Unlocking Royal's Neck

Following up on my last post, I've been focusing on getting Royal to relax in his neck. I've gotten pretty much everywhere else fairly supple (although he tends to tense up through his back) but I've never really paid attention to his neck until now. I always figure that if I could relax his back/hind end, everything else would follow. But he's never really had a good topline, and his underneck used to be the stuff of legend. Even when he'd be mosseying around OnLine, he'd still have a very tense and bulging underneck.

So I've been doing some Moving Massage as well as T-Touch massage after all our sessions, and so far them seem to be helping. It doesn't take long for him to take stretching and chewing during MM and his muscles relax fairly quickly with the T-Touch.

I've also become more particular about him maintaining a good posture during riding, even freestyle. Yes, we're not doing contact now, Royal, but that doesn't mean you have to gambol around like an overly-caffeinated llama. We did have an... interesting session where we were doing some nice finesse, and then the neighbor cows took off. Well, not so much "took off" as "ambled off at a slightly faster than normal pace". And Royal's brain short-circuited. So we had a long discussion about stretching and relaxing wherein he twisted his neck in every possible way, curled up and down to avoid the bit, and even threatened to rear a couple times. I stayed (mostly) patient, and kept combing the reins, trying to get him to stretch. It took a a while, but finally he relaxed and yawning and snorted and snorted and snorted. I don't think I've ever felt him breathe that deeply.

A couple days later I got a set of white dressage boots on sale at Dover (4 boots for $40! Score) and it turns out Royal can really rock the Dressage Chic look.

Add the royal blue fly bonnet and we were both Dressage and Jumper Chic.

It was another contact session to see where he was at and it was pretty good. He still wanted to avoid everything at first, but then gave me some really nice trotwork and held the contact steadily. He also didn't seem too bothered by the boots either.

Steepleview is in less than two weeks! Need to start think about getting ready!

St George's Schooling Dressage Show

Optional Musical Accompaniment To This Post:

This show came with a preface. For years I've been struggling with trying to get Royal to relax. That horse can hold tension like nobody's business, and for longer than most horses. And lots of times when I try to get him to soften and relax, it almost becomes about him holding the tension out a principle. He's gotten way better over the years with some chiropractic help, but still has that tendency. So we were playing OnLine on Thursday and I was watching him go around like he always does and finally it hit me: maybe it's in his neck.

I mean, it makes sense. A horse has to take the contact with their nose, neck, and feet. Royal has no problem keeping a steady feel of the bit with his mouth, and being an extrovert, has no problem moving his feet. But he will contort his neck into all sorts of weird positions, and has a lot of problem really stretching when he's tense. So as I watched him go around with his underneck stiff as usual, I decided to help him change it. I used what Karen Rohlf calls the moving massage, just lightly touching my fingers to his neck and waiting for him to stretch. And he did, and it seemed to help. I'll write more about it later, but hopefully it's the start of something good.

I had to get up ridiculously early to get to the show on time, since I was supposed to ride at 8:07, which meant I had to leave my house at 5:00. Ugh. It was dark enough when I left that I worried about having enough light to hook up the trailer. Luckily there was just enough to hook everything up easily. But Royal decided the best place to be that morning was at the far northeast corner of the big field and I had to walk all the way to get him. And then we ran into road construction on the way there. And I got lost. Twice. Including driving down someone's private driveway... while they were standing right there. Awkward. But we finally made it to what is probably the most expensive stable I've ever set foot on, save for the Schweiss Stables. Seriously, it costs more to board then than all four places I've had Royal at, combined. So I felt a little out of my league. That, and I only had a half an hour to get all the mud off Royal and warm up before my ride time. I also got chastised for doing my pre-ride flight checks in the parking lot instead of in the area down the hill. So I barely had any time to warm up in the super fancy indoor arena (with fans and heaters and fabulous footing and one side covered in mirrors) before our Intro B ride.

It was pretty casual. I was the second person to ride that day and the first doing Intro B, so I knew that the tracks in the arena would tell the truth. The judge was pretty casual, and told me just to start when I was ready, and after a few circles around the "A" marker, we went in.

It seemed okay. Royal held the contact pretty steady, stretched in the free walk like a piece of elastic, and our circles were the right size and shape. I felt like it was a good test, but given our history with what I think is a good test, and how our scores don't reflect that, I wasn't holding out a lot of hope. Plus, my mother arrived... right after we finished. Sigh.

