Odds and Ends Picture Dump: Lunging, FLIR, Comparison

Ermygawd, I love this face.

Penn continues to be wonderful since he first round with the lines- he's trying hard and I'm trying to go with him. He's better outside in the open, but tolerates working inside (I don't blame him, the outdoor is so much bigger than the indoor). With the relatively good weather we've had lately, our outdoor has thawed beautifully on the days that are above freezing. I've been able to ride outside on it 5 times in the last month! He's been great about his lateral work, and the canter is doing ok. I've started getting after him about breaking from the canter- he's not quite willing to go above and beyond in canter right now... but then again, he needs strength, so he probably isn't able to.

Saturday was over 60 degrees and he was actually a bit lazy and dull off my aids, which let me relax a bit and just enjoy the ride. We worked through all of the 2-3 canter work straight through with two oops moments. We got our signals crossed when I did the left lead 3 loop serpentine and he wasn't sure what I wanted and I was afraid he'd swap leads, so he broke. I started over, made sure to be perfectly clear, and he did what I wanted. Then I rushed the simple change from left to right and he never swapped leads.

Modeling his lunging polo wraps.
Also, just ignore the dangerous swinging rope hanging off his face, just waiting for a foot to go through it.

I double lunged him some more in the last week - I'm doing that twice a week and riding three days a week to hopefully build strength faster. I learned I can't work him on the lines while the vaulters are working. I thought it would be great- they lunge at one end of the ring, I lunge at the other... except I just started carrying a full lunge whip with Penn and they have a long snapper whip... that snaps all the time.

Starting out on Wednesday, pre-meltdown.

Penn gets upset when another horse gets disciplined. I found that in addition to that, he does not differentiate between another horse's audible cues and my cues. He was working well until they went to canter an entire routine and snapped the whip a lot... and I lost control of Penn. He went forward, got angry at my requests to stop (snapping whip and all), cantered off (more snapping), pinned his ears and ran (more snapping), leaning in then throwing out bucks. I couldn't get him to stop since the "go" was being pushed so aggressively inadvertently. I ended up having to shout at them to please stop snapping the whip until I get Penn under control. I felt really bad about that, but Penn was having a meltdown over it. He thought I was being unfair (stop/go/stop/go/STOP/GO!!!!!!! at the same time). I guess that's something we should work on, but I really don't know how to tackle that without really upsetting Penn... and to be honest, we're not going to be in situations like that very often. I should work out how to make him focus on me instead, that would be more useful!

Staring hard at the vaulters. Please note, I've ridden him with the kids running, jumping onto a trampoline, and leaping on to the fake vaulting horse. He was bored watching that. *facepalm*

Husband got a great new toy on Friday- a FLIR camera! For those unfamiliar with it, it is a thermal IR camera, and our version works with our cell phones. The camera looks at the relative heat of everything in the image- If I zoom in on the floor or Penn's body, the camera would auto adjust and find the hottest and coolest points and assign the entire range of colors. The larger landscape in the image, each color will cover a bigger range of temps. The smaller the landscape (so less variance of temps throughout), the smaller temp range each color covers.

After we tested it out on the cats...

Cat lumps with warm faces (and a warm back since Felix had been sleeping on the chair).

Used to be a cat lump sleepy spot. Complete with paw prints walking away!

I stole it and took it to the barn Saturday to take pics of Penn...

So handsome, even in thermal imaging.

You can see where he's not shaved- the heat doesn't come through as well as it does on shaved body parts.

See the difference in this very fluffy (un-shaved) horse? He's pretty well insulated!

Penn's legs and hooves. And a warm hose behind him.

Penn's other side. (the curious sheath square is actually a window in the background, lol)

Which lead me to taking a side shot of Penn to do an impromptu comparison shot!

Mid-December 2015 - Baby horse!

1/21/2017 - So much more muscular.
Holy cow is he more grown up.

And then of course I had to try the "All Ears Selfie App", which I purchased as soon as it became available for Android. Penn reacts well to it! He liked all the horse vocalizations. He didn't seem to care about the donkey or gate or grain or other non-horse sounds. I got him to talk back to the one horse, haha!

I actually didn't like many of the pics I took using it- mostly because I tried it on a whim and didn't set him up well for a picture. That's ok, this post was flooded with pictures of him anyway!

So now that this post has covered a ton of subjects, I suppose it's time to stop!

Weekend Focus on Connection

So way back in November, GP Trainer told me not to worry about Penn not being round at the moment. As long as he felt like if I pushed for it, I could make him connect again, it was OK.

We've finally gotten to a place in the trot where I don't feel that way, and in fact, the trot is kind of a traveling shit show. After several frustrating rides where he would not bend or connect or go forward in a constructive manner at the trot (aka if I put leg on he was just going to speed off and not try to meet the bridle), I decided to pull out the long lines.

I love double lunging. I have a feel of both sides of the horse's mouth and so can apply independent half halts, and I can't hold up the horse or get off balance myself and impede the horse.

That time I got to the barn and the lights were on, then I got out of my car and the power went out.
I tried to work the horse anyway since it took me an hour to get to the barn that night. Penn  was not amused and was extremely bothered by cell phone light and spotlights.

Saturday I broke out the lines and hooked him up, but with one addition: I tied a polo wrap to his surcingle and looped it loosely under his butt, right above his hocks. I hate putting the outside line under his butt because his own leg action interferes with my feel of the outside rein, and the line inevitably ends up creeping up his butt and getting stuck under his dock, which will rub him raw if I let it stay there. What I do love about the outside line under the butt is that it helps remind him to tuck his hocks under himself. Polo wrap to the rescue!

I hate the pessoa lunging system because it ties the horse's mouth to his hocks. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I'm making my own.
Also, he's been working without boots because the first time I didn't use them (because muddy horse and lazy human), he kept getting upset that he was interfering, so no more boots for you for a while!

