# The Horse They Call Jayne



## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

The Hero of Canton

I thought I'd go ahead and start a journal for all my *OMG! HORSEY!* sharing needs with Jayne rather than cluttering up anywhere else.

First off, cantering down the beach! Awesome fun, though I haven't cantered in ... maybe a year and a half, and sat it poorly enough that I am sore in the back. I was also gripping the saddle horn of the borrowed western saddle, which certainly did not help me relax since the seat is too wide and rather uncomfortable for me. Jayne was perfect though, kept his brain down between his ears, and went faster, slower, transitions and stopped nicely on cue despite being a) in the wide open and b) all by his lonesome with no horse buddies to support him. He was great, and so long as I kept him working and focused on me, there was no crying for the other horses or worrying about any potential horse eating monsters.

Secondly, I was told today that he's gotten much 'steadier' now that I've been working him regularly. This pleases me. He has also been much better in the 'not trying to spook' way lately after attempting to spook at all sorts of things last week and getting shut down by me. I aim to keep this 'listening to me and not trying to make (bad) horsey decision on his own' trend in force. He was a little worried about a charging dog and a bonfire today, but didn't do anything beyond a little head tossing and a side-step.

Last, I hope to move him to his new stable this weekend. It's all set up and ready to go, just waiting on my friend to have time to trailer him for me. Then there will be the settling in and adjusting to life there period which will, I hope, be mercifully short. He's pretty easy going and low in the herd order, so I don't anticipate any serious problems.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

I am hoping it's normal to go from feeling like a reasonably competent rider to a complete unbalanced know-nothing from time to time. It's a regular thing for me. Last week when Jayne caught me completely off-guard and bolted and I didn't come off and got him stopped quickly, I felt pretty awesome. I felt even more awesome when I stopped him from bolting in the first place since. Now, I realize that I am responsible for making sure he stays up on all his training and doesn't develop bad habits and I worry that I'm going to completely mess his training up. I'm used to riding _other people's_ horses! This one is mine. :shock:


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Would have just edited the earlier message, but apparently that function has timed out. Today's picture. After 1 hour of riding and before another 1.5 hours of riding. 








Our leg aids for turning went much smoother than I anticipated- no confusion at all on his part. There was, however, a large triple kite being flown on the beach that he was pretty sure was going to swoop down and eat him.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Busy day in Jayne's life. I vaccinated him for... everything ever, which he hardly even noticed. Which is nice, but I wouldn't have faulted him for objecting to me stabbing 18g needles into his neck or a syringe up his nose either. He did get prissy with me when I was picking out his last foot as he finished his grain and tried a half-hearted cow kick which got him told off immediately. He was eager to back away from me (and the feed) and give the 'please don't hurt me' baby face once he realized that trying that on me was a mistake. We went for a nice little ride after and he gets tomorrow off so he can recover a bit. Hopefully he's not too sore from his shots. Next week it's dewormer and sheath cleaning time.

My girth is weird though. I bought a brand new wintec contoured girth, and could barely get it on the billets the first time. Then I changed the gullet out for the next wider and rode it a week and now it's up three holes (of 6 or 7) on both sides and I could still fit a fist under it, though I didn't realize it was THAT loose until the end of our ride, luckily enough. He does blow up a little when I first girth him up, but even blown up, it's easy to get it halfway up to start now. I hope it stops stretching soon, or I'll need to buy another, shorter, one.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Easy refresher work today- bridled but bareback for the second time in his life, near as anyone can tell. He's doing well with it, though still a little goosey. I'm sure the fact that the fly population has exploded around here didn't help that any. We worked on giving/bending to either side, one-rein stop style. He started with lots of tiny circles that were making me dizzy, but he's a smart boy and we got to just giving and bending his neck to either side in a handful of tries (thank goodness). 

We also got in a few good turns on the fore, but definitely need to work on turning on the hind. Side passes were nearly a bust, got a COUPLE steps in one direction, but will go back and work on it more from the ground and try again later. The whole idea of moving the front feet without going forward seems to be the sticking point on the side passes and turn on the hind. He was happy to move the hind end over and offered that a lot, but moving the fronts laterally is either a new concept, one he doesn't like, or one that is tough for him to do physically. No matter which, I think some patient practice should solve it, along with sticking a fence in front of him to block forward! He wasn't very keen on trusting me to walk straight up the fence though, kept trying to duck out one way or another rather than wait for my directions. Again, more practice and between us should fix that.

I don't really get why, but thinking 'heels down' helps me even bareback. Maybe it's sort of a by proxy thing? Where doing all the 'right things' always happens with heels down, so getting that done triggers everything else to fall into place too?

The last thing is sharpening up his whoa. He just kind of drifts to a stop, then might take a step, then stand, or step again. I need to get him to STOP on whoa and stay there. Whoa does not equal "kinda slow down, but do what you want" in my world, and now his either.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Busy couple of days here- moved him to his new barn. He followed me into the trailer like he does it every day, rode over, unloaded and walked into his new stall like it's all part of a day's work and went to town on his hay. He's making friends with the gelding on one side of him, a dark bay. I caught them being buddy buddy over the water cooler when I went out to feed this morning, and then when I had him in a run adjacent to the field everyone was turned out into, his new buddy wouldn't let the (somewhat pushy) lead gelding anywhere near him for quite a while. Eventually he got to sniff nose over the fence with most of the herd, and everyone was pretty relaxed. The lead gelding got a bit squealy, but nothing too exciting, and they hung out together at the fenceline nicely after the initial introductions. Might turn him and his new buddy out together sometime this week so they have head start on being friends before turning him out with the herd later.

I rode him in the area and he was an angel. Almost didn't even need the reins for turning and his attention was all on me. Being in a strange place does wonders for his powers of paying attention. He was bending wonderfully and his stops were better than they have been. Still haven't had a lightbulb moment on the sidepass though. We did get a lightbulb on WAITING for direction when coming up on an obstacle rather than deciding on his own what to do about it, which was rewarding.

I have GOT to get someone to lunge line me on him though, I can't ride his trot to save my life. Either that or just lose the stirrups for a couple weeks. I feel like I'm gonna get my teeth rattled out and his back is going to get sore if I can't get it together and figure out where on earth my skills went. I used to be good at sitting the trot (on TBs and arabians), and now it's all gone apparently, when QH are supposed to be easier. He doesn't 'jog' though, not unless I am really working him and asking for it specifically at least, and he doesn't maintain it for more than a handful of strides yet.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

I'm fairly convinced that I have the best horse in the world. Cleaned his sheath today with no more reaction than a slightly lifted leg a couple of times. It needed to be done, but he wasn't too nasty and there wasn't a big bean to bother him. He got a little more hanging out over the fence line time with the other horses and then I rode him a bit with no stirrups. Just walking and working on bending his whole body nicely, stopping properly and walking over some ground poles. I tried to open and close the gate off of him, but the 'not having lateral gear' made that a bit impossible, so I settled for getting him to at least go up to the gate and stop and stand properly rather than dancing about like a over-caffeinated grasshopper.

I made his stall sign today too. It's like it's official now or something.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Well, he got tuned out with the herd early yesterday. Luckily enough everything seemed to go well... I came out to feed and panicked mildly at the sight of his empty stall, then spotted him halfway down the field, a sad looking outcast pony. He was pretty tired, presumably from getting the run around, but I couldn't find any injuries and just a couple slobber marks, so what's done is done, apparently without any harm. 

Today no one got turned out at all and he was pretty full of it when I went to ride. No slow, easy jogging or comfortable trotting for us today! I guess that's fate's way of telling me to be careful what I'm asking for when I take the stirrups off my saddle. We did do some ground exercises and I got a few really nice steps crossing over in the front today when I was asking him to turn on the hind from the ground. No where near a spin yet, but better than utter confusion.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Tried to get Jayne to canter on a lunge today- not very successfully as he showed that he needs much more muscle and balance before he can do it well by himself, let alone under saddle. Okay on the trot, but started leaning on the line after a few minutes. Looks like we *both* need to get into shape. Did some trotting circles today... painful for us both in the bouncy, unbalanced way, though there was a blessed moment between turning left and right that was nice and comfy. Too bad that turns into a 'go faster' jostle if allowed to continue on. 