So we hung out for a bit, talked with the head trainer of the barn about the place. Apparently it's only been open a year, but they're going pretty well. We couldn't go in the boarders' barn but the rest of the facility was fancy enough to give us an idea. I wanted to see if the show was running on time, so we stopped by the office, where I saw my score.

65.313%. First place.

I couldn't believe it. All I could was "there must be some mistake" but no. There wasn't. We'd won. I was in shock. We even got an 8 on our free walk! I took a ribbon off the wall and went back to the trailer to show Royal. Look, it matches! But of course he was unimpressed and went back to his hay. All in all, he was pretty calm. He still thought every horse in sight was his new friend, but overall seemed pretty calm. I gave him lots of cookies, we watched some tests and then it was time to warm up for our second test, Training 1. The indoor was pretty much deserted, so I used that time to ride around like I owned the super fancy place. Royal was still doing pretty well with the contact, although I was having trouble getting him to stretch at the trot without combing the reins. Too much to look at, I suppose. So I figured that was going to be a weak point in our test.

The test went well enough. Our stretchy circle was a joke, and he was a bit quick in the downward transitions, but we still had good circle and an awesome free walk. So after waiting around a bit, we got our score: 61.042% and third place. Out of three. But we were only about half a percentage point behind the second place pair, so I was pretty happy.

And these are seriously fancy ribbons.

We made it home, and Royal immediately rolled in the dirt. But I still couldn't believe we won something, for the first time ever. And not in a "everyone's a winner!" way. In a real way. And immediately I started thinking of why it didn't count. It was a schooling show, there were only 5 or 6 other pairs in my class, it wasn't a horse trail or the judge was too lenient. Basically almost trying to convince myself that I didn't really win. I've heard this referred to as "Jerkbrain", usually referring to depression or anxiety disorders. The badly wired part of your brain basically sabotages your happiness by convincing you it didn't happen or you didn't deserve it. And for the most part with me, it succeeds, because I don't do things that are quantifiable. Maybe I cooked a chicken quesadilla that was actually edible and tasty, but I know people who can make watermelon taste amazing, so it's not really that good. Or maybe I crocheted that weird pattern hat, but other people make beautiful blankets in half that time, so it's not really that big a deal. Jerkbrain is kind of a jerk. So usually I can't counter Jerkbrain. But this time I can. So it was a schooling show, but we still rode some good tests, among our best ever. We had a better ride than everyone else in our first class. So what if it wasn't a horse trail? I still would be happy if we'd won a jumper class at Carriage House or any other show. And so what if the judge was lenient? She still gave me higher numbers than anyone else. So, I've had to manually shut out the Jerkbrain and actually be proud of Royal and myself. We deserve all the cookies and Chipotle burritos. Because we rock and nothing can take that away from us.

Long Time No Blog

Phew! It's been a long time since I've able to blog about our adventures. The weather keeps taking detours to Crazytown, going from snow to sun to extreme heat to rain and a bit of hail today. But we just suit up and head out anyway.

We've slowly been working our stuff now that everything's melted. The Big Field has fairly good footing, so we've been doing a lot of stuff there. The first time we rode out there, Royal just wanted to run. So I let him run until he started snorting and sighing and gave me a stretchy springy trot. I asked him to pick up the contact and boom! He took the contact and pushed with his hind end like I'd never felt before. I'd didn't want to push it too much, so I only ask him for it a few times, but apart from a few bobbles here and there, he held the contact nice and steady.

We've also gone for lots of nice long walks and ride on the road. One day there were some crews cutting down branches on the side of the road. There was a lot of fuss and commotion and loud noises, but Royal kept his cool.

We also encountered some horse-eating boxes

And found out the Sheep of Death have lambs!

I think they're cute, but Royal is of the opinion that they are Demon Spawn.

All of this is in preparation for Carriage House, which is in a week.

I know! It snuck up on me this year. I think with the crazy weather, it's been hard to think spring, but the Three Ring Circus is just around the corner. We're finally doing dressage this year, although just staying in the walk-trot test, Intro B and doing the 2' jumpers. We could probably do Training level tests and higher fences, but considering how sometimes Royal can get a little... over-enthusiastic at the first outing of the year, I decided to keep it simple. Hopefully we can have a nice easy experience which will set us up well for Roebke's Run in July. This year we'll do it! We finally have the experience and I have the finances, so it'll be our first event of the year. We'll definitely do Steepleview again, both the schooling days and the horse trial. Maybe we'll make it to Otter Creek. but we'll see.

First step is getting Royal looking all show ready, especially his mane.

Oh dear.