He started out doing his shit show trot- using the under neck to power around while being on the forehand. I had some success to the left in getting him to use his topline again by sending him forward with the whip (I broke out an actual lunge whip instead of a long dressage whip like I normally use), and then giving him some good half halts with the outside rein and working the bit with the inside. I wasn't fully happy with the progress, but I was at a bit of a loss of what to do because I did not want to further open the can of worms, and he had improved slightly.

I swapped to the right where Penn promptly moved uphill and met the bridle and used his whole topline. Well then. I let him carry on to the right just trotting and moving forward and establishing a good rhythm. I was able to fiddle with getting him more uphill with the whip and applying good half halts to take that forward and sit him down with it. The canter was much better than it was last time I double lunged him. However, he is still weak in it and can't hold it for more than a circle, and that's with a lot of support from me (timing my steps with his strides and the whip to encourage him to keep trying). One neat thing about the right lead canter was the jump he had in the inside hind that the left lead canter was severely lacking. I had him do several trot-canter-trot's before returning to the left.

This time to the left, Penn was more pliable and willing to meet the bridle. I got his upper neck muscles crunching through to his whither- I had trouble getting him to use the very base of the upper neck the first time I took him left. He did a lot of super work- taking nice big trot steps that had some suspension, and really making an effort to sit down and be uphill when I'd push him more forward and apply a big half halt. His canter left can carry on for longer than the right, but that is because he wants to lean in and over the left shoulder instead of sitting and using his hind end. This is where the polo really helped- it reminded him from the beginning to keep his butt under him and I didn't have to chase him so much, just support him. Mega halt halts with matching forward would get him to sit and stand up straight in the left canter for about 2-3 strides before he'd fall apart and/or trot. Totally cool though, we finished with a better-than-we-started canter that I had him keep for a half circle and then trot when I cued him.

Very pleased with the pony.

Really not representative of the work he did. I was having trouble managing the lines and phone and being effective with either. But you can see the meh frame he wanted to carry at the start of our work to the left.

That double lunge work was incredible in helping create the horse I got to ride Sunday and Monday. We were able to work outside (yay! I can push a few more buttons out there since it's bigger), and I learned a couple things:

• Penn is getting very very sensitive and in-tune with me. I absolutely cannot ask loudly when he is this in-tune. More on that later/throughout.
• He gets stuck in the front end. Especially in the walk. When he wants to jig or anticipate, I need to focus on making his front feet take bigger steps. By focusing on the front feet, I wasn't throwing him away or stretching him like I have been when he gets jiggy in the walk, I was able to make something constructive faster without straying too far from what I wanted.
• Post the trot to start, focusing on making it very round and connected to my elbow. It has a low hand feeling with weighted elbows that tug on the collarbone. Maintain the sitting up to create some uphill (I have trouble creating the desired uphill when not in sitting trot). Put some 10m circles into this work to get him bending.
• Sitting the trot means sucking my belly button into my spine, filling in the hollow that wants to be in my lower back, yet still keeping my shoulders up and back while simultaneously tucking my butt under me. I used to watch a lot of America's Next Top Model. I call this move: the model slouch, but with shoulders up and back. If my abs are burning, I'm doing it right.
• Speaking of sitting the trot, if I want any lateral moves at all, sitting in the above position is not optional. Otherwise I jam my seatbones into Penn, which makes him hollow because he just can't bring his back up and do the movement.
• YOU MUST FOLLOW THE CANTER WITH YOUR ELBOWS. This is not optional. When you don't, and ask the horse to go from collected canter to medium, he bucks. Bring the hands up a hair more than in the trot, and use that to force the elbow to follow. It also counteracts Penn's want to go downhill when he's quite round.

The horse I had for both rides was soft (but spooky because it's still Penn and we have to spook at inanimate objects), and man was his back UP. Sunday's canter work was a struggle for me because he was pushing me out of the saddle and I couldn't work out how to get myself back in the saddle.

I finally put together the trot work from 2-3 and 3-1 on Monday: shoulder in to 10m to haunches in and shoulder in to 10m half circle to half pass. As long as I remember the sitting trot rules, he does not shut down and he stays soft and tries very hard. I was really happy with this work. It all still needs to be better, but he made big efforts to try.

It needs to stop raining. The outdoor ring held up well, but my yard (and the fields) are not.
I bought a chest freezer off of craigslist Saturday, and we couldn't get the truck out of it's space (yes, we tried 4WD and the truck went sideways down the slight grade into the neighbor's bushes). We ended up using Husband's Camaro to pull the truck out. Not the intended use of a Camaro!

His 3 loop serpentines on Sunday were wonderful to ride. I got to thinking I was over schooling the counter canter (or schooling it into submission as GP Trainer said you need to do for 2-3), and I was concerned that he may not do flying changes, so I worked on simple changes Monday (I am not touching the flying changes until the show Feb 5). Umm, he has not forgotten how to change leads. I asked too hard for a right to left simple change and he was so quick to pick it up, and lifted his shoulders so much, then kicked out with his left hind. Sorry man, I'll learn one of these days.

After jazzing up the simple changes, I spent a bit of time working on quiet canter-walk-canters on a circle, no simple changes. I was over cuing the new lead, and he was responding by trying to put his head between his knees in the canter (very bad now that he's bucked a few times). I did lose a little of the prompt upward transition though- he'd take a trot step into the canter.

I turned him out and he hung out at the gate for face scritches and cuddles.

Penn bucking through a collected canter-medium canter transition finally made me find my seat in the canter, sit up, and follow with my elbows. After that, he happily transitioned between collected and medium and collected (mind you he still has trouble holding collected), and I found a nice uphill left lead canter, with a very clear 3 beats. I felt like a noob pumping my arms at him, but I have a feeling I wasn't moving all that much. I generally stop moving altogether, so any motion is going to feel like a lot of motion. I used a 10m circle to get a prompt canter-walk and let him be done.

