Ground Driving, A Ladd Update, and Expanding Our Horizons

Sunday evening I ground drove Daisy for the first time in at least a month and a half. I wasn't sure what to expect, but. . . she was excellent! She was completely responsive to my voice commands, which is interesting because I don't really use them while riding (at least not the forward commands; I do use woah). I really want to get a cart and hook her up, but I'm leery. . . I was hoping I could find a cart in the area that I could borrow just for the first time to see if she could even handle it, but I didn't have any luck. So if I do it, it would require driving an hour or so away to pick up a ~$500 cart, in the hopes that Daisy even takes to it. So at this point, I haven't done anything more than think about it.

Monday morning finally left time for me to ride Ladd. He was full of it, as seen when he came cantering up to me full speed in the pasture and almost plowed me over. He had canter on the brain the whole time we were in the arena; I was trying to ride my PC dressage test with him, but the trot circles were turning into fights to see who would win; me at keeping him at a trot, or him at winning a canter. He was lathered up and sweaty after a half hour, and I took him out on the trail. He was surprisingly well behaved. I admit I'm a little anxious about riding him outside because when we canter, I always have the feeling that I'm on the edge of losing control, and I hate that thought. Not so on Monday; he was right in my hands the whole time, energetic, but disciplined. 

This is him and I before our ride:

Tuesday morning I took Daisy out for a ride Western. We headed out on a road we generally ride on, but we didn't turn back where we normally do. She was getting bored and lazy with the roads we always ride on, so we carefully crossed a busy road onto a new road. As I expected, she instantly perked up and was curious about her surroundings again. Love that!

The last time she was trimmed, I fear she was trimmed too short (in fact, I know; her sole was visibly too low to the ground) and as a result, she's been sensitive on stones. This aggravates me, because trimmed correctly, I know she (and all horses) can be sound, but being an advocate for barefootedness is not easy when my own horse isn't sound. I've been using her easyboot gloves for every single ride, which solves the issue and she's fine that way, but I still wish she could just go bare. 

Ah well. Onwards and upwards,

Dressage, Conditioning, Summer, Homeschooling, Thoroughbreds. . .

Much good has been going on on my life of late. . .
Tuesday was my last day of school; now I only have state exams the next two weeks (Only two left now). I've decided to home school next year, so the last day was bittersweet. This was Daisy and I when I got home.

My cats are basically the most adorable things you will ever see. This his Gronemeyer:

With his sister Genevieve, lounging together on our patio table this morning.

And then there's Miss Daisy, chest-deep in grass for an hour or two a day, depending on how bad the deer flies are. Nom, nom. . .

We've been riding over to Pony Club mounted meetings every week, which have been fun. We've worked on flat work and jumping. The last two weeks we practiced in a dressage ring. This past Wednesday was amazing! I remember to wear spurs and Daisy's dressage felt absolutely wonderful. It probably didn't look that great from the outside, but as I rode I could feel how awesome it was. Our instructor had me focus on sitting up straighter at the trot and canter, and boy. . . as soon as I fixed myself, Daisy's canter was much lighter and less forehandy. Funny how that works ;)


Tomorrow we're riding in our first off farm event of the year! I wasn't sure if we'd be doing anything until county fair, but our PC group is hosting a hunterpace as a fundraiser, and Jenny agreed to take me along and ride in it with me! We trail cleared last week and it looks like it's going to be a great time. I'm so excited! I rode 5.2 miles with Daisy yesterday to prep and she was marvelous. It was the first time doing the 'long' block this year, but she was full of energy, so we did lots of trotting and cantering (in her easy boots) and it was just grand :) 


I'm going to be showing Ladd at fair next year! I'm going to try to get out and ride him more often from now on. He's a 17hh TB that I was riding last summer already; he's a riot :) 


Until later,

April Showers Bring. . . Wait a Minute!

We've been getting a lot of this lately:

Which means riding has been a bit halted. I ride whenever I can, whenever the weather is decent enough. I'm not a big fan of riding in rain. . . not because I dislike being soaked (Well, I do, but. . . ) but because Daisy has always been funky about cars driving past on wet roads. Plus it decreases my visability as I ride, makes the road slippery, affects my ability to hear cars coming up behind us. . . etc. So I generally don't ride if it's raining at a good clip.