I've been v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y pulling his mane using the Lynn Palm method, and once it was a good thickness, I got out the thinning shears and shortened it to a reasonable length.

Before:

After

A bit longer than I would like, but show-worthy.

Sexy Tail is back, thanks to copious amounts of detangler.

This week, we keep training! Here comes Carriage House!

We Are So Not Going To Sochi

At least not in ice skating.

This past week was interesting. It's been snowing on and off all week, so I (foolishly) hoped that the snow would provide a nice cover for the glare ice and give us a nice space to ride. And I was sort of right. Tuesday we rode in the front, and Royal was full of beans. He held it together pretty well at the walk as we steadily tramped out a "trail/rail" about the size of a small dressage arena, but as soon as we started to trot, I could feel his life come up and I just let him canter. He was light on his feet and balanced as we scooted around, and still held on to his brain pretty well. We cantered for a while before he dropped back down to the trot, snorting and sighing. Same thing the other way, only he didn't canter as long. He seemed pretty happy for the opportunity to boogie.

Thursday was a different story. I decided to try riding down to the Demonic Barn again, and at first he did very well. There was a truck that seemed very lost as it went up and down the road veeeeeeeeeery ssssssllllllloooooooooowwwwwwwllllllllyyyyyyyyy. Royal is fine with vehicles as long as they behave like normal vehicles, either going normal speed or stopped. The truck creeping past us 3 or 4 times was not normal, and he started to get a bit worried. He snorted a bit at the Demonic Barn and the Sheep of Death, but otherwise behaved himself. However, it was very cold and windy and by the time we got home, Royal was both very cold and cranky and spooky. There was something going on in the neighbor's yard that he did NOT approve of, and he wasn't very interested in eating. I wondered he still had some ticklish feet.

Friday I resolved help him get all his excess energy out. I played with him OnLine, and he was a bit more cautious than usual. I tried playing with him out in the back, but there was still too much ice, so we moved up to the front. The Bloks I had set up in a Weave pattern were still frozen into place, so I ask Royal to do a figure-8 around two of them. It was going fine, until both of Royal hind legs slid out the right in a spectacular fashion and he landed on his butt. He popped right back up and didn't seem any worse for wear, but the session pretty much ended there, apart from asking him to trot around so I could see if he was limping. He wasn't, but I gave him a couple of grams of bute just to be sure.

Yesterday, I rode again and he seemed okay, if stiff. I let him walk for a long time until I could feel him loosen up and start swinging through his back. Trotting also helped quite a bit, but when I asked him to stretch, he was crooked to the left when we went either direction. I just played the Game of Contact and slowly took the contact on the left until he took it. It took some repetition, but by the end, he stretched down evenly on both reins. But this confirms my suspicion that he's due for a chiropractic adjustment. It'll probably have to wait until March or April after he gets his teeth done, but I figured his hips were troubling him this winter when he started resting his right hind a lot. I'll have to get some names from the vet, but we'll get Royal all fixed up.

Of Haynets and Valleys

Royal and I have had some interesting adventures over the past couple of weeks. The biggest change came when we got hay and put it out for the horses. Given the drought of this past summer, hay is in short supply so we're trying to reduce the amount of waste. There were a lot of slow-feeders at the Horse Expo this year, but the one we decided on was basically a small hole haynet big enough to put over a round bale. I picked up a couple in October and we were able to start using them a couple of weeks ago. This resulted in lots of confusion with the horses. Here was hay, but with a tough inedible exterior. At first they tried to bite through the net, but they eventually realized that it was easier to nibble through the holes. It doesn't seem to have slowed down their consumption much, but there's a lot less waste.

While the nets are designed to help horses eat like they are grazing, they are no longer moving like they're grazing, which has caused Royal's hind legs to stock up. Not severely or horribly, but enough to be annoying.

They usually go down after 5 or 10 minutes of moving him around, and they look completely normal. But the next time they're a bit stocked up, although they seem to be less and less stocked up each time I see him. Hopefully this means he's adjusting to his new activity level.

I've also been able to ride him in the big field a bit, but the struggle is crossing the little valley that separates the back pasture from the field. I thought that wouldn't be a problem as he's had to cross it multiple times where they were turned out there. But now it's muddier which greatly displeases him. So he prefers to gingerly inch his way down the hill, then leap across like there are alligators at the bottom. I tried to play with him a bit OnLine to help his realize crossing the valley is no big deal. He disagrees.

