Show scratch

This has been a very stressful week, hence no posts. My husband, Randy, had neck and thumb surgery on Monday. Thankfully, all went well and now feeling has returned to his fingers and triceps muscle. What a blessing. Randy has been through so much with his spine. We are really lucky to have access to such wonderful physicians like his pain doctor, Dr. White and his surgeon, Dr. Bindal.

On Sunday, Walker came up lame for the first time since he had hoof abscesses over a year ago. We had to scratch from the schooling show that day. It was very disappointing, but mostly I a concerned about how serious his injury is. He seems to be favoring his right hock area, but our vet, Dr. Criner, is coming to see him today, so I will know more then. I hate having to leave him in his stall, but I have no choice right now, I need to make sure he doesn't injure himself further. The only bright spot is that we have had so much rain, he would have had to stay in his stall anyway, at least now there is a really good reason for him not to get out and about.

Getting ready for show

I am coming to realize that writing a blog takes serious time and commitment. I also have to admit that I enjoy reading and re-experiencing my past moments with Walker and everyone at the barn, both horses and people. I wonder, does that make me egoistic, just completely horse crazy or both?
The last week we have had great weather and even nicer evenings at the barn. I have taken advantage of this by riding Walker in anticipation of my first schooling show this coming Sunday.
Walker is coming to realize that we need more speed and rythym when under saddle. And I believe he is actually starting to enjoy the challenge. I am very lucky that he is so food motivated, as I believe it has really improved our friendly game to the point that he would rather be with me than with his horse buddies.
Can't wait to go out and see him today! We've had torrential rains the last two days, so he is going to have lots of frisky energy to expend!

Blue skies, horse whinnies and liberty

What a great day at the barn. After weeks of miserable weather, today was spectacular; dry, completely clear and about 70 degrees. I had decided to ride as Walker and I had not done so for over a week. 

Today was a day that illustrated why it is so important to assess your horse before riding. Walker had a lot of pent up energy. It could of been because of the fall air. Or perhaps his heightened tension was a result of so little turnout these past two weeks. Whatever the reason, he was in no mood to be ridden when we first walked into the arena.

We started with some friendly game and then yo-yo to circling game. Walker did more dancing than circling, looking every which way but paying attention to me. To get his mind more focused, I asked him to change direction several times both at the trot and the canter. Interestingly, he got most focused at the walk. We followed this up with some weaving in and out of barrels. Walker did this very well, so we followed this up with the same, but at Liberty. He did this so well that I knew his mind was ready for riding. 
How many accidents happen because people think of their horses as though they are an inanimate object, like a car? In fact, it is very likely that there are many people who own and work with horses who should stick to inanimate objects. You cannot expect that every day you see your horse that they will be ready at a moment's notice to do everything you want when you want it. There are no video controls attached to Walker's withers. If I had not warmed him up, any riding attempted could have resulted in unpredictable events, from poor performance and obstanance to disaster. I personally like my body parts in their current configuration, so I prefer as much predictablity as possible. The seven Parelli games have helped me to keep my horsing around safe and fun for over 5 years now.

We rode in and around the question box, four barrels arranged in a square. First we did this at the trot with contact then alternated to freestyle. Walker was much less resistant to contact with the bit today, and he made a much better effort at rounding himself and moving uphill. It has been common with Walker that when he gets time to think about something, it is easier for him to accept that for which I am asking.

Then we took the bridle off and again worked through the question box again at the walk, trot and canter. Walker has been getting more and more willing at moving forward when going through question box instead of wanting to stop every time we go through.

Cantering without a bridle is an amazing feeling. What a privilege for Walker to offer his effort without so much as a string attached to his face. What's more, when I ask for a stop from the canter in the question box, he does so on a dime. I can picture the day when he will move forward with collection without wearing a bridle. 

What a brilliant horse is emerging!

I then rode Walker bareback out to the turnout. Despite my tailbone issue, I can ride for brief periods of time, and going out to the turnouts is about perfect for me to get in some bareback time. We stopped once for Walker to dive into some really juicy grass, and then we moved on. We were greeted at the gate by Captain Jack, Dozer and Poco. They were very polite letting us through to the adjacent turnout where we met with Bingo, Dash and Mooney. Bingo and Dash got very excited over Walker's arrival and started mixing it up between them. Rarely have I seen Bingo kick out, but he did so when Dash got a little too close. As the water trough by the gate was so muddy, I walked Walker to the third turnout where he took some deep pulls from the trough. Bingo, Dash and Mooney followed us and Bingo and Dash were still full of energy. Good leadership in a situation like this is important, so I made sure Bingo understood he should not approach Walker. No reason three horses should start mixing things up. Once Walker was finished drinking, I fed everyone some cookies and walked back to the barn. Along the way, I fed Captain Jack and Dozer cookies, sorry Poco, you just couldn't get your nose past those two big boys!

