October's 10 Questions

Tango and I at JK Presents

1. How many pairs of breeches do you own?

7 pairs of schooling breeches, 3 pairs that are unwearable and in dire need of repair, and 2 pairs of show breeches. 

2. How many horses have you ridden?

Believe it or not, at one point I knew the answer to this. If I had to guess? My low-ball excel spreadsheet came out with 249... so quite a few.

3. How many trainers have you had?

Much like Carly, I'm going to limit this to trainers I've spent more than a month with. I've had six trainers that I've stuck with over the years, and another ten or so I've either cliniced with or taken a handful of lessons from. I currently train with Anne Howard (who's amazing! Even if in every lesson I remember how HARD IT IS to be a student and also wonder if I'll ever be good at dressage.)

4.  How many barns have you ridden at?

Are we counting barns I've showed up to ride at and never visited again? Are we counting places I've shown? Let's count the farms that I was a real presence at. Eight? I've ridden at more farms than I've had real trainers. 

5. What is the name of the horse you consider yourself to have the strongest bond with?

That's a difficult question. I've had different bonds with different horses, and they're all unique and powerful. In the past few years, I'd have to say the horses I've owned I've primarily bought because I like them and I jive with them and we work well together. In Tango's case, I bought him when I absolutely wasn't looking for a horse at all.

6. What is the best show name you've ever come across?

Simply Sophisticated! Her barn name was Sophie. I loved it!

Simply Sophisticated 

7. What do you consider to be your greatest weakness or flaw in riding?

I tend to plan, and then over plan, and then plan minute-to-minute for my rides/teaching sessions. And then I get on or start teaching and start thinking "poniiiiiieeeeeeesssss" and it's not until I've worked on something TOTALLY DIFFERENT that I remember my goal was, I dunno, leg yielding and not simply lots of changes of bend or keeping them in front of my leg. 

8. What do you consider to be your greatest strength?

As a result of my over planning, I have a lot of different strategies on the front of my mind whenever I tackle the next stage of training. I am generally well-primed for trying different things, and my method of experimentation allows me to find what works best for each horse and rider. 

9. Have you ever leased a horse?

Not really.

10. What is the name of the first horse you ever rode?

Gypsy, but the first horse I remember riding was a little pony named Dusty. I think he's the reason I love buckskins so much.   

I mean, just look at that. It's gorgeous.

'Have to' vs 'get to'

I just started reading "Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?" by Seth Godin. I have this habit of reading (I've mentioned it before) and I really love reading business books. I don't really take action on most of what I read but I find the concepts of a customer's lifetime worth and how much I could potentially invest to acquire a new student to be pretty fascinating.

This morning, I read in this massive tome, a collection of blog posts:

Someone asked me the other day if posting a blog post every day is intimidating or a grind.

I view it as something I get to do. I spend most of my blogging time deciding what not to post.

The best work, at least for me, is the stuff you get to do. If you are really good at that, you're lucky enough to have very little of the have to stuff left. -Seth Godin

And it sparked me. I get to work with kids and adults, and I get to lead them into my world. A world filled with balance issues and aggravating asymmetries and the pursuit of today's perfection. I live in a world where I wonder how best I can allow my horse to express himself, how to design a workout that helps us move with more unity, communicate with more clarity.

Because when it comes down to it, the horse is a prey animal who allows us to direct them. Their trust is not always complete but it is powerful. No matter how many times I beat myself up mentally, wonder if I'll ever get it, groan about how it's just not worth it... my horse doesn't care. As long as I approach him with consistency and kindness, he will forgive my predatorial nature and just keep on being a horse. Lending me his 1200 pounds and five feet of perspective.

And I get to open this door, or polish a window, and place my hand on these people's shoulders as I say, "Look at this! Look at the possibilities!"

SRHA October Play Day

First I got up early to drive out to Scott's Valley and pick the truck and trailer up. I was rewarded with this awesome view off the mountains! Plus I just love driving a truck and trailer around... honestly, it's too much fun.

Then we loaded Able & Jimmy up to go play with pumpkins and have a grand time. Able decided that trailers were scary, I felt short on time, and so I switched him out for Harley. This ended up being a pretty good decision anyhow as Harley's a champ.

I was thinking about going into more detail about this whole adventure, but I'll just throw my photos up here and comment as I go.

First ribbon ever for horse and rider!

Up close view of these neato-burrito ribbons

Novice class all hanging out!

Less edited version of the same group

I love costume contests for this reason alone.

Pretty much a great day for everyone's first show.

I rode a bit, but next time I'll definitely bring more horses because it's a open and friendly little group and we had a great deal of fun.