Today Daisy went out on the lawn for a half hour, for the first time this year. She enjoyed it.

I was taking photos, until I was ambushed. Miss Genevieve:

Besides some cropping on the one below, these are SOTC. :) I love my new camera!

These last two required a bit of zoom, and so I edited them on picnik.com. Not the greatest colors. I was headed into the house when I realized the other barn cat was visiting with Daisy as she grazed as well, albeit much closer. Daisy and Gronemeyer:

Gronemeyer has been known to plop down in the midst of herds of deer (. . . are groups of deer herds?), only to stand up after awhile and surprise them, making them scatter.

I went riding on Wednesday and has a great time. You know those moments where, despite the fact that you've heard it a million and one times, something suddenly "clicks" and you GET it? I was riding and thinking about this photo I saw that Smartpak posted of a Rolex dressage rider. Someone commented on how very closely the rider's legs were literally wrapped around the horse. Having seen the photo, it was all of a sudden much easier to understand and do, and voila, Daisy framed up really quick! :) I love it. 

My silly horse. So many times I ride and feel bad and think she's tired. . . but the last week she's been so FULL of it coming home. We always gallop the same straight stretch on the road, about a quarter mile, and she was hauling this week. And proceeded to gallop her way up hills following as well. And I thought she didn't have the energy. . . 

I'm so gullible.

Pasture Board & Our Latest Lesson

(Above picture by Jenny)

Daisy left Jenny's last week Wednesday to move to Jean's for about 6 weeks. For various reasons... bigger indoor, more friends, more kids to ride Daisy while on vacation, ... etc.

I've chosen to put her on 24/7 pasture board because it's cheaper, and because less people will have to handle her while I'm away (the last few times I went on vacation ended in injuries... and I'm not even exaggerating). Daisy's a jerk. I know that. And as it so often happens, she's not around me; she knows better, but I cannot be there all the time to keep her in line, and so of course she takes advantage of that. 

During the day, she's out with another mare (actually, the only other mare on the premises out of 13 horses). At night, she's alone in her run-in.

She seems pretty content.

It's about ten feet deep.

We got a ton of snow on Saturday, pretty much out of the blue, and it was incredibly windy. Stalled horses stayed in. Daisy's roughed it in her shed. :)

Nom, nom. haha

I rode her english on Thursday and did some jumping, about 2'. She was very good, but I think it was hard on her... that or she slipped while out playing in her pasture, because Friday her back was a little sore towards the back. I rode her lightly Friday and Saturday, and she had Sunday off. Today I had a lesson with Anne!

I love lessons. They're just fun. We worked more on bending Daisy and asking her to bring her head down in the bend to encourage her to step through. We did some spiraling exercises in both directions to get her to be more accepting of the outside rein, and did walk-trot and trot-walk transitions. She's improving immensely. We did some jumping at the end, working on having her jump centered and without rushing. Anne set up guide poles to the left of jumps, and that helped a lot. She said she jumps better than I give her credit for. *smiles*. 

This said, I'm going on vacation tomorrow (to Florida!) for a week. Why must this lesson be so great, knowing I have a whole week of no Daisy ahead? ;) 

Stay warm wherever you are.

Lesson 1/11/11

Hello all! 

I had a lesson today...first one since camp in August ;)

I've decided to aim to take a lesson every two weeks...it went well! I'm using a new instructor...she was much more positive than my old one. I won't say more on that topic.

We worked a lot on having Daisy bend and supple, and transitions from walk to trot to walk to get her energy up, and direction changes across the ring. I thought it was a pretty good productive lesson (spurs next time!) but then I saw the videos...she looks lovely! ;)

I know the beginning she's pooping. Figures; how awkward ;) 

But otherwise....  hint: 1:10 is particularly awesome ;) I'm very happy how it went.

Stocking Up, Road Dressage, & Typical Mare Misbehavior

 Not much has been going on. School is so hectic, as well as my extracurricular activities and concerts.

