Lesson Time!

 After my last scheduled lesson got sent far off course due to Gwyn eating a bee (like... REALLY mare?!) I was finally back at it on Sunday! I had originally signed up for a Shawna Karrasch clinic this past weekend at Polestar but it was cancelled due to low sign ups. Like... booo, but also hey, money back! And not trailering in every day stress since I'm only 5 minutes down the road. 

We started with working on the ground and really getting Gwyn to stretch down and reach out. A lot of that is making sure I'm timing my cue when her inside hind is starting to swing forward. From there it's working on not nagging her. If she responds to the cue, stop asking as the release. Know where her sticky spots are though (arena entrance) and anticipate/watch the body language for signs she's going to start slowing and ask again. When she gets that floaty trot, it looks magical. 

Photo from a previous ride, I never have time to take pictures during lessons hahah

After doing some work on the long lines we switched to me on board. This lesson was all about me feeling the timing of Gwyn and feeling the feedback loop. So input from Gwyn to me and then me cued to Gwyn. It should be a cycle, but right now I'm a wall and I need to become not a blockade. So it was working on me while also fulfilling PT duties for Gwyn!

We started with me feeling how she was moving, was she straight, where was her front end, where was her hind end? And then asking for corrections, creating the feedback loop. Going to the right she loves to swing her haunches in, so a lot of what I needed to do was ask for her hind to step in and under her (outside leg keeping her forward). I want to feel like I'm funneling her body between my legs and hands. I'm also working on not leg cuing with my heel, which is a bad habit. It should also help reduce my knee pain. 

Going to the left she's crooked more in her shoulder and my focus was on asking her lift her inside shoulder and step over. We did a lot of square turns, and the combo I need to remember is that I want her rocking back onto her haunches (half halt) and lifting the shoulder up (outside leg cue). I have to think the haunches slow while the shoulders keep the same pace.  

What was absolutely neat was suddenly feel that stiffness and shoulder drop when we were near the end and she passed the arena exit and I just lost her for a moment. It's where she always runs out and where she spins out if spooking. Now I need to practice that half halt - outside leg cue. Because the mare will square turn without me in her face when I get that timing right. And of course, this is the basis for pirouette. Basics y'all. I'm actually loving working on these basics because I can see where the holes escalated and widened and I'm fixing and filling them in.

Some other things I'm planning to continue work on from the ground include a 'politeness' ground tying. This is specifically focused on the barn because Gwyn loves to LARP as a vacuum cleaner. Great when she's given permission to do so, less great when I'm trying to bridle her and all she wants to do is hoover wisps of hay. I had been trying to work on her head down cue for bridling and if I want to do it in the barn aisle, I was sweeping meticulously beforehand. Goal is that she will stand in the aisle, regardless of errant hay, and wait.

And of course, working on the head down cue. I've made sure to practice every time I put something on her face and she's gotten much better! Goal here is that she will drop her head to make haltering and bridling possible by my kids. They don't have an interest now, but if they ever do, it'll be nice to have that button preinstalled.

In Pony Club news, I have a date for my C-1 Horse Management rating so I've got studying to do and a record book to fully compile before the end of October!

First Ride Back!!!

I have no media from this, which is a shame, but I had a GREAT lesson on Sunday with C and finally rode Gwyn!!!!

First order of business was a hoof trim for Miss Gwyn. Once again we did the hay trick and she had no problems standing on three feet while the fourth was being handled. She was very good for Corrie and her feet look fantastic despite the awful drought we're in. I haven't even used Hoof Armor this summer, mainly because I haven't been riding. 

After her trim I started grooming and pulled out her saddle. This mare, you guys. She's generally happy that I show up to the barn, I usually get greeted very vocally, which is a mood boost every time. She also has VERY good cross tie manners. I pulled the saddle out for her and she started dancing in the cross ties. She knew, y'all. Then I realized I tacked up too early and had a half hour before C showed up and we had to sit and wait.

I did, at least, get a picture of her wearing her saddle after the lesson. Much to Gwyn's (and my) chagrin, however, we started with a lesson in bridling manners. She's not bad per se, but she absolutely could be better, especially if my kids ever want to bridle or halter her independently. So to that end we worked on a head down cue. She thought that was bullshit because we bridled her three or four times. 

