Murphy's Law

Once you put a deposit down on a high falutin, three times your budget custom saddle, someone will show up with a saddle that fits both you and your horse and is in your original budget.  I'm trying it out in my first group lesson tomorrow night and then we will probably buy it so I have a saddle to use until my custom one comes in.  It's too late to not order the custom since I put a deposit down and the custom fits me exactly perfectly, but it is pretty funny that the perfect saddle came along two weeks to late.

In other news, we had a few good rides this weekend.  I had my husband take a video tape of us riding today and if it wasn't so awful I would post it.  Here's what I learned from this video:

1.  She is still not forward.  I might think we are forward but we are not forward.  We are slouching around the arena while she drags her hind behind her and I pump with every stride.

2.  What feels like a monumental buck is not that impressive on video.

3.  I can see daylight between my arms and my body at all times.  Huge chunks of daylight.  You could build a condominium in the daylight between my arms and my body.  I am going to make my new mantra be 'elbows in and bent!".

4.  If you are having your husband/boyfriend/partner videotape you, you might want to make your expectations clear.  I do not want to watch a video of MY FACE while I'm riding my horse.  And if your boyfriend/husband/partner comes in to the arena to video tape, you may need to give them some etiquette guidelines.  Something like "Standing like a giant on top of that corner is just going to scare all the horses." or "That's the outside track of the arena so you probably shouldn't stand there."

Husband also took pictures of me and the pony.  In most of them, the princess is trying to leave and I'm looking exasperated.  I also probably should have taken pics BEFORE I rode to avoid helmet hair.  Oh well.  Live and learn...

Stop, Pony.  Seriously.

Why are you always walking away from me, pony?  And why do I not know how to stand up straight?

Sadly, this is the best shot we got.  All the others, one of us had our eyes closed.  Pony...I'm talking about you.

It's Back

And by 'it', I mean fear.  I thought it had faded, but yesterday it took me ten minutes to get up the nerve to get on.  Today, I puttered around grooming and chatting and grooming and chatting for half an hour before I even started saddling her.  I got her saddled up and took her to the arena to get on.  She has been ridden every day since Monday, but now that I'm not lungeing her I'm a hot mess.

So, of course, she won't stand still at the mounting block and I'm too chicken to just get on.  Even though when I finally do get on, she's fine.  She might walk off for a few steps but it's not like she's bucked when I got on.

Then I get on and she bucks when I want to trot.  She bucks when I want to increase the trot.  She bucks when I want to canter.  She bucks when I discipline for bucking.  She bucks harder, I tap harder.  Then she bucks and takes off.  I try to praise her but my fear is screaming "You're gonna dieeeeeeee!!!!!" and I'm sure I'm curled up in the fetal position.  I pull myself out and urge her to trot on.  She slows down.  I tap with the whip.  Buck. Tap. Buck. Tap.

She only bucks for Laura once at the canter.  She is testing me.  I know this.  But I'm so tired of this fight and then fear sneaks back in and before you know it, I'm leaving the barn in tears.  I've been here before so it's doubly, no make that triply frustrating to see this spot again.

I'm pretty sure the fear is back because I've removed a crutch (lungeing) and that if I just push myself through this time, we will come out the other side.  But ugh, blurgh, blah and now I'm going to settle down this afternoon/evening with the family and have a nice glass of wine.

The weather is gorgeous and is supposed to be sunny and 60 all weekend.  I will be going out to the barn both days, but not riding one of them.  I have my first group lesson (AAAAHHHHHHHH) on Monday evening so I'm pretty sure I will give the pony tomorrow off and then ride on Sunday.  Though for my sake, I feel like I should get on both days and ride.  I only rode 20 minutes today because I was such a chickenshit.

What do you think?  If I ride both days am I risking pony mental burnout for Monday's lesson?  Or should I just buck up and get through my fear and ride tomorrow and Sunday.

Pony, Can You Hear Me?

 I got to the barn today excited about having a lesson.  It was a gorgeous spring morning with clear skies and temps in the fifties.  Riding in a t-shirt weather!  Finally!

My pony greeted me enthusiastically.  She lifted her head and whinnied, shook her head, nickered and ran up to the door tossing her head up and down.  I looked behind me to see what the fuss was about.  I actually walked away and went to the other side of the barn where the morning person was finishing up watering.

"Can I have Tessa's breakfast, please?"

She gave me a blank look and said "They've had breakfast."

"Oh.  She didn't get turned out this morning did she?"

"I put her in the arena for an hour and a half before breakfast."

So....where does that leave us?  Yes, that leaves us with my pony calling to me because she's glad to see me!  I don't ever give treats at the beginning of a ride and only rarely at the end, I don't feed her.  Maybe it's all the scritches I've been giving her as she sheds out her winter coat.  Whatever it is, I'll take it.

They moved the Princess to a different stall and she spent the last day flirting and making friends with the giant horse next door, appropriately named Truck.  Somehow, Truck managed to get a hold of one of my pony's dainty ears and left teeth mark and a giant scrape where there is no hair.  Poor pony.