My dearest brother went and got a big load of hay with me last weekend. He has a short bed on his truck, but....he stacked them that high and we squeezed 40 bales on total. I was looking in the mirrors the whole ride home, sure I was going to see bales on the road behind us.

 We unloaded them and I have about 60 bales in the shed now...and could have fit probably 20 more. It's good to know how much I could fit. Since I'll be boarding, it's not really necessary to stock up more than that for now.

 I've been riding Daisy very little...due to being busy after school, and the days I'm not seem to always be the days where it's too windy and/or rainy to ride. Because of this, Daisy had a lot of attitude the days we do go out. I went out with her on Thursday down the road...first time I asked her to trot, she plunged her head straight down to buck. She didn't get very far though; I had her head up fast again, I saw it coming. After that, the ride was truly marvelous. We road up this big hill on the road in the direction of home that we generally gallop. Even in the kimberwicke I had trouble stopping her once we'd start. Thursday, in the snaffle, bareback, I could feel her in my hands and when I asked her to stop in the middle of the hill, she was at a walk in seconds, no questions asked. Later, at a flat spot, I had her sidepass trotting back and forth across the road...At the schooling in October, Karin harped a little on getting Daisy to ride straight because apparently she's squirmy...I never noticed, but I've been trying to do that more now, and I realize when she sidepasses, it's always her front end sideways, then her hind end, which always gets left behind at first. I've been working a little on sidepassing with her entire body completely straight and getting her to sidepass her whole body at once. Going left, at the trot, she was amazing! :) 

Today I didn't ride because it was opening day of hunting season here in upstate New York. I gave her a good grooming, then let her out and followed her out of her stall to get the wheelbarrow (err...muck bucket. The wheelbarrow has been out of commission for over a week because the wheel blew; with a full load, of course) and for no reason, I could see it in her eyes just before it happened, she kicked me and took off. She hit me in the upper leg, about a foot above my knee, on the side. Left a curved, hoof shaped bruise. ouch. It made me mad, of course, and I took off after her yelling and whacking her with a halter. 

I'm thinking I'm going to have to go to being over-the-top about demanding respect from now on. Not a move shall be made that I don't specifically approve of.

Crazy mares. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

Pi π Day

Hello, all!
I actually started a post earlier this week, never finished, and decided not to post it at all :) Sooo I'll just tell you about my day/weekend.

Friday, kids from a trade school in the animal science program near us came to see a sort of presentation of Jean's farm. It was SO fun! We went in the arena towards the end and the kids (okk...so some were older than me :P) watched me and two other people demonstrate all sorts of stuff, flat work to jumping. it was awesome! Daisy was really good. The man who brought them their checked over Daisy's western saddle for me (which I stopped using when white hairs started growing in a little) and he said that it pinches her only on her left side because she's more muscled there and that since I ride primarily English anyway it was safe to keep the saddle; yey!

I rode Daisy today and Bubba (second picture). Daisy was great! We worked on flying changes and I got three good ones out of her from right lead to left; I figure we should start easy and once she starts to get it one way we can try the other :).
Then I rode Bubba, for the first time unsupervised! He was very good; as usual. We kept it pretty simple, working on circles (which I did with Daisy, too) at walk/trot/canter. He's awesome!

Daisy comes home this Tuesday...so we'll begin conditioning on the road again. After these two months primarily in the arena, I can't wait! :)

So Much For Claiming I Post Weekly....

I claim on my facebook that I update my blog weekly...but it's been a week and three days since I last posted...*sigh* :P

We were really hit with a snowstorm the Friday (the day after) I last posted...I think it was the most snow I've ever seen at once in my life...over two feet of heavy snow everywhere. It snowed over the course of three days and left everything looking like this: (The view of our driveway)

Doesn't it look like Narnia? ;)

I have a three strand fence...Can't you tell?
We get as much snow as we do because we're outside of town in the "mountains". At the barn where Daisy is, there wasn't nearly as much snow...although some areas were pretty bad because of drifting. I had a snowday on Friday.

I used to post pictures of my barn cats all the time...so I figured I'd put some updated ones up.
My baby boy, Groenemeyer.

