This weeks new horse was Nash, another sorrel schoolie. This was a weird lesson, or maybe what they are supposed to be, I don't know, I am still processing this one (so this post will probably ramble a bit).
Easy part first, Nash is a pretty laid back horse. He was snoozing in the snow when we went out to get him and he was in no hurry to get up and come in for a lesson. I wish I had brought the camera out with me, he looked so majestic laying there. I don't know what it is being around a horse laying down, but they seem even more beautiful to me that way. These huge animals in such a vulnerable position, all curled up. I am always in awe of them watching them. They truly have no sense of their size or their strength, they are just innocent looking and sweet. I always feel humbled that they have enough trust to remain like that and let us approach.
Once we got him inside and I got to ride I liked the motion of Nash's walk and trot. A world away from 50 last week. I really didn't get to feel much of his lope to compare it. But the few strides I got out of him were pretty smooth, to the point I was having a hard time deciphering if he was trotting or had actually started cantering.
My big frustration was Nash was his lack of desire to do much of anything. He was very distracted when he was alone in the arena, when other horses were being brought through he wanted to follow them. I am learning this is the definition of horse! But what was weird was that I am used to how Joker manages his anxiety being alone, he gets more "up" when he is distracted, his motions get bigger, he has more energy than when he is focused on me. Nash was just the opposite, the more distracted he was the harder it was to keep him moving forward.
And here in lies where I think the lesson was more about ME than him. I didn't handle his lack of work ethic very well at all. It drove my frustration level through the roof. I felt lost and unsure what to do with it, and the longer it went on the more out of sorts I got. I have learned, to a point, how to regain the focus of a horse who is more geared up and unfocused, but with this horse that just could have cared less I felt very ineffective and ineffectiveness for me is a frustrator I don't handle well. Part of the lesson yesterday was I need to learn to not fall apart in a situation like this. I got to the point that I was growling at Etta and was fighting tears because I didn't know what else to do with him. I felt out of tools and that is a really hard place for me. I know it came across in the lesson as I was getting angry at the horse or my instructor but the reality was I was the only one I was upset with. I actually think this is a horse I would have enjoyed working with had I kept myself more in check and had a few extra tools in my toolbox to pull from.
Yesterday was a realization for me on this whole other horse journey. It is not turning out the way I had thought it would, or I guess more so what my original intention was. My fear was that I wouldn't know how to handle horses that were MORE horse than Joker (faster, less polite, bigger in movement, hotter, more up) and that that was where I needed to focus. But now having ridden 3 horses who are more broke than Joker, I am realizing I am deficient in both directions.
In ways the experience so far has been comforting, I haven't fallen off, I haven't been unable to mount, I haven't felt physically at risk. Which were most of the things I feared that lead me to this journey. But in other ways it has been a reinforcement of what I feared about my riding ability being less when I am not on the horse I am used to.
I definitely don't think Nash got a fair shake yesterday from me, so I will be revisiting riding him this Friday in my group riding lesson. Hopefully I bring him a better rider this time!!!
Oh I did forget to say, Nash decided to make me feel right at home and not miss Joker too much and throw in a bunch of whinneying for his friends as we rode. It honestly just made me laugh because things were going sooooo wrong overall.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
50....
Fifty is also one of the WL schoolies (I expect most if not all the horses I ride preparing for Atlanta will be). My lesson on 50 was in a semi-private lesson with Deanna riding Smudge (Deanna owns Joker's brother Bob). Fifty is a bit of a rough ride when he trots, a lot like driving a car with no shocks down the rumble strips.He is also a bit of a grumpy guy. Fifty was not a horse I would call fun to ride, and not one I am in a hurry to get on again, but he taught me A LOT.
Lessons from 50:
1) Take 5 minutes before you get on a new horse to ask someone what the horse's buttons and quirks are. I didn't do this and paid for it for 1/2 my lesson. Fifty as I mentioned is kind of a grump old man, he doesn't actually seem to enjoy being a horse. And when you ask for the trot he pins his ears back and drops his head to avoid the bit. Now in my learning about horses these are two bad signs that on another horse would be warning signs that you were about to be launched off the horse. So I spent quite some time tense waiting to see if I was in trouble. Only after about 30 minutes of him doing this every time I asked for the trot did I learn, nope, that is just 50. I could have saved myself a lot of stress and worry had I bothered to learn this before I mounted.
2) I have a long way to improve my seat, but sometimes it can be the horse too. I have heard people talk about horses that are hard to sit the trot on, I had just never experienced it. Fifty is one of those horses. I was grateful to have all my major organs after the ride and now really get that statement.
