Partnership

Last couple of weeks we've been having normal, good weeks together. I have cut down our private dressage lessons to one a week – mainly for financial reasons – but also as one seemed to get us more results than the other. Also this other trainer doesn't only do 'dressage' but I can use her for learning to jump better too. The rest of the time we've been hacking and also having some jumping lessons.

Overall, I have really enjoyed riding and working with Rainbow of late. She's a very good girl, but I also feel that we have reached the stage what I can, slowly, begin to call a 'partnership'. This has been wonderful to see in Rainbow, that she would want to do well for me and even to look after me! 

The most noticeable sign of the partnership that we have begun to form is when we jump. For example, she now avoids doing big leaps over the jumps (even if I haven't ridden her particularly well to the jump through my noviceness), changing her steps at the last minute to accommodate 'Mummy', so that I stay on. She also lands in the correct canter often after a jump without me having asked for it (I only learned how to in our last lesson). Thank you, Rainbow, I owe you :)

We have also had good schooling sessions, and the trainer – Mary – is definitely helping me to find my seat and learn to ride R through the seat. In just a few weeks with Mary, I have learned to sit better. In fact, trying to find the 'old' style I used to sit in, for fun, is now rather impossible for me – which is great! Mary has mainly concentrated on getting us straight; teaching me to stop R from falling out in right rein and from falling in left... My left hand still tries to shoot forward on right rein and I pull with the right hand, when R doesn't turn... So, slowly, I am learning to keep my left elbow by my side and keep the outside rein solid for the horse and guide her with the seat. 

One epiphany happened last week, when Mary paid attention to how I hold the reins and it became obvious that don't 'clasp' the rein but hold it in the finger part of my hand, so my hand is a bit open when holding. Mary worked with me to find my forearm muscles, biceps and to give in from the elbow, making the hands 'quiet'. As soon as I stopped giving R the outside rein and clasped the reins, and kept the inside soft, she dropped down into an outline. And I could just sit there and enjoy. Simple when you know how!

I am now also keeping my legs quiet (or trying to!) and only give leg aid depending on the need, not pumping the whole time. I think I am a lot better, but I am also still learning to find my core muscles, especially around the pelvis and bottom, which I need to use for riding with the seat. My knees sometimes grip when I try to give leg aids, and I am struggling to wrap my stumpy legs around Rainbow's barrel... I sometimes feel that in the recent weeks I have had to learn the art of riding all over again, it's so different to how I thought it's done – and how many riding schools teach you at the beginning – learning has been revelational and sometimes hard, but mostly very rewarding. Through my noticeably improved seat, Rainbow has begun to move under me much better, no longer like wading through treacle, but with more pace and purpose, which is really lovely. 

--------

Found out this week, when a girl who used to come to the yard (and used to ride/compete Rainbow's mother, Sophie) contacted me on Facebook, as she had learned a little tidbit of info about R's mum – that R's mother had a brand on her neck which read 'BK'. Apparently this means that she was part Andalusian. I am sure that Rainbow has plenty of other types of horse in her as well, especially as we don't know the sire and the colouring would imply cob/native lines... But I couldn't resist googling about the Andalusian. How Wikipedia describes some characteristics of the Andalusian horse seems to match R quite well, too:

Andalusian horses are elegant and strongly built. Members of the breed have heads of medium length, with a straight or slightly convex profile. ... Necks are long and broad, running to well-defined withers and a massive chest. They have a short back and broad, strong hindquarters with a well-rounded croup. The breed tends to have clean legs, with no propensity for blemishes or injuries, and energetic gaits. The mane and tail are thick and long, but the legs do not have excess feathering. Andalusians tend to be docile, while remaining intelligent and sensitive. When treated with respect they are quick to learn, responsive, and cooperative.

Physio visit, pole work and jumping – good week!

The week's been full of horsing around. The weather has become decidedly more wintry and the paddock has turned into a Somme again. 