I had a super foamy mouthed horse at the end of my Sunday and Monday rides, and I was very pleased with the work he offered because he was just so connected throughout it all. I need to get my act in gear pretty quickly though- he's going to put me in the dirt if I keep getting him sensitive and tuned in, yet keep over cuing and then blocking him.

"Hiiiiiii, more scratches please!"

This weekend was the first time I thought, "The show in 3 weeks might actually go well." That thought was quickly followed up with, "Or it might be a shit show. You know, one or the other."

Long Lining & Fairfax Girth Rides

Wednesday 7/27
So long lining has become my new "I don't want to ride or do anything but the horse still has to work" activity. It was so hot last week, I only worked Penn twice in the evening.

Remember the wiggles he gave me going straight in the long lining video?

I decided to attack that first before double lunging, so I stuck Penn on the 5 loop serpentine and off we went.

Surprise surprise, he bulged and folded to the left when he knew we were going to be turning left, so he's essentially counterbending into the lefthand turn. He does that to me under saddle all the time.

This has been a bit tricky for me to solve on the ground: he's bulging left, and pulling the right rein only makes it worse. Tapping on his left side with the left rein gets quite a dramatic temper tantrum that I definitely don't want to get worse because he'll be rearing next (nope nope nope nope). So I got a little creative.

Every time he would bulge left, I'd give the left rein entirely and pull him onto a 10m circle right until he stopped trying to go left. Then I'd set him up, do a change of bend where it should have been, and 10m circle left.

After traveling up and down the ring once, he gave up on that and was happy to go straight until I told him otherwise. I debated doing the exercise in trot, however that would require a bit of running and it was too hot for that. His double lunge work was good, but he continues to be looky. I got after him a little and he went back to work nicely. Very happy I opted not to ride that night!


Fairfax Performance Girth - Short Event

Penn's new (to us) girth arrived last Thursday! It's all very exciting. It had some big promises (copied from their website):

"The first girth to be based on scientific research and proven to improve the horse’s performance by:

• Dramatically reducing pressure (up to 82%)

• Significantly increasing range of movement (up to 33% in forelimb protraction compared to the horse’s normal girth)

• Eliminating gait asymmetry

Team officials were so impressed by the girth they asked us to keep it a secret and delay its launch until after the London Olympics because they thought it would give Team GBR an added advantage. 

It is also the only girth to be tested using pressure mapping (by Pliance) and gait analysis (by Centuar Biomechanics)."

The girth comes in a bunch of varieties, per your needs: dressage girth, event girth (same as dressage but it has a D ring and extra buckle in the middle), long girth, short stud guard girth, long stud guard girth. The dressage, event, and long girths also come in a narrow gauge option for horses who have small chests and rib cages. If the horse measures less than 20cm across the flat area between elbows, they need the narrow gauge. Penn is on the hairy edge of that when I measured him. I had to go with the standard girth no matter what because the narrow gauge wasn't an ebay option and I wasn't about to drop $400+ on the girth to get one new.

The cats were adorable last Wednesday.

Friday 7/29
I got to use the girth for the first time on Friday for our ride. Penn didn't give me his usual angry face when I hooked up the girth, but he wasn't happy either: "There's something different, I don't know what to make of it, but I don't think I like it, but it's not the same..." Basically his face went through a ton of emotions but he didn't completely pin his ears like normal.

I got on, and Penn started off with some weird stopping stuff- like, I put my leg on, he takes a couple steps and stops. Then I put my leg on again and he repeats. He started doing this to me on the long lines Wednesday, so I think it's something bad carrying over. I got him out of it and it didn't resurface.

I started by walking our serpentine and then trotting it. It seems our session Wednesday held because he wasn't nearly as bulgy with his shoulder. He wasn't particularly bendy, but at least he was straight.

I ran him through his paces and asked him to be a bit more up, and he was fine. Super looky out the doors though. He never lost his throughness when he'd stare, but it makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong. He never used to stare this much, and I can't drill him all the time to keep his attention.

However, even though he was a bit looky, I was able to post the trot the entire time. I've never been able to post the trot and keep the throughness while he's been that looky. He felt very solid under the saddle. He wasn't hard to bring back from the staring, just hard to prevent the staring. He wouldn't invert to stare, he'd just turn his head. In fact, he was so nice and through- his back was up, the muscles at the base of his neck were engaged, and he was reaching for the bit. The only thing that was different was the girth. So, one point to the girth?

I get the feeling it should be further forward, but that would mean I have to put my saddle further forward, or pull the girth forward, neither of which I'm doing.

Saturday 7/30
Saturday was supposed to be long and low in the outdoor day, however, it was pissing down rain and I didn't want to get wet, so I tried in the indoor without much luck. He just wanted to look out the doors, so I made him work somewhere between his new working frame and long and low.

Truck's new tires are on.

Side note, Penn got put in 'time out' Saturday morning (I wasn't working because I was at the mechanic having my trailer inspected and my truck tires changed!). The horses spent the day outside even though it was raining, except Penn. (I'm totally cool with that, It was a lot cooler than it's been- 80ish degrees- and I'm funny about their backs getting rained on and then tight). So anyway, apparently Penn decided to lose his marbles when it was time to come in for breakfast. He was jumping straight up in the air, bucking, kicking, trying to run the other horses, and almost kicked another horse in the head. BO's daughter knew I was riding after the mechanic, so they left him in his stall in "time out" so he could get ridden before being allowed out. I didn't know any of that when I got there, I was just like, "Hmm, you're in. They must know I'm psycho and wouldn't want you out getting rained on. Cool." I plopped him back in his stall when we were done (he happily munched hay and was chill after that).

