The week in Lessons

Not sure how much we will be in vs out. Hoping the weather holds and I can build a jumper course outside and we can have some fun after all this hunter stuff!

Dressage riders planning to show this weekend will run through their tests once more; either inside or out. We are also going to work on suppleness and stretching and will use raised poles on an arc to help with this. We need our horses to be more willing to arc through their body, carry more weight on their inside hand, and use their backs. Rider's HAVE to be ready to give with their hands so the horses stretch into contact rather than contract.

Jumping riders are going to work on THINKING about how to improve times in a jump off/timed round, and how to ride a course in the best interest for their horse. We will also work on getting the horse straight and balanced coming out of a tight turn.

Karen

River Valley

Lindsay and Java are participating in the River Valley show down at Whitemud if anyone wants to go watch! Might be a good show to attend with more rider's next year.

That said, it is definitely weather challenged this year!

Lindsay hauled in for schooling rounds yesterday. It was rather wet. They seem to be doing their best, and set up warm up jumps in sectioned off areas of the warm up ring, as the one sand ring was soup, and the elevated sand ring was being completely redone. Many jumpers were hacking along the side of the road!

Hunter schooling rounds were in the hunter ring, over a full course of hunter jumps, set at 2'9" - 3'0". Java was pretty good, although not sure about landing in soup.

Today Lindsay braided and bathed Java, headed over to show...and got there to find out they postponed hunters until noon. So Lindsay signed up for her class near the middle and corked so she was ready to go...only to hear them announce hunters cancelled for the day.

Now I get why they did it...rings were soupy/muddy, but couldn't they have set up an email alert or twitter thinger to inform people?

And, why did they set up a full 12 jump schooling course, at 2'9" - 3'0" heights? Wouldn't it have been better to set up a few jumps to showcase the various types of fill, set most of them lower so the horses wouldn't land so hard, and save the ring for the actual showing? And maybe have someone keeping a better eye on how many jumps people schooled?

Hoping they don't charge Lindsay the haul in fee for a wasted day.

Karen

Lessons this week...

For lessons this week I may be bitchy. We are getting our kitchen and bathrooms renovated and it is chaos in the house! The cats are traumatized, although likely not as traumatized as Kitton who got spayed today. I like having a cat that someone else pays for...

Aside from being bitchy, what we do will depend in part on if the weather allows for teaching outside or not! I wanted to try doing a jumper course, but that is more fun in the larger indoor arena...and the outdoor is currently rather wet! We may play a bit with landing leads and planning good turns if we are inside vs doing a full course.

Dressage riders who may want to show at Westwood will work on elements of their tests, and will also work on lengthen/shorten transitions to get the horses longitudinally supple.

Reminder that there are no lessons this Saturday.

Karen

Yes, it is wet out.

No, I didn't build a jumping course inside.

Yes, we may flat/warm up inside if you want.

No, I will not teach entire lessons inside.

Yes, it is a good idea to bring a bottle of water to the lesson.

No, it is not a good idea to put it on the top of a tall standard where I will fail to see it, and knock it into wet sand (or horse poop) when I move the standard.

Yes, you can feel free to bring me a cold beverage.

Karen

Yep, its hot out.

I want to throw something at the TV every time the weather person says 'beautiful weather forecast" or some such drivel. There is NOTHING nice about over 30 degree weather when you neither work, nor live in air conditioning. Add to that, the mosquitoes have finally made their appearance and the horses are looking rather lumpy.

During this stupid hot spell, I will be alternating who gets turned out on grass; the mares were out today, and the geldings will go out tomorrow. Just too hot to be doing that much walking! I am also ok if riders want to warm up or have dressage lessons inside, although jumping lessons will be outside. I am again going to attempt to have a nice hunter course built.

Speaking of hunter courses, we are planning to go for the hunters only at Heads-Up this weekend, so let me know if you want to attend. In theory entries are due today, but hoping Lara will let me drop entries off on Wednesday.

It is still going to be hot by the weekend, but hopefully the hunter classes will go early enough to beat the worst of it.

Speaking of hot, I should warn up...I may teach in shorts this week....my legs are blindingly white, so hopefully will not spook horses!

I have already gotten a ripping good farmer's tan, so now working on a professor's tan (sock tan line). Rob is such a lucky man!

karen

Yep, it's wet out.

So glad I built a nice little hunter course in the outdoor arena yesterday...for one person to be able to jump it. I knew it was supposed to rain yesterday and was happy it waited until lessons were done, but apparently I missed the crazy winds and the amount of rain! I guess I am building another course inside for tonight...

The horses are still too chilly to bother rolling, but I am sure tomorrow will be another story...

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in dressage lessons we will be assessing leg yields to see if horses (and riders) are ready to compete at first level test 2 or higher, and to get a better feel of just how much angle is needed to compete at that level. We may also run through some of the training and first level test 1 tests, and work on lengthening (longer, not quicker).

Riders who want to go to the Westwood Warmbloods show should decide soon. Keep in mind I am planning to take Coregel so may not be able to read for riders.

In jumping lessons we will be doing more of a hunter type course (single, side, diagonal, side, single on the diagonal or variations thereof!). Brace yourself for the new jumps...they are...different ;)

Hunter courses require a nice forward canter, with a soft seat, good release, nice corners, and straight lines. The horse should look quiet yet focused, and get to the jumps slightly long to give them the best chance to jump nicely (this is why hunter jumps often have very generous fill and groundlines). Riders should be giving with their arms, soft with their seats, and allow the horse to jump up and round, but be ready to get them deep into their corners and set up for the lead change; either flying or simple.

In other news:

Michelle (the bringer of the new jumps) is back, and with her she brings Spooky and Warrior. Both horses have been here before, so don't be suprised if you recognize either of them. Spooky is hard to forget being a Clydesdale and all!

On sad news, Stinky Paige took her last lesson on Wednesday. She is off to school in BC in the fall, and has a busy summer ahead, so is moving on. I am sad to see her go, and also sad she didn't warn me it was her last lesson...I missed an excuse for cupcakes! Many fond memories of Paige....riding Bugsy, playing soccer with Ginger, and really getting Rocket going to the jumps. Good times. I wish Paige good luck and hope she is able to ride again one day!

Karen

Izzy has real shoes on again!

A big day for Izzy; she finally gets to wear normal horse shoes again rather than the half shoes she had been wearing.

The half shoes had been on her to encourage her oversized frog to shrink, and to allow her heels to grow downward. Her former owners had been shoeing her with thick shoes and wedge pads cut to be flush to the shoe. This combination led not only to having under run heels, but also left her frog that had expanded enough to reach the ground, so when the shoes came off, it was just her frog and her tip toe touching the ground by a large margin!

Changes in hooves take a while, as they get conditioned to grow and wear a certain way, so have to be retrained to regain a healthy and functional growth.

The nice thing about the 1/2 shoes was that there was no worry about her stepping on them and pulling them off.

Here is the changes to her hooves since she was first put in the 1/2 shoe in April; you can see more heel, an more upright heel, and a slightly higher angle to her toe. (on the left is the recent shoe job, on the right is the first cycle with a half shoe.

News from the barn:

Tiny black kitten is officially on the missing kitten list. Neither her owners nor anyone at the barn has seen her since Thursday. I am guessing the fox made her aquantance, but I hope that she just ended up in someone's yard and found better cat food.

Horse show on Saturday went ok I guess. Roxy and Miranda placed second in a decently sized class, and Roxy was extremely good for her first show! The footing was very deep, which proved to be a struggle for our horses (and even for me when I went to help set jumps!). The courses were better than last year, with only one crazy hair pin turn. Frustratingly, it was once again just Hillside in the higher divisions...no fun going to a show only to compete against yourself.

This makes me wonder if I should be considering holding another "Ride for Red" jumper show....thinking in August. Thoughts?

