungry, because he's not!" As I was trotting in, I heard her query to her companion, "Quarter horse?" She figured it out by the end of the class; it was a driving class, after all, and I'd done a lazy job on his freezebrand since I knew the judge knew about his Standardbred heritage. The onlooker was wholly positive about his versatility, though, and if she had any negative perceptions about his breed she did not voice them. <br />
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I've had some really interesting reactions from horse show judges, as well. I compete almost exclusively at open shows, and I generally try to cover up his freeze brand for the show ring. Mind you, I have no problem telling people that he's a Standardbred, but I would rather he be judged and placed <i><b>beforehand</b></i>, on his own merits, before any breed pre-conceptions are introduced. Sometimes, judges do ask, though, especially in halter classes where they're trying to decide what breed standard to judge him against. Generally, they are pretty quick and smooth to cover up their surprise, though it does amuse me a little sometimes. Here are some of their reactions when I answer the question, "What breed is he?"<br />
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"Oh. Well, he's put together really smooth for a Standarbred. They're usually so angular."<br />
"Oh. Is he <i><b>full</b></i> Standardbred?"<br />
"The chestnut ones are pretty rare, aren't they?" <br />
Or often, it's simply "Oh. Huh."<br />
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I might add that in all of these instances, he placed well or even won, so I give these judges full credit for judging without breed bias. I would also like to add that there are several judges we show under locally who are well aware of what breed he is and continue to offer him praise and place him very highly. :-) <br />
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By far my favorite exchange was with a long-time local competitor. She's seen him show English, western, in hand, and driving. She has seen Legs show, too, back in the day. She, herself, has shown Thoroughbreds, Warmbloods, and some very fancy Welsh ponies. She finally asked me one day what Saxon was.<br />
Me - "He's a Standardbred."<br />
Her - "Well he's a very nice horse for any breed. I don't believe in 'good' breeds or 'bad' breeds. I only believe in useful horses or non-useful horses. And that (pointing at Saxon), is a VERY useful horse."<br />
Me - (beaming) "Thanks!" <br />
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I think that her statement encompasses the best philosophy of all regarding horses. We as a horse community need to get rid of slurs like "jughead" and misconceptions about what breeds, Standardbred or otherwise, can and cannot do. Instead of prejudging a horse on what we think its breed can and cannot do, we should instead evaluate each horse on its individual merits. And, as horse owners, we should work hard to make every horse in our lives healthy, loved, and, of course, useful. And if you just can't get yourself to adopt this philosophy, please, for heaven's sake, have some courtesy and don't insult someone's horse to their face! <br />
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<br />2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-28686707430017963332015-03-07T17:09:00.003-08:002015-03-07T17:10:44.729-08:00We Did It! Double National Champions!This post is a short one, but sweet indeed. The points were tallied, the final results tabulated, and our come from behind stretch run for the 2014 SPHO National High Point Awards hosted by the SPHO-NJ was a rousing success! <br />
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Heavymetalthunder (Saxon) once again captured top honors at the SPHO
National Awards for the 2014 show season. Saxon
was National High Point Champion in the General Division, Reserve
National High Point Champion in Showmanship, Pleasure Horse, Hunter,
Equitation, and Versatility. He was the National Champion High Point
Senior Horse, and the overall 2014 National Grand Champion High Point
Stand<span class="text_exposed_show">ardbred! With this win at age 5,
Saxon backs up the overall National High Point Rookie, Green Horse, and Overall High Point Standardbred titles he won during his first year under saddle in 2012. Go Saxon! </span><br />
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Saxon began his under saddle training at the age of 3. Originally bred as a pacer, he currently
shows in halter, showmanship, hunt seat, western, driving, trail,
contest, and games classes at the walk, jog/trot, and lope/canter.
Saxon has recently started schooling over fences and hopes to add
jumping, dressage, and ranch horse to his repertoire very soon.
Standardbreds really can do it all if you give them a chance! But that's not all. We have some more big news brewing, so stay tuned!<br />
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2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-1252151258545517372014-11-09T16:08:00.000-08:002014-11-09T16:26:19.264-08:00Doors and WindowsThere's a saying that when a door closes, a window is opened. My quest for accomplishment and achievement with my Standardbreds has taken me in many doors and through many windows along the way. <br />
<br />
About a week ago, I mailed in my last set of show results for the 2014 SPHO national year end awards. Since 2011, this awards series has been graciously hosted by the SPHO of New Jersey, as a parallel series to their residency restricted New Jersey state awards program. Prior to that, their club allowed residents of all states without their own state SPHO program to participate in their NJ state awards. They've held nothing back with their awards programs - offering a
superior selection of categories, awards, ribbons, and an awards banquet that is
second to none. The NJ state awards will carry on, but the club has elected to replace the parallel national awards program in favor of regional awards restricted to residents of <span id="yiv4156609574role_document" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="yiv4156609574text_exposed_show" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1415567309346_7636" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font: 14px/20px Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span>NJ, NY, PA, DE, MD, VA, and WV so, as I reside one state too far to the west (KY), this is truly the final set of points I will be send in and perhaps my last opportunity for year-end Standardbred achievement.<br />
<br />
To be honest, 2014 didn't afford much of a show season for me. With school, graduation, boards, my own physical limitations (bum leg) and starting over with an entirely new (and unprepped) autocross car I faced a delayed and limited horse show season. I showed Saxon some in June before my decision to aim for racing my Celica at autocross nationals prevailed over my horse show ambitions for the year. This choice was fueled by several factors - Justin wanted to autocross the Miata at Nats, focusing on autocross vs. riding would give my leg additional time to heal, and with some prompting GSL was shaping up to be a diverse and interesting class at nationals. Under the circumstances, I was quite willing to write this off as a "rebuilding year," believing that I would have more time to devote to achieving things with my Saxon in the future when my circumstances were more favorable. Enter the email of September 15 announcing the retiring of the national awards program. Looking at my points to date and making a few calculations, and with the show season ending October 31, I knew it was a long-shot, but it was my last shot, so I decided to make one last bid for National SPHO Horse of the Year. I found and entered as many shows in October as Saxon and I could muster, but I won't know for some time if my eleventh hour stretch run was enough for a repeat performance at the national high point awards. (Saxon won the national high point Overall Horse of the Year, Green Horse, and Rookie Horse titles during his 2012 rookie season).<br />
<br />
This is not my first experience with closing doors and seeking windows in the horse show realm. There are no guarantees in life, or in horse showing, and I have learned to take my opportunities while they are available, because you never know what will happen tomorrow.<br />
<br />
I had been a champion of Standardbreds in all aspects of equestrian competition for years, competing with my wonderful veteran, Legs (Veruca Salt) in open shows for many years before ever encountering another Standardbred in the show ring. We took on all breeds in a wide variety of classes and disciplines - pleasure, games/contest, trail, over fences, under saddle, equitation, reining, dressage, combined training, hunters, western. Pretty much anything I fancied doing on horseback, Legs and I tried together. Though I have always considered her to be truly outstanding in temperament, attitude, work ethic, and ability, I was certain that she could not be the only Standardbred capable of excelling in the show ring. Nearly a decade ago, an internet search eventually turned up the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization of Ohio where, attending one of their shows in the spring of 2005, I discovered the opportunity to compete against others of our breed, not just at individual shows, but to attain even greater - statewide - achievement, achievement such as I had never before had the opportunity to seek. I had long fancied the idea of accomplishing something truly grand with Legs, to prove both to others and to myself how great I believed she was. Alas, given our breed and our discipline(s), I had never had this opportunity. At that time, the SPHO of OH offered a series of year-end awards open to all of their members and their Standardbreds, regardless of residency. I was instantly entranced.<br />
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Excited at the prospect of finally achieving something great with Legs, we set about to achieve it. Legs and I earned the SPHO of Ohio high point horse for 2005, as well as high point adult, and reserve high point in hand. I was stoked. Sidelined by a stifle injury for most of 2006, Legs and I were unable to show or compete for year end awards, but I still wanted to give back to the club, and volunteered for their July show and trail ride committee, helping to coordinating the venue, determine the class list, and find a judge for that event. By 2007, the door to compete for the Ohio year end awards had already been closed to me, an emergency club vote having been held at the beginning of the year to mandate new requirements for year-end award eligibility: a number of hours dedicated to club service, and required attendance of several club meetings. The meetings were held some 3.5 hours away from me and telecommuting was not offered, so I chose to take my cues and quietly drew back from the club and its activities.<br />
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As luck would have it, 2007 offered an even more wonderful opportunity for me and Legs - the National Standardbred Horse Show hosted by the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization of New Jersey. I set my goals and made my plans, eager to meet this new challenge and new accomplishment - making Legs a national champion. After much planning and preparation, we made the long trek to New Jersey where we were welcomed by a supportive and enthusiastic group of Standardbred aficionados. Though we faced many nice Standardbreds, Legs once again did not disappoint me, placing third in her halter class, and then winning every under saddle class we entered. I felt welcomed and humbled as my fellow competitors paid me and my little mare many compliments and we were invited to attend their year-end banquet in February to receive the high point awards we'd earned at the national show. At the banquet, I learned that the SPHO of NJ welcomed members of states who did not have a club to call their own, and offered a variety of year end high point awards, open to all members regardless of residency. The following year, the SPHO of NJ gained an enthusiastic new member from Kentucky. Through my involvement with the club, I gained many great friends, and had opportunities opened to me that I never would have had otherwise. I know that the opportunities I have had to showcase Legs, my opportunity to be part of the team at the World Equestrian Games and International Equestrian Festival, the Standardbred friends I have met in many states, and my ownership of Saxon would never have happened had I not been welcomed then by the SPHO of New Jersey and its members. In the late summer of 2008 Legs was first diagnosed with early signs of navicular syndrome, and, with collaboration from my vet and farrier to determine the most appropriate measures to balance her soundness with her show career, I felt that this was my best and perhaps last chance to attain that ultimate prize - a year end high point championship such as I had dreamed of since the inauspicious little brown mare first became mine. Careful management proved her sound and eager to continue riding and showing, and we achieved a variety of new accomplishments in the next several years, garnering a variety of other year end awards and two other chances to reprise our role at the National Show (2009 and 2010), and the chance to demonstrate at the World Equestrian Games. <br />
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In 2011, the SPHO of NJ enacted a change in their year end award eligibility. My initial kneejerk reaction was a flashback to the closing of the door to me for the Ohio awards in 2007, before realizing that New Jersey was retaining their original year end awards for residents of their own state, but offering a parallel set of year end awards open to residents of all states. An understandable change, to be sure, and a thoughtful compromise to balance rewarding their state's members with their desire to reward everyone who wishes to promote Standardbreds competing in the public eye. This 2015 change leaves me orphaned once again, as a national series will no longer be offered and Kentucky does not have an SPHO of its own (I and a few others made a fledgling effort a few years back, but were never able to get our efforts off the ground before things just sort of fizzled out). <br />
<br />
Though I will no longer have the opportunity to compete for year-end national Standardbred championships, I look to 2015 and subsequent seasons as a new opportunity. To be sure, I will miss being able to use these awards as a conversation starter about the show ring capabilities of Standardbreds (When you can say things like, "My Standardbred is a national champion in _____", it opens minds to the idea that there are other Standardbreds out there showing successfully, and that yours isn't the *only* one that can canter/jump/jog/lope/succeed at halter/insert other STB myth here). But, as this door closes, there there are new windows to seek. The NJ group is still offering the national show, and a second Standardbred group in OH introduced a STB world show/open show concept two years ago. School and autocross had kept me from attending these past few years, but perhaps I will be more free to pursue these now that I am free of school and my showing opportunities can be more flexible. This year I participated rather casually with the Open Horse Show Association, and I look forward to continuing with that pursuit. With less pressure to earn "points" geared towards specific categories, I will be more free to enter only the classes and divisions I want to ride in (bye, bye costume class and no more temptation to enter egg and spoon - balancing an egg on a spoon while trying to steer a 1200# bouncy, moving horse with one hand was never my favorite pursuit), and I will feel less pressure to enter so many classes at the horse shows I do attend - a potential for less strain and stress at individual shows as well as a savings on entry fees. I will also feel more free to dabble in new disciplines and opportunities. Perhaps I will join some of my friends who compete in ranch horse shows. A Standardbred ranch horse? Why not! Or maybe try western dressage - some folks in my area are trying to establish an organization, and it could be fun. Or maybe I will dabble in traditional dressage. Saxon seems like he'd be well suited to it, and I think some formal dressage training would be good for him now that I will be less compelled to enter more standard shows. I will always treasure the opportunities I have had, the awards I have won, and the friends that I have made via doors past, but as is my habit in a closed room, I will continue to gaze dreamily out the nearby windows. 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-58477770982994594252014-11-01T12:41:00.001-07:002014-11-01T12:41:39.740-07:00Super Size MeOk, ok, I admit that I've let my blogging slip again. I was able to ride most of the summer (yipee!), and now, as the calendar turns to November, it means the end of fun season for me and the start of the winter doldrums. Cue the gray skies, wind, and snowflakes. Oh, I see Mother Nature has taken care of that already...<br />
<br />
So as described in my last post (some, uh, 4 months ago) I was in school for the past two years which definitely put a crimp on my riding and training plans during that timeframe. More than simply being a pasture-puff, Saxon found a way to keep himself occupied - growing. I don't know if it's the nearly unlimited Kentucky grass, the double handful of daily "pity grain" + hoof supplement, or some sort of super-hero back story-esque radioactive growth hormone he procured from some exotic source, but he. just. won't. stop. growing.<br />
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At the start of our journey, my red-headed friend was a svelte 975# (racing fit), 15.3hh 3 year old. In a few months he will mark his sixth birthday, and he now tips the scales (or rather, swells the weight tape) to 1,250# and stands 16.1 hh. Even at this hefty figure, there's scarcely a bit of fat on him, though, and with his compact, solid, and muscular build, he has the imposing appearance of an even larger horse. He is often mistaken for a Warmblood, and could likely even pass for a draft cross with his solid bone and build (and giant size 2 feet). I, on the other hand, stopped growing some years ago, and my 5'4" self replete with bum leg cannot get on him from the ground without some degree of swearing, contortions, and aggravation of an already suspect leg.<br />
<br />
In some sort of cruel trick, the trail class at a recent show called for dismounting, ground tying, and then remounting. I dropped my stirrups about two holes before entering the ring, but was still largely hanging off the side of him grasping the stirrup in my left hand and trying to jam my left foot into it while trying to spring off the tip of my right toe for what felt like an eternity. I finally managed to heave back into the saddle as Saxon stood in the middle of the arena sighing with martyrdom and periodically glancing at me with a bemused expression.<br />
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It was never my intention to have such a giant horse; indeed, I always wondered why behemoths were so popular in the sport horse world, particularly in the dressage ring where it seems to me that a 10 m circle would be far easier for a 15.2 hh horse to execute than a 17.2 hh giant. Sub-16 hh is more my style, but fate did not work that way in this case. (But no, I am NOT interested in trading your smaller horse for my gentle red-headed giant! This one's mine!) <br />
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Besides the need to get creative for mounting up (mounting blocks, my front porch steps, truck bumpers, fence planks, tree stumps - we've used it all), there's another downside to my incredible expando-horse... Thank goodness we've already addressed the trailering issue; my trailer is an extra tall and with a 7'6" high roofline, and he remains comfortable in it (for now). My tack, on the other hand... I've already had to purchase a larger western cinch. My old 32" model left more latigo than cinch encircling his barrel. The new 36" is a better fit. I have to buckle my 50" English girth on the very last hole to get it started, before I can slowly ratchet it up another hole or two to get it tight. Ditto for the dressage girth. My harness is on the very last hole on most of the adjustments. But my old 76" horse blankets fit him fabulously. Until this year. He now measures 81". Sheesh. If he keeps growing at this rate I'll just have to fashion his blankets out of army tents! Thankfully he still eats like a 975# horse, or he'd likely have to share his space under those army tents with all of the extra hay I'd have to purchase and store! Sometimes I think Clifford (the big red dog) or Bullwinkle (the moose) would have been more suitable barn names for him.<br />
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So as Saxon prepares to blow out his six candles next year, <i>I</i> have a wish for <i>him</i>. Please, pretty please I wish you'd stop growing! But no matter what his size, he's still my big loveable, Redheaded Standardbred. 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-76654939322609323052014-06-21T20:16:00.002-07:002014-06-21T20:17:32.794-07:00Back From the DeadThis will be a short blog post, but a post nevertheless. No doubt, with my 18 month long absence, most of you out in cyberspace probably figured I had either fallen victim to the zombie apocalypse, moved to a remote mountain top to live "off the grid", or finally grown out of that horse phase (this last one's for you, mom and dad!). Well, I haven't noticed an increased appetite for brains or the ability to walk as fast as others run, I enjoy modern conveniences like electricity and plumbing too much to remain in the wilderness for long, and my enthusiasm for my horses is just as strong today as it was when I was 8 years old doodling horses in all of the school notebooks and pinning horse postcards to the bulletin board in my room. So where have I been, you ask?<br />
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I've been in a foreign, yet familiar place - school. I've been learning all about the myriad of things that affect your teeth and mouth in pursuit of a degree and license to practice dental hygiene. Though ultimately successful, the journey was quite challenging. Imagine taking a 4 year college degree and cramming it into 2 years. Now image not only hours in the classroom every week (try about 18 hours in the classroom), but spending the remaining hours of the week (about 16 hours) in clinic or at offsite rotations. Now take the hours you have left and spend them writing papers, doing homework, recruiting patients for clinic, completing copious quantities of clinic-related paperwork, and studying, studying, studying. Now image that this all culminates in two very important examinations. For the first, you are responsible for EVERYTHING you have ever learned about dentistry on a completely comprehensive 350 question written exam at the end of that two years. Everything's fair game from nutrition, to general anatomy, to radiography, to research methods, to medical conditions, to microbiology and pharmacology. Did I mention this test costs $400 and you have to wait for months to retake it if you don't pass the first time? For the second, you must find a "board patient" for clinical boards, which is a $1,000 non-refundable hands-on subjective examination where you are evaluated on your ability to find, assess, and treat a patient who meets certain, very stringent criteria. Stressful much? YOU BET! But I met a lot of great people along the way and had a great group of classmates, which made a huge contribution to my (our) ultimate success, the privilege of adding three little letters, RDH, after my (our) name (I'll save you the trouble of Googling - it stands for Registered Dental Hygienist!). The next time you see your dental hygienist, be sure to thank them for their time and effort. They worked a lot harder for the privilege of cleaning your teeth than you realize!<br />
