Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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
Monday, March 28, 2011
:(
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
Friday, March 25, 2011
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
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
Thursday, March 24, 2011
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
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
Monday, March 21, 2011
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
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
Sunday, March 20, 2011
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!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
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
"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
Karen
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
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
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
Friday, March 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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
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, March 1, 2011
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
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
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