For lessons this week, we will be working on some position issues using instruments of torture....AKA bailing twine attatched to stirrups and/or tensor bandages to remind to keep elbows in. The tensor banadage reminder is one I have been using on myself, as I have a habit of sticking my left elbow out when my left side starts to get stiff (often from left leg getting tired). The tensor isn't enough to actually hold the arm in, but it works to make the rider THINK about what their body part is doing so they can self correct. It works best on sunburnt arms.

For jumping...I am hoping to build a kick ass course outside using many jumps so that Rob can mow the grass where I store the jumps, but we will see what the weather says. May build a good course outside, and if inside doing something more simple.

Also want to start working out the Summer Schedule with more day time lessons. Would like to teach in the day as much as possible for students that can make it, but only if it means I can cut out some evening times.

Karen

Milestones

I rode Coregel outside for the first time today.

I have been hesitant to do so considering what a nut she is when in her paddock; anything changes such as a new blanket on a horse, or a horse leaving and she looses it. She has also proven herself to be insane if I try to put her in the outdoor to do the edging while I put jumps up, and she just runs and whinnies. She is the only horse I know that will not settle down even long enough to take a bite of lush green grass.

Today was just too nice to ride inside, so I decided to give it a try. first I did some basic ground work such as having her halt politely beside me without me having to pull, and then some flexions with her jaw to make sure she would give to the bit, and then I got on. We walked for a long time. Spooked a bit when the wind picked up, but nothing major. So we trotted. She was fine. A little looky, but nothing frightful.

I will admit though, that we avoided the issue of the pylon hanging from the chain at the far end. That was spooky and I opted to avoid the issue.

It feels good to have that out of the way; I had been worried for a while about how she would be in the larger space, with loose horses in her line of sight, and her friends sometimes visible...but the odd thing about this horse is that she is consistently better with me on her than off. If i had waited for her to be sane on the ground, I would still not be riding her...so perhaps her injury was a blessing in disguise; it forced me to train her under saddle without longing.

Karen

First level test 2

Izzy & I practicing first level test 2.

I would like to show her at this test at our next show. I think adding more elements of difficulty will help me keep her focus. Or, like in this video, the exciting, spooky thing could wait to happen for our free walk (in this case it was the geldings booting it to the front from out back).

I thought videoing it may help with rider's that wish to learn it, however my fence post fails completely when it comes to following the test so hard to see what goes on in the corners. It also fails at zooming in, so hard to see details. Also please note I rode the test backwards so that A was at the far end and C at the near end. This made sense to me for some reason.

If you watch the video, this is what you should see:
1) My halt starts on centerline, but then I allow Izzy to step out and to her right. She did this at the show as well, so is something I need to work on and is a result of her not carrying her weight evenly on both hinds (stops with her left, then steps out and over with her right) and not carrying even contact with my hands.
2) We proceed and then are supposed to be lengthening across the diagonal. We do not get much lengthen and this would not score well. A lengthened trot isn't just supposed to be more active, the horse is supposed to get LONGER and a tad lower in the neck, and push from behind. I do not get that in this movement.
3) Then a nice trot down the side to R, where I am supposed to be doing a 10 meter half circle. I made the half circle too small, so did not get to the centerline. I then travel to X, and then leg yield to the wall. Because I am not on centerline I have further to go. Fortunately Izzy can do it, but getting to centerline isn't rocket science and being precise is easy points gained, so I obviously need to practice this.
4) Canter transition at A. It is ok. Precise, but she flings her head up and I lean forward so not seemless. Then we do a 15 meter circle at P, followed by a lengthened canter. Our circle is ok, but our lengthened canter isn't longer as much as quicker. Still, would likely score ok. I have the corner to come back to working canter, then across the diagonal, and trot at X.
5) Next we walk at A, then freewalk loop. We just start to get some stretch when she hears the boys galloping up and I lose her focus. Still, we maintain the path, and she doesn't break from the walk, so good practice for us. Gather reins in the corner, trot at C.
6) Stretch circle is at R...again, not stretching down, and still paying too much attention to what the geldings were running from.
7) At P I am again supposed to be doing a half circle, but get too small with it so don't get to the center line, so again at X we have further to go than we should with the leg yield.
8) after the leg yield comes the canter with the 15 meter circle at R, then our lengthen. The trot is again at X, and then we go for another lengthen across the diagonal before coming up centerline and halting. I am happier with this lengthen as she shows some increased reach, and our halt at centerline is straighter.

I hope to be able to do another video in a few weeks and show some improvement!

This week in lessons

This week in lessons we will be continuing to work on quick response times and patterns.

I think lessons will likely be inside once again, but will teach outside as much as possible.

For the quick response times we will be doing transitions at markers (pylons). Not only will this require accurate transitions, but also riders will need to set their horse up properly to canter on the correct leads on a straight line.

For patterns/jumping, there will be a "make your own course" challenge. Riders will have to start and stop their course at the markers, and get over all the jumps in an order that they think will be the quickest for their horse. It will be important to take into consideration your horse's strengths and weaknesses when coming up for your ideal course. A smaller horse will do better with tight turns, and a big, fast horse, will do better if allowed to do larger turns and make up time with its big stride. Rocket will do best if you cheat.

It is also a good idea to make up a course that makes SENSE to you so you can remember it! 3 seconds added for a rail down.

For dressage riders who may want to compete at Westwood Warmbloods in July and August, or Amberlea in the fall, we will use nice weather days (aka days we can ride outside) to start riding the EC tests to pick out which ones will best suite each horse. Please note, I do expect riders who have show experience to memorize at least ONE of their tests for these shows to save me having to read....this will be particularly important if I take Coregel to any shows...or even worse...both Coregel and Izzy...two nutty mares will surely keep all my attention!

Karen

Results are in!

The results of the timed obstacle course are in!

In first place was Christine and Spencer: Time of 0:58:64, with no faults! It may have helped that it was Spencer's fourth lesson on the obstacle course...he seemed to really get into it by Saturday!

2nd; Kelsey & Zander: 1:04:83
3rd: Lindsay & Java; 1:04;55 with one fault for a time of 1:07:55
4rth: Emma & Gody (!?!): 1:10:89
5th: Kaitlin & Justice: 1:06:09 + 2 faults for a time of 1:12:09
6th: Janine & Zander: 1:14:58 + 2 faults for a time of 1:20:58

Good job everyone!

I am still in shock that Gody made the top 5....

I think the lesson did work in making people think about making their horse respond in a timely manner, and also about controlling the horse's entire body; it helps to maintain outside aids when turning to help keep the horse better balanced and ready for the next turn!

I think the horses liked it too; obstacles are something they can see and understand, and anything that makes riders be more effective is welcome to them.

Karen

Hope for Wolfgang?

Reading Dressage Canada rules, and grinding of teeth should NOT count against a horse's scores if the horse is otherwise relaxed.

Too bad the judge at the last show didn't know that.

The rules also say that coaches shouldn't have to read the tests for their students that have show experience and months to learn their tests before the show....or that the coach must be paid large sums of money (also payable in high quality chocolate or Second Cup Chai Lattes) to do so.

Interesting things in the rule book.

The obstacle course has been interesting; so far Java and Lindsay are in the lead...not really a shock there! Wyneke and Spencer did the best job remembering the course and leaving everything up though.

I have been asked "why are we doing this?' by a few students, so here is why:

1) It is entertaining for me.
2) It helps show training gaps...a big example would be the number of horses that take a few too many seconds before agreeing to do the turn on the forehand...riders are letting their horses take too long to answer them in general, which leads to things like picking up the wrong leads, not getting lead changes, messing up turns and transitions, taking too long to start a leg yield and so on.
3) Rider faults come to the forefront when pressure is on; Hands come out of place, eyes start to look down and the leaning which throws the horse off balance! Oy vey.
4) Having to do things in tight quarters makes riders really think of rebalancing their horse and containing the horse between hands and legs. This is needed for things like corners in dressage, and tidy turns in jumping, but it is easier to let precision slide when there aren't markers forcing you to make a certain track. The tight weave pylons, and L's both really show the benefit/need of keeping the horse between the reins and legs.

