The Canter Debate

 

As Roscoe and I work towards 2nd level, the counter canter hangs over our head. With that also comes collection work. Friday Roscoe's breeding collection was put off due to the mare not being ready, so we worked towards the ridden kind. The new saddle has gone a long way helping us be able to to the work and start filling training holes. Like now Roscoe has to carry himself and maintain the gait. I am still working too hard. Fortunately, at shows he has more oomph and I can focus on the test.

Roscoe also has strong opinions on what the correct lead is and is quick to execute a simple change. This continued habit has brought about the canter debate. I tell him whatever lead I ask for is the correct lead. He says the direction we go decides the right lead.

Poor pony threw a fit as I taught him that I make the decisions. It was a learning curve for me too. I had to figure out how to show him without giving the wrong cues. I was bending him too much at first. The first ride was a battle with only a few eventual wins.

Cobs really think about what you teach them, a definite training benefit. The next ride was a different situation. We could go down centerline and pick up the lead I chose. That showed me I had to keep him straighter than I was doing previously. Lightbulb moment. We are still working on the counter canter next to the fence and his urge to change. I will take the baby steps.

Chilling after his 6th work day

Then on Tuesday, I did intervals which included trot lengthening and a bit of counter canter. He got the gold star for picking up  the counter canter on the rail both directions. We still have a long way to go to even contemplate 2nd level, but these wins feel like the right direction.

Retention, A Blessing

Once my parents came home, the relief of having support again awakened the need to ride. I needed pony therapy and Roscoe definitely needed the work. I have two dead blankets thanks to the Cob boys deciding play time during blanket change was a good idea.
So I convinced Mom to ride with me over the weekend. I worried about what we lost during the two month break. I did feel somewhat better when an article mentioned that over in Europe horses tend to get long breaks.
Energy was not a problem. We seemed to have hit on the right feeding routine for him finally. He has maintained his weight so well this winter.

With the energy I was surprised that he also brought the right moves. It turns out our "10" canter from last year was not a fluke. I still felt solid when we canter to the right. Retention is such a blessing. And the fact that Roscoe is at the point of retention is an achievement. To me that says his training is on the right track. Now I just need to get his left lead up to the right's standard.

I used the feeling of the right lead to help work the left. Of course I think the biggest problem is me and my inconsistent outside rein. So I steadied the rein and focused on getting the same feeling of being around him evenly. It was hard for both of us, but I felt a difference. The next ride was not as successful since he was probably sore decided to fight the change. He still felt good though.

Sadly the weather has been so wet that I have not managed another ride recently. At least when the next ride does happen I will not feel like we have lost so much time and have to make up ground. This year I plan to do very little showing and try to focus on moving up to 1st level with more lessons. That plan starts in a couple weeks with Adult Camp. This move up will be hard because it will be a move up for both of us. I only have one 1st level test under my belt and that was on a made horse, so I can't help Roscoe. I think he is going to help me.

In other news, breeding season is coming up next month. Roscoe will attempt to breed one of the mares from last year who has a new owner. I let the breeding transfer. He possibly has another breeding as a result of the Westfalen Stallion auction. I will know more later this month. During one of the auctions, my ethics lost him a bid. Roscoe's contract is good for 3 breeding seasons, live foal guarantee. If a rebreed is needed, the mare owner only pays $200. One mare owner bid on a discounted breeding when she already has two contracts with two years remaining. I could not let her pay more than she needed. So I lost out on some stud fee, but hopefully kept a mare owner happy.

And of course I will be setting up the Foal Pool soon. This will be a short time one, the due date is soon.

Ugly, Awesome and Turtle Track

So since my goal to ride or work someone every day I am at the barn, I have only had six misses. Those were due to medical (dog or horse) or weather/footing. I did manage to ride 19x during February. 9 of those rides were on Roscoe. I am trying to keep his work consistent. When I started working Comrade all those years ago, he was on a two day a week program. That worked well for him and it is starting to show positive effects for Roscoe.

Full February

Well the other day I decided that I just wanted Roscoe to GO. We have not addressed canter in ages, since he has been so sticky at the trot. I don't think Roscoe is a great multi tasker. Anyway, I told him we were cantering. I did not care how he picked it up or how long he cantered, but we were doing it in some form. Let me just say the boy listened.
We cantered and the transitions were UGLY. I probably looked like a crazy person getting him to canter, but you do what you have to. My weird little boy did his normal travel right and canter left thing. I did not care, he was going. The transitions did get quicker, with less work coming from me and more from him. We also managed the correct leads both directions. Roscoe soon decided this cantering stuff was pretty good.