Lessons from 50:
1) Take 5 minutes before you get on a new horse to ask someone what the horse's buttons and quirks are. I didn't do this and paid for it for 1/2 my lesson. Fifty as I mentioned is kind of a grump old man, he doesn't actually seem to enjoy being a horse. And when you ask for the trot he pins his ears back and drops his head to avoid the bit. Now in my learning about horses these are two bad signs that on another horse would be warning signs that you were about to be launched off the horse. So I spent quite some time tense waiting to see if I was in trouble. Only after about 30 minutes of him doing this every time I asked for the trot did I learn, nope, that is just 50. I could have saved myself a lot of stress and worry had I bothered to learn this before I mounted.
2) I have a long way to improve my seat, but sometimes it can be the horse too. I have heard people talk about horses that are hard to sit the trot on, I had just never experienced it. Fifty is one of those horses. I was grateful to have all my major organs after the ride and now really get that statement.
Ernie...
The big lessons I took from my first ride on Ernie were:
1) Saddle matters, A LOT! I had decided to try riding Ernie in a school saddle (since mine was in the other barn) and I regretted that decision from the word go. I bought myself a new saddle this past October and finally having the right fit was something I took for granted, until not riding in it. My seat changed drastically when I was in a saddle I wasnt comfortable in. I will be taking my saddle to Atlanta no matter how much work that creates for me.
2) I didn't die as expected. While I did feel less coordinated than I do on Joker I did well. I was able to walk, trot, lope. I could ride the pattern and there were no major blunders.
3) I take Joker and how much he has become part of me for granted. When I started leasing Joker his owner told me a time would come where he felt like an extension of my body, I didn't see it happening, but riding Ernie I realized how much Joker and I have bonded and how much he has become like that worn comfy t-shirt to me. Even when he is challenging me and we have a different agenda, I still know how he feels, I know how he thinks, I know his cues and he knows mine. We really are a team. And I missed him a lot being on another horse.
4) The things I loved about riding Ernie are sthe same things I hated about riding him. Ernie is broke, really really broke. He goes where you tell him, he doesn't want to have a vote in decisions or have to really think them through. Joker on the other hand while broke still wants to be part of the decision making process some days. Things distract him (especially food things), he is never a horse who will tell me no, but he will ask to have a vote. There are moments when that really frustrates me and I just want him to play along, but while I was riding Ernie I missed that level of thinking in the horse and the energy Joker puts behind things. It was fun for an hour to ride something so push button, but I know it wouldn't make me happy long. I like my horse with a little more, well...horse... still in him.
The big lessons I took from my second ride were:
1) Horses move very differently. I had expected how different their minds are, but was really shocked how different Ernie felt. He has much more of a side to side motion than Joker does, I could feel much more pronounced each leg moving. Joker has longer smoother strides where Ernie has shorter strides and is more pronounced in his movements.
2) I need to figure my seat out. Joker has learned me, he has learned to work with my seat issues, he has learned my cues. Ernie I was just confusing the poor horse. My changing my seat to fix my balance kept meaning stop to him. I will say that it was a great experience for me to learn to work more with my seat because he was so point and go.
At the end of it all, Ernie made me realize I am excited to ride other horses and that this lesson is as much about their differences as it is building my confidence and squashing my fears.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Welcome to equindultry....
Not totally sure where this blog is going to go, or if it will be active longer than a month, but here I am at the request of a friend. For those that don't already know me, my name is Pam and I lease Joker (a 12 year old QH gelding). My journey to horses has been unplanned and interesting. Long story short I spent 40 years terrified of them and in a forced moment discovered they were my passion and the best thing in my life. If you would like the longer version feel free to visit my other blog http://totallypredictableunpredictability.blogspot.com/ .
It has been about 21 months since the first time I got on a horse, and in that time I had
ridden a handful of horses (for more than 10 minutes). My first two school horses
(Snapper and Cody), my first lease horse Cheyenne, my riding coach's horse Kola, but
primarily my time in the saddle has been on my Joker. I started leasing him in September of
2011. I was as green as they come when I started leasing him. Learning to ride and him
teaching me to be a rider was the first chapter of our journey.
The second chapter was stepping into the show ring, with Joker by my side. Last year we did something I vowed I would never do and competed. And to my shock and amazement we did pretty well. Really well if you consider my lack of experience and that he hadn't been shown in 7 years. I plan to show him again this year, and that goal is a lot of what has lead to this new chapter on my journey.
My goals for showing this year that I have shared with others are to a) show in my age group not novice (at least part of the time); b) to show at shows beyond my home saddle club and c) place at least once this season (moving from novice to age may make this a challenge). But the reality is all those goals really are secondary to me. My current goals are much less related to how we do in shows and placings and more about what I don't want to struggle with while showing (and riding) anymore.
I want to fix my seat- and by that I mean I want to not bounce around like a fool, I want to create a better picture when riding, I want to be able to achieve downward transitions and stops off my seat. On paper these seem so easy but they are really a struggle for me. Partially because I am new to riding, but partially because I have learned to ride with some additional challenges.