So I think doing more exercises like this will be in order!

Reminder; entries are due for Heads-Up horse show next Monday. let me know if you are interested in going!

Karen

This week in lessons

Pretty sure this week lessons will have to be inside. Maybe the weather will suprise us, but I doubt it and the ring is pretty wet right now!

So I am thinking of building an obstacle course that will challenge the rider to control the horse's body as well as their own. I may even time it and make it a week long challenge. It will be fun.

Jumping lessons will involve a bit of an obstacle course as well, and we will also be working on flying lead changes for the horses that need it.

We are really focusing on body control of the horse this week!

Maple Leaf Meadows

The Maple Leaf Meadows dressage show went great! I overdressed as I planned for cold and wet, but it was perfect show weather.

MLM is a nice facility, but even they had to make some adjustments for the wet weather, so our warm up ring ended up being a small patch of grass right beside the house...so nice of them to give up their lawn so we had somewhere safe to ride!

The horses behaved well, the rider's rode well and I look forward to going back in September. The only real glitch I suppose was the judge and scribe completely missing a score on one of my tests...and so the score keeper decided to just give a zero! I admit I stressed about it for a while until Laureen helped me deduce that the zero was written with the same pen as the scorekeeper and not that of the scribe or judge.

Many thanks to Janine who helped out and took pictures, to Laureen who hauled two of the horses, and to Rob who hauled and helped with Izzy. She appreciated having someone to scratch her!

Little Izzy definitely needs some show miles...dressage rings are scary! Shawn agreed, but settled down quickly. Gody and Wolfgang were both a little more spunky, but in their cases, that was a good thing!

Cadora Test learning help

For those showing this weekend, I have posted Izzy and I doing both Cadora tests. Sorry that we leave the frame from time to time, but my videographer (aka the fence post) had trouble following me or zooming in. I figure it is the judges video if the judge's neck is in a neck brace. Note that I do the stretch circle in test C twice as she stalls into the walk the first time and I wanted to redo.

http://youtu.be/ejZ6Mt2z-bo

Also pictures of leg yields taken by the fence post:

Not ideal, but enough to show the following:

1) Clear crossing of the legs (fronts in the first two, hinds in the last photo)

2) Slight flexion away from the direction of travel, but a relatively straight neck. Flexion refers to the jaw, bend (which you don't want in a leg yield, refers to the neck and spine)

3) Shoulders slightly leading compared to haunches.

Faults: Should be slightly more flexed right in the second photos (leg yield right). Head slightly tilted in bottom photo. (nose should be directly below her forehead)

Well of course...

We now have some lovely new sand in the outdoor. Still needs some leveling, but is definately rideable, so will be teaching outside today. Was looking forward to building a fancy jumper course for tomorrows lessons, but of course rain is forecast for the next couple days. We do of course need rain, but  too bad about the timing.

Also supposed to rain for the show this weekend, so glad we have stalls and booked early enough to be indoors! Still not sure if we should worry about braiding or jackets, but as far as I can tell it is just a "neat attire" kind of show...although I do expect everyone to have clean tack! I will confirm about the braiding and jackets with the show organizer...although braiding for this show is good practice if you are planning to show at a bigger show later this year!

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons will involve working on leg position/use. Some of you who turn your toes out, or bring your legs too far back will be in for a surprise....

To help work on leg use, you will be doing an exercise that Debbie did very well with Jezz; leg yield, shoulder in, canter. This exercises is great and creating a more effective leg by stacking different ways to use leg in quick succession.

Riders going to MLM will also practice the dressage tests one last time in lessons this week.

Jumping riders will continue to work on even pace/rhythm.

And...good news for the dressage riders: Westwood Warmbloods is holding two shows again! We went last year and had a very good time. I am hoping one of their shows can be Coregel's debut...should be exciting! Their show dates are July 29 and August 26,  which are both Sundays.

Karen

First time scribing

I volunteered as a scribe today at the Amberlea Dressage Show., It was my first time scribing, but I have a lot of experience reading the work of scribes, so it seemed like a reasonable task to attempt.

For those of you that don't know, a scribe is someone that marks down the scores and comments that the judge awards the rider and horse in a dressage class for each movement. Sometimes the movement scored involves a few things; a transition, a circle, and/or a gait change. Sometimes though, their are multiple scores for one movement, such as a circle with a canter transition may have a score for the circle, and a score for the transition.

The judge I was working for was an older lady from Michigan who was extremely patient with me, and a good teacher! I learned not only about scribing, but also about the common issues at each level.

The only negative about her is that she has very shaky hands so couldn't write the general comments...I had  counted on that time to make sure I knew the next test and to give my writing wrist a break, but having to write the entire time, combined with VERY tight ride times, left very little time to recover. I think my index finger is permanently dented!

The lower levels were all pretty good to judge, and I was able to watch a little as well; I scribed for training, 2nd, 3rd, and 4rth. Then we got to Prix St. George and FEI Juniors. That was less fun. Many of the movements have two different scores and come up extremely quickly. It was very confusing and felt like a rapid fire final exam!  Not much time to watch there.

The most common comments:
- Behind the vertical (this refers to the horse's head. Behind the vertical often went with lack of engagement. )
- Curling behind (this refers to the horse's entire neck over arching with nose down and towards chest)
- Needs more engagement, particularly in the downward transitions.(horse needs to march and flex with hocks as it steps up and under to slow down...rather than get stilted and stiff)
- Hollow (this refers to the horse's back, and usually comes with a high head and flippy front legs)
- Resistant (horse arguing with rider)
- Do not go into corner on circle. (the first quarter of a circle at A should not look the same as a regular corner at A)
- more downward stretch needed (on free walk/stretch trot).
- No change (when lengthening, extending, or doing mediums, the horse needs to clearly get longer...not quicker, and then come back, at the designated spots. If your horse's forward gaits are not great, then you can cheat a little by making sure you are extra balanced back going into and out of the lengthening/medium/extension).

For rider comments, heels up and toes too far out were the most common comments.

The judge also commented on the general poor quality of the horses, and that people tended to have their saddles much too forward.

It was also interesting that the worse the test was, the nicer the general comment was "Team has lots of potential".

I also learned that the judge or scribe needs to make note of the rider's number...yet most rider's use the little bridle numbers, put them on the left side, and then enter the ring to the left so the number isn't visible to the judge or scribe! The polite thing to do is to say your number as you ride by, but not one person did so. The next best thing is to use the big numbers the show provides, and rider so the officials can clearly see the number.

One horse was eliminated for being lame, one for having boots on, and one because it started to rear mid test.

All in all very interesting, educational, and something I would like to do again!

Clare rode Mags today, but her class wasn't until after 5pm, so I was home by then! They moved all the classes indoors to keep the horses off the soupy footing outside.

Karen

Amberlea Dressage

I dropped Magnus off at the Amberlea Dressage show. Not many entries again this year, but lots of training level horses. Likely a good thing there aren't many entries as Amberlea was hit hard with rain, and the outside rings are best described as soup. They are trying their best by holding the classes all inside this year, and are working hard to get the outside rings suitable for warming up.

Planning to go help out tomorrow and to watch. Despite the weather I really like the May show...getting to see people I haven't seen for a while, and just a nice, relaxed start to the show year.

The show runs Friday to Sunday if anyone else would like to watch. Also this weekend is the Edmonton Spring Classic being held in the River Valley at Whitemud. This is a hunter/jumper show that may be fun to watch as well.

Karen

Still raining

I think there was a brief 30 minute period this morning when it wasn't raining...fortunately it started again as I went out to turn out and feed! Poor horses are looking miserable in the rain, in particular the ones without rain sheets. Fortunately for a few of them it was farrier day, so Shawn and Zander were able to dry off enough to warm up and get their sheets on. Rocky doesn't like  blankets so I opted to warm him up by riding him around the indoor bareback. My bum was soaked, but it is impressive how grippy wet horse is! And at least part of Rocky was warm and dry when he went back out into the rain..