Roscoe earned a roll in the sawdust :)

The bonus factor was that once he cantered the gait was awesome. Plus he actually stretched into the bit during the canter. Maybe it is because I am doing this by myself, but I find these little things so wonderful. His neck was so floppy afterwards, I could only smile. I will never call myself a trainer, but at least my pony is headed in the right direction. At this point I am okay that we are on the Turtle track. I want to be like those people on Facebook posting pictures of their 30 and 40 year old Cobs. Because in the end you remember the pony/person journey rather than just the show highlights. Looking back I miss Barry's presence more than I miss showing him. Roscoe and I have time and I am going to take it.

Cute beggar

Speaking of time, there is just over 3 weeks left to enter Roscoe's Foal Pools. Emma of 'Fraidy Cat Eventing has kicked the contest off with her entry. Remember to share on your Blog and send me an email. That way I know who is entering.

Reach for your Guesses!

Roscoe CANTERS!!!

I had an early Christmas gift, Roscoe cantered for me. And it was wonderful.
Today I was determined to ride and Mom was off too so we needed to take advantage of that. Luckily I was finally recovered from having to work at 430am on Black Friday. I could have gone my whole life without having that experience. But I guess it keeps me employed.
We decided against DaVinci and Winston since they have not had a trace clip yet. At 50 plus degrees it was too warm for them. That means the girls and the red boys. Well Dottie has not been informed it is past the time for being in season and has been teasing Roscoe. I did not want to ride him with her. So I said I would ride Roscoe first, then we could take the others out.
I went into the arena with the idea that we were cantering today. We walked around to see if mind was connected to body. Roscoe was aware of Dottie in the field above, but he was listening to me. I asked for trot and was happy with his energetic response. Without much fuss, I asked for canter. It required kissing, saying "canter" and a tap of the whip, but he did canter to the left. The gait was short lived due to the turn. That canter was so great and uphill.
 I changed to the other direction not expecting much since this is the direction he leans in on. With encouragement he picked up the same awesome canter. Then he surprised me by continuing through the turn and for another circuit. I kept one hand on the saddle horn and let him go where he wanted. Then I said "whoa" and he came down to walk and then halted. A total superstar. He never showed any stress or thoughts of misbehaving. Peggy said he looked like he thought "Oh we can do this together, cool." I did another left lead before finishing. He is not as confident to the left, but I was not pushing the issue today. As far as I was concerned, he did what I asked so he was done. Video here.
We also changed his nose band to a figure 8 and put real reins on his bridle. He was quieter with his mouth wearing the figure 8 and I was happier with real reins. Plus he looks so cute.
 

Foreign Exchange: Part 2 The Lesson

The couple from Israel were really impressed with Roscoe and Comade. Last year Anita rode Comrade and this time Giora did. Anita has an eventing background and Giora a dressage and reining one. As I mentioned before they run INTRA, in addition to their own riding. Now they mentioned they were happy we cleaned our smaller turnouts daily. For us, that is just the best way to deal with lots of horses on a small area. For them it is a must. They have 20 horses on 2 ACRES. Can you imagine that? They make it work though.
I am not sure whether he offered or Peggy asked, but the results were that I was able to get a lesson from Giora with commentary from Anita. Peggy and Mom were suppose to ride with me, but that was the day Mom cleaned the old barn. Peggy decided to ride the next day. So I had to decide who to ride. Dottie and Winston, at this point, don't have the fitness for a lesson. DaVinci or Rosemary could handle it. But which one to pick? I decided to go with Rosemary in order to get some help getting her on track.

Eye on the prize :) Photo credit Bonnie Foster

I tacked and went to warm her up. Giora came out and I explained that she was really green. Her education was well behind where she should be. While she has walk, trot and canter, she does not immediately respond to cues. He decided to watch her on a circle. Rosemary gave her nice big walk. She also decided looking to the right suited her mood. When we picked up trot, Giora told me to slow her down. "There's no rush." He wanted her even slower than what I expected. Some times she felt as if she would break gait, but when she did not rush she listened to what I was asking better.
Giora had me hold my hands about shoulder width, with the outside steady and the inside massaging her mouth. Rosemary impressed me by never hollowing out completely like she has in the past. She had some really great moments of softness. When she was consistent, Giora had me put her on a smaller circle to engage her hind end in preparation for canter. He really wanted me to move her hind end inside, but without spurs she was moving into the pressure rather than away. Definite note to self, wear spurs.
Giora told me to sit the trot. I have a fairly good seat. After working with him, I have a better seat. He constantly reminded me to stay soft and grow upwards, not forward. Plus he really wants you to feel the horses motion beneath you. Left side, right side, left side... Then the hard part came, asking for canter. In the small arena Rosemary is hard to get into canter. After tough trot work, it was even harder. Giora closed the gate when Rosemary tried to make a run for it. She would literally leap into canter, then run for the gate.

