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!!

monday musings by shyloh #50

So I was in my pasture, just chilling with Robbie and looking for scraps of grass to eat. . .

We are cute. And the same size :)

. . .when Allie showed up and tried to get me. At first I was like no!! and ran, but then I heard the *crinkle* and stopped. I let Allie put the halter on me and she gave me my peppermint. Yum.

The Allie tried to walk off with me. Magically, I grew a set of roots. Ha! I was not moving! I knew what she was up to. . .she wanted me to work. And clearly, I was trying to eat with Robbie. After a couple taps on my butt, I took a few steps and rooted myself again. Ha! I did this all the way out the gate and into the barn.

I guess I was not sending my message across clearly, because Allie continued to tack me up in my round pen gear. When she was done, she tried to get me out of the groom stall. I was firmly planted in place. Ha!

The threat to get my "best friend" aka the dressage whip (not to be whipped, but to be tapped until I move) was enough to get me moving. Even if Allie does not use the whip for evil, I still hate it!

Once we got to the round pen, I thought my time would be better put to use grazing than walk/trotting. Allie disagreed and tried to get me moving and I tried to convince her otherwise by not moving. 

Stand and stare

She really, really wanted me to do all of this (but faster and with more enthusiasm). . .

Believe it or not, but I am actually moving in this photo. 

And I really, really just wanted to do this. . .

Darn side reins prevent my grazing!!

Allie won and I was forced into physical labor once again. I had to walk and trot and walk and trot and walk and trot. Then switch directions and do it all over again. However, if I had to trot, I was going to make Allie trot, too. And if I had to canter, you better believe Allie was cantering, or whatever the two leggers call it. She says she is trying to get ME back in shape, but frankly, I think she is the one that needs the workouts!

But once I got started, it was not too bad. I am real good at round pen work. And we did it together. Ha!

I am quite the good looking Haflinger! Although Allie needs to wash my mane. It is not quite the blonde it should be.

When I got done, I got to eat my dinner hay and rest up for the night. Rumor has it that I have a show coming up this weekend!

Excuse me. . .I'm still hungry!

i'm lazy

Really. I really think that is the real issue with me lately. I am just plan lazy. Even though Shyloh's hips and withers were sore, I could have been working her in the round pen or on the lunge line. But I was being lazy. I can come up with a million reasons why: tired from work, tired form working at the barn, tired from thinking of all the housework I have piling up. . .but it just comes down to the fact that I am lazy.

Much easier to do this with Shy than actual work. . .

Today, I pulled myself out of my lazy funk and worked Shy for about 20 minutes in the round pen. Yay us! I am really hoping that next week we can get a consistent ride schedule between Beth and myself. I am hoping Beth can work Shy to put time and miles on her to boost Shy's confidence. And I asked Beth for lunge line lessons so I can work on my position and balance on Shy. And finally get that trot down. 

I warmed Shy up with some walk/trots in both directions, with just her halter on. Then I put on the surcingle, bridle, and side reins and did some more walk/trot work. I worked a lot on transitions. Going left, she was able to transition smoothly into the trot, but going right, Shy often gave her little hop up into the trot. Ugh. But then considering we have not really worked on it, Shy is out of shape. But she did do exceptionally well at reading my body language, so that was a plus.

Eat Shy's dust!

After our little session, I loaded up all the tack on Shy and she became my pack horse back into the barn.

Carrying all the tack!

Tacking her up, I noticed that Shy, yet again, scraped her head. What does this horse do? I swear she gets more surface scrapes than any horse I know!

I promise it is there! Just really hard to see. It is right on the edge of her blaze.

We are on the second clutch of barn swallows. This little guy was not able to fly back up. He was so cute! So me and Kathy put him in a tree by the barn. 

The goal is to work Shy in the round pen Thursday and possibly ride. Possibly. . .

testy testy. . .

Shyloh threw every trick in her book at Beth tonight! Beth was going around the arena and stated that we couldn't see it, but she was having major arguments with Shy! This turned into visible arguments. . .

First it was OMG! You touched me with your leg! I must scoot away at lightening speed!

Then came I think this door is super scary and mountain lions are hiding behind it! I must take off past it!

And If I act super scared of everything, will you get off of me?

Next up was going behind the bit. She learned this quick and keeps on trying to do it. Ugh.

After that was Leg? I are bumping me? Oh, kicking now? I can't feel anything. Oh. . .you want me to disengage my rear end? Fine. . .

That turned into I'm not moving, I don't care what you do to me!

Finally, Shy came up with When she asks me to canter and I pick up the wrong lead, we stop! Moohahahaha!