For lessons we are working on evenness of strides and feeling the rythm needed to do a nice course. I am accomplishing this using a longer line than normal of trot poles, and then a line of low canter one strides, followed by a nice 4 stride that should use the same canter established in the one strides. Also doing some work on changes using a pole in the corner and a pole at the end.

Advice for the day is rubber boots. And if it stops raining before your lesson time...extra time to brush your horse as they will ALL roll once the rain stops!

Hopefully it goes unsaid that lessons will be inside this week. Some rain I can handle, and in fact Rocket was brilliant in the rain with Paige last week, but it has not stopped raining here since aboout 9:15am. Not hard rain...just incredibly annoying rain.

I set a grid up in the arena for Nicole's lesson this morning, but not actually sure what I will be doing for lessons this week. The rain has stripped my motivation! It will be nice not to be yelling into the wind though...

This week in lessons

The week in lessons we are going to work on hand position; keeping wrists and knuckles pointed towards the horse, and pulling back so that the straight line from hand bit maintains the same angle. This does mean pulling up slightly, but by using the shoulder and forearm, not the biceps.

I think often because rider's are female, and perhaps not all that strong, trying to ride big lumbering beasts, we go with what muscles we have and try to use the leverage that curling the forearms offers to out muscle the horse.

The problem with this method though, is it creates tension which the horse will naturally fight back against. Instead you need to not give the horse anything to fight, by taking as hard as you need to, and then softening again right away...don't wait for the horse to respond, just give, and if the horse has not responded, try again. Using the biceps to curl the arm to pull on the horse also tends to lift the horse's head and neck up and back, and cause the back to hollow. This is a position of tension for the horse, so even if the horse WAS relaxed, it will start to think it is, or should be tense because of its posture.

The flip side is  riders that straighten their arms and pull back using a lowered hand and a stiff forearm. This had many flaws; not only is it a rigid way to pull, it also causes the rider to get hunched forward and crooked. From the horse's point of view you are pulling on their sensitive bars, and they tend to contract and curl away from this type of pull, which also causes them to drop onto their forehands off balance.

Other issues like kinked wrists, or my Nemesis, the flat left hand, also cause unevenness in pressure that can make the horse rigid, twisted or behind the bridle.

The "Educational" hand is one way to feel the following hand of a compassionate rider, but we don't really want to show like that, so it is important to learn to keep that following feel even with normal hands.

For jumps we will do doing things like asking the horse to maintain an arc over a jump (so jumping on a circle as an example) and working on a LOW following release.

For flat work, we will be working on lots of transitions and turns, as well as continuing to look at the CADORA tests.

And a warning...I am off to see if I can find some Popsicle sticks and empty cardboard tubes...see if you can figure that one out....

Karen

June 9th Dressage show

If you are hoping to go in the June 9th dressage show, please enter asap! I would like us all to show at about the same times. They added a separate ring for walk/trot, so that should help them be able to have more room for entries.

I would like us to try for the 12:42-2:24 times so that we don't have a crazy long day and I can still teach in the morning, and be back to feed in the afternoon!

Call, email or text if you aren't sure what to enter, but I think Training level 2, and training level 3 may be the best tests to go in for this first show. If you want to try one of the 1rst level tests though, I will support that as well!

Karen

Why did I wait until 4:30 on the hottest day of the year to build a jump course outside? And why was I wearing black full seat breeches? Really not thinking this out. At least there is a breeze and not too much sun, but I forgot how much heavier the wood standards and longer poles are vs the indoor equipment!

So that is why there are only 4 jumps set up...

I have also left the dressage ring set up for anyone who wants to practice in a full size ring with all the letters set up. Laureen rode through CADORA test B, and it rode well. We were going to ride test C, but I can't make sense of the "half circle between K and F returning to the track at H". A few ways to interpret that, so we will not be doing that test and will try test A and D instead...test A reads weird as there are difficult sounding canter circles, but no trot circles. Test D seems ok, but again, sometimes they read differently than they ride.

I would like to sort out which tests we like so we can enter the Maple leaf show asap to ensure a good time!

Karen

This week in lessons

This week I am hoping most lessons can be outside. Should be exciting!

The key will be keeping the horse's focused the first time jumping outside for the year!

For dressage we will be practicing Cadora tests 2 and 3 in the big ring. I now have letter pylons to make it easier to visualize the arena. You can look up the tests here: http://www.cadora.ca/display.asp?pageid=55

All riders will also be working on leg yield stairs, with circles. This is leg yielding off the wall for a couple meters, then doing a circle, then leg yielding a little further off the wall, then another circle, and so on until you run out of room. This is a good exercise to make sure your horse is listening, and not getting crooked through the leg yield.

For jumping we will be doing a course that will require the rider to be in control and not let the horses build too much steam. This means lots of turns and transitions.

I also have some shows planned for June, so check out the Prize lists on the bulletin board. One June 9th we will hopefully be able to enter some horses in the MapleLeaf Meadows dressage show, On the 10th there is a Jumper show at Sundown stables that starts at 2'0" with no oxers, and then on the 23rd is the Heads-up horse show with hunters and jumpers. Lesson horses are able to attend these shows, so let me know if you are interested in going.

 Karen

We are all hypocrites

This is my thought of the week.

Hypocritical riders.

We want our horses to be even on both sides, yet we allow ourselves to favour our dominant hands/legs. Just watch how many riders (myself included) allow their weaker hand to get flat?

We want our horses to try new exercises that make them use themselves better, yet whinge and complain when I make you carry your reins a tad differently.

We don't want the horse to itch mid ride, but don't hesitate to scratch the sides of our own noses should the need arise.

We want the horse to leg yield/jump the jump/collect and develop fitness, but yet don't go to the gym ourselves.

So we are supposed to be the smarter ones, so why is it our horses are held to the higher standard?

Karen

Sunny days ahead?

Fingers crossed the weather is going to be nicer next week, as I really want to teach outside! As they are forecasting weather in the 20's, it is a good idea to bring a water bottle in case we are outside.

This rainy/cloudy stuff of this week is annoying. Even more annoying is the lack of rain sheets at the tack shops.

Clinic times are posted in the barn. Let me know if you need to change your ride time for some reason. We will likely be riding inside as it is easier on Shelley's vocal cords than yelling in the outdoor, but people who want to warm up a bit will hopefully be able to warm up outside.

Karen

Lessons this week...

This is what Rocket thinks we should be doing in lessons this week. It is hilarious.

If the video doesn't show up for you, try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTfZ8J-0gAk&feature=context-vrec

What we will actually be doing in lessons this week will depend greatly on how quickly my allergic reaction rash responds to the medication I am on. I was told 24 hours, which coincides with my first lesson, so fingers crossed, because as it is now, it feels like I am covered in 100's of mosquito bites. And do you know where most of them are? My usually very while behind. Yes, I have an ass more spotted than an appaloosa. It is driving me CRAZY. Poor Rob, every time he shifted the sheets and they rubbed on one of my spots I wanted to kill him....the same could apply to lesson students who irritate me, so be forewarned!

I think part of lessons will be using the "Educational" hand to improve upon some flat work exercises such as leg yielding, so we will be doing some of that, as well as proper figure eights (circles connected by a change of bend). This means that the change of bend we had a few strides to work on last week, will now be done in one stride. On the upside, the turns will be larger, so easier. Lots of transitions too, working to prepare the horse so that the transition is smooth yet forward.

We may also run through some of the Cadora dressage tests this week as well.

For jumping, we will be jumping on a circle using the Educational hand, and then coming out of the circle making sure we set the horse up to get it straight to ride a nice line. There may be bending lines involved as well.