"See I can Canter...When I want too" Photo credit Bonnie Foster

He really wanted me to swing my inside hip forward to help her canter, but both of us were not connecting. I know what movement he wants and have done it on DaVinci, but with Rosemary the pieces were not there. I could tell Rosemary was getting tired and knew I would not achieve the exercise, so I asked if Giora wanted to get on. He said yes.
This is when the fun really started. Rosemary tends to surprise people with her movement. I don't think they expect what she can give from a pony. Giora had to take a bit to get used to her before trying the exercise. I will say Giora could not get her to do it either. That just means she needs more prep work to be ready for what we ask. Rosemary decided that showing off her huge Cob trot was better than cantering. Then Anita stepped in to give him advice. She put up a small cavaletti to see if Rosemary would pick up canter over the jump. Ha, ha I should have told her Rosemary would rather go around or through than over. Giora did manage to get her to trot over twice before Rosemary protested. The husband/wife dynamic was hysterical. "Giora, look up" "Keep her going, give her her head" Eventually Rosemary would trot over the jump and then pick up canter right after. Her transitions did improve and Giora ended by completing a lap at canter and going over a pole.
Pony girl was tired, but looked satisfied by the challenge. I got back on and cooled her out.

Giora recommended using a hill to help her pick up canter. It naturally puts her on her rear and makes her push into the canter. We have used that technique with Dottie before. I wish I could have joined them for dinner because Peggy said he talked more about Rosemary and how to help her. It figures I would connect with an instructor that lives across the world. At least I have some direction to go with Rosemary and some manageable goals.

Up next Show Recap :)

 A Picture of Roscoe looking Sweet, Amazing
Photo Credit Bonnie Foster

Magic 8 or Joint Supplement?

Now for the rest of our busy Sunday.
Our ponies were so happy to see us, especially when we started stripping hair off them. Always a quick way to make up to the ponies. Peggy we could tell had done some already on the girls by the piles of hair in their stalls.

DaVinci's contribution, snow piles

 We changed out heated buckets for regular ones officially ending winter :) Of course that meant the boys had to remember where the summer location is for their water trough. We did not have time to ride any of ours, but made plans to ride Monday. It was enough to hug and scratch on them.

Before our barn and before Swayze, we went to Peggy's. I tacked up the fuzz ball and wondered how Comrade would be in the warmer temperatures. I got a surprise when we got to the arena, Peggy had gotten landscape timbers (a cheaper option than wood poles) while we were gone. Comrade knew right away that those were not PVC and would hurt if he hit them. After showing them to him and moving him over some, I hopped on. He was ready to go. Forget about walk warm ups, he wanted to trot. Okay I went along with it. Then he smoothly picked up canter. It was an awesome canter. I did not package him, just let him go on a loose rein and loosen up. What surprised me was that his right lead canter was just as smooth a transition and just as awesome a gait as the left. If you have read my blog you know that his right lead has been an issue.
So I had super go-go pony. Time for fun. I added a few of the jumps, which were much nicer since they were made with the wood poles. I changed directions and got flying changes that did not change the rhythm at all. Some changes were helped by Shadow, the German Shepherd, nipping at his heels. He also bucked at Shadow, but he kept moving forward. Now that he had burned some energy, Mom had me increase the challenge. In the corners where he likes to fall in, I added 15m circles. That was tough, but he stepped under and finished. He ended with some long trot work and a lovely soft neck.
Maybe turning 8 the day before magically made him feel wonderful. We can hope. Then I remembered Peggy had started Addie, her cob mare, on joint supplement. I asked her if she had put Comrade on it too. She had. Bingo, I think that made a difference. Ever since Barry's xrays came back looking 10yrs younger than his actual age, I truly believe in joint supplements. We even give Roscoe a small dose. Comrade felt the best he has ever felt in the almost 3yrs I have been riding him. I will be interested to see how his work will be once she gets the supplement refilled. She used Corta flex pellets and we use Corta flex liquid for our horses and our dogs.
Our animals work hard for us, so I try to provide the support they need. It is not cheap but longevity and peace of mind helps make the expenditure easier. Seeing results help too.

