Having fun this long weekend?

The weather is trying to be somewhat good for this long weekend. It still can't seem to resist raining, but at least the days are mostly sunny and a nice temperature.

Rob hauled Clare over to Amberlea for the dressage show on Thursday; it looked pretty nice when we picked her up again on Sunday, but I guess the it was quite flooded Thursday and Friday.

On Saturday, Rob, Ginger and I took the canoe out on the North Saskatchewan for an all day boat ride. We hired Edmonton Canoe to pick us up at Emily Murphy Park and haul the three of us, the canoe, and our provisions down to Devon. It was a nice day to be on the water, but silly Rob got a bit of a sun burn.


I was surprised by the lack of plant life in the water. I guess the fish in the river are all carnivores, so they don't need plant life to do well, but we didn't see much for life on the water other than one beaver and a bunch of birds.

Ginger did well on the boat once she found her balance...and the copious dog treats we bought. She enjoyed getting out on some sand bars, although I think she was disappointed by the lack of smells on the little islands.

We were surprised that she didn't try swimming at first, but finally at our last stop near Fort Edmonton she got excited by some wake created by a jet boat, and she tried attacking the waves as they reached the shore, and then finally went for a swim.

I think the last time I was on the river would be about 30 years ago; it has changed! More big houses and more activity along the river. It was a little freaky to see the houses poised to fall in the river by Riverbend. The two new foot bridges across the water looked impressive and well used.

The other thing that surprised me was the 17+ dogs playing in the water at Twilliger park. Ok, the dogs didn't surprise me, what surprised me was the 4+ toddlers also in the water with the dogs. Who brings a toddler to an off leash dog park and lets them play admist the dogs? Particularly in water that isn't safe to drink.

We spent about 7 hours on the water in total. My bum was a tad sore, but I would go again. It was nice being on the water with no bugs, crowds or horses : )

On Sunday I taught, then we went to pick up Magnus from the show. Clare was happy as she was able to break 60% at training level! Last night we went to visit my parents and brother for dinner. Dinner was nice. Dad isn't doing so well and is back on regular blood and platelet transfusions. Summer time is not a good time to need blood as less people make donations (hint hint), so their time spend in the hospital trying to located a suitable match means it is an all day process. Dad's mind is still 100% though, so he was able to explain to me how fish can still live in water that appears dead to me.

Today will be a day to relax and then lessons tonight. Lots of people are away this week, so the lesson plan will just be something simple...maybe we will even get outside this week? Now that there are less mosquitoes being outside is much nicer! I can't get over how much standing water there is.

Karen

Cats are smart

I am typing this while dodging drool. Yes, Charlie the resident barn cat is in the house, on my lap, getting pet while I type this. Why is Charlie, the resident barn cat, in the house? Because he was afraid to come into the house, so of course I had to win his trust so he would feel safe in the comforts of our living space.

And I am not the only sucker. How many of you have spent time trying to convince Charlie or Rolo that it was safe to let you come near so you could pet them?

Yes, cats are smart...they make you feel special when the let YOU pet THEM. After all there really isn't much in it for you to pet the cat...other than drool, cat hair, and potentially cat claws. But yet they still manage to get us to spend the time convincing them to let us pet them.

I need to crack the secret to the cat manipulation so I can have people begging to give me money and cupcakes....unfortunately I am guessing drooling and shedding won't work.

Karen

More rain. Very wet. So wet in fact that some little frogs made their way into the barn when I opened it up this morning; even the amphibians are tired of the rain and wet.

No idea what we are doing in lessons this week. Nothing ground breaking as there are a fair number of people away...likely in search of blue skies and dry ground.

We worked a bit on counter canter yesterday, so maybe we will do some more counter canter, or at least work on picking up the correct lead without having a wall to help position the horse.

Maybe a grid?

After today the weather forecast looks promising...fingers crossed we can start jumping outside again soon!

Karen

It rained all night. It is still raining now. There as a raging white water torrent of water draining across the parking lot this morning; poor Ginger was unsure if it was safe to cross. The dug out has completely jumped the banks and there is now a creek of water draining from it; hopefully the grass and weeds keep the gold fish and water plants from getting out.

The mares in the front feild didn't even bother to come out of their shelter when they heard me feeding; I even fed them under the trees so they could stay semi dry.

Dexter and posse are likely the only ones appreciating the weather; it means they can go out back and graze without being eaten by mosquitos.

With all the technology out there, why can't they sent some of this rain to some of the many places suffering from drought? Although i suppose a God like power like that would be scary too.

If you come to the barn tonight or tomorrow and can't find it...just look downstream.

Karen

The week in jumping lessons...

This week in jumping lessons we will be working on better corners. Not only getting the horse further into the ends, but also using the corners to re balance and refocus.

To this end I have built a course that goes like this:

Left lead canter to the yellow vertical, then about 6 strides to a bounce set at an angle in the corner. Across the diagonal over a three stride, then into the far corner, and down the other side in four strides, with the second jump being a new scary lattice jump. Then into the corner, over the bounce again, and across the diagonal over a fan jump.

The bounce will be tiny, but will still require riders to sit UP and re balance with the inside leg and outside rein, followed by outside leg to sent them forward again and keep their hind end engaged as they approach the corner. It will be a bit of an optical illusion to the horse, and they will want to drop onto their inside shoulder and miss the bounce all together if given the option.

It is important to use leg as well as hand/shoulders when re balancing as we don't want to inadvertently pull the horse onto its forehand, or take away its push from behind, which it needs to get the lead change nicely, and to get over the next jump in an athletic manner.

Karen

This week in lessons

With rain forecast for every day this week, I think it is safe to say lessons will be indoors again this week. I miss teaching and riding outside...but I think the horses enjoy the fans and the break from the bugs!

Dressage lessons will work a bit on sitting trot and going from a leg yeild to a baby half pass.

I will figure out what jumping lessons will do tomorrow!

Karen

I went for a hearing test today. Not because I think my hearing is off, but I needed to pay for the test to get a referral to an ENT specialist. First they pressurize the ear drums and then play beeps of different tones into the ears to measure the ear drum's reflexes. Next I had to repeat words back that were played quieter and quieter...fun words like Milkshake and Iceberg.

For step three I had to hit a button every time I heard a chime. The chimes got quieter and quieter until my own breathing annoyed me. Lastly I had to repeat words again; this time the volume stayed normal and it was more to test how I picked up different sounds.

All in all it didn't take very long, and I found out I had good ear health with above average hearing. My right ear is consistently good at hearing, with my left ear better at hearing lower pitches. If you doubt your own hearing, I recommend having it checked...maybe then I won't have to yell as loud when teaching!

Karen

Finally!

finally Rob and I got out in the Canoe. Ok, so not to Elk Island or a river...but our dugout. We figured it was a good way to test Ginger out in the canoe and it let us put out a little solar powered mini-fountain.

I saw a few flashes of gold fish, so that was a relief, but then Rob and I saw something else in the water; too big and brown looking to be our Gold Fish. We finally managed to catch one, and Rob identified it as a Salamander! Apparently our dug out has plenty of the creatures. Not sure where they came from, but kind of neat to see. I am thinking all the things we saw before and thought they were tadpoles were really Salamanders.

Ginger was pretty good in the boat, and nobody ended up in the water!

Karen

@$&!*@($

What would you do, if you heard someone screaming? Screaming loudly at you to please stop what you were doing? If you were our neighbours to the west, you would turn off your movie, and go outside to investigate. If you are our neighbours to the south you continue to flaunt the law and endanger others in the pursuit of having fun....

The evening started with Rob and I getting home from dinner just before 9pm. I was exhausted and would have just done night feed and gone to bed, but Lindsey was in the barn bathing Java to get ready for her 4H show. I missed hearing her truck leave, and for once I am glad she was out late, and that I procrastinated.


I headed out just before 10pm and noticed fireworks going off to the south. The horses were alert, but not overly bothered by the sputtering initial attempts to light up the sky. The geldings came galloping up from the back, and the rest kept their eyes on the south sky between bites of hay.