Therefore, there is a plan, first, for me, some more lessons, and then for him/us, a To Do List:
Yields: yield the fore, yield the hind, lateral away, bending L/R
Exercises: W/T transitions and Figure 8s, Serpentines, Circles, and Poles at W and T
Yogas: Lateral stretch to stifles, Toe point and Cross, Tail Traction, Butt Tucks, Back Raises
Goals: Decent side pass. Improved strength and balance so we can trot 20m circles with some semblance of control and ease.

Got a comment that he really does have a 'nice english trot' today while working him. Much appreciated, though my rear and thighs don't agree yet. With time and work, we will get there.


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## horseluver2435 (May 27, 2009)

Firefly fan? I approve.
Sounds like Jayne keeps you mighty busy! I know how the unbalanced circles feel- I'm working on balancing canter circles! Lots and lots of work will get you there. Good luck with Jayne!


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

horseluver2435 said:


> Firefly fan? I approve.
> Sounds like Jayne keeps you mighty busy! I know how the unbalanced circles feel- I'm working on balancing canter circles! Lots and lots of work will get you there. Good luck with Jayne!


I hope so, and thank you!

Today we had a wonderful moment where I asked him to move (just) his front end and he did! Both directions! I have hope for him. We also had maybe two or three trot strides that were actually under control and comfortable enough that I was actually able to move well with him. There were also a few good 'jog' strides, though since I had already asked him to transition down to a walk at that point, they caught me off guard. I WANT him to learn to do a western jog properly, but I also NEED him to transition when and to what I ask. I will have to think on this and actually be prepared next time rather than what I did today which was to let him go ahead and jog a little before asking for the walk again.

I've ordered a french link snaffle. He's going much better in his hollow mouth than he was in the tom thumb I test rode him in, with much less head tossing. He's improving on his bridling manners by leaps and bounds as well. He still head tosses some with any real contact on both reins though, and while it may just be a combo of western horse, new/different concept, and attitude, I'll give him the benefit and try out something that shouldn't poke his palate/nutcracker so much.

I'm thinking of just riding him in his halter in the arena for a while until we have better balance- I worry that being off balance will result in me ruining his mouth. He doesn't have a very good stop in the halter, but he does have one and I know we could make it better. Good idea? Bad idea? Dangerous idea?


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Jayne seems to be making friends with one of the geldings. They were playing bite-kick-run-rear-bite games and hanging out together yesterday and were nearly cuddling when I went to get Jayne today. I think they've been grooming each other too since the base of Jayne's mane and withers are all gross with what looks like dried slobber. :/

Had a little fun today. The trot itself is a little better on the straight, at least it's just a trot rather than running off now, though turning is still unbalanced as anything and our 'circles' don't look anything like a circle yet. I got so unbalanced while asking him to turn at a trot I cued him to canter, which he did, which was okay in the sense that his canter is way better than his trot and it helped me get back where I needed to be, but less good in that our downward transitions, which is what I was actually going for, are a little non-existent, and he turns like a motorcycle at everything other than a walk still. I put an "oh $h*t" strap on my saddle today, and it helped me stay out of his mouth at least, so I'm going to keep it for now. We will work on walk cues meaning walk now, rather than in 4-8 strides.

Lots of turns and serpentines and we actually got turning on the hind from the saddle today! YAY! Next up- sidepass. And continuing work on his balance and strength. After about one and a half canter circuits of the arena he was ready to slow down today, so lots of strength work. We also got some actual, nice round circular 20m circles today! YAY! I'm probably imagining it, but I already think his top line is beginning to look better.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Bareback today after my lesson yesterday. Just a couple short trotting bits, but definitely better. If I 'allow' him to break into a jog, it's nice and wonderful, if I 'ask' him to, it's a much bigger trot that I have trouble sitting. I think I need to refine cues a bit. He is SO wonderful about turning off of leg bareback though, he's much better trained on that than I am, in fact. We did get some more turns on the front and hind today to, so while he's not eager or super willing for them, I do feel confident that he knows what I am asking at this point so I can hold him to a standard of doing them, and learning to do them better.

There was a new jump with a small portion of painted plywood in the arena today that he was pretty sure was going to eat him. Snorting and blowing and the whole bit, though only one sidestep/shy from it. Then I went and grabbed one of these Puffer Balls and tossed that all around him, bouncing it off of him and everything, and that was not the least bit unsettling, much contrary to my expectation that he would hit the roof.

He had his feet trimmed yesterday and was only a little fidgety, which is very nice. Due to his previous history of not getting trimmed often, he has a little white line separation, but nothing the farrier thinks will be a problem now that he's getting on a regular schedule.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

My instructor got on Jayne and played around for a little bit. I was right! His trot IS that horrible- it's not just that I've forgotten everything I once knew about riding. Hehe. She suggested a running martingale to help keep him from throwing his head up in the air while trotting, and while it certainly makes sense to me, I'm going to wait a little while and try a) his new bit which should be coming sometime in the next couple of days and b) continuing to strengthen him through lots of bending and transitions. I see some lunge and round-pen work in our future too as she suggested that we spend the next lesson teaching me to teach him how to do those exercises.

Her verdict- he's willing and honest, but still in need of a lot of polishing. CAN DO! 

And all this despite the fact that he's actually already gotten significantly better! Today when I asked for a trot, he did without it turning into a speed race. There were even TURNS!  I DO give him voice commands while riding, and I think for our downward transitions he's going entirely off voice rather than seat still. Maybe I'll actually trot him all the way around the arena a couple of times this weekend if we can keep it down to a reasonable pace to help him work on his rhythm and cardio. Or figure 8s.

His blanket came in the mail today too! I tried it on him (he was unfazed) and I worried it was too big at first, but once he put his head down to graze, it settled into its proper position and looks to be correct. His green saddle pad also came and his green fuzzytastic reins will be in the mail tomorrow! I look forward to dressing him up in his new shinies.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Rain, rain, go away... well. Sort of. We are in desperate need of rain, but could it choose a weekday next time so I don't lose out on a day of riding? The pony was a bit of a mudball today in addition to having a big goose egg on his left hindquarters from a kick. No idea who got him, he's still the newbie outsider, so it could have been anyone.

Jayne and I did some round pen work since the sand footing in there had drained and dried well. Walk, trot, I put some ground poles in there too. He looked gorgeous and balanced, though he couldn't keep it up for long. I'll see if I can get pictures tomorrow. Going to the right is his bad side, to the extent that if I ask him to pick up that lead, he struggles, fails, and then his brain exits the area and we have to start back with simple things he knows how to do to coax it back.

I noticed sometimes he would JUMP into a trot, other times it was smooth. Not sure what that means. He also is bad about not stopping squarely- I've noticed it under saddle a lot, but it came out in the round pen today too. We did get some nice solid stops in the mix, so hopefully I can selectively reinforce those.

I am still struggling to get him to trot on lead without sending him out to the end like I am lunging him first... sometimes I walk fast or jog while leading him, and he doesn't keep up. If I want to do some mini-endurance or other training type stuff, I need to teach him to trot behind/beside me while I run, and that it is OKAY for him to trot and keep up. I am hoping that continuing to train him to voice commands on the lunge will carry over.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

No pretty trot today, just stringy forehand messiness.  Getting reliable on front and hind turns though, even under saddle, so I'm going to have to start getting picky with them and not allowing any forward/back jigging at the same time, which is a challenge for him because just STANDING is not something he does well. Not sure if it's because of nerves, training, or what, but standing quietly is on the 'to do' list. He doesn't stand still well even without a rider, he's constantly trying to DO something. Unfortunately standing quietly is not something I like working on personally... as necessary as it is, it's boring and repetitive. Unless he's really amped and jigging in place. Then it's funny, I laugh at him and remind him that he can work that hard or just stand- his option. Either way we're not going anywhere. Thankfully, he's not shown any inclination to try to go UP when the other directions are not options.