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So yes, essentially, I HAVE been living under a rock for the past two years. But now I am free! (Though, with license finally in hand, the job search begins tomorrow. Need an RDH? Inquire within!) Much like a horse being turned out after a long stall rest, I scarcely know what to do first with my new-found freedom. Naturally, I want to dive head-first back into the activities that bring me enjoyment and fulfillment - riding my horses, racing my cars, and running. Well, it's not quite that simple. To make a drawn-out story very succinct, a horse related ankle injury I sustained a few years led to a walking boot, which led to an altered gait, which led to hip problems that manifested several months after I'd been cleared to run again, which was ultimately diagnosed (after 4 months of PT for the WRONG INJURY because their protocol is treat first and do diagnostics later????) as proximal hamstring tendinopathy and stress fractures of the "seat bones". Apparently, these injuries are not uncommon in female long distance runners, though my running was hardly to marathon standards. Running is currently not an option, and my doctor advised me to avoid riding and "bouncing around in the saddle" yet bicycling was not only permitted but encouraged. I made it about four weeks just driving Saxon (another plus about the Standardbred - most come with driving skills installed) before aimlessly circling my yard in a jog cart wasn't cutting it anymore. A few careful, easy test rides on Legs, and I determined that riding was not the culprit. (But if I try to run, within two days I'm hobbling around like an old woman and struggling to tie my own shoe.) I guess my doctor thought I must ride like a rag doll flopping around in the saddle or posting like a jackhammer... So I am happily back to riding, though in a cursory nod to the doctor's orders, I am being more cautious by avoiding jumping, doing more driving when feasible, and being careful about my riding circumstances. Anyhow, moral of the story - I'm back from the dead, <strike>hungry for brains</strike>, and ready to have more horse-related adventures. Stay tuned. 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-46116900598090981432013-01-02T17:14:00.003-08:002013-01-02T17:18:13.975-08:00Black and Blue: 13 Months of "Touring" With Heavymetal ThunderI love a good list. And a well laid out spreadsheet makes me feel just a bit giddy inside. As the offspring of a librarian and a research scientist, planning, organization, and prioritizing are in my blood. How could they not be? Even so, I've never been much for grand public proclamations of New Year's Resolutions and goals. It seems if I try to make them public, life has a peculiar way of dealing a backhanded blow that knocks some of them into unattainability. Sure, I may still manage to meet many of them, but I just don't like blank boxes on the checklist when all is said and done...<br />
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Internally, I know what I want to achieve, and I know there's a cause and effect relationship of inputs necessary to achieve the desired outputs. Most humans are driven by something - desire for love, wealth, fame, happiness, companionship, career success, competitive achievement, etc. Who is ever 100% happy with their current lot in life? Not many, I suspect. It seems there's always <i>something</i> most people would change about their situation at any point in time. Starting a new calendar with a fresh grid of new months and new days makes a good excuse for a new beginning and reaffirming the quest for perfection - the reason that a new year spawns so many resolutions for change, albeit<i> </i>change that may or may not last (a day, a week, a year, a lifetime...?). The thing to remember about one's lot in life is that it's <i>pretty</i> unlikely that you're ever going to be 100% happy about every single thing in life at a given point in time. By all means, try to change the things that you feel are important to change. And if you are a "New Years Resolution" kind of person, then use it as your impetus. Just realize that in life, you have to take the bad with the good, the black with the blue. Just to round out the cliches, it's like seeing the glass as half full while acknowledging that it is also half empty. <br />
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Since starting a new calendar is also a good excuse to review the old one, I want to take this new calendar as an opportunity to take a realistic look at my 2012. My last post hit some of the highlights from the tail end of the year. Here is a succinct month by month review of the good and the bad, the blue and the black. <br />
<br />
2011<br />
December. I travel to New Jersey to look at a 2 year old red-headed Standardbred recommended to me by my good friend H. She's an excellent equine matchmaker, as it turns out. With help from H and Saxon's owner/trainer I drive him, break him to saddle on the track, like him a lot, and take him home. The horse, Heavymetal Thunder (Saxon), the primary subject of this blog, becomes my best Christmas present ever! <br />
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2012 <br />
January. It was the mildest winter I can recall since moving to KY. It gave me plenty of time to work with my new now officially 3 year-old (All racehorses officially celebrate their birthdays on January 1st regardless of whether they were actually born in January or June. It makes for easier recordkeeping and race entries). We were still very early in the riding training process, but he was a quick learner, especially when it came to in hand work. We worked on a lot of trust and cooperation exercises, like trail obstacles in hand. I managed to get on his back every single day for over two months until the flu sidelined me. (Some of those days were merely sitting on him in the stall or walking, steering, and stopping in the barn aisle due to inclement weather, but I still managed to get on him every day in one fashion or another.) I spent most of my riding time in my synthetic western or dressage saddles because they afforded me the most grip in trying to ride his lofty, high-impulsion trot. He had a lofty stride and tended to go a little high headed. I couldn't sit his trot. Not even sort-of. I started making roadster silks for him because I thought he might be fun to do roadster under saddle with (and I figured his trot made him a pretty poor candidate for western pleasure, one of my favorite alternate/cross-training disciplines). Even though he was very green and far from polished as a show horse, I attempted to take him to an indoor schooling show to see how he'd handle the unfamiliar setting and give me a better idea of what we should work on together. The truck stalled on me before I even made it to the end of my road, ending that aspiration. <br />
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February. Still mild. Saxon continued to do well in his training, getting the hang of moving off leg cues, turning, slowing down, basic transitions, etc. We replaced a bad sensor on the truck. I managed to take Saxon to an indoor schooling show. He exceeded even my wildest dreams. An out of character moment of boldness inspired me to enter him in the green horse walk-trot class prior to the in hand classes I had planned to start with. Without any warmup, without any prior ring exposure (or experience in an indoor arena) other than leading him around the ring earlier that morning, we entered the class of 8. I really didn't know what to expect from him. He handled it like a pro. And won the class. Even after a full season of riding, showing, and working with Saxon, that one still gets me. Three year-old rookie horses with only a few weeks of riding training just aren't supposed to do that! (Not that I'm complaining, mind you!)<br />
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March. We showed again. Saxon was still good, though he scratched his cornea in the horse trailer and was squinty-eyed and a little looky. We did another show (his first time tied to the trailer instead of getting a stall). He was pretty anxious about that part. I get my feet stepped on. As I have since come to expect from him, Saxon still handled the in hand classes like a complete gentleman. He had a big freak-out when warming up in the ring under saddle, choosing to stand up on his hind legs and lose his mind in response to a cantering Friesian. We recovered and placed well under saddle in our actual classes, but it left me a little more wary of my young horse.<br />
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April. Saxon celebrates his actual 3rd birthday. We did one show. We got there late (I overslept). It was the spookiest arena he'd been in to date and I didn't get to show it to him ahead of time. We had some baby moments of balking, small crowhops, and general lookiness. He had one great class where he held it together (I tailed another horse the whole time and it seemed to calm him down) and won it. Then he saw a well-behaved family (<i>evil, ravenous & horse eating!</i>) during the next class. <br />
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May. Saxon went through something of a baby phase from April-June, being less consistent and more rambunctious than he was when he first arrived. We went on a few field trips for experience. A new trailer solved our trailering anxiety woes. Saxon learned the basics of cantering and sidepassing. We introduced some more trail obstacles.<br />
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June. Saxon is starting to get downright lazy under saddle. We were attacked by bees. We go to a few shows and try some new things. Saxon makes me proud by winning his first trail and pattern classes like a pro (and we had to canter). Three days later he informs me in no uncertain terms that he does not like carnivals or "truck tug of war" then follows that up four days later by behaving like a pro again. <br />
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July. We win a halter class out of 11 horses, though Saxon continues his mistrust of carnivals. Later that month, Saxon's brain proves water-soluble and we have a meltdown at a rainy show. Bad things happen.<br />
<br />
August. We do one show. I kneel in poison ivy. My knee swells up like a balloon. We can't go to nationals due to school and other factors. Saxon gets kicked in the leg, but recovers uneventfully. Saxon gets a haircut. <br />
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September. We go to more shows. We attend our first nighttime show and our first "gaited" show (oops). Saxon's starting to feel like a real show horse. He makes the workout in a class of 9 and places 2nd. We do costume class for the first time. We have our first all weekend showing experience. Saxon knocks me over and steps on my ankle between shows. I suck it up, take a bunch of Advil, wrap my foot and keep showing. Saxon overcomes his fear of the spooky white fishbowl Saddlebred arena and handles it with great success. We place 1st and 2nd out of several classes with 10 or more horses and win two reserve championships. We try western pleasure at a show and he <i>loves</i> it. Saxon starts to think that jogging is way better than trotting.<br />
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October. We show almost every weekend. Saxon wins his first high point championships - OCSC High Point Champion in Halter and English. Then he wins the HCSC Adult English high point. He gives me a black eye one day while I'm applying hoof polish. We go to our first out of state 2 day show (with Standardbred classes).
It's our first show with other Standardbreds in attendance. He is on his best behavior. We win the western horsemanship. (Did I mention that he's really starting to like this western thing?) He places 5th out of 23 in trail (under very spooky conditions). We make the callbacks in a huge WT hunter under saddle class of 26, then place 3rd in the finals. I was shocked that we'd made the call-backs and even more shocked to get 3rd. STBs take the top 3 spots. Woot! Our fear of Friesians has diminished into ear pinning when they pass, but not freakouts. Progress! We go to our first hunter show (WT poles division) and get 1st or 2nd in every class. I am asked if Saxon is a Warmblood. At our final show of the season, we finish the show season the way we started it - winning a green horse walk/trot class (actually, by winning all 3 of our flat classes).<br />
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November. We meet the editor in chief of Horse Illustrated. I have a photos shoot with both of my horses. Saxon and I are the fall cover photo of their Facebook page. (How cool is that!?) I finally go to the doctor about my foot (see September/my stepped on ankle). My first doctor suggests "the prayer method." I see a specialist and undergo a myriad of diagnostics.<br />
<br />
December. I am given a walking boot/cast and orders not to ride, run (or just about any other form of exercise), or drive stick. (The things I love to do most in life.) Within a week, I am ride my faithful mare Legs without stirrups (My defense is that she's a former therapeutic riding horse. And I need her therapy!). Saxon puts up with my club foot, too, but I still barely manage any riding time this month. I manage to drive stick, too. I haven't run since September. I ride both horses on the 30th (their last official ride as an 18 year-old and 3 year-old, respectively). Saxon hasn't been ridden in weeks and there is snow on the ground. I have to throw snowballs at him to get him to trot (jog lazily) on the lunge line. He's an angel under saddle. WT and even a half dozen strides of canter on each lead. He remembers everything perfectly. I love this horse! And, of course, Legs is Legs. I love that mare, too, though that should pretty much go without saying. I've all but confirmed her sainthood already... <br />
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2013 <br />
January. Well it's a bit early to summarize that month, now isn't it! Time will tell how my ankle will fare. (I tore one of the ligaments in my ankle nearly completely when Saxon stepped on it. Ligaments heal slower than bones. This is going to take a long time.) For those of you wondering why I went so long before seeing a doctor about my foot... If you are a long-time reader, you know that I'm stubborn. But if you want more details... I basically assigned myself "Bute, wrapping, and restricted activity" to see if it would heal on its own. Ace bandaging (which worked better than the initial medically prescribed splint - I think the doc underestimates the wrapping skills of horse people), OTC anti-inflammatories, and no running. Alas, it did not heal, but I wanted to finish out the show season and was sure (and right on that count) that I would be barred from riding for an extended period of time once I saw a doctor. By dropping my stirrups a hole, keeping it firmly wrapped, and a maintaining a careful ibuprofen regimen, riding was tolerable, albeit probably not therapeutic for my foot. If you jump ahead to the February entry, maybe you can understand why, after coming so far during Saxon's rookie show season, I wanted to finish out. I rationalized that he's only a rookie horse once, and I basically have all winter to heal (and so here we are)... <br />
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February. Using my clairvoyance to see into the future, I foresee a trip to New Jersey to visit my STB friends from across the country. I foresee a fun evening with a big celebration and a whole lot of fun. I foresee a bunch of big trophies and ribbons for a certain red headed Standardbred to celebrate all of his accomplishments during his first year as a riding horse. Now don't you want to stick around and find out more!? Because it hasn't happened yet, that means you still have time to make plans to join the fun! <br />
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When my rose-colored glasses get too rosy and I long too much for something in the past or something that someone else has, I like to remind myself that life is not an <i>a la carte</i> endeavor. Some choices and situations are a package deal. In 2012, Saxon and I had lots of "blue" moments, such as blue ribbons and blue ribbon accomplishments & learning: standing for mounting, negotiating obstacles, going to our first horse show, establishing different speeds at different gaits, learning to collect, learning lateral work, cantering, testing new skills through new horse show classes, clipping muzzle and ears, learning to trailer calmly, learning to work together (...because the sum of one's equestrian life surely isn't measured solely by the opinion of one horse show judge on a given day). There were also a lot of "black" moments (stepped on feet, equine meltdowns, scratched corneas, bee stings, poison ivy, black eyes, foot injuries, etc.). But that's life. It's neither all perfectly good, nor perfectly bad. Or, to quote cheesy TV theme songs from the '80s "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have The Facts of Life, The Facts of Life" And now all of you are going to be humming that and muttering at me under your breath the rest of the day. Sorry. The takeaway is to remember that life is neither all good nor all bad, but you should definitely take the time to enjoy the ride and appreciate its complexities in the process. And for me and Saxon, all in all, 2012 was a pretty great ride. 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-80308693173410526422012-11-16T17:54:00.000-08:002012-11-16T17:54:27.127-08:00No Autographs, PleaseI've been a bad blogger. I know it's been months since my last post, and there are details and stories swimming around in my head that I've been meaning to put to paper (or keyboard) before they fade from my mind. Life never seems to slow down enough to allow me to serve my blog justice, so the headlines will have to suffice for now. <br />
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So much has happened with me and my horses since my last post. <br />
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Legs was treated and recovered from her mid-summer mystery lameness (fetlock cartilage trauma).<br />
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I got to do a photo shoot for Horse Illustrated and brag about my wonderful Standardbreds! (It's very gratifying when your horses prove you <i>right</i> - your old veteran goes though all her paces like clockwork, and your 3 year-old doesn't bat an eyelash at the cars whizzing by on the road!)<br />
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Legs got her image on a T shirt along with some of my great Standardbred friends - she's the western horse (it's available via the US Trotting web store).<br />
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Though <i>I</i> am a little worse for the wear from it, Saxon concluded a healthy, happy, and very successful rookie year. <br />
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He won his first championship (3 of them, as a matter of fact).<br />
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He made his western pleasure debut (he <i>loved</i> it) and we continued to show western several more times, placing well in every class he went in.<br />
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He went to his first hunter show (rocking the walk-trot poles division). (No pic from the show, but I like this shot as a stand in)<br />
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He did his first 2 day out of state show and even survived the humiliation of wearing green spandex in front of strangers. <br />
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He donned a shower curtain and a cardboard hat and added "costume class" to his repertoire of horse show skills. <br />
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He learned collection, lateral work and how to put them to good use. <br />
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He discovered that he has the trust, cleverness, patience, and coordination (most of the time!) for negotiating trail obstacles. <br />
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He overcame his fear of Friesians and of a certain spooky white fishbowl
arena. He did his first real canter class (Hunter Under Saddle WTC)
and nailed both leads. He helped me add to my own personal "character" haplessly inflicting a couple injuries that I'm not likely to soon forget. We made many new friends and met a fan of our blog (We have fans - who knew!?). <br />
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We went from a green, unsure horse and rider to a true cohesive team. <br />
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And he's growing up into quite the handsome and well-mannered young man in the process. <br />
October 2012: <br />
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December 2011:<br />
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And a certain redheaded Standardbred and his owner were featured on the Facebook cover page for a major national horse publication! <br />
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You know, same old same old...<br />
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I wonder what he's going to accomplish at age 4? <br />
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2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-85755853315192383862012-09-03T16:44:00.000-07:002012-09-03T16:44:28.647-07:00The Ups and Downs of ShowingAs my devoted readers know, having a three year-old show horse in the making can be very trying. One day they make you want to pull your hair out, the next they make you burst with pride. Throughout the summer, Saxon and I have been struggling with inconsistency in the show ring. When he's good, he's fantastic. He makes me want to sing his praises and lavish him with hugs and treats. When he's not, it's a full scale meltdown of nuclear proportions. I'm finally starting to have some success abating these meltdowns, so that the calm, quiet (relatively lazy) horse I have at home is the same animal I bring out in public. They say "idle hands are the devil's playground." Idle hooves, it seems, can turn the showring into the devil's playground, too. My new motto is "a tired 3 year-old is a well-behaved 3 year-old." Case in point, before the August OCSC show, he got himself worked up that morning and spent 10 straight minutes galloping around the pasture until he was soaked in sweat and out of breath. At the show, (after a good bath!) even though we arrived too late to walk the grounds and arena beforehand, he was a perfect, quiet gentleman (other than still wanting to suck on my hunt coat sleeve like a pacifier during showmanship). Some of it may be that the whole trailering and showing thing is starting to become more routine for him, some of it may be his new pre-show preventative dose of omeprazole (I've noticed that his appetite at shows is much better now), but I have to believe that a little tiredness doesn't hurt, either. I certainly don't want to overwork him, since he's still young and growing, but I've found that a week of steady riding with no days off and a preshow exercise session makes for a much more relaxing show for both of us (he gets his day off <i>after</i> the show).<br />