But then they set off some crazy ass sounding whistling sparkler things...and that was it. The fillies completely LOST it. I called Rob to come out and started SCREAMING for our neighbours to knock off the fireworks. Piper in particular wanted OUT of there and was ramming the gate and I think would have considered jumping if I (and soon Rob) had not been on the other side. Once Rob was there to keep them from jumping out and rushing the fence I ran to the top of the hill to once again scream at them to stop. But apparently they HAD heard me...as I heard back "Deal with it Karen, it is a Birthday Party" .





WTF?





Deal with it?





Four young horses are blindly panicking and in imminent danger, and she wants me to "deal with it"?

Not that she knew what the issue was; they can't see up and over our hill. For all they knew a horse was trapped in the fence/gate, running while injured, or a person had been hurt while handling their horse when the fireworks started.

But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that they and their guests got to watch and listen to those fireworks.

Stuff like that pisses me off and frightens me. I am SO glad Lindsey's late night at the barn meant that I was out when the loud fireworks went off; who knows what would have happened if Rob and I had not been out there to keep them from rushing through or over the gate and fence. Can you imagine if they HAD gotten out? Four young horses, one with a previous injury, running in blind panic?

The ignorance and disregard for our safety and well being still shocks me.

But at least I know the neighbours to the west can be counted on to come check on things if they hear screaming.

Karen

Is summer back?

Quick! It is sunny out!

And...when I was feeding I was not swarmed by mosquitos! Maybe the little black bugs don't like the sun? Is it possible we may have a nice weekend ahead of us? fingers crossed!

Irony....

From a Kijiji Ad:

"Tired of barn politics and barn gossip. Board with us where every horse is beautiful and well cared for. Indoor facility outdoor arena padics and very knowledgable people. We but the fun back in boarding."

If you are going to put that you are knowledgeable, at least spell the word right! And maybe spell check if you don't know how to spell paddocks? The "but" instead of put is just a funny typo, so I can forgive that one...

What sucky weather. I want to be outside! But at least inside there are no bugs...what a waste of a summer!

So lessons will definately be inside this week. Not sure what we will be working on, but starting off on a good course pace will again be a focus. Maybe some sitting trot work too...

Karen

Stupid weather...

First the weather scuttled plans to go to Still Meadows for jumping, and today it caused me to cancel the first of the two Ride for Red horse shows. We had all the jumps loaded on the trailer, and the prizes organized, but with the forecast being rain and thunder, we made a last minute decision to cancel.

It didn't even look that bad by 8am, so I was wondering if I made a wrong decision...but then we heard thunder at 9:15, and the rain came soon after...and wow we are flooded here! So the decision was the right one, but I really want to get out to a jumping show soon!

Hopefully it dries up enough so we can go to the Heads Up show, but we will have to see.

Thanks to everyone who planned to come out to help, and to Christine & Rob who braved the cold and rain to help me get the jumps organized to be loaded on the trailer.

So after calling, emailing, and texted everyone that the show was cancelled and doing chores, Rob and I went to brunch, and then went to Greenlands for some plants for our dug out. If you are brave enough to wade through the mosquitoes, check them out; they look really cool.

Karen

This week in lessons...

This week in lessons we are going to work at creating useful energy in our horses, and keeping it.

For both dressage and jumping, we want the horse to be energetic and responsive. We want to feel that the horse could and would go faster/more forward if we asked, and we want the horse to be powered from behind.

All too often when jumping, rider's let the horse lope up to the first jump, leaving the horse to have to increase its energy to perform, and then the horse continues to increase its energy as it goes, resulting in a round that starts with a pokey short stride and a chip, and ending with a rushed horse and an overmade line. Instead we want a course that starts with the needed tempo, and finishes the same. This means the rider must create energy to start with (rather than let the initial jumping effort create the energy), and must rebalance during the course to regularly "reset" the horse to the ideal pace.

In dressage, things that require effort and precision sometimes make the rider forget the forward part of the equation, and the horse ends up behind the leg and on its forehand. This leads to sloppy transitions and a dull horse.

By being less boring as a rider, and by setting higher expectations of the horse, we create an energetic, focused, and willing mount, that will feel (and be) more athletic. Transitions, paying attention to details, and being sure to be in control of the horse at all times (by doing things such as riding off the track) all help to create a more focused horse. Energy can be created and kept by paying close attention to the horse, and correcting it as needed when the energy level falls. It is also very important to remember to use leg when steering and balancing. Riders that rely too much on hand will also find the horse getting dull, unresponsive, and tipped on the forehand.

Carrying a crop may be a good idea for this weeks lessons unless you are confident in your forward!

Oh, and if you are wondering, yes, my face is swollen, and no, I have no idea why. I am sure the cure is chocolate....or cookies....or cupcakes....

Karen

Logo Jackets and Polo Shirts?

I brought out a sample of jackets as possible Hillside Logo wear. These are a little better quality and fancier than the previous ones. They are more weather proof, better fitted, and don't have the velcro and toggles that horses so like to destroy! They are a little higher end though, at about $90.00 with the logo and your name embroidered, but I think the quality makes it worth it. I will put them in the stall across from the stairs if you want to take a look or try one on. Just please keep them clean! The samples are fuchsia and pale blue, but they come in many colours. I know most logo gear is the club colour...but it is too hard to find nice green stuff, and I would rather people buy something they look good in and will want to wear, then buy something so we all look alike.

I am also planning to order more polo shirts. I really like the ones we bought previously...again they come in a variety of colours and are high quality.

Take a look, and let me know if you, or anyone in your family would like one and I can put together an order! If you have something else you want with the Hillside Logo, such as a saddle pad, just let me know, I am open to ideas.

Karen

In or Out?

It looks nice outside. I want to teach outside, but they keep hovering over me with a risk of thunder storms Today, tomorrow and Thursday! I don't really want to build two courses, but I may have to...stupid weather that keeps changing.

This week in lessons I am working to help rider's find a connection with their horse, both on the flat, and to an extent over jumps. Advanced riders will work on an "In Hand" release, which keeps a connection to the mouth in the air, but does not pull back or overly restrict the horse. This requires the rider to make sure their balance is independent from their hands. The easiest way to learn to do this is to jump an obstacle that requires the rider to turn in the air, so that is what advanced riders will do.

The beginner/intermediate jumpers will work on selecting the most appropriate length of crest release for the jump in front of them and switching between short and long releases as needed.

I am also optimistic we can have a fun show Saturday afternoon. I am thinking 1ish. Class list and info will be posted in the barn. Classes are $1 each. let me know if you can come or can help out!

I am also looking for entries and for volunteers for Ride for Red which is coming up! Info in the barn or check out: http://www.rideforred.webs.com/

Entry forms can be downloaded right from the website!

Karen

Fish rescue

Now that our dug out has become a viable ecosystem Rob and I took on a rescue project. We have rescued not one, not two, but thirty feeder goldfish. Gold fish that without our intervention would have become food for a bigger fish, or would have been squished into a tiny bowl to have its growth stunted and its poor little fishy life shortened.

Instead these lucky fish have now been set loose in a giant pond, with mosquito larva, duck weed, and other scrumptious edibles.

Of course we likely won't see them again for while...not the most sociable creatures, but apparently they can grow up to a foot long, so hopefully we will one day see them again...and hopefully the birds don't find them and eat them before they get to grow up.

I was amazed at how quickly they seemed to adapt to the "wild", particularly considering that they were raised in empty tanks and would never even have seen so much as a fake plant....yet as soon as their baggy went into the pond they swarmed towards the green.

So if you are ever bored, go hang out by the pond and look for little orange fishies...just don't fall in!

Karen

A little more effort please!

