!

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