Keeva Blog

Keeva graduation

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:19:21 -0500

I brought her in and groomed her and tacked up, then went out to lunge. She was excellent on the lunge and we did some jumping which went well. Then to the arena where we worked in all gaits which went well.

Keeva goes home tomorrow, and though the timing is quite good in her training and I am happy with where she is, I will be sorry to see her go. It has been a mildly bumpy road with the wolf teeth difficulty early in the process, the brief adoption of double-barrel kicking for amusement, and of course, earning the honor of being the first horse to actually buck me off.*

But she has turned the corner in so many ways. Now instead of reacting by picking up a hoof when startled, she will actually pull her butt under. She now softens her body when petted and will drop her head most of the time naturally, but always when asked. She has always been a cookie mugger, but now she mugs for just plain attention too. She stands quietly and confidently in the cross ties.

Under saddle, she walks flat-footed on a long rein to warm up and is much steadier in the bridle when the reins are picked up. In beginning work, she occasionally has some moments of raising her head, but they pass in a few moments. Her canter depart is not as ideal, but the canter itself is really quite nice - relaxed and responsive.

On trail rides, she seems to really enjoy herself and she has a natural balance that makes terrain negotiation fairly simple for her. She is given to the occasional shy, but tends to mostly react and then stand still and figure it out - a nice habit indeed. She settles nicely with some kind reassurance. She is confident going out by herself or with other horses. Her jumping basics are well in hand. Her footwork is solid and she seems to enjoy jumping.

For her future development, I’d like to see her continue to receive daily positive attention, including cookies and just general playing with her. If she is ridden, I would suggest lunging her first until she gets more experience. I think having the winter off wouldn’t hurt her a bit, though.

In spring, her jumping and out-of-arena skills, including introduction to water and more varied terrain should be continued.

Keeva is a rewarding horse to work with, with a very bright future. I am very grateful you trusted some of her training to me.

* By way of clarification, I have been shied off, refused off, run-out-at-a fence offed, fell-in-a-ditch offed, broke-through-an-underground-animal-tunnel-and-rolled-the-horse-at-a-gallop offed, champagne-ride-in-the-dark-tree-branched-off, and swam off, but never bucked off until Missy Diva Keeva.

Post-hunt hack

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:15:58 -0500

We got home from hunting in western Iowa in the early afternoon. I was still in my breeches and boots, so I tacked up Keeva. After a brief lunge, we warmed up in the arena and then went out on a short hack around the fields. It was a bit breezy, but she didn’t seem to mind and dealt with it quite nicely.

We had a fair amount of trotting and cantering around the coyote field and a nice cool down walk past the now-boring windmill. Very good.

Proud of herself

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:13:11 -0500

She was an angel for catching and tacking. Out we went for some lunging and she let out a nice buck when I asked for canter. But it was only one buck, which is better than several in a row like she has done in the past. We went on to lunge jumping work, which went really well. Her footwork is becoming quite good.

Then into the arena for work under tack. She did exceptionally well with a lot of relaxed breathing and some stretching over her topline. We did some simple lead changes and some trot leg yielding as well. Very nice work.

Solo hack

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:19:38 -0500

Started out with lunging, then on to some ring work which went well, so then out for a short solo hack. She was very good.

More success

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:10:26 -0500

She was a delight to catch, lead in and tack up. (Of course, cookies help.) We started out with lunging in the pasture, then once we got warmed up we lunged over logs.

Then into the arena for some work in all gaits, which went very well.

Group hack

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:27:10 -0500

Went for a hack with Jay on Elliot and a student on Sammy. I got on without lunging at the outside mounting block and she was very good. Out we went int the harvested fields and she was quite good in walk, trot and canter in the group. On the way home, I asked Jay to lead at a place where we had to pass through the tall corn. She did not like not being in front and threw a minor fit, but we got through it. Then we were in a large soybean field and we were going to trot around it. Eliot has a huge trot which left Sammy and Keeva in the dust a bit, and Keeva did not like that one bit. In retrospect, at this state in her training, I probably should have let her canter to keep up, but I just turned her away from the group and did some other trot work so that she wouldn’t be obligated to keep up. She actually did quite well leaving the group, so it turned out well. We joined up again at the exit to the field.

We hacked home in all gaits and it went well.

Solo hack

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:11:04 -0500

We warmed up in the indoor with walk, trot and canter, which went well. Then we headed out for a hack, walking right out big door of the arena. We trotted west into the soybean field and past the windmill that she learned about the other day. Then I asked her to walk for a bit through a gate and along another field, with a slight discussion about being relaxed in walk. Then on to a canter which we carried halfway around a big soybean field, about a third of a mile long. She did very well in that, though her metronome tends a little fast, but she is rateable. I want her to learn to stay at the first pace dictated by her rider rather than to tend to speed up, thereby requiring constant monitoring by her rider. Much more fun to hunt horses who have a steady metronome rather than tending to increase the tempo of the canter if not constantly monitored. That will come.