I revisited our leg yields in this ride. I walked them all first, which actually turned out well. The first level zig zag- I really got a feel for how you have to be counterbent coming out of the turn to make it happen- when I did it right, he had an excellent steady leg yield right. It did peter out as we got closer to X, but it was a much steeper leg yield because I was doing it in a small ring, not standard. In trot, I revisited the leg yields from 1-2 and shallow loops from T-3 (since I haven't ridden a shallow loop in ages). I ended up working the leg yields from the quarterline to the wall in trot- Penn wasn't focusing well and I needed to make them easier.

I used the leg yields to get into canter, and then cantered whole laps around the ring. That didn't work out so well- he wanted to shoot across the ring when he caught sight of anything outside any arena door. I prepared for it as best I could the next time around the ring and he eventually did it less and less. I rode a couple shallow loops in canter, and then stuck him on a circle to do a bunch of trot/canter/trot transitions, most of which worked out really well. I'm so pleased that even when he's looky, I can still get him to hold himself up in the downward transitions. We did a quick stretchy trot to finish up and then I let him quit for the day.

So, maybe a second point to the girth? I donno. It's certainly NOT magic, but the looking isn't new. Being able to post the trot and adjust/correct him is new though. He also was iffy that morning when I did up the girth instead of outright offended.


Sunday 7/31

The goal of our ride today was to go outside, do long and low work, and be good. Check, check, check!

I rode him in the pelham, as Trainer suggested for our long and low day. Took him outside, hopped on, stuck him on the rail like we were in a pleasure class (note our outdoor doesn't have a wall of any kind, just an oval shape). I wanted to do long and low using the entire ring because we've been stuck on some variety of circle for the past month and haven't spent much time going straight, or doing simple things like mind numbing on the rail work. He kept jumping around, on and off the rail, and I kept having to put him back on it. He was a bit looky in walk, so I put him to work in trot to give him a little more to focus on.

I really thought about what my hands and legs were doing and saying. When long lining- I'd never pull my inside rein to circle or turn and keep my smothering hold on the outside rein. Why would I do that riding? I've had so many instructions over the years, "the inside rein turns you in" then "the inside rein does nothing" "the inside rein helps with bend" "turn from your outside aids" and so on. This has really caused me to positively SMOTHER the horse with my outside rein and to never give it in the slightest. Well, on a circle, you have to give the outside rein a little! The outside of the horse's body needs to get longer. Our outdoor has curved short sides- not flat sides like the indoor. So I pretended that the ends of my arena were large circles. Give the outside rein a hair, open the inside rein since he wants to stare outside. Well of course he fell in. Add some inside leg to a supportive, yet not a brick wall, outside rein. He happily stretched down, stayed on the rail, and focused. Whaaaa? The bend wasn't great, and I had to constantly remind him of it since he wants to look around, but I'd just remind him and he'd go, "Oh yea!"

I did a circle or two each direction in trot, changed rein across the diagonal for the new directions, then went off to canter left first. Same thing, don't smother with the outside rein, inside leg on to keep him from falling in. He cantered laps around the ring, did a large 35m circle, then I took him across the diagonal and tried to do a simple change to the right lead... that didn't work out so well since I'm pretty sure he was tired from all that canter (but he didn't fall into the trot like he used to). I didn't even ask for a simple change, instead I rebalanced the trot properly and asked for the right lead when we hit the rail at the end of the diagonal. Off to canter! The right lead is much better balanced than the left. He happily trucked along for a lap or two before I decided to bring him back to trot nicely, then to walk.

Long rein and quit for the day. He did about 15 min of work, but he did exactly what I wanted, and I behaved by not smothering him!

No point for the girth. I donno if the girth had any play in him being good, or if I just decided to help him out by trying to be a better rider.

End Thoughts:

The fairfax girth definitely sits better on Penn than his TSF girth. He seems to like it more- hooking up the girth isn't quite so offensive anymore. It's not even tightening the girth that's the problem- he's angry about it as I'm pulling it under his belly and before it reaches the billets. He isn't reaching around to bite the crossties now. If it does actually feel better, I'm sure it will take time (and a chiro adjustment- he was out in the sternum last time so I'm sure he's out there again) for him to learn it's not horrible. Or he may just be this way. So far, the girth is definitely not a magic solution. However, I've had some noticeable improvements: he's much more through and absolutely carried bigger gaits this past weekend. I was able to post the trot because he took direction well (maybe it was all the long lining we've been doing, maybe he's just getting better again, maybe it was him being more comfortable with the girth). I'll certainly keep using it! I'll be keeping it, if only because it does fit him better than the TSF girth and he's not quite so offended by it. Further review of the girth TBA.

________________________

Tonight we have a shortened lesson because I mistakenly scheduled the farrier for a lesson night... so lesson at 6:30, farrier due in sometime after 7.

Tomorrow is going to be quite exciting, I found out about a Wednesday night obstacle trail practice at a local farm through Facebook, and one of our trail ladies is going! I asked if Penn and I could tag along, she said sure! I'm so excited to take Penn and to play with tarps, bridges, and pool noodles off property! I'm quite sure I will be the only english riding rider there, so it should be fun!

Long Lining Demo

Long lining: An excellent tool to have in your tool box.

