Exercise of the Week II

Go me for actually remembering to make this a weekly installment!! Lets see if I can keep it up for three whole weeks in a row next Monday ;)

I got a fair bit of response on my last exercise, if anyone has tried it do let me know how it went.

This week's exercise is slightly more technical but one that I think most people could use.  I've been using it tons lately to combat Mollie's desire to constantly travel with her haunches in which is SO annoying.  Especially when I think she's all straight and awesome and then I look up at the mirrors and bam.  Hind end off the rail.  Rotten horse.

We're going to start this exercise tracking right, with a slight inside bend.  As you approach the corner you are going to ride across the long diagonal in a shoulder fore to the right.  Maintain said shoulder fore all the way to the corner.

You know you missed these bad boys

Once you approach the corner you straighten out of shoulder fore, but maintain a counter bend through the short side.  Then turn early, down your quarter line.

Look at dem captions

Now down your quarter line you are going to ride the slightest of haunches out possible.  Like, just think baby haunches out right and you will feel majykal things happen beneath your saddle.  At least you will if you're on a Mollie-horse.

Now I drew her hind feet slightly haunched out, but the trick to this exercise is just barely haunching out.  Because once Mollie is in what I think is a mini haunches-out, she's actually straight.

Now that you've changed direction, just repeat!!

Hello straightness

Why this exercise works: So lots and lots of horses are crooked.  I can't even count how many times I've been to a show or watched a video and watched horses going around (especially at the canter it seems) with their haunches thrown to the inside, and their shoulders on the rail.  Most of the time people simply focus on "straightening" them out, with little regard to moving around the different parts of their body.  Simply bending their neck isn't going to help you if their haunches are out.  Now their haunches are out and they're over bent.  By isolating the different parts of their body (first shoulders, then haunches) the horse will automatically straighten without you attempting to "straighten" them.  I hope that makes sense to someone other than me.

Why I like this exercise: Because I love arguing with my horse, we frequently get into "discussions" about how straight she is.  This usually ends up in me reverting to my hands to attempt to "straighten" her.  I really should know better by now, but sometimes it happens.  If I do get myself into this battle this exercise usually helps me get out of it.  It's like I want Mollie to get into a very tight box all at once and she can't coordinate how to do it.  Instead of demanding she get all four feet in at the same time I focus her energy into getting parts of herself there and then before you know it, everything is in the box.

I hope this exercise is helpful for some, and if anyone wants an in depth lesson on some of the above movements (shoulder in, haunches in/out, etc.) please let me know!  And once again, let me know if you try it out and how it goes :)

Getting Back in the Groove

This weekend was so wonderfully warm (like in the 40s, hallelujah) and horsey filled, I finally feel like I'm getting back in the horse groove.  And it feels so good.

Saturday

Saturday I went to Mollie's barn first, as I didn't have to teach lessons till the afternoon.  Quickly tacked her up and threw her BoT boots on as I got ready.  Mollie is clearly in her first heat of the season, which is really the only time I ever notice she's in heat.  She used to be an absolute wench when in heat but thanks to Mare Magic she's usually pretty good and I can only tell she's in heat because all the other mares in the barn are too.  She wasn't necessarily bad, she just wasn't really good either.  She'd give be about 3.5 laps of "Nah nah nah nah nahhhh I'm not listeninnnnnnng" followed by 0.75 laps of "Oh ok, I'll be super soft and use my back."  So that was fun.  I found a good spot to end and hopped off, knowing we weren't going to get much productive work done.

Ran over to the lesson barn, taught one lesson, then ran to barn #3 of the day.  This is the barn I kept Mollie at for about 3 years before moving her to her current location.  A few of my friends were all riding together so invited me there to ride a schoolie with them.

