Relaxation Starts Outside the Ring

I am supposed to be writing my 800 word final exam essay right now.  It’s due in a little over 5 hours.  I haven’t started it yet and here I am blogging, but I’m convinced my procrastination is for a good purpose!  Today Dazzel and continued working in the round pen.  I know I thought today would be the day to start canter work on the ground in the arena, but I didn’t go out to the barn Tuesday and there were dark and ominous looking rain clouds poised over the barn, so we stuck with the round pen.    I figured we’d need at least another day just working on verbal cues for walk, trot, and whoa.

Boy was *I* wrong.  Dazzel is one smart cookie, and he really enjoys working.  I saddled him up, because I want the saddle to be associated with work.  Also, anytime he has a halter on should be associated with work.  And, my mere presence should (usually) be associated with work.  He gets turned out all night without a human in sight, so he has plenty of down time, plus more days off a week than we should really be taking.  Anyway, I was thinking we would have a nice little work session.  Dazzel was thinking “why is this woman doing something we already know how to do now?”.  Once we fixed some equipment malfunctions (yeah, I didn’t tighten the girth enough, can you say trot transition to upside down saddle?) and I convinced him that even with our stalled start we really were working, he picked up *every* transition on just a verbal cue, except the initial move out.  He didn’t even work up a sweat, and I got some nice big extended Friesian trot action from him with just a little lift of the whip, too!

We also just started, on Sunday, with me backing him into his stall instead of just leading him in.  Monday was a little rough, to be honest.  Today was *beautiful*.  He worked with me to get aligned (we went in on a slight diagonal) and then, once we were straight, backed all the way in without a touch or a word from me, just my intention and body language moving him into the stall.  I even got to work on him moving one foot at a time, independently, just on my cues! 

You know what this means?  Tomorrow after finals we go figure out canter.  Oh, and I tighten the girth more so the saddle will stay on.  It’s the little things that get me excited, because two weeks ago none of this would have been possible, and now I understand why.

Relaxation.

Dazzel is not, and was not, a hot horse.  Not even after spending 4 days on a trailer getting shipped across the country.  But he also was not relaxed.  He couldn’t stand still, he had to demolish whatever was hanging on any stall door within reach.  He pranced and danced and shuffled his way through every grooming session, and I was a pretty unhappy camper with a horse that couldn’t stand still.  Dazzel didn’t relax until he started getting turned out with the other horses.  The first few days were rough and he’s got a few battle scars.  None of them are bad, but they do make me cringe.  It’s hard to have a beautiful black baby and then see him come in with tufts of fur missing and scratches and bite marks on his hindquarters and mud caked six ways from Sunday.  However, once he integrated into the herd, once he was getting a more normal, horsey type of life than standing in a stall for 21 hours a day…

He relaxed.  And started listening.  And started standing still for grooming sessions.  And stopped being an occasional spook (manipulation, if he spooked I would let him graze for five minutes while we bothcalmed down, so he started spooking all the time when I hand walked so that he could get more grazing time).  He still tests me, a little.  Not nearly as much as he was.  I am convinced now that Relaxation starts outside of the ring.  It starts with the horse’s every day life.  It then progresses from how relaxed he is in his off time to how relaxed he is in the cross ties, in the round pen, in the warm up ring, on the show grounds, or with me in the saddle.  This makes me wonder if hot, nervous horses could slowly be convinced to “just relax” by a change in lifestyle, a long vacation, and a slow re-integration into work.  Dazzel only got a two-week semi vacation, but he’s becoming a different horse.  A happy, relaxed horse.

Ring Around the Rosy

I had my first real lesson with Dazzel yesterday.  I didn’t get in the saddle, but it was the first day since he arrived that I tacked him up.  A post about everything that’s happened that didn’t involve training will have to come later.   I made my wonderful husband come with me to the barn for moral support.  It didn’t really help that he had duty, and so he spent most of the time out behind the parked car and on the phone, but still he was there and that ment something to me.

Red Dakota’s little girl was there also, and we sort of had individual lessons in a group setting.  She lost her balance and fell off at the canter a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday was her first day back in the saddle.  She did great!  But first, we had to get everyone groomed down.  Dazzel finally had his shoes pulled and had been allowed out in the pasture, where he got a few cuts and lots several tufts of hair figuring out his place in the pecking order.  But because he’d spent the last 5 days out in the pasture, he was COVERED IN MUD.  From the soles of his feet (and that’s a whole ‘nother post) to the top of his head, mud.  Mud that i could not get to come off no matter how vigorously I curry combed.  It took me over an hour to get him groomed enough to put a saddle on him without causing girth sores or back sores. (yuck!).  I pulled the braids out of his main and forelock too, which he seemed grateful for, but all that thick black hair got tangled together.  But, we finally got him saddled up, and I had the joy of realizing that English saddles are a lot easier to tack up than western saddles!  No humongous lengths of latigo to pull through the ring to get the girth tight enough.  no huffing, puffing, or wheezing while pulling with one hand and balancing one one foot to poke poor horse in the stomach and get him to exhale.  None of that!  There’s just simple buckles, attached to elastic, with a neoprene girth.  two buckles per side.  Set one side, pull it under, buckle the other.  Wait a few minutes and test the girth area with fingers to make sure it’s still tight.  That was the easiest saddle I have ever plopped on a horse.