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Since I started this new regimen, he has been stellar on his last two outings. At OCSC, he was so tired that he was almost lazy (a 10 minute pre-show gallop will do that!), but he cruised through his classes (including equitation and trail - where he had to canter a bit in the patterns) like a pro. [They gave us a dry run in trail before we did the course for real, which was a good thing, because we might not have made it past the horse-eating rain coat otherwise! Once he thoroughly sniffed said horse-eating rain coat, he was totally unfazed by it the second time around.] I was very pleased with his behavior, and he had the placings to match, placing well in full classes, with several wins (including the eq and trail where he had to canter!). <br />
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Our next show was a <i>real</i> test of his fortitude. I took him to the Pioneer Saddle Club open show. From the photos on their Facebook page, I could tell it was a pretty casual show in terms of dress, the kind where people show in whatever tack and casual clothes they have and spectators back their vehicles up to the arena to watch. I wasn't sure how distracted he would get by the cars and spectators, but it's something he'll have to get used to if I want to start taking him to more of the county fair shows next year. The show grounds was nice, but the atmosphere was pure pandemonium. It was almost exclusively gaited horses, and riders were weaving behind and around the parked trailers at a high rate of speed. I arrived plenty early, but they had the arena closed up so I couldn't walk him around in there. I walked him around the outside of the arena, but was stopped after a few laps because they didn't want horses near the (completely empty) bleachers. I found a grassy area as far away from the packs of random riders as I could and lunged him. He seemed calm enough, so as long as the ringside white cinderblock building (that he snorted at on our walk) and spectators starting to park ringside didn't faze him, I thought he'd be ok. Nevertheless, when I registered for his classes, I asked if I could enter both the English and Western halter classes. I explained that he was just 3 and I wanted to give him as much chance as possible to get comfortable in the ring. They said ok, so I signed up for those two and one riding class. I wanted to see how he reacted to the ring atmosphere before I committed to more under saddle classes. I later overheard someone talking to the registration person and mocking me for entering both halter classes. <br />
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He was good in halter, though he was the only non-gaited horse in either one. The judge didn't seem to spend much time looking over the horses, barely glancing at just their front legs. We only placed so-so, and I had another competitor motion me over later that night to tell me she thought I'd been "ripped off" in the halter classes. (Which made me smile that she was complimenting my horse.) We had a pretty good break before our first riding class, so I spent some time chatting with the older gentleman showing out of the trailer next to me, and rode Saxon around the show grounds for a while. I was pleasantly surprised by how calmly he handled the chaos of the spectators around the arena, horses stomping around inside and next to their trailers, children jumping around, the ice cream truck at the nearby neighborhood, and the speed racking horses careening recklessly past him from all directions. <br />
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The sun was going down by the time my class was ready to go. Just as we were ready to go in for our class, wouldn't you know it, they turned on the arena lights, the wind kicked up, and it started to spritz rain. There were eight of us, and I was the only non-gaited horse in the English Pleasure Walk-Favorite Gait (No Canter) class. As one lady in a tank top entered the ring ahead of us, she whipped her horse sharply with the end of her reins. It was a sign of things to come. I stuck to my plan of staying off the rail and away from the other horses. A little girl opened her pink and purple umbrella by the rail as we walked by, and Saxon hardly noticed (As luck would have it, we had been working on sacking out with grocery bags and umbrellas earlier that week. How convenient!). He was a superstar. He was steady at both gaits, stayed on the bit, and remained calm about the racking horses snorting and racing by on the rail. It was a nice enough trip to win just about any class we'd gone in all year. He was just a little antsy in the lineup about having to face away from the flagpole (with blowing flag) in the center of the ring. As they called out the placings, I started to wonder what I was missing. We were finally called in DFL. Eighth out of eight. I know showing is subjective and you are paying for someone's opinion. Some days, the judge loves your horse, and other days it's just not your day. But to have horses place above us that were actively spooking, alternating between the running walk and trot, and lugging on the bit barely in control was an absolute insult. It seemed the faster, higher kneed, higher headed, and more frantic your horse went, the more this judge liked you. There was clearly no place in his modus operandi for a relaxed, low-headed, efficient-moving hunter horse. <br />
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I knew my "victory" was how well my three-year old handled the chaotic atmosphere of his first nighttime show. I also knew there was no point in entering any other classes. I couldn't have asked for a better performance from Saxon under those or any circumstances. There was absolutely nothing to be gained by sticking around, or ever coming back for that matter. Nowhere on the showbill did it say the show was for gaited horses only. The only stipulations on it were that show tack/attire were not required, no artificial equipment other than plain bell boots was allowed, and 1/2" or smaller pads were allowed, but no wedge pads (though I saw that the top placing horses in most classes had wedges). Though I am proud of my horse for his stellar behavior, met some pleasant people there (particularly the older gentleman at the adjacent trailer who, incidentally, also left early because the judge didn't like his natural moving, lower-kneed, well-behaved gaited horses), and I generally liked the showgrounds, I will never attend another show by the Pioneer Saddle Club again. If it's supposed to be exclusively for gaited horses, so be it, but please advertise it as such so that other owners of non-gaited horses don't make the same mistake I did. As for me and Saxon, we'll chalk it up as a learning experience, and I hope he continues his calm and mannerly ways. Maybe at our next show we'll once again have the results to match (as we did at OCSC). 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-59130860038267684562012-08-16T13:36:00.003-07:002012-08-16T13:42:35.075-07:00Conspiracy TheoryI can usually take a hint. However, when my mind is made up about something, it requires a whole pile of them to get me to change my mind. When I first got Saxon, I allowed myself the luxury of daydreaming about the progress we'd make and the things we'd do in our first year together. I would look at class lists for showbills throughout the year and think, "maybe we'll be ready to _______ (canter, do patterns, do a trail class, go to a night show, go to ________ <insert spooky location here>) by _____ date." The date would come and go, and we just wouldn't be ready. I know he's just three and we have literally decades together. Still, after waiting so long to find just the right horse, it's hard not to want to do all of that stuff I've been dreaming about. Naturally, debuting at Standardbred Nationals was high on the daydream list. The ultimate dream was to take both him <i>and</i> Legs to New Jersey. It seems that circumstances have been conspiring to dissuade me from my grand plan.<br />
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The first factor is Saxon's inconsistency. At home, he's nearly always laid back or even downright lazy. Away from home, however, he's more of a Jekyll and Hyde. Sometimes he displays the same calm, nonchalant attitude that he has at home, and calmly deals with things I wouldn't have expected him to (like spectators under a large umbrella, or trail obstacles magically appearing in the arena). Other times, he melts down into a 1,000# pile of irrational, inconsolable goo. The worst part is that I can't seem to predict it, and once he has a meltdown, it is hard to get his brain back together. I've learned that extensive walking and lunging in a new place helps (but is no guarantee). I've learned that he simply can't comprehend or deal with carnival rides or truck pulls, even from a distance. Rain, also, seems to liquefy his brain cells. People on the rail are ok as long as he had been petted by them, but if he hasn't met them yet, they might be carnivorous. Sometimes large classes are good, and sometimes they're a problem. I keep telling myself that he's still a baby and one day he'll always be as relaxed in new places as he is at home. It's just hard to remember that when he's wheeling around while tied to the trailer or balking and rearing in the ring. Certainly, I don't want to drive a thousand miles to New Jersey if he's going to have a "Hyde" kind of day. I talked myself into believing that with enough time to scope out the facilities, he'd be fine (and probably tired from the long drive). But then...<br />
<br />
Then there's our trailer accident. Certainly, a traumatic thing like that could sideline our show plans. After all, we can't exactly show if we can't get there. Thankfully, the trailer was just fine, and the truck has been worked over and given the seal of approval. And though Saxon still shows stress about trailering by prancing
and grinding his teeth once in the trailer, even after the incident he continues to load and unload
without hesitation. With the propensity of gastric ulcers in show horses and horses in training (over 60%), I have wondered if this plays into his trailering anxiety and inconsistency at shows. As a precaution, I bought him some omeprazole paste to try at our next few events. <br />
<br />
Okay, say we go, armed with our omeprazole and our lunge line. What classes do we go in? While we're still working on our canter at home, I don't think he's ready to do it consistently in the show ring. Nor do I know if he's ready to handle some of the humongous classes like 2 gait Eq or 2 Gait HUS (see Jekyll and Hyde reference, above). That leaves In Hand, Intro Dressage (since I once again own a dressage saddle =) ), and the 2 Gait Rookie class. I had hoped to debut him in Western walk-jog earlier this year, but there was a ferris wheel that was just visible from the arena ... so much for that idea. That's not a lot of classes to justify 2,000 miles of driving and 3 days away from home.<br />
<br />
Okay, so I'll bring Legs, too, and they can each do a modest number of classes. I finally have the trailer for it, and though I've been taking it easy with her, she's been doing great so far this year. No sooner had I convinced myself that this was the way to go then I noticed her consistently resting her left foreleg on August 1. While horses frequently rest a hind leg while dozing, it is <i>not</i> normal for them to rest a forefoot. I finally found that the nail had pulled through one of the holes in her plastic horseshoes and was being pressed between the shoe and her foot. I had the farrier out to fix it and she spent a week on Bute and stallrest. After about 10 days, she was finally sound enough for light riding. That didn't give me much time to work her fitness up. Still, maybe if I just aimed for a limited number of classes ...<br />
<br />
Enter the evil side of Mother Nature. I love having my horses on my property, but it also comes with more than its share of hard work. On August 3, I was pulling fence staples from my woven wire mesh fence in preparation for replacing it with horse friendly flex fence. I knelt down to pull a low staple, and realized that my right knee was smack in the middle of a poison ivy patch. I did the rubbing alcohol thing after hiking back up to the barn; nevertheless, within a few days my entire knee was blistered and oozing, and I was smattered with itchy patches all over the rest of my body. Did I mention that I'm highly allergic to poison ivy? By the 9th, my entire right leg was swollen and oozing. I kept looking down and wondering why I had the right leg of a fat person. Besides the misery of itching, it also prevented me from riding (though I tried once anyhow). By the 14th, with my knee plastered in gauze and Vetrap, I was determined to try riding anyhow (I wonder if the horses noticed stronger leg cues from my fat right leg?). It went ok, then on the 15th, Mother Nature struck again, in the form of a stomach virus. I spent the second half of my first day back in class bedridden (I got nauseous even trying to crawl to the kitchen) and trying (unsuccessfully) to keep my stomach contents in place. I dragged myself to class and back again on the 16th, but typing on the computer from bed is about all that I feel up to. <br />
<br />
The final factor conspiring against my nationals bid this year is my class schedule. I'm in class 5 days a week for 4-7 hours a day. Going to New Jersey would invariably mean missing class the following Monday to make the 12 hour drive home. Wouldn't you know it, I have an examination scheduled that day and the class has a firm policy about attendance (miss 2 and you lose an entire letter grade) and make-up work (there isn't any).<br />
<br />
So that pretty much seals it. With so many factors seemingly conspiring to keep me in Kentucky this year, I guess I have to take the hint. I hate that I won't be able to show with my friends yet again this year, and I am disappointed that Saxon won't be able to make his National debut this year. But I guess I should heed the subtle half-dozen or so hints this time. <br />
<br />2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-11287261085356111852012-08-16T13:36:00.000-07:002012-08-16T13:36:21.443-07:00The Horse Show From Hell<i>This was from last month, but I put off publishing it until now.</i> <br />
<br />
Saxon and I have been going to some little local shows here and there. Some days he's just as pleasant and professional as you could want and other days he totally loses his marbles and it's all I can do to deal with him. The horse he is at home is nearly always quiet, willing and relaxed. Lazy even. I keep reminding myself that he's just 3 and someday he'll be like that everywhere, but it can be hard to remember when he teases me with stellar behavior at home, and then has a meltdown in public. I've learned a few tricks to helping him relax away from home, like arriving really early and taking him on long walks and lots of lunging all around the arena and showgrounds to let him investigate. It's not a foolproof system (especially since people tend to set up their tents, chairs, and umbrellas next to the arena <i>after</i> the show has already started), but it seems to help.<br />
<br />
I was looking forward to the OC show on Saturday. Our previous show there had been our most successful to date, with Saxon on his best big boy behavior. He had even made me confident enough to try the trail class with him that day, his first time doing trail in public, and he ambled through the obstacles like an old hand. He'd had a few days off earlier in the week while I was out of town, but he was obedient and calm during our pre-show ride. We got there and did our usual walking and lunging routine. He was decent through the in hand classes, though I could tell he was feeling a little feisty when he pinned his ears and tried to race me at the trot in the Hunter in Hand Class.<br />
<br />
When we tacked up for the under saddle classes it started to rain. Apparently Saxon's brain is water soluble, as I could practically watch it melt out of his ears the harder it rained. It was a steady rain and Saxon showed his displeasure about facing it head-on by humping his back and trying to buck when it hit his face and ran down his legs. We made it through the class with no major incidents, and before our next class, the steady rain turned to a downpour. Our next class was a large class, but it usually seems to help him stay calm to be around other horses. One horse propped and reared a little in front of us, but I dodged it and continued on. Around the next corner, we came face to face with a little mare who had heard something behind her and whirled the other way. I don't know if it was playfulness, alarm, or an outright temper tantrum about the rain, but Saxon had a meltdown. When Saxon has a meltdown, he doesn't hedge or mince around, he goes full Chernobyl. He humped his back hard and tried to buck. When I checked him up, he reared several times, higher and higher. He finally got his forefeet back on the ground and the judge encouraged me to walk him around to get him together. He walked calmly for about 30 feet and then started rearing again. I have never had to dismount in the middle of a class before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. He even went up again while I was leading him around the ring. I checked him for signs of irritation - a bug bite, pinched girth, bunched saddle pad, ouchy wound, but couldn't find anything. Remounting in the warm-up area to ride him through it got me nowhere, I had to bail again, ripping a hole in my favorite hunt coat in the process. My clothes were soaking, my tack was drenched, and my temperamental toddler was making his feelings about it all none to subtle. After a lunging session we made one more trip into the ring for the equitation pattern for the sake of quitting on a better note. It wasn't pretty; he was looky at the people on the bleachers and slow with his transitions, but we kept our feet on the ground which was a definite improvement.<br />
<br />
In hind sight, if that had been the worst of it - the torn hunt coat, the soaked tack, and the temperamental pony, it wouldn't have been so bad. It was still raining hard when we left the show. We were on the interstate about a mile from our first exit. Because of the rain, I was going about 55 (it was a 70), and came around a curve to find both lanes of traffic stopped in front of me. $^*#@$%! I broke hard, but the brakes locked up and I could tell immediately that I wouldn't be able to stop in time. I steered towards the shoulder and continued to pump the brakes, hoping to just ease past the row of cars and come to a stop farther up the shoulder. We were hydroplaning, and the trailer started to sway. One of its wheels hit the muddy grass and pulled the truck into an oversteer. I countersteered, but with some 6,000 pounds of trailer dragging you off the road and into a culvert, there isn't a whole lot you can do. I was cussing as we slid off the road and praying that we didn't roll, but thanks to my years of autocross experience intentionally driving cars on the edge of control, I wasn't panicked. Yet. Thunk. We came to a stop. The truck had made a complete 180 straddling a culvert, and the trailer was jackknifed, angled about 45 degrees relative to the road. I got out, expecting the worst. Upon quick inspection, the trailer looked pretty good, but there was no way to tow it out of there with the truck facing the way it was, nor was I sure about the truck's drivability at that point. Shaking, I opened the back door of the trailer to find Saxon standing in his compartment, seemingly no worse for the wear. No blood, no bumps, no scrapes that I could find. "Thank god." "I have to get Saxon home. How am I going to get him out of here? Who can I call? How do I fix this?" <i>Now</i> I was panicked. I called J. He suggested I call one of my friends in the area, B. She picked up. "Thank god." She had her truck and trailer handy. She attempted to come get us, but the original wreck that caused the pile-up in the first place made it impossible for her to get to us. I waited, alternating between assessing the damage, and standing in the half open doorway of the trailer, soothing Saxon who was drenched in sweat and steaming from the mugginess. Wouldn't you know it, very uncharacteristically I had forgotten to wrap his legs for the show when I left in the morning. I never do that. I was furious with myself for forgetting. Thankfully, he didn't have a mark or scrape on him. Other than a tail full of shavings and the edge of his rubber mat being turned up, you wouldn't know he had gone through any sort of ordeal. Two trailers crept up through the traffic. Both were coming back from the same show, and both had empty slots on them. Both offered to help me out and take me where I needed to go. After consulting with my friend B, we decided to get Saxon to her farm where J was now waiting, and use her rig to get him home (it was much too far to drag anyone out of their way). Another guy, whose truck indicated he was from a hunter-jumper farm, had stopped to help, too. The three of us unloaded Saxon on the edge of the interstate, and loaded him onto the other trailer. He would load his front end fine, but was concerned that his hindquarters wouldn't fit in the back stall of the slant trailer, but we got all of him on after a little more coaxing.<br />
<br />
We crept through traffic to B's farm. I thanked the lady profusely, and tried to pay her, but she wouldn't even take money for gas. Saxon must not have been too traumatized by the time we got to the new farm, as he was far more interested in grazing on their lawn than anything else. J and I got him home thanks to the use of B's rig. I fed him, looked him over, and turned him out to roll in the mud and rejoin Legs. He didn't have a mark on him. Not so much as a scratch or a ruffled hair. This from the horse who gets mystery scrapes on the inside of his thighs during turnout. We returned the borrowed rig (Which, we found out later, had the hitch receiver fall off due to frame rust the following Monday while en route to a show. It happened at a red light and thankfully there was no damage or injuries.)<br />
<br />
Getting the truck and trailer out of the ditch went smoother than I had imagined. I was sure we'd have to call a truck to drag the trailer out backwards, as the culvert angled sharply on both sides. Somebody kindly stopped to help, though we probably could have managed on our own just the same. We dumped 2 cans of Fix a Flat and added air to the hissing tire that had gravel and weeds jammed into the bead from sliding through the mud. We chocked the trailer wheels securely and attempted to unhitch. A pry bar helped free the ball from where it was bound against the receiver. We drove the truck out of the ditch and turned it around. After some maneuvering, we were able to rehitch the trailer at a better angle, tow it across the culvert, and back again to the side of the road. To say I am happy with the quality of my trailer is an understatement. To go through that sort of thing and protect the cargo within so well...<br />
<br />
Thankfully, Good Samaritans still exist. From the folks who stopped to ask if we were ok, and offer trailer rides and assistance, to the friend of a friend two weeks earlier who loaned us his car, his spare bedroom, and his garage full of tools when we were stranded by the side of the road in the middle of Virginia with a broken differential in the Miata... there are still good genuinely nice, helpful people left in the world willing to help out a friend or even a stranger. My only hope is that I'll get a chance to <b>be</b> one of them the next time around, rather than being on the receiving end of the catastrophe. <br />
<br />
