The Video You'll Never See

I video taped myself riding to see if I could spot what I needed to work on.

Woo howdy.

There's something you won't see on YouTube (unless my daughter decides she has no intention of living to see her 13th birthday).

Seriously it was AWFUL. But the good thing is I was able to get over my horror and get to work. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with my steering. I was trying to direct rein Smokey toward the rail - sorta. What I needed to do was open the outside rein, pull the inside rein over his neck, push slightly with my inside leg, and make sure I was sitting straight and not LEAN FORWARD OR INTO THE TURN!

Yesh. Where did I pick THAT up?

I haven't had this problem steering, mostly because my horses up to now ignore bad direction. Not Smokey. He is used to doing as he's told.

This is good for me, I realized, as long as I don't take too long to get my act together.

Anyway, yesterday I worked on

• sitting straight,
• looking much farther ahead (like we did with the cows),
• thinking "ride the rails,"
• use a slight pressure from my inside leg,
• stronger pressure on the inside rein coming across the neck,
• open on the outside leg and rein,
• with an ever so slight little finger pressure on the outside rein when needed to keep the head straight.

It was like full body algebra.

But darn it if we didn't get to riding together! We actually rode the rails, and then, after a bit, we hit the trail.

Alone. We rode out alone. And he was terrific. Not barn sour, willing to get out there and work even in the heat. We didn't do anything too obnoxious - no hard cantering, or trotting in this heat. More mental work, with a few bouts of trot and canter here and there. We worked on turning around obstacles, being precise where each hoof fell, backing and doing hindquarter yields. By the end it was wonderful. For both of us. We actually went where I thought I was telling him to go.

Maybe next week's video will show an improvement. But chances are you won't see that one either. LOL



BTW, the headstall came in with the bit and I have to say, I was thrilled with both the quality, speed of shipment, an price. Seriously - go to Half Circle Ranch. And if that weren't enough, they are doing their best to only stock American made products.

You know you need one of these. And for $35? Woo hoo!


I'll try to take some pictures of Smokey in his and will do more horsey face analysis next time.

Pictures and working through issues in saddle

Oh God, it's the paparazzi again.

I went to the barn on my own today. While I love to ride with my daughter and husband, horse time tends to be my alone time. You have to focus so much on the horse (or at least I do) that I find it hard to attend to everyone's demands.

So it's always sort of a relief to go by myself. No one else was at the barn, and again, that was nice. I love to be social and enjoy everyone at this barn. It really is the barn without drama. But I just wanted to be in that quiet place that is pretty rare in the life of a working mom.

It was a scorcher today, so I didn't want to work Cibolo too hard. But after all the comments on his weight (wow! thanks everyone!), I wanted to get some photos done and I did want to ride.

One thing I have wanted to do is work through more problems while I'm in the saddle instead of doing a 15 minute round pen session. One reason is my foot - walking that distance in my paddock boots can get painful and I'm really trying to be good about keeping weight off of it. The other reason is that it's a little bit of a crutch. I find I want to get off to do ground work too often when I just should stick with it from horseback.

I need to be more comfortable with problems when I'm mounted. Period.

I knew Cibolo would be a little challenging because we hadn't seen each other in a week. He's just the kind of horse that you need to be consistent with. Three days in a row and he's so awesome you just want to ride forever. But take a week off and fugettabatit. In fact, he can be a bit of a pain in the:

See how I'm working in these photos quite naturally?

We went out on the trail at a walk and worked up and down some hills. I figured hills are good for hindquarter building (yet another photo segue).



He was testy, and although I kept him listening, I could tell he just didn't connect all the way with me. I don't think in his previous life he went out on the trail on his own much. We trotted up a steep hill and to a gate for me to fiddle with. Then something bounded out of the bushes and he spooked.

Just a 45 degree turn in about .00005 seconds. But I have to say, I love my saddle. Kept me right in. We went back and confronted the scary fawn. Then we did some work on the hill. We were fighting for who was in charge.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a huge blow up battle. But he'd refuse to turn. I'd make him turn. He'd turn. Then he'd worry over something. I'd tell him to get over it. He would, a little.

I can't seem to make that first five minutes of a ride on him work - but I think I know the problem.

Because of the heat, I was avoiding cantering him. I really wanted to take it easy. But I knew the issue would rise there. And I knew I could meet it. So, as it had cooled off some, I went for it. I cantered him and he started tossing his head. I collected him and kept him going. We went three times until he stopped with the head tossing.

Then, that was it. I could feel our connection.

Isn't that odd? So the canter decides it? Anyone else have this experience with a horse?

Then we worked on trailer loading. Much improved. He loaded, but getting him to the place where the bar will close was tough the first time. A little easier the second time. I'd say we made another leap.

Then I washed him off and proceeded to take a bunch of HORRIBLE pictures. But I have no shame, so here a few.


It's weird. Only in some angles can you see ribs. Really you can't see them, but if he's damp and the sun hits just right...

Um, aren't we done? I mean, you've been snapping that thing a million times already.

Again with the pictures. I'm not even dry yet!

Do you need a nuzzle? I'll give you a nuzzle, then I'm going to eat my hay. Okay?

Sersomorsy, mosgry moonikey schmawoee.
(Sigh. He is complete unintelligible when he's eating)

I put my hand here to show how big the dip is behind his shoulder muscle. That's why the new saddle is so much more comfortable. But I wonder if he's lost back muscle and if I should work to build it back up.

I think for his breed he's a tiny bit underweight, but not as much as I feared, based on comments and on seeing him today. I'm going to try to get him a little more hay - ask the barn owner to put him up for separate feeding once a day to see if that helps. He'll get his teeth floated in a few weeks and that may help too. I've heard it does, anyway.

Anymore thoughts based on these photos?