On another note, we had a new horse come yesterday. His name is Wolfgang. He is a bay thoroughbred that is here for Clare and Kaylee to lease. He is loud. He also has put bays far in the lead in the battle between bays and chestnuts...even if we count Tango and Rocket as chestnut, we now only have 8 chestnuts, to 9 bays.

Karen

I have spots

After teaching yesterday, I noticed the start of some spots on my wrist. They have now spread pretty much everywhere including the soles of my feet. The doctor says it is some sort of allergy and I need to think of what I was exposed to prior to the spots appearing.

So I have scoured my brain for the source of the allergens...trying to think of what was new this week, or what I may have been exposed to in higher doses than usual.

My conclusion: Whining.

My "Educational" hand lessons, combined with the "Square" lesson with simple changes, caused so much whining (although it also caused some much better riding) that my immune system reacted and caused me to break out in spots.

So to test this theory I am going to think up a lesson plan to cause even more whining...what shall it be? Stay tuned...as soon as the medication controls the itching I will be coming up with my new, diabolical lesson plan...it may be wise to be prepared.

Karen

A very true blog about horses...

Just when you think it is safe to get the winter blankets washed...snow returns to the forecast. Is it just me, or does it seem like the Mane Event weekend gets more than its share of nasty weather?

The rain will help the grass green up and grow though. Or at least I keep telling myself that.

This cold weather is also making for some nutty horses outside; the geldings seem to think it is great fun to run amok as soon as I start turning out, which makes getting Mag's halter off before he joins in lots of fun.

Yesterday was farrier day, and I came around the corner from turning Tango out to catch Spencer, what what do I see? Spencer and Rocket both grasping the same Jolly ball in their teeth. This in itself isn't that fascinating, but what made it more interesting was that Rocket's left front leg was right over Spencer's back. Of course they both just stared at me as if to say "What?". I really wish my glasses had a built in camera!

The mares are much more civilized. They just want access to the grass on the other side of the fence.

I have 2-3 spots still available in the Shelley Malbeuf dressage clinic for anyone interested; both private and semi private.

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons are are going to work on changes of direction keeping the horses shoulders and hips in line rather than just getting the horse's nose to follow the path.

I really need to illustrate this, but it I will try to explain in writing;

The horse's motor is ideally in their hind end so that they can push their way around. This means they have a round back for increased carrying power and are "engaged" front to back. Most horses though are more on their front end, with their shoulders and front legs doing most of the weight bearing. This is fine when out in the paddock, but not so good for weight carrying.

Having the horse's engine in the back means they are pushing themselves along like a speedboat and think of how you turn a speedboat; with the rudder right? And where is the rudder? In the back. So with a horse travelling on its haunches, you need to use your legs to balance and turn the horse. Your hands do some work to create the shape of the neck as unlike a speedboat a horse is bendy, and the hind end is not independent of the front....it all needs to work together, but you want to mostly exhert control over the engine end.

Now think of a horse whose engine is mostly in the shoulders...most rider's address this by trying to steer with their hands...but the hands don't directly control the shoulder, they control the horse's nose..and there is a fair bit of horse between the two. This is why a horse can careen around a left hand corner looking right! Reins can, to a certain extent block the shoulder (rein against, but not crossing the neck), or allow the shoulder to move over (openning rein...but not backwards pull when open).

So with the engine in the front horse, if you pull the head to the left, but don't control the shoulder, the engine is going to push the horse's body to the right and make the horse bulge out. Kind of like what happens when someone backs up a horse trailer...the truck pushes the trailer in the opposite direction the truck is being steered. Unlike the horse trailer example though, rider's can work to control the shoulders and haunches with their legs.

So for a basic turn, you want to approach the turn with your eyes looking around the turn and your inside hand asking the horse to flex and soften by sponging the reins. At the same time your inside leg bumps the horse to ask it to bend at the ribs and to step up and under further with the inside hind. Your outside rein needs to more or less stay put; if you give with it then the horse will likely over bend, and if you bring it up or down, the horse may twist its head. (the exception to this is if you are riding in a curb...if so you may have to give on the curb). The outside leg has to be behind the girth, but for the most part it can be quiet...it just has to be ready in case the horse wants to swing wide with its hips to avoid engaging behind.

Something else that happens that messes up a correct turn is that the rider allows the horse to speed up. A horse speeds up to evade using its hind end properly. Or to evade moose. But rarely does a horse speed up for a good reason. They can lengthen out to make a jump or pole on the correct stride, but that is not the same as speeding up. Always pay attention to your rhythm, and correct any speeding up immediately.

This week we are working on changes of direction with correct/square turns, so rider's need to complete the first turn, then get their horse straight with both legs down at the girth, and hands equal, then rebalance (half halt) while changing diagonals if posting, looking in the new direction with your eyes, and moving your aids to the new bend.

Being stiff through this exercise will result in stiff horses who aren't going to be able to bend, so we are also going to work on having a following hand on the flat and over jumps. Having a stiff or taking hand can limit how comfortable the horse is to use their neck on the flat and in the air. Having a straight wrist and maintaining a straight line from elbow, wrist to bit while taking on the reins is crucial. One exercise we will do to help cement the idea of having a folling hand is to hold the reins so they come out at the thumb rather than at the ring finger. This small change can make a big difference in how you take and hold the contact.

For jumps...not sure yet. If we are jumping outside at all it will be a grid/simple exercise. Inside though...not sure. It will be something to help work on lead changes still, and likely involve lots of changes of bend with oppotunities to balance back. It will be a course though, with a combination of sorts.

Karen

Apparently I need to pay attention to the news...

I am usually in bed or out teaching when the news comes on...not to mention how depressing evening news is...so I had NO clue we were also supposed to vote for up to 3 possible Senate representatives. So I opted to decline to vote for that, and just voted for my local MLA.

Where were the road signs saying "vote me for Senate"?

I wonder how much those little road signs actually affect the vote. Fenske certainly marked her territory around the Brookville polling station with a dozen or so signs...is the theory that people think more signs = more popular? I can only see that being logical if the signs are on various yards not all in a clutter. Or maybe the repetition of signs sinks into the subconscious so when you get there you recognize some names more than others.

Either way, if I was given the power to do so, I would ban the things. Not only are they ugly, non-informative, litter, and a definite distraction, I don't like that people may vote just based on the number of signs they see, or who is displaying them. I also think it must be horribly depressing to be the one to take the loosing ones down the next day.

I would also hand stamp people who vote...maybe this would increase the number of people who actually vote, vs the ones that just say they did. Peer pressure can be a positive!

Karen

What a lovely Sunday! Such nice, sunny, wind free weather. Rob spent much of the day with a work related project, which meant that I was able to ride both my lovely mares. Well...one was lovely...the other seems to be challenged by adolecence. I am sure many a parent has wished their child would hurry up and get past this stage as well...when you aren't sure to pity them for the struggles that the hormones bring, or shoot them. Although if Coregel breaks anything else before she figures out how to behave I am pretty sure I know which one Rob is leaning towards.

It was so hot out today that we removed all the rain sheets as the horses were all starting to sweat...well all except Brassy who seemed just fine in her rain sheet and liner. She reminds me of those frail old ladies who need sweaters in Florida to stay warm...aka: me.

Justice was the only one who was tricky to unblanket. Rocky and Dexter had made their way out back to enjoy the start of green grass, but Gody was apparently too chicken to go with them....so Justice was frantically running back and forth between grass and Gody. He was very stinky by the time we convinced him to let us catch him! The fascinating part was watching Gody though...apparently he has all sorts of energy when he gets upset; all sorts of hand galloping and lead changes.

The flip side of this means be prepared for the first dusty/muddy horses of the year as I am sure they will be enjoying plenty of good, long awaited rolls.

The horses would also like me to let you know that there is some green grass on the south side of the barn/arena. Coregel, Izzy, Lily and Brassy all got some time on grass today and they seemed pretty happy about it. Hopefully the pastures will green up and grow so we can get the horses on summer turn out soon.