Next I brought her to walk and then to halt for 2 minutes, to simulate a check. She did remarkably well with that. Much praise. Then on to trot for a brief bit and back into canter for the other half of the field. We then trotted back through the gate, past the windmill and into the soybean field to the west of us and walked the last quarter mile home. Very good day.

Girl chat as training device

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:20:29 -0500

So, today my former working student, Katie, made it out. After I groomed Keeva and rubbed on her upper neck to relax her, I got in the tack in the arena. Katie and I were walking around on a loose rein, chatting, catching up, laughing and telling stories. It was 45 minutes of walking in which Keeva just got more and more relaxed. I got off and on a couple of times to pick up manure piles and Katie would pony Keeva from Charlie, which Keeva was fine with. Once I ponied Charlie from Keeva, which Keeva was a little concerned about but she handled it. Good girl.

Finally on to trot work and some cavaletti work. She did extremely well, relaxed over her topline nicely. On to canter work which we did a lot of it and it was relaxed and fun.

Jumping and neck loosening and blankets, oh my!

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:43:33 -0500

My former working student was going to come out and we were going to ride together. She was a little late, so I tacked up anyway. While doing so, Elliot, who has noticed the fact that he is in love with Keeva, whinnied several times like a lovesick yearling for her from the paddock. Keeva thought she might give a few love calls back, but I had to tell her that when she is working, she is not to do that. When Elliot kept whinnying, she learned that if she did not whinny back, she got a cookie. That worked out ok for her. Then I think she was sending Elliot ESP sexting messages to get him to whinny so that she could not answer and get more cookies. Cute. I finished tacking and out we went for lunging.

It was quite brisk out with a stiffening north wind and cool temps. Despite that, she was perfectly well-behaved on the lunge. We warmed up in walk, trot and canter. Then I asked her to jump a different log while on the lunge. She is always willing to go forward to the jump, but the thing that was impressive tonight was that her footwork improved dramatically. She got a few very tight spots and a few longies the first few times around, but then it seemed that a light bulb went on and she consistently organized her feet and balance to arrive at a comfortable distance. Wonderful. I’m convinced this is the most important part of jumping for horses.

I forgot to mention that during the ride with Jay the other day, I reached up and petted her neck up near her ears and she reacted by snaking her neck and ducking her head down. She clearly was not about it. Then today, walking in from lunging, I petted her again in the same place and she did the same thing. So I got to thinking about that. I wondered if she was particularly tight in that area. I got out my trusty rubber scrubby and started to gently rub on her face and then worked my way to the upper part of her neck. At first she was a little alarmed, but then she started to lean into it and lick and chew in appreciation.

Sometime during this process, I put a cooler on her. This is a good old heavy cooler, with wool on the outside and irish weave on the inside and I think the weight of it surprised her. She stood there sort of like Bambi on ice, shocked, trying not to move. I had to laugh. I fed her a bunch of cookies and she got over it. Very good girl.

More yayness

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:35:41 -0500

Since I rode her reasonably hard yesterday and she is getting less feral when being dealt with in the pasture, I opted to not lunge her today, just went into the arena and swung into the tack after grooming. When I got in the saddle I remembered that yesterday I had traded the stirrup leathers with the stirrup leathers off the jumping saddle, which meant that the dressage saddle I was sitting in had egregiously short stirrups and my knees were well ahead of the knee rolls. Hmmmmm... Maybe we should change that.

So, I asked her to stand and went to the business of adjusting them. She stood pretty well, but was occasionally alarmed with the tugging and such. I certainly could have gotten off to adjust them, but then, she needs to learn to deal with stuff like this, so there we were. Got that done and moved on to walk work which went well. Trot work went well, though we had a few moments of inversion here or there. We discussed it and she got over it. On to canter, which went very well.

Then on out into the big soybean field to the east of us. In order to do so, we had to walk out of the overhead door in the arena and past the idling tractor that Jay was using. That was a little scary but she dealt with it. Good girl. Then we did a nice long trot across the soybean field. I was asking her to stay straight between the rows of stubble and we did pretty well, using only 2 rows the entire length of the field. Then I asked her to walk, and once we got the walk established, I gave her a loose rein. After a few moments, she was walking flat-footed on a long rein. Very nice. Did that for a while, then turned around and cantered the half mile or so home, with the exception of the last 500 yards, which I asked her to walk, which she was able to do. Nice day.

Yay, yay, yay!

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:16:34 -0500

I brought Keeva up and groomed her in the run-in while Jay tacked up Elliot. Keeva stood beautifully and was commenting that the yellow delicious apples that one of my students gave me to share with the horses are delicious.

We went out to lunge in the pasture and she was delightful on the walk out. It may be that she is actually starting to enjoy attention. We lunged and she was perfectly well behaved.