Frustration! But eventually Shy straightened out (somewhat) and did some real work. Actually, Shy's canter transitions have really improved! Only a step or two of turbo trot before she takes off into the canter and she is holding it longer. By the time Shy got done, she was sweating! A ton! Her ears, her neck, her girth, underneath the saddle pad, and she even had the foamy butt sweat! She has never had foamy butt sweat before! 

I don't know what got into Shy today. The lesson did not have the best start. On the first go around the arena, Shy got too close to the wall and her rear hoof hit it scaring the bejesus out of her. Beth had to really get her to stop. This lesson was different in that she had an audience of people watching and usually no one else is there but me. And there was another horse being ridden in the arena who was acting up himself, but Shy did not seem bothered by him. Excuses.  

The only thing I can think of was that Shy was being testy. She was seeing what she could get away with and trying some old tricks that may have gotten her out of working before. Well, those don't work with Beth. Beth made her back up, repeat, and disengage her rear end. 

I did get on Shy to walk her around the arena a few times. She was very relaxed and tired! She did not want to move! Her turns are so much better now, not the super sensitive turn, but a more controlled turn. It was nice, but I am still not comfortable in that dressage saddle!

Hopefully Shy has realized that she failed her own tests and goes back to her complaint self! I did not get video of her acting up, I was too much in shock by what she was doing! I wish I did get some to show what she was doing and how Beth was correcting it. But, oh well. . .

One more day of work, then Equine Affaire!!

shy does sweat!

We had really been wondering if Shyloh produced sweat or not. After all her lessons, she had yet to break a sweat. Sometimes, she seemed to be on the brink of sweating, just not there yet. But today, sweat! And it was not even hot out. How did we (Beth) get her to sweat? Canter transitions!

I present. . .three minutes of canter transitions, with improvement!

Aside from the really good work Shy did and the sweat that it produced,  this was the first lesson where Shy visibly had several arguments with Beth. The lesson started on a bad foot. Shy was not wanting to work, she wanted to be outside with her herd. I don't think it helped that I had already tacked her up and did some in hand work for about 20 minutes and then untacked her, before the lesson. Shy probably thought she was free for the night. Wrong!

Shy kept stepping away when Beth tried to mount her, something she has not done since the first lesson. Beth finally made it in the saddle and Shy was ready to go! She had some nice bends and a nice trot going for a while. Beth also said she felt really good and felt rounded and relaxed quicker. And she let Beth post the trot on her, without having an issue with it!

But then, Shy got into her head that she did not want to listen to legs and tried to push back into Beth's legs. Beth stopped her and worked on disengaging her back end. This happened in each direction, but as soon as Beth let Shy know that her behavior was not going to fly, Shy straightened right out. I think Shy was testing her. And lost.

Silly Shyloh has been fooling us all along, having us think that she is super sensitive to pressure! When she is thinking about it, she does her scoot when given too much leg pressure. But, when she is concentrating on something else (like arguing), she has this amazing ability to totally ignore leg pressure!   

Other than that little argument hiccup, Shy was amazing once again! Beth remarked that Shy is incredibly smart and is retaining all the new stuff that she is being taught. Shy is is understanding what Beth is asking and doing her best to give it, but sometimes her muscles are not strong enough, yet, to hold herself. She is improving at a remarkable rate! (insert super proud mama smile here) Next step is to take it back outside, to help meet my trail riding goal. Once Shy is relaxed and more confident of herself, it will be my turn to get into the saddle!

sweet and sour

I had some grand plans today! The weather was a perfect 60 degrees and we won't be getting too many more days like today. So I rushed to the barn from work so I could take Shyloh on a walk through the fields before it got dark. I grabbed her bridle and headed out to the pasture to get her. 

Chilling with her homie

Once again, Shyloh was not in on my plan. She messes with me. . .she would not let me catch her! And I know she is messing with me because she does not take off to the back of the pasture. She will stay up front and just scoot herself right out of my reach. Then, at some random point, she will decide that she will let me come up to her. No problem. Ugh!

Using Ryleigh as a shield from me

During this time that I was trying to catch her and she was skillfully avoiding me, Ryleigh was busy protecting his girl from Forseti. Forseti kept coming to the fence of the pasture and Ryleigh put those ears straight back and ran him off. If Shy approached the fence while Forseti was near, Ryleigh would nip her and move her away!

True love!

I finally put her bridle on and we went on our walk. What a mistake. Because Shy took so long to catch, it was time to bring the other horses in and Shy did not want to go on her walk. She knows what happens when everyone goes inside. . .hay. And on top of that, she got all of the horses riled up. The fields are on the other side of Forseti's pasture, so he was walking next to us. Ryleigh could see from his pasture and was not pleased. He was galloping up and down  his fence line, which got other horses running as well. We gave up and went inside. That is sour Shyloh.