Monday was R's day off and she had her first physio visit. Nothing major was detected and she was mostly found to be OK. Little stiffness on the right shoulder and I discussed R's canter with the physio as it hasn't been quite as rolling as it could be – this I have mainly noticed in the school, not so much when cantering outside, but this is probably to do with the constant circular movements in schooling. We were given a little stretching regime to stick to from now on, which is to be carried out after exercise when she's warm. 

Rainbow being massaged

The regime involves stretching R's back and sides so that I stand by her shoulder, my back against the shoulder, facing away from her and holding a carrot. I encourage her to bring her head and neck around past me, so the opposite side/back is stretched. Then we repeat the same on the other side. Then another movement is to bring the carrot in between R's front legs, so she reaches towards it between her legs, stretching the top line/back. 

Rainbow is a very keen stretcher, especially when there are carrots to be eaten mid-stretch – two ladies doing they morning 'pilates'... maybe I'll get us both matching 1980s style leotards and sweat bands to complete the look...

Finally we stretch the shoulders by me bringing R's front leg up (in turn, not at the same time!) holding around the fetlock and make sure my back is straight and lean backwards holding the leg, encouraging her to let me stretch the leg and giving her weight into me... This  stretches the shoulder (Rainbow's shoulder, not mine, although I am sure this counterweight stretching might have some mutual benefits). Currently it's obvious that her left shoulder is more fluid than the right side, clearly moves further forward when 'pulling' the leg. But the physio said this is fine, and that's why we're doing the stretches that the right side becomes equally fluid too.

Then we were given pole work as a form of exercise to do, which should encourage R pick up her legs thus engaging the hind, and loosening the muscles too. The physio said the poles should be dotted around the arena and shouldn't always be in a straight line. I should take R around them in circles and approaching from different angles – circles, figures of eight and so on. The physio also said to raise one side of a pole with a block and take R over so she can pick up one side more at a time, also helping with all the above. 

Tuesday was to be a gentle day of exercise, after the massage. I had set my sights to going in the school to lunge R over poles but the local RDA group were being interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford (The slots are at 1:20, 1:49, 2:23 and 2:53 on the slider if you want to listen), so I couldn't use the school. I took R out for a little hack around the village instead! We haven't been out on our own for a long time, so it was quite exciting, but all went well. R is always a bit more alert when she is out on her own, but overall very sensible. I stuck to the quieter roads and didn't go around the whole village, as didn't fancy the main road, but I was very pleased I went out with her.

Wednesday, armed with our new pole 'regime' we had our Mary Webb lesson. I asked to incorporate poles into our lesson, which Mary was happy to accommodate. The lesson went well and actually got Rainbow moving very nicely off my leg, with very soft reins (finally!) – especially at the beginning she didn't seem too keen on the idea of me riding her, moving around in her stable and looking a bit sulky when the tack came out. But with bit of soft rein and bouncing over poles, and lots of praise, R couldn't resist being sulky all morning but clearly thawed and was soon working nicely and moving forwards with nice paces.

Today we had a jumping lesson with our friends Sarah and Sampson. Sarah and I have similar preferences and ideas of jumping, the size of the jumps, etc., so I enjoy sharing lessons with her. Our 'in-house' instructor A was teaching. 

I was first a bit concerned about the early-morning sun beaming into the arena as R has spooked at our shadows in the past. I know how silly it sounds when have written it here! But, for some reason, it seemed that this was too much for me to bear with the added excitement by the jumps. Especially a jump that seemed to glimmer in the sunshine when everything around it were in the shade and quite dark. But A had a few stern words with me and said it's better to practise going over 'funny' jumps that had light beaming on them than having to face them for the first time in a competition. True. 

So A gave us a task of doing a course of three or four jumps with some variations. One of which was the funny 'lit-up one'. Well, Rainbow flew over and I seemed to stay on, so she was due some very generous patting and praise :). Over one jump, she even looked after me and changed her approach to keep me on – she was going fast and 'leapy' but changed it into a nice 'pop-over' at the last minute to wait for me. She's a star! 