My only little vignette about this adventure was when this kid who took his very first lesson ever on Saturday shows up Sunday to the event because one of the students had invited him. I offered to go back and get another horse for him, but one of the SRHA hosts offered her horse for him to use. I was floored, but laziness won out and I said sure.

I repeat: I inadvertently took a student who had spent one (1) hour in the saddle in his whole life to a show.

Ei yi yi.

The Great Tail Experiment

I have a real problem with tails. I want them to be shiny, flowing, and fluffy. I am seriously attracted to a good tail. When I have a new container of show sheen, it lasts maybe a week. I spray it on EVERYONE. Every school horse, every training ride... I don't know. It's actually problematic. I could focus on other, more healthful things, such as currying. Natural shine.

Now, as anyone who's worked with horses for any length of time will know, there's two big problems with my gallon-of-show-sheen-a-week thing. A) Show sheen is expensive, and B) there's a gargantuan debate raging over whether or not all my horses's tails are going to fall off due to silicon poisoning or something else I can't really decipher.

I am going to test out some internet remedies on some of my barn's tails. The test will be to handle the tail before, apply the remedy, and then brush the tail. (Listen, you. I know you're not supposed to brush tails very often. This is science*** so we'll allow it for now.)

The Contenders:

Remedy #1: Infusium 23. The internet says to wash the tail, then shake it slightly dry, then to "marinate" the tail with the infusium and leave it alone until it's dry. $6.99 for the container of conditioner.

Remedy #2: Pledge. So I realize that this is still chock full of chemicals and whatnot, but we'll give it a go anyhow because a surprising number of people swear by it. $4-6 for the can.

Remedy #3: Pink's hair lotion. I've gotten some conflicting advice on how to use this, so I'm going to wash the tail and somewhere between sparingly apply and marinate the tail in this stuff. $4.99 for the bottle.

Remedy #4: Kid's hair detangler. I mean, I got it for $0.50. Why not?

Remedy #5: Motion's oil hair spray. The internet says it can be bought for $3.49, however, I don't remember what I bought it for.

Remedy #6: Garnier Fructis's "Marvelous Oil". $5.99.

The test:

Tango's tail before

He has a pretty nice tail. It sees a lot of vetrolin. 

Tango's before-tail feels pretty healthy and maneagable. I can pull knots out of it easily and it feels strong.

Ohmygod it's still sticky

I drenched his tail in the infusium and left it to dry. After an hour it was still sort of damp and sticky. It was easier to brush than dry untouched tail, but it was still gross. I'm headed to the farm tonight, we'll see if many more hours of drying allowed it to resume "hair" status and not "gunky halloween prank" status.

I sort of love Danny's tail

It's so full, and a little wavy

Mm. So much tail

So Danny's tail I covered in Pledge. Hah. Hah. Before I did that, it felt healthy and nice to manage.

It smelled like lemons! And it was crazy easy to brush. But it wasn't really much shinier, and it felt sort of stiff? And the shine is the main reason I mess with their tails, so...

Camou!

I'm pretty sure we bought this horse solely for his tail.

And then after treatment with this stuff:

IT WAS SO SHINY OH MY GOD. If I were to use it at a show, I'd probably spray, brush, and respray because it only makes the strands it touches shiny. It also collected dust in the arena... so that was a bummer. His tail felt sort of like straw before the treatment and then it just felt oily afterwards... but the shine! It also was not easier to brush. At all. 

Harley's tail before

Harley's tail after

Harley we used the kid's hair detangler, and maybe you're supposed to let it dry first, but it was sticky. And weird. And smelled like raspberries. Or strawberries. I don't even remember, but it felt weird.

Magic's tail before

Magic's tail after

Magic got the Garnier Fructis Miracle remedy, and honestly after all the things, this one wins in terms of shine, ease of brushability, and smell.  I subsequently used it on EVERYONE. I love it.

Leo's tail before

Leo's tail after

Leo got the Pink Hair Lotion, and while it worked well for ease of brushing, I didn't like how it felt. It was odd and sticky. 

The results?

The total winner

I've used this stuff on like six horses now and I still totally love it. I can put it in, play with their tail, and it's soft, managable, and smells tasty. I also don't seem to be able to put too much in, which is a problem of mine. It also doesn't attract dust the way some of these other things do. It seems to be lasting well, the price is WAY better than a container of show sheen, and I like it. Winning!

I bought it, so I might as well use it. Sparingly and carefully. I don't know about keeping horse's tails conditioned and whether or not it actually helps, but it did help with the ease-of-brushing factor. 