Gotta grab that grass!

But, I did not let her eat. We were going to lunge. Actually, the lunging went very well considering the start of our day. We worked on walk/trot transitions. I had Shy trot a lot and she worked up a sweat. I think we are both improving with our lunging and we were able to make our circles bigger. 

Lunging is boring

After she cooled down, I put Shy in her stall to eat her much anticipated dinner. I worked on getting her comfortable with me in her stall while she is eating. I touched her and back off. Then repeated. I would move closer to her, but if she looked like she wanted to move in the corner, I backed off. Eventually, Shy let me come up to her. She does let me approach her in the stall, but she usually backs into a corner. I scratched her in her favorite place and held her head. Then I rubbed her head and she relaxed. I was literally holding her heavy head up. I let go and Shy nuzzled next to me, wanted more head scratched. This is sweet Shyloh.

Like a Sour Patch Kid!

Like I said. . .she can be so sweet, yet so sour!

a lesson

Our lesson today was really good! I learned a ton. . .but I think, most importantly, I learned that Shyloh already knows all this and completely messes with me.

I made a comment yesterday that I do not have to fully groom Shyloh before my lesson, I just want to run a brush over her and pick out her feet. This was because I scheduled the lesson right after work and I was not sure how much time I had to bring her in and groom. Well, I came to the barn and was greeted with this. . .

Muddy pony! Eyes are closed in pure pleasure of making me work!

Never before has Shy rolled outside in the mud! And it was still wet mud, yuck. It is clear that she heard the words "lesson", "work", "tomorrow", and "5:00" and she was trying her hardest to make things difficult for me. Or she has an episode on animal identity disorder and thought she was a pig.

So, I groomed Shy up as best as I could and tacked her up. Discovery number one, which explained the majority of Shy's behaviors on the long lines. . .the bit was backwards. Dumb me! I had a feeling it might have been, but I was not sure. I corrected that and got immediate results later in the lesson. Discovery number two was that Shy's brow band is too small. Not overly small, not painfully small, but snug. Apparently she has a freakishly weird shaped head. Her forehead is ginormous!  I guess I am in the market for a new brow band. 

Now that the bridle was corrected, we began to lunge. Shy did pretty good on the lunge line and we worked on her transitions. They are rough. Not smooth at all. Beth (she is the barn owner/lesson giver) wanted to try side reins to see how Shy did. We were not sure if Shy ever used them. Beth found some pony side reins (grr! she is NOT a pony!), and attached them. Shy was a bit apprehensive about what was going on, but it was mostly because she does not like Beth that much. It's true and Beth knows it. But it is mostly because she does not spend much time with her aside from feeding and turning her out. Discovery number three was that it appeared that Shy has used them before. She was fine with them being on her and responded very well to them. Beth kept the side reins very loose and explained to me the reasoning behind using them for Shyloh.

Discovery number four was that Shy has really adjusted to the routine of being inside at the barn. According to her time schedule, if she was brought in from outside, so she should be fed. Every time we went past the arena doors, Shyloh made an attempt to stop and stare out the door in longing for her dinner. We trotted her on the lunge line in both directions until she decided that she was not going to stop. She must learn to listen to me, even if she thinks she is hungry (though very clearly she is not!). 

Next up, I attached the long lines. I got a much better response now that the bit was correct. Discovery number five was that Shy is much more responsive when I am correctly positioned and when I keep my hands close together. And that was an accident! I had looked down to make sure my hands were the same distance on each long line and put my hands together and her response was amazing! We worked on turning and straight lines, then we did trotting. Again, Shyloh is very extreme in her transitions. Ask for a trot and she takes off. Ask her to stop and she puts on the brakes. So, when I asked for the trot and she took off, the bit was pulled and she stopped. So we worked on easing into the trot and back into the walk. 

By now, she just knew that she had hay waiting for her to eat  (in reality, Beth had not fed yet) and pretty much only had food and getting out of the arena on her mind. We must have attempted the trot past the arena doors a million times before she did it without stopping. Finally we did succeed, with the help of a driving crop. Just having it in my hand was enough for Shy. Then we ended on a good note.

Shyloh has too much attitude for a little girl! I call her the most compliant horse with the biggest attitude. Shy does what is asked of her, but she will sure let you know that she she not happy about it. An evil eye here, a tail swish there, a toss of the neck. It is quite funny! We have a bunch of things that we are going to work and a direction that we need to head. I am glad I took this lesson and I look forward to another in a few weeks to see how we have progressed!