Homework #1: Asking for that head down and turned to me for bridling and general handling.

She also physically deflated when I ran the long lines through my stirrups to start. Mare is bored with long lining. I don't blame her. But we did get some good work on the long line. The goal is to get her reaching her neck down, but head no lower than withers. Her trot starts to get really floaty when she's working with her body well.

Homework #2: Thinking about the footfalls and really asking that her inside hind be stepping underneath her body on the circle. Always thinking about that nose and keeping her from looking to the outside of the circle.

Sunflowers on my way home

Finally, I got on for my 15 minutes. Again we were focused on controlling where her hind feet were landing which ended up getting her head down and stretching with a lifted back. Slow and steady here. Impulsion is good but she really wanted to offer trot with me. Sorry mare, vet said not yet.

Homework #3: Leg cue with my calf, not heel, I found if I thought whole leg I did better. Wide hands to create a funnel for her but careful not to overbend to the inside when working to the left. 

I came home and reorganized part of the garage and hung hooks so I could store horse blankets

My brain is in such a happy place right now. I got to get on my horse again. My heart is so happy.

Groundwork for both of us

 So Gwyn got hock and stifle injections while I was away for my work conference and when I came back she was still NQR. To that end I've continued keeping work load stress light and focusing on things that are less high impact.  Like ground work. 

This prompts a "stay in School, Gwyn!" correction lol

I would really like to be lighter with my aids and I do think that starts from the ground and can be applied in the saddle. We have a trainer coming out regularly (some of the boarders REALLY need to work on it) and I leapt at the opportunity. 

Super soft and paying attention like a good girl

We worked on backing up with as minimal an ask as possible. We worked on groundwork after the riding portion of the lesson and I think Gwyn had a hard time remembering what groundwork was because we had to get fairly loud in the aid. But when I went to practice the next time at the barn, we did groundwork first and she was SO sensitive like I remember. We just had to knock that rust off. Literally just a finger wiggle and she'd step back. 

Super super cute Goober. I just love her expression here. 

I also asked for her to give and turn on the haunches. We also got a new mounting block at the barn that's the biggest we could buy in plastic molded and I wanted to see if it was good for getting on bareback. Gwyn is big and I'm stiff, so if I could use it, then I won't have to need the tractor. 

While riding bareback my plan was to work on some of my physical therapy homework, namely using leg aids without using the back of my calf, which is causing strain in my old knee injury. Since I also like low effort riding, I didn't bother to use a bridle and said 'Fuck it' and just clipped my mohair reins to the rope halter. If I'm supposed to be working on turning her with just my seat and legs, let's just jump in the deep end and take away my ability to pull on her mouth. 

Success.

On Sunday, Trainer C came out again for another session. This time I came in with a plan. I'm going to be out of commission for my surgery in 10 days. Let's pick something that Gwyn is okay at and make it excellent.  Namely, I want to be able to place her very specifically so I can get on her on the trail if I get off. I can't mount from the ground, so positioning her to use stumps and logs as mounting blocks is useful. 

Thinking ear

So we played a game. Make the Goober Mare walk down the pole with left legs on one side and right legs on the other without being up in her business. 

Pushing back but attentive

This was a big brain day for both me and Gwyn. I think to a some outside observers it looked like we were doing nothing but wow, fine tuning into her body was super cool. Like watching her contemplate taking a step with a super soft ask because the muscles in her pecs were twitching back and forth but her weight wasn't actually shifting yet. It was so subtle. 

Thinking some more, softening. Lots of opinions

I was able to get her front feet straddling the pole with little issue. And learning just how loud I am and how quiet I need to become was a good lesson for me. Her back feet were tricky. You can see in these pictures, it's not just the angle I'm taking the photos at, but home girl here likes to have her hind end shifted just that touch to the right. Goober is crooked.  I have my suspicions as to why (hmmm, that bad left stifle?)

"Fine, I'll play the silly game"

Anyway, this is a game in straightness and delicate communication. And low effort say, if you're recovering from surgery and need pony time. There was a lot of licking, chewing and yawning as Gwyn thought about what we were doing. And then would lift a foot. And think about where she was setting it down.

Listening and being allowed to relax after finally getting all four feet placed properly

I was not able to get her straight straddling the pole with all four feet. C did. I was able to get her to take a couple steps, but eventually the crookedness won and she decided tripoding was preferable to straddling. 

