Another brief report this week. Our regular instructor was away, and the girl who filled in for her decided a trek in the woods was a good idea, considering the fairly nice weather. Not a favourite thing of mine to do, though at least I got Murphy (anyone else is pretty much out of the question, in any case). It was also a bit better than last year, since they had cleared up some new paths, which meant we spent most of the time in the woods and not along a road (which I absolutely loathe). Murphy enjoyed himself (he tried to sample every tree and bush that we passed by) and was forward without being frisky. He did give some suspicious sideways glances to some stacks of branches and stuff, but other than that he was his usual, rock-solid self.
We got back to the stables with about 10 minutes left of the lesson, and ended up giving the horses (and ourselves) quite a work-out. I had kept my coat on since the wind had been pretty chilly during the day, so now I ended up riding in four layers of clothing. I was pretty soaked when we finished up as she had us cantering and working quite hard at it for a good while. The horses were nicely warmed up by the trek, though Murphy objected rather firmly to suddenly being asked to work, and tried to act as if I was some beginner he could easily dissuade. It didn’t work, and he ended up doing a fairly nice job after we had sorted out our differences. Though he did try to kill Amadeus while we were cantering.
Dog show time, that is. We only got back some hours ago from taking our dog to his first ever dog show. Which he found immensely entertaining since there were so many people and so many dogs to say hello to. We did not find it quite so entertaining to try to control him. Boxers are ... lively, and this one is extra energetic. At 7 months, he easily drives us all crazy on a regular basis.
I am not sure how the judge managed to get a good look at him, since he was either acting like a whirling dervish or lying down on his back (yes, in the show ring ;P), but somehow he did and he ended up placing him first of the boxer puppies. Of course, there was only one other entry, but the critique he got was pretty good. So, no doubt we’ll try a show or two more in the future. And I really need to get moving on making a dog blog, or at least on giving Ringo a little page of his own.
Theory-time today, so we ended up spending the lesson discussing the theoretical aspects of (I think I’ve got the English terminology right this time) shoulder in, haunches in, counter haunches in (I’ve also seen this called haunches out) and half pass. Which probably won’t help too much with my tendency to over-think things, as I have a feeling I will need to break out a book or two to study up on this before the next class. It did, however, help clear up some questions, though sadly not in regards to what on earth I am going to do about my legs being all over the place.
Didn’t get much of a chance to check out Murphy, but he seemed a little less irritable. Of course, that could be because I wasn’t coming into his stall with a saddle, just with some nice, minty treats. But even that is occasionally regarded with suspicion.
A very belated post this week. I was not in the mood for posting after the lesson this Tuesday, and then it slipped my mind. So here is a short recap.
The good news: Murphy was back to work. His knee is still a bit larger than usual, but he’s shown no lameness whatsoever during the week. They’re thinking its some sort of swelling from a blow that doesn’t really affect him.
The bad news, part 1: Murphy (and several of the other horses) were in a feisty mood. He tried to eat my face several times both before and after the lesson, and during the lesson he stopped several times and attempt to assault the horse behind him. Fun. ;P
The bad news, part 2: I rode terribly. My focus on my legs over the last weeks led me to totally obsess about my legs. I changed my stirrup length three or four times, and I kept messing far too much with my hands and legs throughout most of the lesson.
Next week we have theory. I am not sure if this is good or bad. Maybe I need a week off. Or maybe I need a private lesson. Possibly I also need to ride another horse, but I’d prefer to try to work through this on Murphy.
I got suspicious when I came to the stables and found Murphy with hay on his butt and mud in his mane. And sure enough, he had not been used for any classes today because he had come in from the field with a swelling on one knee. Argh. My instructor was not sure what it was, but thought perhaps it might be some fluid in there. It was not hot and not tender, and she could not find any cuts that might have started an infection, so I am hoping it isn’t anything serious or anything that will keep him out of lessons for too long. But I will be worrying a bit until I see him again next week and get an update on him.
I am hoping, though that is probably too optimistic, that he’ll be in next week’s lesson, as I suspect I may otherwise be continuing with Fleur since I rode her today. Not that I mind too greatly, as she’s not a bad horse at all. She just has one problem, she spooks easily, and since I do too that isn’t always a great combination. Silly thoroughbred. That’s one breed I’d never get for myself.
I picked up yet another book on dog training from the library today. This one focuses on clicker training or shaping, and my hope (and that of the rest of the family) is that a more focused approach to this type of training (we have only dabbled in it so far) will help us out with our currently very lively boxer puppy. I’ve already read a few chapters, and though I’ve had a look at several other books focusing on dog training through positive reinforcement, this one suddenly made me realize a couple of things I had only partially grasped before.
Not quite sure what to make of today’s lesson. Murphy again, as expected, and the plan was to continue preparing for shoulder-in work. Based on what I noticed after last week’s lesson, I decided to give ‘preparing’ his right side a try. So, in the stall I worked on getting him to move away from me when I nudged his right shoulder. I also massaged his neck and the shoulder on the right side, and it seemed like it ended up accepting the pressure a bit more.
Another thing that I had been thinking about before this lesson was an article I read recently, in which the author felt that that no violence at all is acceptable when training an animal, and that corrections with a whip should be considered as such. I thought it sounded a little extreme, but I still decided to give some careful thought to how I ride. I do think that sometimes we’re told a little too often that we’re too nice (in the sense of not being demanding enough) to the horses, and I am not always sure about the less nice approach.