And Miss Genevieve.

Snow above the barn roof...

And the barn altogether. Because of all the snow we got, Daisy didn't come home...She'll come home as soon as the property is good enough to walk on :P. In town the snow is melting and it's muddy, but it's melting slowly at our house. I'll definitely need to put a new bottom line on the fence at some point... :-/

This is sorta backwards timewise, but just before the storm I went trail riding and got this shadow shot :)

Then last Friday I went with Lydia (Click here to see her blog) to the farm she boards her quarter horse at to see a newborn foal and watch Lydia ride...here is Momma mare, "Queen Jean"...I love this photo:

And then Momma and baby, yet to be named.

My computer died, as I said, I got my dad's "old" (2 year old) laptop to replace it...I'm still working out kinks. I need to set up allll my old iTunes playlists, I have to figure out how to connect my FLIP video player to the laptop without having the laptop shut off because of it, and how to download an MP3 without having the laptop shut down...as well as figure out how to get my pictures back and be able to put together the video of Lydia riding on Friday...*ugh*...this is all so complicated. Luckily my older brothers are skilled in the PC area. :) Thanks, guys!

Sooo, on to riding. I've still been riding. Last week on Tuesday I did a little jumping, then on Wednesday I rode for an hour and 15 minutes, doing a lot of jumping, and I jumped bareback Thursday. My course was SMALL. A ground pole, a raised ground pole (cavalletti), a vertical...I have no idea how high...2 feet? A crossrail, less then 2 feet, and that was it...The Tuesday Daisy's jumping was bad. She only got through the vertical once without knocking it...she also mysteriously started coughing on Tuesday so I didn't jump much because after a few times she had a mega coughing fit so I stopped. Wednesday was great. She jumped really really well, she ended up rushing towards the end, but generally she was good and she jumped (at least the "big" vertical) round and she didn't knock it often. She was such a good girl. :) Thursday I didn't have much time and ended up going bareback and ultimately jumping...which was crazy because you can imagine my form bareback... ;)

Friday I didn't go to the barn, and yesterday I rode Daisy and Bubba. I rode Daisy first and because I skipped one. day. she had a fit and wouldn't listen at all the first ten minutes... I eventually got the dressage crop/whip/whatever and knocked some sense into her, made her sidepass the length of the arena; that got her attention. After that she was an angel, of course. :P
Riding Bubba was amazing yesterday...I'm riding him again in Fair, as aforementioned...I would post a pic. of him but seeing as how I lost them all I'll post links to two posts involving him:
http://cdgagudl.blogspot.com/2008/07/congratulations-jean.html <- Stuart Horse Trials 2008, when Jean and Bubba had 2nd place in the Novice Division. Bubba was an INCREDIBLE event horse. The best. (from my Mom's blog)
http://ridingdaisy.blogspot.com/2009/07/sundays-horse-show.html <- Umm...Last, I believe, event of Bubba's career, July 2009.

Soo I rode him yesterday and worked on the free walk...and moved on to a free sorta trot, and then canter (although that was not with a loose rein). He was awesome! Best ride ever on him.

Today I rode him and Daisy again. I rode him first and was exhausted as usual at the end, but it was a good ride, too. We worked on bending.

Rode Daisy...due to time limit I didn't ride long, and I worked on some side pass and pivot groundwork, as well. :)

Jean pointed out that the more I ride on the bit with Daisy, the easier it will be to teach her free walk...I totally didn't think of that. Sometimes I need obvious help ;)

It's been in the 30's the last two days, which is nice...Daisy is no longer blanketed :)

Annddd the thrush is coming back in Daisy's hinds full-force because of the warmth...I'm going to buy what Michaela suggested, the Mustad Thrush Buster... :)

That's it for now...sorry for the sudden long post! ;)

That's Winter in New York for Ya...

This is what it looks like out here in the woods currently...we are getting a "snow hurricane". It was in the forecast all week. I took these photos just 5 minutes ago...and we're supposed to get a foot on top of all that!

Otherwise, I don't have much to report...