2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-22117085419140400752012-06-14T14:25:00.001-07:002012-06-14T14:25:34.019-07:00That Really StingsIt was a normal Wednesday evening. I got home from work, brought Saxon up to the barn, and started grooming him on cross-ties in the barn aisle. I was just about to put his splint boots on, when he started violently biting his sides. I thought horsefly, but before I knew it, we were both in the middle of a swarm of very angry bees! I swatted one on his side with the splint boot in my hand and it stung my finger, all the while I was trying to unclip his cross-ties and speak in a soothing voice. He would have none of that, though, becoming frantic as they swarmed and stung at us both. He reared up high on both hindlegs, snapping one cross-tie at its breakaway loop on the wall (I always use a breakaway loop of twine on each cross-tie and trailer tie for just such circumstances), and bolted into the adjacent stall door, still attached to the other cross-tie. I managed to unclip that one as he bolted back across the aisle into the facing stall, still maddened by the stinging bees. I grabbed one of the cross-ties dangling from his halter and hustled him out of the barn to the driveway. My first thought was to hose him with nice cool water to soothe the stings. One of the nasty bees followed us to the wash area, but I managed to douse it with a stream of water and crush it under my foot before it did any more damage. I ran into the house to get some first aid items, and another one tried to follow me through the front door! <br />
<br />
I commenced with the cold hosing, but Saxon would not let me touch him anywhere near the wounds. I counted 5 stings (and eventually found a 6th one) around his rump, loin, and sides. I could sympathize, having been stung on the face and finger in the melee myself, but of course he didn't understand that. He just knew that it hurt like crazy and my touching it only made it worse. I attempted to apply ice packs to his stings, but he objected very violently to the contact. I wanted to give him dexamethasone and Bute, but they were in the barn with the swarming bees! Grabbing the nearly empty bottle of wasp killer, I beelined for the barn (pardon the pun). I took out two nasty ones, and a wasp as collateral damage, managing to retrieve the needed supplies in the process. <br />
<br />
That pretty much scratched my plans for riding that night, though after giving him the meds, I decided to lunge him so he could get some of his pent up frustration out. He was being pretty good, and I thought he'd finally simmered down on the lungeline, when he suddenly lost his marbles over a farm implement rumbling down the road. He just lost it. His tail went over his back, his head shot up to a giraffe-like elevation, and he started rearing and plunging around. I tried making him change directions to get his mind back on me, but in my haste, the end of the lunge line was trailing on the ground beside me, and he freaked out about that, too (First bees, then a monster, now a snake!) OK, I reeled in the excess, made him change directions about 40 times, and eventually got him back to sanity. Since he still wouldn't let me check his wounds any closer, I hosed him again, and figured I'd done all I could for the night. <br />
<br />
J made it home with 3 fresh bottles of wasp killers a while later, and we set about our assault on the colony of angry bees. I'd determined that they had taken up residence in our straw stack. We had a hive of honey bees last year, but they were a peaceful lot of the philosophy to live and let live, so we let them be and got rid of the hive in the winter, when they were gone and the hive was dormant. This hive had a completely different look to them (fuzzier, larger, and more yellow), and a mentality of strike first and show no mercy!<br />
<br />
Using a pitchfork and a board, J jostled each straw bale while I stood on guard for angry bees. We alternately shoved the bales, shot wasp killer, and retreated until, eventually, we had dismantled the entire stack. Through the course of it all, we ruined about 14 bales of straw and killed some 30 or so bees with wasp killer. I'm sure some of the bales barely had any poison on them, but I'd rather not take any chances of making one of my horses sick over a $3 bale of straw! The hive wasn't as big I'd feared it might be, but the bees (the size of a quarter) certainly weren't any smaller or less angry for it. I found one that returned to the battlefield the next morning, but I was armed with my wasp spray and shot him down before he could bring reinforcements. We avenged our bee attack and eradicated the bees, but besides my throbbing finger and head, what really stings is that Saxon has lost some trust in me because of those nasty bees. He saw me in the field when I went out to check on him the next morning, and promptly ran away. It took a lot of persuading (and a lot of peppermints) before he'd finally let me touch him. He still flinched when I tried to touch anywhere near the stings, but he readily took his Bute, and let me rub his nose and face. The swelling is down significantly (which I can attest to on myself) and it's hard to actually see the stings, though I know I can still feel them. It sucks that he doesn't understand that I didn't hurt him and that I'm trying to help him. He only knows that it hurts, and I'm somehow associated with the whole affair. And we'd been making such progress... Stupid bees. I didn't like flying stinging things before, but now... Flying stinging things be warned - stay off my property and away from my loved ones or you will die!2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-63235656510806396602012-06-14T13:47:00.002-07:002012-06-14T13:47:34.469-07:00Your Chariot AwaitsIn my last post, I covered some of the challenges Saxon and I faced in our travels. Though he had a lot of training and handling as a race prospect, he spent basically his entire young life at one farm - his lack of competitiveness meant that he missed out on the experience of traveling to new places (like the racetrack or other farms) that young racehorses get. That, combined with the fact that the second trailer ride of his life involved traveling halfway across the country on a slat sided stock trailer from New Jersey to Kentucky in December, means that I really can't blame him for being anxious about travel. He is laid back and nearly unflappable at home, but he can get really nervous and keyed up about traveling and new places.<br />
<br />
We've been working on that. At home, I've been tying him to the trailer instead of the cross-ties in the barn for grooming and tacking. I've also been working on loading him and letting him spend increasing amounts of time just chilling in the trailer. For much of May, the stock trailer was his dining car, the only place he got to eat his dinner. Readily motivated by food, Saxon learned quickly to load himself in anticipation of a tasty meal, though once inside his enthusiasm for the trailer quickly waned. We eventually progressed from panicked, to nervous, to anxious, to perturbed about being in the trailer, and worked our way up to 30 minutes or more of him standing in the unhitched trailer. Even so, he never lost his tendency to stomp around in circles while in the trailer, and was always waiting for me with his nose pressed to the back gate when I was ready to let him out.<br />
<br />
We had an impromptu field trip in mid May. I was planning to take him to a show, but 30 minutes into the trip, I received a call that the show had been canceled due to the previous night's rain. Since we were already on the road, I quickly decided to take him to the local county park as a schooling opportunity. My very accommodating husband agreed to meet me over there, so I wouldn't be all alone in a new place with 1000 pounds of anxious 3 year old, and one of my horse friends decided to load up her STBs to join us. From the driver's seat of the truck, it felt like he had traveled well on our excursion, but upon arriving at the park, I discovered that he had dented up the rear gate, shredded his left hind shipping boot, and ripped his haybag off the wall during the trip (pooping all over everything in the process, of course). He came off the trailer high-headed and nervous. To make matters worse, a baseball game was getting underway next to the arena, and they were doing their pregame motivational chanting and stomping ritual. Saxon looked around, saw the men with bats, saw no other horses, and came to the inevitable conclusion that I had brought him there to be hunted down by this pack of bat wielding, shouting cavemen! I tried to tie him to the trailer to remove what was left of his shipping boots and assess the damage, but he was rearing and dancing around, so there wasn't much I could do. Even on the lead line he didn't want to graze, so he spent the next 30 minutes dragging me all around the park at a nervous walk. Justin and I took turns being dragged around, since he wouldn't stand still. I eventually put him on the lunge line so Saxon could expend some of his nervous energy at his own expense rather than his handlers' expenses.<br />
<br />
Saxon was just starting to settle down when my friend's trailer pulled in. At the sight of other horses, his excitement level shot up again, and he took it out on the lunge line, wheeling about with loud snorts and his tail over his back. His excitement was infectious, and the other two were snorty and uncertain, too. So another 30 minutes of walking all 3 horses around the arena ensued. Eventually they all settled down to the point that we could tack them up and ride, and they were all pretty good about it, too. It ended up being a longer day than had I actually shown, but I think it was good for him.<br />
<br />
Well, the shredded shipping boot had solidified in my mind that I needed a different trailer for him. My stock trailer could be converted to a 2 horse straight thanks to a removable divider, but when I tried backing him out of it with no divider, he had a pretty big panic attack and nearly clocked himself on the trailer's roof. This meant that he had to be trailered solo in that stock trailer, and I had to tie him because he tried to constantly circle once inside the trailer. (I was afraid of him hurting himself while in the process of trying to turn around.) Well, he'd get ticked off when he tried to turn while tied and couldn't make it around, and SLAM, SLAM, SLAM - kick the walls of the trailer with all his might. I decided that a slant load would be better for him because I could lead him on head first, secure him safely with a divider for travel, and lead him off head first when we arrived at our destination. <br />
<br />
I decided to look for a 2 or 3 horse gooseneck slant load. After measuring most of the 3 horse models at a big trailer lot, I decided that a 2 horse might be better. Most of the 3 horse ones were 18' or longer on the box. My driveway is easy to turn into with my 12' stock trailer, doable with my friend's 16' one, and uses every inch and watchful eye available to make the turn in a 20' model. Finding a 2 horse slant gooseneck is harder than you might think, especially on a budget. I definitely wanted to upgrade to aluminum, if possible, since my trailer has to live outside. (I am fanatical about waxing my steel stock trailer, but I know pretty much nobody else in the universe is like that!) I searched website after website for available models, dimensions, features, prices, reviews, and reputation. I ended up with a giant chart of trailers that ultimately boiled down to about 3 real choices once I'd gone through them with a fine-toothed comb. I was looking at a used 2004 model 2H Bison Alumasport (aluminum skin with steel frame) with all the options, a 1999 base model 4 Star Stock-Combo that had been around the block quite a bit (for quite a bit more money), or a new Shadow 2H all aluminum that was stripped down and cost almost twice as much. I'd read a few negative reviews of Bisons online, but ultimately found that they centered around the giant living quarter monstrosities and the all fiberglass roof that Bison had stopped using years ago, and most people with the regular non LQ versions had positive things to say. (2004 was actually the last year they made a non living quarter gooseneck horse trailer.) I checked the Bison over in person with a fine-toothed comb, and it was in excellent shape (the lady's husband laughed at me when I checked the date code on the tires and climbed under the trailer to look at the supports and check for structural integtrity.) Once I found out it was an extra tall model, with nicely padded stalls, and the rear tack room collapsed easily (to let Saxon unload head first), that pretty much clinched it. I became the proud new owner of a very nice trailer! <br />
<br />
We went about it slowly, but Saxon warmed up to it pretty well. We first investigated it with the dividers and tack room collapsed out of the way, and eventually progressed to loading and pinning him in. He continued to want to prance his feet once loaded up, but stopped trying to turn around once he found out he couldn't go anywhere (Instead, he just piaffes in place now.). He loved the escape door, because it made the trailer more bright and inviting to enter, and he could stick his head over the chest bar to look around once inside. And, after a few sessions, he became confident enough to back out of it without having a panic attack. Now, we are able to back out calmly (even with the tack room divider up) like a normal horse, though I always say the word "hup" when he's about to step his foot off the back so he knows where the dropoff is. <br />
<br />
Since then, we have taken a few practice trips - one just to the post office and back, and the other back to the county park. This time around, there was no rearing when he was tied to the trailer, and he settled down much faster. (Though he was quite insistent that he had to sniff everything around him in very fine detail). The new trailer has polished aluminum on the nose and rear doors. I thought Saxon might be startled by his reflection in the back door when tied to the trailer. On the contrary, he was quite enamored with himself. Saxon found himself quite the handsome fellow and wanted to admire his reflection from all angles. My horse the narcissist! Riding wise, he did quite well this time around (it may have helped that there were no bat-wielding neanderthals, I mean baseball players present), and we even cantered under saddle in the ring (his first time doing so away from home).<br />
<br />
We went to a show a week later, and while he had a few "moments" about the horse-eating toddlers and folding chairs near the showring, he was excellent about the trailer. He stayed calm while tied to it, and loaded and unloaded readily both times. I was pretty delighted with the trailer, too. For the first time, I had a *real* dressing room to change in (it has a skylight and a screen door - how cool is that!), and I could really spread out my tack and equipment. If I had a complaint, it would be not enough saddle racks (2 for a 2 horse trailer - don't they know that versatile Standardbreds need lots of wardrobe changes?) or outside tie rings (2 per side, and the second one's too close to the back door to be useful anyhow). But I can work around those details, given the trailer's many other merits. Saxon still wants to piaffe in place once inside, but he seems to be calming down overall. I don't know if it's the new trailer, more experience, or both, but I'd say that's a win either way.<br />
<br />
<br />2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-46557209845416188912012-05-08T13:38:00.000-07:002012-05-08T13:38:02.325-07:00A Different Day, A Different HorseSaxon is officially 3 now, having celebrated his birthday on April 21. He is a solidly built horse, and gives the impression of being larger than he is (he measures 16 HH, but everyone, myself included, thinks that he just seems bigger than that). He is generally mistaken for a Thoroughbred or Saddlebred with his bright red coat and regal bearing. He has finally lost the tucked up racehorse tummy and is building the muscles of his neck into a nice arch, and has a nice, trim riding horse outline as a result. I know I am biased, but some days I look at him and think that his conformation just couldn't be much nicer. His chest is filling out and he travels nice and straight with his forehand, though he still wings in behind. He may grow out of it as he fills out enough to reduce his toe out behind (as Legs did); only time will tell. <br />
<br />
Since the adventures of our last horse show and those that preceded it, Saxon has been a different horse. He got over his Springtime wildness and turned back into the calm, sweet Standardbred that I first was acquainted with. He's gotten so complacent and relaxed, in fact, that I have resorted to riding him with a pair of little blunt baby spurs just to get him going. His new favorite gait is whoa and a snail slow walk, and I was having to pony kick him to get a trot before I tried the spurs. He accepts the front yard as his home base riding area, and only gets on edge when noisy motorcycles or trucks with rattling trailers pass him on the road side, though I still circle him away from traffic when at the canter just to keep him from using it as an excuse to buck and play. We continue to reinforce the basics of going on the bit, trying to establish different tempos of trot, and circling/bending. We also continue with the canter work, though I don't anticipate trying to canter in public until next year or the fall at the earliest. He is eager to try the canter and it is a very nice, rhythmic true canter when he does, but his coordination in picking it up promptly and holding it for a duration just isn't quite there yet. He still tends to pick up the canter only in the corners of the arena from a moderate trot, where he is already wanting to lean onto his inside shoulder. He knows what the cues mean, has no trouble galloping around the pasture, and on the lunge line I can see him thinking about how to move his body, but the coordination just isn't quite on board with balanced canter departs yet, but the important part is that he is willing and eager to try. In fact, once we have cantered for the day, he keeps offering to pick it up for a few strides at a time the rest of the ride. We have done some baby jumps just to gauge his reaction (if you can call a 9" tall crossrail a jump), but so far he just happily trots over them and hasn't figured out how to hop over them.<br />
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When you work with a horse day after day, it is easy to overlook the progress that you've made until one day you realize that you are doing something as a team that you simply couldn't do just a few weeks or months ago. Every time I've attempted to clip him, he trusts me to do just a little
more. He acquiesced about having his muzzle trimmed, then his jaw, and
now his bridlepath. The ears are next. I've gotten him to quietly and readily self-load in the horse trailer (but only at home... when we're not going anywhere... and have all the time in the world... more on that later...) Within the past few weeks, I suddenly realized that Saxon was bending more consistently, and I could turn him by looking ahead and giving subtle aids instead of a leading rein and insistent outside leg. Now he is able to hold a nice bend and maintain a trot in smaller circles, too, while staying in a frame. We have far fewer periods of "being a giraffe" (where he goes with his head up in the air, and his back becomes a springboard). He can also go long and low at the trot, like a classic old-school hunter, without leaning or yawing on the bit, which is something he couldn't do in February. Just last week, we tried sidepassing for the first time, and after just attempts at moving one half or the other, Saxon figured out that he could move sideways in a coordinated fashion, properly crossing over himself in the process. Smart boy! It's not perfect, but he assimilated the idea, and tries to do it, which is all I could ask of a green, growing 3 year old. <br />
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In fact, we attempted the trail gate the very next day (which I had been putting off, since sidepassing is an important skill to have in manuevering around the gate). For the non-horsey, trail class is essentially a judged equine obstacle course. In most cases, the trail "gate" is a length of rope hung between two upright poles or jump standards (it's cheaper and easier than hanging a real gate that won't get tipped over during the process). You have to unfasten one end, ride through, and refasten it from horseback without getting it tangled around the horse or yourself. Many horses take exception to seeing the rope "following them" from the corner of their eye or brushing their sides and it's something you have to get them used to. I have taken him through my trail gate in hand several times and spent some time acclimating him to seeing and feeling the rope. When we first attempted it astride, I took my time and cued him very methodically, and he performed like a champ. He was so good, in fact, that I quit for the day then and there.<br />
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After a solid week of great rides and perfect trailer loading practice, I had high hopes for his next show outing. The day of the show, I woke up an hour late thanks to accidentally turning my alarm clock off in my sleep (still don't remember that one), and much of the rest of the show day followed suit. He apparently spent the night churning and stalking his stall, as the bedding was a sopping mess and all pushed to the outside of the stall, he had barely touched his hay, and he had knocked half his water bucket onto the stall front. He didn't appear ill or injured, just anxious. He wouldn't still stand on the cross-ties for me to put his shipping boots on. I put him in the paddock and let him run around for 5 or 10 minutes to try to get it out of his system before I tried to load him. In sharp contrast to the previous day before where he marched right onto the trailer without blinking, he refused to load. What the heck? I finally got him loaded and we hit the road. We got to the show 30 minutes before it started. Since he was so keyed up and anxious, I opted to get him a stall instead of showing out of the trailer. He wasn't much better in his stall, even with a full hay bag of choice timothy in front of him. After getting the stall set up, I took him out on the lunge line. He lunged in the indoor arena like a pro and seemed to settle down quickly once he had something to do. Since the riding classes were first (in the scary white painted saddlebred outdoor arena with the alleyway entrance, and wrap-around box grandstand), I tacked him up figuring that a nice long ride would take the rest of the edge off of him and help him relax. He was pretty good in the arena, some giraffe mode, and an especially springy trot. <br />
