Saturday, July 23, 2011
coming
She's had her first ride. She's had her first bath. Hopefully her first horse show will be next week. I will try to get a new halter photo soon. She is insanely curious, and calm in her excitement if that makes sense. She loves to touch you and occasionally gets clobbered from the nipping which isn't really nipping but threatens to become.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Miss Perfect
I really shouldn't have put that goal in there in that last post . . . because look back a bit about what I hoped to accomplish this year and know that NONE of it is now even POSSIBLE. sigh. Well.
But Increase changed the dynamic now didn't she.
And what I really want to say is just how perfect she is. Which makes me laugh because, you know, horses and horses and people are people and perfection is a long straight line not to be found in this old round world but still, she's perfect. She is funny without being obnoxious, curious without being pushy, smart without being mean. She has that wants-to-please thing that is so great about horses -- now that she feels like she can trust this place and her place here, and me and Ro, she's like, "What can I do for you?"
Today she wore a saddle for the first time. Today she cantered on the lunge really successfully for the first time (in that she'd cantered before but this time with some confidence, at least in one direction). Today she long-lined, just a bit, for the first time.
She also had some backsets as they say. She pulled at the tie for the first time in a long while, and she did it about four times too. But she was never upset by what made her pull or by the pulling itself or by the not getting loose. I guess that was all, really. She objected just a bit to the bit going in her mouth (which caused one of the pulls) but then again, it has been in her mouth three times so far.
She is doing so well.
But Increase changed the dynamic now didn't she.
And what I really want to say is just how perfect she is. Which makes me laugh because, you know, horses and horses and people are people and perfection is a long straight line not to be found in this old round world but still, she's perfect. She is funny without being obnoxious, curious without being pushy, smart without being mean. She has that wants-to-please thing that is so great about horses -- now that she feels like she can trust this place and her place here, and me and Ro, she's like, "What can I do for you?"
Today she wore a saddle for the first time. Today she cantered on the lunge really successfully for the first time (in that she'd cantered before but this time with some confidence, at least in one direction). Today she long-lined, just a bit, for the first time.
She also had some backsets as they say. She pulled at the tie for the first time in a long while, and she did it about four times too. But she was never upset by what made her pull or by the pulling itself or by the not getting loose. I guess that was all, really. She objected just a bit to the bit going in her mouth (which caused one of the pulls) but then again, it has been in her mouth three times so far.
She is doing so well.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
saddles on and not on
We have a goal of going to a horse show July 30, showing in hand and schooling under saddle. And no, I haven’t saddled her yet. But she is responding to everything so very well. I think, really, it is just the consistent handling. She knows where she is, that she has friends, that she has food. It has been several weeks since she tested being tied (by sitting down and pulling). She’ll work with Duke picking right beside of her and she’ll work on the other side of the farm away from him, where she can neither see nor hear him. My daughter is feeling confident leading her which is good since she will be on the ground with me in the saddle.
I haven’t ridden Rol in a few weeks. There are lots of excuses, like how hot it got there for a bit, and how hard it is to do all the work with that many horses and ride in the heat with no help, and how I have to borrow a saddle, and blah blah blah. Excuses are utterly irrelevant. I think the truth is, Lisa thinks allowing me to ride the girl is something she is doing for me, and it is but my riding her and showing her also does something for Lisa and Lisa doesn’t recognize or acknowledge that and I’m tired of the one sided stuff in that relationship. So I talk to Rol and I think about riding her but I haven’t been on her. And probably won’t be.
I haven’t ridden Rol in a few weeks. There are lots of excuses, like how hot it got there for a bit, and how hard it is to do all the work with that many horses and ride in the heat with no help, and how I have to borrow a saddle, and blah blah blah. Excuses are utterly irrelevant. I think the truth is, Lisa thinks allowing me to ride the girl is something she is doing for me, and it is but my riding her and showing her also does something for Lisa and Lisa doesn’t recognize or acknowledge that and I’m tired of the one sided stuff in that relationship. So I talk to Rol and I think about riding her but I haven’t been on her. And probably won’t be.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
not quite buying it
Parelli, that is. I mean, I'm downright hostile to their trademarking everything under the sun, and their aggressive marketing. But I'm willing to learn anything that will prove helpful and a number of things that will not. So I audited the clinic since it was free to do so.
