slips

Another rule was formed at the barn today. . .no cantering in the round pen. 

Terry's sister, Alison (with one "l" and mom to Lily and Tommy) offered to give me lessons if she could also ride Shyloh because she misses riding. Alison has been riding since before she could walk; saddleseat, hunt seat, Western, gaming. . .lots of riding. So of course I said yes! I really enjoy sharing Shy with others because she brings me so much happiness and I want to pass that on. . .and I really need lessons. It's a win win for everyone.

We had our first session today. Alison rode first, getting a feel for how Shy rides. She is sensitive, usually doesn't need much leg to move, but does like contact with the bit. Shy worked really well for her and had her super concentrating ears on, where they are in a halfway between the rider and forward and out to the side. . .like Shrek's ears, but cuter. 

They worked on walking and trotting and bending and flexing. Shy can be super cute pony for a little bit, but doesn't have the strength to keep it up for too long, yet. 

And when she gets tired, she hangs on the bit. They also worked on a little bit of canter. The canter is the Haflinger's least favorite gait (generally speaking). They have a harder time balancing it and keeping it. But I think Alison was so happy to be riding again and wanted a good canter out of Shy that she tried it a few times. Shy picked up her super fast trot but did canter. 

But, her little legs got to moving so quick that she slipped. Poor Shy tried so hard to stay upright but just couldn't. Alison tumbled forward as Shy slid on her side and landed on Alison's leg. Luckily, Shy was really calm about it and Alison was just slightly banged up. She took a minute to assess the damage. Shy was genuinely concerned about Alison, it was very cute. Alison got back on for a few more laps and I was very surprised at how good Shy was, especially after the slip. 

Then it was my turn! I actually look forward to riding now instead of having anxiety attacks. I got on Shy and Alison adjusted my legs. Ah. . .I felt so much better sitting upright with my legs further back. And I didn't feel off balance. Time to make Shy go forward. Nope, Shy was having none of it. Why, oh why will Shy give Alison a beautiful ride, but refuse to move for me? Mares. I did get her going, but she kept getting "sticky" in the same spot. Even through all this testing, never once did I feel she was nervous or getting ready to scoot. Eventually, I got her to the point where I kept her moving through the "sticky" part. Go me and my cheer team of Jaime and Alison!

At one point, I was trying to get Shy to go one way that she clearly did not want to go when she started moving sideways. I said, not sure what she is doing, but it sure feels fancy! as we all had a chuckle. I said, I am secretly a fancy dress-age rider and can make my horse do all kinds of fancy things.  One reason why I can't get Shy to do what I want. . .she makes me laugh too much and does silly things when she should be doing the things I ask her to do. 

But I did get her to go where I wanted and we did laps at the walk around the round pen in both directions. I did a few circles and Shy really wanted to pick up a trot, but stayed at the walk for me. I want to get super comfortable at the walk before we trot. I have a five year plan. . .

new rule

Jaime is always making up new rules at the barn. They are mostly for me and Terry's benefit as we can be Snarky Rider's dream team of what not to do. 

First there was "no getting on your horse from the hay loft, " ahem. . .Terry. 

When they are so big, mounting blocks don't work!

And now there is "no round pen work with the minions." A week or so ago, Clutch had a really strange episode of kinda tying up. His muscles got hard and we was in a lot of pain, so Clutch was moved in with Shyloh and the minions went to live in the round pen. This was so Isaac and Notch would not chase or play with Clutch and Shy is not much of a chaser/player.

Since the weather has been nice, I have been doing my grooming in the round pen. And because I didn't feel like wrangling some minions (which really is a chore) and putting them on the hitching post, I left them in the round pen with us. When I worked Shy, none of the horses cared. The minions stood around and Shy ignored them.

We also stretch! Shy is holding a stretch here, she loves stretching!

If they were too close to the panels, Shy would push through them. Minions didn't care, Shy kept on working and listening to me. All was good. But soon, Shy came to enjoy busting through the minions. It was like "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Shyloh over!" and if I had her at a walk, she would pick up a trot and plow through them, then resume her walk. Once, she actually jumped Meatball! 

But overall, Shy was still listening and working really well for me and the minions ignored her. 

Not the other day. I got Shy out of her pasture and she was in heat. For some reason, Isaac makes Shy go into a nasty heat. Grossness in the next sentence. . .I think she squirts so much that she chaffs herself, then her skin starts to peel. I have to put Bag Balm on it. So, that is what was going on the other day. 