Each week I put effort in to read books and websites to improve my teaching skills and to come up with lesson plans. All I ask in return is for my students to put in a little effort in return. So imagine my disappointment this week when my Thursday lessons did not know if Peru was north or south of the equator. Come on people! A little effort please! Is it too much to ask that you come prepared for your lessons? Sheesh, next I will find out you don't know the life cycle of arthropods. I don't know why I bother to try to teach a group of underachievers. We will never get to the Olympics this way.

Karen

back on grass

I decided to let the horses go back on grass today. Ideally the grass would have been left for a day or two to dry and grow before putting the horses back out, but I thought they needed a break from the mud, and the paddocks will dry better without hooves digging them up.

First to go out was Shawn and Magnus. I led them both together, but decided to let Shawn loose first, figuring he was just going to put his head down to eat right away...nope! Off he went with a buck and a fart up the hill! This of course got Magnus excited, so I waited for him to calm down before letting him loose, but off he went doing laps around Shawn, doing his best Black Stallion impersonation!

Percy and Kokanee weren't much better...both tore off at a mad gallop. You would think they had been stuck in a tiny cell for the last week rather than a decent sized pen!

The fillies on the other hand were well behaved and set straight to eating as soon as they got into their pen.

I will have to coat myself in bug spray to go get them though...

oh, and be prepared for MUDDY horses.

Karen

This week in lessons

I am thinking lessons will be inside all week; it will take a while to dry up and more rain is in the forecast. So this week we are going to work on different releases. The three we will work on are short, long and (for advanced riders) in hand releases.

The short crest release puts the riders hands up on the horse's crest, just enough that their hands are about 1/4-1/3 up the neck. This gives the horse the freedom to jump the jump, but still leaves the rider some control. With the short crest release, the rider uses the neck for balance.

The long crest release requires the rider to reach further up the neck; 1/2 way or more. This release gives the horse complete freedom over the jump, and is mostly used to show off fancy hunters, or to give a horse complete freedom over a wide oxer or drop fence. It is important that the rider moves their hands forward, and not their entire body!

The in-hand release requires to the rider to have complete control over their body and hands in the air as they cannot use their hands for balance with this release; instead their hands reach down and forward towards the horse's mouth, following the horse's stretch over the jump. The goal is to maintain a light, following contact, without restricting the horse mid air. This type of release is for advanced riders, but is also useful for less experienced riders when learning to guide the horse into a turn mid-air.

To this end, I will have some sort of grid, as well as an inside turn option, so we can practice how to do the various release types.

Karen

Yikes! http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-pets-livestock-for-sale-Pony-Training-or-exercising-W0QQAdIdZ291816663

14 year old kid who: trains horses to rear, jumps without a helmet...goody!

I also like the saga on Kijiji; little pony was stolen a few days ago...but now it has been returned but is in the neighbours feild...because the pony didn't just get loose.... Now they want someone to come rope their 10 hand tall pony because they can't catch it. Now if they can't catch it, how did someone steal it?

So it's just a tad on the muddy/flooded side here. Dress appropriately and fully expect your horse (and its hooves) to be absolutely disgusting.

The paddocks actually have more standing water than they did during the spring melt, and our dug out is at its deepest ever.

The show yesterday went well, and the weather Gods seemed to smile on us; I don't think any of the Hillside crew was left out in the rain waiting to go. It did come down in a thunderous downpour just as Pony and I started our first test, and driving home was a little frightening, but other that that, the weather wasn't too much of a factor.

The horses all did well, with improvements seen in the tests for each of them. Scores didn't really improve over the past shows, but the scoring in general seemed to be lower than the last two shows, with Pony's 63% being the highest score by the time we left. I look forward to their next show!

The next show on our list is Ride for Red, followed by either the Amberlea development show or the Heads Up hunter/jumper show. Heads up has the advantage of being closer and less expensive. Amberlea has the advantage of being more than one day, bigger show ring, and stabling. We will discuss this week and come up with a target.

karen

July 2, 2011

So, if it is dry enough by July 2, would you guys be interested in doing an inbarn fun show? Thinking 10 classes or so, with $1 per class entry fee..with half the entry fees going to the winner (the rest to me for putting up with you guys... :) ). The classes would be timed or scored, so no judge needed, and would be set up so that there are classes for a variety of levels so everyone can participate.

Thinking classes like:
1) walk/trot barrels
2) Barrels and cross poles (barrel pattern with cross poles between barrels)
3) Match the stride (riders have to do a certain number of strides between two jumps)
4) Make your own course jumper....fastest clear round wins
5) 4 bar competition
6) Ride and lead: ride over a line of jumps, then dismount and lead your horse back over tte line of jumps...fastest one wins
7) Obstacle course?

Not sure what else, but ideas welcome...let me know if you guys would want to participate.

Karen

Rain

The torrential rain we have had in the last 36 hours disrupted our plans to go to Still Meadows today; it was decided that standing (and tacking up) in the rain was not going to be fun, and I didn't want our horses milling around with a herd of unknown horses in the hitching area. It was the right decision, but I really wanted to see Pony and Percey at their first shows with their new riders!

Still planning to show Dressage tomorrow. The rain has some advantage for us there as it has prompted them to clean out the small barn so that we can have stalls instead of pens! Yippy!

The rain has kept me indoors for most of today, so I have been working on a website for the Ride for Red horse show: It is still under construction, but let me know what you think!
http://rideforred.webs.com/

Phone etiquette

When I was young, I recall being taught something about when it was ok to call, and when it wasn't. Basic things, like don't call during dinner time, don't call after 9:30 pm, and don't call before 9:30 am on weekends, or before 8:00 am during the week. In my world, if you call outside those times,, either you know my schedule well enough to know I should be available, something urgent has come up, or there is a family emergency.

Yes, I am up and in the barn by about 7am every day, but that doesn't mean I want to talk to anyone before 8am. I like to get the horses out and fed before dealing with humans, and the horses seem to appreciate being a priority. When I had a day job, early morning calls disrupted my getting ready schedule, which was timed so that I could maximize my time in bed.

And of course I am up past 9:30 most days, but it still gets my heart racing if I get a call from an unfamiliar number after 9:30...right away my brain figures someone is in the hospital or in a ditch.

So getting a call at 10:48 last night to talk about a horse someone had for sale...well, it was really hard to be polite...although I think I managed it....better than when I got a call at 6:30 in the morning to discuss the possibility of taking on a new student.

Am I out of date? Is phone etiquette out the window? Should I be attainable 24/7?

My favourite was a former employee texting me at 6:45 in the morning to confirm she was going to be in that day so I could have the morning off as pre-arranged. So much for finally being able to sleep in....

Of course as much as my phone annoys me, I do have a minor panic attack if I realize I do not have it with me. I managed to survive close to 20 years without a cell phone, but now I don't want to drive to the mail box without it.

Maybe I just need a happier ring tone...

Karen

Rain rain rain

Well on the plus side we are no longer in a dust bowl...all the pens and paddocks now have little ponds and hopefully the grass in the pens is also recovering. On the negative side there is a Tornado warning in effect! Rob called to tell me about it; I would have thought I would have heard something on the radio, but apparently not. The warning seems to be more north east of us, but still in the general area so please check the weather before driving out for lessons tonight!

Karen

This week in lessons

Well, it looks like we are going to be riding inside this week. We needed the rain, but I don't want to be teaching inside again! It looks like rain is in the forecast all week other than Saturday, which we need for the grass/hay, but still annoying.

Not sure what we will be doing...some no stirrup stuff of course, but I think we will do a course to help get the horses and riders that are showing this weekend ready.

I will have to think of something exciting to do....

Karen

Went out to get Zander in for the farrier...and noticed something odd about S'argent's ankle...what is that? Hay? Grass? Nope...porcupine quills. Over 40 of the things in the back of his ankle and heel...40! in a space the size of my hand. Interestingly he wasn't really sore...until he overreached and bent some of them...apparently that hurt.

Ryan came out and tranqued him, then froze the leg before removing them one and a time. He will have to be on bute and antibiotics for a while to make sure it doesn't get infected.