Softening and thinking

At one point she even just straight up stood on the pole (it's landscape poles, so flat on a portion) rather than straddle.

Weight shift onto the front right foot, thinking about moving the front left but mind where she's looking.

"I tap the pole"

The big thing I need to work on is not being late in reaction. I keep the pressure on too soon and I don't correct. Gwyn reaches a point where she thinks she knows what the rest of the answer is and she rushes to guess and I'm not quick enough to correct correctly. So that's something for me to work on. 

Also, key words are patience. I need to wait and recognize that she's thinking about it and that me pushing too hard is going to create an incorrect answer on her part.  And that it's okay to choose to walk away and reset. In fact it's probably a good plan to do that if we get to a point where I don't feel like I have enough control each foot to move it where it needs to go.

Those hind feet are ballerina style in line

Things for me to remember are that I want her looking in the direction of travel and that hind feet connect to eye line the same way backing a trailer is connected to which way you turn the steering wheel. If I want the left hind to move right, she needs to be looking left. 

"Don't wanna move that hind leg back over!"

I like that I have some homework to do with her while I'm recuperating from surgery. I'm looking forward to seeing our communication get finely tuned!

Way Back Wednesday: 5 years ago

When we lived in Washington, the final barn I boarded at was a wonderful place run by some really fun people. It was a family friendly barn, multi-disciplinary, and truly truly a relaxed place (for me). There was some drama with boarders, but overall it was pretty great.

One thing that I appreciated was that the person who ran the place, Dani, (she leased the property) was a pretty good groundwork trainer (I loathe to say natural horsemanship, but it would apply, she used her own amalgamation of methods). One of the boarders, Beth, was also a good trainer who reminds me a lot of Dom, if Dom primarily rode western. Both of them had some good horse sense and I really respected their opinions.

Dani decided that she was going to host a groundwork clinic every wednesday evening for anyone to attend. It was something like 10$ a session and was open to anyone and she would even provide a horse if you didn't have one or couldn't trailer one in. Gwyn and I did pretty much every session.

What was really cool (for me, again) was that the things I was doing in those clinics were also things that Dom was talking about on her blog at the time, while she was working with Booger, I think. And I also super respect Dom's opinion on horses so to have the ideas reinforced just really made the whole thing very impactful.

At one point, Beth came in to teach us about round penning. They set up the roundpen in the covered arena and used participant horses to teach us about body language and pressure and allowing the horse to come to you and also guiding the pressure release to get them moving where you wanted them moving. At some point, Gwyn got pulled in to use as a demo.

So Beth was working Gwyn and Dani was narrating from the side of the roundpen. She's short, so she was sitting on the top panel pole. I'll quote my livejournal entry for the incident

we were just listening to Dani talk about how some horses will look for any way to escape before giving in and with these big horses they know they're big and might try to head for a panel so we should make a lot of noise to keep her away. 5 minutes later, Gwyn is heading straight for me. I tried to push her off initially, but she was determined to go over, so I went sideways.

I was standing at the gate to the roundpen and Beth put pressure on Gwyn. Gwyn, having had enough of circles, decided that -I- was the way to the escape and jumped the panel, folding it as you see in the picture. I remember having my hands on her chest and ducking out of the way and then just praying that she got her legs free from the panels. She had a small surface scrape, but never took a lame step and what I thought was drips of blood on her hooves was just red paint transfer from the metal.

I look back with laughs now. It wasn't even the first panel gate she jumped over.

 

 

Ick, Thrush

It was farrier day today and Gwyn's cracks in her hooves look pretty good. They haven't gotten worse, so that makes me feel better. I do need to come up with a good solution for our ride in April though, because I would like to avoid putting shoes on and I have no idea when my Megasus Runners will actually arrive. They're supposed to start shipments in a couple days but they're coming from Austria... and I have no idea where I am in the order of things.

I wanted to order a fit kit from scoot boots but that's sold out from the USA side dealer. I'm going to be sending pictures of Gwyn's feet to Renegade because they'll evaluate from pictures and measurements. I have before a trim and I'll grab just after a trim to have a good range. I need to do that tomorrow.