I then brought her into the indoor and got on and did some basic work in walk trot and canter. Everything felt pretty solid, even with Jay and Elliot flitting about the arena with that goofy warmblood prance.

The four of us went out on a hack. We are trying to get Elliot back to hunting fit after a month off due to a hot nail. Consequently, our hack, after some walking, was a lot of trot and canter. Keeva was very good in all gaits. She followed Elliot’s lead in a bigger trot step, which was really fun. She started to stretch over her topline too, which is excellent. When we were in canter work, she was a little bit tighter, but still operating within the acceptable norm. Jay may have let Elliot canter on a little bit (ahem) so he got ahead, while I required Keeva to keep the pace were were in. She did pretty well with it. That is a hard one.

We had to go past a windmill, which she thought was a little bit scary the first time, but I asked Jay to walk by it a few times with me and Keeva and she figured it out very quickly. We ended the ride with a cooling out walk around the pasture. She was very relaxed, walking flat-footed on a long rein. An excellent day.

No bucking day

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:09:57 -0500

Today I rode the two horses from our herd that are most likely to buck and neither one of them whispered the idea of bucking. Gotta love that.

As for Keeva, we started out with lunging (oh wait, I guess she did buck on the lunge) and she was very good on the lunge line, if a little exuberant in all paces. I was lunging in the pasture and on one circle she stepped in a pile of manure with a back foot and slipped a bit. It annoyed her enough that she commenced a little buck fit, but she stopped when I just raised my voice at her. I guess that is why I didn’t remember it at first, it wasn’t that impressive and was somewhat understandable.

Then we went into the indoor and rode in all gaits. She was very good in walk, a little tight in trot, but improved, and her canter work was quite good.

She is getting along well in the herd. I think at first she thought she was going to be alpha, but the Gelding Collective has educated her to the fact that this is a benevolent universe, a sort of egalitarian herd, and she has melded in just fine. It has been fairly amusing to observe.

Back at it

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:56:57 -0500

After a break for station identification, aka a trip to Burwell, NE to foxhunt and be generally irresponsible for a long weekend, it was back in the tack today. She was easily caught (I always have a cookie in my pocket) and stood well for grooming and tacking. I took her out to lunge and she was quite good, though she managed to buck once moderately impressively.

We got through that and then I lunged her a bit over a 2’ log. She did remarkably well over the log. She went forward every time and jumped it and got better and better with the distance. We did it on the slight slope uphill and the slight downhill slope once she got the uphill mastered. Very nice.

Then I brought her into the arena and got in the tack. She stood very well. Her walk was a little exuberant, and anytime I touched her with my leg, she would speed up, so we worked on her tolerating that a little better. Trot work was unsteady at first, but got better and better. Canter work was entirely without any bucking (yay) and got more and more steady. We did a whole bunch of transitions and they went well.

We cooled down with a walk in the neighboring soybean field, harvested today. Great footing. She walked very well on a slack rein and observed the grain bins going back and forth.

I untacked and gave her a rinse and a teat cleaning. This is probably one of the last 70+ degree days of the season, when I do sheath cleaning, so she also got some cleaning. She stood very well. Big improvement over spring.

Lifestyle note. After every feeding I play with her and ask her to follow me around for cookies. Maybe move 10 feet and get a cookie, then move 8 feet in another direction and get a cookie. At first she made faces about this and tried to get me to come to her, but now she has acquiesced that it is ok for her to come to me and that cookies may require work. Most excellent. She’s at a very nice weight to head into winter.

Relaxing

Tue, 4 Oct 2011 21:49:27 -0500

I tacked her up while one of my students tacked Sammy. She was distracted and over-reactive at first, but I basically just kept touching her until she got over herself, which she did quite nicely. We went in the arena and I taught the lesson from her back. So she had a lot of standing around and being relaxed and asked to do nothing.

She got more and more settled and rested. After the lesson, I worked her in trot and canter and she did very well. Good day.

Keeva wins the lottery

Mon, 3 Oct 2011 22:23:21 -0500

Since Clif left for home yesterday, Keeva needed a pasturemate. She has now effectively met all four of our geldings, so we decided to turn her out with them and let them live as a happy herd. I put out some hay for them all and then quietly turned her out. There was a remarkable lack of fireworks, and other than a little parading about as the geldings were showing how beautiful they are to the new girl, things are pretty quiet. We took the dogs for a pasture walk in the late evening and they were all grazing together.

Out Hacking with her Friends

Sun, 2 Oct 2011 21:40:04 -0500

Jay on Sammy, I on Keeva and Meg on Clifford headed out for a hack in the late afternoon. We went over hill and dale and at all gaits. She was really quite good. Notably, she suggested she might buck when we were going through the beaver field (so named because when we first moved here there were beavers there and the coolest chew marks on the trees) she suggested that she could buck. At which point I immediately suggested that was not her best plan by bending her a lot. She got over it immediately and carried on perfectly.