We get into the round pen and she is ready to go, giving a very willing canter. But I wanted her to walk. So she would walk half the round pen then canter through the minions. Dexter must have finally gotten tired of it so he started chasing and biting and trying to mount Shy, so she just went faster. And faster. And faster. And would not listen. 

I put a lead rope on Meatball and tried to catch Dexter, who was being impossible as he chased and bit at poor Shy. She did pop him pretty good though. Eventually Jaime had to come and save the day and a new rule was made. Shy was a tense, sweaty mess from all that cantering around. I felt really bad, but this was the first time it was a problem. Lessons learned the hard way . . . I let her rest, then worked on walk and whoa, because before we needed to be done, I needed Shy to listen to me and she needed to cool down.  She was able to bring herself back together for that, thank goodness.  

The pasture situation should be worked out soon, as the big, giant pasture is almost ready. It is just hard when you have a big, playful blue roan who only wants to hump Shy and chase minions, a Haflinger who can't handle the round bale, and an older Clyde with special needs. 

getting in shape

After coming home and seeing all the super fit horses at Equine Affaire, I had an itching to really start putting Shyloh to work. I was tired from the weekend, but it was beautiful outside, so to the round pen we went!

Shy was pretty feisty. . .well about as feisty as a lazy Haflinger can get. I had her going around and she actually picked up a canter! Canter is her least favorite gait and she never holds it for long. That day, we went around a few times without me pushing her into it. I let her go for it because it wasn't a crazy all out canter. It just seemed like she was having fun. And she was still listening to me.

I had her switch directions and gaits a bunch of times. Her turns were sharp. When I asked her to turn, she almost sat down on her back legs, slid to a stop, and switched directions. Maybe she wants to be a reining horse?

We did stretches after I had her warm up. Shy loves her stretches, especially her tail pulls. We haven't done the stretches in a long time, mostly because I will not stretch her cold and it was interesting to see how less flexible she was. Not much, but when I went out of her comfort zone, Shy let me know. After stretches, we did more lunging.

I got some video of her going round and round. It may be 30 seconds of nausea inducing video. . .

And we even had a little sweat! This is good news because it takes a lot for Shy to sweat. 

I plan on putting the surcingle on her and attaching side reins the next time we do this. And I am going to have to put bell boots on her as I heard her clipping herself at the trot. I will also look for poles that we can use. 

I plan to put some muscle on my chubby Haffie. Also, this is the last week of my internship, classes are over, and graduation is right around the corner. Hello free time! Gotta get me in shape, too!

practice and getting comfortable

The Good Old Days show is just over a week away and we have a lot to get ready for in order to show! I have the bearings for the cart, but having some trouble putting them in so Shyloh has not been hooked to a cart since the last show . . .eek!

On top of that, my tail bun and mane roll skills are less than stellar. Since Jaime's sister is showing the new Shire mare, Reba, and she doesn't know how to do any of that, it gave me a chance to show her and practice myself. And since Reba has a long tail and the rest of Jaime's horses have short tails, I was the only one who knew how to do it. I think Shy's tail came out pretty good. . .my best try yet!

Tomorrow, we work on the mane roll and lead line kids are coming out to practice.

Jill (Jaime's sister) took Reba line driving around the property. Reba is a good horse, especially for being a pasture puff for the past six years and not being worked at all. 

I worked Shy in the round pen for a little bit, with her harness on. I was Richard Simmons-ing her. . .doing leg lifts myself while Shy trotted around. We are going to get Shy in a shape that is not round!

Then I took Shy for a short line drive. Ooh, she started out so bad. She wanted to go go go and was jumpy and was trying to really pull through the bit. Not really like Shy at all, so I re-assessed what was going on. Ahha! I had my lines run different. I fixed them, then Shy was perfect. Lesson learned: when a horse is acting different than normal during work, they are not always being bad, they are trying to tell you something is wrong. 

I went to put Shy back in the pasture and she gave her cute little nicker again. Isaac nickered back and they met up. . .then the X rated stuff happened. Shy threw her rear end at Isaac and he wanted it. . .bad. He thought she was a sexy beast even in her fly mask. I just hope he had a thorough gelding or we might end up with Haferons or Perchlingers and we don't want that. 

After I separated the love struck horses, I saw a sure sign that Shy is comfortable at the new barn. The first time I saw her roll there, she made she was off away from all the other horses. Well, this time, she practically rolled on Shady! Then her and Isaac had a quick nuzzle before Shy got up and they went to graze. 