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The actual show ring was a different story. It was our first time in the white painted fish bowl that is the Shelby County Saddlebred arena, and Saxon was up and very looky at the surroundings. When our first pass at the trot involved a playful head toss and thoughts of crow-hopping, I knew placing well wasn't one of the outcomes. We made it through the class horse side down, and more or less followed the appropriate commands, though not in the quiet manner he does at home. In our next class, things started looking up. We positioned ourselves well, and he was starting to relax and carry himself more comfortably, and he made some nice passes. Surprise, surprise, we pinned first. I was optimistic about the championship class that followed, since he was starting to get comfortable and go like I know he can. Well, the surprise was on both of us. A nice little family had moved into the corner gazebo by the ring, and though I couldn't tell, Saxon clearly identified them as horse attacking cannibals. He propped at the walk, and shied before we even got near them. We only managed to get around that corner of the arena once the rest of the horses in the class caught up with him and he felt safe ducking behind them out of sight of the no doubt evil and ravenous family. The rest of the class was focused on staying horse side down, trying to go at one speed, and trying to get his nose out of the sky. The judge made a comment in the lineup about our baby moments. Sigh. He was back to almost relaxed in our equitation class, but by that point, my thighs had turned to Jello and I just couldn't stay with his big powerful sitting trot. By the time we left, I think he was fed up with the whole day. Saxon still hasn't acclimated to trailering. He loads like a dream at home (when he isn't going anywhere), but he didn't want to get into the moving box to head home. He wants to stomp around in the trailer, and unfortunately, he is too big for me to put the divider up in my stock-combo trailer, so I have to tie him in the box stall. His nervous habit makes me nervous, as he wants to turn around in the trailer and gets partway around before the tie stops him. He even resorted to kicking the back of the trailer whenever I'd stop for a traffic light because he was ticked off that he couldn't turn around. If I let him loose, though, I'm afraid he'd just slip and slide in his own poop as he paced the trailer. <br />
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Though the show was disappointing for me in terms of his behavior, I got some valuable takehome points from it. 1. I need to bite the bullet and buy a new trailer. My old stock combo served me well for Legs and a variety of smaller horses, but it just isn't just doesn't fit what Saxon needs. I think a 2 or 3 horse slant load with extra height would be better both in terms of his comfort on the road and loading ease. 2. We need to work on tying. He is super in cross-ties, but tends to bounce back and forth like a pingpong ball when tied straight, especially when he's in unfamiliar places. He doesn't pull back, at least, but it is very difficult to groom and tack a moving target while keeping your feet out from under his! (I have the black and purple marks on my foot to prove it.) 3. Regardless of which trailer it is, we need to practice spending more time in the trailer (eg eating his dinner or just chilling out for 5 or 10 minutes) and taking short trips (even just around the block) until he starts to get more comfortable with the process. 4. We need to go on more field trips. This includes both show and non-show activities. Again, we just need to get used to the sights and sounds in the world so that he starts to relax more readily in new settings. 5. I need to keep working on faking good equitation on his powerful trot. I can tell that my leg strength has improved immensely from riding him; now I need to focus on my upper body (and work on developing a slower sitting trot with him, besides speed and tempo differences in general). 6. I just need to ride and work with him as much as I can during these formative years of his. Conveniently, the school semester just wound down, and despite my jam-packed weekend schedule, I should have a little more time through the week now to ride him (and keep my good old girl Legs in some sort of riding shape, too). Now that I have my "horsework homework" assignment, stay tuned to see how we perform with it... 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-40823382166438158322012-03-12T15:44:00.005-07:002012-03-12T19:39:50.436-07:00Adventures in Toddlerhood<i>AUTHOR'S NOTE:</i> <i>My apologies, as this is a rather long one. You might want to grab a drink and a snack if you plan to read this all in one sitting!</i> <br />
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Saxon has an enormous capacity to astound me with his intelligence, willingness, and wisdom that far outstrips his age and experience. I have recently discovered, though, that sometimes a temperamental toddler lurks beneath his sweet and trusting demeanor.<br />
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A lot has happened since my last blog post even though just 5 weeks have elapsed on the calendar. Daylight Saving Time has just taken effect (I love DST and wish this country would adopt it year-round to increase the amount of usable daylight in the evening, but that's a discussion for another time and place...). Winter tried to have its final say with last week's snowfall (which was preceded by tornadoes and followed by summer-like temperatures). School marches on and I am waiting to find out about acceptance for DH school. I got a new (23 year old beloved but POS) car that I am foolishly thinking about turning into another racecar (perhaps a subject for another blog). I finally succeeded in my quest to find a new jumping saddle. Saxon has continued in his riding and showing pursuits, both impressing and terrifying me in the process.<br />
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Saxon loves to be brushed and stroked, but dislikes being curried and despises having his belly groomed. (In contrast, Legs loves a vigorous curry session and is absolutely in heaven when you scratch and curry her ventral midline - she stretches her back up, leans into you and tries to return the favor by grooming you back). Saxon seems to be more sensitive-skinned and ticklish than the old mare. It's easy enough to work around except for one small detail - he makes a habit of sleeping sternal in the mud and in the urine soaked spot he makes in the middle of his stall (boys...). I can't exactly leave the filth crusted on his belly, but he really hates the process of having it removed. I have learned to work around it by gently sweeping off the worst of it with a curry in a straight line, and then using handfuls of baby wipes to clean the area up the rest of the way. Talk about babying your horse... Now Kroger has started sending me diaper and formula coupons because I bought baby wipes there once. I'm pretty sure there isn't a set of Huggies big enough for <i>my</i> baby though it <i>would</i> make stall cleaning a breeze. <br />
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Sometime in early February, I noticed a peculiar and intermittent pattern when I rode Saxon. Some days he would kick at his belly when asked to trot. One day it even escalated to humping his back and mild bucking. Other days he was just fine. The first time I noticed it was when I used a new girth with my dressage saddle. He spent much of the ride kicking squarely at the girth with his hind legs until I gave up. Given his touchiness about his belly, I concluded that he just hated that girth and decided not to use it anymore (it was a Professional's Choice with the thin neoprene backing). He did it again with different equipment, so I wasn't sure what to think. Was it physical discomfort? Was he throwing a tantrum like a petulant toddler? Was he allergic to neoprene or intolerant of anything but the softest and most thickly padded girths? Dismounting and readjusting his tack only helped somewhat. He wouldn't abate when disciplined nor would he desist if I ignored it and kept riding. In my logical and methodical fashion, I started to keep a log of when I worked him, what we did, and what tack I used to see if there was a pattern. He was fine with my old jumping saddle (leather double elastic girth) and my synthetic western saddle (felt-lined cinch). He was pleasant as could be on the lunge line with a surcingle (cotton webbing). He didn't care if he was wearing splint boots, galloping boots, or polo wraps. It was my Wintec Pro dressage saddle that set him off, no matter what girth I used with it (Pro Choice, Wintec neoprene/elastic, fuzzy and stretchy fleece/elastic). I borrowed my friend's Wintec 500 dressage (it has the same tree and general structure) and he was fine. I didn't find anything obviously wrong with the tree on mine, though I do have the medium-wide gullet in mine and she has the medium in hers, which could be part of it. I later tried a thick foam and fleece half pad with my dressage saddle/medium wide plate and he was fine with that arrangement. He measured just into medium wide, but I am more inclined to believe his behavior than the cardboard gauge when he's sending a message to me THAT clearly, so I will switch out the gullet plates and try him again in mine with the medium. He has wonderful natural ability for dressage, but if he won't tolerate a dressage saddle for whatever reason, that kind of kills his prospects for a successful dressage career... At least I solved <i>that</i> problem - I was getting worried there!<br />
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His belly-kicking episodes coincided with my jumping saddle search, causing me further worry about finding a saddle that met both his and my criteria. I have had my old Collegiate Graduate for nearly 17 years; I bought it new with the proceeds of my baby-sitting jobs when I was a young teenager. I couldn't even begin to count the number of riding hours, number of jumps, or number of trips around the show ring that saddle has seen. It has served me extremely well through Legs' whole riding career, but it is dated and old by today's standards, so I figure I am due a new saddle every decade and a half or so, and having the knee rolls and thigh blocks found on modern saddles seems like a nice luxury.<br />
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Last year I bought a second-hand Dover Circuit Elite. I bought it based on good recommendations, and a good experience with one when showing IHSA. I sat in one at WEG and it seemed nice. But the two happiest moments I had with my particular saddle were the day it arrived, and the day that I sold it. It had a two-toned reddish chestnut-caramel effect because of the different leathers they used, which I could have lived with, but... The quality of the construction was good, and the leather on the seat and knee rolls was supple with nice grip and texture, but the leather on the flaps was thick, stiff, and had about as much grip as a sheet of glass. No amount of cleaning and conditioning made a difference, and since this saddle was already a couple years old, that was as broken-in as it was going to get. I had to use a riser pad to get it balanced on Larry and it wasn't that great of a fit on Legs, either. It also tended to put me in a chair-seat position and I was constantly fighting to keep my legs back under me. I thought I just had developed bad habits until I went back to my old Graduate and found my position magically fixed overnight. Up for sale it went and I was back to riding in my old relic (in addition to scoring a good deal on that used Wintec Pro dressage) until I decided what to replace it with.<br />
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I decided that since my old Collegiate had served me well, a <i>new</i> Collegiate was the way to go. I researched the variety of models they offered and settled on a couple that seemed to fit the bill. I thought about one of the convertible gullet models like my dressage saddle, but their higher cost, reports of lower quality leather, and the fact that it has moving parts and I plan to eventually do a lot of jumping in it swayed me towards a traditional tree version. The Collegiate Laureate had favorable reviews and touted itself as a modern replacement for the Graduate - perfect! At some stores they retailed for almost as much as my silver covered western show saddle - ouch! But then I found one tack shop that had them on closeout (no returns) for nearly half that. I called them and verified it had the features I was looking for, but found out they were sold out of my size. Rats. Then I found another online store that had them for over a hundred more, but they did price matching. Yippee! My new saddle was delivered the next week. I tore open the box, pulled out my new saddle, and... hmmmph. It didn't look much like the photos online. The color was more red (not too big of a deal) but the flaps were considerably different. Instead of forming a smooth line from the pommel, they jutted forwards another 20 degrees. Thinking it could just be a parallux issue, I tried it on horse #1 (Legs). The seat and tree balance was very good, but the forward flap stuck out over her shoulders. I wrapped the billets with old socks to protect the leather from marring and took a brief test ride without stirrups. (For the record, Legs was delighted that I allowed her to hop a small cross-rail so I could see how it felt over fences). It rode nicely, but the flaps were all wrong for my legs. My knee barely touched the knee rolls and the knee blocks were laughably far from where my legs would <i>ever</i> be in that saddle. I have to speculate that the flap was made with leggy supermodels jumping Grand Prix level fences in mind - certainly not for short to moderate legged 5'4" ladies aspiring to the local and regional levels of the amateur hunter-jumper and hunter pleasure rings. I sat on it while it was on Saxon, but the fit was no different. It was comfortable, but the flap looked ridiculous with my legs - like I was a kid trying to ride in mom's saddle. My initial thought was that they had accidentally sent me a long-flap version, but I couldn't find any evidence that a long-flap version had ever been manufactured. I contacted the store and after they listened to my complaint and compared photos of <i>my</i> saddle with what it was supposed to look like, they arranged for return shipping and a refund. Thank goodness customer service still exists! By now, more research had determined that Collegiate had redesigned the flap this year, so I needed to find a pre-2012 model in order to get one with a normal person flap. As luck would have it, there was a 16.5" on eBay. My old one was a 17", but with my frame, a 16.5" is actually probably a better fit, and my test ride in the brand new 17" had told me that I had plenty of seat room so it became mine. Since it was used, I don't get the benefit of breaking it in myself, but it seems to have been well-cared for, the leather is quite nice, and the color is in between caramel and havana, so it will coordinate with both of my horses' show bridles - another plus. Even better, it fits both of my horses, my knees actually touch the knee rolls, and it doesn't put me in a weird riding position. Since I bought it used, I paid just $10 more than I spent on that new Graduate all those years ago. Here's hoping it lasts almost as long as that old Graduate! <br />
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Well, my first test ride in the Laureate was a big <b>buck</b>et of fale. I rode Saxon out in the back field, just as I had two days prior (in the Graduate). We walked, trotted, and cantered fine. He was actually trotting in a pretty good frame that day without yawing down and forwards on the bit as he can be prone to. I asked him to canter to the left (his better direction), for the second time. Since cantering is still demanding for him, I use his inherent psychology to help him pick it up; I make sure whichever lead I want is the one one the side towards the gate, and ask him when he is circling more or less towards the gate/front of the field rather than towards the back of the field. Our previous two short canter bouts, he had broken gait and wanted to stop when we were near the gate (and incidentally, Legs' feed bucket). This time, I vowed to keep him cantering past the gate. He tried to slow down, and I pressed him on with my legs. As I did so, he pulled his head all the way down and humped his back, then immediately cracked his back hard. Uh oh. I know this move. It's the buck he does when he's cantering on the lunge line and he doesn't want to keep going after passing the corner where the barn is, and it's <i>very</i>, um, athletic. He continued to crack his back harder and harder, and by the fourth or fifth big jump, I knew I was too off balance to stay on. He veered left and off I plunked to the right, landing on my right hip, shoulder, and then head. This is why you wear a helmet, my friends. He cantered on over to the empty feed bucket, I got up, followed him, verified that all of my parts still worked and he wasn't rattled (he didn't seem to think it was any big deal that he had just ejected a human off his back), took a big breath, and got back on. As I recall, I haven't come off a horse since my QH was a 3 year old with an irrational fear of trucks rumbling down the nearby road - about 5 years ago. You have to get back on, especially with a youngster, since you can't have them deciding that acting up earns them relaxation and a trip back to the barn. We spent another 10-15 minutes doing a LOT of trotting, and he had lost the privilege of being allowed to stretch his head and neck down for the moment. We eventually tried a short canter again with no bucking this time before we quit for the day.<br />
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Two days later I mounted up in the front yard. Right away, I could feel that he was tense and full of himself. He was trying to jig and shaking his head from side to side. I kept him at a walk and tried to get him to relax by making him concentrate on bending, circling, and walking over poles. When he seemed suitably composed, I asked him to trot. The head snaked down, the back humped, and the hind legs started to leave the ground. I immediately pulled his head up and kept trying to keep his brain and his feet busy. When he used the neighbor's car pulling in their driveway as an excuse to try to levitate again, I knew this wasn't going to work. I pulled him up, dismounted, and took him over to the front paddock. I secured my reins out of the way, raised my arms and clucked <b>once</b>. He exploded - running, bucking, and leaping around for 15 straight minutes with his tail over his back while I just stood there in the middle of the paddock with my arms at my sides. I was not amused that my brilliant, willing, and generally extraordinarily calm Standardbred was channeling his inner Thoroughbred and having fits like an exuberant toddler. I don't know if it was the weather (it had been unusually warm and windy), a sugar high from the tender green grass sprouting up, the new feed he was on, or if he was just having a case of the terrible two's. While he <i>is</i> stabled most nights, he is turned out all day with plenty of time and space to run and play. Perhaps since stodgy old school marm Legs seldom runs and plays with him, he isn't making use of that time to self-exercise. Whatever it was, he finally settled down and I remounted and actually had a pretty nice ride. <br />
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Riding wise, we're still working primarily on walk-trot work with some canter work when time, footing conditions, and mental outlook permit. He's starting to figure out how to vary both his tempo and his stride length at the trot, and is steering off the leg well at the walk. At the trot, the steering off leg varies day to day. Part of that, I'm sure, is that his very springy way of going makes it hard for me to keep a steady leg position on him. That's the trade-off for his pretty, floaty trot - sometimes the prettiest movers can be some of the more uncomfortable to ride (there are exceptions, of course, and certainly stilted-moving horses with jack-hammer strides aren't comfortable, but springy, pretty movement can be hard to sit in its own right). Conventional wisdom is that collecting a horse exaggerates their springiness and makes them even less comfortable to ride. My experience with the last two STBs I've worked with, Brave Guns and Saxon, is the opposite. When they are in giraffe mode (head up and back stiff and hollow - think about how they travel when in an overcheck), their big trots have a way of catapulting you up out of the tack. When I get either of them to relax their spine and neck and swing more from their haunches, their trots get more rhythmic and easier to stay with. With his trot, Saxon is hardly an equitation prospect. That's not to say that I won't ride him in eq classes, but he wouldn't be my first choice if I had the choice. In fact, there was a walk-trot pattern class I could have entered at a recent show, but when I saw that the pattern called for a sitting trot without stirrups, entering that class was a definite no-go. Maybe later when his trot is more regular and we've worked on that stuff more, but not at this stage! Since then, I've been working on his tempo and collection at the trot, and also experimenting with different back pads to smooth out the experience for both of us. I'm sure he doesn't appreciate when I get out of sync and bounce on his kidneys any more than I appreciate when his trot jars mine! I made him a fleece half pad with a 2" egg-crate foam core that seems to help, and the back pad I use on Legs also seems to make a difference. That may be part of his beef with my dressage saddle - it has the Cair panels which tend to increase the rebound while they redistribute the weight load. <br />
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Showing wise, we've been back at it. We went to the March follow-up to the show we did in February. When he got off the trailer, he rubbed his head on my shoulder vigorously, but I figured his fly mask was itching him and didn't think much of it. (Since I have a stock trailer with open sides, I ship my horses in a fly mask to keep dust and hay from blowing into their eyes.) We walked around the arena for a good 20-25 minutes. He seemed relatively relaxed about the whole process and was quite pleased with himself when he successfully mooched a handful of treats from a bystander on the rail. After I settled him into his stall, I noticed his left eye was a little squinty and had some tearing. I saw a small curly hair in his eye and attempted to blot his eye and help him work the offending bit out. He seemed better, so I figured it was no big deal. We went in the same classes as the last time, starting with the English Green Horse Walk-Trot. Saxon was spooky about one corner of the ring where a few folks were sitting on chairs which put them under the height of the railing. You could glimpse their movement between the slats of the rail, but couldn't clearly see who or what they were, so I can't fault him for his concern. To make matters worse, sunlight shining through the skylights cast bright squares in the dark footing, which he was afraid to pass through. Before they started the judging class, he was rattled after just passing the "hiding under the railing people" and I actually had to ask a few people along the rail to pet him so he could see that they wouldn't eat him. The icing on the cake was that there 12 entries crammed into the small arena - nearly half of them were participants in the prior Green <b>Rider</b> Walk-Trot who did not belong in the Green <b>Horse</b> class. Grrrrrr. It was a debacle with ponies and novice kids bouncing around, prancing saddleseat horses careening around, big Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods everywhere - bumper cars on horseback. I did the best I could to keep him out of traffic (though he chose not to steer off the leg terribly well today) and not get him trapped by the "scary" parts of the arena. Still, there were multiple times where ponies and horses ran up his rear end and he pinned his ears and swished his tail in warning. He never actually kicked, but he was less than pleased about the insult. I was quite happy that we managed to pin 5th out of that class of 12, given the circumstances. Between riding classes, I noticed he would still squint some out of that left eye, then he would seem just fine. That little round bit was still right there. He spooked BIG at a horse trailer on the move as we waited outside the ring before our next riding class - daylight between me and the saddle before I refound my balance. He was too snorty and scared for me to ride over to the scary thing, so I dismounted and led him around before I had to go in the ring. The walk trot pleasure and eq classes were a little better; since they were for adults it eliminated the pinball ponies. We pinned in both, though he was in catapult mode at the trot so my eq definitely sub-par that day. He redeemed himself by being a superstar in the halter classes again. I don't think he was quite the judge's taste, but that happens with horse showing, and the important thing was that he behaved well and did what he was supposed to (And this time I positioned myself <i>away</i> from the girl who kept hitting her horse with a crop in halter and showmanship! I'm sure she means well and is frustrated, but I don't think anyone's ever taken the time to explain to her that beating her horse is not going to help it calm down and behave in the show ring). It was rather embarrassing that the judge noticed Saxon's squinting, too, and basically gave him a vision test right there in the show ring. Yes, he did something to his eye in the trailer. These things happen. Nonetheless, we still pinned high enough in Open Halter that we were awarded Reserve Champion in that division for the show series despite only having done 2 of the 5 shows! After closer inspection of his eye and a call to my vet, it turned out that Saxon had managed to <i>scratch his cornea</i> in the trailer <i>while wearing his fly mask</i>. I know he's a talented horse, but that's not really the type of talent I had in mind! What had initially looked like a circular hair was actually a round scratch about the size of the tip of a click-type ball-point pen. That would certainly explain the excess spookiness. After a night of worry, Bute, opthalmic ointment, and a fly mask, by the next morning the round mark was barely visible, and two days later you'd never have suspected anything had happened. Thankfully, he tolerated 5 days of eye ointment pretty well (the trick was to do it while he was eating his grain).<br />