I'm prefacing this whole thing with: I am not a trainer. My own trainer started Mikey on the lines for me, then handed him off about 20 min later after he had a good grasp of it and had run him through all of his paces. I long lined Mikey a TON before helping her start a very troublesome mare who definitely gave me a crash course in when to let go and how to read the horse for when shit is going to hit the fan (rearing, spinning, bolting). I believe someone else started Penn on long lining as he seemed very chill with the whole deal when I tried to start him. Mikey and Penn gave me good experience in the basics, the troublesome mare gave me troubleshooting experience for sure (she had ZERO self preservation instincts). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, use your trainer to help you get started. If a trainer is not available and you still want to try, use a dead broke horse to get going and keep it simple! Horses seem to either react well to long lining, or they lose their shit and can seriously hurt themselves. This post is how I long line and is based on my experiences with two well behaved horses and one very very naughty mare.

_______________________________

Several of you have expressed interest in learning to long line, but lament that there isn't a trainer to get you started (again, see above!). I took my helmet cam to the barn with me to show you how I do it.

Dressed to play! Also, matching!

You will need:

• A dead broke horse, or one that already knows how to drive or long line. Most horses that know how to ride and steer usually take well to it.
• A surcingle (a saddle will do, but I've never done it with one)
• Saddle pad of some kind (I like using a half pad and regular pad because surcingles just never seem to fit right).
• Two long lunge lines - I prefer these ones from Schneider's because they are all cotton, clip together if desired, and are the longest lines I could find at 24'.
• Snaffle bridle, sans reins.
• Horse leg protection (optional, but I recommend it)
• Gloves
• Helmet (optional, I don't wear one normally to long line, but would never judge if someone else wanted to!)
• Whip (optional, I prefer a very long dressage whip, almost driving whip length)
• A trainer (preferred) or willing victim friend to help get you started.

Too much on the forehand, but still an attractive picture.

Getting Started:

Before I took Mikey and Penn into the ring to get going, I rubbed them all over with the lines. Mikey was always funny about ropes/tapes running the length of his body (made measuring for blankets interesting). I didn't want either horse to panic about the lines touching them. I unrolled the lines and draped them all over and across as much of the horse as possible. No idea if either horse really needed this, but it made me feel better.

I use the bottom ring on the surcingle. Yes, your hands are near the top ring, but putting them through the bottom ring seems to keep the horse steadier. I want steady since Penn's problem is unsteady. I also hold the reins like I would regular reins, not in a driving hold.

The first time you long line, use a completely enclosed space. If you have an indoor, use that, and close all of the doors so there aren't any distractions for the horse (I didn't close them in my video because Penn has done this many times before). We started troublesome mare in a smaller flat field. Not ideal, but it was the best space available.

Stretching while I get my shit together and attempt to take pictures of him.

Hook up your lines while you have your friend hold your horse. Get behind the horse, far enough back so they can't kick you (a reason I like my 24' lines), and cluck and ask the horse to walk on while your friend leads the horse forward. Don't aggressively slap them on the sides with the lines- work up to using the lines as your leg. Have the friend lead the horse around for as long as it takes for the horse to become comfortable and understand going forward with a person behind them. I had my friend slowly walk away from Penn rather than stop and let him pass her by. It was a non-event for him though. He was mostly confused about why there was a person up there to begin with. If your friend has long lining experience and you've never done it, let your friend hold the lines and you walk by the horse's head. After the horse gets it, swap places.

Things to remember:

• This takes A LOT of coordination.
• Keep a good pace behind the horse. The horse shouldn't be pulling you along, but there shouldn't be excessive loop in the rein either. Keep a steady contact.
• The lines act as both hand and leg. Direct pulls act like your hand, taps/slaps against the horse's side act like your leg. I rarely use the the whip- mostly just to ask for canter while on the circle.
• Every cue you give will be amplified by the time it reaches the horse. Heavy in your left rein? You'll be dragging the left side of your horse's face into a wall. All the time. Small corrections with your hand may cause the horse to turn one direction or another when you're just trying to stay straight. Straight is excessively difficult.
• You will have to "ride" every step. "Constant vigilance!" as our favorite Auror says. If you use the right rein, you have to give the left by an equal amount. Everything is the same as if you were sitting on the horse.
• Hands together, just like you were riding. No pulling hands out to the side or splitting them up. You'd never steer with them 3-4' apart while on the horse, why would you do that here? Shorten your lines or encourage the horse to walk faster so you keep a steady contact. When turning, let the outside line slide and give instead of splitting up your hands (for small 90 degree turns I give my hand since it doesn't require much slide), then shorten the lines as appropriate as you straighten. This really helps you learn to keep your elbows at your sides and use your core to half halt.
• You can let the ends of the lines drag on the ground, or carry them in your hand. Starting out, let them run on the ground (and don't clip them if you got the ones I recommended). I usually only clip them once I'm on my circle, otherwise I'll hold them in my hand or let them drag. Let them drag for your first few times so you can easily change rein lengths as needed.
• REMEMBER TO ALLOW YOUR HORSE TO TURN! You will run him into a wall otherwise. Poor Mikey. The way the lines amplify your cues, the horse will not be able to turn to stop themselves from running into a wall. I made this mistake several times the first time I long lined Mikey. I had to haul on his mouth to get him to stop so I could organize myself so I could allow him to turn.
• Keep it simple and if either of you are getting fried, quit immediately. Don't mentally (or physically) exhaust the horse. It's easy to do on the lines because the horse can't lay on your hands or use you as a crutch. Penn never goes for longer than 20 min. That said, you can probably spend 30-40 min just walking behind the horse doing stupid basic steering figures so you can learn to steer all over again and stop drunk driving.

I recorded getting started with my helmet cam. I'm a bit further back than I usually am, mostly because I wasn't sure what it would look like in the video. You may have to turn up the volume- I couldn't get the video editor to turn it up. It was 93 degrees and muggy on Sunday when I recorded this, so bear with the puffing as I talk to you.