And I'm interested in the techniques, but again find myself hostile to the insider lingo, and to useless and (worse) meaningless platitudes like "you have a 50-50 chance of being right."
Ah, but I was impressed with the clinician's handling of one unruly horse. While it may be a Parelli euphemism that the horse is never wrong, he just is, I can tell you right now that when a horse tries to bite me or strike me or otherwise attack me (which that particular horse has), that is the wrong answer and I don't give a darn what else is going on in his life right then, it is still the wrong answer. And my response to him would likely be hell no. I'll tell you, even upon reflection, I believe that horses, dogs, children, friends, bosses, even chickens, occasionally need a hell no! I sometimes need a hell no. But I willing to listen, and I'm willing to learn to say hell no in a different way too. I was impressed that Richard's response to the horse did not raise the volume but did suppress the behavior. Some. I'm not convinced. Yet.
My biggest question about the whole thing is, what the heck is the purpose? I know, I know, the relationship. That's like the NPR sponsor who is promoting a more peaceful and verdant world -- who isn't doing that? Of course it is about relationship. A plethora of insider lingo and dance steps does not a relationship facilitate or a purpose make. The purpose that I can see is the enrichment of the Parelli's and the people willing to jump through their hoops to do these clinics. I certainly would have felt ripped off if I'd paid $75 to be in the beginner "clinic". The afternoon individual sessions were much more worthwhile to the participants from my perspective. But dressage is not an end, it is a means, an improvement to the horse and the way he goes. I don't have any real interest in getting my horse to do figure eights in front of me, or in riding bridle-less. I don't care about that. I care about performance, whether that is dressage, cross country, barrel racing, or cutting. That's what I like, being good.
Another thing I was impressed with was the last lady in the afternoon and how she danced with her horse. Not that it sold me on Parelli but it reminds me of how sensitive to pressure horses, indeed, pretty much all animals, can be. Of course, they must be sensitized and not desensitized to it to actually be that way. Like mindfulness, it is a natural state but not a common one. But that lady and her horse definitely knew their Parelli dance. There are also dressage dances and cuttin' dances and lots of other dances and, as Corinthians might say, none is without signification. Which also means there is no more signification to Parelli than Parelli. I think that's what it means anyway.
Lisa had the chance today to describe all the stuff going on around JEF to several different people. I was not included in any of it. As a Parelli clinician would say, information, neither right nor wrong just is.
And I'm interested in the techniques, but again find myself hostile to the insider lingo, and to useless and (worse) meaningless platitudes like "you have a 50-50 chance of being right."
Ah, but I was impressed with the clinician's handling of one unruly horse. While it may be a Parelli euphemism that the horse is never wrong, he just is, I can tell you right now that when a horse tries to bite me or strike me or otherwise attack me (which that particular horse has), that is the wrong answer and I don't give a darn what else is going on in his life right then, it is still the wrong answer. And my response to him would likely be hell no. I'll tell you, even upon reflection, I believe that horses, dogs, children, friends, bosses, even chickens, occasionally need a hell no! I sometimes need a hell no. But I willing to listen, and I'm willing to learn to say hell no in a different way too. I was impressed that Richard's response to the horse did not raise the volume but did suppress the behavior. Some. I'm not convinced. Yet.
My biggest question about the whole thing is, what the heck is the purpose? I know, I know, the relationship. That's like the NPR sponsor who is promoting a more peaceful and verdant world -- who isn't doing that? Of course it is about relationship. A plethora of insider lingo and dance steps does not a relationship facilitate or a purpose make. The purpose that I can see is the enrichment of the Parelli's and the people willing to jump through their hoops to do these clinics. I certainly would have felt ripped off if I'd paid $75 to be in the beginner "clinic". The afternoon individual sessions were much more worthwhile to the participants from my perspective. But dressage is not an end, it is a means, an improvement to the horse and the way he goes. I don't have any real interest in getting my horse to do figure eights in front of me, or in riding bridle-less. I don't care about that. I care about performance, whether that is dressage, cross country, barrel racing, or cutting. That's what I like, being good.