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After a few days off due to the show and the eye injury, we were back to riding and training. New horses had arrived on the farm and he was distracted by wanting to meet them, investigate their humans, evaluate their trailer, etc. We had another "up" ride as a result, but no real bucking (thank heavens!) and he worked out of it well. We had some small break-throughs by the end of the week - he started to engage his hindquarters and really carry himself for several strides at a time. And as a result, his trot was much more rideable. He was getting better adjustability at his trot, as he was also starting to figure out how to collect his trot so that I could almost sit it.<br />
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There was another show this past weekend at the same venue, but run by a different group. I probably won't have another show to take him to for a month or two, so I did some classes with him on Sunday. We showed out of the trailer for the first time, and he was a little anxious about being tied to the trailer for extended periods of time. Having hay in front of him and taking him on short field trips to lunge and/or hand grazed helped some. He was again a superstar in hand. I was especially proud of him in the (non-Arab) Sport Horse in Hand class, as he stood like a stone while the judge made copious notes on his score sheet. The other horse in the class was a fancy Friesian whose price tag undoubtedly numbered high into five digits, so I knew we had no shot at winning, but I was super proud of how well he performed the triangle and stood up for me, and I got some nice comments on his score sheet, too.<br />
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To follow up on his great behavior in hand, he tried to kill me when we warmed up under saddle. It was just us and the Friesian in the ring at that moment, and I guess to Saxon, the huge black horse with feathers and hair flying everywhere and the ground shaking under his hooves (he did NOT tread lightly!) looked like some sort of supernatural monster trying to run him down. We had barely started walking around the ring when Saxon shook his head and tried to bolt. I reined him in, and he went up. Oh %&#$! He started wheeling and rearing in a panic. I was trying to dismount, but he wouldn't stop rearing. The problem with horses that rear is that horses aren't good at solving physics equations. They may know how high they can rear out in the pasture, but seldom factor in the weight of the rider. If they go up too high, they can lose their balance and topple over backwards - nothing good ever comes of that. The rider on the Friesian pulled up, albeit near us, and I managed to slide off between rears. The guy was very nice, and his horse was, too; apparently Saxon just thought the horse was some sort of terrifying monster. I don't even know if he classified the Friesian as a fellow equine. Or maybe he thought the Friesian wanted to joust with him and he wanted no part of it. Well, I can clearly rule out Medieval Times as a possible alternate career path for him. Saxon was still rolling his eyes and prancing around nervously after I slid off. I couldn't even run up my stirrups. I tried to lead him around the ring, but his head and his tail were bolt upright and he was rolling his eyes and snorting in fear. (When Saxon puts his tail over his back, he doesn't mince around - he puts tail set Saddlebreds to shame). I came back with my lunge line and lunged him in the arena. Once the Friesian had left, he finally settled down and was willing to walk and trot on the lunge line in a relaxed and non-panicked fashion. By then I had no time to actually ride him in the arena, but at least I had gotten him in there on the lunge line.<br />
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I had ZERO expectations for our first under saddle class. There were just a few of us so it was easier to find our own spot on the rail (thankfully the Friesian was not among them or I would have scratched from the class). I just wanted to make it through the class horse side down, and was planning my exit strategy if things went poorly. Good old Saxon decided that, in the absence of the big black monster, all was right with the world again and he walked and trotted around the ring as nice as you please, collecting the blue ribbon in the process. He was nice and quiet in our second riding class, too, though he was pretty tired and I didn't feel like picking at him about going in a frame or collecting, but we got third, and I was happy that he stayed relaxed and cooperative. <br />
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Just about everyone at the show asked about his freeze brand. (They did love his registered name, though :) I do hate that he has a big "bar code" on his neck marking him as a STB (or a Mustang, though theirs uses symbols instead of letters and numerals), which means that any halfway knowledgeable judge or horseperson knows exactly what breed he is before judging him on his own merits. I know that it makes horse ID at the track much easier and showing isn't a factor in that thought process. Just a tiny fraction of Standardbreds see the show ring versus racing, sales, and breeding where quick and positive horse ID is of prime importance, so I certainly don't fault the USTA for marking the horses this way. I think for showing, though, I'm going to try to find a brown permanent marker or some sort of spray to cover it with, since temporary hair dye didn't work. I am proud that he is a Standardbred, but I'd really rather have him be evaluated on his own merits first before his breeding comes up. <br />
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So that's been our past five weeks - adventures in toddler-hood. Much of the time he acts like an experienced, mature horse, though the past month has been befraught with quite a few fractious toddler moments. All I can do is cut him some slack about it (he doesn't even really turn 3 until next month), and walk the fine line between not pushing him too hard and working with him/exposing him to new situations in a calm and confidence-building manner. I hope that doesn't mean that I have to buy him his own pet Friesian, though...2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-43160748249652535392012-02-05T19:27:00.000-08:002012-02-05T19:30:46.456-08:00A First Time for EverythingThey say there's a first time for everything. Usually, of course, that doesn't mean all at once, but sometimes... I decided to take the plunge and enter Saxon in his first horse show. It ended up being a day full of lot of firsts for both of us.<br />
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My plan (by now you've probably figured out that I almost always have a plan) was to take Saxon on a nice little trip to this show, let him soak in the show environment and all of the action, enter a couple in hand classes, and maybe try a riding class if things were going especially well. The show was part of a local winter show series held at the Shelby County Fairgrounds. This particular fairgrounds really deserves a nicer title than fairgrounds. It boasts two indoor arenas, permanent (and very nice) stabling, a large Saddlebred arena with box seats and a grandstand that hosts numerous rated ASB shows, all basically smack in the middle of downtown Shelbyville (the self-appointed Saddlebred capitol of the world). Being February, and wintertime and all, this show was held in the main indoor, which is long but narrow and has a 4 foot tall slatted rail with a row of stalls on either long side. This means that spectators like to congregate all along (and over) the rail, with a menagerie of dogs, ponies, children, parents with cameras, ringing cell phones, etc. lining this railing. It is a pretty high-distraction environment for a horse show, and not exactly what I would have hand picked for Saxon's first show experience. It's February, though, and I was excited to see how Saxon took to showing, so it's not as if I had a whole lot of other options.<br />
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I arrived about 45 minutes early despite that the written directions indicated that the last two turns were a right then a left, instead of a left then a right! It's a good thing my fuzzy memory of the one time I'd shown here before served me well! There was nobody in the show office when I checked, so I opted to walk Saxon around before getting a stall assignment. He was nervous and attentive, but manageable off the trailer. Rather than struggle to declothe a potentially dancing horse, I just walked him around the arena in his full shipping regalia. He did a lot of pausing, looking, and sniffing things, but didn't seem especially spooky or unnerved. I ran across one of my HCSC friends, so I was able to get a stall near hers. (I considered it a good omen that the stall card adjacent to mine read "Legacy.") He stalked around the stall and I was barely able to remove shipping boots and head bumper. Apparently hay fixes all - as soon as I put his hay bag and water bucket in his stall, he was a happy camper. I registered for three in hand classes, leaving an open check just in case. Most shows start off with the halter and showmanship classes, while the horses are still all clean and free of saddle marks. For whatever reason, this show put the in hand classes in the middle of the day. Though there were several under saddle classes I could have taken Saxon in before Open Halter (class 32), I figured it would be most prudent to see how showing in hand went before mounting up (or not). I occupied myself watching a few classes, studying the showmanship pattern, getting my stuff out of the trailer, and braiding Saxon's mane. But the show dragged on. He was still a little nervous and dancy in the stall, so I booted him up and took him out on the lunge line. We walked around the empty Saddlebred arena (you enter through a tunnel - it's really quite freaky), and I lunged him in the corner. It was about the third or fourth time I've lunged him. He was doing a lovely toe flicking trot and listening quite well, despite traffic noise from the adjacent street. We practiced our showmanship pattern a couple times - perfection. They were still only on class 14 or so. I checked the showbill. Class 18 was Green Horse Walk-Trot. Hmmmm. <br />
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There are a multitude of reasons why I shouldn't have ridden Saxon in that class. It was his first class, his first show, his first time in an indoor arena, his first time being ridden in the company of multiple other horses... A green horse class has the potential to turn into a real rodeo if one greenie sets off the whole lot. I'd only ridden him in my hunt saddle once before, usually favoring my cushier, grippier dressage saddle. By this point, the rail was absolutely crowded with spectators and distractions. I didn't even have time to warm him up under saddle. There were really only two reasons to just do it - he's a Standardbred, and he's Saxon. Every once in a while I just dare myself to do something against my better judgement. Saddle, bridle, helmet, boots, and number - check. I borrowed a mounting block as the prior class was starting and convinced a stranger to have the show office add me to the class. I didn't even know how many were in the class. Saxon picked his way through the melee along the rail, completely unfazed by the dogs, children, and other horses. I ran into another HCSC friend. "Is this Saxon? I thought you were just showing halter?" "Yeah, I was, but I figured what the heck..." We headed into the ring, and when I saw seven other horses join us on the rail, my stomach dropped. "OK self, just keep him calm and out of trouble. Just finish horse side down and try to stay relaxed and out of everyone's way." We were able to make a couple laps before the judging started, so Saxon got to sniff the signs, stare at the hyper kids, nuzzle a man with a camera, and nicker at the ponies before the class got started. "And you are now being judged at the walk." Here we go! They called for the first trot, and we rounded the far corner by the food booth where they had just tossed something sizzling on the grill, and an ambulance siren sounded from the road outside the ring. Seriously? Does this have to happen right this instant? And Saxon... Saxon didn't care. He just trotted steadily along, ears pricked, listening, interested in the stuff going on, but unconcerned. We had to use our corners smartly, and circle a couple times to try to stay spread out (and a girl on a paint seemed to think that she needed to mirror every one of those moves we made to <i>not</i> be stuck to her side. sheesh), but he listened, made an honest attempt to (mostly) go on the bit. When she cut across the ring next to us drill formation style for the <i>third</i> time when I tried to lose her, he gave one mini Saxon buck (his version is snaking his head around without his feet leaving the ground), but he stopped when I sank into my seat and heels and took up slightly on my reins). He was a little looky the second direction, especially at two girls unfurling a stall curtain outside the ring, but quite composed all in all. We got to the lineup, and he stood like a stone. They called out the placings, starting with sixth, then fifth, then fourth, then third. We were still standing there. Then second. Still there. Then first, there it was, our very first class of our very first horse show ever, and Saxon had won it! I laughed, nearly cried out, hugged his neck, and he stood there sweetly, ears pricked, like this was an expected sort of occurrence.<br />
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Given our extreme success in our first outing, I decided to enter him in the Open Adult Walk-Trot Pleasure and Eq classes. They were run concurrently, so it meant one trip would be judged for both classes. He was a little less consistent in pace (a lot of which was because the girl and horse entered in the <i>next</i> class was just hanging out in the corner of the show ring and Saxon wanted to stop and check them out every time we went near that corner), and I felt like my leg was all over the place with his springy trot, but I tried to give him a positive, sympathetic ride and we held things together well, earning a 3rd for the pleasure class and winning the equitation. You certainly wouldn't have guessed him as a green three year-old with just under two months riding experience on his first trip off the farm. <br />
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Well in hand seemed like no big deal considering we'd gone and tackled the hard stuff first. I had told some people he was just three, and that this was not only his first horse show, but his first time off the farm. He made me look like a liar. One girl guessed his age at 10 or 12 and thought he was an experienced show horse. I can see why. Heck, he could have fooled me. He handled the halter class like a seasoned professional. He stood up nicely, standing quietly and attentively, even when the judge inspected him. He trotted off smoothly and easily in hand, and lined up quietly again. Out of the nine horses in the Open Halter class, guess who took home the blue ribbon again? I'll give you a hint - it was the Standardbred!!! He was just as much a consummate professional in Sport Horse in Hand, even trotting the triangle, and we took second. In Showmanship, he put in a near perfect pattern, but due to bad luck, we were next to a <i>very</i> fidgety horse in the lineup. That horse kept dancing and circling, and swinging her rump next to Saxon. To make matters worse, the handler would reach around and <i>swat</i> the mare with a riding crop in Saxon's general direction! Repeatedly - not just a couple times! [sarcasm] <i>Yes, why wouldn't swatting your horse with a crop work to make it stand still? </i>[/sarcasm]. I tried to say something to her about her upsetting my horse, but she ignored me. She wasn't being malicious or anything; I think she was just really frustrated and didn't know what to do about it. Unfortunately, I couldn't escape it as there was nowhere else to go in the line up (all seven of us were crowded into the short side of the ring), and no ring steward to approach. Saxon tried to behave, but he couldn't help catching her anxiety and I had to circle him twice to stay out of the fidgeting mare's way. I found that he would stand better if I positioned myself between her and him, but it meant I was working the judge from the wrong side in the lineup. Oh well, it's better than him dancing around too or getting kicked by the mare. We ended up third, and I was satisfied with how hard he tried to behave despite it all.<br />
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All told, we entered six classes, earning 3 firsts, 1 second, and 2 thirds. What really impressed me was how incredibly mature Saxon acted throughout the entire show. I knew he was a good horse, but to behave that well in such a new and different environment far exceeded any of my expectations. Though there were a few other riding classes later in the day that I contemplated entering, I ultimately concluded that I just couldn't ask him to act any better than he already was, and I didn't want to sour him on showing by making him tired and cranky. He was cheerful and obedient throughout the show, and I wanted that to be the take home message for him. There will be other shows - as fabulous as he is - there will be MANY other shows in the future, and I think we got off to a fantastic start. We capped off our day by sharing an apple, a little hand grazing, and getting a few photos with our ribbons before heading home.<br />
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As an aside, on of our aisle-mates with some nice looking Saddlebreds spotted his freeze brand during the day. "Is that a Standardbred?" "Why yes he is." "He's GORGEOUS. Absolutely beautiful. I just love his look. And a chestnut, too." She wanted to know about his breeding, and whether he was fast (sadly, no, that's his one shortcoming, though it worked out rather well for me), and thought he'd be lovely in roadster. Funny she should mention that... ;-) <br />
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2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-45872064630302767632012-01-13T12:56:00.000-08:002012-01-13T12:56:07.089-08:00MilestonesI keep looking at my calendar and double checking my math. Saxon arrived in Kentucky on December 20th. Here it is, just about three weeks later and I feel like we've accomplished three months worth already. Nope, it's just three weeks, the math works out no matter how often I question it.<br />
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We are beginning our ascent up the hill of knowledge, if you will. We have cruised through the foothills at the beginning of our journey, mastering such basics as accepting the saddle and rider, standing still to be mounted (yup, we've got that one down pretty well now), and walking, trotting, and turning on command. Saxon has picked these things up incredibly well, showing that he is intelligent and eager to please. For the first week or two, I felt like we made a HUGE milestone nearly every day. But here's where the learning curve starts to get a little steeper and the milestones get less discrete and farther apart. Now it is not quite enough to simply go walk or trot when asked - now is when I start directing him HOW to go forwards, HOW to carry his body and his head, asking him to yield to the bit, and asking him to change his tempo. Now, it isn't enough to just turn right or left - now I want him to start using his body and bending around the turns. Now, I have started to ask him to turn on the haunches or forehand - isolating one portion of his body while yielding the other. You can't ask for or expect this all at once, but it happens a little bit at a time and you have to reward the little efforts. <br />
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Sometimes, we really get it, sometimes we sort of get it, and sometimes it's just not quite there yet. Case in point is bending - he <i>can</i> bend nicely to circle, but isn't really working off leg and seat yet, and the magnetic attraction of the barn and/or gate often makes our nice inside bend falls completely apart as our circles become decidedly lopsided in those regions. (He's no dummy - he knows that the barn = food, rest, and comfort.) He actually has turns on the haunches down fairly well and will often cross over himself. Usually, I would expect the turns on the forehand to be a bit easier, since horses naturally carry more of their weight on the front end and the proprioception of crossing over takes a while to figure out, but for him it seems to be the opposite. <br />
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That brings me to showmanship. For the un-horsey, showmanship is a horse show class judged on the handler's ability to present and handle a horse from the ground. They must execute a pattern together where the handler is judged on how well he/she can direct the horse's movement. I used to hate showmanship. I found it both frustrating and boring and thought it was silly to be judged on how I lead my horse. I have acquiesced since then, since I think it helps establish attentiveness and obedience on the ground which can then be carried over under saddle. This is especially true with youngsters who are just beginning their riding careers. Legs used to share my sentiment for showmanship. She'd fidget and make faces and generally be disapproving of such silliness. I truly think her four legs aren't actually at each corner. Squaring her up is like doing the Hokey Pokey. You put the right foot in, you put the right foot out. You put the right foot in, and back out, but never even with the left... In the last few years, she has finally given up, consenting to do her pattern and stand square(ish) and still if I stop harrassing her after that. <br />