And....Rob harrowed the outdoor ring so it is rideable! Lease rider's should wait until they have had a lesson outside before riding out there for the first time as sometimes the horses are a little peppier in the outdoor the first couple times. I will be starting to teach some lessons out there starting this week, although I think it is too early to be able to teach the 7:30 lessons outside, so we will still be jumping inside for the most part.

So this week will be in part about getting outside again, but also continuing on with riding nice clean turns, and being straight out of the turns. We are also going to be working on keeping the horse's body straight through changes of direction. As some found last week, learning to ride the horse straight helps with flying changes, counter canter and compressing/lengthening the strides in a better manner.

Karen

You know you are old when...

You know you are old when:
- You spend your birthday taking care of medical appointments...and consider it a day well spent.
- When clothes shopping, your primary concern is comfort, and the models displaying the clothes have grey hair.
- You chief concern when considering getting some home renovations done is that you won't be able to nap while the work is being performed.
- You no longer see the point being tactful when being honest takes less time and less energy.
- You wear long underwear well into June...

Do  you realize when I grew up:
-K-way jackets were cutting edge and cool?
- Nobody had a cell phone. I got my first cell phone when I was in my 20s. ay phones were everywhere and cost a dime. Yet now I panic if I realize I have left home without my cell phone...
- Computers were new, printers were dot matrix, disks were floppy, and there was so such thing as spell check or "Word". I did my university essays on a type writer...
- I can remember when bus fares for kids were a quarter.
- Mini vans were a new and exciting invention...station wagons were the go to family car. SUVs weren't a thing yet. Fake wood paneling on the sides of station wagons was actually a thing. Because everyone wants a fake wood car.
- I spend much of my childhood without a microwave or a dishwasher.
- Our TV did not have a remote. Our garage door didn't either.
- There was a war between Beta and VCR. Fortunately our family sided with the winning side; VCR.
- Kids shoes did not have velcro.

Yep, I turned 39 yesterday.

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons we are going to be brushing muddy horses...oh, and some riding I suppose.

We are going to continue working on more precise corners, but instead of just working on square ends, we are going to work on a complete square. The benefit of working on a square rather than a circle is that it makes the horse (and rider!) work hard for a short period, with a little break, then another tight 1/4 circle then a break and so on. Each 1/4 turn needs to be a 1/4 of a 6-10 meter circle to really get the horse flexing and using its inside hing, and stretching its outside rib cage. By doing so, you should feel your horse start to "sit" a bit more behind and elevate in front of the withers.

In jumping, we will be jumping a single fence on a square, and we will also be doing a bit of a grid. The grid is Nicole's idea. Whining does pay off apparently.

Also this week, I am recruiting a cast for a Hillside promotional video to try to attract some new tween/teen students to replace those of you that are going away to school, or just getting too old to be fun...kidding...sort of...but really, Rocket needs a new rider, and so does Rocky, so I need some kids! Hoping to film as soon as it is less muddy. Payment is...well...nothing, but you can put it on your resume! Ideas for the video are welcome.

Funny video....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnF2ROKtdMY&list=FLjhIsw3qV0FmPf115NGfuYA&index=1&feature=plpp_video

From the internet...

A new goal for Charlie: http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh269/equestriancdr/dogjumping.jpg

How you can tell you are a sinner:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/feet-of-hail-northwest-texas_2012-04-12?role=
Pretty sure 4 feet of snow is a pretty good sign you pissed someone off....

Karen

So this is why our horses sometimes argue...

We don't have blue bits!

Not sure how making it blue makes the bit with the two rings attached to the center link make it more welcome to the horse. Yee gads.

Karen

Shelley Clinic Sign up!

I am posting the sign up sheet for the Shelley Malbeuf Clinic on May 12-13. Rates and times are the same as last time. Let me know (or sign up) if interested!

Karen

picture

Picture of my first ride on Izzy:

My leg feels fine on her, but when I got on Coregel right afterwards, it became how different they are in the neck! Izzy's ears are right there whereas Corey is so much longer.

Izzy is obviously unfit, and her training is such that she doesn't have a lot of fine tuning leg wise, but she is very steady in her gaits, soft in the mouth, and smooth....which is exactly what I was looking for!

Now I just need to take it slow to get her back in shape...and convince her that the end "man" door is not going to attack....

Karen

This week in lessons...

This week in lessons we are working on riding deeper corners and using the corners to get the horse to step up and under with its inside hind. Corners are a good way to rebalance a horse and increase weight bearing behind.

I am using poles set at the "C" end of the arena to mimic a dressage court and to make sure rider's are supporting their horse with the outside leg through the turn, as the encourage the bend with the inside leg active at the girth, and the inside hand active and back towards the rider's inside hip.

Each corner should be thought of as a 1/4 circle; with greener horses and riders doing a 1/4 10 meter circle, and more advanced horses/riders doing as small as a 1/4 6 meter circle.

In jumping lessons, we are also going to be focusing on the turns and corners, and riding very controlled through the ends. This will help lead to getting flying changes consistently, as the horse will feel balanced between the inside rein and the outside leg.

Karen

What lovely white snow!

Just in time for all the people who were looking to get away for the weekend! Mother nature has such lovely timing.

But from my vantage point (on the loveseat with a cat on my lap) the snow is absolutely lovely!

The horses even seem to think it is great fun and are being very silly today.

I hope everyone is safe on the roads today....sounds like it will be very melty tomorrow!

Karen

April fools comes a day early to Hillside...

Happy April Fools Day everyone! The snow and wind is lovely isn't it?

For Rob and I had a fun March 31....it was SUPPOSED to start with a horse arriving in the early am, so I had trouble sleeping as I was worried the rig would come early, and as our drive is a little tight for big rigs, we had to meet them at the end of the drive, so my subconscious was keeping me at the ready ALL night.

But morning came, and no horse, so I texted the hauler, and now they weren't expecting to be here until 6pm, so that is fine.

Meanwhile we also had round bales due to arrive shortly after I finished teaching, but 1pm came and went and no round bales...so we get a call from the hay guy, and his truck is broken down, but he is still going to try to make it out, but will be late. So of course Rob and I start to worry that the horse and hay will come at the same time.

We needn't have worried. Hay truck didn't make it until after 7pm, and only after Rob drove out to meet them with some oil. We then unloaded it, and Rob helped drain the oil, and the now very ill hay truck is resting in the parking lot until they can come back out to fix it.

Meanwhile the horse...supposed to be here at 6. So at 7 I text the driver, and now due closer to 9:30, driver was going to call when he was an hour and a half away...so when 9 pm came and went I texted agan...and he was stll south of Hanna....which I thought was 3-4 hours away. I was wrong.

Finally get a text at 2:30 that she is close...or would be if the driver didn't take highway 14 unstead of highway 16....it wasnt until 3:30 am, in the dark, and in a light drizzle that she arrived.

Now let me back up a bit, when I was originally told the horse was coming in the morning, the dispatcher said we wanted to make sure that "THIS" horse was unloaded in the daylight, and before the hauler unloaded her, he asked me if I had ever ridden the horse (I had not) as she was, in his words, a "wing nut" and had been a little difficult to deal with unloading and in her stall, I was a little worried about having to lead her from the road, past the house, to the barn in the dark.

So he opens the trailer, moves a mini out of the way, and I finally get to meet the "wing nut" who is standing there all innocent with her giant ears. As far as I can tell she just doesn't get trailer ramps and felt she had to jump over the ramp rather than put one foot on it. But after a few cookies from Rob, she walked very politely all the way to the barn, with the only other issue was having to jump the puddle before the barn.

After checking vitals we put her in the arena to stretch, and she enjoyed mugging rob for cookies and prancing around. She wasn't as keen to be put into her stall, (understandable after 6 days of travel) but settled down enough that Rob and I could get a couple hours of sleep before it was time to get right back up and do chores!