Being good for the Farrier

The farrier also said that Saffron had thrush. So it was off to the feed store to grab stuff for her and begin treatment for that. I need to remind myself that she really is quite docile and not nearly as frightened of me as when I first got her. She's never been anything but polite for the farrier so there's no reason why I can't pick her feet out. Especially now that Arwen is gone she's been practically a kid's pony on level of calmness and chill. I think I still just don't fully trust her. I'm worried I'll do something that will trigger some incidence of abuse.

On the subject of kids ponies though, I've decided to see where we can get with Saffron becoming a riding donkey. She's big enough for the girls to ride and small enough that Kaylee won't be intimidated. Hazel LOVES Saffron and will walk right up to her and give her hugs.

She does not put a tiny hoof out of place with that kid and is more trusting of her than me.

I started today with some hopeful treat motivation. Saffron is unimpressed. She is not nearly as food motivated as Gwyn. It's either that or I haven't found the right treat. I need to get more gingersnaps, as I am told those are a donkey's weakness.

"Not gonna move, Lady. No matter how many delicious things you stuff in my face."

I tried a pony bridle I had lying around. WAY too big. Same for a 5" snaffle. Way too big. She needs something smaller and a 4" bit for sure. I found a mule bridle that has a snap around the crown piece to make it easier on the bigger ears and I like that in theory, but I also kind of want to try bitless with this one, especially if the kids are on board. I don't want them yanking her mouth around when I'm pretty sure the first time she's ever had a bit in was today.

So Saffron needs new gear. I do want to get her a biothane halter. Her leadrope is newer so that's fine but her current halter is the one she came with and it really just doesn't fit her correctly. I'll probably be making a Two Horse Tack order here shortly as stuff is adding up and I can combine it all onto one shipping charge.

The Rider Forms the Horsee

Back when I started riding with Jim in Washington, he gave me a book to read. It was pretty dry, but ended up being very informative of the theory behind the lessons I got from him. I regret not blogging more thoroughly about my lessons with him, as he was an excellent teacher. After we all left the first barn and I moved north and he moved south with horses, it became harder to get him to me for a lesson and very expensive with travel compensation thrown in.

Anyway, he liked to say that the rider forms the horse. Everything we do as a rider is conveyed to the movement of the horse in some way. The trainer that I'm working with now has the same philosophy. I had my second lesson today and I'm hoping this marks the start of a breakthrough.

Some history:
I have had a recurring issue with Gwyn. She does not like to turn left and the faster we're traveling, the more she resists the bend. Not so much on the trail, but enough that when I attempted a dressage test that involved cantering, we ended up outside the ring on our counter clockwise canter circle. It was a disaster. This one issue is why I haven't attempted to really do serious showing because what's the point until I fix our left turning problem? When she spooks, she spooks to the right. If we're turning on a jump course, she doesn't want to go left. She drops her shoulder a lot when we do left circles. You get the picture.

At first I thought it was somehow related to her snakebite or eye damage (all on the left side of her face). Then I thought it was because I wasn't strong enough creating wall with my right leg. But nothing I could think of was fixing it. And so until I could get us both back in regular riding and budget in regular lessons, we focused on trail stuff where turning left really isn't that big of an issue when your horse is willing to follow a trail regardless.

Today, I traveled to the trainer's place. There is a $25 difference to trailer to her versus having her come to me. I live maybe 2 minutes away. It's worth the $25 savings. Eventually I will ride to her, which she says is possible. I decided to make sure that loading would be stress free and set up a temporary pen around the trailer. Gwyn has always loaded really well when I provide a barrier like that. She did balk briefly but I brought her around again walked her up to the entrance to the trailer and the damn mare self loaded like a pro. I made sure Saffron had some hay to munch on while we were gone since I was keeping her in the dry lot, which is harder to escape from, and off we went.

Fluff Mare is groomed and ready to hop on the trailer. Well, not hop. It's got a ramp, there's no hopping needed. 

Winter fuzzies. 24/7 turnout for the win. Surprisingly, today was pleasantly warm! Perfect winter riding weather.

Getting ready at Trainer's. There were lots of new horses to see and hear!

I got there as her previous lesson was finishing (which I knew about).  Gwyn was very up and alert. I tacked her up without issue and went back to their winter riding area for the lesson. Trainer does have an outdoor sand ring but waits for the ground to freeze before using it so that there aren't a ridiculous amount of ruts and potholes.