He had a lightbulb moment with trotting on lead yesterday. It was fabulous, and I got my aerobic exercise in too, lol. I trimmed his mane a bit and blanketed him today. I don't know if he's ever had a blanket on him before last week when I tried his out and walked him in it for a few minutes. Hopefully it goes okay and I don't have a shredded turnout in the morning. He seemed completely unfazed, so I will keep thinking good thoughts.

My package from horseloverz that I ordered on Black Friday still hasn't shipped.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Ow... it is possible to pull whatever muscles attach to the inside of your seat bone? It didn't hurt while riding, but it sure does now. I cantered Jayne today, mostly because I wanted to, less because I wanted to teach anything. He did one lap to the left nicely and wanted to stop. But to the right... NO STEERING. Canter, then straight line to the fence while I am pulling for a right turn, then finally, while I'm wondering if he's just going plow into it, stop dead or turn suddenly (meanwhile I am imagining how much that fence is going to hurt), he gathers himself and makes a nice balanced little right turn. I think, "Oh, okay, here we are then, steering is back." Nope. Wrong. Straight into another arena corner again. Same thing, but I don't give him the rein back and keep him in a small circle until he realizes I'm asking him to stop. We'll get there. :wink:

We also did some (more) trotting today, and he Put His Head Down! Hooray! Granted, he was rooting because he was irritated that I kept making him trot, especially in a circle to the right, his 'bad' direction, but still! The head went below withers level for the first time ever at a trot! Now if we can get that into a habit and not just happenstance.

He's getting good at trotting on lead now and has NOT destroyed his turnout blanket (yet). We also had a couple of very nice straight stops today. I think working without stirrups and in just his nylon halter is helping us both- I'm not afraid of damaging his mouth, and he's not dealing with as much 'noise' from me on the reins.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

First lesson ON Jayne today. He was good. I was terrible. I've completely forgotten how to ride with stirrups. I felt like my legs were too high, I got tense against them, nearly launched myself off him the first time I tried to post. :/ Also, I'm always two steps late on looking where I am going.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Rode yesterday in his halter. I got trotting CIRCLES to the left! Not so much to the right... those were still wonky shapes. But all of the trot was at a much more reasonable speed, in fact I had to push him to keep him from breaking down to a walk several times. His head was also much better positioned, not well positioned, not yet, but it was also not flying up in the air or getting tossed about, so I'll take it. We had one little half jump, half trot over a pole about 10" off the ground. Not sure why he decided to take it like that, but it was a pleasant surprise that it was relatively smooth anyway. We're just using ground and very low poles to remind the lazy boy that he must pick UP his feet.

Today it was rain. Rain and cold wind. And very slick mud, so no riding. Maybe next time it can rain during the week and NOT when I have time to go for a nice long ride. This is two weekends in a row. I went to the feed store instead and stocked up on everything but hay for the next month and spent the day moving all his feed and tack and stuff to a new storage room since I plan to move to a different row in the barn. I will be sore tomorrow. Thank goodness for my pickup truck though.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Rain. Mud. Rain. Mud. Boo.

In the meanwhile I discovered that Jayne can stretch all the way past his stifle to get a cookie and he seems to like front leg stretches too. Since moving him, he and his new neighbor have been getting on well- they're like brothers. Half the time they love each other, half the time they seem to deliberately irritate each other.

Today, thankfully, it was finally dry enough to go out! Another boarder and I went on a mini trail ride behind the facility next to some fields. Jayne was pretty good, though a little suspicious of the car bridge I asked him to cross while walking on the sidewalk. We passed a new housing development where men were working inside a house with lots of banging and hammering and such and he was NOT convinced that going anywhere near it was a good idea. Fortunately after only one attempt at turning away and some pretty insistent demands that he move on, he decided to do as asked. On the way back he tried the opposite tack and wanted to rush past it, but kept it to a quick walk. It was very good for both of us to get out, and the human company was nice as well.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Thank goodness the rain has eased up and the mud has dried out. There's still a 10ft wide swath at the far side of the arena that is deep and unusable, but the rest is fine. I accidentally on purpose wound up trotting Jayne bareback last night. 

I had my instructor show me how far apart to put trot poles and how to set them up in the arena on Friday and was intent on doing them over the weekend...rather, on having teh ponehboy do them. I forgot to actually grab my barn shoes OR my boots when I went out Saturday, so anything with stirrups was out of the question and cold and windy as it was, I felt like bareback would be a great option. Totally forgot about the poles. We warmed up with a little "thou shall listen" work in the round pen and he was doing really well. He still tries to counter-canter when going to the right half the time, but he didn't refuse and try to turn and go the other way once, which is what he has been doing to get out of going his bad way. To the left he cantered without running into it! HUGE progress for him. 

We went into the arena and I hand-jogged him over the poles, which he did like it was no biggie, despite the fact that I am certain he has NEVER seen trot poles before in his life. Then I got on and we did some other stuff, and I was all, "trot poles! That'll be good." Then I asked him to trot, grabbed mane and stopped steering as I about got jounced off. He took the opportunity to go around the poles. :fail: 

So then we repeated a few times while I learned to a) stay on b) grab mane and steer simultaneously when "a" was in question and c) he learned that going around the poles was not an option. It was good learning for both of us. His trot really has improved a lot though, a month ago, there is NO WAY we would have been able to do this. 

He's also put on a good amount of muscle in his topline, shoulders and rear legs. His spine is no longer pokey and uncomfortable bareback. His gut is smaller too now... still not sure what that means. It's not like he had a giant hay belly before, but it's still smaller than it was when you look at him from the side. HOPING that that means he's working his abs. Still too skinny for me though, and I'm impatient, so I'm adding some veggie oil to the 6lbs of strategy and 25lbs of hay he's already on. He had a negative fecal on Friday and will get his teeth done sometime in January. 

Not sure what we're going to do this evening.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Wound up doing mostly the same tonight, as I am terribly uncreative. I still really need to get one of those arena exercise books. I took a couple short vids with my cell phone right after turning him into the round pen to start our warm up. He was fabulous and cantered BOTH ways on the correct leads like it was no big deal and he does it all the time, which is a lie. He didn't try to duck out of it at all either! Huge progress and evidence to me that he really is gaining strength and balance.

We did do a fence line walk of the side pasture at the barn, all the way down and back. He was good and only snorted at the scary rattling things in the brush (usually rabbits here). He did try to trot back, which was not what I wanted, but still, his trot is getting good enough that even bareback I was more concerned about him listening and coming back to a walk than falling off.

He was a little weirded out about the couple tablespoons of veggie oil on his feed, but after the first couple of bites it didn't slow him down.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Oops, forgot the clips. Maybe when I take better ones (with a real camera as opposed to my cell phone) I'll post some in the critique threads!


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Had a lesson on a solid lesson horse today. It was very good for me- I got confirmation on some of my issues and ways to improve, as well as direction on the *proper* use of cues rather than my sometimes made-up/improvised/interpreted/"I think this is how you do it" attempts.  I worked Jayne in the round pen for about 20 minutes with some extended trotting bits and a few more canter demands. He's getting much more fit, which is excellent. I also found out that people at the barn agree that he's a good horse with a lot of potential and a good head, which makes me happy and feel like I chose a good one. 

Tomorrow I think I will lead him on a long slow jog... maybe 3-4 miles. Good workout for the both of us.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Went for the jog yesterday and it was lovely. We went just under 3.5 miles, jog/trotting most of the time, though we did have some walk/grazing breaks to get my heart rate back down. His trot is faster than my normal tra-la-la jogging, so I got a bit more of a workout than I was ready for even before the sandy footing we had in places. I also got on and off (bareback) a couple of times on the trail, as part of his practice in a) holding still and b) being mounted from anything, anywhere, at any time training. He took everything in stride except for a bright yellow canvas bag that he shied around about 50 feet from the barn's front door. There were some kids that were adorable and in awe of seeing a horse on the trail, so we stopped and he let them love on him while he grazed.