In 1996 I was paralyzed during a surgery gone wrong (during the surgery major nerves were damaged and I suffered two strokes). The long term outcome is polyradiculopathy and severe drop foot on my right side and decreased sensation in other areas. Learning to ride when you cant easily drop your heels or feel major parts of your body has been challenging, but I am proud to say I have far surpassed where I ever thought I would get. But I refuse to accept where I am at.
With the help of my riding coach I decided to head to Atlanta this spring to work for a few days with a professional coach, Wendy Murdoch, who specializes in seat and body issues when riding. You can learn more about Wendy at http://www.murdochmethod.com/ .
There was one huge problem with this plan. My horse is in Minnesota and I have no option to bring him with me. Finding a horse to ride at the clinic was easy. The coordinators were awesome. But the idea of riding another horse, at a different barn, with people I don't know was a lot harder. Terrifying to be honest. And that is where "Equindultry" comes in (a term the owner of Joker's brother Bob coined),.
For me learning to ride other horses is a lot more about a mental exercise than a physical one (although I hope to grow in that direction too). For as much time as I have put in on Joker, I have never truly gotten to where I believe that I am a capable rider. I have learned I am a capable rider on Joker, but attribute a lot of that to him and how talented and capable he is. My self esteem and confidence extends only as far as his hooves will reach. He is my security blanket, my safety net and my courage. But for me to head to this clinic I need to move beyond that.
To help me get ready for Atlanta Etta (my riding coach) and I agreed to put me on a different horse in a private lesson each week between now and then also in group lessons. As I shared my experience doing this with a friend she encouraged me to share my story, so here we are. A new blog, a new adventure. I will do my best to post each time I am on a new horse, share what it was like and what I learned. Sadly I don't have pictures of the two I already rode, but I will try to do better going forward.
BTW if anyone would like to learn more about my riding with Joker, he has his own FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pamandjoker?ref=hl
It has been about 21 months since the first time I got on a horse, and in that time I had
ridden a handful of horses (for more than 10 minutes). My first two school horses
(Snapper and Cody), my first lease horse Cheyenne, my riding coach's horse Kola, but
primarily my time in the saddle has been on my Joker. I started leasing him in September of
2011. I was as green as they come when I started leasing him. Learning to ride and him
teaching me to be a rider was the first chapter of our journey.
The second chapter was stepping into the show ring, with Joker by my side. Last year we did something I vowed I would never do and competed. And to my shock and amazement we did pretty well. Really well if you consider my lack of experience and that he hadn't been shown in 7 years. I plan to show him again this year, and that goal is a lot of what has lead to this new chapter on my journey.
My goals for showing this year that I have shared with others are to a) show in my age group not novice (at least part of the time); b) to show at shows beyond my home saddle club and c) place at least once this season (moving from novice to age may make this a challenge). But the reality is all those goals really are secondary to me. My current goals are much less related to how we do in shows and placings and more about what I don't want to struggle with while showing (and riding) anymore.
I want to fix my seat- and by that I mean I want to not bounce around like a fool, I want to create a better picture when riding, I want to be able to achieve downward transitions and stops off my seat. On paper these seem so easy but they are really a struggle for me. Partially because I am new to riding, but partially because I have learned to ride with some additional challenges.
In 1996 I was paralyzed during a surgery gone wrong (during the surgery major nerves were damaged and I suffered two strokes). The long term outcome is polyradiculopathy and severe drop foot on my right side and decreased sensation in other areas. Learning to ride when you cant easily drop your heels or feel major parts of your body has been challenging, but I am proud to say I have far surpassed where I ever thought I would get. But I refuse to accept where I am at.
With the help of my riding coach I decided to head to Atlanta this spring to work for a few days with a professional coach, Wendy Murdoch, who specializes in seat and body issues when riding. You can learn more about Wendy at http://www.murdochmethod.com/ .
There was one huge problem with this plan. My horse is in Minnesota and I have no option to bring him with me. Finding a horse to ride at the clinic was easy. The coordinators were awesome. But the idea of riding another horse, at a different barn, with people I don't know was a lot harder. Terrifying to be honest. And that is where "Equindultry" comes in (a term the owner of Joker's brother Bob coined),.
For me learning to ride other horses is a lot more about a mental exercise than a physical one (although I hope to grow in that direction too). For as much time as I have put in on Joker, I have never truly gotten to where I believe that I am a capable rider. I have learned I am a capable rider on Joker, but attribute a lot of that to him and how talented and capable he is. My self esteem and confidence extends only as far as his hooves will reach. He is my security blanket, my safety net and my courage. But for me to head to this clinic I need to move beyond that.
To help me get ready for Atlanta Etta (my riding coach) and I agreed to put me on a different horse in a private lesson each week between now and then also in group lessons. As I shared my experience doing this with a friend she encouraged me to share my story, so here we are. A new blog, a new adventure. I will do my best to post each time I am on a new horse, share what it was like and what I learned. Sadly I don't have pictures of the two I already rode, but I will try to do better going forward.
BTW if anyone would like to learn more about my riding with Joker, he has his own FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pamandjoker?ref=hl
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