Things to do your first time long lining:

• Stick to the walk. You could spend an hour behind the horse practicing steering. And then spend another hour the next day practicing steering again. Repeat until you're not inadvertently driving drunk most of the time. Have fun running behind your horse for trot and canter. Try it at least once after you've got the basics down. I can't stay on my feet in sand, at the proper pace, and attempt to steer or work the horse correctly all at the same time, so I don't trot or canter off the circle unless it's to go straight for a couple strides to move down the ring.
• Walk basic figures: 10m teardrop reversals (like in the video), diagonals, centerlines, quarterlines, 20m squares. Pay attention to your geometry and the horse's projected track vs the desired track. Don't try leg yielding or shoulder in or anything fancy until you can steer.
• Pay attention to if you have a heavy hand (I bet you do). Is your horse's head always cocked one particular direction? I'm heavy in my left hand and outside hand.

On the circle:

You can see in the video that Penn's hindquarters are in for most of it. That's an issue I have because I'm way too heavy on my outside rein. I smother with it to try and get the turns to happen. I am not excellent at working on the circle. I can do enough to get Penn to balance and hold himself up. This is where you'll notice your horse's biggest weaknesses. Penn's canter was so unbalanced as of Jan/Feb this year that he couldn't hold himself up for more then a quarter of a circle on the lines. He'd fall and trip all over himself (that's how much I held him together). He can hold it well for about a circle now- I tend to bring him back to trot early to make a good transition happen.

Blooper reel: I asked for canter while attempting to take pictures and he didn't appreciate the stale hand. He took off and bucked. This was just before, I was so mad that my rapid fire missed it!

Pay attention to bend, circle size and shape, and walk with the horse. None of that standing still in the middle stuff. This is an active participation activity. Spiral in and out is a good exercise to do, and it takes a lot of coordination between shortening/lengthening the lines and giving correct instruction to the horse.

Better canter. Still a little zoomy and wanting to lean over the inside shoulder.

I mostly pay attention to keeping Penn as uphill as I can, and standing up and not leaning over his inside shoulder. You'll have to half halt and urge for forward and it will be like you're riding.

You can double lunge with the outside rein coming up over the spine, or behind the haunches. I like the feel that over the spine gives me, but behind the haunches encourages more stepping under. I have trouble with the outside line creeping up under the tail, especially in canter. I think this is because I'm too heavy in my outside rein.

I don't have as many tips for working on the circle, mostly because I'm still working that part out myself and I think it's very horse specific. I do know that I now despise working with a single lunge line and side reins. They feel stale and dead to me after having a feel of each side of the bit using double lines. Right now, I'm trying to encourage forward so Penn gets uphill, but it's a fine line between uphill and then running and being downhill. We're working on a strength issue right now, both on the lines and under saddle!

So proud of himself.

By the way, when I get pictures of him working on the lines, I usually hold them like the fillis hold on a double bridle. I feel like since if I use one, the other should give, this let's me have a small say in what's happening as I attempt pictures.

Troublesome Mare:

I debated with whether to include this section about the mare, however, I wanted to share my experience of when the shit hits the fan.

I wrote about the troublesome mare a while back. In fact, I worked with her on the day of Penn's PPE. She was having a problem with moving forward and Trainer wasn't comfortable sitting on her anymore, so she opted to swap to long lining to get the mare moving forward on her own. Trainer walked her forward for me, but as soon as she'd move away, the mare would violently react to my gentle tugs to steer:

• Rearing - I'd take the lines, and just like you would on a horse that's starting to rear while you're sitting on them, attempt to break the upward motion by pulling the head to one side. I would work her back and forth until the upward motion stopped, let her rest, then politely ask her to move forward again like nothing ever happened. Crude? Yes. Effective? Yes. The mare never got further off the ground than a few inches.
• Spinning - She'd spin and wrap the line around her neck 2 or 3 times. I removed all pressure from the situation and just try calming her with my voice. I'd unwrap her carefully, reset, and ask her to move forward again.
• Bolting - As terrible as it sounds, I simply let go of her after making an attempt to stop her. Getting dragged is NOT worth it. We'd catch her, then reset so she wouldn't learn that pulling away would make us go away. She'd gallop full tilt for laps around the field, and never once stepped on the lines, just FYI.

These were all responses to simple cues like pulling the right rein to turn right. No tapping with the line, nothing. Basically, the goal was to remove all pressure, let her decompress for a moment, then start again. After 20 min of this, she eventually gave in to walking and turning right and left, but we could see her wheels turning to try and figure out how to get out of it. Don't start with a horse like this one, use the most broke horse you can find.

Just like air conditioning?

I hope this answers anyone's questions about long lining and how I do it. Please please please, if you decide to give it a try, don't do it alone and use your brain about how much is too much, and quit if things are going wrong.

Nom nom, more zucchini please!
Who knew? Horses like zucchini. And Penn happily ate it. And he won't eat apples.

Weekend Horsing and Pokemoning

The shit almost hit the fan Friday night.

Friday

I ended up riding Friday night instead of Thursday. I was excited to use the snaffle again. It didn't go as well as I hoped it would. Penn just didn't cooperate. I rode him inside to cut down on distractions and I'm guessing it helped, but he wasn't my usual good boy. He was bouncy off the contact and unwilling to find bend. I had none of the sensitivity that I had with the pelham.

However, a drastic improvement was his ability to accept my input. I could half halt in trot and put leg on and he'd attempt to balance himself instead of trying to run away. It would only last for a step, but he at least answered me. I could put my inside leg on and send him to the outside rein, even if it was shitty and tense. All of his work was much more uphill, which I'm sure contributed to his unwillingness to work with me ("What do you mean I have to uphill AND connected to the bridle??"). I had to be very sure of my core, shoulders and elbows. Everything in trot had to come from core and elbow, or else he'd blow through me. He tried to give me a big fancy show trot, which was a nice thought, except he's not strong enough to hold it, so he'd end up laying on my hands and getting on the forehand. Then he'd be offended when I'd ask him to carry himself.