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Saxon, on the other hand... If I didn't know better, I'd swear this horse already had some showmanship training. He actually squares up pretty well when asked, and is quickly figuring out which feet to move and where when I ask. He also trots off in hand quite well. Most of the time. The first time we worked on it specifically, he trotted off great. Except for the fact that he did so while pinning his ears and shaking his head at me, trying to provoke me to race and play with him. Evidently, he thought I was a herdmate and it was a game. While he wasn't fast enough to make a racehorse, he sure can trot a lot faster than I can run! Other times, he'll just be lazy about it and walk with his nose dragged out, like a lot of horses do when they don't feel like putting up with your silly leading game. The solution to that is a dressage whip in the left hand to tap them on their side as you ask. (Or better still, a dressage whip with a grocery bag on the end. No touching required! That got his attention and made him abandon his lazy ways!) There are plenty of little opportunities to "train" your horse at showmanship without a marathon training session. I like to make use of the little moments before or after I ride, or when leading him to/from turnout to practice little things like trotting off, squaring up, pivots, and backing in hand. With this added practice, he's stopped pinning his ears when trotting off (maybe he figured out that four legs are faster than two and I'm no competition). Of course, I've been bragging on his showmanship abilities here, and I'll guarantee you that the first show we go to, he'll be too busy gawking around to do all this cool stuff he's learned. But you have to start somewhere; if he can't do it at home, I certainly can't expect him to do it in a new place.<br />
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That brings us to our next learning achievement: lunging. There is some controversy concerning lunging horses, especially young ones. I won't get into the whole argument here, suffice to say that I think it can be useful in moderation (not hour long marathon sessions) or for special circumstances (eg evaluating lameness for the vet, teaching beginner riders, or getting the edge off a fresh horse before riding when turnout is not an option) and I think it is a skill that every horse should at least possess for those reasons. Saxon figured out lunging in one session. He may have done it before in the course of ground driving to be broke to harness; some trainers do it, some don't, so I'm not sure if he has. He still occasionally tries to go straight when he should be turning (especially to the left - I guess the phantom racetrack still beckons from time to time), but for the most part he stays out on the circle at the specified gait. So the second time I had him on the lunge line, he was trotting along so nicely I thought what the heck, let's see what happens... I kissed to him, said canter, and flicked the lunge whip towards him. Within a few strides, he had picked up a pretty darn nice canter. A long stride, and strung out, but with a nice even rhythm and no paciness. I let him go half a lap before he started to lose his coordination and boy did he get a lot of patting and praise when I stopped him. After a short break, we switched directions. J came out of the house so I told him "Watch this." I kissed, said canter, and J said "He's not going to... Hey, nice canter. When did he learn that?" <GRIN><br />
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Since Saxon is rather lazy overall and seldom practices in the pasture, I figured that occasional lunging at the canter would help him improve his coordination and strength for cantering, and provide a good transition between my vocal cues and picking up the canter in preparation for doing it under saddle. We did our second lunging session with a brief canter two days later and he figured it right out again. So during my ride, I thought, what the heck... I kissed to him, said canter, and his neck arched up and both ears shot back at me with full focus (it was the exact same thing he did when we asked him to trot on his very first ride). He sped up his trot, so I slowed him down, rebalanced him, and asked him again. As we exited the corner of my tight arena, he just glided into a nice canter. It was surprisingly cadenced, smooth, and unhurried. While it wasn't collected by any stretch, he wasn't diving on his shoulder, running wildly, or flailing about like many green horses. We took about 9 or 10 strides before I stopped him and practically smothered him with hugging and praise. We did it one more time (just to prove to myself that it was real), and my redheaded overachiever got extra peppermints back at the barn! Ordinarily I wouldn't have pushed him if I didn't think he could do it, especially not in the tight confines of my front yard, which doesn't afford a lot of room for an experienced but unfit horse, let alone a green horse still figuring out how to balance his own body and a rider. I just couldn't help wanting to know if he could do it. And I LOVE the answer he gave me! We followed it up the next night with a ride out in the big back field. At it's conclusion, I asked him to canter about a dozen strides each direction, and was THRILLED to find that he has two clean leads (and they're both smooth)! And on top of that, he's completely sensible about picking it up. He doesn't lose his head or buck or go wild at the expanse of the pasture stretching out before him. He just rolls into the canter from a trot like a sensible horse. What a HUGE milestone! I'm not saying that it's a perfect collected canter or that his canter departs are top notch or we can do lead changes or anything <i>yet</i>, but it's FANTASTIC to know that he has a great natural ability for cantering both directions (with the right lead being slightly better than the left) that I can develop as we progress, and I don't think it will take him long to become very proficient. <br />
2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-70193850153829547432012-01-10T11:41:00.000-08:002012-01-10T11:46:29.598-08:00This Is A TestThis is a test of the horse show alert system. This is only a test. In the event of a real horse show, we would have gone to our first show... Please resume your normal winter activities.<br />
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January is undoubtedly the off season for me - safely cushioned from racing and riding seasons on both sides by winter days and winter weather. As I mentioned last time, I am a fair weather rider. In my younger days, much like the famous postal service slogan, neither sleet, nor snow, nor wind, et al. would stop me from saddling up. More recently, I find that I prefer staying warm and retaining the feeling in my extremities, secure in the knowledge that my horse doesn't need constant drilling to stay calm and remember her lessons. The weather this winter has been a delightful aberration, with largely dry conditions and temperatures in the 50s and 60s, making it possible for me to happily ride much more than I ordinarily would.<br />
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As it turns out, there are some opportunities to show during the winter months for the resourceful and adventurous. This past Sunday was just such an opportunity. While I wouldn't ordinarily consider taking a newly acquired not quite 3 year old to a show in January, Saxon is far from an ordinary horse. The plan was to let him look around the show grounds, and possibly take him in a halter class to see how he handled the show environment. Up until around 8:45 am, the plan went great. I bathed his tail and cleaned him up the day before. I packed the truck and trailer (it's very strange to pack for a show without taking a saddle - I kept feeling that I'd forgotten something). The morning of the show, I loaded him up (despite his lack of practice and the cumbersome shipping boots at all four corners, he walked readily on the trailer after mulling it over for a minute) and we got on the road. I hadn't even reached the end of my own road when I pushed the gas pedal to go up the next hill and nothing happened. %*($#@! The truck had stalled, just like it did in NJ the day before I was supposed to come home. A warning light appeared on the dash and it wouldn't restart, but I managed to coast to a safe area to pull over. Apparently the new alternator was NOT the solution. Poo. Once pulled over, it started up after a moment and we made it safely home.<br />
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Well, there is a bright side. I'm glad to have discovered the truck's continuing issues on a SHORT trip instead of hundreds of miles from home! This was great trailering practice for Saxon. He learned that not all trailer rides end with a new home environment. He disembarked my trailer at home wide eyed and high headed like he was surprised to be at the same place, and I learned to expect him to be a little "up" after a trailer ride (unlike his previous trailer marathon where we were both exhausted at its conclusion). [Mental note, be sure to pack a lunge line.] He learned to wear shipping boots. I determined that he will be very easy to teach to trailer load. He got his tail shampooed and conditioned. I found that my "skinny breeches" fit, even in the middle of winter. (Yay!) I learned that 15 minutes is enough time to fill half the trailer with stomped manure... I learned that clipping is something we'll have to work on. <br />
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The clipping story is kind of humorous, actually. I started out letting him sniff the unplugged clippers. I let the cord drape against his nose and neck. I rubbed them on his face, muzzle, and ears. As is his personality, he investigated them attentively, but wasn't the least bit frightened or concerned. I turned them on, and slowly approached. He kept a interested but unfrightened eye on them when I let him feel their vibration through my hand (without actually clipping him). I carefully attempted to clip one of the very long curly whiskers around his muzzle, and he jerked back as if hit with an electric shock. I rebooted and attempted again, but got the same reaction. After shortening several of his whiskers, I concluded that the blades were probably a little dull and were grabbing the hair. I attempted to clip his bridle path, but he shook his head vigorously from side to side whenever the buzzing neared his ears. I decided we should back up to where he was comfortable - just letting him feel the buzzing without actually clipping, and try again when we had more time. I used scissors to trim his remaining muzzle whiskers, though he got agitated before I could finish and I could tell he was running out of patience for having his muzzle messed with. When I took him out to the yard to work him afterwards, he immediately lifted his hindfoot towards his face and proceeded to rub the side of his muzzle up and down on his dangling hoof. After having long curly whiskers, I'm sure the close clipped sensation was very sensitive. Well, after the ride I let him out in the pasture and he proceeded to one of the nearby hay racks. He stuck his nose into the hay and immediately jumped back. He shook his head and did it again. Finally, he snatched a quick bite of hay, wheeled and trotted off 4 or 5 steps and chewed it angrily, holding his nose to the side and flinging it periodically. Evidently, the sensation of the hay stems poking his very sensitive stubble was more than he could take. I was starting to think that I'd broken my horse by trimming his whiskers. Maybe Saxon derived his abilities from his long curly whiskers the same way Sampson derived his strength from his flowing hair... He boycotted hay the rest of the day, but I found a nice soft bale of orchardgrass for his dinner which he reluctantly ate. I couldn't help but laugh at his behavior, but I also felt bad that I'd made him uncomfortable. If I'd known he had such a sensitive nose, I would have trimmed his whiskers a few at a time over the course of a week, but who would have guessed? They've toughened up some since then, so he's back to happily snarfing hay and he no longer pulls his muzzle back when I touch it, so I've opted to reacclimate him to clippers much more gradually.2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-68168274666982069322012-01-02T15:12:00.000-08:002012-01-02T15:14:37.063-08:00Like Owner, Like HorseFor those of you rolling your eyes and thinking that this is going to be another blog post where I'm raving about my perfect new horse, who never puts a foot wrong and is certain to be an absolute paragon of the show ring, and who can't possibly be that perfect and awesome, this one's for you. Sort of.<br />
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Yes, I have new horse-itis. I still want to spoil Saxon, and baby him, and just spend hours brushing his face (which he practically drops into my lap for me to stroke) and watching him in the pasture. Even though my old mare lives out on pasture 24/7 (except in the case of bad weather or injury; ever since rehab for her stifle injury 5 years ago kept her stalled for 6 straight months, she seems to relish her freedom as if I might decide to imprison her again without warning), Saxon sleeps on a bed of fluffy straw in his stall every night. He has stopped looking surprised to see me every night just before bedtime when I sneak out to the barn to pick his stall and top off his water and hay. He's probably developing airs about the daily grooming and primping, and his wardrobe changes, and I'm pretty sure he thinks his new name is "Good Boy" or "Handsome" or quite possibly "His Excellency the Supreme Commander of All He Surveys." <br />
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Well, any jealous readers will be happy to know that he isn't completely perfect. (But what horse is? Though I digress...) We're now 12 days into our new riding career and he's finding that his crazy new owner isn't asking him to work very hard, but she is asking him to do the most bizarre things.<br />
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Saxon: See the poles on the ground there? Today she wants me to walk over them, then turn around and trot over, then turn around and trot over them again. Yesterday she wanted me to stand beside them, back up next to them, and turn around between them. The day before that, she had a tarp under them and led me over it. One day, she spent 10 minutes just getting on and off me. She spent another day squeezing a dog squeaker all around me and whizzing Frisbees past my head as the dog chased them. It's all very strange...<br />
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By now my readers have concluded that I like a calm, desensitized horse. And they're right. I am a methodical, cautious, and logical sort of person, so that's how I approach working with my horses. A recovering perfectionist (does one ever truly recover?), I've always been an overachiever, a straight A student, and I suppose some would call me a kiss-up because I aim to please and be praised, and to strive to do everything better. Saxon seems to have the same sort of mindset. Up to now, he has taken every new experience I've presented him methodically and unquestioningly. Well, we finally met some challenges that we had to work through. The first was water crossing. Heavy rainfall last week left a few large standing puddles a few inches deep in the back pasture. I took him out there on the lunge line to see if he would walk through them. I splashed through the puddle ahead of him, but he froze at the edge. He was uncertain and unenthused about the idea of going through the water, but he wasn't panicked. He fidgeted back and forth along the edge of the puddle and tried to inch backwards. I kept insisting, and he kept edging around until finally, he jumped it. Well, at least he can jump; that's a good thing. The next two attempts were the same way, but on the fourth try, with me up to my ankles in water, he braved it and walked through. Once he went through it the first time, he was happy to calmly walk through the puddle from then on. A couple days later we tried it under tack. It started off the same way - a lot of edging around and trying to back away from the puddle (his favorite avoidance tactic). I gave him the benefit of the doubt as much as I could, but he started trying to flee backwards more insistently, and I spoke to him in an admonishing tone while keeping leg on him. Well, his head shot up and both ears shot back towards me. It was as if he was unhappy that he hadn't gotten it right. I kept insisting that he not go backwards or side to side, and he eventually put one foot in, then the second, and then splashed nicely through the water. Pats and "good boys" followed, and, at the risk of anthropomorphizing, he almost seemed pleased and relieved to get the right answer, as his head went down, his ears went forwards, and he let out a big breath. "Oh, that's all you wanted? Well that's easy." After that, he was happy to oblige. <br />
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The second challenge was the tarp on the ground - that blue crinkling abyss that eats horses whole. I don't know if horses really learn through observation, but I made it a point to ride Legs over the tarp in sight of Saxon in his paddock. Legs, of course, is used to my shenanigans and unhesitatingly plodded over the tarp with a heavy sigh. ("Mom's at it again...") I brought Saxon out on the lead rope for his turn and let him have a good look at the tarp. The day was just windy enough that it would billow a little under the poles I had anchoring it. He took a good look at it, sniffed it, and like most horses, came to the conclusion that there was no need to actually walk OVER the tarp, as there was plenty of perfectly good real estate surrounding it on all sides. He did a lovely sidepass all the way around the tarp. (Well, there's another skill just waiting to be assigned to a rider's cue... He fidgeted some more, and finally stuck a foot on it. Nothing ate the foot, so he put the other front on it. So far so good. He stepped across it with his forefeet and neatly jumped it with the hinds. A good first effort got him some praise, and from then on, he walked happily across it, much more interested in trying to graze the grass in the yard then heed anything the crinkling blue mass was doing.<br />
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New Year's Eve Day we got our chance to ride in company, as my friend R came out to ride Legs. Saxon had mostly progressed past his sticky feet and to responding readily to minimal cues to go forwards (though he still loves to stop a lot just to look around). I guess he was just too overcome by Legs' beauty and charm to remember such trivialities, since the sticky feet returned. As long as she was in front of us or beside us, he was happy to stride along, but the suction cup feet kicked in when she lagged behind. We eventually worked through it, but we'll certainly have to get over that before we hit the showring!<br />
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On New Year's Day, winter attempted to make a comeback. Mild temperatures persisted, but gale force straightline winds (25 mph or more) heralded Old Man Winter's coming raid. Saxon tried to be a trooper in the wind, but he kept wanting to stop with his butt to the wind. He seemed less than pleased when the winds were so strong that both of his flattened ears were on the left side of his neck. We had our first under saddle spook when he caught sight of the blowing pine branches above the corner of our ring - they wind was so fierce it gave the impression that the branches might be ripped from the trees and turned into lances, so I can't say that I blame him. We worked our way back into that corner after that, closer and closer to the fenceline, so he seemed to get over it well.<br />
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Besides our work ethic and tendencies towards overachievement, Saxon and I seem to share a common dislike for cold winter weather. Winter was present in its full, blustery glory, complete with sideways snowfall. Normally a fair weather rider, the thrill of a new, young, fun horse to ride convinced me to saddle up. I opted to ride in the back pasture again, since it's a little more sheltered from the wind. Outfitted with a fleece dress sheet as a quarter sheet, we started our ride. He was "up" from the cold wind under his tail, but I didn't want to start trotting until I had removed the quarter sheet. He danced around and didn't want to stand close enough to the gate for me to deposit it from astride him, but had no objections when I actually slid it off him and laid it there. A flock of wild turkeys started flapping and strutting on the other side of the creek at the back of the field. I didn't expect this to rattle him, since he had become proficient at dodging honking Canadian geese on the track at his last home. Whether it was the weather or the turkeys, he made them the perfect excuse to get spooky and try to avoid the back fenceline. Rather than fight with him about it right away, I let him trot some big circles in the field to get the dance out of his feet. We rounded the corner towards the front gate and he spied the dress sheet now billowing on it. "What!? That wasn't there last time." He alternated between freezing and trying to be brave, but he couldn't quite convince himself that it was harmless. Legs came to the rescue, bless that mare. She came down to the fenceline to visit, parking herself right next to the dress sheet. As soon as he saw that the blanket wasn't attacking her, he was convinced that it was OK for him to go nuzzle it, too.<br />
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Other than being a little more responsive and crooked than normal, he finally settled down, so I went back to address the back fenceline. The snowfall started to fall thicker and the wind was blowing it sideways now. His Excellency was not pleased. He balked about going near the back fence, going sideways, backwards, every which way but towards it. At this point in his training, I know he understands the go forwards cues, so I kept at it. Standing still and going forwards were the only answers I would reward. He hopped up a little, then spooked when I growled at him for hopping up. By now, I sure couldn't give up - I didn't want to reward spooking and misbehavior with a trip back to the barn! More balking and avoidance, and it seemed that we could only get about 20 feet from that back fence. Finally I hopped off and led him forwards. He was more confident with me beside him, and sniffed at the fenceline and stood next to it while I climbed back on. We circled around to approach it again from astride, and someone decided that the only direction he was capable of going was back towards the front gate. Ah, so he IS a true redhead - I found his stubborn side! Enter my stubborn side. No matter how tempting, it doesn't pay off to get angry at a horse. It is far better to be insistent and persistent until you "win". This is where being stubborn comes in handy (despite the fact that BOTH of you would really rather be inside with a toasty hot chocolate or pile of hay than standing in the corner of a field staring at a fence with the wind and snow whipping past you). I found that he would turn left, but not right. So I turned left until we were turning right, and then went right. "Dangit! She tricked me!" He continued to balk, refuse to go forwards, swish his tail, spook a little and hop up when he was sufficiently peeved. I finally got him circling to the right by the offending fence. I switched directions to make a figure 8 to the left, and it was a war of attrition all over again when I asked him to go back to the right. We alternated the 8s with looping serpentines towards and away from the fence and kept at it. I kept up a constant chatter talking to him, as it seemed to relax him. I could barely feel my toes, but I finally succeeded in getting him to walk calmly alongside the fence, and I felt his sigh of surrender. One more quiet and relaxed lap of the field, and we both were only to happy to go back inside out of the wind.<br />