We went over the bridge, along some fields and had some medium canter work with her friends where she kept her head quite nicely. Clifford once lightly ran into her butt and she didn’t react at all. Not even an ear flick. She walked on a slack rein at the end. Very good. She was happy with herself.

Clifford went home today, so I put Charlie in with Keeva to keep her company. I am thinking of putting her in with our guys, since they have all had time to get to know each other. I will likely give that a supervised try tomorrow afternoon.

Stretching

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:10:59 -0500

I got to thinking about the bucking and it occurred to me that most of the time horses buck when they are not going truly forward or they are really tight somewhere, or both. I went back through the early training logs and saw that she was really much shorter on the left side of her body, not bending to her right.

So, in tonight’s walk and trot work, we focused even more than usual on truly stretching over her entire topline. She at first resisted it, but I cajoled her in to trying it out and she got better and better and more and more relaxed. Canter was a snap. Some very nice work.

When I got off, Jay came over in his usual quiet way. Keeva was frightened at his approach. Jay talked soothingly to her and she warmed slightly, but remained dubious. She was good though and tried, so we let it at that.

Later in the evening, Jay went out and fed her and Clifford some cookies and she was alright with that. Cookies - the way to Keeva’s heart.

Video

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:58:22 -0500

Jay was away this afternoon, and, in light of Keeva’s occasional bucking fits, I invited my friend Tracey over to be about while I rode Keeva. I warmed Keeva up in walk and trot, which went very well, then on to canter with very little fanfare. She did very well. Tracey was kind enough to shoot some canter video. Look ma, no bucking!

Home again

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:34:32 -0500

I had asked Jay a few days ago if he would make an effort to spend some time with her when he got a chance to help with her man phobia. So tonight I came around the corner of the barn and he was feeding her cookies and petting her and she was loving it. It was very cute.

Tomorrow back in the tack.

One step forward, one step back

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:37:02 -0500

So she had a day off yesterday and then I rode her this morning when it was 45 degrees. Started out very well in walk and trot and when asked for canter she went on to bucking. These were fairly impressive bucks, but apparently I have some good karma racked up, because this time I was allowed to stay in the tack.

When she stopped bucking and came to a walk, I was faced with a conundrum. Does one smack the horse for bucking, praise for stopping bucking or ignore and move on? I chose the third. We continued in trot work, but she was still holding her back up in a manner suggestive of further bucking. I worked a few minutes in trot and then decided to take her out and lunge her instead. I think she just has a high sense of humor and needs to move her feet along.

So I took her out to the pasture to lunge her and the boys were out there. They came over and stood outside the lunge circle and talked amongst themselves. “Ahhhhh, isn’t she beautiful?” “I think I love her.” Pretty funny. We lunged for a few minutes, I got back on, cantered, went fine, done.

Cavaletti and a hack

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:19:11 -0500

I brought her in and tacked up while my friend Katie was tacking up Charlie. After I was done tacking Keeva, I left her in the cross ties and went out and rolled up the curtains on the arena, which is about a 6 minute process. When I returned, Kate was complimenting Keeva for how well she stood while I was out. Wonderful and lovely to hear.

We rode in the arena together, where Keeva was very good. We did Prelim test C again and also did some raised cavaletti. Then Katie and I went on a hack together, through the tall weeds next to the corn to start out. At one point a bunch of birds flushed and Keeva jumped forward, but, to her credit, she bounded 2 strides and then settled immediately. Pretty good. We hacked about, a lot on a slack rein and Keeva enjoyed herself immensely. Excellent.

More and more

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:03:57 -0500

Another very good day for Keeva. Flat-footed walking, trot mostly in balance and breathing during the canter. We worked on transitions and leg yielding. Again, she was quite delighted with herself, and rightly so.

More clue bus fabulousness

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:24:25 -0500

Drizzling and basically horrid outside, so we rode in the indoor. The rain on the roof sounds like rain on a tent - very relaxing. She was very good, and very proud of herself at the end. After I ride, I put the reins around her neck and go around and pick up any manure she made. She followed me around while I did so in a very relaxed manner. “Wasn’t I good? You should pet me more now, I was so good.” Very endearing.

On the clue bus

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:24:21 -0500

Something is changing about Keeva. She is growing up, or becoming more confident or getting on the clue bus, whatever you want to call it, she’s just a nice horse to be around. She comes over and puts her face in the halter when I got to catch her, she stands politely in the cross ties for grooming and actually breathes while being ridden. It is all very subtle changes that cumulatively make a very nice difference. Yay.

(Now to con Jay to play with her a little more on the ground. Some of the men who fed her at Canterbrooke commented that she didn’t like them (and these are guys who like horses and are gentle with them) and Jay has had trouble in the odd evening when he has fed when he has gone to take her supermask off. She was not having it. She is completely fine with me. So I’ll see if I can get Jay and cookies to help her overcome this.)