The trot was a shitshow, but the canter was actually halfway decent. All of the arguments from trot went away, as long as I made sure to manage every step from walk to trot to canter and support with that core/elbow feeling. No excuses, just connect. I was able to get him to stand up and get off his inside shoulder, and have a smidgen of adjustability. The right was definitely better than the left.

Always breaking something and putting it back together huh? To be honest, he feels like a more uphill version of the horse I bought last August. The only downside is that he was so much steadier before we asked for more collection and uphill. It was bound to happen, I'm not upset by it. We need to more collection and uphill movement to keep moving forward in his training.

Saturday

After morning barn chores, I trail rode with Hawk and another girl on Saturday. Penn is so super about the trails. It's really great because I can relax and do some Pokemon hunting while we walk.

Husband has been hard at work on our driveway's new retaining wall. The old wall fell apart (old railroad ties) and it had a weird non-paved or supported section behind the side parking spot. Since we have too many vehicles, Husband is walling that section in too.

The back wall is now 5 timber high.

The side wall steps beautifully down from five timers to three. At the moment, with it all dug out, it looks like a very welcoming XC fence and I have the urge to jump it!

Can't wait to show you guys the final product! He has to pound some more rebar in this week, then he'll start filling in with gravel. But the wall itself it set, minus some rebar, and it's beautiful!

Team Mystic is the best!

Saturday night was fabulous- Hawk picked me up and we went on a locally organized Pokemon Go Bar Crawl. Hawk and I are super nerdy, so this was a ton of fun. Picking up Dragonites at the starting bar, getting team wristbands (go Mystic!), meeting fellow trainers and gym battling on the street, sampling various Pokemon themed drinks, hunting down the elusive Mewtwo cocktail, and catching more pokemon of course! So. Much. Fun. We met some awesome people. The players on the crawl were just so happy and friendly.

Vaporeons

The incredibly tasty Mewtwo. I had two of them and they were strong!

My Snorlax is the bomb and enjoys body slamming rival pokemons and beating them in one hit.
He was in charge of a gym a couple times Saturday night! He's CP 1845 now though.

Sunday

I was out way too late Saturday night. A 2:30 bedtime doesn't help you get to the barn for morning chores at 8:30!

I decided on Friday/Saturday that Sunday would be a ground driving/long lining day. Penn can't fight me there and we have to use a snaffle bridle.

I started off by working Penn on a large square. He didn't want to find inside bend (like always), so the corners really made him. He decided to be spooky and looky at the indoor arena doors, but I was able to get after him with huge half halts on my outside rein combined with taps on his side from my inside rein. He wanted to run away (like he does under saddle), but my half halts were big enough that he had to lift his front end and move to the outside rein and find inside bend. We had some lovely leg yields back out to the wall/track. I did this to the left first. After a few rounds where he decided he'd be willing to focus and listen, I sent him out around me to lunge him with double lines.

Mikey working on the lines after he was cleared to go back to work.

I love lunging with two lines. There's a direct communication with each side of his body. When I lunge with just one line now, I feel cut off of unable to communicate with him. Unable to half halt, move him in and out on the circle (a whip won't move him out, he'll just run).

Anyway, I started with the outside line behind his rump, and he gave me some lovely uphill trot work. No fussing, no shenanigans. Lovely.

I moved on to canter- no reason to drill a good trot when he's getting a good workout anyway. He found his sassy pants when I'd kiss for canter- it's hard holding yourself up into canter. Especially when he wants to invert into it. He'd have a little tantrum where he'd try ripping the reins out of my hand (silly horse, I'm not sitting on you!) and then giving his head a shake before standing up and cantering like a gentleman. It isn't the best canter work by far, but he is carrying himself. He can't go more than a circle, so I plan appropriately and bring him back to trot on my own terms in a balanced transition. I can't get the outside line to stay just above his hocks in canter; it likes to slide up and be under his tail where it can rub his dock (bad). So at this point, I flicked the line over his back. I don't like doing it this way because it allows him to travel more on his forehand. We did a couple more canter transitions and I let him stretch out on the circle in walk to catch his breath.

From over the winter when I was sick and couldn't ride.

Changed directions, repeated the square. Little bugger was spooking harder to the back door of the arena going to the right, and he got a couple sharp reminders about inside bend and leg yielding towards the door. He still wanted to react every time, but each time he got away with less. We repeated the trot and canter work, then I let him quit. He only worked hard for about 20 min, but it's more consistently hard work.

Barn owner's daughter has always wanted to learn to long line, so I handed her the lines and said, "Off you go!" He was more than capable of cooling out in walk while she tried to get the hang of it. He tried to spook and step in at the back door with her too, and she over over corrected it, much to Penn's dismay. I was cool with it though because she kept her half halts working and Penn sat the hell down and lifted his front end and poll in walk. He could probably do with some more of those to get him even lighter and thinking even more sit.

He walked her around at the beginning- she had trouble getting the hang of steering and making him stay on the wall, and keeping the right feel in the lines. I told her to manage every single step, just like you would riding, and don't drop the contact with him since you'd never drop it riding either. She said it's a lot harder than it looks! I sent her off walking a teardrop pattern- go around the short side, 10m half cirle E-X, get straight and back to the wall and ride your corner, repeat B-X. I love this exercise because it works everything- steering, getting straight, getting into the corners, getting straight again and again and again. She got the hang of it and had a lot of fun. She said she really got the feeling of using her core for the half halts and keeping her elbows bent and tucked in next to her sides (which is something she struggles with). Penn is super easy to long line and knows the job very well, so kudos to whoever taught him!

_____________________________________________

I have a lesson tonight. I'm hoping our snaffle ride on Friday and long lining Sunday sticks with him and he's more agreeable today!