Trainer started with groundwork and reinforcing the giving to pressure and standing quietly as a reward and release. Every time Gwyn wanted to get 'up' and giraffey about the other horses she had to move her feet. Within a few minutes she was standing very still, head low and foot cocked when she wasn't being asked to move. Then it was my turn. I need to remember palm down and release. I'm in the habit of getting into a battle of strength with her and I shouldn't be.

Then it was time to hop on and we worked on having Gwyn stand still after I mount, which is admittedly, a bad habit that I've allowed for a while.  So I got on and off a few times. If I got on and she walked off, we immediately backed up and she had to stand still. Then we worked on me fiddling with my stirrups for a bit and making sure her feet didn't move until my feet were in the stirrups. This will be something I need to work on at home.

Then it was back to working on the 90degree turns and my position and I told her what I was practicing at home. I get very bracy which makes Gwyn really bracy and it's all a hot mess. I do really well looking where we're turning but instead of lifting my rein for turning, I open my hand and keep it low, which doesn't help Gwyn turn. This is slightly different from how Jim had me working with Gwyn, which was with that leading rein. I'm getting better results with the raised inside  rein.

My turns to the right were excellent, but to the left she was still dropping her shoulder and falling in. Then Trainer pointed out that when I look to the left, I actually look to the left and downward, where I look up and to the right. My left arm is also VERY sticky compared to my right and my left shoulder is 'up' compared to my right. When I focused on opening the distance between my shoulder and chin when looking left all of a FUCKING sudden Gwyn stopped dropping her shoulder and we got BEAUTIFUL light bending to the left.

So all those damn issues seem to stem from me. And goddamn if that isn't relieving, LOL. I can work on myself, I can do excercises to limber myself up and strengthen that left side.

And the rider forms the goddamn horse.

After that we worked on lightening the halt with a trot, halt, stand, back up, trot on exercise. My goal was to not haul on her mouth. I sit back well enough for the halt but I pull on her mouth too much. My goal is to be lifting my hands not pulling back. And you know, as soon as I started doing that I got light, on contact, square and nearly prompt halts from Gwyn.

We ended on a very good note with a light, responsive and balanced halt. I untacked and Gwyn self loaded once again. I'm hoping with these monthly lessons that the repetition of positive loading experiences will just cement in her and this will become consistent.


So yay!

Tuckered out (but only kinda)

Reindeer antlers for goofiness

I started mucking the runs only to realize that Gwyn had gone into her stall and couldn't be seen... She was helping herself to hay, the naughty creature.

1.01 miles YTD 35.52 miles

Brief Blog Hop pause while I enter in my mileage for the Distance Derby, which is still going, despite some hiccups this year.

After hearing that the weather was supposed to be lows in the 40s (after highs in the 40s...) but clear and just super windy, I was determined to ride. I had all the stuff from my lesson two weeks ago just rumbling around in my brain and while I did work on the stuff on the ground, I wanted to know that I could replicate the feeling of Gwyn moving so well without having a voice talking at me and giving me instructions.

SHE WAS SO MUDDY

I swear I just got done writing that post about how it all just blends in and then the mare comes over looking muddy as all get out. So we had a LONG grooming session and made sure all the mud crusties were gone. In excellent news, the mud knot is still secure and her tail is mud free!

Not happy about suddenly not having her hay. Also, she was holding her breath and made me think I had to get a new girth. I let her fuss a bit, tightened and went up two holes immediately.

When you work full time (or close enough) and have kids, this is winter riding.

The lights do a good job though! It's hard to tell because phone pictures (duh) but the arena was decently lit. 

"Mom, dis light is bright"

I was toasty warm. I had a wool undershirt, fleece riding pants, my winter muck boots, fleece vest, then sweatshirt, gloves and a balaclava (that fits under my helmet! joyous day!)  

I was slightly disappointed it wasn't colder so I could try out my DIY quarter sheet.

The ride was GREAT.  I started in hand and we practiced disengaging the hindquarters ( I figured out that's what she was teaching me to do!) on the ground. Then I hopped on and we did some more practice disengaging the hindquarters and moving her feet when she tried to say that all the gusty wind was a reason to not stand still while I mounted. Oh no, mare. Not a good reason. 