Now, what on earth did he do to get the quills at the BACK of his leg? Did he step over it? Paw over it? Although what surprises me the most is that he was the one to get them rather than Zander or Dexter...two horses that really don't seem to know where their noses don't belong. Rocky would be too scared, and Rocket wouldn't be interested in anything that was non edible.

Naughty horse...

Karen

So what happenned to all the forcast rain?!? It sure didn't make it out this way other than for maybe 5 minute cloud bursts, and boy, do we need rain!

This week in dressage lessons I am hoping to be outside, and I want to work on lengthening at canter and trot. It is important to understand that lengthening is not rushing or speeding up, but rather it is asking the horse to reach farther forward with its stride, which requires the horse to stretch out through its back and neck. The rider must stay up to help the horse maintain its balance.

We are also going to do some leg yield work; while keeping the horse straight we are going to see how far down the track we have to go, in order to go 10 meters to the side. In First level test 2 and 3, you have 24 meters to go 10 meters across...which is tighter than it sounds!

In jumping this week we are going to jump some boxes and fill and work on a simple course...if we are outside. If we are inside we will work through a grid and practice different releases and the whys behind them.

Karen

So I got on Lindy for the first time today. Of course I waited until the gale force winds picked up so that the arena was extra spooky. Lindy wouldn't want to waste calories on an actual spook fortunately, so a few ear twitches and a higher than normal head were the extent of it. (where is all this wind coming from though?!?)

I had the mounting block pulled up beside her and was tapping on the saddle and such, then I reached my left foot into my stirrup...and the spot my left foot vacated was immediately filled by a certain black cat. Lindy then curled her neck around to look at Charlie...although did not move a single hoof...so I aborted the attempted mounting and instead we chased Charlie out of the arena.

So then I went back and this time got all the way on...and then Charlie comes in making a bee line for the mounting block. I wasn't worried about what Lindy would do if Charlie just jumped on the mounting block...but I was worried he may take it further than that and really did not want to be doubling with a cat! Fortunately she listened to my requests to walk off and poor Charlie was left on the mounting block alone crying his woes....better him crying his woes than me crying "Whoa"!

Rode Brie outside after that thinking the wind would take the bugs away...I was wrong. This is some super brand of mosquitoes with super stick legs. Nasty! Bug spray highly recommended if we ride outside this week.

Karen

this week in lessons

This week in lessons I am hoping we can ride outside...I wonder if rocket will be able to handle it? The mosquitoes aren't quite as bad as they have been.

We are going to work on transitions on the flat, and adding strides in lines for jumping...we will see who can do the least strides in a line while still making the one stride leading up to the line. This will also help rider's work on counting strides and developing an eye.

Remember that when trying to add strides, you want to shorten early so the last stride before the jump can be a little more flowing...you don't want to pull them to the base.

Karen

This morning started with a nice visit from Janine. She helped me bring the boys up from the grass for the vet...they did not want to leave the grass as there was an absence of mosquitoes. Ginger tried to help too by barking at Dexter and S'Argent...and is lucky that she was able to avoid the equine karate kicks.

After the vet visit it was time to go to Amberlea; it was odd packing and loading for one. I missed having Clare with me. Maybe next year a few others will be ready to do the big shows too. It is more fun to show with company!

It has been so dry I thought Amberlea was finally free of its rain curse. Even though we had rain here, it wasn't enough to do more than keep the dust down, so I was surprised to see lots of mud and puddles everywhere. Once again standing water in the show ring...Brie is thrilled and was a little sucked back which affects my Freestyle timing, but now that I have done enough of the things I am not going to get so stressed over it.

I met some nice people that came from Manitoba for the show with some lovely horses. Seemed like quite a drive to come to Amberlea, so I hope they have a good show.

Fortunately it did not rain today, so setting up at the show went well, and we didn't have to jump without stirrups in lessons...I am sure it will rain again some week though!

Karen

Thank you for the rain!

As much as it was disappointing to have to revert to teaching inside, the rain was very welcome; we need it to get the grass growing and reduce the fire risk. And of course it wouldn't be an Amberlea dressage show if we didn't have rain!

Here's hoping the cold weather put an end to the mosquitoes and not that it is encouraging new ones.

If it rains tomorrow night, students can look forward to jumping without stirrups!

Karen

Westwood Warmblood Dressage Daze

Laureen (with Shawn), Tamara (with Tango) and I (with Pony) had a great show yesterday at Westwood Warmbloods. The show was very well run, and went quite smoothly. They even had a volunteer show Steward there which was nice; gets us in a habit of doing things correctly.

We all did Training Level test 2 and First Level test 1.

Shawn seemed quite shocked and dismayed when he unloaded from the trailer to realize he had no idea where he was. To make matters worse he was put about as far from any other horses as he could be when we got there (Tango and Pony were side by side) and he was not impressed. Some hay and the arrival of a neighbour helped to calm his nerves, but he did have a bit of a deer in the headlights look for his first test! I had forgotten that Shawn really hasn't been out much.

Tango started the day letting us know she was VERY in heat and was rather pleasant...other than the peeing and the calling to Pony.

Pony thought it was all quite exciting and enjoyed the carrots that would randomly come her way. I have discovered she is not a fan of goats. Note to self; keep her from seeing them next time! Apparently seeing me on Pony is a source of entertainment for some, but she definitely showed she belongs in the dressage ring with scores over 65% in both tests!

The horses and riders all did very well, with respectable scores. Nobody went off test or had a major flaw, and Tango refrained from peeing during her time in the ring. Tango came home with a first and a second, Shawn with a second and a third, and Pony with two firsts.

It rained a bit on our way home, but we couldn't really have asked for better weather for a horse show in May. I look forward to their June show!

Pony's First Level test

Karen

IMPORTANT NOTICE

There is currently an EVA-1 outbreak in the US, with confirmed cases in Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan. EVA-1 is a HIGHLY contagious disease that is VERY easily spread. The original outbreak started at a reining/cutting event in UTAH, and so far the risk at dressage/jumping shows in our area is minimal (no more than usual).

EVA-1 can be FATAL, and can be transfer ed through DIRT, human contact/clothing and other ways. PLEASE restrict your visiting of other barns until this outbreak is fully under control.

There is NO proven vaccine against EVA-1 although the rhino vaccine (which our horses have) is reportedly of some help in reducing the severity of symptoms.

We will be watching this as it progresses, and deciding on the safety of going to shows on a show by show basis. We will be limiting haul in lessons, and paying close attention to our horses for early signs of the disease.

The first sign is a elevated temperature, so horses going to shows will have their temperatures taken regularly.

Meanwhile there are also confirmed cases of strangles in the area, so precautions need to be taken against that disease as well! I will be doing up a protocol and posting it in the barn.

Please do not hesitate to discuss this with me.

Karen

The more whining a course creates, the more successful I feel the course is/was.

Photos from today

First off a photos of the barn crew:

They were all lined up perfectly but then Ginger had to shake her head...which Charlie didn't care much for.

And here are the fashionable fillies in their new fly gear. Well, some of it is new; Cara got her dam's hand-me-downs.

Karen

Please tell me the worst of the wind is past! Of course now the mosquitos will move in. The little biters seem particularly attracted to poor dexter who was covered in them last night despite the wind.

The week in lessons I am REALLY hoping to get outside again, but only if it isn't crazy windy! Not sure I will bother building a course out there, but perhaps at least a warm up jump.

Going to continue to work on inside/outside bending to create a laterally supple and responsive horse. May try some counter canter if we are outside (bigger space makes it easier). If we are inside...maybe some fun no stirrup work?

Karen

All that rain =

Mosquitos are out in full force already. From nothing to swarms of them on the horses, so bring out your fly spray and fly sheets!

karen

I am addicted...

To xtranormal....

New videos:

Shopping for Tritan... I decided to leave out the part where her two kids were using a lunge whip to chase two loose horses in the ring WHILE I was trying to look at his feet. It was fun. Christine ended up with a nice horse though!