Got to visit my favorite barn cat, Moose :)

The pony I rode is actually super cute, and was quite fancy at some time.  Since then she's had ridiculous amounts of lameness issues and as a result has spent a lot of time out of work.  She came out "Annie-Lame" as we've dubbed it, since she's always her own special kind of lame, but worked out of it and got really cute.  It was fun to be able to get on something and actually feel like I was schooling her, and making a difference.

Blurry photo, but good Princess Annabelle

Sunday

Sunday I taught lessons first, and had two little girls to teach.  The first lesson went alright, although the pony was a total pill and the kid was too timid to actually get after him.  He's an older pony who is very out of shape however so I'd like him to get a little fitter before I get on and give him a few good hacks to remind him of his job.  The second lesson was great, and I had a new (to me) student who really seemed to enjoy her lesson.  It's always nice when I get compliments from parents too.

After teaching one of the boarders took her mare out to lunge and she was FRESH.  Super sassy, defiant, and her owner is older and timid and was a little bit afraid to ask her for anything.  I didn't want to be pushy so just said, "Well if you need any help let me know." and she said, "Oh would you?"  So I took over and really got after the mare who spent a whole bunch of time and energy with all four feet in the air.  After one particularly nasty buck where she tugged me forward, then bucked so high her legs went over the lunge line I let go, she scared the $h!t out of herself, and then realized she was acting like a fool.  I got a few nice trot circles in each direction (without any theatrics) and called it there.  Her owner was super grateful and it was fun to work with another horse.

Finally made it out to Mollie's barn and decided to bust out my Higher Standards to clean my boots while she BoT-ed.  Clearly, they needed it :)

Left hadn't been cleaned, right has

Molls had her panties in a bunch again, and I'm still chalking it up to the bad heat cycle.  She was super cranky about being groomed and everything so I'm thinking she's just irritable in general.  I did let her blow off some steam and we hand galloped a good bit which she seemed to like.  Again, I found a good spot to end and got off.  She had actually worked up a decent sweat (for her) so I guess there's that.  She did cough a few times and was breathing a bit heavily, so I'm going to have to order and get her started on Tri-Hist.  We go through this every Spring/Summer but usually the Tri-Hist combats her heaves nicely.

Obligatory crosstie photo

Favorites, Take Two

So a few weeks ago I blogged about my favorite winter gear with plans to continue the "Favorites" theme every week or so.  Then I totally forgot about it until now.  And since I don't ever ride anymore (during the week anyways... it feels like forever) I figured it was time for another installment.  This time I'm focusing on favorite medical/horse heath care items.  Luckily Mollie is a very healthy horse (knock on wood) but we still have a few things that have become favorites over the years.

Leg Care

As I mentioned above, Molls is a pretty healthy horse and rarely does she have any leg issues.  But seeing as I've had her for (nearly) 13 years now she's gotten her fair share of swellings/strains/bumps, etc.  A few years ago I got on the "Sore no More" bandwagon and this was the first product I tried and fell in love with.  I use this for EVERYTHING.  Swellings on her leg?  Poultice.  Mysterious bump?  Poultice.  Heat?  Poultice.  No kidding, I use it for everything.  Also, since we like being ghetto, I've realized that one square of paper towel fits perfectly around Mollie's lower leg and perfectly covers up the poultice.  Add a pillow and standing wrap and she's good to go.  I have even used it on her hocks/stifles without a wrap (literally just slather it on) and it's worked there too.

Sore No More Poultice

Price: $21.99 (from Dover)

Biggest Pro: It hasn't failed me yet, and I use it often.  It's very versatile and I can use it basically on any part of her leg.

Biggest Con: If left for a little while sometimes the clay and water "separate" slightly.  All it takes is a little mixing to get it combined again though.  And there's that whole poultice-under-your-nails thing that some people aren't crazy about, but it doesn't really bug me.

Skin Care

While skin care may not be a pressing matter to all horse owners I would say it is one of Mollie's most common areas of need.  Molls has two white stockings that are prone to fungus/bacteria, a white nose prone to sunburn, and overall sensitive skin prone to hives the size of golfballs (except for the one freak time they were as big as baseballs... no exaggeration).  As a result skin care is important to us and this stuff has been in our tack box before it was even a horse product (originally marketed for dogs and cats).

