Progress?

My trainer isn’t the kind of person who gives much in the way of feedback except on details of the task. I hear a lot about hand position, keeping quiet hands, leg position, posture, short neck v. collection, getting him in front of my leg, and other riding tips and also I hear when it isn’t right, or when it is better. This is all delivered in a pleasant voice, kind of like having an ongoing verbal feedback system without any harsh reproof. Just the way I wish my own internal voice would be. But also, there isn’t a lot of excitement when I get it right.

Instead I get occasional offhanded comments like “Up until now you’ve just been a passenger on your horse,” or “As I tell all my beginners. . .” So I know that even though I am progressing, the actual pace of improvement is slow. I’ve been riding three years now. In the middle of last summer she commented that I was now intermediate, and sometimes she says she wishes she had a video of me as I was riding at first so I could see that I have come a long way. But she’s just kind of low key and friendly, but not excited in any way. And I keep having the same issues: lack of impulsion, reluctance to canter, crookedness, resistance to softening.

A couple of weeks ago she commented that “You still have about a year to go with this horse,” by which she meant that by spring of next year Champagne would have taught me everything I can learn from him and it will be time to move on to a different one. ‘Course he’s the WBH, and I can’t imagine selling him, but she said, “They aren’t pets, and if you didn’t sell him you’d be depriving someone else of the advantage of learning from him.” Okay, that’s a whole other issue.

At this week’s lesson, though, she commented that “You really look as if you know what you’re doing,” and “By spring you’ll be ready to ride test level 1.” Really? Me? And more to the point, Champagne? Coming from my trainer, that’s actual praise. So I’m feeling fairly happy despite: the continuing flood and snow this morning and significant rain forecast for Monday; all the house fixing-up issues that are on hold because of the flood; Ken’s level of stress about the house and his father; and my general fatigue due to my own level of stress.

For the birds

Huge, evil sparrows have begun to nest in the rafters of the indoor at the barn, just as they do every year.

These gigantic birds have begun to terrorize the horses by twittering, fluttering at the windows, and taking dust baths on the floor. Shock and awe. Massive spooks!

How can we survive the looming sparrow menace!?!

Champagne has a kind eye

Although there doesn’t seem to be a quantifiable definition for having a “kind eye”, it seems to refer to the large, gentle, moist eye that goes along with an even temperament. Having kind eyes seems also to mean no ears laid back, no trying to bite or whack you with their head, and no rolling, squinched or whites-of-the-eyes eyeballs.

That would be a pretty good description of Champagne. He is easy going, and as one of his former owners said, “Champagne just wants to be a good boy.” He isn’t always the most forward horse in the world, but he can be trusted not to be mean or sneaky. If he doesn’t want to do something he is pretty clear about it, but almost always, if given a chance to think it over, he’ll do what’s asked.

Yesterday as I arrived at the barn for a planned trail ride, another group of riders was coming back from their ride, and all the cross ties were taken. So I tacked Champagne up in his stall, a first for me. Nothing was keeping him from moving around or refusing to do as I asked, or staying straight.

Still he lifted each hoof on request for me to pick out, stayed approximately in the same place as I brushed him, and was fine about letting me put the blankets and saddle on, even though I know he prefers the dressage saddle to the drover’s saddle I use on the trail. To lift that heavy saddle high enough I need to stand on a milk crate, and he could have been a real pain by sidling away from the crate after I got it in position, but he didn’t.

Instead he kept gently bumping me with his nose, lowered his head so I could brush his forelock, and again to take the bit. It felt like he was saying, “Hi, good to see you, I like to be with you, I’ll partner with you to get all this stuff done.” Also, he was probably saying, “Let’s do some carrot-facilitated stretches.” Carrots are an approved substance in his book.

Champagne himself is an approved substance in mine!

Too many horses spoil the broth

Too many horses spoil the broth

At the beginning of last night’s lesson there were two other riders in the ring. The deal at the barn is that you post the times you have lessons, and then if others want to ride while you are taking a lesson, that’s OK, it is their choice.

The indoor is about 2/3 the size of a traditional ring, so when there are a lot of horses it can become quite awkward. Last night the elite dressage rider in the barn was working with her horse, a huge beautiful animal who can piaffe, do flying changes, etc. Also riding was the woman whose horse is a big black Freesian cross who was formerly a carriage horse. I think of him as Champagne’s big brother, because they are both dark and solidly built.

