lessons in riding, 3, segues with senior horse

Late today I went out to get in another ride with Keil Bay. He came in as usual but got it in his head that we were going to open the fence to the front yard and let them graze down there. Cody joined him, and the donkeys, and they lined up at the fence line, waiting.

Suddenly Salina came out of the barn, doing the biggest, most beautiful walk you've ever seen. This was her 'I'm 10 years old if I'm a day' walk, and I haven't seen it lately. She too was focused in on that fence and she crowded in right behind the geldings and the donkeys.

Unfortunately our nights and days are still going up and down in terms of temperature. We had frost last night and tomorrow a high of 88 - not quite time to start the front yard grazing we usually do for an hour or two each evening as they work up to it.

I brought Keil Bay in to the barn and closed the barn doors on that end so Salina, Cody, and the donkeys could graze the grass paddock. My daughter was riding the pony.

A few minutes later Salina trotted by - looking quite elegant and happy with Cody and the donkeys not far behind. They were all very alert and happy and I took a minute to go watch them.

A little later, Keil Bay and I ended up in the arena with my daughter and Cody. Since Keil mostly gets ridden by himself, I decided that today we would follow. So we went pretty much everywhere Cody did and we increased the trotting to a full lap around the arena in each direction after a nice warm up. We did some circles and turns on the haunches. Today's improvement for Keil was being very responsive to my leg and needing almost no rein aids. Some of it was following Cody, but some was me getting more balanced - a result of my hip joints loosening up.

The third day is always the charm for me when I'm coming back into riding after some time off. Last ride my stirrups felt about a notch too long when I posted, but today, my legs had stretched out and everything felt just right. Keil had a nice rhythm in the walk and trot and although it got dark enough that the arena light came on, he remained perfectly behaved and rode easily into the spooky dark corner by the woods.

When I got off, my legs had that nice, stretched out, strong feeling they get when I've been riding regularly and in balance.

Just like Salina, I felt like I'd lost a few years.

It's nice when all these good things coincide. 

lessons in riding, 2

Yesterday I had a fair number of things to get done and ended up walking out to the barn to ride in the late afternoon. Keil Bay came in and stood at the gate, waiting to be let in to the barnyard and barn aisle. I groomed him in the barnyard, as he was covered in dried mud - between dust and horse hair and wind it was quite an undertaking. About the time I brought him in to the barn to tack up, one little thing got in my way and I felt my frustration level skyrocket. It's not really important what it was, but had nothing to do with the horses. Let's just say it was a middle-aged mother- teen-aged daughter moment.

I didn't want to ride in that mode, so I unhaltered the Big Bay (who seemed confused that I was leaving) and quietly came inside.

As I sat here doing some work on the computer, my body began to tighten up. From ankle to neck, I could feel each set of muscles progressively contracting. It was the exact opposite of progressive relaxation. I was still agitated internally - I had wanted to ride, had gotten all my chores and errands done, and although it was windy out and the hay tent was blowing up like a blowfish with each gust, I felt Keil Bay and I could handle it.

But I allowed one small thing to get in my way.

At that point I decided I was too tense to ride anyway. Time passed. It was going on six p.m. And I thought, well now it's too late to ride. But then something hit my mind, like an actual little missile of thought that came from someplace else, and it was: it gets dark later now. go ride.

So I got up and walked right out to the barn. Every bit of tightness in my muscles left. And when I glanced around to see where the Big Bay was, I saw him standing right by my bedroom window. I hadn't even glanced outside when I'd been at my desk, I'd been so drawn up in my body tightness and agitation. He'd come down there and, I think, summoned me out of my mood.

I finished grooming him and picked his hooves and tacked up. I'd decided to use his old eggbutt snaffle - I have three bridles for him now, one with his loose ring double-jointed snaffle, one with the old eggbutt single joint, and his Rambo Micklem bitless. He didn't want the old eggbutt. He raised his head away from it, and then when I asked him to put his head down, he did, but closed his teeth. So I got the bitless and he stuck his head right into it.

The ride was good. We did a lot of big walking. He was forward but not spooky (there was a lot of flapping going on around us) and he spontaneously went into trot several times. We did a lot of walking and then did trot work in both directions. I probably go overboard building so slowly back into work with him, but don't ever want him to be sore, so I am careful when we haven't ridden in awhile.

Back in the barn, I untacked and gave him his handful of alfalfa pellets. But he wouldn't leave the tack room. He kept standing there, nuzzling me, just being with me. Even when a load of hay wheeled by, heading out to the back field, Keil Bay took a bite and then stayed put. I went and opened the gate to the paddock, inviting him to go out, but he looked at me and then stayed where he was.

I stood rubbing him and then yes, gave him another handful of pellets. And still he stood there. We visited, I put a few things away, rubbed him some more, and all the while he stood looking at me, totally focused. So of course I gave him another handful. "But this is the last one, really," I said, and then rubbed him all over his face and head.

I walked to the arena gate, thinking I'd see if he wanted to go that way to get to the back field, and he came right with me, and stood with me in the arena even when I opened the gate to the back. I'm not sure what he was saying with this lengthy visit, but I think it was this:

Don't let the little things keep you from riding. I'm here.