At this point, I'm not sure how to address this. On one hand, he's going to have to cross this valley a lot next year since the field is the best riding place, so I want to nip this in the bud. On the other, all the slipping and sliding can't be good for his joints and connective tissues, and I don't want to risk an injury over this. So we'll play it by ear for now.

We had a very successful session with Contact today. He started stretching pretty much immediately and was more than willing to take the contact at the trot, even offering the canter at one point. He's got a fairly fluffy winter coat, so I'm trying to keep out sessions short so he doesn't get too sweaty. It seems to be working.

Inconsistent

Well, this past week wasn't as consistent as I would like. Work and other stuff kept interfering with having nice long sessions with Royal. We had a Game of Contact session on Monday and it really reinforced the need for regular GoC sessions. He tried to take the contact but kept reverting to his old habit of alternating between being behind the bit and going inverted. A couple times he stuck his head straight up. I ended up finishing the session with lots of stretching to refresh that habit. Again, he was really trying, but we haven't had any contact sessions in a while, so he was a little rusty.

We also having been playing with the Weave pattern OnLine, and he seems to enjoy that. He tends to skip the last marker, so I've been focusing on really sending him around that. It works, and he enjoys stopping to stand over the Bloks.

Today, it looked like rain, so we just played with the weave again, but I tried jazzing it up a bit. Every once in a while, I would turn the pattern into a figure-8 to try to keep him on his toes. He REALLY got into that and started putting a lot of effort into it.

I hope I'll have a bit more time this week, but supposedly it's supposed to rain pretty much every single day. So high hopes, but we'll see what happens.

The LakeHorse (Bayfield 2012)

Another year, another wonderful week up in the Great North. I was delighted to see the owner of the barn where Royal stays had expanded the cross-country course (she caught the Eventing Bug around the same time I did), and he settled right in. The weather was supposed to be nice all week, so I was hoping to try some new things. It's not really a vacation for us, but I try to keep it fun.

Monday was a basic day. We played OnLine and rode Freestyle in the outdoor arena. Royal was a bit fresh, so we even did some hand-galloping so get all his energy out. We also did some pseudo-bridleless riding at the walk and the trot.

Tuesday, my family went on a boat ride that ended up going an hour and a half later than it was supposed to, so I didn't get out to the farm until the evening. We played a bit more on the Feather line, and he was really good. Very light and connected, after he had a little mini-gallop. I think we'll be able to start playing with flying lead changes OnLine soon. I've tried it before, and he would tend to get very strong and disconnected. But now, he seems to want to keep the connection, so I think we can play with it a bit more.

Wednesday and Thursday were both Game of Contact days. I'm starting to step it up a bit, playing with transitions and changes of direction. On Wednesday, it took him a while to settle in, but he started to keep a more steady and quiet contact. I noticed he has a tendency to lift his head in upward transitions, especially going from trot to canter. It got better on Thursday, but I think it stems from his history of diving into the canter. It took him a while to learn how to canter which his weight on his hind end, instead of scrambling on his front end. He still has a tendency to hold tension along his spine, although the GoC has really helped. It helped when I took a tiny bit more contact before asking for the canter and really asking with my core, but at this point, I think we just need more practice with it. He seems to be getting it really well, and is starting to let himself relax and stretch into the contact.

Friday was swimming day, but with a small wrinkle. Thursday was a very windy day, with winds in excess of 30 mph, which made the lake very rough. Like, no one was on the water after about 3pm rough. Friday was a bit calmer, but still with lots of white-caps. So, I trailered Royal down to the Really Really Really Really Really Big Puddle, thinking that if he would go in the lake, any x-c water obstacles would be easy. At first he did his dainty sniffing.

But then he got in and started splashing around.

He seemed confident, so I changed clothes and hopped on. He was a bit unsure, but soon went in, huge waves and all.

We went in and out a few times, and then went back to the barn. I was really proud of him; those white-caps were huge and scary looking, even to me. He was so brave and I was so happy.

Saturday was X-C DAY!!!!! The course was manly show jumps with lots of natural decorations like haybales and mini-tables. He started out very well, apart from a bit of confusion with the white barrels where he wasn't quite focused on them until he was almost on top of them and went "Huh?!" So, redirect and he went over. He went around the rest of the course without many problems. The haybale to table combo was set a bit long, so he had to reach for it, but he was game. He peeked at the bright pink and white cover on one row of bales, and the tube jump, but popped over both. The bank was somewhat overgrown, so he tip-toed up to the edge, but when he found it, he walked off like it was no big deal. It was a fairly sizable bank too, and he also hopped up like it was no big deal either. We quit when we were able to string a mini-course together: carpet-covered-barrels to colored tires to white barrels to tube jump to bright-pink-and-white-haybales, all with no hesitation anywhere.