Ouchie ear.

Who me?  It was a love nibble!

We are not doing anything to this ear since medicating it or attempting to do 'stuff' to it would probably just result in an ear shy horse.  I got the bridle on by unbuckling the side so it was huge and then buckling it back up.  Tessa was an angel about it.

My lesson was great with some really nice forward trot (after an attitude adjustment).  I did have a hard time getting on because I've only ridden once since I got back from vacation.  So it took me about 15 minutes to get up the nerve to get on and I was pretty anxious for the beginning of the ride.  There was lots of deep breathing going on.

The main thing we worked on with me was setting my hand with the outside rein and riding Tessa into it.  When her head would come up, she would get a bump with the legs or a tap with the whip.  Because I had set  my hand on the 'oh crap' strap on the saddle, my outside rein stayed nice and solid and she was able to find it every time.  We had lots and lots of good moments.  I am going to try and get some of those moments on video this weekend.

And last but not least, the pony will be losing her princess mane soon.  Laura told me today that she'd like to get it pulled.  And since I'm not showing any Arab shows or open shows or really have any show plans right now it seems like a good idea.  I can always grow it back if I want to.  And it's WAY easier to not have the mane in your face all the time.  This way, if we start jumping (stop laughing!!) her mane won't get in the way.  Pictures of the new short mane will follow as soon as it's done.

I'm a Puppet

A marionette puppet, to be exact.  We have figured out the problem of my hips.  The first problem is the original one, that my hip flexors are a mass of scar tissue and the ball joint doesn't quite fit in the socket properly.  But the other problem is perhaps the cause of the major discomfort.  The other problem is that I have separated abdominal muscles from back when I was pregnant.  Yes, from almost 6 years ago!  How is it that nobody in the last six years mentioned this could be a problem?  How is it that my midwife, the doctor that did the emergency C-Section, the trainer at the gym (I have tried personal training THREE TIMES AND NOBODY EVEN MENTIONED THIS) , they all missed this!

So, for the last six years I've been doing crunches and Pilates 100's and every exercise I can think of to make my stomach flatter and harder and it hasn't worked.  In fact, come to find out, all these exercises have made my abdominal separation worse!  ARGH!!

When I think about the problems I've been having with riding (and other activities) the separated abs make sense.  It's no wonder I can't be effective in the saddle, I have NO CORE.  None.  Zero.  Zip.  So, without the support of that whole 'pelvic girdle' area (where your transverse abs are and where you would feel it if you did Kegels....) my hips are free to just flop around like a marionette puppet, which leads to the tendons getting pulled and yanked and stretched.  Yow!

So, my new workout plan consists of doing only transverse abdominal workouts and Kegels.  I'm doing lots of pelvic tilts and tiny squeezes to try and bring those ab muscles back together.  Since it's been six years, it may take a while.  I'm lucky that the separation is only about 2 inches.  It could have been much worse considering my baby was a whopper (9.8lbs).  The hardest part is that it's actually not that easy to work the transverse abs because they are a secondary muscle.  So whenever you try to work them (by bringing your belly button towards your back) you usually end up tightening your obliques first.  My PT says that the obliques are the 'louder muscle' and that you really have to concentrate to hear (feel) the quieter transverse abs.

At least I now know what it is and I feel like there's a great chance for recover.  I have to stay away from any 'open chain' exercises.  No yoga.  No stretching.  No crunches.  No horseback riding (oh.....hahahahahhaaha......I totally ignore this one.  This is not going to happen.  There will be horseback riding and my PT can suck it.)  No Pilates.

I am someone who likes to do 'active' workouts instead of 'static' workouts, so it's really hard to feel like I'm accomplishing anything sitting in a chair tightening my transverse abs and my pelvic floor.  If  anyone has any experience with separated abs, I'd love to know ANY exercises that are effective!!

For Realz

Today was an amazing spring day in the Pacific NW.  I like to think I brought the sunshine back from Arizona.  It was blue skies and temps in the high 60s.  Lovely, just lovely.  I hadn't seen the princess since last Sunday.  When I left her, she was on stall rest with a nasty case of scratches in one leg.  She has since been on antibiotics (her last day is today) and has continued stall rest.  She hadn't been ridden since Thursday and hadn't gotten out of her stall since Friday.  There was some mess up with who was supposed to turn her out in the arena that resulted in her not getting out at all.  So I wasn't sure what to expect when I showed up this morning.  This is what I got:

Hi Mom!  This is my friend, Knox.  He's the same age as me!

Look how pretty I am.  Ooh, what's that over there?

I wish I could kiss Knox.  

 Groomed her thoroughly, which meant removing another ten pounds of hair.  Her leg was still warm, but she was sound so I took her in to lunge her.  She poked around, quietly jogging, then trotting and picking up her canter with minimal headshaking.  After about two minutes, I stopped her.  Laura walked by and yelled across the arena "You don't need to lunge that horse.  She doesn't explode anymore."