Champagne likes to glue himself to the dressage horse and follow him around as closely as possible, not listening to me at all. Eventually I gave up riding on the rail and we did some work on turning on the forehand and backing up in the middle of the ring. That turned out to be a good thing, because I have been giving the rein back signal wrong. Now we have to learn all over again, me to do it properly and Champagne to get what I mean this new way.

After the other riders left, we did some trot and canter work, which was quite pleasing.

My instructor said the other horses just seemed like horses, but Champagne seems like such a character, personality plus. I like to think that expression of his personality is partly because I’ve been paying attention to it and verbalizing it so others can see it. And I realize I’m lucky, too.

Sunny at the barn has turned sour and tries to kick everyone. (The vet is coming to see him; he has no outward sign of injury.) Christo is nasty and will bite you. Rev is so valuable and active that he can’t be turned out with others, and so spends most of his time in his stall, or a really small turn-out where he can’t build up any speed. The cute three year old Liam stepped on a nail and so is on stall rest. Shea has Cushings and has to be encouraged to eat. Rocky has something new wrong (not sure what) so HE is on stall rest.

My good boy is pleasant without being a push over, whimsical and cute, quite sturdy (he still has a knot on his side from his fall but it doesn’t hurt him at all or limit his movements), and pretty smart (or at least has shown signs of being able to consider a couple of options and choose one or the other). He really is the WBH, at least for me.

For all I'm Girth

I’m having a weird issue with Champagne.

OK, it isn’t really with Champagne as a person so much as Champagne as an object-in-space.

First, a word about his shape. He has a long back, as we all know, and if truth be told and from a completely objective viewpoint, he is a tad sway-backed. His other issue is that his barrel is, well, very barrel-shaped. The vet says he is “sprung”, which means that his ribs spring outward from his back very widely, so that by the end of his back closest to his haunches he is almost table-top flat.

The end result is that his barrel’s narrowest place by far is just behind his front legs. The normal girth position can’t really work, because the girth slips toward the narrowest spot.

I have to work really hard to get the girth tight enough so that the saddle doesn’t slip sideways. I don’t even try to fasten the last couple of holes until I’ve walked him around or even lunged him under tack, and even then it is a struggle. Lest you think I am a fanatic about girth tightness, you should know that my instructor is always saying his girth is too loose even when I’ve tightened it as much as I can.

Now I’ve developed a kind of over-use issue in my right arm, which does most of the pulling up of the girth. The inside of my elbow hurts even if I want to raise my hand to scratch my nose. Also the lower outside back of my upper arm hurts when I open my arm all the way.

Champagne’s girth is one of those machine-washable wooly ones with elastic and roller buckles, which is about as easy as I can find to work with. He has a leather dressage girth too, but once it abraded his skin behind his elbow, so I changed it out. Not that it was any easier anyway.

Maybe I need to teach him to balance himself on a two by four on his tummy to help him suck in his gut!

After the Fall

While I was on vacation two weeks ago, Champagne fell in the paddock and wouldn’t get up. He did eventually struggle to his feet when one person pulled on the lead, another kind of urged him from the side, and the barn manager showed him the lunge whip for the rear (didn’t hit him, of course, just showed it to him). Then he did get up, but limped all the way to his stall.

The vet came out and found nothing wrong, there was no swelling in any leg, but he was limping on his off hind. The next day he wasn’t limping any more. He also had a chiropractic treatment. The doctor said he had “lost his pelvis”, which means that she found lots of weak points in his butt, which she treated.

Thursday (after I was back) he had another chiropractic treatment. She said the places she treated earlier were almost all “holding”, but that there were other points she hadn’t fixed, so she did those Thursday. I noticed a tender spot on his off side just where his wheat ear is. He gets restive and even kicks if I touch it. So the speculation is that he hyperextended his stifle as he fell, and/or that he fell hard on a frozen clod and has a big bruise there.

In any case, I haven’t been cantering him while I’m mounted (he canters fine on the lunge) but have been focusing on trot and walk transitions, paying attention to my legs, some leg yields, some backing up, and carrot-facilitated neck stretches. Also we did some ground pole work to get him to pay more attention to where he puts his feet.

The more I work with Champagne, the more I appreciate his sweet, pleasant nature. He greeted me at his stall door with head and ears up when I first saw him after being away for a week, and bumps me softly with his nose. He helps put his halter on, and lowers his head for the bit. After the ride he again helps get his nose into the halter. He lifts his feet on command, and I’ve recently taught him to move over and square up when he is cross-tied. He’ll never be a forward moving dressage champion, but he’s my good boy.