We then trailered back over to the beach, the wind being much calmer. This time I wanted to see if he would actually swim. He pretty much got right in the way ("The Really Really Really Really Really Big Puddle isn't moving as much anymore! I get to make splashes!"), and I hopped on pretty quickly. It was somewhat hard to navigate beyond the big dock, since there are big rocks and old docks under the water. We ended up having to go kind of around all that and then out. The first time we tried to swim, there was a group of kayakers passing by and they were very confused. "Bob, is that a boat?" "No, it's a... horse?" Poor Royal was also very confused, but he continued on until he couldn't walk anymore. Once we got beyond that point, he sat down on his hind end (talk about engagement) and would push off and paddle for a little bit before pushing off again. We went back and waited a bit before trying again. There were no kayakers this time, and we got a bit further. He still sat back on his hind end and paddled a bit, and I just grabbed mane and hung on. It felt a bit like a carousel horse. We got the furthest out our third time, and he actually paddled for a while before pushing off again. He seemed to enjoy himself, although he still wasn't completely sure about the whole thing. But as always, he was a good spot.

The next day, it was time to go home. He traveled well, and we should have had some love-theme music when he and Gabby were reunited. I'll try to find some local horse-friendly beaches so we don't have to wait another year to go swimming again, but hopefully swimming increased his confidence. After all, he swam in Lake Superior. He can do anything.

First-Horse-Trial-Of-The-Year Eve

Well, this week was packed! Our first (unrecognized) event is tomorrow and we were able to do a lot to prepare, despite the weather trying to thwart us. (Shakes fist at sky) On Wednesday, it was raining (again), but my insanity held true and I saddled up anyway. Royal hates the rain, and especially hates being ridden in the rain, so I thought it would provide a learning opportunity. At least until the thunder started rolling. At first we were out in the field, going around our little "ring." You can see the pasture from the field and the ladies (Gabby and Xena) were calling for Royal, and he was very concerned about them. "My damsels are in distress!" he thought, and it was hard to get him to focus on even going straight. <sighs> Geldings.

Then it really started to rain, so we went to the little side street to practice some Game of Contact. This went surprisingly well, probably because he wanted to get out of the rain. I saw no reason to push him further, so we hurried back and I let him for back with the other horses.

Thursday, we ended up trailering to a local barn that allows people to rent out the indoor arena for an hour. We hadn't done any jumping since Carriage House, so we really needed the practice. The arena is a Cover-All, which tends to make creaking noises. Royal was concerned about the noise at first, but eventually got used to it. They had a pair of jump standards and some poles, plus some barrels, so I set up a cross-rail and the barrels on their sides. After warming up on the flat, we popped over the cross-rails with no problems, and the barrels went smoothly, so I put the poles up to about 2'7". The first jump over that was very deer-like, with his head straight up in the air, looking at the tarps on the other side of the arena. Okay, try again. The rest of the jumps were a lot smoother, so we called it a day. It's not too expensive to rent the arena, so I'll probably do it again if the weather goes insane again.

Friday, I took my brand new dressage cones out to the field and set up an approximate 20x40 meter arena. I don't have a meter tape or wheel (yet), so I had to use my 12' line to measure it. I think itwas close enough.

Royal says "I will be the judge of that."

I had memorized the Beginner Novice Test B and wanted to practice. At this point, we've been playing with GoC stage 3 for months now, and we've kind of stagnated. He'll take the contact, but it's inconsistent. So, I'm going to stop playing to RB-Royal with lots and lots of consistency, and focus on LB-Royal with getting provocative. So, on with the test, which he did really well. His mouth was fairly quiet, and while he had some trouble with canter transitions, he seemed to enjoy himself. Onwards and upwards.

Today, I cleaned my tack, polished my boots, packed the trailer, and am pumped. Who knows what will happen tomorrow, but it should be fun. Let's do it.

"Good Lord How You Frustrate Me Minnesota Weather!" II

After the heat wave weekend, the temperatures dropped and the rain started again. The Standing Water Everywhere came back, although Royal and I still have been able to do some stuff. We've had a couple of Game of Contact sessions, which have been on an upward swing. It's not 100% yet, but he's starting to take the contact with more consistency and intention. Sweet.

We've also be able to get some trail riding in, even with some cantering on a side road. It's nice and soft and not heavily traveled, so we can build up some speed. He's not too crazy about galloping full out yet, so we just did some light cantering, which was relaxed and fluid. And later while walking we came across a little branch which Royal just had to pick up and carry around like a dog with a stick.