Calm Coat Topical Spray

Price: $9.99 (from KV Vet)

Biggest Pro:  This is a super versatile product that I can use anywhere on her body, mane, or tail (because she likes to itch those things too).  I see results immediately using it, whether it be healing a cut, soothing skin irritations, or regrowing hair.

Biggest Con: I honestly can't even think of one.  It's that good.

Hoof Care

So how many of you have dealt with abscesses before?  And how many of you have dumped epsom salt into water in a feed pan and then spent half an hour trying to get your horse to stand in it?  Yup there's no reason to do that ever again.  Because the little container below full of green goop will solve (almost) all your problems.  Now I've never even used this stuff on Mollie because the girl has never had an abscess (I definitely just jinxed myself) but last summer when I ran the summer camp at our barn one of the schoolies had chronic abscesses and this stuff seriously saved my sanity.  I'd make sure the hoof was clean, glob a whole bunch of this stuff into/on the bottom of the hoof, throw on a gauze pad, and wrap.  Voila, hoof is now going to benefit from epsom salts for 24 hours.  No water, no mess, no swearing (unless your duct tape sticks together when wrapping the hoof).

Epsom Salt Poultice

Price: $9.99 (via Dover)

Biggest Pro: This is SO MUCH BETTER than soaking in epsom salts in water.  I think that's enough said.

Biggest Con: It's a little bit messy and there's definitely a trick to getting it from the jar onto the hoof without anywhere else.  Once you master that though it's pretty smooth sailing.

I hope you guys like this list of faves!! If there's anything you prefer do let me know, I love trying new things :)  This weekend should be chock full of horses between lessons and riding so hopefully I'll actually be able to post about riding my horse.  Since that's what this blog is for and all.

Seven Deadly Sins - Blog Hop

Hopping on the Blog Hop Bandwagon because I (shockingly) haven't been out to ride my horse this week.  This is becoming a theme because I just cannot convince myself that riding in the dark and cold is fun anymore.

In honor of Fat Tuesday and thanks to Viva Carlos I give you "The Seven Deadly Sins: Equestrian Edition".

Pride

Seven great things/strengths in your riding life

1. A horse that trusts me (almost) all the time.

2. Many trainers/instructors/mentors who have shaped my riding for the better.

3. The desire to always do right by my horse.

4. A very supportive family member without whom I would never be able to have my own horse.

5. A group of friends just as horse-crazy as myself.

6. The desire to constantly learn more and get better.

7. The ability to teach others.

Envy

Seven things you lack or covet for your horse

1. A truck and trailer

2. A Macel Samba saddle

3. Unlimited lesson/clinic funds

4. All the BoT things

5. A "longer" body

6. A youngster horse to bring up alongside Mollie

7. The ability to go back 10 years with everything I know now

First time riding Molls in a double, feels like forever ago.

Wrath

Seven things that make you angry

1. People who think they are educated, when they are not

2. People who mistreat their horses

3. People who do things with their horses because they were instructed to, even if they don't believe that it's the right thing to do.

4. When I make things personal between Mollie and myself

5. When I do things even though I know better

6. Dishonest trainers

7. When ride times are off

Sloth

Seven things you neglect to do or cut corners on

1. Cleaning tack... I don't really do it

2. Washing saddle pads before I have none left

3. Keeping my tack trunk clean

4. Grooming my horse

5. I definitely don't overreact to cuts/scrapes/bumps/etc.

6. Getting my camera out to the barn 

7. Take a moment to appreciate the fact that I own a freakin' horse

An unimpressed Mollie-Wogs

Greed

Seven most expensive things you own for your horse

1. Dover Circuit Dressage Saddle

2. Dover Circuit Jumping Saddle

3. RC Customs Double Bridle

4. BoT Hock Boots

5. Riding Clinics

6. Board

7. All my riding "clothing"

Gluttony

Seven guilty pleasures

1. Wool coolers (what IS it with those?)

2. Matching saddle pads and polo wraps

3. Blingy things (because Molls is a girly-girl)

4. BoT Hock boots

5. Being able to keep my horse in a gorgeous barn

6. Having barn friends that I can go out to dinner/out out with

7. My horse

About a year ago, the first time I took Molls to the current barn for a clinic.