Today we trotted, trotted, and then trotted. I worked on posting, posting, and posting. I lean (too far) forward, my feet go backwards, and I get all off balance. How Do I Fix This?? GAH! I'll get like 5 strides right, then it's all over.

Jayne was perfect about it though, he really took care of me. Whenever he'd feel me getting too far forward, he'd slow down or stop while I got my balance back. Now if only his trot was a little less jarring, we'd be in business. We did actually get some slow(er) trotting in today though, about halfway though. Not a jog yet, but a definite speed change within the gait (on request!), which is a new development for us. He also got his booster vaccines today, poor guy. Hopefully they don't make him stiff, but at least he's good for another year now! I hosed him off after the ride and he went and rolled in the dirt immediately, to all appearances enjoying every second of it. Horses.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Back from Holiday and Jayne and I had a nice little 3 mile trail walk in the cool fresh air. At the end, he put his head down, I undid the throat strap and nose band and he kept his head down, then I slipped the poll piece over his ears and down and he STILL kept his head down! He spit out the bit calmly and all was well. This is a far cry from fighting to bridle or unbridle him, complete with head tossing and backing and dancing like he did when I first bought him. Success!


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## demonwolfmoon (Oct 31, 2011)

Congrats! 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Posting, posting, and then standing still while other horses worked today. Two that I need work at and one he does.  For my part, I'm plenty sore. For his... I think he's getting more and fit. I need to re-measure him (wintec saddle/gullets) and make sure my saddle still fits properly given the muscle he's gained in the past couple of months. I'd hate to make him sore when he's being such a good boy about working out and exercise. He came over to me clear from the other end of the pasture when I went to get him today... that makes me happy since pretty much every time I see him I work him and I do worry that he's going to begin refusing to come in and at least pretend that he likes me. 

Aren't horses supposed to LIKE standing still though? I try to reward him for something (leg yield, transition, etc) by letting him stop, but all he wants to do is walk off. He has no idea where he's going, but given no other direction, he chooses to walk off rather than stand no matter if I say good boy, pat him, or just release whatever pressure there was. He ties well, no problems there, and stands quietly in stocks as long you want him to, so I don't think it's that he can't or won't. But on lead or under saddle, it seems like he _wants_ to be doing something. If I'm making him stand, he'll fidget, flex his head around to my toes, look at me, try to dance off, see if maybe NOW he can walk off, etc. If I'm talking to someone who's on foot, he'll beg them for scratches, make sure they don't have any treats for him, and generally try to be a ham. Maybe he's just a little ADD?


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Yesterday, did a little pole-bending pattern at a trot bareback. It went ...okay. He was a little excitable at first, and I didn't work up the nerve to unfist my hand from his mane, but we did it without any incident or problem. Thank goodness he knows how to neck rein. 

Today we had a lesson together. It was not bad. It was just frustrating. I want to be better faster. When I am doing everything I should, so does he. But when I am off, lose my balance, get all flustered, he does his best to respond and does take care of me, but he obviously can't FIX my issues. He's not a schoolmaster, which is fine, but I definitely still need such lovely experienced horses in my training.

His w/t transitions used to be horrible. Now they're much better with only occasional lunging into it. His t/c transitions used to be non-existent, and now, though they happened unrequested for the most part today, they were smooth and easy, and on the correct lead. (One of) my problems is that I tend to lean forward, and then my hands start going everywhere, and then it all goes down the tubes. With his previously rough launches into a trot, I started bracing for them. Between my natural fault and the bracing, now that he's NOT doing that, I wind up way far forward and can't get back where I need to be well. 

To top it off, I know I am confusing him. I need to make much clearer distinctions between asking for something and not. He's sensitive to legs. My legs are all over the place crazy. I pull at his mouth (not intentionally of course) which just frustrates him. Grr...


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Nothing like the poneh boy waiting at the gate for me when he sees me drive up to help me feel a little better, or at least like maybe I'm not messing him up completely. I used the training fork today while lunging him, and while he pulled against it for the first bit, after about 5 minutes, he dropped his head a little so that it was (just a bit) slack. I noticed that when he goes up to start to trot, he puts his head down just a smidge, but then after a stride or so, it goes up again.

I rode him in his halter and gave him the entire rein when I asked for an upward transition and then only had contact when I wanted him to slow or stop. The downwards were not quick at all, but they were straight. He takes the release as a cue to walk on... still not sure if that's okay or not. I did get him to drop his head while asking him to back. Somehow I know I can use that. Just not sure how yet. I think I will work on generalizing what he knows, which is to drop his head when I touch his poll, to getting him to drop his head when I push along the top of his neck, then I should be able to request it more easily under saddle.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Yesterday was a layzeeee day. Went out, caught, brushed and cleaned, then turned him out in the grassy side paddock while I read a book and kept a loose eye on him (the fence is lacking in a couple spots). He grazed, mostly staying in my general area. I went to catch him, he trotted off, I followed him for about 10 seconds, then he turned to face me properly, so I went up, scratched him and then sat back down and read some more. Then I 'caught' him a couple more times for practice between chapters, though he just stood there.

Today was an exercise in distractions. TWO horses were in the arena with us (it's plenty big enough), one of whom he did not know, which was cause for plenty of interest and snorting on his end, AND the horses in the pasture that borders the arena were running and bucking and raising a ruckus. There were also some human spectators. We 'worked' on bending and stopping properly, but really just worked on the concept of paying attention and staying focused even with distractions. The "worst" (in quotes since it wasn't really that bad) he was happened when we were at the pasture end of the arena and the herd galloped by- he tried to lope off with them, though a one rein stop (another skill we're working on) ended that right quick. 

He was super affectionate today though- doing his best imitation of a puppy dog, hanging out with me, offering to try to groom me, and following me about. Everyone who meets him comments on some variation of "nice, sweet, easy going, etc" which I take as a very good sign that it's not just proud mama syndrome that I think so.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Jayne continues to be fantastic, and I seem to have taught him to lift up each hind leg when I rub his stifle... though I was TRYING for carrot stretches, lol. He does stretch, but seems to have decided my goal is to get him to touch his nose to his stifle and lifting his leg up as high and forward as he can makes it easier to do. Kind of hilarious and unintentional, but I'm going with it because it does make me laugh. He's getting better all around, and I am improving somewhat, slowly. My horse is just AMAZINGINGLY willing. He tries, and tries and will try again to figure out and then do what I want, no matter what it is. Hopefully I can get good enough to deserve such a good horse.

I've taken to singing "twinkle, twinkle, little star" while I ride. Stupid, but much harder to be tense and hold my breath at the same time, so it works. Next up, NOT looking at the ground every time I ask him to turn. 

He needs his teeth done badly. I was hoping to get them done by now, but as I have to borrow and beg a ride for him to the folks that do it, I have to go with when I can get. Looks like it will be done within the next four weeks though. Thankfully. He's still gaining weight and muscle even so.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Neither I nor Jayne fell off the planet, but I was away for a week, so nothing doing and he got a nice rest. Today we went for a nice ride on the beach, and other than a terrifying horse eating 10ft wide kite, all was well. He is really coming along well and I am nearly happy with his weight and muscle, though the real tell will be when he sheds out his winter coat and I get to see what's underneath!

Getting his teeth done has taken much longer to get in than I anticipated, but we have an appointment for the weekend after next, so at least is is finally set and going to get done. There have been some upsets at the barn with one horse being euthanized for medical reasons, another changing owners and stalls, but staying in the barn, and two new horses coming in last weekend. Fortunately they seem to be well socialized horses and I haven't seen any marks from any scuffles, though I do think they're causing a stir and everyone's getting run around a bit since there have been some unusually sweaty looking ponehs when they come in for the night.

After a week off, I think I might be pretty sore tomorrow...