A slight dampening of the lesson was that Sarah somehow knocked her thumb during a jump and it became so sore she had to go and get it X-rayed. Luckily no broken bones but some soft-tissue damage. Hope she's feeling better soon, as I want to have our regular jumping lessons from now on! 

Thoughts and events from this week gone

It's been a busy week but I have managed to ride too. Have been suffering from a slight lack of funds too, so decided to rein in the amount I spend on lessons. The amount has been growing to around £55 per week, as I have two private lessons a week, and sometimes more if I am doing some 'semi-private' ones. So I have decided to alternate, so that I mainly have one private a week and then weekly jumping lessons which are 'semi-private'. Will need to break the news to my instructors. But I have to be a bit sensible... The amount of money I spent on R on top of the standard livery charge has grown over the summer and there really is no need. I can ride her for free, so I don't always need an instructor by my side to give orders at £25–30 per hour. Besides, it's probably more beneficial to have one lesson a week (a schooling lesson) and then have at least two days to hone those learnt lessons on our own. Besides R isn't that passionate about schooling, I can tell, but I have to do them for our both sakes – and for me to learn! – so tough.

We've also had nice hacks this week with friends. On Friday, we got soaked as it started raining big fat drops, horizontally, and we slightly got lost as tried to find a new route. Well, not lost, but once we went around these fields my friend knew would lead up back to the 'main route' we take, only to find out that the last leg of the route, through a farm, had been closed off. A very surly sign with words 'Private – No Walkers, No Horses' made it very clear so we had to turn back. In the rain. So the horses, the riders and the saddles were soaked when we rocked back to the yard. Did get a nice canter in though, although I was a bit 'rude' by cantering on when my friend's beast decided again it was too much and broncoed again. We finished our canter at the end of the grass verge, and patiently waited for our friends to finally canter to us 'neatly', with no broncoing. 

This rudeness towards my other friend (not that she minded, as I apologised for having been selfish and she was OK) must have been stored in the karma bank as, yesterday, when cantering on another verge, with another friend, while I was doing my very best jockey impression – egging Rainbow on – I suddenly see a discarded bit of black cabling on the ground. I knew R would clock it too (snake!), and I actually prepared for a rightward evasion movement. The evasion came, but so did a couple of sharp bucks too which I didn't have time to react to. I was still in the light seat, with no time to lift my hands up or to kick on, so I fell off. Luckily it was a quiet bit of field and R proceeded to immediate grazing, so, despite slightly walking away from my friend (who was still on her pony) and me at first, we soon caught her without major commotion. My friend was brilliant, not that I was hurt – I was back on my feet as soon as I had hit the ground – but she kept talking to me and instructing where to get back on R and she held the saddle from the other side, while I clambered back on using a grass verge as my stool, and talked about the Red Kites (bird of prey, not a kite the flying object) that were circling above us on this gloriously bright and sunny day.

We trotted off and Rainbow was a bit 'swoosh' after the incident, and attempted to spook at something else. Again, Becca's reassuring commentary helped; when R was a bit spooky, she told me to kick her on and show who's in charge. It's what you know you should do, but after falling, the adrenalin automatically starts to race through the veins, then, afterwards making me a bit jelly-like, it's good to hear a friend to tell you what to do – it just sort of confirms it and reassures you. 

We got onto the second verge where we often canter (and where I'd had the nice canter on Fri) and I said we could trot and if I felt R was listening I might quietly raise another canter. My friend's pony was quiet and well behaved, so they came behind us and didn't mind which gait we did. So I trotted on and eventually raised a controlled canter. Rainbow was fine and stopped OK too. Afterwards, it actually seemed she relaxed and was back to her normal 'non-swooshy' self. So it was good to have a clean canter without R doing a rodeo show and mummy falling off like a rag doll. :)

I am hoping this won't scar me for a long time, as I have been feeling confident on R in the recent months. But I intend to go out again this week and do a canter. 

17 signs you’re dating a horse rider ...

This popped up on my Facebook page from Horse & Hound magazine. Made me chuckle, as quite a few apply...