And Jaime has a name for the barn! It is Hidden Creek Draft Horses and it's on Facebook. Give it a like, along with Adventures With Shyloh's page!

plant

If a Haflinger was a plant, what kind of plant would she be? Maybe a fern? A Venus Flytrap? An Hibiscus? I don't know, but Shyloh seems to grow a set of roots whenever it is convenient for her. Sometimes, those roots seem to take place right on my foot!

Today started the day of lunge lining. Beth gave me some feedback for the horse that will try anything to get out of using her rear end. And lunge lining was part of the solution. And I can't stand lunging. Part of it has to do with my lunge line. Upon its purchase, I had bought it to color coordinate with the lunge whip. . .a pretty turquoise, because matching is the most important part of equipment, right? My pretty turquoise lunge line is thick and heavy and not suitable for my clumsy self. It makes it hard for me to wind and unwind as I am using it. Luckily, Kathy had a nice, light, lunge line for me to borrow. 

I took Shy to the round pen to get started. I opted for the round pen over the arena because the round pen is outside and it was so nice out. I warmed Shy up, then attached the side reins (brought out a notch) and did spiraling at the trot in each direction. I felt Shy did good, she kept up a nice forward motion and she looked good to me, but she still needs to get more impulsion. 

After our session, which wore me out more than her, since I had to keep driving her forward, I decided to treat her for a walk down the street. I thought it would be nice to get away from the barn. . . it had been a while. I forgot to take into consideration that Shy has never walked down the street by herself. We have always gone with a buddy. 

I am a trillium!

So, off we went. . .for two steps. And Shy planted herself. I got her moving for two more steps, then plant. Two steps, then plant. It was frustrating, but I was bound and determined to make it to a certain point down the road. 

This was our end point!

We finally made it. . .after Shy planted her self to watch every car pass, near and far, planted herself to sniff the road, planted herself on my foot when climbing up a ditch to check out some corn, and planted herself in the middle of the road just for fun. 

This road looks like a good place to set roots. . .

Corn! And a bit of grass.

The way back was a different story, of course. We had no problem going toward the barn. Shy was a dream with a nice pace, no planting, and no spooks. But there were not any spooks on the way out, either. Yay!

On a mission to get back to the herd!

When we got back, Kathy asked if we walked two miles. . .um, no! Just to the corner and back! I guess planting is much preferred to bolting, though!

ground poles in the round pen

Here are two short videos of Shyloh going over a set of ground poles. . .

This one is with no side reins.

This one is with side reins attached.

Any thoughts? I notice (since I have seen the whole thing in live action) that she seems to keep a more forward trot without the side reins. She also seems more willing to go over the poles. I am thinking it might be because she is using her head to help balance herself over the poles. 

With the side reins, she hits the poles a lot more. Not sure exactly what that means. . .

But, on a more positive note, we did hills the other day and they seem to be getting a whole lot easier for Shy. We did five sets, which we ran pretty much continuously. . . which means not stopping on the top of every hill to see all the land.

Is this the beginning of some muscle??

Look closer. . .

Stop looking at my butt!!

Anyway . . just more of the same, alternating between ground poles and the hills. Hopefully I will have a book review soon, as soon as they get in! And some new exercises to try.

dancing feet

Shyloh was a dancer today! She was dancing on her mat and dancing over ground poles! She makes me laugh!

First, I tacked Shy up and took her to the round pen where I had laid out some poles. I had a set of three and another set of two. I think I can see some improvement! She did a great job going over the poles! She seemed to me to be really lifting her legs and placing her feet well. I took video, but it was horrible, since I had the camera set on a stool outside the round pen. I can't even pull a good still from the video. You will just have to take my word that she looked good.

After I fed all the ponies, I pulled Shy out of her stall to do some clicker training. Fun stuff after the hard work of trotting over poles. I got out the mat to start with, but I forgot the clicker, (duh, most important part) so I went back to get it. I figured Shy would go roll or something in the few seconds that I took to retrieve it. 

Nope, she went straight to the mat. I missed the click! Fail on my part. I did a bunch of at liberty work with her and the mat. Shy kept dancing on the mat. I think she likes the noise her hooves make when they step on the wood. Either that or I am continuously clicking when she steps on the board and I need to be more mindful of that. But it sure looked like she was dancing! And sounded like she was tap dancing!

We did some backing, too. Shy did very well again. So I gave her a treat of some timothy pellets. Shy LOVES soaked timothy pellets. While I was soaking them, she did everything in her power to try and reach her bowl.

Over the stall guard. . .

Under the stall guard. . .

Success!

And, Kathy found a toad!

Yeah, I got peed on. .  .

the hills are alive . . .