Just wondering, what do you all do to get your horse's hind end engaged while riding? I'm told to squeeze Daisy while she's on the bit, but she either pops her head up from the squeezes, or speeds up...she doesn't know what I'm asking.

What's the weather like up by you?

Super Sunday.... :D

I had an absolutely wonderful Sunday, pretty much, so I just had to share about it.
Daisy was trailered to board at Jean's on Thursday afternoon. I rode on Thursday and Friday, Saturday I didn't make it to the barn, and then I went today after church.

I ordered the above cooler from horseloverz.com (AWESOME site; lots and lots of sales alllll the time) for $34 about a week ago, and it finally arrived Saturday and I tried it out today...I apologize for the picture quality, I took it with my phone. :) It looks sorta silly like that, but it's contoured and I'm glad I have it, because Daisy sweats a ton in winter, and it helps to get the sweat off. They didn't have it in red, so I had to settle for blue. :)

I got to the barn, unblanketed her, tried the cooler on, and then finished grooming and got on to ride. Daisy was very agreeable during grooming already; she leaned into the brush like she was loving it and she wasn't really girth-y today during saddling, either.

I headed out to the arena and was alone for the first half hour. I got on, and warmed up slowly, first walking and having her get on the bit at the walk, then slowly the trot. With the new Kimberwicke, she's on the bit a LOT more often, but she's not necessarily stepping through, which stinks...I'm hoping to take dressage lesson soon to see what I can do about that. I got her going and some nice trots in both directions while on the bit the majority of the time, and practiced getting nice round circles. Then I got a nice trot on a small circle going left, and asked for her left lead. She got it and after a little bit actually got on the bit for one of the first times cantering; yey! It didn't last for long periods, she'd get on the bit only for a few strides at a time, but it's improvement! I had her collecting her canter, and then I changed directions and trotted, then cantered right. She's generally really speedy going right because no matter what, it's still not her favorite side. I was really happy today, though, because she collected herself at the right lead much better then usual.

After that, I kinda made up a dressage test for myself :P and ran through it, changing directions and diagonals and canter leads and circling and even tried a free walk and such...she was sooo good!

Eventually Oliver (Jean's son) and Sarah (a 4H-er) came in on their ponies, and I rode with them a bit, got off to do some groundwork, and ended up quitting that and just walking around with Daisy following me. Generally, if I walk around without holding Daisy, she doesn't follow me. Even if we've just done a join-up, she'll only follow me for a little while before stopping or heading for the gate. Today, I did NO join up and she followed me everywhere! I used a lot of body language and had her pivoting on the ground just by stepping toward her, and turned circles and walked one direction, walked another, and she always followed! At the end, I walked toward the door, but stopped in the middle of the ring, said "whoa" and she stopped, too! If I'd been her I woulda kept goin' for the door :P.

So I had a wonderful ride :)

Just wanted to ask, does anyone know of specific problems a horse could have in a leg that's NOT hoof related that could throw off their leads (like Daisy's right lead) or make them stumble a bit while turning? I just know that if I take a dressage lesson, the trainer will jam on me that Daisy's hooves are making her "off" when she makes a tight turn to the right, but that can't be possible because her hooves are wonderful right now; no bruising whatsoever. She's had that funny stumbling turn problem since last winter at least, which is why I know the trainer will bring it up. Daisy's canter to the right is also "funny"; to me it just seems speedy, but another rider told me that she looks like she's throwing her front right out really far, like it looks stiff, when she canters on it. Frankly, it ticks me off that said trainer right away assumes it's her hooves simply because she's barefoot, because it could equally be any other part of her leg/body. Can she just have some sort of leg abnormality? I have no idea what it would be...this is probably silly, but could she have a shorter right leg or something? :P Or is it beginning arthritis (She's only 11, though)? Should I try joint supplement?

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On another note, I dissected a horse leg at a vet clinic yesterday (Saturday)! It was quite an experience, but very very cool...sad, but cool. I learned a lot about the leg, and it was really interesting to see everything underneath the skin and hair :P. Some say that's gross; to a point, it is, but I thought it was a great learning experience that isn't offered often and I'm glad I went.