I hopped on a polite mare, finally and we started off walking and warming up. I practiced holding my hands out and doing the 90 degree turns to get her to start stepping under herself. And we did lots of walk halt reverse transitions, focusing on straightness in the reverse and adjusting the hind if she got wobbly. I tried to mix it up and make random patterns in the arena.  If Gwyn started to get squirrelly because of the wind or she thought the deer were horse eating deer, I immediately got her feet moving more complicated.

That being said, for it being a VERY windy night, with strange shadows cast everywhere, I had a very focused horse underneath me. It was LOVELY.

I'm going to close my eyes because bright light.

I tried a bit of trot too, to see if the techniques would carry over and discovered the most amazing trot. It was impulsive but not rushing and she was SO balanced. We did some big sweeping circles and some tighter circles, all at the sitting trot and I felt like I was riding a dressage horse. I swear. She didn't giraffe at all, and I focused on keeping my hands higher than I want, which probably ends up not being that high and when we would turn, I'd look and move both hands in the direction I wanted to go (same idea as at the walk)  

Oh my gosh it was lovely. 

I got bolder and loosened my reins and Gwyn dropped her head further but still with that self carriage. We practiced more hindquarter disengaging, pretty much anything to keep our minds busy. I did hop off at one point and set up some trot poles to go over. She was pretty good, but Saffron kept getting in the way.

We did some more random stuff before I called it a night. I'm so excited. I can't wait to do more!

This is my new happy mouth and there are already chunks missing. Is this normal? What's going on? 

RIDING LESSON ZOMG

Pardon me while we take a break from the regularly scheduled bloghop for my lesson run down and note review so I can remember what to work on!

My riding lesson was today and there's not much media of it, just selfies while I wallowed in self pity because the weather was slightly nasty.

This is my "I am not impressed, weather" face

"Ewwwww wintry mix! NOOOOO"

Okay, but seriously that's it. I should have set up the camera to record it all but didn't think about it. I was more concerned with dressing warmly.

I wore:

• thick wool socks that were compromised the moment I put on mesh, summer weight paddock boots and stepped outside
• Kerrits winter tight
• merino wool baselayer (I'm still wearing it, it's so soft and warm)
• fleece vest that I got from when I was a volunteer at the Seattle Aquarium (roomy yet warm with zipper pockets!)
• My columbia jacket, rated for super cold weather (I was sweating in the house)
• A balaclava I got from Meijer and wore for the first time today. 
• half chaps
• ariat maxtrax zip up boot (not happy so far with the fit but still breaking them in)

I was SO WARM!  :D :D :D :D :D

But seriously, I was warm enough I didn't need gloves.  The balaclava was perfect. I pulled it down off my head when I put my helmet on, but it kept my neck and ears protected from the wind. I'm a fan!

I think this is my new default for winter riding, barring the shoes, the wind goes right through em. I still need to work on gloves, but this is an amazing start.

It was rainsnowing when I left the house and I grumbled my way across to the barn. Gwyn saw me grab the halter and threw me the middle hoof and left. She knew. She knew. But it didn't take long for her to be amenable to capture (like a minute... haha) I curried the mud off, brushed where she was dry and started dolling her up. I wasn't sure what I'd be doing so I stuck polos on her front legs, partly because I was cold and partly because purple.

Trainer AML arrived as I started to get the saddle. I signed her liability release and we got to know each other. She watched me tack Gwyn up and was pretty much getting the feel for Gwyn's personality and how we worked together.

I hopped on and started warming up. I talked about what my goals were (eventually eventing, but for now solidifying the basics) and what issues I knew we had (dropping the shoulder, bending, feeling very dead to left leg, working on the bit).

Right away we started to tackle the shoulder/bending/working on the bit/straightness stuff.

Good stuff:

• My seat is excellent (FUCK YEAH!), I am well balanced and sit up
• I look where I'm going instead of at my horse
• My hands are soft with caveats**

Basically, I want Gwyn to have self carriage, and that can be taught. I want Gwyn to know that when pressure is released, we relax. To that end, she's having me do some weird stuff to get the feel and overexaggerate the movement.  We started with just the concept of giving to pressure. She had me hold my hands out, palms down and WAY up high and immediately release when Gwyn dropped her head and took a step back. This became the foundation for back up. And by the end me just sitting up and raising my hands was all it took for Gwyn to step. But she's wiggly.