I spent the weekend on the beautiful west coast of Michigan for my friend's wedding. We stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast, it was so cute. Wrap around porch and balcony, dainty little library under the stairs, gorgeous grounds. . .it was a dream! The reception was also at this B&B and the wedding took place on the beach of Lake Michigan. It was quite the mini-vacation for me and Mike.

On to Shyloh. . .Based on previous experiences of me not seeing Shyloh for a number of days in a row, I was under no impression that I would be warmly greeted with nickers and neighs. Shyloh did not disappoint. As I went to get her in the pasture, this was her response as I called for her. . .

I got a bigger greeting from Robbie :(

I brought Shy in so I could groom her and get to work on that rear end. And of course, Shy had somehow managed to get hurt in my absence. 

Somehow, it is on the inside of her left rear. This is after I cleaned it up.

I warmed Shy up in the round pen, with her new saddle pad. She was not impressed. After a few warm up walks and trots each way, I stretched her legs out.

Now she matches her boots!

Then we moved on to the hills! Hills, hills, and more hills! These hills are not alive with the sound of music, though. Just the sound of mini horses and dirt bikes and cows. But, I got some video. 

Does it look like Shy is using that rear end? After that, I hosed her rear end off and started bringing other horses in and feeding them. It is getting dark noticeably earlier now. Sad face. 

We are sticking to the plan of hills and trot poles until I can see some improvement in her rear end. Then we will take it from there. Does anyone know how long it takes for a horse to build muscle?

Long legs on the shadow photo!

king of the mountain

Or princess of the hill. In all my blah-ness, I often can't see the big picture. But thanks to the uplifting comments and suggestions from Carrot Top, Martine, 4RRanch , Camryn, Dreaming, and Danielle, I pulled myself out of my self-pity funk and put Shyloh to work.

I dragged some poles out the the round pen. I set a single pole up and a set of three up on the opposite side. What an hilarious disaster to start with! Here is my drawing of the initial path Shy took. She acted like she had never seen a pole before and refused to go over them!

Can you follow this? Try this pattern times 3!

But once she got over herself, she was great! I had Shy do a ton of trotting in each direction and I could see her working her rear end. Being able to see makes a huge difference to me.

Work it!

Work it real good!

After that, a light bulb popped over my head. Dreaming had mentioned using the manure pile as a hill,  but it is not high right now and it is so yucky. But we do have asphalt hills!

I am still not sure what they are for, but hey, we were gonna try them out. Shy did go up them once with a tire half attached to her!

Shy surprised me by actually going up the hills without much problem. I could tell she was really working herself to get up the hills so we did not spend much time on those. These options were much more fun than being in the arena!

Climbing up! We can do it!

At the top! Made it! Tallest Haffie in all the land!

In between hills, she wants to take the short route.

At the top of the tallest hill!

We did the hills again another day and Shy is getting more and more comfortable with them. We can go over all three hills without having to stop at the top and survey all they land around us. The first time we did the hills, we did a there and back, there and back. I counted that as two sets. The next time we did three sets. I plan to keep increasing our sets to work those muscles! And bonus. . .it is a workout for me too!

Princess of the hill! She can keep an eye on all she owns from here

Gotta go down down down down. . . 

Shy went to the other side of the mountain to see what she could see. . .dirt bikers.

because you can't get enough

. . .of the super exciting round pen videos. Right?

Here is the video from today. We spent a short time in the round pen. Shyloh did not seem up to it today. Definitely not the canter-y and buck-y Shy from last time!

How does she look? I have my suspicions, but I am not sure if I am being extra paranoid or what. . .Chiropractor comes tomorrow. . .it seems like forever away.

Wind in the mane!

Also, I need a clone. It is so difficult to take pictures and video while I am trying to work this horse! I need my own personal recorder. Ha!

I wanna stay here and eat grass! I promise I was not pulling hard at all!

semi at liberty

After working with Shyloh on the mat clicker training the other day, I just knew that there had to be a better way. While she did stand on the mat, I had to prod her, and tap her legs, and basically make her get up there. So I did some research. . .and I found this website. Aha! I just knew that there was an easier way for Shy to learn the mat!

When I got to the barn, I got Shy ready for our clicker training session. I even used a handful of grain - a prime treat - to reward her behaviors. I kept her lead line attached and called it semi at liberty because another horse was working in the arena and I wanted to have something to redirect Shy with if she lost interest or got distracted. 

Holy what a difference Batman! I clicked Shy for stepping closer and closer to my new mat, a piece of wood I found at the barn. Being the curious horse that she is, this was an easy task for her. Click and treat. Then when she put a hoof on, click and treat. Then went she put both on, click and treat treat treat! No whip, no pulling, nothing. It was all on Shy! She was doing it because she wanted to do it. Awesome!