Another thing I was impressed with was the last lady in the afternoon and how she danced with her horse. Not that it sold me on Parelli but it reminds me of how sensitive to pressure horses, indeed, pretty much all animals, can be. Of course, they must be sensitized and not desensitized to it to actually be that way. Like mindfulness, it is a natural state but not a common one. But that lady and her horse definitely knew their Parelli dance. There are also dressage dances and cuttin' dances and lots of other dances and, as Corinthians might say, none is without signification. Which also means there is no more signification to Parelli than Parelli. I think that's what it means anyway.
Lisa had the chance today to describe all the stuff going on around JEF to several different people. I was not included in any of it. As a Parelli clinician would say, information, neither right nor wrong just is.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
I could have named her Progress
She was quite excellent on the lunge line today, very obedient and willing. She is in general an impatient horse so she's usually happy when she's doing something. She wore a surcingle for the first time today with no problem. She's got walk and trot, not so much canter yet -- which is fine, she's willing and too much willingness to canter would mean she was running away which I am glad she is not. I just positioned my apprentice on her sticky "corner" and it wasn't really sticky anymore.
Her former owner called me today. I'd mailed a note to her only on Monday. The consignor was a man so I'm pretty sure this was his daughter -- she sounded young. She said she'd bought the Inky from an Amish man up the road when Inky was four months old. She rode her some last summer. When I asked her how she was, she said, "Well, she has a mind of her own," so I'm not exactly sure what that means but it is a quality Inky most surely does have. She's been to one local show. Inky is a Saddlebred, not a Standardbred . . . the vet got that wrong on the coggins the girl said.
So that totally explains how she's been handled quite a bit and yet had very few manners. We're working on it. I am totally enjoying it. Adding Inky to my herd has helped me see horses as part of my work, not just my enjoyment, and that too is nice.
Her former owner called me today. I'd mailed a note to her only on Monday. The consignor was a man so I'm pretty sure this was his daughter -- she sounded young. She said she'd bought the Inky from an Amish man up the road when Inky was four months old. She rode her some last summer. When I asked her how she was, she said, "Well, she has a mind of her own," so I'm not exactly sure what that means but it is a quality Inky most surely does have. She's been to one local show. Inky is a Saddlebred, not a Standardbred . . . the vet got that wrong on the coggins the girl said.
So that totally explains how she's been handled quite a bit and yet had very few manners. We're working on it. I am totally enjoying it. Adding Inky to my herd has helped me see horses as part of my work, not just my enjoyment, and that too is nice.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Rol
Rode today, just a slight ride, and while I've no intention of blogging every ride this year, I think this was an important one. I keep getting out of the groove and I'm hoping today was back in it. We just walked and trotted as she hasn't been doing much and the arena was sloppy, changes of bend, staying round, stretching, transitions. She was wonderful.
Monday, May 16, 2011
acting like an adult
I swallowed my reticence and asked. And it may, eventually, come down to tying her up in an unbreakable way until she submits (or breaks her neck), but it may not. And if it does, it is good to have affirmed that, yes, sometimes it does. And to still have a few more things to try first. And to have the idea reinforced to look for the thing to reinforce.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
#164
I didn't feel like talking to not-Pierre anymore, at least not here. I don't need a gosh darned dag blamed intercessor.
I have a horse. Not a draft horse, not a trained horse, but a horse I hope to break and sell. I have a real opportunity to fail.
Here's how it happened: I went to the draft horse auction, which I always do. I saw Mary who I never see, and Billy and Dowd who I always see, and Ang who I sometimes see. We walked around the sale barn and I picked out the horse I wouldn't buy this year. I always do that, see, pick a horse that I think for some reason or another will be undervalued that I think I would buy if I did such things. The first year I went it was a pregnant Percheron. One year it was a donkey and I actually got ready to bid but the bidding very quickly went higher than I was willing to go. I don't particularly remember the other years but we always get photos of them.
This year even the good horses weren't selling for much, and she was skinny. Then she was friendly, cuddling up to the bars to be petted as we went by. And I just thought her legs were magnificent, her angles good. Then she picked up hay off the floor without splitting her legs. When I went to the check-in to find out about her, she was put in as a four year old Standardbred. I'd thought she was younger than that, mostly because she was so skinny and her legs were so long compared to her body. But four meant work with her right now, not later. And her bare feet were solid.