Not so ticklish

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:37:55 -0500

I brought her in, groomed and tacked up. She was quite the good girl. Mounted up and had a good session, including a lot of transition work. Very nice day.

Ticklish

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:14:18 -0500

She’d had a couple of days off over the weekend so I thought it might be wise to lunge her before I got in the tack. She had been relaxed and even affectionate during tacking. We went out to the pasture to do a little lunging and she was pretty ready to rock. We worked for about 25 minutes on the lunge before I had her “on the aids” - doing transitions when requested and staying in balanced gaits instead of going on like an orangutan. She had a few bucks in canter to share with me, which, by the way, are more palatable when one is 20 feet away from the tack.

I brought her into the indoor and we had a nice session in all gaits.

Side note, before she is ridden, she is quite ticklish on her belly and even as far forward as her shoulders sometimes. After a session like today, where she ended up with her neck down and breathing in a really relaxed manner, she is not ticklish. I have been touching her belly kindly when I feed her and on the evenings where she has been ridden, she is not ticklish. Interesting.

Purina sign!

Thu, 8 Sep 2011 22:24:30 -0500

Today’s “Let’s give Keeva a bit of a challenge” item was Jay putting up a 5’ x 5’ Purina checkerboard sign on the inside wall of the arena. This involved ladders and drills and hammers and noise. Oh boy!

She was pretty dubious about all the goings on, but managed to hold it together in all three gaits. We reviewed everything, but kept it simple tonight since yesterday was such a marathon. She did well.

It was the best of times, it was the not so great of times

Wed, 7 Sep 2011 21:00:33 -0500

Jay is working on getting his fitness back for foxhunting, so he joined my 6 p.m. “xc school” which is where we get together and jump small objects in the pasture. I decided that Keeva could use the time standing and being polite and jumping so she was going to be my horse for the lesson.

So we started out in the indoor, with a lot of trot and canter work, which went very well. Then out to the field. She was delightful to ride out to the far end of the pasture with the group. She walked flat-footed and had a rhythmic, relaxed walk on a long rein. The other horses were near her and she was ok with that. She stood with another horse and left the group just fine. She waited quietly while Jay and another student, Robyn, schooled their fences. She let me get on and off to change fences and stood well.

When it was her turn to jump the first jumps she did well. The second set of small jumps went well too. Then she had a fairly long wait while Jay and Robyn each did a course. She came slightly unglued during the wait, but kept it in check. Then we went out to ride the course, and she jumped over the first fence just fine, and then took about 8 strides and started to buck. I had a one-rein stop pretty handy, so she got over herself. But seriously, what?

Anyway, we picked the trot back up and jumped the rest of the course and she was fine until we took the turn back away from the barn to jump the last fence. I put my outside leg on to finish the turn and she kicked at it. Pretty uncool, so I sent her back around in a big circle and repeated the exercise and she was fine.

All in all it was a good day, but I think that working with her for an hour and a half as it turned out to be, is probably just a little longer than her attention span is at this point in her life. She started and ended on a good note. Pretty good day.

Just Plain Better

Tue, 6 Sep 2011 18:01:44 -0500

I brought her in from the paddock where she was easy to catch and relaxed with her neck down when we walked to the barn. Her whole demeanor was relaxed from head to tail. She had a soft eye and stood well. She mugged for cookies. I groomed her and tacked her up and lunged her a bit just to get her feet moving. She was only slightly on her toes for lunging.

Under saddle, she was quite for her, almost relaxed across her topline. We had a long walk warm up which went well, on to trot which was occasionally hurried and unbalanced, but still acceptable. Canter work was quite good and when we moved on to transition work, it went well. Yay.

Better Bucking

Sun, 4 Sep 2011 06:14:27 -0500

Kind of an unusual title, so let me explain. We warmed up in walk, which started out rather harried, but with several walk halt transitions, she started to settle. On to trot work, which is improving all the time. I cued for canter going into the short side of the arena. She went forward quite nicely, but also went on into a series of bucks. Here is where I was very glad I started the canter while going into the short side of the arena. The other arena wall comes up fairly quickly and I used it and the corner to get her to stop bucking. She did. Yay. This is why I say this is better bucking.

We went back to trot work, then on to canter work which was really quite good.

Pasture!

Fri, 2 Sep 2011 22:15:33 -0500

Well, that last time I rode Keeva in the pasture was the event of my short, unscheduled, brief flight, so today’s foray in the pasture was a milestone. I tacked up, mounted up and went out as if only good things were going to happen, and they did. She had some nice work in all gaits and kept her head about her.