Showing at Amberlea Although some of this would apply to horse shows everywhere!

Karen

Is it possible? Has the wind actually died down?

Not without taking some casualties though...a few neighbourhood horse shelters are now on their sides. Fortunately no horses were hurt.

As I was putting the geldings out on grass today, it occurred to me; for the first time EVER, Hillside has more mares than geldings on property! When black Java leaves this weekend we will be at a 50/50 split which is still unusual. Weather permitting, mares will start going out on grass next week. Other than the private pen horses, they should all be able to go out on grass this year which will be nice!

Karen

Waiting.

Do you ever feel like you spend too much of your life waiting?

When you are a kid you are waiting for Christmas, your Birthday, Summer Vacation, to be able to Drive, to have your own car, to date, to graduate.

Then you get older and you are waiting to move out, get a real job, get some time off, save up for a better car, get married, get a better paying job, save money.

Time moves on and you are waiting for summer, vacation days, your kids to move out, retirement.

Less fortunate people have their lives on hold waiting to see specialists or for an organ donation to become available (reminder to sign your organ donor card!).

And there are the day to day waits; waiting at the doctor's office, waiting for the weekend to get here, waiting for the work day to be over, waiting for the farrier to show up (or is that just my day?).

As horse riders we spend time waiting to get our own horse, waiting to get a better horse, waiting to be able to ride outside, waiting for show season.

I wonder how much life is wasted waiting?

Right now I am waiting for this stupid wind to die down.

Karen

So who wants to call social services...

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-pets-livestock-for-sale-20ISH-YEAR-OLD-SALLY-THE-TEACHING-HORSE-W0QQAdIdZ281147784

This week in lessons

This week in lessons advanced lessons will be doing their flat work outside (weather permitting of course!). I want to get them used to being in the larger outdoor ring a bit on the flat before we start jumping out there! So if the weather is nice, all Monday and Thursday lessons should plan on being outside for flat work. Tuesday 5:30 lessons and possibly Wednesday 7:00 lessons will also hack outside.

We will be continuing to work on counter bending, and will be doing some counter bend at the canter. The most important thing to remember for the counter bend, is that you are bringing the horse's nose to the outside of the circle, and not that you are pushing the shoulder to the inside. Repeat to yourself; "indirect reins are evil...my hands should never cross the neck... reins do not control the shoulders".

This is building towards work on counter canter for advanced students... which is not to be confused with being on the wrong lead :)

Our course designer for the week is Christine!

Karen

My second movie...

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11999562/horse-shopping-fun#

Karen

My moving making debut...

Those xtra normal videos regarding the vets and horse boarding, promted me to make some about horse selling and buying...all based on true stories.

Here is my first attempt!

The name of the horse has been changed to protect its identity.

Karen

Thank you Rolo...and thank goodness for Ginger!

Hey Karen, Look what I caught for breakfast!

What do you mean you don't want it? It is still fresh! See...it is still breathing!

Thank goodness for Ginger who was quite happy to pick the still alive mouse up and take it outside to put it out of its misery. Rolo was not impressed by my ungratefulness and Ginger's theft and proceeded to walk around the house howling.

That will teach me not to leave the back door open so the cats can come and go...

Karen

This week in lessons...

This week in lessons we will be working on counter bend and flexions inside and outside. The most important thing to doing counter bend correctly is to remember that you are trying to take the horses nose and hip out, and not that you are trying to push the shoulder in. Pushing the shoulder in (usually with the hand crossing over the neck....) doesn't cause the horse to carry an outside bend, rather it causes the horse to drop its shoulder and/or get crooked.

When doing a counter bend, you also have to make sure that the rein on the side that the horse is bend towards needs to act like an inside rein and have a lot of give and softness; the bend needs to come from the leg on that side (at the girth). The opposite rein needs to act like an outside rein and maintain a steady contact that the horse can reach for and that prevents the horse from bending more than it is able to.

Doing counter bend to try bend exercises can really help show and correct how crooked a horse (or rider) is, as it is impossible to do this exercises correctly without having the horse balanced and working off leg aids.

For jumping, we will be doing Joan's course. It involves a fan jump, a skinny jump and a bounce.

It is interesting that Nicole's course diagram portrayed the arena as a tiny postage stamp space, whereas Joan's makes it look like a giant grand prix ring...perhaps perspective given their respective mounts?

Karen

Freestyle Clinic

As much as the Amberlea show was fun, and the Dale Irwin and Karen Robinson clinic's informative and motivational, I will be looking forward to a weekend of not going anywhere next weekend!

The Freestyle clinic was great. As I wrote in my previous post, Karen is a very engaging speaker, and is in general a very encouraging person. These two traits made it easier to be open with ideas and opinions during the creative development process of making a Freestyle.

Day 1 started with me loading Brie and taking her over to Westwood Warmbloods. I have never had to load her by myself, but she hopped on and trailered well. The barn at Westwood is lovely, with the stalls looking into the alley on either side of the area, so the horses can watch the horses in the arena, and see right across to the horses on the other row.

The first day of the clinic was devoted to music selection; I was second rider in after Paula. It was interesting and helpful to watch Karen pick out music for Paula to ride to, and to see how some music worked, and others did not, even though they were set to the correct BPM (beats per minute).

Brie it turns out has very steady gaits, and is similar in her way of going to the left and right, so measuring her BPM was a quick process, although we needed to run through all our "tricks" such as lateral work, lengthening and such to make sure the rhythm was consistent for all our moves.

The Karen picked out some music for us; we decided Brie needed something elegant. My stipulation was I didn't want bells and whistles (and apparently I don't like to ride to Tambourines either). I did not think this an odd request, but apparently in all her years of doing Freestyles professionally, I am the first person ever, to not want to ride to a particular instrument. So apparently Rob is right and I am a tad on the difficult side at times... Of course as nobody had ever made that kind of request before, Karen realized she didn't actually really KNOW what instruments the music had, so there were a few false starts where the music reminded me too much of someone riding around with change in their pockets...

In the end we found a pretty music for both trot and canter. I will have to find some similar walk music as well based on the BMP information.

Day 2 we tried one more canter song...but this one had whistling, clapping and snapping! I tried to be a good sport and rode to it anyway, but was thankful that she didn't like it either. We decided to stick with the selections from day 1.

The choreography went very smoothly; Karen watched carefully as we did our canter and trot work to match the music, and noted the types of moves we played with and were good (or bad!) at. Today I did a few things in the warm up that I thought may work, and she agreed they looked good, so we integrated those ideas. She then added some lovely moves to fit in the remaining requirements and to add some time to the freestyle...it was just long enough by 3 seconds! I was pretty amazed that we were able to put together all the moves and able to ride it from start to finish if one 45 minute session!

Now I have the pattern it is up to me to time the transitions and edit the music as needed. Karen does this professionally, but I am too stubborn to pay for it ;)

This I learned;
1- a metronome really helps
2- having a music machine that allows you to alter the bmp on the fly really helps
3- when coming up with the choreography, consider what your horse finds easy, and use those moves to add difficulty to the test. The things your horse (or you) find hard should be done in the easiest fashion.

So...

I am thinking a few of you should set the goal of doing a training level freestyle at the bronze show in August! It will be fun, and I do think you need to do a few before you really understand and can do them well.

I also HIGHLY recommend a clinic with Karin Robinson if you get a chance! Even if just to audit (watch). It is so uplifting to be around such a positive person.

Karen

(PS: Paula....can't wait to see your freestyle! Wish I could have watched your day 2 stuff...but I loved your music selection on day 1!)

!

Friday was eventful. In the morning I saw Sailor and Tucker off to their summer homes, dewormed some less than thrilled horses and rode a bit. After chores I went to look at a horse that kind of looked like what you would get if you crossed Zander with Jezz, and then bonked the baby in the head as a foal. I actually kind of liked him though; super sweet, so will go back another day to see him ridden and get on him. Then I headed over for the theory portion of the Karen Robinson Freestyle clinic. It was a fun and informative evening. Karen is great to listen to with a very engaging conversational style. It was a little eerie how much she reminded me of black Java's "mom" in her mannerisms and way of speaking.