 

CEO of GoDaddy killing bull elephants on vacation

Husband just sent this to me - we are changing our websites to a different host and I thought many readers here might want this info as well. I have not watched the video. Not sure how the links will transfer here, but don't have time to make them live - you'll need to copy and paste.

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Apparently the CEO of GoDaddy thought it was a great idea to post a video of his noble vacation of killing bull elephants in Zimbabwe. The video is briefly graphic. The CEO is a major tool and incredibly misguided. The height of stupidity is when villagers are butchering the elephant wearing orange GoDaddy hats.


I've transferred all of my domains from GoDaddy this evening after seeing this. I want nothing to do with supporting an imbecile like this.

http://www.video.me/ViewVideo.aspx?vid=380843

I ended up transferring to namecheap.com
They posted the video on their site and offered a transfer discount along with a pledge to donate $1 to savetheelephants.org
http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/

It really doesn't matter where you transfer your domains if this sort of thing appalls you as well... as long as you can stop filtering money to GoDaddy.

lessons in riding, 1

The weekend was cold and wet, yesterday was packed with mom chauffeuring duties, and my plan to ride got thwarted.

Tuesday was sunny, warmer, and I had several things on the agenda, but underlying all of it was to get in a ride on Keil Bay.  It was late afternoon when I headed to the barn ready to ride. Keil came in from the back when he saw me - he knew what I was up to. As usual, grooming took longer than expected. I ended up doing a hoof scrub, then ended up cleaning a sheath. About the time I was done and ready to tack up, my son called from the house that it was time for us to leave for his class.

So I let Keil in the barnyard, took son to class, waited while he submitted his assignments, and then dropped him off at play practice. When I got home, the Big Bay was still in the barnyard, still clean, and the sun was still in the sky.

Finally! I tacked him up and led him into the arena. Mounting - no problem. Warm up - no problem. He was very forward and clearly wanted to trot as we finished our walking. Forward, in front of the leg, very focused. I felt relaxed, happy, and oh so grateful to be back in forward motion with Keil Bay.

When I got off, he turned and put his nose on my shoulder. It never gets better than that.

Lesson: perseverance pays. 

Next ride: we'll build on the nice walking and forward trot from today. I might do the rainbow ride sequence that I found on Jane Savoie's website several years ago. Good things always happen when we get to yellow and indigo.

Hope you'll check in with your rides, and link to your blog if you like!

quick update on Spalding Fly Predators

I just spent at hour plus on the telephone with Larry Garner, who works with Tom Spalding to run Spalding Labs - the company that has supplied fly predators to November Hill since 2005.

When I received an unsolicited Parelli catalog in the mail last week, I was concerned when I got to the last page and found a two-page ad for Spalding Labs, who I feared might be endorsing Pat and Linda Parelli's work.

Many readers might remember my pledge to investigate the companies I do business with and vote with my credit card when it comes to companies endorsing riders, trainers, and/or training methods I feel are damaging to horses. The hard part of this pledge comes when you learn a product you love is in some way affiliated with a rider/trainer you can't abide.

I emailed the company on Sunday and received a quick email response yesterday (Monday) from Mr. Garner, who said he had tried to call (they had our old phone number in my account info, my fault for not updating!) and would I please call him to discuss my concerns.

Today I got around to that - he was on another call but someone (Crystal, a very nice woman) corrected my telephone number in their system and said that Mr. Garner would call me right back, which he did.

He was very candid and said that they have entered into a one-year advertising experiment with the Parelli company, purchasing advertising in the Parelli materials. He said that the Parellis have used Fly Predators for years and were thus interested in selling advertising to Spalding. Mr. Garner said in that sense, by paying for advertising, they are "supporting" Parelli, and he does not want to try to mask that fact.

He went on to say however that they are not endorsing Parelli or the work the Parellis do with horses. He asked what I had seen that brought me to my conclusions about the Parelli training methods.

We had quite a long discussion about horses and training and ethical concerns. Mr. Garner has lived with horses for 50-odd years and he described some of his own ways of working with them to me. I didn't ask permission to share those, so I won't, but I will say that what he shared matches what many of us have shared in blog posts and comments. I shared some of my herd stories, we discussed various issues in the world of high-dollar horsemanship, including round pen work, dressage, 3-day eventing, and more, and by the end of the call, I felt assured that Spalding Labs is in the business of providing non-chemical means to control flies for horses, other animals, and people, and that they are not in fact endorsing any horsemanship methods at all with their advertisement in the Parelli catalog.

I appreciated the honesty, and the sincerity of Mr. Garner's statement that they want to keep my business, and that they also want more horses to enjoy non-chemical fly control.

In addition, they are staying abreast of the latest in fire ant control via a kind of fly currently being studied by the USDA. At some point if this fly is approved for introduction in the US, we may be able to order fire ant predators as well.

Mr. Garner kindly put a hold on my 2011 order, as I requested in my email Sunday, so that I could talk with him before this year's shipments started. I asked him to release the hold and send the fly predators out asap.

If you have any concerns about the Parelli advertisement, I encourage you to contact Spalding and ask to talk with either Tom Spalding or Larry Garner. At this point I am comfortable continuing my relationship with the company (for which I have only ever had excellent service AND results) and I have a feeling Mr. Garner will be looking for some Parelli videos to see for himself what I described in our conversation.