Then it was off to the ring. Dazzel and I had been lunging on and off over the last two weeks.  But I was confusing him when I tried to get him to change direction without stopping and coming into the center first, and I couldn’t keep him trotting or get him to move off voice commands.  Yesterday was a break through, though!  By the end of the lesson I had my body position down so that I kept Dazzel moving forward at chosen speed just by being in the right spot, and we could do walk-trot transitions on voice cue only as well as trot-walk transitions.  It was great!  The only issue we had was that he wouldn’t canter in the small round pen.  The barn owner thinks that Dazzel isn’t comfortable cantering in the round pen because it feels too small (and he is a big horse with big movement), so by next weekend’s lesson I need to have him transitioning between all three gaits on the lunge line in the arena, just by voice cue.

Today we worked just on walk trot transitions on voice cue.  I want to have that down before working on the canter in a larger space.  That, and I need to give the blister on the bottom of my index finger time to heal before I risk getting another.  We did get to the point where he was transitioning just on voice cue today, but it took some time.  I want to be there without 20 minutes of prep work first.  So, Wednesday is my goal for the first day of trying canter work on the ground.  And Sunday, hopefully, will be my first day in the saddle if I prove I have enough control of him on the ground.

All in all, a good week!  Now if only his feet didn’t look so horrible..

Look Ma! No Hands!

Yesterday at the barn, I noticed Dazzel was rubbing his forehead methodically against the post while I had him tied for grooming.  This after he’d pulled two halters down from their spot hanging on the door and attempted to open the stall door (good thing those bolts don’t move easily).  Twice he managed to pull his halter over one ear, and twice I caught him and put the halter back on.  Of course, he also amused himself by pulling out the slip knot with which he was tied to the post.  But he was so good about just standing there that I didn’t notice he had untied himself.  I made a mental note to be careful when he was tied, and to keep the front gate closed if I was going to leave him unattended for even the shortest amount of time, and then kind of dismissed his antics from my mind.  On to more important things, right?  Because surely, surely he was not methodically figuring out a way to get out of his halter.  Just as, surely, he isn’t really trying to treat it like a bridle by putting the nose band in his mouth every time I do the stretch and reach to get it on his big head.  Right? 

Wrong…

Today after lunging I brought him in and tied him.  As an afterthought, and thinking to myself “wow you’re being silly”, I closed the front gate.  This was just while I dove into the tack room to put something away and then opened the back gate to take him out to the paddock.  I was, I thought, being overly cautious to the point of paranoia.

Until, as I was opening the back gate, my very quiet and tied up horse came and looked over my shoulder.  “Hey Mom, are we going out?  Can I go graze?  I wanna go graze with my friends…all the cool horses are out in the back pasture!  Hey, Mom, can we go now? Huh? Huh?? Can we???” 

To which I replied “OH MY GOD where is your halter????”.  He had taken it off, of course, because it’s no fun being tied up and standing still, so in his spare time the Dazzel had taught himself how to take it off.  As well as how to untie himself, in case he can’t get the halter off because he’s being watched.

I am making a new sign to go on his stall.

 

Smart + Curious + Bored = Trouble. 

We’re going to have to start working more,  I can tell.  Although I think a lot of this will fix itself when the farrier comes on Tuesday and pulls his shoes (wishful thinking, right?).  Then he can go spend time in the pasture, like all the cool kids.  I am a little worried about what he’ll get in to.  Ok, a lot worried about what he’ll get into.  Maybe Sunday Barry will let me saddle him up and we can start riding.  Oh, and longer walks down the trail.  And more time in the round pen (which needs to be raked, the footing is kinda icky).  Anybody have any other ideas how to keep Trouble (yes, I am very tempted to rename him) occupied?

We’re going to New Orleans for the weekend.  I get the chance to go out to the barn in the morning before my manicure (that sounds so wrong, but I only get a manicure once every three or four years).  We’ll be gone all Saturday, and then back on Sunday so I can go see him and work with him.  I think I’ll be leaving a note on his stall door so the other boarders and Barry aren’t surprised by a sudden disappearing act if they take him out and tie him.

I Stop for Clover

I couldn’t take it anymore.  The dancing, the prancing, the fidgeting and rubbing.  Every time I tied Dazzel to groom him, he’d fidget.  And fidget, and paw the ground a little in the “hey lady, standing here doing nothing is not what I had in mind!” way.  We would go for a walk, and he would give me strange looks.  I got the clear impression that he could not understand why there was nothing since his arrival on Sunday that in any way resembled work.  He was wondering where the saddle was, where the arena was, and when we were going to get down to business.  I was wondering why I suddenly had a work-a-holic husband and a work-a-holic horse.  So I decided last night that I needed to revise this week’s “plan”.  The original plan was… rest and don’t do much.  A little hand walking, a little grazing, some turnout in the paddock until he’s integrated with the herd and has his shoes pulled.  The revised plan?  Lunge for about 15 minutes, doing walk to trot and back, both ways.