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Fell off the internets for a while there, and likely will be off for a while in the future, but Jayne and I continue to do well. He is so fit now compared to when I got him, he doesn't even look the same. He has a lot more sass now too, perhaps unsurprisingly, but is still eager to work and learn. 

Sadly enough most of the past three weeks have been muddy, slick and disgusting when it comes to riding. We did get in a little bit of a two hour trail ride yesterday before the heavens opened up again. Despite our buddy being a little bit excitable, he was a perfect gentleman. Asked for a trot a couple of times and got one without asking a couple of times, but it still is very tough for him to stay focused at anything more than a walk on the trail and he goes into his horrible, jouncy imitation of a trot. In the arena we're doing much, much better, and have a nice trot, even with a little bending most days.

We're getting there.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Busy, busy times with the horse and in life in the past couple of months. We went out on a big group trip trail ride with dozens of other horses, worked near some cows in a hay field, met donkeys and mules, and learned that we can go faster than a walk while still keeping the brains (mostly) between the ears. We also learned some speed control and the start of a decent jog.

We also had a "rider being less smart than the horse" day when I rode him bareback out into the field and he got ****y about me not letting him run back to the barn. He ducked left and gave a tiny little buck that set me forward and off balance. I chose between fighting him and pulling myself back into the right place and went with the latter. He took me essentially tossing away the reins as permission to do whatever he wanted (which, honestly, it pretty nearly was) and took off galloping back to the barn with me hanging on his neck. Scary at the time for me, but luckily he's not a spooky or stupid horse and just ran through a couple open gates, back to the barn, and up to the stalls before stopping and standing quietly. I grabbed the reins back up and asked him to walk, bend, etc and he was perfectly willing and calm. Then he got to exercise in the round pen a little... because hey, if he wants to run back at the barn, we can totally do that.

So, on the "bad" side, I let him practice running back to the barn by not anticipating him wanting to and then tossing the reins. On the "good" side, I didn't come off, I (unintentionally) galloped my horse bareback for the first time (fun only after the fact), and my horse proved to me again that he's not generally a "freak out and run through/over the fence/stop dead" kind of guy.

The next day we had some schooling on NOT running back to the barn/gate/other place you would rather be than working and he was perfect. Like "Who, me?" and never offered any attitude or resistance at all... he knew I was ready for him, the little stinker.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Good day today! While nothing was perfect and pretty, we got some turns both ways on the front and on the hind, some controlled trotting for a couple strides at a time before trying to rush, and some good stops. We also got a reasonable lope to the left and about three strides to the right, which is his bad direction. His remarkably-surprisingly-way-worse-than-the-other side. To the left, okay, need some work on rating the speed and bending at the same time, but not a problem. Right? You mean bend my neck right while I go in a straight line on the left lead? Wait? You don't? omgwtfbbqflail. So getting about three strides correct was HUGE, and hopefully something we can build on.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Sunday and Today.

Sunday, went for a trail ride on the inlet of the bay. A nice round five miles round trip. Pony was very brave when we found some knee-deep sand/silt/mud was between us and our destination- plowed on through, right up to cantering nicely next to the lead horse in it. I may have been more worried than he was, he never even thought about doing anything foolish or balking.

Today we cantered around the arena three times in each direction, and when I asked him to stop (in the corner he likes to ignore me in) he was very happy to do so. I may have to make that the 'resting' corner rather than the 'ignore all cues from the rider and try to get out of it' corner. We were still pretty awful about staying near the rail going to the left though- kept trying to veer in and break down to a trot, but at least I finally have worked up the skill/confidence to correct him on both together rather than bailing on my demand of him entirely and changing plans. So continuous canter for more than a side and a half is a bit new for us. I also did some trotting transitions without holding onto my oh sh!t strap, which is a terrible habit I developed when he was lurching into the trot so badly... he's better now, and so I need to be too.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Quarter Horse Horse for Sale in Hamilton, Texas

I found Jayne's for sale ad from back in the day!


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Galloped the boy on the beach today- it took four tries before he really cut loose and kicked it into that last gear. It was interesting to really feel that difference in his stride between his extended canter/hand-gallop and when he really kicked it up and started running. He's fast!  I don't think I saw his 'top speed' today, but it was fabulous to add running to the list of things we do as previously the only times he'd run were when he was bolting and running off with me... obviously not my idea then. He did get a bit rushy after, just like he has any time we add something new to the repertoire, and went back to his head tossing and other bit-evasion baloney, but he settled down after a little bit. All in all, pretty typical when he gets over exited or we do something new.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Jayne had all of last week off, save for a quick 20 min walk last Saturday, because I was too busy at work and home to do much out at the barn. Friday he got shod on the fronts. Yesterday he had to get back to work. We did a nice little 5 mile ride and he was a perfect gentleman and role model, couldn't have asked for him to do better, though he was still very cautious over the short gravel section of trail.

Today he had to do a little more work- we went out with a just-turned 5 year old. We went out to the beach, down and around and they were both very good, though I think the heat had them both in it's thrall since they were both doing the 'death walk' away from the barn. He did actually run when I asked him to though, without a lot of pressure, which was kind of neat to feel. He did spook through some rocks and brush and cut his rear cannon a bit. It stopped bleeding quickly though and he was never lame, so it ought to heal well. He does have a sore spot on his back that I'm a bit more worried about. His saddle seems to fit, and he's never had an issue before, so we'll keep a close eye on it and hope he just pulled it a bit when we got a little stuck in the mud...


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

I was feeling under the weather last week, so the pony-boy got 5 days off. In the past he's had two weeks off with zero problem, so I am not sure if the absolutely craptastic ride we had on Monday was him or me, or simply the combination of the two. He was stiff, wouldn't bend, rushing, gaping, throwing a shoulder out, the whole bit. I was overly ambition and type A. I wanted to do MY PLAN rather than listen to what he was giving me, and that turned out about like that sort of thing usually does. It sucked, like going backwards of months of training.

Tuesday we had a little trail ride, Wednesday he had off while I took a lesson on another horse.

Today I had a crappy day. I went out to the barn with the idea that, Hell, let's just canter around the arena for a while and call it cardio and a day. Decided I wasn't gonna give a rats rear if he was on the right lead, or ask him to really *do* anything at all other than go forward. We had a FANTASTIC ride. He was soft and responsive, transitioning off of seat only (up and down), and while we were on the wrong lead, we actually were able to make a couple circles (as opposed to pears, eggs, or octopus). He was better than he has ever been. We only rode for maybe 15 minutes because other than the leads (which he doesn't know because I have failed to teach him) he was PERFECT. I had to get off before something bad happened and broke the moment. 

Horses. You never know what's gonna happen.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Took the poneh boy out alone for the first time. We went out on a trail we're both very accustomed to, in hopes that it would be less scary that way. I wonder if I should have worried about it though, he was perfect. He never even hesitated on the way out, though he did do his little 'drunk walk' on the way out, but no worse than he normally does even with other horses around. Once we got down past the corner, I pushed him into a trot and he never looked back. w/t/c/g on the trail and not one stupid step even through the mud and in the wide open. I couldn't be more proud.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Didn't really ride out today. It was supposed to rain hard overnight so everything was supposed to be muddy and disgusting and the horses had to stay in last night. It didn't and it wasn't, but I had already counted the day out and wasn't feeling up to arranging anything on short notice.

Instead I tidied up the tack and feed area, groomed the poneh boy up and then took him out to the arena on a halter and lead. Once we got in there, I unclipped the lead and chased him off so he could get his ya-yas out. I chase him off regularly- he thinks he's a dog and wants to be nearby constantly, so it's part of our normal routine for me to push him off, not something scary. He knows the game and cantered off and stopped a ways off looking over the fence. I walked up towards him and did the little charge/stop/jump playful thing and I could just see the lightbulb come on. He took off galloping around the arena with his tail up in his best arab imitation. 