So without further ado, I would like to introduce "Izzy"

Izzy is a coming 7 year old mare, that joins us from New York State. She is destined to be my new dressage prospect. She hasn't shown dressage, but has done hack classes and her training looks to be in line with basic dressage training.

Her real selling point is her big ears which have to be seen to be appreciated. Her nose is about 1/2 the circumference of Coregel's!

On the downside she has even less tail than Rocket due to tail chewing incident.

She is just little at 15.1 hands, but as my legs get shakier, the happier I am to be close to the ground ;) And she is pretty wide.

In case you couldn't guess based on the tiny nose, long mane and long bridle path, she is a half Arabian...and the other half is...Dutch Harness horse. And if you don't know what that is, you are not alone...I had to google it too!

Last night was my first time seeing her; I had only seen videos, but when we had her in the arena she had a pretty cool trot. She hasn't been ridden for a few months (6) as her former owner was away at school, but this actually works well for me as now I can restart her like I would a baby horse so that she and I are on the same page training wise.

Karen

The horses got their spring vaccines today, all except Strangles, which will be done on Tuesday. They were pretty good other than Percy who seemed sure he was getting the Strangles vaccine too and kept making a funny face.

I wanted to share this link for light weekend reading; the information on bits and bitting are the main ones I think are very useful, but there is a lot of good stuff there.

Also a reminder that board is due! Sunday is the 1rst and then right away it is Easter. If anyone wants to lesson during the day on Easter Monday just let me know....for those of you lucky enough to have it off anyway.

Karen

this week in lessons

Hopefully the weather doesn't get as bad as last Thursday and you guys are actually able to make it out to ride safely. Most of that dump of snow seems to be gone, so of course we need more...it wouldn't be spring without MUD!

This week in jumping lessons we are going to work on adjusting strides between jumps and lead changes (flying or simple depending on your horse and level of experience).

For flat work we are going to work on developing a better leg position with stretching exercises, and using our legs more effectively to shape the horse and set up for picking up the correct canter, or doing things like shoulder In/fore. Sometimes when the horses are being lazy riders exaggerate their outside leg back to the point they end up tipping forward which negates the entire thing. Instead you need to be confident in your aids, and correct the horse by either going back to an easier exercise (such as turn on the forehand) or using a crop to remind the horse to listen to the leg behind the girth.

It is important the leg hangs from the hips and that the thighs are resting evenly along the saddle; if your toes get turned out too much, the knee is turned out, and the thigh will no longer lay flat and will be pinchy.

If the knee gets pinchy, then you will be blocking the horse's shoulder and they may get "lazy" as you are giving them mixed signals. Pinching with the knee is also an ineffective way to stay on as your knee will start creeping higher and higher and higher!

You want the entire leg stretched long and down....thing of your feet as being the anchor that keeps you stable!

You also want your leg to be independent of your seat; you should be able to reach forward and back without your leg moving; your upper body movement needs to be intercepted and absorbed by your core!

Karen

Scoped the Unicorn today!

I took Unicorn horse in to be scoped to see if she had ulcers. She did not. It was a very cool procedure to watch thought!

She was sedated (but still standing) and then a tube passed through her nose, down her throat, and into her stomach. The tube ends with a camera, and can also squirt air (to inflate the stomach a little) or water (to wash the food parts from the stomach wall).

I was surprised at how smooth the stomach wall was. Most of it is just a smooth balloon of light pink, with the very bottom being a darker pink (where the acid sits all the time). I had to not feed the horse for 18 hours so that the stomach was empty enough to see the bottom section, and we could see there were no ulcers and no wormies or bots in there.

Having to not feed her for 18 hours was the toughest part of the entire thing; Rob was kind enough to play with her in the arena while I did night feed, and then I had to ignore her pitiful whinnies while I did morning feed. I must say it is very easy to load a horse that thinks she is starving; handful of pellets in a bucket and in she went!

Karen

this is pretty awesome

Makes me think of something Lindsay would dream up...well...if Java grew springs in her feet that is. This is one horse with oodles of suspension.

The tempe changes for almost an entire figure-8 were pretty fricking amazing.

Karen

RIP Jetta

We didn't have Jetta long, but she made a big impression and played a big role in my life. She woke me up in the morning by jumping on the bed and staring at Rob and I. She tried to help discourage the horses from pawing, and helped with the cat fitness program. She wanted to help encourage the horses in the arena too. She kept a close eye on me in the kitchen, and hogged the loveseat when watching TV. And at the end of the night she would time it so she could take my side of the bed before I could.

She also had the role of making me go for walks no matter how much my legs bugged me.

And she brought the puppy back out in Ginger. Well...perhaps more brought out the vicious dog in Ginger, but still, Ginger definitely found a more active side with Jetta around.

For Jetta's last day with us, I think she had a good time starting with a car ride which involved getting some bacon, and followed by much ball playing with Rob and I. Jetta wasn't so good at catching the ball..way too eager, but she didn't seem to mind as Ginger beat her to it 9 times out of 10. She just liked the thrill of running.

Rob took these great shots of the two dogs the weekend of the last Shelley clinic. I think they capture Jetta perfectly.

Thank you for the time we had Jetta.

Jetta is missing :(

Jetta wandered off into the darkness last night while I was feeding hay and has yet to return. Rob and I looked well into the night, but no luck seeing a black dog on a black night, in a black forest. I was up every couple hours hoping she found her way home, but she did not, and Rob searched the roads again this morning and could not find her.

I am hoping she spotted her first deer and had just gone too far to find her way back, but I kept dreaming her neck and ear was all chewed up, so I am worried about her thinking she should wrestle with a coyote.

She was wearing her bright organge collar which has a tag with my number on it, but perhaps people are afraid to approach a big dog?

If anyone hears of a leggy black dog seen loose in our area please let me know...I miss her and am really worried about what would keep her from her warm bed and breakfast.

Vaccinations

I have the vet (Kim) coming out March 30 to do vaccinations and anything else that is needed. I would like to have a list for the clinic by the 15th if possible so they know how much time to book and how many vaccines we need.

Required: Eastern and Western Encephalomyelitis, as well as Tetanus are required to be vaccinated for annually for all Hillside boarded horses.

Strongly recommended: Equine Influenza and Equine Herpes Virus (Rhino). This vaccine will help keep your horse from getting AS sick with the flu goes around, and will help protect your horse from getting the fatal neurological version of EHV that was a big issue last year (and still is present).

Recommended for Show horses: Strangles. This is one the vet HAS to give, and it goes up their nose. They do not like this. Strangles has been present at a few barns in the area and is persistent. It results in a VERY sick horse, and can be deadly, in particular if the horse has a compromised immune system. It is not recommended if the horse has had Strangles in the last 4 years, so if you are unsure of your horse's history, it is not recommended. If the horse has not been vaccinated for Strangles previously, they will need a booster a few weeks later. They can sometimes get a slightly snotty nose and cough from this vaccine.

Optional: West Nile Virus: If your horse has previously been vaccinated for WNV, then I recommend continuing with the vaccine. WNV does kill or leave mental deficits (although not sure how you would tell with some of our horses....), although it hasn't had a high incident rate in Alberta.

If you wish to purchase your own vaccines from either the vet or another source, that is acceptable, but you must let me know when you are vaccinating so I can watch for signs of an adverse reaction. I do recommend having the vet do it, as with some vaccines if the horse reacts after a vet has given the vaccination, they will cover follow up vet costs.

If you want anything else done at this time, please let me know as well.

If anyone is available to help out on March 30 with catching the horses, that would be great too!

Karen

May 12 and 13th

I have Shelley booked to come out for a spring dressage clinic on May 12th and 13th. Sign up poster in the barn, or email me for more information.