My apologies for the video. . .heads cut off, sunlight gleaming in. . .I could have chosen a much better spot to practice! And all of Shy's smiles got cut off.

When she started pawing at the mat, I would walk her away and start over. It was so much fun to watch her work through what was wanted of her! Of course, she went through her repertoire of tricks, checking to see if each one was the desired behavior to get her the precious grain. It was amazing when she finally got it! I stopped our session and gave her a break.

Then a while later, I went back to it, giving Shy even more freedom. I sat at the mounting block and clicked when she chose to step on the board all on her own! Yay pony!! But then Beth got the hay cart out and Shy was highly distracted and kept trying to walk out of the arena. So I had her stand on the mat, clicked and treated, then put her in her stall. I am so excited about this new work we are doing! And so glad that Shy is figuring it all out. 

In off-ness news, I think the news is good. I put Shy in the round pen with just her halter on and had Beth watch her. Shy walked/trotted/cantered/bucked! Ha! Beth did not believe that she ever bucked! At a slow trot, Shy was slightly off, but Beth also noticed that she seemed to twist herself a little to compensate for something. And with her canter to the right, she would often switch up her back leads. But when Shy had a nice forward trot both ways, she was fine. Then Beth had me tack her up with the surcingle and side reins. Immediately, she was off. But not off off, if that makes sense, more like a guarded off. We are back to our initial thinking that she is protecting any would-be pain by stepping short because she is using muscles she is not used to using. When she is without tack, she is able to compensate by using other muscles. 

So, the new plan is to round pen forward trots and walks with the side reins and not use transitions. Let Shy know and feel that forward movement is not painful and work the muscles that she needs to do those movements, while still keeping a close eye on her for and more short tracking up. If she does well with that, then slowly move on to transition work. 

I feel good with this plan, as Shy has no heat or swelling in any legs, hooves,  hips, or back. The chiropractor comes out Monday and I will double check the plan with him and get his opinion on her status. Whew!

show to-do list or round penning instead

Here is my list of things that I would like to accomplish this week before I take Shyloh to this show:

• bathe and clip, whiten that dirty mane and tail
• practice the mane roll
• practice our line driving (eek! harness has not been hooked up in forever)
• practice our golf club turns for halter and showmanship classes
• clean tack
• pack for show

Today is Tuesday. . .how many of these things have I done? A big, fat zero!

Super curious girl!

Instead, I pulled Shy out of her pasture today and tacked her up for some round pen work. When we were walking down the aisle, I stopped to chat with Kathy and Terry. Shy was so curious today! She was sniffing a muck rake that was hanging and it fell on her. Shy backed up, but I still had a loose lead in my hand. She did have wide eyes and flared nostrils, but she was not trying to get away. I think that is a good thing.

New halter!

Shy was amazing in the round pen! She was really focused on me and following my non-verbal cues like a champ. And then she got some spunk in her.

It had rained recently and while the grass was not wet and the round pen was not muddy, the ground was a little softer near the entrance. Shy stumbled a few times in that spot and I guess she got tired of it. After I got Shy in a nice working trot, I decided to test my luck and ask for a canter. I generally do not ask for the canter in the round pen for a few reasons. One, I want to get Shy's walk to trot transition to be very smooth; two, I am not ready for her to canter with me on her; and three, asking for the canter in the round pen usually means me chasing her until she gives me a few steps of canter then breaks back into a trot.

Today, for some unknown reason, Shy decided she wanted to canter. And canter she did! It was beautiful and I just stood in the center of the round pen watching. She must have been feeling really good because she let out a few mini bucks, but only in the spot where she kept tripping.

She looked so pretty! Of course, I did not have my video camera on me!

Round and round Shy went at her canter. I started wondering if she was being wild, so I decided to ask for a walk. I gave a non-verbal cue and Shy walked. Just like that! Wow, good mare! I turned her around and had her canter the other way. Shy decided to canter that way too, without much prompt from me. I stopped her and she was breathing hard. It takes a lot for Shy to breathe hard!

I wanted to walk her around the round pen to cool her down. But this horse knew our walk to trot to walk transition drill. She would walk about five steps, trot about five, then walk again. Repeat. I must be way too predictable for her. . .

By the time we got done, Shy was actually sweaty! I put her back in the pasture with Robbie, even if it was only for a little bit before it was time to come inside. She really deserved it!

I really need to get to work on my show to do list!!