Repeat a couple more times before he stopped and looked at me. I relented, relaxed my body language by leaning back a little and he walked politely within about 6 feet and stood for me to scratch him for a bit. Then I chased him off again and we repeated it all again. This time after scratching him, I just turned around and walked off towards the gate, going over the trot poles, and around in a half circle. He followed me quietly step for step. I clipped his lead back on and put him away. Took maybe 10 minutes.

I forgot how fun it is to watch him run around and marvel at how gorgeous he is, and how closely he watches my body language and responds even across the entire length of the arena. I forgot how well he reads and understands my intent. Sometimes he's so perceptive, it's like he can read my thoughts. Good day. Very good day.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

As I said, no rain yesterday, figured I would ride today though. But today, lots of rain, off and on again. Not monsoon, just steady for a while, then eases off, then comes back. I was out at the barn and it eased off for a while so I rode a little. The arena is mostly sand and it's been so dry that it has sucked up all the water so far and is still in good condition, no mud or sogginess at all really. No dust either, which is a nice change!

Did some barrel pattern in a bareback pad. We're starting to get the idea of bending to the right while loping to the right, so that way was good. To the left was still more of a "nonodonwanna! Okay, fine! I'll turn left" which means rather than a nice curve, we're going at an odd squarish corners thing. But, he's finally giving and cantering properly rather than speed-trotting while doing it, so that's a win. All in all, we're getting much better. At least he didn't counter-canter me today. He may have fought taking up the canter and bending, but when he did, he was always on the correct lead. I did let him lope 'home' in the pattern after finally taking the left lead, and I think that helped him mentally a lot because I could just feel him relax into it nicely and the tension leave as he generally prefers to take the left lead on a straight anyway.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Getting a 'real' lesson on my boy today! Hopefully we'll get an idea of where our nearlygreen/nearlygreen pairing has gotten ourselves to and what we should work on next!


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

I think my long term mission to turn my then 6yo spooky gelding into a safe and sound mount for anyone to ride is well on its way! Today we went for a 5 mile trail ride. I originally had intended to test out MyTracks on my phone and make it a conditioning run, but it turned into a training ride instead. Our successes were many.

1. It started when we went out alone, which he is fantastic about with no fussing or ighting beyond the usual 'drunk walk' that he does whenever we first leave the barn. 

2. We were riding on the road and a big trash collector truck pulled up by us and started lifting up and dumping the bins! A little jump from both of us at the first BANG! but nothing more. 

3. Then there was a teenager on a dirt bike that he just kept a close eye on. 

4. Then there was a family of bicyclists- I said hello and warned them Jayne was scared of bikes. They got off, we walked up and everyone said hello and patted the pretty pony. Then they rode off and we followed and trotted right behind them keeping pace for about a half mile before splitting up and going our respective ways. He never so much as twitched an ear sideways!

5. Then the usual trail obstacles: mud, deep sand, hearing the local outdoor shooting range in full swing, critters in the grass, etc

6. A giant pile of trash (papers, tubs, old appliances, etc) someone had dumped on the trail back.  How hard is it to go to the city dump!? But Jayne just snorted and walked around the edge.

7. A family setting off rockets in the park.

8. Off leash German Shepherd running about and playing as we went by (the owner had full control of the dog, no concerns there, but I don't know how many dogs Jayne has seen)

He handled all of them very well, no spooking or startling at all! I am SO proud of him. It wasn't much of a training run as it took us over an hour to do the 5 miles with all the distractions I wasn't willing to trot or canter past, but it was well worth it! He was thoroughly sweaty though as he's in full coat and it was 78*F here... I have got to shave him or something, though his pulse was only 60bpm when we came in. He was such a good boy- willing, just the right amount of forward, nice and soft and listening well the whole ride.

I've got to balance myself a whole lot better though, for both our sakes- I find I always put too much weight to the left when I am posting and wind up unbalanced. Not sure how to fix it yet, but open to suggestions.


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## Inga (Sep 11, 2012)

horseluver2435 said:


> Firefly fan? I approve.
> Sounds like Jayne keeps you mighty busy! I know how the unbalanced circles feel- I'm working on balancing canter circles! Lots and lots of work will get you there. Good luck with Jayne!


I hate it when those good shows are taken off the aire well before their time. 


Also, I second the affirmation of feeling a bit unbalanced from time to time. It doesn't get better with age. :?


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Yesterday was a fantastic ride. 6 miles in 55 minutes, which is something near 6.5mph. Came home and horse was sweaty and still breathing a little hard, but the pulse was 60. To quote my friend, now I just have to do that three times in a row, and then I'll be ready for my first limited distance ride. I'm not too surprised by the sweaty soaked horse bit though- it's been in the upper 70's, with high humidity and my guy has a thick winter coat on. Miserable at best, but he'll be getting 9 weeks off and turned out on pasture in the new year, so I hate to clip him too much.

Another thread had me interested in the who horsonality gobblygook. Turns out my guy is a "Right Brained Extrovert." The description matches pretty dead on, though he no longer fits the 'spooky' part of the bill so well as he used to. I don't know that he's better or he simply trusts me more, but the behaviors are better. It would sure be interesting to see what happened if someone else rode him.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Okay, I spent most of last week in Tennessee. My horse is going to think he died and went to heaven! They have GRASS! As in, that green stuff that supposedly grows from the ground that horses supposedly eat! He is going to be SO HAPPY. Well, once we get past the gradual introduction so he doesn't colic on the diet change!


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Rode out today, about 10 miles with friends- urban trailriding.  Wound up lost and had to ask some random people who were dumbfounded about seeing three horses and riders in their neighborhood. Then out and about, by some new construction, and back home again. 

The only thing that worried the horses the whole ride was the curb outside a brand new building- they had painted it bright red, and for the love of all that was safe, they DID NOT want to step over the red curb to cross the driveway. All three would walk up to it, drop their head, and then snort at it and back up. Unfortunately this was a curb by a busy road, so not the place to have horses acting all worried and backing up without regard for cars. Luckily we could go around it, though it meant going over the landscaped verge (SORRY!). Later on we passed by a church with red fire-lane curbs in their parking lot, so we were able to take them over there and let them stand and look and snort at the curbs for a few minutes in a safe place. Jayne doesn't like standing still. At all. So, I gave him the choice of standing still next to the red curb, or moving forward over it. After about thirty seconds of not wanting to stand still and a quick sniff towards the curb, he decided that his desire to not have to stand still was WAY more important than the curb was scary and walked forward over it like it was nothing. No tension, fear, or anything. He just needed a quiet minute to think about the curb to get over the idea it might be scary. Once he walked over it and didn't die, the other two were willing to follow.

But yeah. Red painted fire lane curbs. Scary.
Tractors, cars, backhoes, big CAT machinery, dogs, trailers, Bank drive thu, volleyball nets, playgrounds, black construction fencing flapping in the wind, sprinklers, suburban neighborhoods, kid on a bike, and motorcycles are all fine. The CURB is scary. XD


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Ping Pong Pony. Odd move yesterday when Jayne wanted to spook at nothing. He did the 'elevator' and dropped about 8" and put his weight on his hinds, then went to spin to the right. All of this was in than less than half a second, so I wasn't even thinking about reacting yet. As he went to spin, he hit my leg, stopped, bounced mostly back to center an stood up from his couch. I adjusted my seat back a couple of inches and we carried on as if nothing had happened.

Horses are weird.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Two things.

1. Getting him to eat beet pulp is going. Sorta. He is normally a piggy so I was half surprised that he turned up his nose at it to start with. He would pick cookies out of it and play with it, but no real eating of it. Then I got a little smarter and tossed his Strategy (2lbs) on top of it, and he ate about half of it. Then I got a little smarter than that and mixed 1lb of strategy into the 2 quarts of BP (soaked) and put the other lb on top. He ate most of it, but left a couple cups of BP in the bottom of the bucket. I figured that was some progress. Today I only used half the strategy (0.5lb each mixed and top dressed) and he ate it well and even licked his bucket clean for the first time since introducing it. Not bad for just four tries! Think I'll do the same tomorrow, and then the next day just mix a half a lb in. If that goes well, he should be eating straight BP by the middle of next week, which is good since the whole point of it was to get him to eat it to get water into him, not so much for weight or forage.