I went back and forth about it. I could imagine that my eyes were playing tricks on me and that she really wasn't so nice looking. I didn't have a way to get her home. I don't have the money to keep her, not really. There was every reason not to do it, mostly that we don't do things impulsively, especially not things like buying a horse. We actually left, got almost to the car, and then I got turned around by my family. Then they had to leave and I almost did . . . then handed them the keys and stayed. I would bid.
Mary and her friend Suzanne were with me. And another lady that one day I will run into again (short silver hair, open friendly face). The auction had actually forgotten this horse and she went in last. I asked the guy taking her in to trot her so I could make sure she didn't pace. She trotted. I sat down and said I'd bid when it hit $25. When the auctioneer intoned "sold" I said "sh*t". I knew nothing, NOTHING, about this horse. What in the heck had I done?
I first started solving the problems -- get her home. I had several options -- there at the sale, someone would take her . . . if I would pay them. Likewise, there were other people I could hire. I checked with friends but one had left already and Ang had a full trailer already. I called Dowd, our neighborhood patriarch.
Now, I'd seen Dowd that morning at the sale, so he knew where I was. The conversation went like this: "Dowd, this is your neighbor CG." "How ya doin'?" "Dowd, I just bought a horse." "I'll call my son and see where the truck is. I'll call you right back." I didn't even have to ask him. He called me right back too. "Yep, it's there. So I'll just go down and get it, then I have to go to 58 to get the trailer, then I'll be right there. You're still at the fair grounds, aren't you?" "Yep, Dowd, I am. Thanks."
Then I went and paid for her. Then I moved her to a different stall in the sale barn with some hay and sat down on a hay bale in front of it and waited on my family to show up. My emotions were bouncing -- elation, excitement, worry, panic, and all around nausea. Would she even load in a trailer?
When my family walked in all full of anticipation and curiosity about what had happened, I cracked a grin and they knew. "We own a horse!" When Dowd got there, she walked right on the trailer. She pawed when tied and so far that has been her worst habit. She got off the trailer and walked over our bridge.
Our adventure had begun.
She isn't an easy horse but so far I'm not disappointed in anything. I still look at her and think, yeah, she's a nice horse. She's slighter than I might like but she's athletic. She's smart enough to give me concern because when horses are smarter than their people, they are both in trouble. She spirited but handles well. She's got opinions but listens. She's impatient. She's curious. She doesn't tie well.
The not tying well had been giving me a fit. So I dreamed a solution last night, a better one than tying her up until she submits I think, although I will reserve that. The two affirmations that keep playing in my head are: Mary saying, "I believe you love them all," because I do, no matter the breed or discipline, I like horses; and my daughter saying, "There's nothing you can't do," when I said, "What if I can't do this?" I have to be a little like Dory and "just keep swimming".
I don't feel like I have anyone really that I can ask questions and opinions of. "What would you do?" There is not a horse person in my life who I trust that much. Funny that I have said that I don't think Lisa really trusts me (enough to let me bring Gabby home and break her anyway), but I have a reticence to ask her things. I mean, she never asks me my opinion about anything. When I called her from the sale, she said, "So I can assume this is a work horse?" When that wasn't correct, "So, I can assume it drives?" When she'd seen a few photos of her, her first opinion was that she was way older than four, and then that "she looks content" -- not nice or anything like that, just old and content. When I said I still liked how the horse was put together, she said, "Well, it doesn't matter how she's put together -- she just needs a home." And when I said I hoped to sell her, she said, "Well, if you can't sell her, you'll have to teach her to plow." Later she said the horse might have to be "re-homed". (just for the record, I hate nouns like "home" and "gift" used as verbs -- hatehatehate). And the name she suggested for the horse was "Minnie Pearl". So I'm finding it difficult to find any respect in that.
So we named her Increase.
I have an idea how to work with her on the tying thing. I lunged her for the first time yesterday. She's sticky on a corner that would lead back to the field but otherwise she did quite well. I just have to try to work with her about every day and figure it out.