After the ride, I rinsed her in the washrack and halfway through I pulled the hose across the gravel, which she has grown accustomed to generally, but it must have bumped against her legs, because she got scared. I was behind her at the time and she could have kicked me, but she simply tucked her butt under and quickly raised her neck sharply and popped the fuse on the washrack tie. Then she took a quick trot across the yard, but settled down quickly and let me catch her no problem. In a way, this is a disappointing development in that she got worried enough about the dragging hose to mildly lose her mind. But in many ways it is positive. She tucked her butt under rather than kicking out and she let me catch her much more easily that she might have in the past. She went back in the wash rack just fine and stood perfectly for the rest of the bath.

Walking the dressage test 2

Thu, 1 Sep 2011 22:12:43 -0500

Hot, but breezy, so we rolled up the sides on the covered arena and rode on. It was quite enjoyable. I love that thing. The mare is also working her way back on my good side with work and play like she produced today.

We started out with walk halt transitions until they were quiet, then on to trot halt transitions and canter work, which was quite good today. We were sharing the arena with my working student and Keeva had no problem with being near the other horse or meeting head on etc.

As a cool down, we went for a walk hack. Other than a bit of a skitter at an old crumpled corn bin, but other than that, she was great. Flat-footed walk on a long rein, led, followed, dealt with walking between the tall corn and the tall weeds and let me kill bugs on her ears. Very good.

Walking the dressage test

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:04:56 -0500

So as a warm up today, we walked the pattern of several dressage tests. All the figures that were to be ridden in walk, trot and canter were ridden in walk. We did three different tests, including leg yields in walk. It helped her to relax and come over her topline more than usual. Then on to trot and canter work. At times we have glimpses of what she is going to become. Some of her canter work is lovely and when she relaxes and comes over her back in trot it is a thing to behold. There is lot in there.

Speaker wire and ladders, oh my!

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:45:04 -0500

After I tacked Keeva up, I was walking to the yard to put the puppy in the enclosure while I rode, when Jay walked out of the garage with a ladder. Ladders are apparently terrifying. I was just leading Keeva, and she made a pretty good effort to leave the county when she saw him. Ack!

Lucky me, he was going to the indoor to run the speaker wire for the stereo system. All throughout our ride he was (quietly, but continuously) moving the ladder, climbing up and down it, pulling speaker wire along the length of the arena and more. Keeve was using every opportunity to pay attention to him and leave me and I was making all sorts of suggestions about why I am more interesting. A few times she stopped dead and stared at him. I could feel her heart pounding, so I just took all the pressure off and let her watch until she settled.

She got better and better and we had some nice work in walk, trot and canter, interspersed with moments of her attention completely leaving me and going to Jay. I was glad for the distraction and she is learning that she can keep her attention with her rider. Good girl.

Stereo, oh my!

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:53:33 -0500

It was relatively late in the evening when I worked with Keeva. Jay was running speaker wire and playing with the new arena speakers, so there was all sorts of popping and changing of music going on, which Keeva thought would be a good excuse to lose her mind. I disagreed about that and we stayed in work.

I learned tonight that even though she suggests that draping a rider’s leg down her side means that she should over-react, if I left my leg there and half halted, eventually she settled and got a little more quiet in the bridle. She’s a sensitive horse for sure, and my job is to make sure that we develop that tendency for good rather than evil.

More of the same

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:34:22 -0500

Today we worked on connection, that is, getting her to come forward to the bit through her topline. We spent a lot of time in walk, helping her relax, and she actually took some nice breaths during the walking, which is new for her.

Trot work was the best she has had so far. She started out a bit inconsistent, but it got better and better.

Canter work was quite good and we moved on to trot canter trot transitions. She is extremely tuned into seat aids and found the canter to trot transition very easy. Pretty fun.

She is enjoying spending her evenings with Charlie and she is starting to really tune in and relax around people. Yay.

Some quite good work

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:26:15 -0500

A student of mine was out to ride and I worked Keeva while she was working with her horse. Keeva and I worked on walking and halting and standing, lots of trot and a fair amount of canter, with a lot of transitions in there.

She got more and more relaxed and produced some nice work. Then we all went out on a hack. Keeva was excellent. She was relaxed on a long rein, led, followed, went on the edge of the tall corn, between it and the very tall weeds (oooooh, scary long cave of greenness!) Really good work.

Back out in the big world

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:05:11 -0500

Very hot again today! We worked in the indoor, focusing on staying calm and balanced. It went very well. She had some moments of tightness, but we discussed it and she got over it. We did a lot of trot/canter transitions, especially to the right, which she is coming along with.

Then out to the pasture, where we walked, trotted, cantered and even halted and stood. Very nice. Rinse and done.

Expression Changes

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:26:59 -0500

My mom is visiting and our friends George and Annette came along with her from Wisconsin. George is not only my former professor at UW-Milwaukee, he is also a dog musher and animal intuit and all around cool guy that is fun to have a beer with. He always wished he had a horse, so even though he will admit that he isn’t much of a rider (last rode when he was 12 at scout camp), we went for a walk hack this morning and then he was around tonight when I worked Keeva.