A Door Unlocked

As we are covered in a light snow, it is a good time to think back to the lovely warm weekend. Beyond a stroll on DaVinci, no riding happened at my barn. We had a cloud sit on us for almost a week, then finally open leaving the ground too wet to ride. My only option left was Comrade. Not that I am complaining.
Saturday was a late ride, made later by a completely muddy pony. I hopped on bareback and began to play. Almost immediately I could feel a difference from Mom's training ride. Comrade was into the outside rein going to the right, instead of falling onto his inside shoulder. This made his lateral work almost easy, when I got all my parts in order. I was able to spiral in on a circle and then push him out smoothly. Not something that can happen if he is falling in, so I was really happy. Comrade certainly did his homework in his time off. I told Mom that night that his right side felt so good it made his left side seem like the bad side now. She unlocked some door in him and we can move forward. Plus we have the key if the door gets locked again. For Comrade that key is lateral work while maintaining straightness.
Sunday was very warm, so I decided to jump Comrade in the arena. He is not blanketed and has no clip which means I have to be careful on the warm days. Peggy was my ground crew and jump designer. When we got to the arena, Comrade was so excited to see what she had set up. As I warmed him up and settled him down, I made a few changes. Then I asked him to go over a really small vertical. Dodo boy about tripped over it, he gave it no respect. I asked for more the next time and he at least took it in stride. Then we played over a baby box oxer. This jump made Comrade think, so he gave a nice round jump. Once he started being more responsive I had him connect the small vertical to another vertical at the canter. He could have been a hunter pony the line was so smooth. And I will say we had the added difficulty of dodging 3 dogs running around. During a walk break, I had Peggy make the baby box oxer into an "X" and put up the 2nd vertical. One bad thing, Comrade was not picking up the right lead over the fences and would cross canter when I asked. No bucking at least, but still not good. I worked him over the new jumps and got the better responses I hoped for. Comrade planted and pushed rounding over the jumps instead of being the lazy pony hitting poles. We also found our right lead over the fences, FINALLY. At that point it was time for the final jump, a bigger oxer. I trotted him up and he gave me the best jump of the day. No hesitation. No drifting. All done :)

Our little jumps with Shadow representing the dogs. Left: Final oxer, Middle 2nd vertical, Back Right small vertical, Front Right baby box oxer turned "X"

Monday was my bonus day since I had the holiday off. I had thought to go play in the woods, but my stroll on DaVinci made me later. So back to the arena. Comrade was working well except that he decided to be a bit lazy. Since the jumps we still up, I put him over a few which woke him up. Then I did some canter work. The way the jumps were arranged made me keep him straight better. He surprised me by picking up the right lead when we were going left. That never happens. I let him carry it until he realized it was a bit too difficult, then asked for the correct lead. I know his canter needs work, but he has come so far since the four beat barely moving gait he gave me when I started riding him. We worked on corners and asking him to bend while stepping under with okay results. Then a simple change to work the right lead. It took me half the arena before it hit me. Comrade was not cutting corners. We were staying on the rail easily. I know it sounds like small fries, but he has never not cut corners at the right lead canter. I enjoyed right lead for the first time. I called to Peggy "Did you see that? He did not cut in at all!!" Mom unlocked a really beneficial door. I only worked a little longer since that made my whole day.
Owning, caring for and training horses can take a village. Each person helps make a stronger foundation. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to ride a horse like Comrade and have the chance to help him grow while I learn too. Since money is tight, having my Mom to help with his training is priceless. Comrade is an amazing horse because he not only retains knowledge, but he thinks about what we ask and normally comes back with a better understanding ready to move on. With limited ride time that trait is an asset.
So now I can reminisce and hope there won't be too much snow to ride this weekend.

Pony Therapy

This weekend is inventory at the store I work for, so I get to work late and count lots of things. One day done and another long, late one today.
Luckily my mom, who works at the same store does not have to work late. This means she is available to feed the ponies in the evening. I decided that even though it is below freezing outside, I was get some pony therapy before work. Comrade was elected.
I bundled up in my five-in-one jacket and put on my head liner under my helmet and off we went to brave the weather. Gotta love it when you step in the sand arena and hear "crunch." Once both of us warmed up we did not notice the lunar landscape anymore.
Comrade has a bad habit of trying to skip into canter when he does not want to work trot. Today I decided to blow his mind by asking him to do walk to canter transitions since he wanted to canter. I made sure from the first time I asked that he knew I wanted a response. Only once did I use the dressage whip to reinforce my leg. After that I got quick responses and really good canters. Although he still needed a couple trot strides before canter, I was happy for his first time. We ended on some stretchy trot work and a walk on trail.
A good ride and scratches on all of my ponies has set me up for the long night ahead.