She is so absolutely gosh darned athletic I can imagine her jumping the moon, galloping cross country not afraid of anything, or just moving extremely well for dressage. A girl can dream.
I have a horse. Not a draft horse, not a trained horse, but a horse I hope to break and sell. I have a real opportunity to fail.
Here's how it happened: I went to the draft horse auction, which I always do. I saw Mary who I never see, and Billy and Dowd who I always see, and Ang who I sometimes see. We walked around the sale barn and I picked out the horse I wouldn't buy this year. I always do that, see, pick a horse that I think for some reason or another will be undervalued that I think I would buy if I did such things. The first year I went it was a pregnant Percheron. One year it was a donkey and I actually got ready to bid but the bidding very quickly went higher than I was willing to go. I don't particularly remember the other years but we always get photos of them.
This year even the good horses weren't selling for much, and she was skinny. Then she was friendly, cuddling up to the bars to be petted as we went by. And I just thought her legs were magnificent, her angles good. Then she picked up hay off the floor without splitting her legs. When I went to the check-in to find out about her, she was put in as a four year old Standardbred. I'd thought she was younger than that, mostly because she was so skinny and her legs were so long compared to her body. But four meant work with her right now, not later. And her bare feet were solid.
I went back and forth about it. I could imagine that my eyes were playing tricks on me and that she really wasn't so nice looking. I didn't have a way to get her home. I don't have the money to keep her, not really. There was every reason not to do it, mostly that we don't do things impulsively, especially not things like buying a horse. We actually left, got almost to the car, and then I got turned around by my family. Then they had to leave and I almost did . . . then handed them the keys and stayed. I would bid.
Mary and her friend Suzanne were with me. And another lady that one day I will run into again (short silver hair, open friendly face). The auction had actually forgotten this horse and she went in last. I asked the guy taking her in to trot her so I could make sure she didn't pace. She trotted. I sat down and said I'd bid when it hit $25. When the auctioneer intoned "sold" I said "sh*t". I knew nothing, NOTHING, about this horse. What in the heck had I done?
I first started solving the problems -- get her home. I had several options -- there at the sale, someone would take her . . . if I would pay them. Likewise, there were other people I could hire. I checked with friends but one had left already and Ang had a full trailer already. I called Dowd, our neighborhood patriarch.
Now, I'd seen Dowd that morning at the sale, so he knew where I was. The conversation went like this: "Dowd, this is your neighbor CG." "How ya doin'?" "Dowd, I just bought a horse." "I'll call my son and see where the truck is. I'll call you right back." I didn't even have to ask him. He called me right back too. "Yep, it's there. So I'll just go down and get it, then I have to go to 58 to get the trailer, then I'll be right there. You're still at the fair grounds, aren't you?" "Yep, Dowd, I am. Thanks."
Then I went and paid for her. Then I moved her to a different stall in the sale barn with some hay and sat down on a hay bale in front of it and waited on my family to show up. My emotions were bouncing -- elation, excitement, worry, panic, and all around nausea. Would she even load in a trailer?
When my family walked in all full of anticipation and curiosity about what had happened, I cracked a grin and they knew. "We own a horse!" When Dowd got there, she walked right on the trailer. She pawed when tied and so far that has been her worst habit. She got off the trailer and walked over our bridge.
Our adventure had begun.
She isn't an easy horse but so far I'm not disappointed in anything. I still look at her and think, yeah, she's a nice horse. She's slighter than I might like but she's athletic. She's smart enough to give me concern because when horses are smarter than their people, they are both in trouble. She spirited but handles well. She's got opinions but listens. She's impatient. She's curious. She doesn't tie well.
The not tying well had been giving me a fit. So I dreamed a solution last night, a better one than tying her up until she submits I think, although I will reserve that. The two affirmations that keep playing in my head are: Mary saying, "I believe you love them all," because I do, no matter the breed or discipline, I like horses; and my daughter saying, "There's nothing you can't do," when I said, "What if I can't do this?" I have to be a little like Dory and "just keep swimming".