I will spare you my usual description of how it went and share what Geo. said to the group afterward. “At first Keeva was very nervous and her energy was all tight and scattered. Camie worked with her very quietly and logically and ignored the bad moments and praised the good moments and by the end the mare was much confident and relaxed. It was pretty cool.” What a nice thing to say!

At any rate, she is coming along.

A reprieve 2

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:10:16 -0500

I rode her in the indoor without lunging her first, which went fine. We did a lot of canter work and a lot of transitions. We ended the session with a cool down in trot, encouraging her to go to the connection. Some nice work.x

A reprieve

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:18:38 -0500

So the bruise on my ribs is coming to a lovely head of pretty colors. I am grateful that it doesn’t really hurt much and I can take a deep breath and otherwise function.

I brought her in, lunged her with a lot of transitions and then rode her in the indoor. We were fairly serious about our work, but there was the usual praise for a job well done. Still, she needed to toe the line. We did a lot of trot halts, pause, back up. She once in a while gets really stuck when asked to back up and she suggests she might rear. So we worked through that.

She did produce some nice work and we are back on the right track. I put Charlie, our sweet gelding who gets along with everyone, below, in the paddock with her tonight. She was thrilled to have him to play with.

Keeva volunteers for a more difficult life

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:09:16 -0500

Well, about 3 weeks ago I was thinking that Keeva was looking a little thin, so I started feeding her 2 pounds of strategy morning and night. I continued to feed her that while she had a fair amount of time off and paid for it today.

I tacked her up and got on and we walked out to the pasture. We opened the gate without incident and walked through it. We went about 70 yards and she decided that she would rear because she didn’t want to go forward. Then she started bucking. And bucking. High. I sat them pretty well for a while, may have made the 8 seconds, but in the end I could have used a good pick up rider, as I did eventually hit the ground pretty hard. I got the wind knocked out of me on my right side, and hit the point of my right shoulder and also my jaw, which will all be sore tomorrow, but even before I got the breath back in my body, I felt a wistful sorrow for the repercussions Keeva had earned.

While I was catching my breath and muttering, she went over to the boys and talked to them over the fence. I caught her easily, did not comment, took her to the barn, put a rope halter on her and took her back out to the pasture. I worked her hard for sure, but it was mostly about minding me. We did a lot of transitions, which were required to be accurate and attentive.

Then we went in the indoor and I got back on and we had a training session and she did fine.

In retrospect, I should have anticipated that, with all the time she has had off, she would be seriously fresh. I should have lunged her first, or at least ridden in the indoor. I feel pretty good now, but tomorrow I will see the chiropractor and, later this week, the massage therapist.

Beautiful morning

Wed, 3 Aug 2011 21:09:58 -0500

Ok, the above picture only has to do with Keeva in that it is a new yellow delicious apple tree that is right next to the pasture fence, so the horses will eventually get many of the apples from it. But the important thing about it is that it is the first tree planted in the wake of the derecho that took so many of our trees on July 11th. We almost have everything cleaned up, just a few things here or there, but this first tree planted is a real delight.

I rode Keeva early this morning. It was sunny with a light breeze and much lower humidity. The temperature was in the low 70s. We started with a walk warm up which went well. The trot work was inconsistent. She has a hard time keeping a rhythm in trot and likes to react to every possible stimulus. I just stayed the course and kept at it until she chose to relax. Then I praised her and we did it some more so that she could really chill.

On to canter work. She has much more natural relaxation in canter. We cantered quite a lot today with a lot of circles while making a larger circle around the entire pasture. She got more and more relaxed. We ended with some jumping, now moving on to small logs.

After the morning workout she went out to the grass paddock for a few hours to graze. I brought her in at supper time and played with her after she ate. She is a sweet horse who thrives on work. Those times that I have played with her a bit on days she has not been ridden, she is aloof, or even timid. On the days that she has been worked, she is affectionate. Very interesting.

A break in the heat

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 22:04:19 -0500

I’ve been getting up early these hot days and many times it has been too hot to ride even then, but this morning there was a slight breeze that made it acceptable.

I tacked up and mounted up and we went out to the jumping field. She warmed up a little tight, but not surprising after a few days off. We did a lot of transitions until she remembered that she could actually do an upward transition without inverting and throwing her head. Good. On to some jumping over a small vertical. Her jumping was fine, but the approach was tight and not as straight as I’d like and occasionally afterward she felt the need to be crooked or speed up. We simply the exercise until she did it calmly and in a straight manner.

Then on to jumping some new logs that Jay dragged out after the derecho. She was less wobbly to these and jumped them quite well. I am starting to think that she improves with a challenge. Hmmmm

Heat!

Mon, 1 Aug 2011 21:59:51 -0500

This (above photo) is what horses should be doing on days like this. I’ll fess up, Saturday I had a clinic all day and Sunday I was sick (no not hung over, sassypants, lie-on-the-couch-all-day-and-sleep-a-lot, sick). Anyway, I’m mostly recovered today and then it is so hot that all that the horses were into today was rinsing with cool water, grazing and resting. She got a nice rinse today and lots of grazing. I also cleaned her water tank.