Lovely, . . .

. . . a word and a state of being that is not so easy to find or attain in a modern world that values activity, image, fantasy and speed above all. But the other day, lovely was the best way to describe a few moments I had standing on a levy in Missouri City with Walker and Bingo.

I arrived at the barn knowing I had only about 90 minutes to get Walker, and maybe Bingo out of their stalls after another day stuck there away from their soggy turnouts. I took Walker to the small indoor arena and we played on line together, lots of moving circles, falling leaf pattern, and all at a good pace. Walker, though wanting to be a bit snotty, could not help himself but to enjoy the movement, the dance. I have to admit, that as a dance team on the ground, Walker is a bit more athletic than I am, but we had fun nonetheless. He forgives me for being 51!
Then I got Bingo out of his stall and we walked over to the levy for some grazing. As Wendy and I had done this over the weekend, I knew they would behave themselves up there without needing any micromanaging from me.

We went through an opening in the fence, and I tossed the 12 foot lead ropes over their backs so they would be free to graze without hindrance.

They moved away from me and tucked right into the grass, which had grown up to their hocks. Now and again, they would come over to me to touch base and get a cookie and then they would move off again, bending their necks to the grass and eating eagerly. Bingo seemed especially willing to stay with me versus eating the grass, so as a reward, I used the end of my carrot stick to scratch his neck, to which he hung his head all the way to the ground in complete surrender.

There was a wonderful breeze at the top of the levy compared to the stifling heat in the stalls. Walker and Bingo, both covered in sweat when we left the barn, soon dried off. It must have felt really good to them.

While they ate, I gently leaned on my carrot stick and read a novel. I glanced at my phone to determine what time it was and was happy to see we still had an hour to spend time together. What a lovely hour it was. Poor Bingo, when it was time to go, he followed me like a big sad puppy dog! Still, I like to think they appreciated the time out. I know I did . . .

Wendy, Bingo, Walker and I had a good time at the barn yesterday. Poor boys, cooped up now for days thanks to all of this crazy rain here in the Houston area, they really needed the time out of their stalls. When they have to stay in them this long, we are sure they think of them more like jail cells.
We decided Liberty would be the best way to go. No need to go from the stall to a halter and rope in the arena, and riding them would probably not have been a good idea with all the energy they had pent up. Walker jumped the barrels with virtually no argument at all. Bingo did a very nice yo-yo at Liberty! Good job on that one, Wendy.  Walker and I even managed to get a bit of weave pattern in, and then Bingo started running and . . .
Once they got started running, they really got some exercise. Walker did a very good impression of a fire breathing dragon, minus the fire He got very tall, bowed his neck, flaired his nostrils and piaffed across the arena. He can really show off his stuff; all Arab when he gets his energy up. Bingo tore across the arena several times, but came up a little lame when he grazed across a damp spot in the dirt. He looked OK, though, after walking it off a bit.
After that, we sat on the barrels and fed them cookies, which of course, made them extremely content. They love their horse cookies! They were both nuzzling us to get that last cookie including the crumbs in Wendy's fanny pack!
So, imagine this, two women sitting on barrels with two horses loving all over them for their cookies. There is just no better stress relief, not if you love horses.

Riding bridleless

Although Walker and I had ridden bridle-less before, this weekend was really exceptional. He has gotten so much calmer under saddle that he really acts much more like a left brained extrovert now under saddle then a right brained extrovert. I felt as though he felt restricted with the bit I am using, a very nice double broken snaffle, so I wanted to see if taking off the bridle entirely would make a difference with his rhythm, especially at the trot. And it did! He became smoother, steadier, more consistent without the bit. So now I am going to have to consider using the Parelli cradle bit for the left brained extrovert. Wendy and I are going to train with Kerri Joosten in December, and she said she has one I can try, so I think that is what I am going to do. My dilemma is that it may not be sanctioned yet for dressage competition, so I will have to find out from Cody if that is true for training levels as well.
I will be very interested to see if the bit makes a difference. My gut tells me it will.
I can truthfully say that when I first started playing with Walker over 5 years ago, it never entered my mind that I might feel comfortable enough some day to ride him with no bridle. What a privilege he has given me to become his partner in this way. He is not as happy about it as I would like, especially when I ask him to speed up or move up into the canter, and that is one of the things I want to discuss with Kerri.