The evening ran a little later than planned, and it was about 10 pm when I got home to feed and let Ginger out of the barn. As I headed back out to get the Mule to feed hay, I noticed a black shadow by the hay shed that didn't really make sense. Nothing was there to cast such a big shadow, and the blog was too round to be a dog, and to big to be a cat. Ginger and Rolo were both heading to the shadow ahead of me....fortunately Ginger triggered the motion sensor light and I could then discern it was in fact a PORCUPINE! Where on earth did a porcupine come from, and why is it by the hay shed!

So of course I call Rob, waking him up. Because there is so much he can do 500 km away... He reminded me they are slow, non-aggressive creatures...just keep the critters away from it, and to not try to touch it. He suggested the lights and sounds of the Mule would scare it off, and sure enough it lumbered between the hay shed and grainery when I drove up (after locking Ginger and Charlie in the barn). However as I was putting the first bale of hay in the Mule, the darn thing came back out and was waiting for me near the entrance of the hay shed! Logical or not, I was imagining being attacked by a rabid, quill throwing pin cushion and wondered if the horses really needed hay after all....fortunately he lumbered back into his hiding space and I was able to get the horses fed.

Surprisingly when I let Ginger out of the barn she didn't even go to check out the intruder...perhaps she DID learn her lesson after the 5th trip to the vets to get quills removed all those years ago...

Of course now I am worried it will wander into Dexter and crew's pen....because none of them are known for sticking their nose where it doesn't belong...something to look forward to in the morning!

I made sure the four cats and one dog are safely accounted for and in the house or barn.

So...if anyone has any porcupine relocation tips, please fire them my way!

Karen

Funny for a cloudy day

Ok, maybe you have to own a boarding stable to fully get this, (or read ads on Kijiji) but I thought it was hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4HRkAwN_oA&sns=fb

Karen

Jumping with Dale Irwin

I finally downloaded and uploaded some video from the clinic last weekend!

Video of Brie and I jumping. This was the first time I have jumped her since November due to my neck injury. She is such a great horse. She got a lot of comments on how lovely she is and was mistaken for a warmblood by a few people. Students, please note how I hold my outside rein to keep her straight into the corners and to not allow her to drop in for her lead changes. The ring was only 60 feet wide, so the turns came up fast, but it is a good habit to always ride your horse straight after the jumps so they can be balanced for the lead change and you give yourself as much room as possible to set up to the next jump.

I can't wait to get the dressage video to show you some of the exercises we worked on.

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons we are going to work on some of the exercises that we worked on during the Dale Irwin clinic.

#1 is releasing the inside rein. Dale had us release the inside rein as often as possible; mostly in corners or during lateral work. This release helps make the rider be more effective with their inside leg; you can't release the inside rein and stay on your track if you are steering with reins rather than legs!

#2 Stroking the horse with the inside hand; as well as releasing with the inside rein to make sure the leg aids are effective, we also quite often stroked the horse with the inside hand. To do this you keep the rein in your hand, and just reach forward and stroke the horse with your fist. As well as being nice for the horse, this can really loosen up riders that get locked against their horse.

**for both the above, it is important to remember that the inside hand is the one on the side that the horse is bent into, it does not refer to the side the arena wall is on.

#3 Doing exercises in quick succession to test that the horse is listening and that the rider isn't abandoning their passive aids. During the clinic Dale had us do exercises such as doing walk/trot transitions in shoulder in, or doing half pass for a couple strides, then leg yield, then half pass. This was tricky for me, and really showed me that when in half pass, I was neglecting my outside leg. We won't be doing that exact exercises, but the staircase exercises where we do leg yield, then straight, then leg yield will be an easier alternative.

For jumping, we are finally going to be doing Nicole's course! We are going to try to do the turns with a soft inside rein to carry the flat work exercises over to the jumping!

Karen

Easter Update

I hope everyone is having a good Easter long weekend. What great weather for a long weekend!

Brittany, Tucker, Brie and I spend Friday-Sunday at the Dale Irwin Clinic. It was great! I will up date in more detail soon, and as you may expect, I will be integrating some of what I learned into lessons this week.

Rob drove the horses to the clinic on Friday, and also dropped Carma off at her new home. I am sure he was trilled to spend so much time on the road considering how long he has to commute too and from work! The clinic was out past Stony Plain, so quite a drive for us, but very close for Brie's owners, so they were able to watch her go and brought her lots of carrots and apples.

I think Carma found a great home and I am confident she found someone who appreciates her and will bring out the best in her. I do miss her cute little nicker at feeding time though, and she truly was a dream to jump. So that is three horses sold recently, and five more to sell; Brie, Pony, Piper, S'Argent and Cara. I am also looking for some horses..but as much as there aren't many buyers, there aren't many sellers of good horses either!

Karen

Charlie has a friend!

New barn kitty Charlie is really fitting in well to barn life; he has already taken care of the resident mice, and entertains me with his little kitty foot prints all over the arena. Maybe I will let Charlie design the jumping course one week... His main icky habit is that he rubs on the Mule when I park it in the barn at night...after driving through mud and water...it makes him pleasant to touch. He did make the potential mistake of rubbing on Flair's legs while I was working her tonight...fortunately horses seem oddly tolerant of cats, and there was no tragedy!

When I came out of the arena to untack Flair, there was Rolo cat sitting in the barn looking for Charlie! It was the first time I saw Rolo willingly come fully into the barn. Later I saw him and Charlie outside together seeming to get along, so hopefully they will be friends and Rolo will share his time between the barn and the house...and not that Charlie will also want to be a house cat (our furniture is not water proof, and that can DROOLS!).

Ginger seems to like Charlie, and was chaperoning the meeting between the two cats. Poor ginger has been limping a bit, but I notice the limp seems to get worse when someone new comes, and then better when she is jumping on and off the furniture...Ginger is not stupid. I am sure she will be three legged lame when Rob gets home tomorrow.

Karen

This week in lessons...

This week in lessons we are going to be doing some sitting trot work. Being able to sit the trot helps when schooling lateral work and transitions. A misconception about correctly sitting the trot, is that the rider must hold themselves still. What in fact needs to happen is for the rider to maintain themselves in motion that absorbs the horse's motion and gives them the appearance of being still. In the trot, there are two motions that the rider must absorb; the side to side motion created by the shoulders, and the up and down motion created by the back. The side to side motion requires the hips to rise and fall in rhythm with the shoulders and requires looseness in the pelvis. The up and down motion is addressed by the rider contracting and relaxing their core muscles (the muscles right under the ribs) with EACH step. So for each footfall, the rider must relax and contract their core muscles (so this is double time compared to posting!). It can sometimes help to imagine you are trying to lift the horse's back up and forward with your seat bones. A common issue riders have, in particular females, is that we tend to have a bit of a sway backed which tips the your pubic crest into the saddle and makes sitting painful and absorbing the motion difficult. It is important that you are supporting your back with your core rather than letting your lower back take the strain! For jumping...well...Nicole has claimed she has a course designed for lessons that involves a lot of twists and turns...we will see! Karen

First show of the year

Clare and I started the show season off by heading to Amberlea for the third dressage schooling show in their series. We both were in Senior Training Level tests 1 and 3, which made it a nice short day; we pulled out of the yard at 11am, and back in at 4:30!

The roads were in good shape, so the drive was nice, but it was a far cry from the 24 above it was at this show last year!

This was Pony's dressage debut in the new Training Level 1 test. We scored a 69% for that test, and placed 2nd. Our second test rode about an hour later and was Training Level test 3. We scored a 66% for that test, and were again 2nd. I think we had more better moments in the second test, but she was a little uptight as there were horses making a fuss in the barn and she was being a little spookier.

It was kind of funny, as for both tests I was immediately after a short rider on a very tall horse!