Perhaps this is your first date. Perhaps you’re a few dates in but your new significant other is still being slightly coy about their hobbies and interests. Here are some subtle yet key signs that you are in fact going out with a horse owner.

1. At the bar, you notice they keep their fingernails hidden in their hands/sleeves.

2. They don’t give the crowd-control police horses outside the stadium the space you feel would be prudent.

3. They’re yawning by 10:30pm.

4. When there’s a risk you’ll miss your train they glance at their watch and say: “Oo, walk on”, with heightened pitch on the “wa”.

5. They lifted that elderly gentleman’s incredibly heavy suitcase down the station steps with ludicrous ease.

6. Their car has a miasma you can’t quite place. It’s not entirely unpleasant — sort of sweet yet rotting — but pungent none-the-less.

7. The Wellington boots by the front door look like they’ve only just escaped Glastonbury, but you’ve already established their owner has never been to a music festival.

8. They have not one but two large wardrobes. The second seems to be made up almost entirely of items that used to be in the first but now have holes in them — plus some two-tone leggings with leather seats.

9. They’re awake seriously early, even on a Sunday.

10. They go out and come back in before you’ve even got out of bed. As you open your eyes, you catch a glimpse of them flying into the bathroom wearing some of those two-tone leggings. You could have sworn the non-leather area was checked and there were diamantes on the pockets. You ponder this is not normal attire, but don’t like to mention it.

11. Sitting watching TV, they twitch on hearing hooves clip clopping past outside and mutter: “loose shoe”.

12. They check the weather report approximately 32 times a day.

13. In the kitchen, when they need to get to the cutlery drawer you’re standing by, they put one hand on your hip and make a clicking sound.

14. They triple-check that the burgers you bought in the supermarket are 100% beef.

15. Despite having a job, they don’t appear to have much in the way of money.

16. When you read a story out loud from the newspaper about royal showjumper Zara Phillips, they say: “She’s an eventer”.

17. There’s a mug in their cupboard that says: “Eventers do it three ways”. You still don’t know what eventing is but this sounds intriguing.

And now you’re wondering about that Zara Phillips.

Taken from: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/17-signs-youre-dating-a-horse-rider/

What to do when you see a goat?

Hack out today was a really enjoyable one, even though we came across all the following things: 

- a barking Alsatian threatening to 'attack'
- peacocks
- a goat 
- race horses and jockeys
- a fly-tipped mattress
- man driving a lawn mower
- people playing tennis
- two Bearded Collies barking at us
- one cyclist
- and a few pumpkin lanterns, plus other Halloween paraphenalia.

Only the attacking Alsatian by this turkey farm and then the goat on the roadside caused Rainbow to be nervous, and I had to push her on. 

The goat was standing on the side of the road (not a busy one), eating from the bushes and when we approached, it said a goaty 'baa' hello to us midst munch. Rainbow was head up and unsure (tbh I was a bit unsure and worried she might whip around, as she doesn't like sheep and thought a goat might just blow her mind) so I spoke to her and pushed her forward. We were just coming up a hill, so turning back wasn't an option really. But R was fine in the end, she went past, looking at the goat, took a few trotting steps but I wasn't fussed, as I decided it was better that we went past than start stopping or turning around.

On the big hill up, I made Rainbow working in an outline. I had read about it in the latest Your Horse magazine. Helping horse develop their tummy muscles (which will also help with creating the power in the hind and thus making them work better through their backs): 

"When you're doing hillwork, stick to walk and – provided it's safe to do so – come up a little out of the saddle and take your hands forwards and wide. Keeping your reins in this side rein position will really benefit your horse. Work him in this shape, then add a hill, and it'll really encourage him to pick his back up."

I hope it worked for Rainbow. The hill we went up is quite steep and long, so she was huffing and puffing, clearly getting a bit tired. She tried to broke into trot a couple of times, perhaps to save herself, but I kept in walk, giving her a good workout. The rest of the hack we mainly walked, only doing a couple of trots.