Back on Murphy today. The girl who rode him last week doesn’t like him much at all, so she got somebody else and that freed up Murphy for me. I wouldn’t have minded tackling Nelson again, but I knew Murphy would present a challenge too considering the work we’d be doing. I was told he’d been rather forward during the jumping class earlier in the day, and I suspect the horses had once again not been able to be out much (its really slushy and slippery) given that they all seemed to be rather ticked off with each other too. Murphy was fine to tack up, but he definitely wanted to kill some of the other horses. There’s clearly some tension in the herd at the moment, and it comes out very strongly when they aren’t able to be out as much as usual and settle their disputes properly.
Brrr. Nasty, cold, biting wind, and little tiny, stinging flakes of snow. Makes a girl want to hide in bed, and makes ponies mildly insane. Today was ... adventurous, and I must admit that while I lamented the departure of Pojken (the little yellow tank) before leaving for my lesson, I did not lament it quite so much once I found out I was on Nelson again. If Pojken (who was sent back for bucking off a few too many kids) had been there today I think ‘interesting’ wouldn’t quite have covered things. Nelson was in ... hrm ... high spirits, I suppose we can call it. As I led him down to the arena, it felt as if I was leading a 17 hand horse and not a pony of barely 14 hands. He was sort of floating half a meter above the ground.
As I have spent the last few days knocked out by a vicious cold (which hit pretty much everyone in the house, including the dog, though I think I got it worst), I wasn’t expecting too much from today’s class. In fact, given how wobbly my legs felt all day, I figured that just staying on would be a success. Staying at home was not an option, however. No riding two weeks in a row would have driven me crazy, and I have been in far worse condition and still dragged myself to the stables. I’ve found that riding when on strong painkillers makes me really relaxed and supple. ;P
In any case, I wasn’t that badly off today, and I did a little better than just stay on. It was a jumping lesson this time around, and fortunately I got Murphy this time too. I definitely didn’t feel up to any of the livelier horses, though he actually turned out to be a bit frisky today. Nothing compared to Nelson though, who was super-charged and kept trying to pick fights with Dark Digidoo (who also was super-charged) throughout the lesson. But Murphy was certainly unusually alert, and pretty eager to bite a chunk out of me too. ;P
Oops, I almost forgot to post for this week’s lesson before going to bed. I’ve got my first translation project for the new company, and its been taking a bit longer than expect. Plus, today was just theory, so nothing too exciting to report. We ended up having another round of observing herd behaviour, and again our regular instructor was gone, this time due to a family emergency.
At the moment I am feeling pretty darn tired, and it wasn’t much better before the lesson (might have something to do with an early—for me, anyway—walk in the woods with the puppy), so no surprise that I didn’t do too great today.
Like last week, we had a different instructor from our regular one (she was off attending a clinic of some kind, and like last week the horses were very frisky. Not much snow left now, but plenty of ice, so they hadn’t been able to be outside much at all. Pojken, the charming little tank, was not allowed to be in any classes at all. Apparently he’s been bucking off a lot of people this last week, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be staying much longer. Which is kind of sad, because I do love the small horses that I can ride. Not that I like being bucked off, but as last week showed, I don’t scare that easily on a smaller horse.
Still, I wasn’t entirely unhappy to be on Murphy instead of Nelson this week. ;) Murphy, of course, was not very frisky. In fact, he could have used being a bit more energetic. When the others bounced around, scared by imaginary dangers, he just perked his ears up and looked at them. He seemed to be wondering why they were being so silly. But I suppose I should be mostly grateful, since I don’t enjoy being bucked off at all.
Long overdue snow and cold weather decided to put in an appearance this week. It probably won’t last too long (alas; I’ll take snow and cold weather over rain and wind any day), but while it is here I am enjoying it and so are, apparently, the horses too. I said before I went to the stable that I really didn’t want to ride Fleur today (in cold weather, she turns from occasionally flighty but very placid to always flighty and not the least placid), but she was actually an angel today compared to the horse I ended up riding. ;P
Murphy, being rock solid, had clearly been used for all the beginner’s classes today. So, I got Nelson. The white, fluffy and vaguely polar-bear like pony I rode a couple of times during the autumn. The first had gone okay, the second not so well, but I tried hard to mentally prepare myself for how to work on his issues and figured I could probably manage to make this ride fairly useful. Of course, the fact that our regular instructor had the day off was a cause for some small concern, as I always find it hard to switch.
There must be a shoe-stealing leprechaun hanging around the stables recently. As I mentioned last week, I discovered after the riding lesson that Murphy was missing one of his shoes, and probably had been since earlier in the day. Today, that shoe was back on, but another shoe was missing instead. And that wasn’t at all. Another horse, Campino, was also missing a shoe, and he too had been missing one last week as well.
So ... either we have someone stealing shoes or Murphy and Campino are ‘helping’ each other to misplace shoes when they’re out in the field. Given their respective tempers (Murphy wants to be the boss and Campino occasionally thinks he’s a stallion still), I suppose that isn’t so very unlikely. Either way, its a nuisance, and today I think it had a bit of an effect on my riding lesson too.
Ouch. Turns out the sore muscles from last Friday’s private lesson were anything but fine. My arms and legs feel like overcooked spaghetti and my behind feels bruised. As a result, this one will be a little shortish.
It started well enough, though, despite the weather (no rain, but plenty of wind to make up for it). The extra working out (and, admittedly, very sparse eating) during the last few days had succeeded in making sure that any weight picked up over Christmas was gone, allowing me to once more weigh in low enough to ride some of the ponies. As we were set to jump today, I was particularly pleased with that. I don’t like to pass up a chance to jump Murphy.