Magnus was a little overwhelmed I think by the number of horses in the little warm up section, but I thought he handled it very well, and had some moments of brilliance...punctuated by moments of baby tantrums. All in all though, I think the two did very well, and hopefully this show will give Magnus some more confidence about being in the show ring all by himself.

Pony and Magnus made quite the mismatched pair!

I don't know why dressage riders get so hung up on having a big horse...Pony does not require a mounting block to get on or a step stool to braid, and for that matter, hardly needed any braids! Plus...she is super cute!

Karen

This week in lessons

So this weeks lesson plan was supposed to be designed by Nicole, who was all excited to get to dictate the jumping course and plan for this week...but then she forgot. So I tried to come up with a pattern for the advanced classes that would be more challenging for her than for others, but she and her horse did very well indeed, so my plan failed... Advanced lessons are going to work over a course which required focus and straightness to get to the correct jump. We are also doing a little bit of leg yielding. Introductory jumping lessons are going to work a bit on two-point and crest releases; reinforcing that hands must be beside the neck and not in hover land. Hopefully people can actually make lessons tomorrow though...I hear the snow is on its way back! Karen

Charlie

New barn kitty Charlie is settling in well. I have been leaving him loose at night, and he really seems to enjoy the arena judging by all the little kitty footprints! A little irony that he was named after the silent film star Charlie Chaplin...this Charlie is anything but silent! Poor Kokanee didn't know what to think when the kitty started to cry on Saturday. I also find it funny that despite having a fancy cat tower, he would much rather spend his time in a Kitty cave carved out of a horse blanket...sign he likes being a barn cat? Karen

New Hire!

If your wondering what the pathetic whining sound is coming from Coregel's stall, it is our new hire, Charlie. Charlie quit his position of being farm cat for Nicole and Laureen as he wanted a more indoor job with more human interaction. At Hillside, Charlie is in charge of improving moral, general security, and rodent patrol. Ginger has appointed herself his supervisor.

He will be living in Coregel's stall for about 2 weeks so that he accepts that this is where he gets fed, and so that he feels safe around the new smells and sounds. He is a very friendly cat, who loves to chat, so feel free to go in and pet him, just be very careful he does not get out of the barn!

I let him out today while I cleaned stalls so that he could check things out; he likes the pile of winter blankets in the blanket stall, but did venture to check out the barn a little. He managed to get a strip of dirt right down his back; perhaps he was trying to look like a skunk so I would set him free?

Ginger seems disappointed that he does not find her fearsome.

Karen

First ride on Coregel!

How quickly they grow up...

She may be little, but I think I fit her just fine!

What a good girl...

If your horse has a swollen head...

If you come out this week to find out your horse has a swollen head, blame Lily. Her head has been doing much better, but we are still unsure of the reason for her puffiness. A new hypothesis is a word I can't remember...but something to do with blocked salivary glands. The fix? Carrots. Yes, Lily's "medicine" is carrots. lots of crunchy carrots. (Rhiannon speculates that Lily got a hold of a cell phone and called in some bribes to get that prescription...) This is like Joan's doctor prescribing Cheese Cake. What does a person have to do to get a prescription like that?!? Karen

Lessons this week

In lessons this week we are going to be doing some work on going straight down the centerline. Common issues with going down the centerline include preparing too late and then turning too late coming into the center line, and pushing the horse out in the opposite direction before turning at the end of the center line. We will also be doing jumps and transitions on the centerline. Looking and being centered will be key! I also want to do a skinny jump if I can find my skinny rail! The key to this week is going to be keeping your horse between the aids! And...apparently all sentences will be ending in exclamation marks! Karen

Shedding season is official!

The warm weather is here, and the sun is (finally) shining...the last of the horses seem to be accepting spring is here and are shedding copious amounts of hair; I think the muck tub is half full of S'Argent and Cara alone... My advice is not to wear fleece anytime soon! Rubber boot season is soon to follow....not looking forward to it this year as I can't recall ever having this much snow! Hoping the warm up is slow and steady. Karen

:(

YJ and Tommy left to their new home today. I was prepared to see Tommy go, as they wanted to take him home last week right after trying him (I needed to let his rider's say goodbye), but you never know until the cheque is in hand. YJ on the other hand they didn't decide on until this afternoon. I am surprisingly sad at the thought he is gone. He was a lot of fun, and was my Hastings Lake Western Pleasure super star....now who will I ride in by bright aqua heavily fringed western chaps? They have both gone to a home that will better suite their abilities, and it is for the best, but still I will miss them. I hope they do well with their new owners. Karen

What a day...

On Thursday we had the vet out to do Strangles vaccines. Most of the horse's were good about it, with the exception of Rocket who knew what was coming and wanted no part of it! Just as we were finishing up, Natalie mentioned her feet were cold...and then I realized mine were too....I never have cold feet in the barn with that nice heated floor, so I checked the boiler, and sure enough, it wasn't working. AHHHHH! Rob tried to talk me through getting it back on line, but nothing worked, so we called Double G Mechanical out to work on it...but they couldn't get it going right away either.

So Rob has me all worried the barn is going to freeze up and pipes and toilets would be bursting, so I carefully put blankets in front of the doors to block all potential drafts...but still lost sleep. The concern was unwarranted; when I got in the barn this morning it was still 12 degrees...apparently the horses do a good job of keeping the barn warm and Rob did a great job in building it! That is one of the very nice things about in floor heating. It heats the cement mass in the floor and walls and takes a long time to cool off.

As well as the boiler not working, poor Lily's head was swelling up like a cartoon horse. Still happy enough, but looked like a horse a 5 year old would draw, so called the vet and her owner, and got her looked at at the same time as Double G was out trying again to get the boiler working and as I taught an "intro" lesson to a new potential student. Chaos! Thankfully Natalie was out in the afternoon to help me! Poor Lily looks to be allergic to something, so please don't feed her any treats or hay until we are sure of the cause. We think/hope it is a weed or something in the latest load of hay that Miss California Girl just hasn't been exposed to yet.

After the vet, repair men, and students all went home the barn seemed oddly quiet and I felt exhausted. Fortunately Pony was a very well behaved little dressage horse as she was my last ride of the day and I don't think I had the energy to deal with any silliness. For a 13.3 hand pony, she doesn't feel small under me in the least! She is taking well to dressage too, and is starting to learn all the lateral work.

After a rush trip into town to get hay cubes for Lily, I came home to spend a quiet evening in the house being harassed by neglected cats. Today marked Rolo's first attempt at playing. I have tried playing with him before, but he just looks at me oddly. Sadly his choice for his first toy was Ginger's tail...seriously, that dog deserves a medal for her patience with that cat! Right now he is complaining we are not all tucked into bed yet.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Karen

Yippy!

I got into the Dale Irwin clinic! I am excited as it will be a good start to the 2011 show season. Hopefully Brittany got in too, as I am hoping to go with her. The clinic is towards the end of April and is my Birthday present to myself. I am hoping to take Brie if she is not sold by then. Speaking of which, her ad is in the April issue of Gaitpost.

I was dissappointed when the Karen Robinson clinic was cancelled as I really need help figuring out how to do a good freestyle, but I guess I have to keep muddling along on my own. I think I need more of Rob's help this year...he has more of an ear for music and beat than I do.

Karen

This week in lessons....

This week in lessons we are going to work on two main things: getting our horses rhythm/stride back after a transition or jump, and using our eyes to find a circle, line, or turn.

Last weeks lesson really showed me some weaknesses in being able to look ahead to the next obstacle/turn. We also have a few too many horses that like to rush through transitions and take too long to balance after transitions or jumps. Both these issues lead to it taking too long to get our horses rebalanced, prepared and straight for the next obstacle/movement.

More details to come...

Karen

Rolo the Cat & Ginger the protector

It has been a little over three weeks since Rolo the feral cat became Rolo the house guest. Today is the first day he considered venturing outside; I thought he might be back outside to stay, but a little while after I returned to the house, there he was meowing at the door to come in. I guess he sees the benefits of being warm, sheltered and fed. He has claimed a spot on the sofa as his. It is now permanently dented to fit his bum.

