Happy horse = happy life

Overall we had a nice and relaxing weekend. My Mom came to town to ride on Saturday morning, and after about 20 minutes of arena work (for Zion and her- Gram and I only worked for a total of 5 and just walked watching them the rest o the time!) We took to the outside, to ride around a bit. It was a real treat for me and Gram because I am always the only person riding, and I am not yet brave enough to go outside on her alone... that is when the scary horse eating monsters strike! The last time I tried I ended up on the ground, and Gram ran around the farm for about 5 minutes.

Sunday we got to work a bit. Last week Zion decided it might be fun to take off half of his front foot, so he hasn't really been himself- he is a little short. I rode him on Sunday and he was ok so long as I stayed off the track where it tends to get a little hard. Gram was very willing so she had a short ride of mostly stretching.

Last night Ryan rode Zion and Gram and I had a lesson. Ryan said Zion was still a bit ouchie but better than he was last week- now I just cross my fingers that the foot grows out enough for lamplight next week! Yikes! My Gram lesson was great again. She has a new found pride about her lately. She is getting braver every day and trusting me more each day. I think she now realizes that I am not trying to hurt her with all the exercises. Don't get me wrong, she still does something crazy from time to time, but when I think of last year, it is like I have a whole new horse. She started off very relaxed last night. Our stretch was great. She still has moments where she wants to brace to the left, but that has also come a long way in a months time. We did some leg yields from the track to the quarter line to solidify the contact and engage the hing end. Then we worked again on the dreaded short trot to medium trot and back to short trot. Ryan really got after me about my diagonal lines... again. Gram tends to drift behind, especially when crossing from right to left. I have to make a better effort at not letting her hind end drift to the right. I let her drift to the right= Ryan yelling at me. As if it wasn't bad enough that her hind end is in Iowa, then instead of MXK I do an M-V and Ryan has a hissy fit :)

Our canter work was better, she is getting stronger and developing more of a jump to the right to where it is starting to feel closer to the left lead in terms of collection and activity. One thing we really like is Medium canter! Yahoooo! Once thing we don't like is coming back from said medium canter... We like the wind in our hair and that feeling of *almost* being completely out of control! Willy was the same way, so it make me smile every time. She sits down better than Willy did at her age... I need to take Gram home out on the trail and just let her gallop like Willy used to. I think in August we will head home to Michigan and bring her along so we can get a good gallop in the fields in before winter starts to set it and we are trapped inside.


Overall, Gram makes me happy. She is a pain sometimes, and lord knows the crazy amounts of money that my wonderful husband lets me throw her way. But she keeps me in shape, keeps me smiling and gives me the love that you can only get from a monster mare. She is loyal, holds grudges, gives her all and sometimes bites- she reminds me of... well.... me! :) How could you not love a vain mare annoyed by ugly wet pictures of her beautiful self:

Good day for the mare

Gram was ready to work tonight... Because she is a mare, those night don't happen very often, but when they do, they make my night! Tonight, she just wanted to work. She didn't brace, she didn't clench the bit and she felt pretty darn good. The best thing for her is when we go into canter early in the warm up. For some reason every horse I have had goes that way; so I am thinking it might be me not them. For me as I rider, I feel like I can ride the canter better than I can the trot. The trot is a lot of work for me. So maybe it loosens me up and allows the horse to trot more freely. I didn't really walk away from the lesson with one thing that stood out. The whole thing was exactly what was needed when it was needed, if that makes any sense. The canter to the right we worked on more activity as she tends to get a bit lazy behind in that direction. We got some decent jump and them brought her back to trot. Again the focus is on the engagement of the right hind. I have to remember to ride in what is a little counter intuitive for me: slight haunches-in when traveling to the left. I feel like I have drilled so much for the slight shoulder-fore I have exacerbated the problem. This is exactly why there is nothing better than a good eye on the ground. The process is so gradual, I don't realize when I have over done it. I work so hard at one piece I forget about the complex system that resides underneath.

We also worked on a nice exercise for the medium trots. Shorter on the spot trot out of the corner across the diagonal until the quarter-line, then medium trot to the next quarter-line, and back tot the shorter on the spot trot. I still need to remember to go for less bend in the leg yields, because for some reason the second I put my body into position she bends her neck- I did it I am again just not always aware! Overall the lesson was a success!

So I will end with some videos of Gramarye from when I first started working with her- you can be the judge of the progress: October 2008!

Never again will I leave a mare for multiple days...

This last week has been quite the whirlwind! As per my previous post, my job did not really allow me the time to go to the barn this week. So instead I went into my Ryan lesson on Sunday completely unprepared, and just hoping for the best. What did I get? A ticking time bomb of a mare. One thing Gram never lets me forget: mares are high maintenance!!! My lesson started, walk was fine, trot was actually pretty good, just a little fast and then seconds later there was a ticking time bomb underneath me. I asked for canter, the head went down, she gave a little toss, and I knew I was in for some mare attitude. I couldn't blame her though- I was MIA for a few days, and I had the audacity to let someone else ride her... albeit it was Ryan, but she wasn't any less displeased with me. So just my luck another lady was in the arena. I had to warn her that the next few minutes, might be frightening because Gram needed to gallop! So we galloped around a bit, digging in and kicking up some dirt, which in turn scared the big mare even more, causing her to run faster and through another head toss buck. Then we were fine and ready to get to work. We worked on straightness in our leg yields in hopes that the hind leg would stay engaged. We also worked haunches in on the circle. Our main focus was to keep her right hind from coming out behind, which meant a whole ton of work on my part. Near what I thought was the end of our lesson, Ryan then wanted to end with better canter and when I thought that would mean we were done we went to those painful, shorter stride to medium trots... I thought my abs were going to fall off. I warned him that we were both losing steam, but I think he ignored me on purpose. Payback for the birthday party I guess :)It was a great lesson, but I was sore today.