Since Tessa was standing next to me, resting a hind leg, I figured she was probably right.  So I saddled up.  Laura had me put on a martingale for my ride, just to keep her from flinging that flexible Arab neck into my nose when she got pissy.  Our ride was mostly uneventful.  It had some crabby moments and some great moments where her trot was forward and she practically pulled me to the other side of the arena.  She did want to hang out with the other horses and would slow down whenever we got close to one.

'Does this martingale make my head look big?'

We then headed back to the cross ties for some more relaxing, more shedding, some clipping.  Tess suddenly had to pee so I dragged her back to her stall.  When I put her back in the cross ties, she hunched her back and winked.  Oh!  My pony is in heat!  AND SHE WAS QUIET!  AND SWEET!

So, to recap quickly, the only major change in my pony's life is that she has not been living outside for almost two weeks.  She has had constant companionship with the horses next to her and gets out in the arena, but she was worked much less this week than normal AND she was in heat and she was so pleasant and easy going.  I really think that she just wants the comfort of the other horses close by all the time.  Or she's growing up.  Or she actually loves being inside??!!  Maybe she's a freak of nature horse.

Now I just need to figure out how to get this hair out of this saddle pad.....

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An Exciting Update...and I'm not even home yet!

The princess had her first day of training yesterday!!!  We'll see how her leg holds up today, but Laura said she was sound and that the puffiness had receded considerably.  She was even able to use the mounting block in the scary goat corner!  Laura said she wouldn't go forward through the gap between mounting block and goat pen, but she did back up quietly and turn around without any fuss.

The one thing that Laura said was interesting, was how quiet Tessa was.  She said she lunged her but she was so quiet on the lunge that she just went ahead and rode her.  She was a bit spooky about the sunshine dappling in the arena and had a hard time with her left lead canter (she had to give a kick/buck before going into it) but was otherwise well behaved and very, very quiet.

Which is very interesting because she's been on stall rest now for a solid week and a half.  That's with zero outside turnout.  She gets turned out in the arena almost every day, but she has gotten MORE quiet instead of crazy.  Has anyone else experienced this?  I'm chalking it up to her being an insecure anxious horse.  See, when she lived outside, she was next door to other horses but she didn't have a buddy living with her.  We tried her with one horse, but the other mare was so dominant that she wouldn't let Tessa in the shelter.

So now she's inside and she has a buddy on each side all day.  The barn rotates which horses go out, so there's always horses in the stalls next to her.  I'm wondering if she's just soaking up all the other horses quiet energy and maybe getting some much needed rest.  She's on stall rest, indoor turnout, until her scratches heal up completely and then we'll decide what we're doing.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my last day in sunny Arizona where the forecast is for 84 degrees.  I didn't realize how depressed and sunshine deprived I was until a few days into this vacation.  I'm pretty sure I need to make this an annual event.  And maybe next time, I'll bring some riding clothes and check out some Scottsdale barns!

The Scary Thing Behind You

I went out to say hello to the princess before I leave for Arizona.  Her leg was looking puffy and hot and was tender to the touch.  Laura has started her on antibiotics and she is still on stall rest.  Surprisingly, though she had not been turned out since Friday, she was very well behaved.  I let her have  a romp in the arena and she mostly just walked around looking for things she could play with.

Laura suggested I walk her down the driveway, the flattest non-muddiest part of the property, to help move some of the fluid around in her foot.  So, we ventured through the scary gate and down the driveway.  Our walk was short, both in distance and in time, since the pony had a hard time keeping it together.  There was lots of freezing and blowing and snorting.  But, I remained relaxed and calm and we did go a little ways down and back a few times in a row.

But here's the thing....I think Tessa was trained to face the scary thing and if she can't face the scary thing, to run away.  I know some of this is inherent in horses, but I also know it's a popular training method to have them face the scary object, walk up to it, touch it etc.  I understand how this might be helpful when you're riding and if your horse TURNS to face the scary object.  But when you're going for a walk and your horse gets scared and SPINS to face the object at warp speed, it makes for a dangerous walk.  Poor Tess just couldn't handle any noise coming from behind her.  She would tuck her tail and try and bolt and spin at the same time.  Some folks say to disengage their hindquarters and get them working, but her hindquarters seemed pretty disengaged as she spun frantic circles around me.

So, tell me your brilliant ideas for how to instill bravery in a horse.  How exactly do you teach a horse that they do NOT have to face the scary object/noise.  I know trust is part of it, but is there more I can be doing.  Today, I did not want to do a lot of fancy groundwork that might have aggravated her lame foot any more than it already was, so I just stayed calm until she came down.  And when she lowered her head and licked and chewed, I praised her effusively.

Also, she shed off enough hair to make a pony sized sweater.

Not from today, but a good example of her giraffe neck right before she whirls and bolts.

I'm off the find some sunshine for a week!  I'll be on the computer a bit, but it's been so long since I've been warm I'll probably be spending most of my days poolside.