There were, however, a few issues we had to overcome.  The first is that I use a rope halter with an attached lead on the pretty boy .  I couldn’t attach the lunge line and leave the lead hanging, and I didn’t trust throwing the lead around his neck.  I had bought another, standard nylon halter. So I thought we had this covered.  But the nylon halter didn’t fit Dazzel.  Plan… C.  Free Lunge a horse I’ve only known for three days.

Plan C worked halfway.  Dazzel would move for me on the back half of the round pen.  But on the front half he was looking for any way to come to a slow halt, drop his head, and start ripping out mouthfulls of clover.  Which is very easy to do when there is no connection.  I did, however, start anticipating the “I stop for clover” moments and could keep him going, but I was frustrated by him actively looking for ways to get around me. 

So back to plan A.  I figured out that I could unknot the attached lead from the rope halter without unknotting the halter itself (my huge fear, because I doubt I could have put that thing back together).  Then I ran the clip for the lunge line through the two loops left where the lead had been, and clipped the lunge line to itself.  This only because the lunge line clip wasn’t big enough to attach to both loops of rope.  This worked like a charm and we had a GREAT lunging session, all be it a short one. Afterwards we went for a bit of a walk and graze.  Dazzel’s always been great, but this time was the best so far.  No trying to get ahead of me, no trying to get away with anything. No shoulder-to-hip check to see if he can push me over. It’s like he suddenly realized I really could be in charge after our round pen session.

We headed back to the barn, and he stood still for the majority of the grooming session.  Since he was being so good, I decided to comb out his tangly mane and put it in braids.  The goal, after all, is a huge thick long mane.  His is shoulder length at its longest, but I really want to take care of it.  We got about halfway through braiding, and he started being a tiny bit fidgety.  Not horrible though, and not testing me, just ancy to be done.  I can’t blame him, I get ancy when I get my hair done, too.

Tomorrow we’ll start out lunging the “right” way for us.  And get that tail combed.

Living a dream – with quirks

So Sunday morning at 4:30 AM Dazzel arrived at Camelot Stables.  Barry, the stable owner, says that he did great.  The 65 foot van couldn’t fit down the road (there’s board fencing on either side from other properties), so Barry had the driver unload Dazzel on the side of the road and walk him down to the arena, where he stayed…

While I awoke (again) at 6:30.  I’d been up and down all night.  Michael had the CDO and his phone rang off the hook all weekend.  Saturday night was no exception, with three calls after midnight.  I jumped in the shower, sure the transport company would be calling soon.  7:00 came and went.  7:15 was torture.  The driver was supposed to call an hour before he arrived, and he was supposed to arrive between 6 and 8.  So why hadn’t he called?  I called the main office, where Judy was a great sport about trying to get in contact with him for me.  I didn’t get a call back, from the driver or from Judy, and 8:00 am dragged past like bad fog.  I called back at 8:15.  The driver wasn’t answering his cell phone (could have hit a dead spot, they exist down here), but he’d call me soon.  Judy said she’d keep trying to reach him for me and call me as soon as she had news.  She suggested I go get coffee, but we decided to forward the house phone to my cell phone and take the boys to breakfast.  Everyone got loaded into the car, we started pulling out…..

And the phone rang.  It was Judy, calling to tell me that Dazzel was already at the barn, and had been for a bit now.  “I don’t know how big your place is..” she said “but he’s there, just walk out and see him”.  That’s when I got to explain that I didn’t live at the barn.  Lightbulb!

Breakfast was cancelled, we drove straight out to the stable, where Dazzel greeted us by flopping over onto his back and rolling around in the arena, before righting himself and trotting along the rail.  Of course I hopped out while Michael parked and got the boys settled.  Took my time saying hello to my big black horse and then walked down to talk with Barry.  He was simply amazed at how well behaved Dazzel was (thank goodness!), and while Barry and I talked, Michael walked up to the arena to say hi to the horse.  I was trying to keep the boys occupied, while I watched the little blue golf cart come zipping down the road with three or four people aboard.  Michael got to talk with them, but he said that they were asking who the owner “of that beautiful” horse was.  We now have a standing invitation to the Arabian barn just down the road, the owner was one of the people on the golf cart. 

Michael took the boys off to breakfast, and Barry and I brought Dazzel down and started going over him.  We brushed him down and tied him up and tested him a little bit.  But he was comfortable, relaxed, and content to be oggled.  That’s not to say that he didn’t test me, or Barry.  He tests plenty, but he’s five, and young and in a new place and he’d been cooped up on a trailer since Thursday.  All was forgiven, but I realized how much my own horse intimidates me.  For two reasons, really.  One, I don’t want to do anything wrong with him.  Two, I know I’m not a good enough rider to show him off, yet.

Both insecurities will get worked out the more time I spend with him.  We’re giving him this week to get settled and integrated into the herd.  Which gives me this week to get settled and integrated into horse ownership. I was back out at the barn today (twice, and shirked work to do it).  I’ll managed to get a couple of pictures, and if any are good I’ll post them up.. after I get that work done.