A Horse and His Branch

We also went by the Sheep of Death, only this time the sheep ran from us. I suppose they didn't want to take on what they probably see as the Big Non-Wooly Sheep, but maybe this means he won't inch by there, snorting at the Sheep of Death.

The next day we played a bit more with GoC, and he tried to revert back to his old habits of curling behind the bit and slowing way down. It seemed to be more of a mischievous thing rather claustrophobia, so eventually I gave him a little tiny squeeze, to which he responded to by cantering. It was nice, but not what I wanted. After we got settled in the walk, I asked him to trot again. And what do you know, a beautiful forward trot with a quiet mouth. Good boy.

Yesterday it was too hot and humid to ride, so I decided to practice braiding again. I still don't want to use yarn or thread, since Royal tends to fidget and I don't want to use scissors or needles unless I absolutely have to. He may be fidgety now, but if I repeatedly stab or cut him in the neck, he'll be even worse. So I'm sticking to bands for now, but it's not going well. I can do about 4 buttons pretty well, but after that, it all falls apart. Either the section has lots of uneven hairs or is really thick or the bands break or all three. So after seven braids I gave up. I'll figure something out eventually.

For the last two nights we've had very expressive thunderstorms with lots of flashing and crashing followed by very hot and humid days. Oy. I've lived here all my life and I don't think I'll ever get used to the weirdness of the weather. So, Sheldon, if you will:

Taking the Contact

One of the frustrating thing about trying to learn contact with Royal is that we haven't ever really felt "good" contact. I never rode much dressage pre-Parelli (apart from the occasional ride on a 3rd-lever horse), and his claustrophobia with the bit indicates he hasn't had many good experiences. So, with Game of Contact, we've had moments that felt pretty good, but I wasn't sure. Was that really "it" or not quite? Now, I know. On Thursday, Royal and I were toddling around in the field on our little "arena" and playing with contact, and it wasn't stellar. He would curl up behind the bit, go crooked, gnaw at the bit, and start taking little mincing steps. I was wondering if he was still struggling with the footing, which is getting better as it settles, but still is somewhat deep or inelastic in places. I'd been giving him lots of walk breaks, but could tell he was getting tired and I was wondering when we should quit. All of a sudden, I felt him take the contact and push with his hind end with a quiet mouth. It felt amazing. So, I quit then and there to end on a high note. We moseyed up the road (which had been graded that morning and was pretty nice), but were not attacked by any sheep. Success all around.

This weekend was unbearably hot (90s and humid), so I decided to torture him with baths and braiding. I usually only give him one or two baths a year (too much work) but he got the full shampoo and conditioner treatment, including his mane and tail.

He was less than happy.

But eventually he survived and got to graze in the sun to dry off.

After he was dry, I turned him out and he found the biggest dirt area and rolled in it right in front of me. And got up with a very smug look on his face.

"That's what I think of your bath."

Today was braiding day and it was not very successful on my part. My band braids tend not coil very well and get really bouncy. Which looks really sloppy and bad. So, maybe it's time to try yarn? I'm trying to go for button braids that are stable and secure, which will probably be difficult as I have very limited crafting skills. Poor Royal is going have to suffer through a lot of practicing.

He'll get lots of cookies.

These Boots Were Made For Walking/Trotting/Cantering/Jumping

And that's just what they'll do.

Royal's soreness on gravel bothered me so much that on Saturday, I headed out to an unfamiliar tack shop to get a pair of Cavallo Simple Boots. I ended up paying much more than if I had ordered them online, but I was just so desperate. The next day I was able to try them on him, and they fit! Royal didn't seem to mind them too much, apart from a few high steps at first. They look a little clunky, but he plowed over the gravel like it was made of grass.

He's still a little tender with his hind feet, but they're too narrow for the Simples, so I ordered a pair of Sports. They should be here soon, but we have still been able to get a few trail rides in. On Monday, we went back to the park. He's still a little unnerved by the odd changes in ground texture and all the cars that fly by us (although most give us a nice wide berth), but is getting better. We made it to the park, but just beyond the trees boarding the grassy area, out of sight, was the Lawnmower of Death. It would get closer, then go away, then closer, then go away, on and on. Royal was not happy about this at all, and it took some figure-8s around the trees with serious bending before he started to stretch and sigh. Good boy, so we continued on our way. My sister told me that the road that runs through the park eventually goes circles back to the highway, and we could just do a single loop instead of doubling back down the highway. Sounds perfect, so onwards we went.