2. I need to teach him to jog. For the love of all that is light, I need to teach him to jog. His trot has gotten better. His canter is too fast, but it is much more balanced than it used to be and he actually listens to cues now while doing it, so that's progress, but he has Zero Concept of the jog, and as he's a fairly well-built type QH, there should be no reason he can't do a passable job of it. So we will begin that. It'll be good for working on my seat too. He understands rating, so I just have to teach him that the slow trot is something I want him to keep doing for more than a couple strides (which is what I get it for now). I figure there will be lots of rating speed down from his 'normal' trot and lots of pushing him back to a trot when he breaks down to a walk. Sound about right?


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

My trail ride got rained out this morning, and the loop I was using for endurance training by ourselves is now impossible to get to due to construction, so I am feeling rather sorry for myself. Maybe we'll do some more arena work. I guess. (I know, it's a whine of the privileged) The weekends are supposed to be for riding OUT! I'm not sure it would be smart to trailer out somewhere by myself though, so I won't do that quite yet.

I was thinking of our ride yesterday and it occurred to me that he was paying REALLY GOOD attention the whole time. Anytime I looked down, both his ears were turned to listen to me. And he was feather soft on the stops and downward transitions, which is a nice change from his usual bad habit of getting rushy when we're mixing some canter in with the trot work.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Good Evening. Good, good evening! Soaked 1/2lb of beet pulp (makes about 2 Qts soaked) and only mixed in 1/2lb strategy and he ate it enthusiastically and even licked the bucket clean. Tomorrow I'll reduce the strategy by half again and maybe the day after that he'll actually just eat BP!

He chased one of the hussy mares around in turnout. I am not thrilled about that on the one hand since she nearly kicked him in the head a half dozen times. However, he is normally the low man on the totem pole, and between this and him pushing around a 17hh grade gelding in pasture that most of the other horses are scared of, I am wondering if maybe he isn't deciding to come up in the world. That might be a good thing if it means he doesn't get as bit up any more. So long as he doesn't get any ideas towards people in this new rank structure.

Finally, I rode. We worked on SLOW. Slowing his rushy canter to a nice lope and slowing his trot to a nice jog. Got the lope fairly well. It helped that he ran that mare around earlier and burned off some stupid, he was already nice and loose and warm. Got a slow trot fairly well, both for a handful of strides at a time. Even got a few strides of a fabulous jog here and there. Much to my surprise, he hardly ever went to break down to a walk, despite me asking for such restraint on the 'speed' front. I think if I work with it, we'll have a nice slow trot and an easy lope in a week. The true QH jog may take a little more since it takes a lot of strength and balance, but we should have that in a month if I can do my part right. 

He also was turning nearly entirely off of leg, even at a canter/lope! What a HUGE first I wasn't expecting. YAY! This from a horse that thought any/all leg contact meant "Go Faster" when I bought him. I wish I was a better trainer- most of the time I feel like he is learning what I want in spite of me, rather than because of me. It's like he knows what I am really asking instead of what my arms, legs, and body are actually doing.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Hmm... new place and I've been busy. Moved to a new state, new job (sort of anyway) and have some actual endurance peeps at the new barn. My horse has been getting some good conditioning and though we didn't 'finish' the one LD ride we've tried so far we're having a blast with it. We went too fast, and it was hot, humid and hilly, so he took 8 min longer than permitted to pulse down, but vets said they were not at all worried about him since he was sound, happy, well hydrated and had great gut sounds. They suggested more conditioning (and very politely, and correctly, implied smarter riding).

So, next time I am determined to a) ride my own ride rather than letting others influence me to ride faster, and b) not let my horse race so much. I never realized he was the competitive type like that, but holy mother of * did he about dislocate my arms for the first two miles! This is the horse I ride 'english' but normally on a loose rein and all it takes is a couple of ounces of pressure at most to get him to comply. Definitely an eye opener for me.

Today we did some 'sprint work' since I just got some EZ stirrups, wanted to try them out, but didn't have much time in my day. We warmed up in the woods, then trotted the 1km down the lane, cantered back, up the hill, walked back down and repeated about four times. 

I LOVE my horse. He is the best horse I could ask for, even if he never does pulse down like an Arabian. He is so willing to do anything, everything, and has such a sweet and eager to work mindset that it makes riding a joy. Canter up a hill is like riding a well controlled rocket- he just gets that QH booty under him and you can feel just how strong he is and how well he can go. Or if I ask him to gallop, he's got that fifth gear and just GOES. But when I want him to come back down, he's soft and willing to do that and settle back down too. So the 'race-brain' during our LD really caught me off guard and unprepared. I will do better, and keep my horse in better condition (maybe despite himself) next time.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

We completed a 30 mile LD last weekend! I was wet, wet, and cold for most of it. It rained most of the morning and pretty much all of the first loop, so that even though I was wearing a plastic poncho I still somehow wound up soaked. We rode our own ride and my plan was to go SLOW. And we did, and we still finished with forty-five minutes to spare. Jayne though he was the last horse in the world and wanted to be sad and pokey though, I guess he likes the company and/or competition of others about.

Planning on going to a 25 mile ride this coming weekend and then it will be the off-season for us. Thinking of taking his shoes off since going fast(ish) will not be a concern for us for several months.

Tonight he galloped in from the field to meet me. Maybe mostly because he was excited to come in for dinner, but I like to think it has something to do with me too. I rode him with his bareback pad and he was doing very well- obviously eager to get back to work again since he has had all week off. He was soft, responsive and forward whenever I asked for it without being pushy. Lovely little ride.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Just another rave on my horsie-boy. I love this horse. Seriously. How did I get so lucky? Especially buying a green-broke five year old as my first horse. By myself. As a first time horse owner. Like you're exactly NOT supposed to do.

1. Skymont Endurance Ride. 25 mile ride with two loops, gorgeous weather, lots of riders. I was riding 'alone' so to speak, in that I was camping and traveling with two other lovely ladies and their ponies, but we travel at a different speed than they do- they're more racing, I'm more getting my full money and time's worth and enjoying the sights. Hooked up with another easy going rider and her pony, turned out she's a vet from TX! Too cool! My horse did great, and is getting darned good at keeping pace along with all sorts of different gaited horses (Her's was a Walker? I think?). We did each loop, walked in the last half mile or so and he was already pulsed down by the time we got to the box. No spooking, no silliness, and no being so lazy and sad about being the last pony in the world that I got sidetracked by worrying something actually might be wrong with him. Same on the second loop. At the end of it, both of us felt great! The last two rides we were tired at the end. Not this one- I think we both had another loop in us without any issue. Guess we *think* about moving up now, at least on cool-weather rides.

2. Thanksgiving day ride. I went out to the field (Army speak) for two weeks starting just after Skymont. So the pony got a vacation. Then I came home and got sick, so the pony got another week off. So that's three weeks of being completely off. Finally I am feeling a little better, or at least alive and horse deprived, and on Turkey day, it's clear and cold and sunny, so I figure I'll toss a bareback pad on him (because his withers = ouch!) and walk around in the field for a little bit. He was an angel. Despite brisk weather, three weeks off, and me being sick, he was nothing but sweet and willing and perfect. Didn't take advantage a bit or take a wrong step. We wound up doing a nice little lesson with circles on the w/t/c in his halter and bareback pad and even finished up with a couple little circles out to a straight sprint and stop exercises. I was not planning on being so ambitious, but he was being utterly perfect and wanted to work and I couldn't help but go with it. Best medicine in the world!


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Speaking of green-broke five year olds. WANT Green Kiger Mustang Gelding Do not need, should not get, must stop oogling. But wow, do I want. Don't know why, most ads I shrug off and don't think twice about. Like that guy. Maybe it's that I would love to have a pair of dun-factor boys with no white. Yep. Probably that. I keep trying to figure out how I am going to manage that one when my second horse also needs to be an arabian endurance prospect and they don't carry the dun gene. Hmmm... what a problem to have to worry over, right? 