When I came home Saturday to get cleaned up to go out, Felix was passed out like this in the cat tree.

Back to Work

I am finally feeling better, but I haven't ridden Penn yet. It takes a lot for me not to ride- but not being able to breathe is enough!

I long lined him Friday night... I also had to put him back in his place in the cross ties. I don't tolerate fidgeting and moving and pressure on the ties. I just don't. I find it dangerous and rude and annoying. He had almost a whole week of no rules other than behave walking into and out of the field, so he got a quick reminder that he needed to stand quietly. He then proceeded to look like a sad puppy... because he really is just a big puppy!

Anyway, we long lined Friday and I'm making good progress with the canter. Trainer wanted me to apply strong half halts under saddle when the diagonal pair was on the ground, so I was able to apply that to the lines when I can actually see his legs. Worked super well! I am trying to not do as much for him from the ground, but

Penn decided to have a mind of his own when I stopped him to rearrange the lines, he backed away from me, wrapped the lines around his neck and was just like, "Look! You can't make me." It took me a few minutes to get him safely reset, then he got a couple smacks with the whip to get forward thinking again. I had to remind him a couple times I was in charge, and he finished his work nicely.

Friday night.

I long lined Penn again Saturday, and had a slightly less productive work in reference to bettering the canter, but Friday's work had stuck because he didn't immediately zoom off on his own when I asked for it. He picked up a quiet, but still leaning in, canter each way. I only lasted for one or two canters each way before I had to stop- I never used to get dizzy lunging, but it's a fairly new thing for me and my illness made it worse.

Both days I worked more on Penn's pi/pa basics. I've scrapped the hind end for now (more towards pi training, and to be honest, I'm fascinated by passage not piaffe) just because I don't think he needs to learn to sit and plant himself at all just yet. Seems like a can of worms I'm not ready to have opened! He knows to pick up his hind feet if I tap a hind leg, and for now that's good enough. He's super tuned into a tap or two on the front of the front leg's cannon bone though. I sometimes match each tap with a cluck to help him understand I want his feet to move.

He's so responsive to the leg tapping, that I wasn't sure where to go with it other than to put it into motion in the walk while the indoor and wall are available to me. I don't have a bamboo pole or anything, so I've taken to using the handle end of my dressage whip- no lash and it's a good solid rubber handle. He found it a bit confusing to hold his walk on his own while my attention is elsewhere, but figured out quickly that's what I wanted.

So as I watched Alfredo's videos, the pole he uses to encourage passage almost acts like something the horse needs to step over- letting the horse move the leg into the pole, and forward with the horse, and near knee height, he's always encouraging a big step.

Taking that thinking into plan, I found if I get Penn's walk going, then hold the handle of my whip at low cannon/fetlock height and let it bounce against his legs as he walks, he actively takes bigger and slower steps. I match each step with a cluck, and have him continue until he's taken about 6 big steps in total.

He caught on almost immediately- prompt big steps, then he got tons of praise. I only ask for the steps once per long side of the arena, and I don't drill it for more than two or three long sides because he's young, it isn't a huge part of his training, and I don't want to overstimulate him or blow his mind.

I guess I'd like to eventually have someone drive behind him and be in control of where he goes and his speed and gait, and I can encourage the bigger steps. The whole goal of this isn't to create a good passage or one with a rider, just an idea in his head that I can hopefully tap into for a loftier trot while riding so his first level trot work is a step above most everyone else's and not as far behind the imported fancy warmbloods we that we'll be competing against. This subject gets a lot of attention in this post, but in reality I spend about 5 to 10 minutes tops working on it, and usually at the end of long lining since we're already on the ground working in hand (so not much more than 15-30 min per week).

While I spent the entire day Saturday at the barn (working with Penn and then just chatting with BO), Husband was hard at work on my trailer all day Saturday!

Hitch light!

Light down the side of the trailer (both sides) for night packing and backing up.

Backstory: before we bought the trailer, the tack room door experienced a few too many slam opens. Every time it was allowed to bang open, the screws would pull out of the wood a little bit and then eventually the door became sticky to open and close.

On Friday, the door gave up and fell off its hinges. Husband was able to use the lock on the door to help hold it in place for the night so he could fix it Saturday. I got an alarming photo of my tack room door on Saturday while I was at the barn- it was in pieces of rotting wood on the garage floor. By the time I got home, Husband had created a new oak wood frame that goes around the foam and under the plastic skin. It's a new solid surface for the aluminum framing to be screwed to, and it means the door opens and closes properly!

New frame, old rotten frame, the rest of the door in the background.

Back where it belongs! Shut evenly and firmly and attached to the trailer!

It hangs straight and even now!

I had Hawk from No Longer Fiction ride Penn on Sunday for me. I'm still not feeling up to riding, but I think Penn had enough long lining for a few days (I sure did!). She's a wonderful sensitive quiet rider, which is exactly what Penn needs since he is very sensitive to what his rider does (as she found out!). She did a lovely job putting him through his paces and figuring him out. It was nice to see someone else ride him. Thank you Hawk!

BO also gave me a window decal of a dressage horse for my trailer- family sent her a whole stack of them and she was like, would you want one? I was like YESSSSSS.

So obviously we stuck it to the trailer Sunday afternoon after I got home. It's a bit hard to see- I guess I never realized how tinted the trailer windows are... it's kind of hard to see the decal without it being back-lite or something.

Husband peeking into the trailer as we were trying to decide if the decal was straight or not.

It's hard to see from the outside- the window tint and then reflection takes a lot out of the skinny white lines.

The truck is next on the list of things to be updated, and hopefully the trailer is back to the barn sometime this week- Husband needs it here to make sure all the hookups and cameras work after he installs the new radio thingy. However, we need our driveway back!