Lust

Seven things you love about horses and riding

1. What it does for my emotional stability

2. The people I have met through riding

3. How my horse loves me

4. The relationship I have with my horse

5. The confidence it has instilled in me

6. The ability to set and regulate goals

7. The fact that I can say "a horse" when people ask if I have any pets

Exercise of the Week

First off, Molls would like to say thank you to her fan club who wished her a happy birthday yesterday :)  Naturally she checks all the comments on her smartphone every night.

I came up with the idea for this "segment" while riding over the weekend because it hit me that I really, really love flat work exercises.  Granted, I'm a pretend Dressage Queen, so that kind of makes sense but I thought that since most of the blogs I follow are HJ/Eventer oriented maybe some of you would be interested in flatwork exercises?  Obviously even the hunter jumpers do tons of flatwork, and I always love having new things to do, since the same old stuff gets boring.  So we'll try it out this week and see how it goes.

This is hands down my favorite exercise for upward canter transitions.  It is especially effective in horses that have trouble picking up the correct lead.

First up, we have a super high tech diagram of the exercise, which I will explain in greater detail:

I should basically be a graphic designer.

So now take a look at the next diagram (below).  You'll see some awesome directional arrows, a star, and a blue arrow.

It's not as cray as it looks.

SO, the exercise begins at the orange star, on a 20ish meter circle to the left.  You can do this exercise at a walk or a trot, and I usually do it at the trot.  So you walk or trot your large circle to the left as normal until you get to the center of the ring, or the blue arrow.  The first time you pass through this blue arrow you change from left to right bend, and ride a small circle or volte in the opposite direction (following the orange arrows).  The circle is ridden in preparation for your upward canter transition.  As you come back to the blue arrow you change from right bend to left, and once the bend is developed, ask for canter.  I typically canter a full 20m circle and when I get back to the center of the ring (or the blue arrow) come down to a trot.

At this point, if Molls is unbalanced or rushing, I bring her all the way down to a halt.  (Add a come to Jesus moment here if necessary).

You are then going to repeat the exercise in the other direction.

Reverse, reverse!

So at this point you should be at the blue arrow either trotting from your downward transition, or at a halt because you had to come to Jesus regroup.  So either walk or trot off to the right, so you are starting this half of the exercise somewhere near the orange star.  Walk or trot your 20m circle to the right and when you cross through the middle (blue arrow), change from right to left bend and trot your small volte to the left.  Once again as you get back to your blue arrow change the bend from left to right, and once established ask for canter.  Canter your 20m circle to the right, and then repeat!! 

Why this exercise works:

So I said this exercise was great for upward canter transitions, and here is why.  When you ride a small circle such as a volte, the majority of your horses weight goes to their inside hind leg.  This makes sense because this is the leg that is doing the LEAST movement during a small circle, and you can think of your horse as traveling around this leg.  As a result, this leg becomes "loaded" with the majority of the horse's weight.

So for example, lets say your riding a volte to the right.  The majority of your horses weight is now on their inside hind, or right hind leg.  This is critical because when your horse picks up left lead canter, they are going to begin the transition with their.... you guessed it, right hind leg.  By loading the right hind with the horse's weight and energy, then quickly changing the bend, the right leg remains loaded and when you ask for canter they are set up perfectly for an upward transition.