It was very beautiful.

But after going for a while, I started to wonder if we were lost. The road had split three ways: left, straight (dead end), and right. We took the left fork, but I started to wonder if we should have gone right. We kept soldiering on, although I kept wondering where we were going and Royal seemed really happy to be exploring.

Nice cornfield, but where's the highway?

We did eventually meet up with the highway, just on the other side of a river. Which is big, and the bridge has no shoulder, so we were forced to walk in the middle of the lane. Which was scary enough as it is, but Royal was also worried about the sound of the river. So he wanted to walk reeeeeaaaaaally slllllllllooooooowly across the bridge and I wanted to go fast to get to the shoulder on the other side. So we compromised with a regular walk, and Royal was probably wondering what I'd gotten us into, but we made it to the other side safe and sound. Getting back on the gravel road was tough for him and he winced every other step on his hind feet. But he seemed mostly cheerful about the adventure, and once the hind boots get here, we'll go on more.

Today we went back to the field, which has (mostly) dried up. It'll rain over the next couple of days, but with lots of help, I've scouted out the high areas that will probably dry and pack the quickest. One is close to the edge of the ridable field (the other half is owned by someone who is growing corn there. No touchy.) and it's about the size of a small (20 x 40 meters) dressage arena. Right now, I don't have any rails or letters (and those will eventually be in the form of poles and cones), so we made our own arena out of hoof prints.

Pretty sweet, no? Royal was a bit confused at first, but as the "trail" began to appear, he got it. We played with the Game of Contact, which he haven't done in a long time, and he picked it right up. He still has a tendency to slow down and curl up behind the bit when I pick up the reins, but at the end, he was holding the contact steady down the long side with no bounces or bobbles. We also popped over a couple jumps at the far end of the field, which he seemed to enjoy.

We cooled down by going onto a side street. It's very quiet and not very gravely, which both of us appreciated. I even offered him the option of going back early, but he wanted to keep going until we reached the woods at the end.

He seems very happy, and my frustrations about riding places are greatly diminished. With the boots, I don't have to worry about soreness and they even have a mild snowshoe effect in the field, helping him not sink too much. We can work on GoC stuff almost anywhere and I think we'll be fine with a one or two jumping sessions a week. Things are definitely looking good.

Smart Cookie

Well, the last weekend seems to have just been a small glitch because this week, Royal has been amazing! I think the weather does get to him, being that he is a combination of thin-skinned desert breeds. So, this week, with the weather being much more reasonable, he's just been a peach.

Friday, we did more stuff with clippers. I wanted to give him a bridlepath and clean up his ear fuzz. He wasn't too keen on either at first, but soon realized he wasn't going to die and stood (mostly) still. We also did some trailer loading and deworming. Combine all the annoying stuff on the same day, that's what I do. That way, it's done and we don't have to deal with it again for a while.

Well hey there, little bridlepath. Where'd you come from?

Saturday, it was supposed to rain, but I didn't care. I hadn't ridden in a while and I figured the rain would provide some "controlled chaos" for my little extrovert. And he didn't disappoint, getting nervous at all the noise, but calming down fairly quickly with a figure-8 pattern OnLine. It only got better with partial disengagement and stretching. I wanted to see how much of an impression our last Game of Contact session made, especially with the rain creating an extra stress. At first, he had trouble. Stopping, gapping mouth, chomping on the bit, all from the last session. But as he kept hunting the release, he got better. I started asking for frame, and quit the session when he held it steady for a few stride and did the BIGGEST STRETCH EVER for a while when I released. Good boy.

Sunday, I had a review session for Biochem and couldn't get out, and didn't get out on Monday until late afternoon. With the Hunt Cup on Saturday, I want to make sure he's comfortable jumping 2'6" out of stride, so after letting him warm up at Liberty, I set up a jump with guide rails. Normally I don't use guide rails, but they had them last year, and it kinda worried him. I think they made him feel slightly claustrophobic, so better let him get used to them. I had them set up in both directions so he could jump the jump in both directions, but he decided to be clever and create his own jumps by bouncing between the guide rails. It was the weirdest thing ever, and I tried to get a video of it because it just seemed so odd. But Royal has a unique relationship with cute stuff getting caught on camera. He'll do it, I'll think it's cute/interesting and try to get a video of it, and as soon as I turn on the video function on my cell phone, he stops doing the cute/interesting thing. And acts like he never did the thing in the first place. So this was the video I ended up getting. (Sorry for the crappy quality)

"What cute thing? I don't know what you're talking about."