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Score one for the stubborn redhead who, as it turns out, is a lot like her overachieving and methodical but occasionally stubborn (and winter hating) redheaded horse!2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-36695702179026248232011-12-27T19:38:00.000-08:002011-12-27T19:39:00.167-08:00OpportunitiesWriting a blog creates a unique opportunity to archive, plan, dream, and share. Especially with a green horse, it can be useful for keeping track of your progress and achievements. I would like to use this one to track his physical growth, too. Saxon currently stands just a shade over 15.2hh at the withers and 15.3hh at the hip with a weight of around 925 pounds on my weight tape. This may sound low for a horse of his stature, but he's in good body condition - he just lacks body fat because he's still racing fit. The relatively sedentary life of a show/riding horse has replaced his days of jogging five miles a day interspersed with speed work, so Saxon will certainly be putting on some more pounds as he adapts to his new life and fills out with age. When I first saw photos of him about a month ago, his topline looked very level, so at his age, it is quite likely that he's undergoing a growth spurt.<br />
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I am fortunate that I need only walk out my front door to see my horses. This has meant that I have been able to ride and work with him every day since his arrival. I have gotten in the routine of feeding him first thing in the morning while I clean his stall, then tacking him up for a short riding session. At his stage of training, these rides are quite short, usually just 20 minutes or less. He is learning so much so quickly, that I want to keep the rides short and positive without overwhelming him with a plethora of new commands. After my first two rides on him, I thought he had the concept of moving forward off leg pressure down. On my next ride, things were going well until he decided that he wanted to head into the side yard near the side pasture gate. He would freeze or get stuck in reverse and I could only seem to turn him and get a step or two in a generally forwards direction. I kept trying and we eventually managed to work our way back into the front area, though at times I was worried that he would back himself into things without realizing it. The next day, I enlisted Justin's help. That one section of the yard seemed to be his main sticky area for losing forward movement, so after he'd get stuck, I'd ask him to move forwards and Justin would help by leading us at first, and then simply walking beside him. He's generally eager to walk, so I think what I assumed was him figuring out leg cues right off the bat was partially coincidence. Thanks to Justin's help we have weaned ourselves off of leading assist when he gets stuck to truly independent riding and he is getting better and better with each ride. It is similar for our trot work, too. It took a lot of clucking, kissing, and gentle but insistent squeezing at first to get a short burst of trot (along with Justin jogging next to us a few times), but now it takes much less leg and voice cues. We are able to walk and trot in any direction, over poles and between cones without any assistance after less than a week of riding experience.<br />
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I haven't found much that rattles him. He's very inquisitive, so he often wants to stop and look at things, but he'll usually just stand there with pricked ears and a cocked hip and no signs of nervousness. Case in point, the neighbor's German Shepherd puppy that bounds around their yard (including around their 10 foot tall lighted inflatable holiday Scooby Doo). Saxon likes to slow down in that corner and have a look, but he's not speeding up, scooting away, or "pointing" at it (I've come to the conclusion that STBs don't generally spook and turn tail at scary things like other horses, they tend to scoot away while "pointing" at it with their head and neck to make sure that you see it, too. "Look, look. See that? It's scary and I'm not going over there."). Saxon, on the other hand, just doesn't want to miss anything that's going on. <br />
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I was riding him by myself yesterday, when our heat pump (on the side of the house really close to where we ride) kicked into its defrost cycle which is extra loud and rattly. It seemed like a good opportunity to gauge his reaction to it. The heat pump is also near that little cross-country jump that startled him the first day he was here. I decided to ride over to it and let him check it out. Though we'd been doing much better about moving forward off leg, he got sticky near the jump as we approached the heat pump. Since he was backing towards the jump, my landscaping, and generally places that I didn't want a horse's rump to crash into, I opted to dismount and lead him over to the heat pump. He wasn't 100% sure about it, but he never tried to run backwards or swing himself around - it just took extra coaxing to inch him towards it a step at a time. We got there, and he willingly sniffed it, licked it, and let the fan blow onto his forelock and wasn't concerned when it kicked from defrost back to the heat cycle. Have I mentioned that I love this horse?<br />
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I was about to remount and resume our ride when a stampede of thundering hooves and loud mooing ensued as about 30 cows and calves streamed into the front pasture at the farm across the street. This was the first time that the cows had been visible since his arrival and they decided to make quite a spectacle of it. Saxon proved that he has some reactivity as his head shot up, and I saw the whites of his eyes for probably the first time ever. Well, I guess this is our opportunity to get used to cattle.<br />
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Cows are Legs' Achilles Heel. She is nearly perfect in so many ways, but this is her "thing." Though I distinctly remember her being pastured next to yearling calves when she was about 4 and I remember riding through cattle pastures at a careful distance when she was 6, sometime during the past 8 years she has decided that cows are ravenous, demonically possessed, horse-eating banshees and can't be convinced otherwise. If there is a cow in the area, she will spot it, point, and scoot, even if it's nearly half a mile away. Considering this, I certainly wanted to make Saxon's first encounter a positive one!<br />
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Still on foot, I led him towards the corner of the yard closest to the milling cattle. Other than the trailer ride home, this was the first time I'd seen him get nervous. He was prancing and dancing with his head up, and the nervous pooping started. He whinnied at them, as if trying to respond to their mooing. I got him close to the fence, but he didn't want to keep his feet still. I led him back and forth along the fence until he had settled down enough to stand mostly still, and then I perched myself on the top rain and let him just watch the cows and calves. One of the calves was headbutting the remnants of a round bale, rolling it across the pasture. Another was trying to mount its mother, and yet another engaged in a game of tag, bucking and running with its playmate. The remainder were milling noisily around the large metal creep feeder in their field. Legs would have freaked as clearly this is a sure sign that they are becoming organized and weaponized! Saxon saw the two playing calves and nickered to them. He seemed to think that they were little horses and was wondering why they looked and talked so funny. He was starting to settle down again, when the farmhand came rumbling into the field in a large tractor pulling the grain wagon. Trailing behind was the farmer in his ATV. For heaven's sake - this was quickly turning into quite the production. So we continued to watch as the guys climbed onto the creep feeder, banged open the metal lid, and positioned the boom over it to fill it with grain, cows milling and mooing in the meantime. Saxon seemed slightly on edge, but was content to stay near the corner where all the action was happening. The farmers finished filling the creep feeder and drove off across the field. I guess that was the cue to roll the credits, as the cows trailed off behind the tractor, leaving only a few cows and calves behind. This had been a much longer workout than I had planned, but I didn't want him to equate getting nervous with getting out of work, so I got on him just long enough to reinforce the skills we'd been working on. Though he had stood well for me to mount initially, I guess he was still a little up from the cattle stampede as he didn't want to stand still the second time. Something to work on for later...<br />
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When I turned him out in his paddock afterwards, instead of putting his hay in the hay rack near the gate, I took it to the front corner, which offered the best view of the cattle pasture (and the road). When I peeked out at him later in the day, he was dozing with his chin resting on the fence. I guess he didn't want to miss a minute of his favorite new show - the Cow Show. By the end of the day, any fear he'd had of the cows seemed to have turned to curiosity. And the other plus was that he got plenty of desensitization to the passing cars in the process (not that he needed it - they didn't seem to bother him anyhow).<br />
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Today was farrier day and Saxon was perfect. I held him in the aisle and rubbed his face (while he licked me) and he patiently stood as each foot was trimmed in turn. I had his shoes pulled for winter (well, the remaining two - he'd already somehow managed to remove both left ones on his own) and will try to leave him barefoot (with regular trims) for a while, so long as his feet stay good. They look like nice healthy feet with good hoof wall, so I'm not anticipating any problems. Today's forecast was all day rain changing over to sleet, so we had to do our "ride" in the barn aisle. Seems like an opportunity to work on standing still while mounting and dismounting to me. Once he got the idea down, he was perfect. I mounted and dismounted a couple times from the right, too. It sure feels awkward to me, though he doesn't know the difference, and it's always a good idea to acclimate the horse to it in case you have to do so for some reason in the future. We rode through the water noodles, and he was just as calm and willing about it as when we did it in hand. We worked just a bit on yielding the forehand and hindquarters to leg pressure. Have I mentioned that this horse is really smart and willing? This was our first go at it, and he was already getting the gist of it.<br />
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No horse is perfect, for sure, but Saxon sure has a lot going for him as a riding horse and show prospect between his looks, movement, and amazing disposition. I am thrilled at what we've done in a mere 6 days and can't wait to see what we will accomplish tomorrow!2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-34998974898714907252011-12-22T16:24:00.000-08:002011-12-22T18:43:10.251-08:00Please Don't Wake Me UpI'm just two days into owning Saxon and he simply amazes me. I knew he was good looking, I knew he was a nice mover. The surprise? That he's one of the most level-headed, brave, and willing horses I've ever had the pleasure of working with. In only two days, I've done more with him than I expected to accomplish in two weeks. He's very young, trained but never raced, had only been on a horse trailer twice in his life, and only lived at two or three places in his young life. He certainly never had any experience like being plucked from the only life he'd ever known and driven 700 miles away to live in a new place with a stranger. Yet he settled into his new surroundings immediately and has put an incredible amount of trust in me already. I feel like this can't be real and I'll wake up from my dream soon to find that he isn't there. Please don't wake me up - I'm having a REALLY good dream!<br />
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I figured the first day he was here, I would tend to him, groom him a little, but take it easy and let him settle in as he would surely be wary of his new surroundings. (Right?) He was so quiet on the cross-ties after breakfast when groomed him and checked his temperature and vitals that I thought I'd get him used to the mounting block. I dropped it around him with a clunk, hopped up and down on it making monkey noises and waving my arms, stood on it leaning across his back letting my arms brush all over his sides. I got an eventual ear flick for the monkey noises. That's it. An ear flick. He didn't even glance at me carrying on or roll an eye at the falling mounting block, just stood patiently in the cross-ties. Well, since we're here... I got my little synthetic western saddle out to try on him. I let him sniff it, he ascertained that it wasn't made of carrot, and I flopped it onto his back. I flapped the fenders and stirrups around on him, but he wasn't the slightest bit bothered. Normally, I would NEVER get on such a green horse when nobody else was home, but he was just being so good that I thought maybe I'd just mount and dismount once.<br />
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With helmet and bridle in place, I eased onto him. He seemed to want to walk, so we carefully walked down my 30 foot barn aisle, turned around, and walked down to the other end. He really wasn't bothered about having a rider. He poked his nose into the hanging halters, investigated the tack trunks, looked into the tack room and peered out the barn door but was more than happy to listen to my requests to go, stop, turn, and back. Yes, back. It happened by accident, but he had pushed himself up against the divider that separates my stall area from the storage area in the barn trying to have a better look around, and we had to back up in order to get turned around. Asking a green horse to back can be a little scary - you never know if they'll decide to rear in response to the increasing rein pressure, and even if they don't, they usually brace against your hand and you have to basically muscle them backwards. I gingerly applied the aids, and he dropped his head, gave at the poll, and backed like a seasoned show horse. Wow. At one point, he poked his nose into my stacked plastic blanket totes, causing the top one to shift and clunk down onto the other one. He flinched, but didn't move his feet. This horse is something else! Most young horses would lose their minds at falling plastic boxes on just their second solo ride. His reward was a big hug, a handful of peppermints, and going out to the paddock to play. <br />
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In the evening, I decided to take Saxon on a walking tour of the front yard and barn area before putting him in his stall for the night. I thought maybe I'd tackle a ground pole, hand graze him a little, and that would be enough for one night. I led him towards the 6' long red and white painted pole, and he just walked over it. He didn't look at it, didn't snort or sniff at it, didn't try to go around it, just casually walked over it like he does this all the time. I did it again to make sure it wasn't a fluke - same thing. So we headed off beside the house. All of a sudden, he gave a BIG spook when he saw my 2 foot tall stacked log cross-country jump around the corner. He spooked so big and crouched so low that I thought he was going down on his knees, and somehow he managed to step on BOTH of my big toes, but avoided the rest of me. Well, he immediately got up, marched forward, sniffed the jump and tried to taste the top pole. I led him around it on all sides, expecting some degree of lingering concern, but he had obviously already concluded that it was harmless and nothing to be interested in (except for trying to taste it again).<br />
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Alright, how about the pair of wing standards that I use for my trail gate? He gave one small snort as we approached it, but didn't hesitate about walking between them, or between the orange cones next to them. He didn't even look at the big black plastic barrel near the front fence. He calmly walked by it, even when I banged on it so that it made noise. We walked up the garden retaining wall, over the 10" stack of logs by the barn, under the pine trees that swished onto his rump. This was his very first time seeing these things, yet he was absolutely unconcerned. Our grand finale was my trail bridge - a 4 foot long slightly raised plank bridge. I had it set up near the entrance to the barn. No horse doesn't at least LOOK at it before crossing it (even Legs drops her head and gives it a good look as she goes over), and most inexperienced horses take a lot of coaxing before they'll cross it. Nope, he just strode over it without so much as glancing at it. Twice more with the same result. This horse is amazing. And he's not quite 3 years old yet! More hugs and dinner for Saxon, and I was practically skipping when I went back into the house for the night.<br />
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I had hoped to get on Saxon again this morning and perhaps ground drive him around the back field in the evening, but the weather refused to cooperate. He got his grooming, got his sheath cleaned and I tacked him up to brave the morning drizzle. He didn't want to stand still for the mounting block, and ended up walking off with me still half on and half off. I got my other leg over him and we proceeded to walk around the driveway and on into the front yard (my "arena"). He happily walked around the yard and over the ground pole. We kept the ride short and just worked on walking, stopping, and a little turning. The only thing I can really fault him with is that he doesn't like to stand still and occasionally just wants to go his own direction (except when he's in his stall or on cross-ties). Honestly, though, Legs was the same way when I got her. It took quite a while before she learned to stand still and stop fidgeting. When a young racehorse is out of their stall, it's time to go to work. Standing still just isn't part of the protocol. So I would ask Saxon to halt and count to 5. If we succeeded, he got to walk; if not, we tried it again. <br />
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It was pouring in the evening when I went out to work with him before dinner-time, squelching my plans to ground drive him. So I figured I would tackle some more ground work in the barn. I tried sacking him out with a plastic grocery bag. He wanted to nibble it, but had no objections to it making crinkly noises or touching him anywhere (though he shook his ears quite comically when I crinkled it behind his poll). I took a water noodle on a rope and let him investigate it. (Is it food? Can I taste it?) He had a hip cocked and just stood there when I swung it around him and flopped it all over him. So I let it drag alongside us as I led him. This generated a small response - he arced his body away from it and eyed it as he walked beside it. We did it several more times on both sides and he ignored it, even when he stepped on it by accident. I stood him in the barn aisle and let it drag towards him. He simply wasn't bothered. On to the water noodle curtain - a row of brightly colored water noodles suspended across the doorway of one of my spare stalls. It's a pretty scary looking thing that I constructed after running into such an obstacle in the trail class at some of the horse shows I attend. Most horses balk at pushing their head between the noodles, then scoot through as the noodles brush their sides. And again, Saxon showed calmness and bravery that you just don't see in a horse of his age. He just walked right through. <br />
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It's clear that Saxon's early training was conscientious, thorough, and earned his trust and confidence. The more I work with him, the more he amazes me. It's hard to call what I've been doing with him "training" when I'm simply asking him to do something and he does it. It's just too easy to be training! I guess we'll be doing tempi changes and half passes by next week! (Ok, maybe not quite...) But if this IS a dream, please don't wake me up! It's starting to get really, really good! 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841045598995993346.post-19269282571763094752011-12-21T09:45:00.000-08:002011-12-21T09:45:19.847-08:00The Start of a New AdventureThis blog will chronicle the training and adventures of Heavymetal Thunder (aka Saxon), a 2009 chestnut Standardbred gelding. Just two years old (soon to be three), he is pacing bred but doesn't have the makings of a successful pacer, as he couldn't train down fast enough for the track, and he prefers to trot (even in hopples sometimes - there's a funny story about that...). He was given to me by his caring owner/trainer/breeder who realized that he wasn't going to make a racehorse and wanted to give him a new future where he would be loved and appreciated. He is young, beautiful, sound, has nice movement and a curious, willing temperament. For those that know me and my older Standardbred mare, Veruca Salt (she has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StandardbredShowHorseVerucaSalt if you want to learn more about her), this background may sound more than a little familiar. ;-) It's way too early in his newly minted riding career for such comparisons, but I am really excited about working with him and unlocking his potential.<br />
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I love a good double (or triple) entendre. I thought for a while about what to call this blog, before The Redheaded Standardbred came to me. Chestnuts (redheads), though less common than their bay and brown counterparts, DO occur in the Standardbred breed (along with blacks, grays, and roans, too), despite the breed's reputation for <i>only</i> being plain unmarked bay. As it turns out, I too am a redhead. We also are less common than our blonde and brunette counterparts. (Recessive genes at work!) And we have a reputation for being feisty, tempermental and stubborn (ok, that one might be true sometimes!). Also, despite an increasing number of lovely Standardbreds currently demonstrating the breed's capabilities beyond harness racing, they are still largely considered the "redheaded stepchild" of the horse show world by uninformed people who cling to old stereotypes about the breed. By gently making light of this with my blog title, maybe I can help just a few more folks realize that Standardbreds have many merits as riding, show, and pleasure horses as they follow along with the adventures of a redhead and her (redheaded) Standardbred. 2HorsePowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05750774098578115570noreply@blogger.com5