Why I like this exercise:

I like this exercise for a few different reasons, and not just because it works so well for horses who struggle with a particular lead.  As a matter of fact, Mollie hardly EVER picks up the wrong lead and never has.  I do like it because Mollie is very forehand heavy, as are most horses.  This exercise really puts her weight on her hind end and as a result we usually end up with a lighter canter.

Mollie is also well known for her anticipation and rushing tactics (her favorite things).  Because this exercise has many direction/weight/gait changes it keeps her on her toes and she hasn't figured it out quite yet.  This pattern also slows her down quite a bit and doesn't allow for rushing into her canter because it's near impossible to quickly trot a volte (read: if your volte is fast, do it again).  Since the volte is slow and collected and she's set up so nicely for canter it eliminates the desire to rush into it.

So there you have it :)  I hope this is helpful to at least someone, and I'd love to hear if there are any exercises anyone would like me to go over.  Or if you have a certain problem you'd like to tackle with your horse please let me know!  I'm not a trainer by any means but I'm a total flatwork junkie :)

Happy Birthday to Mollsie!!

Happy 17th birthday to the best girl I could have ever asked for :)  The above cuteness is totally thanks to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I was bribing her with.  It's her most favorite snack so I save it for her birthday every year.

She was pissy the sandwich was all gone, and shortly after this picture was taken she went to snatch hay off the ground, under the open portion of the door, and before I could open it up all the way she yanked her head up and whacked her poll right on it.  Poor birthday girl :(  There was no cut or bump but I sore-no-more-ed the area anyways and gave her extra cookies.

Holy Mother of BoT

Alright listen.  I have long heard about the benefits of Back on Track products, mostly from Hillary and L. Williams.  I assumed they worked from all the positive reviews, and always figured a pair of hock boots would benefit Mollie.  And even though they probably wouldn't make a huge difference they definitely wouldn't hurt.  So last week I figured it was as good a time as ever to make our purchase, ordered a pair of hock boots, and waited until I got out to the barn today to use them.

Oh.

My.

Gawd.

I'm not sure what sort of magical things are wrapped inside these boots but I was absolutely floored at the difference in my horse.  Mind you she has not been ridden since last Sunday and has not been able to get outside in her field all week (therefore movement is restricted to her 12 foot wide run out attached to her stall.  It was also only 20 degrees.  My horse should have probably come out pretty stiff today.  She didn't.  Because of BoT magic.

I got to the barn and brought her in her stall to put the boots on.  She was basically disappointed they weren't edible, but otherwise had no qualms about me strapping them to her hocks.  I was a little worried that they looked big out of the box but they actually fit perfectly.  Couldn't have asked for a better fit.  I left them on while I got all my tack out, groomed, and tacked her up, and it ended up being exactly half an hour that she wore them.

Brought her into the ring and hopped on and right away I thought she felt extra swingy.  I wasn't ready to accredit it to the boots however, as I figured I was just looking for things to be different.  I was pretty surprised at how quickly she came together however.  She was very agreeable to lifting through her back and shoulders which was much appreciated.  When I picked up the trot she felt about the same.  She actually felt kind of short but she had (finally) gotten her feet done this week, by a different farrier, so I assumed she was just getting used to her hooves.  She quickly opened up her stride though so I wasn't worried.

What absolutely blew me away though was when I asked her to canter.  She literally bounced me up out of the saddle when I asked!! And this is coming from a horse who has pretty "tame" canter transitions.  I seriously felt like her hind end was right underneath me, which was really cool :)  We finished out the ride with lotsssss of counter bend, especially to the right where she likes to dive on her forehand and go around in constant haunches in.  At the very end of my ride I rode an exercise I'll talk about in greater length next week but it was amazing to experience what her body feels like when it is actually straight, not just "straight" that I've become accustomed to (spoiler alert, it's not usually straight at all).

So while it's pretty early to tell if our awesome ride was thanks to the BoT boots alone I'll definitely be using them regularly.  Like tomorrow :)