Afterwards, we did more trailer loading, but the with the dreaded shipping boots. Gotta get used to those too. That also went really well, with him letting me put the butt bar up and down with no fuss. I also cleaned up the top of his tail too.

I like it.

Today, after my Biochem final, I wanted to do some jumping under saddle. After all, the last time I did that was Spring Break and I don't want to be rusty as we tackle the steeplechase jumps on Saturday. So I set up the cow jump at 2' and a plain 2'6" jump. After warming up, we went for the cow jump with the flashy Holstein spots and "Moo!" painted on the panel. He wiggled to it and jumping it sort of sideways, but I stayed on and he stayed calm. After a few more hops over that, we tried the 2'6". My initial nervousness vanished as we headed to it and Royal jumped smooth and sure. He has a much easier time getting to a good take-off spot when he's trotting, but I think the size of the arena factors into that. There's not much room to adjust as from the rail to the jump was about 4 strides, but he did well. I only needed to ride for about a half hour total, he was so perfect. Tomorrow, we'll try it again with hopefully a ride on the road.

Good boy.

Little Not-Successes

As opposed to "Little Successes", this past week was something of "little not-successes." I don't know if it was the weird weather or what, but Royal was not in a good mood. Friday, I went out to the farm after class to do some Game of Contact stuff, which did not go well. The wind was causing the doors to bang against the barn, which was not to his liking. He did stand for an awkward-between-the-legs-with me-sorta-under-his-barrel shot of his tail, though.

I tried to help him relax with partial disengagement and stretching, which started to help. As I started to try to play with Frame, it wasn't happening. He kept bouncing on and off the contact and it was really hard for me to keep it. Eventually I decided to go back to stretching, but he wasn't having that either. He kept stopping and gaping his mouth instead of stretching down. I could tell he was getting frustrated, but I kept at it until he would stretch down and hold it for a while.

I wanted to end the session on a good note, so I tried to do what Royal loves: go for a canter/gallop on the dirt road. It started well enough, but as we were cantering along, a bird shot up next to us, causing Royal to spin and stop. I was waffling between two-point and sitting (which was stupid. I should have chosen a position and stuck with it), and being caught by surprise, tumbled out of the saddle. I tried to save myself and land on my feet, but it all went wrong and I landed on my left knee. Ouch! It hurt, but I couldn't see any damage to my breeches or boots. It was the first time I've falled off in a long time. Royal, despite being a little freaked, stayed where he was and let me get back on. We walked back a little way, cantered the other way for a while, and walked back to the farm. Interestingly, when we cantered the second time, he gave me a nice soft canter on a loose rein. It's like he remembered I was up there and he had to take care of me. He seemed to be okay, but I didn't feel like we accomplished anything. When I got home, I found these on my knee.

Hmm. So I did some superficial damage to my knee, but my boots and breeches looked fine. Well, good on Mountain Horse and FITS. They may be expensive, but won't show any damage even if you fall off on a dirt road with lots of little rocks.

Saturday was Horse Expo day, cold and rainy. I went to a very interesting Colleen Kelly talk about rider biomechanics. She was pretty funny and suggested some exercises to help with balance. I haven't tried them out yet, but hopefully they'll help. Otherwise it was shopping and looking at the fabulous living quarter trailers. Seriously, if you've got $70,000+, you could get a trailer nicer than a lot of homes.

Sunday I went back out to the farm, but Royal was REALLY not in a playing mood. He played kinda hard-to-get, which is very unusual for me. He almost always comes up to meet me, so I figured he wasn't feeling top great after our last session. We went for a walk instead, but even that was odd. He was interested in grazing, but didn't want to be touched and seemed kinda moody. Hmm. I wondered if he was feeling sick, but his vital signs were normal. Maybe he was just having an off day; it happens.

Tuesday I was hoping to do some free jumping, so we went to the arena and after I groomed Royal, I put on his splint boots. He did the exaggerated goose-step/stringhalt walk after I put on his hind boots, which is normal. The not normal part was when he didn't stop doing it on the right hind. I checked it, thinking it was too tight. No... so then I took them off. He trotted around sound, but stiff. Hmm. I did my little one-person-amateur lameness exam, stretching and flexing. He was okay with the flexing, but not the stretching. Double hmm. But, again, no lameness or excessive heat. I gave him some bute before I turned him out, which hopefully helped him feel better.

But, all I can say is "hmm." We'll see what happens.