When the job gets in the way of my riding

So tonight I am missing my lesson because my job has gotten in the way of my riding lesson! I am angry, but it is a good opportunity for Ryan to ride Gram :) More to come this weekend... Of couse I have some days off monday and tuesday and guess what? It is supposed to thunderstorm the whole time!

Gramarye

Tonight there were tornado sirens galore, which didn't allow me to go the barn. So instead of jumping right into the summary from yesterday's ride, I thought I would include a fun fact for today's entry.
When we bred Gramarye's dam Yce to Giotto, we then had to come up with a name that started with a "G"... So I reached to my late 90's love affair with alternative music. One of my personal favorite bands from that time was Remy Zero. They were not a mainstream band, but I had a friend that managed them and introduced me to their music. They were able to find moderate success with a few of their songs. After scouring youtube I remembered some of my favorites including, "Twister", "Shattered", "Save Me", "Perfect Memory", "Prophecy", "Hollow" and finally "Gramarye" (which the lead singer Cinjun Tate pronounces Gram-a-rye (like rye bread instead of like Gram-marie)... So your your viewing pleasure, here is Gramarye's namesake music video:





I spend the day today in pain from my lesson yesterday. I realized that we didn't have an honest free walk the entire time, and it also didn't help that it was about 90 degrees with no breeze. We worked on haunches in, center lines, leg yields and collected trot to mediums trots... The hardest was the shorter trot to the medium... Not fun for me or Gram. My legs were so tired I didn't even feel them by the end of the lesson. We ended with Canter work, where Ryan pointed out that I probably am working too hard to support Gram. She isn't heavy, but she needs me there every stride to balance and re-balance her. I need to start working on getting her a bit lighter, without having me help every stride.

I woke up in pain, and said pain continued throughout the entire day... Thanks Ryan! :p

Cowponies slide stop!

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of working with the baby Zion... He still makes me laugh, and it is a new thing each time I ride him. Poor Zion was mighty scared at the horse show, but he did learn one thing that weekend: When he goes down centerline, trot real purtty and then SLAM ON THE BRAKES! I half halted and did what I thought was going to prepare him to stop, and instead, he just slid into a halt. I busted out laughing and of course had to call Donnie over to witness this... I am sure it wasn't as entertaining watching him, as it was riding him. The second time down the centerline, I didn't even have to ask for the halt... it just happened. This was kind of a problem, since I wasn't going to stop, but again I laughed. His heart is in the right place, he just needs a bit more "street smarts".

The weekend was overall successful. Gram was great, we worked on some half-passes- so that was a new twist. She did tell me that she needed a good gallop though. During warm-up she bolted, but in a funny way. Not because she was scared, there was no big bang, she just had the need for SPEED. Again, I laughed, because the big mare told me what she needed and I obliged then we got to work.

Tonight is Ryan night... I made fruit salad. :) Next I have to work on the Lamplight entries!

Left-side angst

I had a great lesson last night. Ryan came out to the barn last night for lessons and my friend Andi was able to come out with her mom. We are really working on a new level of connection with Gramarye. Ryan gave me some new exercises, which of course took me a while to figure out what the heck he wanted me to do! As a side note, it amazing me how many exercises Ryan has up his sleeve. I would think that after working with him for so long, he would run out of things that are new... as a kudos to Ryan, he is a true professional in his work, he is continuously learning and always bettering himself as a rider and trainer. I really cannot say enough good things about him. If I had the money to sponsor him a fantastic big tour horse, I would do it in a heartbeat as I think he is just as good as Edward Gal- Ryan just needs a Totilas and I need to be a Vissar:)

At the show, we had trouble keeping the connection with the hind legs, especially in the medium trot. Gram tends to get out behind, and I am not setting her up properly. So last night we got two new exercises to practice:
1. Piaffe Square- Basically turn down the center line, at I shorten the stride, and make a 90 degree turn left towards the rail, maintain short stride and think almost like a piaffe pirouette, turn back towards center line. When approaching the center of the ring, turn right back on the center line and send the horse forward. We mirrored this in the other direction, sometimes from the same center line. It seemed to help her with her balance and to engage under instead of pushing out from behind. My attempt at drawing is directly to the left of this write up.
2. Controlling haunches on the diagonal line- Basically, this exercise is specific to our problem when crossing the diagonal line from the left to the right. I lose her hind leg, and her medium becomes uneven since her hind leg is so far behind, it had to travel that much further than the other. So I need to think smaller trot into the corner, might a tighter turn to the diagonal, all while pushing the haunches to the left without allowing her whole body to drift.

So apparently at Silverwood, Ryan noticed my funny habit with my left side. Anyone that has read my posts knows that my left elbow is the bane of my existence. That darn elbow has a mind of its own. Also, something funny happens when you go from riding in a double bridle, and taking a few years off, and then return into a snaffle especially if you already have issues like me :) My left pinky has forgotten its job! It separates and sticks straight out. He also noticed, that my left hand is opening and staying open to the left. I think my biggest mental block, is to try not to hold Gram ever! My Willy, who I love dearly, got to be very heavy. In my effort to avoid this with Gramarye, I have of course over compensated. Instead of maintain a nice contact, I am opening my entire hand and sticking my pinky straight out! I will work on these and hopefully by the end of the summer I will correct. Then that will allow me plenty of time to pick up more bad habits while Ryan is in Florida :)