I am also working on our show schedule for this season. We are thinking of trying the Maple Leaf Meadows show series this year; they have dressage on Saturdays, and hunter/jumpers on Sundays, so something for everyone. I have also heard it is a very nice facility. The one downside is that the show is NOT ran with Equine Canada, so they can't use the Equine Canada dressage tests, and instead use CADORA tests, so something new to memorize.

I also need to make plans if we are going to run Ride for Red again this year. This year I will need to be more organized and have some help to organize, build/repaint jumps and approach sponsors before the show, as well as help out at the show, so keep that in mind if you are interested!

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons we are going to be working on being a little quicker to get things done, so that means transitions in rapid succession like we have done in the past (transitions at each letter), but we are also going to throw in lateral work, turns and other exercises to get you guys really riding and keeping the horses focused as they once again are dealing with icy and muddy paddocks.

The jump course we do this week is also going to involve transitions and quick thinking.

To help you be able to ride your horse more effectively so it doesn't take so long to reorganize and get the horse's attention, we are going to be working on maintaining a more consistent contact with the horse. This means shorter reins, and more effective and active legs.

It is important to remember that effective can mean different things on different horses. For a horse that likes to tune out its rider and get rushy you may have to be more active, whereas on a sensitive horse, it is more effective to be passive.

Passive doesn't mean zero contact though, passive means being in neutral. So not a loose rein, but rather a rein/arm/hand that follows. For leg, it means a leg that lies softly on the horse's sides.

Having light/passive contact is comforting for the horse, kind of like resting your hand on someone's leg if they are nervous (someone you know...resting your hand on a complete stranger's leg is likely to make them MORE nervous). For the horse it helps because they know where your legs and hands are, and aren't worrying about getting jabbed or yanked. Think about it, if your rest your hand on your thigh and maintain that connection, you can increase or decrease the pressure, but you can't really do anything abrupt or harsh. In order to do anything harsh like slap yourself, you have to take your hand/contact OFF. This is the same with riding; being able to follow the horse with your hands and maintaining a pleasant connection is softer than the loose rein and occasional jab, same with leg.

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons:

- We are going to be focusing on hands; keeping the thumb on top, straight line elbow/wrist/bit, and keeping the reins short and riding into contact. I am going to research some good self check exercises for these as I need help with it too, but it is so hard to catch yourself letting your hand get flat for example.

Shorter reins means we are also going to have to work on riding with more leg so that the horses compress from back to front, rather than just getting pulled onto the forehand.

- In jumping, we are going to be riding some in and outs (one strides) as part of a course rather than as a grid as we did the last couple weeks.

We are also going to have a small end jump set up. End jumps help encourage riders to really balance their horse back and get them deep into the corner so that they can prepare and set up for the end jump. This may also help some horses get their lead changes...something I want to start working on as well.

Karen

Coregel and the clinic

Rob very kindly came out and took pictures of Coregel and I on both days of the clinic. He also less kindly took some hat hair pictures of Laureen, but I am opting to not post those...

Apparently our good camera can take ok pictures in the indoor!

Coregel has come a long ways from the clinic in January were we didn't even dare try cantering!

Shelley has so much depth of experience having worked and trained in Europe that she has so much better of an idea of how and when to start pushing a young horse.

I had been working Coregel more or less like a little hunter, with the long and flat neck that comes natural to her, and just working on simple things like leg yield and big 20 meter circles. Shelley upped the demands on me and Coregel and we worked on:

- 15 meter circles at the sitting trot. (we did a fair bit of sitting trot...something i had not done much with her...she was very confused to feel my bum in the saddle at first, and I definitely need to work on my core, as she is nowhere as smooth as Lily or Jezz!

- Riding with a much shorter rein so that she has to come up and round a little more.

- Canter trot transitions, only letting her canter a few strides at a time...this was hard as I tend to let her canter forward to get her balance, so having to come back to trot so soon really made us work on being balanced right at the start of the canter.

- A little lengthened trot...although this got her a tad too excited!

- Some stretch trot....keeping contact with a low and wide hand.

- Trot walk trot, and trot halt trot transitions, trying to keep her round and balanced in the transition.

- Some shoulder in.

I also have to really work on:

- Not letting my left hand get flat

- Keeping my upper body back...I tend to revert to hunter mode!

- Strengthening my core so I can sit her inconsistent baby trot.

- Keeping my reins sort, but still keeping the contact soft.

Planning to have Shelley back at the beginning of May, so keep that in mind!

Karen

Bonding over matching blankets...

Cute pictures from yesterday; two obnoxious geldings playing tug of war with a ball over the fence. Jetta was not impressed she could not join in!

Its the end of the Month

It is February 29th which means that board is due! Yippy!

It is also Laureen's 11th Birthday...happy birthday Laureen!

I am deworming the horses this week too...so let me know if you DON'T want your horse dewormed. The cost will be $10 which you can either pay with this board bill or the next.

Clinic times are posted in the barn. For people NOT in the clinic but who want to ride, the arena will be available after 6 on Saturday, and likely by 3:30 or so on Sunday (I don't remember the exact times).

There is still room for a Semi-private or Private on Saturday, and for a private on Sunday if anyone is interested.

If anyone wants to brings snacks for the weekend they will be appreciated!

karen

Am I the only one who felt like singing Christmas Carols this weekend?


The snow looks so lovely and the horses are able to play in the paddocks without the ice and mud being an issue! Rob and I took the puppies for a walk out back, and it is nice to see the hay fields covered in a thick blanket of snow.



Of course I don't have to drive anywhere in this...but at least it happened on a weekend right?



The weather looks like it should be decent this week; perhaps more seasonal than we are used to, but not bad during the day.



The Shelley clinic is next weekend, and there are still a couple spots if you want to ride in it...or pay for me to ride your horse in it ;)



This week in lessons:




For jumping we are going to do a grid again. I think the grid last week was good at giving some of the greener horses some confidence and letting them jump the jumps on their own a bit. For more advanced riders on more seasoned horses...we will make it more exciting, don't worry! Oh, and if you want me to video you through the grid, just bring your video camera out and remind me, and I can do that too!



For dressage/flat, we are going to be doing more leg yields. I found an exercise I really like that helps to correct the tendency to let the horse's lead the leg yield with their shoulders, and it sets the rider up for the aids required much better than using the quarter-line; we are going to leg yield off the diagonal! It is easy to do, but perhaps hard to conceptualize, so I drew a diagram:

In this example, you would be coming to the right (counter clockwise) and turning as though you are going across the diagonal (grey line). Once on the diagonal line, ask for the new bend (right in this example), but keep your old posting diagonal, and keep your right leg back. Then look slightly more to the left, and push your horse laterally while maintaining the angle more or less true to the original line.


I like this method, as there is less preparation needed to set your aids up for the leg yeild, and I think it helps the rider think more about the entire horse moving sideways as the hind quarters seem to have further to go; if you let the shoulders lead too much you will end up perpendicular to the wall!

So we will see how that goes.

We will also do some work on lengthening the stride at trot, remembering the lengthening doesn't mean faster, it means LONGER, so the entire horse's spine needs to stretch out; the stride needs to have more reach, and so does the horse's neck. Many times rider's ask nicely to start, but then let the horse fall on its front end part way through the lengthening; you may need to re balance every few strides to encourage the horse to keep pushing from behind, and you also need to keep an active inside leg and rein to keep the horse from leaning and rushing on its forehand.

Karen

Snow!

Finally some more snow! The horses are happy as am I; they are running and playing without fear of slipping, and I am enjoying how much brighter and cleaner it looks outside.

Hopefully this means the horses will be less nutty this week too...

Good timing too with today being a holiday for most, so less traffic.

Not sure what we will do this week in lessons, but perhaps work on the elements of training level test 3, which really is just the "loop" out of the corner to X and then back again.

Karen

Perception vs reality

What people think dressage is

Funny because it is true.

not that I drink

That is what Rob does after seeing the bills to pay for what I do.

Which is care and feed obnoxious and gibbled equines while asking him to buy yet another....