So then we worked on me feeling the connection between the rein and her hind leg. So my right rein should be cuing her right hind leg to step in and under herself. There's a certain swoop feeling when she truly steps in and across, versus sidestepping. The goal there was cue with the rein until I feel the swoop. Then get more and more together.

Again, and I've heard this from so MANY sources, control the feet, control the horse. So there were some deer moving through the woods during the lesson and Trainer AML got to see some of Gwyn's spook scooting and we used those same basic principles to get her focused and get her back and straight and listening to me as the herd leader. I have a habit of pushing or pulling Gwyn where I want her to be, and that just sets me up in a battle of wills with a part appy mare.

Then we did the 90 degree exercise. Basically instead of doing circles, I make very geometric movements around the arena and steer like I have a steering wheel. This is all to give me the feel and I have the suspicion that this will eventually be very subtle but I have to retrain old habits.

Let me tell you, doing this exercise, picking random 90 degree turns to take, all of a sudden I felt Gwyn start to carry herself, she was in a rough frame and we were straight in the contact before and after turns. She wasn't falling in or bulging out. I swear it was like magic and the horse and rider I knew we could be was starting to emerge.

A lot of the stepping under exercises I can do on the ground as well as in the saddle, so this gives me a lot to work on and practice until my next lesson (scheduled for december!)

All in all, I really liked the lady. She was tough but praised when you got it right. Just what I like. 

Amusing Anecdote: Saffron was NOT happy about the new lady and tried to run her down. Trainer AML just used her equid knowledge and sent Saffron off. I have never seen the donkey like that, but I think it's because Saffron knows where she is herdwise with us, and she was trying to suss out the new person, who firmly said "Nope, I'm also higher than you"   Saffron sulked in a corner of the arena for the rest of the lesson. LOL Then, by the end, came over to play nice.

Non Bloghop post :D Of pictures!

There's a light off the barn pointing toward the arena and then two in the corners shown. It gets lit sufficiently well to ride and lunge! The black lines are where I set up the trot poles. Not to scale (Obvs)

Tonight I got the kids in bed early (thank you fall rollback!) and decided that I was going to lunge. I lunged Gwyn on Sunday after the thunderstorm but since I have my lesson on Thursday and I've been super inspired by watching these video blogs from a trainer in Ireland, that I was going to commit with Gwyn.

Sunday was kind of hilarious. I got most of it on camera, but suffice to say that Gwyn was NOT careful over the trot poles I was lunging her over. She was stepping on them, skipping them, it was a disaster. A hilarious disaster.

Tonight I resolved to lunge her on the flat, since it was dark out. I do have some flood lights to light the arena. See the diagram! I figured it might not be lit well enough to do pole work.

She worked pretty well for it being cold and dark. I focused on rating her trot back from the giraffe zoomies down to a forward trot with impulsion that had her really use her back. She was moving really well so I thought, what the heck, let's see how well she does with the poles. 

Saffron was racing around us with super donkey zoomies, which was hilarious and I REALLY wish I'd been able to catch it on video or in a picture. She was joining in on the lunging!

Anyway, we got closer to the trot poles and I sent her over them with a nice forward, but not giraffe zoomy trot and she. just. floated. Her back lifted her, she was careful, her feet went exactly where I wanted them to be. In disbelief, I sent her through again. Perfect feet, great lift through her back, again.

We did it a couple more times, she never touched a pole. I praised her and walked over and gave her scritches. We switched sides and boom, a repeat going the other direction.

The only thing I changed before I left the previous session was changing the poles to alternate raised ends. That's it. I didn't change distance at all. I think she just has to actually think about her feet when there's an added challenge level and it was too boring and easy for her to do on Sunday.  We took selfies at night and I resolved that this was not so bad and maybe I'll start riding at night during week. I walked back to the house a bit cold but elated that it worked so well.

Selfie with the phone flash.

Selfie in 'natural' light, far from the floodlights.

Selfie in the floodlight. It's a nice bright white, solar powered! I only turn them on when I want them on so they stay well charged.

Also a bonus for winter riding, the happy mouth bit is not super cold, LOL. I feel no guilt when I put her bridle on.

The trot poles that she was better at night over than in the day time. Dork.