I don't feel like I have anyone really that I can ask questions and opinions of. "What would you do?" There is not a horse person in my life who I trust that much. Funny that I have said that I don't think Lisa really trusts me (enough to let me bring Gabby home and break her anyway), but I have a reticence to ask her things. I mean, she never asks me my opinion about anything. When I called her from the sale, she said, "So I can assume this is a work horse?" When that wasn't correct, "So, I can assume it drives?" When she'd seen a few photos of her, her first opinion was that she was way older than four, and then that "she looks content" -- not nice or anything like that, just old and content. When I said I still liked how the horse was put together, she said, "Well, it doesn't matter how she's put together -- she just needs a home." And when I said I hoped to sell her, she said, "Well, if you can't sell her, you'll have to teach her to plow." Later she said the horse might have to be "re-homed". (just for the record, I hate nouns like "home" and "gift" used as verbs -- hatehatehate). And the name she suggested for the horse was "Minnie Pearl". So I'm finding it difficult to find any respect in that.
So we named her Increase.
I have an idea how to work with her on the tying thing. I lunged her for the first time yesterday. She's sticky on a corner that would lead back to the field but otherwise she did quite well. I just have to try to work with her about every day and figure it out.
She is so absolutely gosh darned athletic I can imagine her jumping the moon, galloping cross country not afraid of anything, or just moving extremely well for dressage. A girl can dream.
Monday, May 2, 2011
evolutions
and then Rol got wonky (as in not lame exactly but something not quite right) and I quit riding at all. I figured I might have lost my ride entirely.
And then I surprised myself most of all by buying a horse. And perhaps the most interesting thing is who believes in me and who just cannot see it. At all. Walk on. It is my life to live.
And now it seems perhaps I will get to ride Rol and work with my new horse and that is just alright with me.
Although I did consider changing the name of this blog to something to do with my great uncle Noad, who did believe in me, who said of me, "That girl; put her on your worst horse and she'll still out ride you."
I'm doing fine.
And then I surprised myself most of all by buying a horse. And perhaps the most interesting thing is who believes in me and who just cannot see it. At all. Walk on. It is my life to live.
And now it seems perhaps I will get to ride Rol and work with my new horse and that is just alright with me.
Although I did consider changing the name of this blog to something to do with my great uncle Noad, who did believe in me, who said of me, "That girl; put her on your worst horse and she'll still out ride you."
I'm doing fine.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
no horse show
so there is sort of a horse show this weekend and I'm not riding in it. It turned into a "fix a test" which is nearly as expensive as a full clinic lesson, and frankly my issues are bigger than finessing a test. Well, and I'm not heading to a rated show or anything -- I'd rather just ride and improve (not that I'd give up an opportunity mind you but Rol and I together aren't headed there).
And then the weather hit and the show ran long and my clinic ride got canceled. Which also is really just as well -- it was pushing me financially and I'm more happy to spend the time with my family, and doing the things we need to do.
Something shifted.
And then the weather hit and the show ran long and my clinic ride got canceled. Which also is really just as well -- it was pushing me financially and I'm more happy to spend the time with my family, and doing the things we need to do.
Something shifted.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
just give me a month
it isn't that I have it all figured out, but I feel at peace with myself about it. I was mad for awhile that my vulnerability was responded to with defensiveness but I've finally been able to see that as a measure of her vulnerability. If that makes sense. It does to me. So it is a place with more room for grace.
Grace is a good thing.
I have been riding regularly, and it is going well actually in that I feel like she's responding and we're making progress. The show this month has turned into a ride-a-test and so costs nearly as much as a clinic lesson and so that made me gasp but I did know it would be more expensive. So I do still want to do it but I'll consider just doing a clinic lesson instead -- an hour for just a little more money. Or a lesson with a judge on the test that I'll likely be riding the rest of the year (which would mean, probably, that I'll go for T3). None of that is decided though.
I will say that bear skin works well.
Grace is a good thing.
I have been riding regularly, and it is going well actually in that I feel like she's responding and we're making progress. The show this month has turned into a ride-a-test and so costs nearly as much as a clinic lesson and so that made me gasp but I did know it would be more expensive. So I do still want to do it but I'll consider just doing a clinic lesson instead -- an hour for just a little more money. Or a lesson with a judge on the test that I'll likely be riding the rest of the year (which would mean, probably, that I'll go for T3). None of that is decided though.
I will say that bear skin works well.