I will be getting back on in earnest when the weather breaks, and even on these days when she has off, I am playing with here at least twice a day.

Trail Ride

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:04:33 -0500

Another hot day, but we are getting used to it now! Out for a long hack. We went about 2.5 miles, a lot of which was short bursts of trot and canter interspersed with flat-footed walk. We went through lots of tall grass, some boggy areas and along very tall corn, all of which she managed just fine. She did have one reportedly by my student who was along, “catlike” leap to the left when she noticed that the landbridge we were crossing had water (eeeek!) on both sides of it. Coming along well, just needs more confidence that comes through good mileage.

Trot work out on a hack

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:06:30 -0500

Another very hot day. Rode in the morning and went out on a hack. We walked out along the corn, which is now much higher than her head, and on the other side there is a lovely stand of ditch weed higher than her head too. Even though the leaves were touching her and rustling mightily, she held it together.

Then we trotted all over the place. Up and down and across hills. She wanted to canter, she really wanted to canter. But I know she can canter all day and doing trot work is good for her both mentally and physically. The first time I asked her to trot from walk, she tightened her back and raised her neck. And the second and third times. Finally on the fourth time (all within a minute) she managed to move forward without tightening her back and neck. Much praise.

When we got home, she was relaxed, but very hot. I hosed her and she managed to momentarily get tense and pull back at the hissing of the hose as the air went out of it. She’s pretty reactive to sounds, so I am doing my best to introduce her to as many things as I can so that she gets more confident around new sounds. I can’t produce every sound that might scare her, but I can show her that most sounds are best ignored. She is getting better about it, and I do very much like the quick release ties in the wash rack.

Trot work

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:00:05 -0500

Very hot out. Tacked up and she stood pretty well for mounting. Pretty well, I say, because she felt the need to check out the nearby jump and the flower pots, all of which have been there the entire time she has been here.

On we went out to the pasture, through the gate, which she did very well helping me open. We walked flat-footed all the way to the other side and then we started with trot work. Trot work, as you might recall, is not her favorite thing. Given her choice, she would use only walk and canter, but, sadly for her, she is not given a choice in this department. The first time I asked for trot she jumped forward, hollowing her back and raising her neck like a giraffe. Um, no. I let her go a few strides because she did indeed trot when asked, it was only the manner in which she accomplished it that was not pleasing. So we fooled around on the edge of walk and trot. Everytime she tightened her neck and hurried, I asked her to bend. Then I asked her to trot from walk while maintaining a slight bend, and she was able to keep her neck down and her back up through the transition. Very good. Much praise. We repeated the exercise many times until she stayed relaxed through the transition. Then we did several loops around the pasture in trot, hopefully helping her realize the trot can be enjoyable.

We ended the session trotting a cross rail and cantering 2 verticals, the last of which was 2’3”. Then back through the gate and into the washrack for a nice rinse for which she stood very nicely. Good day.

Showers

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:49:41 -0500

It was by turns sunny and showering today, so we worked in the indoor. We started out with some walk work. She wants to hurry in her walk, so we did a lot of quiet walk halts. After a bit, she realized that there was no hurry, and walked flat-footed. Very nice.

On to some canter work which went quite well. We worked on canter departs. I like to use canter departs as a strengthening exercise. It is important to get them correctly first and we got a long way in that direction today. Very good.

Balance

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:26:16 -0500

A weak cold front came through today, which allowed a drop in the humidity and temperature. It was actually cool enough to ride. So, we went out on a hack. She stood nicely for mounting and off we went. She walked flat-footed until we got between the much-bigger-than-last-time corn and the lovely ditch weed that grows along the edge of it. There is just enough room for a horse to walk between them, but of course that means that the rustling leaves brush up against the horse. She was a little panicked about that, but got over it with some reassurance. Then we had a nice bunch of cantering up and down a slight hill by the woods. She was full of energy, no surprise in a young horse after a few days off.

So, after she warmed up, I asked her to do 20m circles along the slope of the hill. This is a good exercise for young horses. They will mess it up the first 5 times, going slow up, and fast down the hill, but once they figure out that they can balance themselves, the rhythm gets much better. They learn to rebalance from the back, by stepping their hocks under them, if the rider can just sit still enough while they figure it out. If the rider uses too much hand, the horse thinks he should balance by leaning on the rider’s hand and then you get a dependent horse who leans and a rider who pulls to hold them up.

We did a lot of cantering and then walked home. I asked her to walk home in a relaxed way on a loose rein, and she did quite well with only a few corrections.

I hosed her off at the end and she did well. She had an anxiety moment about the sound made by rinsing the saddle pad. So, of course we got to do that for about 5 minutes until she stood there in a completely relaxed manner. Very good.