And uh, yeah, Jayne's great. I mean really great. Getting to where people's image of a nice QH gelding should be. So far, no one who has ridden him has had the least issue and he just takes new riders in stride as if he's been there/done that forever.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Thinking of teaching Jayne to lay down on request. Not that that is particularly useful, but why the heck not, right? Bored. Tired of muddy, messy, slick trails and cold but not cold enough to snow and freeze properly. So, stupid human tricks. His cantering is getting MUCH better now that we're focusing on it though, at least when the arenas are usable. 

We'll see how laying down goes. I've never actually seen him lay down other than to roll, but know from the leaves in his tail and marks on him and the ground, he's not very shy or nervous about it in new places. He's laid down to rest at every ride we've gone to. In a strange stall, tied to a strange high-line in the open, doesn't matter. He lays down and presumably sleeps. So, we'll give it a shot and see what happens. If we get it, maybe I'll have someone take pictures. Pictures of horses laying down are always cute, right?


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Winter has been tough. Between the weather, wisdom teeth, and illness, it's been tough. But hopefully we are all out the other side and on to Spring shortly. Jayne's started shedding, so he's ready anyway. Got completely side-tracked from laying down since I didn't want to be outside for more than the minimum time necessary in the past couple of months.

He got his shoes pulled about 7 weeks ago. There were five farriers who I considered last summer and I went with (IMO) the best of that bunch. Tried to get another out last week, he no-show/no-called so I'm not in a hurry to set up another appointment there either, so PonyO is stuck with me for a bit longer. He's doing well barefoot. He was initially very short strided and mildly lame at a trot, in a circle, on hard ground. Definitely landing toe first. He also had thrush in both fronts, which I didn't catch on to for another couple of weeks, and just got cleared up (I hope) a few days ago.

I have been obsessively taking pictures. I compared yesterday's from the ones a few days after his shoes were pulled in JAN. Over that time, the width of both his frogs has increased and the angle/shape of the frog has widened from 27 and 29 degrees to 34 and 35 respectively. AND he is moving much more freely and not 'lame,' though if true soundness requires heel-first landings, we're not there yet either. I ordered a pair of renegades to go along with the easyboots I've got. We'll see what works best for him.

He keeps getting better though, and so long as things are improving, I am happy. Tonight was DEFINITELY better! He was giving me the best jog I have EVER gotten from him! It wasn't smooth, but it was actually sittable, which is a huge improvement over his 'normal.' He was also WAY more responsive to leg than I've ever felt him. He wasn't bracy, stiff or fighting me to lean in or counter-bend. He was just relaxed and attentive. We actually did figure eights, sitting trot, to a stop off of zero rein whatsoever. He was moving entirely off leg and seat, which has never happened before.

Not sure if it's age, experience, some part of his training gelling in his head after this time off, or his feet (pain?) playing into it, but it was amazing. We actually had a much shorter ride than I was planning simply because he was being so good and nailing just about everything I asked.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

WOW. More than a year since I posted. Time flies!

Random things.

We did some arena work yesterday, and while he was not thrilled about it, he was pretty good. He had some opinions though, and there was some amount of head tossing to display his opinions. He didn't pull down on the bit or jerk on it or anything like that, he just maintained normal contact while moving his head up and down... he was almost closer to proper position then than he is normally, which was the kicker. He didn't try to slow down or otherwise be naughty though, so we'll see if these 'opinions' settle down on their own considering this was the first day of arena work in at least a year, or if I actually need to do something about them.

We worked on trotting on our 'bad' diagonal and cantering. He's not too bad to the left, but cantering to the right is a mess, he trys to counterbend his neck, fall in, and all sorts of other evasions. This is not at all new, but I got some good advice to work him on the right lead in straight lines until that was solid to build his strength on that (bad) lead. So we did, and it too a bit just to get him going solidly straight on that lead. Then we started thinking about bending (which we were practicing trotting too) in the correct direction at a canter. He tried really hard for me, but started to get tired, so we quit while he was still being successful.

Today he "got" to bring me back down the length of the pasture again, which is no less than he deserves for making me walk the almost mile up to get him. I put him in a deep narrow muddy ditch to get on... pretty sure he thought I was nuts, but after a moment cooperated. Then he about walked us all the way back on his own. I barely had to steer, and that was only when the rest of the herd trotted up, started grazing, and he thought maybe I'd let him stop and graze with them too. He took us both down through the pastures, across the creek and to the catch pen all on his own. Guess he's figured out that that is what we "do". 

Still shedding though. The hair. Everywhere.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

And days like today are why I ride with a bit when I'm not in an arena, even though the vast majority of time my guy would be (and often is) fine in a halter.

It's about 15 degrees cooler today than yesterday, and it rained hard overnight, and my horse was hot hot hot today. I figured we'd do a longish easy ride. Long, slow distance for endurance conditioning to help get him back to being fit is the theory. A couple miles out on the route, there's a good stretch of good footing though, so I figured we'd canter that and then trot the rest, maybe 12 miles rpundtrip or so.

Well, we did that, after walking and then trotting the trail to get there and get warmed up, and he was really good. He gave me a nice canter, asked to slow down, responded to my leg, etc. We got started on the rest of the trail I wanted to go on, but it was no good. Too much rain, too much slope to be worth continuing on, so we turned around to go back the way we came.

That is when the crazy appeared. He was on rocket fuel. Wanted to gallop back, so we went another way. He didn't want to trot. If we were walking, he was moving, if we were trotting, he was trying to canter, if we were cantering, he wanted to gallop. So I took him on the old gravel road to help work on conditioning his feet. It's not too bad, gravel-wise, most of it has sunk in and grass is growing over it, but it was enough for him to watch his feet rather than getting all squirrely about wanting to run and he trotted nicely. Then we cantered back away from home another mile the way we had come.

Turned towards home, and again with the rocket ship and head-tossing. So we did a mile of trot-canter-trot-walk transitions. He was sweating and breathing hard, but finally started to relax and listen rather than just trying to pull my arms out. We walked the last mile back on an old worn bike path. He actually lifted his back noticeably, presumably to un-weight his fronts, while we were walking on it, which makes me wonder, but watching his footing was enough mental work for him to actually relax, cool off and dry out a bit before getting home.

Not what I had planned for the day, but on google maps, we wound up doing 10 miles with the back and forth, and most of that hard work for him, harder work than I had planned on asking him for, so I suppose we'll call that good for conditioning anyway.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Ow. Owwww... Owww...

First dressage lesson in a year. A deployed year, where I spend 9 months away from horses and 9 months lifting weights. One dressage lesson. I would have told you that we didn't even do much physically if you asked. A little of this, a little of that, mostly theory. My Instructor pointed out I was really tight through the hips and back, which is typical of weightlifters and runners, which is mostly what I've done this last year. An hour later though, my back and my hip flexors and a few other muscle groups would have you know we most definitely DID do something and they hurt. Glad I already took an NSAID...

So. Thoughts.
1. Relax my lower back and loosen those hip flexors. 
2. Belly button towards spine to open hip angle so I CAN move with the horse.
3. Less butt/seat moving, more using lower leg (think ankle bones) to ask the horse to go. It's okay to move my ankle forward or back a couple inches if I need to in order to get the horse to respond.
4. Bracing doesn't help (which I already knew, but yeah. Still doesn't help)

Exercises to think on/recall
1. Direct rein of opposition, opening rein, supporting rein, up to me to feel contact
2. Leg yield (straight horse, moving away from leg pressure)
3. Shoulders-in (bend through body, rear straight, shoulders stepping over, nose to inside/bend)
4. Haunches-in (bend through body, nose and front legs traveling "straight", rear stepping over
5. Turn on the hind/fan a small circle, then leg yeild back to the original line of travel


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened


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