Rolo is completely infatuated with Ginger; she can hardly walk by him without Rolo weaving in and out of her legs and rubbing on her chin. She can't lay down without him trying to curl up next to her. She does not return his affection, but that doesn't stop him from trying. Our vet figures that he looks to Ginger as his protector.

Ginger would like him to return to being an outdoor cat.

As a treat for Ginger, and a break from the farm for me, we went to Elk Island on Saturday to enjoy the fresh air. Sadly I am not very good at reading maps, and set out upon the first thing I saw that looked like a trail. It was not a trail and soon went from a fairly packed goat trail, to little more than footprints in the snow...foot prints that were 18 inches deep. This was not an easy walk for either Ginger or me! It was pretty though, with all the hoar frost, just hard to appreciate when 100% focused on where my feet were stepping. This inattention led to us getting rather close to a herd of sleeping buffalo...just as well, as this prompted me to turn around and head back. Good thing as who knows where my "trail" was taking me and without so much as the sun to guide me I could have been lost for hours!

How do you respond to this?

Email sent to me regarding a horse advertised for sale:

"can you grab his feet with out gettin a boot to the head....call G ***-****"

For some reason this conjures up the image of someone hiding around a corner than suddenly diving at the horse's feet and making a grab for his ankles... Or hiding in the bushes and lunging at his hoof as he walks by...

I really did not know how to respond. Has to be the oddest, one line horse inquiry I have ever gotten.

Now if they had asked "Can you pick up/out his feet without getting kicked" that would make more sense.

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons we are going to do some work again on basic position; and will be doing some bounce work with shortened stirrups to really work on feeling the flexion in the joints. We will also do a bit of a course (with normal stirrup lengths) to continue working on looking for the next jump as a progression from last week's figure-8.

Karen

Oops...

I flipped Straightness and Impulsion around on my list...although for jumping, I definitely feel Straightness should come first!

It is actually pretty nice outside right now, but still planning to drop to -26 tonight! Hopefully the rest of the week cooperates though.

Karen

This week in lessons

So this week in lessons we are going to discuss the Training Scale and how it applies to warm up and training.

The training scale is pretty universal to dressage training, and is basically a formula describing the order of priorities a rider should have when warming up and training the dressage horse, but the basics also apply to jumping.

Once we understand the training scale, it is easier to look at were a horse is "failing" so you can know what step you need to go back and focus on.

If I knew how to draw on this form, I would, but instead I will try to explain. You can view a diagram of the Training Scale at the barn, or using google.

Step 1 is the base of the Pyramid, and is Rhythm. Rhythm refers to the horse holding a steady beat in each gait. A rhythmic one-two-three-four at the walk, one-two-one-two at the trot, and one-two-three at the canter. It isn't to do with speed, just the steady beat. Horse tend to speed up their rhythm when they are loosing their balance or evading coming from behind (using their backs/hind quarters), and they tend to slow down their rhythm when they are allowed to get behind the leg, heavy in the hands, or loose hind end power during turns. By keeping the same rhythm, we help the horse keep its balance.

When jumping, we need to keep the horse's rhythm to make approaching the jump with a good distance easy.

Step 2 in Relaxation. This is looking for an attentive and willing horse. Note...it is NOT submission or obedience, but relaxation! The difference being this is something you cannot force, you can only ask for. If you get on your horse and it isn't relaxed, you will find your training progression stops here, and your focus needs to go back to rhythm, with exercises to work on rhythm, and to get your horse's excess energy, or lack of focus in check. Relaxation is not being half asleep either....your horse needs to be relaxed, yet attentive.

For dressage and jumping, a relaxed horse is ready and willing to respond to the rider, and lacks tension in its body.

In jumping, a relaxed horse will wait for its rider to tell it what to do, and will not take over and rush the jump or run out.

Step 3 is Connection. A connected horse is one whose hind end and front end work together both laterally and longitudinally; when you ask them to lengthen, their neck lengthens as well as their step. When you ask them to bend, they take a feel of the outside rein and stretch into it off of the inside leg.

Connection is where things get a little more tricky. A horse has to trust its rider's hands, legs, and body to want to be connected. Most riders use too much hand creating a horse that fears the hand rather than stretching into it. Many riders lack the fitness to use enough leg, and so the horse is ridden off the front end, rather than in its entirety.

In dressage connection is what gives a rider control over the entire horse. In jumping, connection is what allows a jump rider to control their horse with subtle cues.

Step 4 is Straightness. This sounds simple, but as most horses and most riders have one strong side and one weak side, there is inherent crookedness to most horses and riders. What makes it even trickier, because we spend most of our time being crooked, we don't even realize it, so being crooked feels straight!

Obvious examples of crookedness in the horse are: horses that favour one lead over another, horses that bend one way better than the other, and horses that halt tipped one way consistently.

Obvious examples of crookedness in the rider are; riders that tend to habitually drop one hand lower than the other, riders that have one heel that sinks lower than the other, or riders that tip their hips out to one side more than the other.

In dressage we want the horse to be as straight as possible so that they develop even athleticism on both sides. This makes complicated maneuvers like Tempe Changes or Passage possible.

In jumping, the level of straightness required by the horse is less, but we still want to be able to get them perpendicular to the jump, land each lead, and travel from the center of one jump, to the center of the next. These things are all easier when the rider is even on the horse! (perhaps photos from the front would be interesting....)

The top two levels are impulsion and collection. These apply more to dressage than jumping, although a good jumper will need to have moments of impulsion (think of the power needed to clear a big combination) and collection (balancing for a tight turn or tight spot). In dressage, impulsion and collection require considerable fitness and they require the basics of the first 4 levels to be fairly solid. To an extent, when we work on transitions, we are working on the basics of both impulsion and collection.

Ok, so I am being lazy...I will describe them better:

Impulsion is the power and thrust in the horse's step. It is the amount of suspension between each stride, and PUSH power in the horse's hind end.

Collection is the coiled energy in the horse's hind end. It is the amount of flex and bend in the hocks and the SIT in the horse's hind end. Collection is the transfer of weight bearing from the front end to the back end.

In jumping lessons we are continuing to work on position fixes, but we are going to use the ideas of rhythm and relaxation to help get our horses to jump quietly, and to get rider's to also jump quietly...and to wait for the horse to jump. A large part of the issues I am seeing is that riders want to do too much and so jump ahead. A circle may be involved....

Karen

I feel like I am drowning in a sea of phlegm

Even the dog is sick of listening to me breath

No evening lessons tonight. It is cold and windy and I am sick.

I am planning to teach tomorrow though. Not sure if I will have much of a voice, so it may be a quiet lessons...

The wind and snow outside my window are not what I want to look at!

Rolo (stray cat) seems happy to be inside. He is starting to fit in to indoor cat life, and is currently sitting in front of a heating vent by the back door. Smart cat. He also likes watching TV...in particular Symphony music on TV. He is apparently a classy stray cat!

He still favours the company of Ginger over the other cats or us humans, and Ginger is not that receptive of his attention, although she does tolerate it. I think it odd that the cat things the big dog is the safest friend to have...

Karen

Tuesday

Tuesday is sunny

Deceptively so

The sun hides the malicious cold. Do not be fooled!

I realize it is too cold for many of you to safely ride your outdoor boarded horses, but please try to come out by Thursday with your board cheque if you haven't already done so. After Thursday there will be a $1,000 per day late fee charged.

I am not teaching tonight because 1) it is cold, and 2) I have the flu. Or something flu like that gives me a fever.

Not sure if tomorrow will warm up enough either, but we will see.

I AM teaching on Thursday even if we do walking lessons!

I am also going to be teaching on Friday; so far I have a jumping lesson scheduled for 2, and a flat/dressage lesson at 5:30. Other arrangements possible.

Karen