I will DEFINITELY be using this immediately before entering the show ring in the future. It's pretty cheap, I already own it, and the shine is amazing. 

Scary chemicals not withstanding, this was the closest to show sheen for the whole "sleek, tail falling apart in your hands" feeling. 

This stuff is ending up in the garbage. NOPE. Do not like. Will not reattempt.

I'm beginning to think, having done some further reading, that I was supposed to get the leave-in treatment and not the conditioner for my horse's tail. Let's just write this one off, relocate the conditioner to my bathroom, and call it a day. Maybe I'll revisit the leave-in treatment later because of how many people swear by it, but we'll see.

*** Science being, in this sense, the least scientific analysis you've ever seen. So subjective. So random. SO uncontrolled.

October Goals/September Review

This past month was a whirlwind, it felt like.

Review: Jimmy has longing reinstalled (for me, not for kids yet) and the stretching thing needs a few professional rides for him to get the idea, I think. So I'll give him a 50%. His goals for the upcoming month are to survive 30 days of training with me again, because as a thank you for the truck and trailer lending, I've offered to ride him. Let's start with stretching? And maybe improve our steering? And then we'll see from there. I always have so much fun riding him, but my students often find him (this is me quoting here) "annoying." I've also heard "difficult." And maybe once he even got a muttered "asshole." So I guess we'll try to figure that out in only a month? HAH.

Bert got ridden more, sure. He didn't get out on the trails at all because he's apparently terrified of everything. I believe it. His October goals are to get fit enough to go to a show in December.

Camou did not end up visiting JK Presents, which was a good thing. He's now developed a weird attitude that I suspect more work will cure. Our October plan is as follows:

The trail walks are interspersed in there for two reasons. 1) His owner wants to be able to safely do trails with him, and I think he needs a LOT more exposure before I feel comfortable with that.

Not that he was bad the other day... just that I'm a worrywart. 

and 2) my farm is comprised of HILLS. All hills. That's all we've got. Which I've heard through the grapevine is great for developing some butt muscle. And although Camou thinks he's a quarter horse, he still could use some butt muscle.

Our flatting sessions will focus primarily on installing some lateral bend, getting him in front of my leg, and some adjustability exercises. Our jumping sessions will primarily be me trying to keep him steering while we jump things, because he forgets that he has to be steered, on occassion.

Danny did GREAT on his trip up north to cross country land, and I'm going to try to haul him to Anne's for a lesson or two some time before February, when I hope to do our first event together. This month, I'd like to do two dressage flats a week and keep working on our adjustability and rideability. Because sometimes he has none.

Tango.... oh my Tango.... We're revisiting the basics this week.

Lesson with SP

Camou and Jimmy had a lesson with Sarah Phaklides on Sunday. Several takeaways:

• I have a tricky lower leg. I need to practice my two-point a lot more in order to cement the lower leg. 
• I need to demand more of the horses I ride (ugh! This 'classical training' sometimes makes me creep forward with my demands...) 
• There is a lot more adventure to be had in my little arena than I've been giving it credit for!
• I also act like a short person over jumps... or at least I pretend I'm small. 

Sarah got on Jimmy and proceeded to argue him into this lovely and attractive trot, which definitely assisted in driving home the 'demanding more' point. I also got Camou bending more than I've asked for and as a result he was totally rideable on course. 

Ugh. 

Horses. 

They drive me nuts sometimes. Have some videos:

This one is from Saturday night.

This is the jumping part of Camou's session with Sarah.

I apologize for the lack of exciting blogging, I just seem to blank every time I open Blogger. "Uhm... yeah, I've been riding..." 

"Cool, what've you been doing?"

"Uh... I think I've been doing a lot of bending. And softening. And a metric fuck ton of leg yielding."

"Neat! So Camou's leg yielding now?" 

"No... but Tango and Danny leg yield quite nicely."

"Yeah, we knew that."

"Then I'm out of interesting things. Jimmy has started to stretch again, Camou is beginning to actually go FORWARD, and Danny's flying changes have disappeared."

"Awesome! So how're you working through all of that?"

"Riding?"

Seriously. My brain. Where has it gone?

Summit rider's play day this Sunday for the ponies to get some exposure! That should be exciting.

What does your riding coach mean to you?

Oftentimes in the arena I wear many hats. I am the emergency re-schooler, the taskmaster, the coach. Sometimes I am a friend. Every so often, I'm just a kind ear.

Horses live, ultimately, in this moment. They are here. They are experiencing this instant in a way that we as humans struggle with. To me, horses have been my dearest friends, my cruelest teachers, and the most honest beings I know. The same horse carried me through crushing depression in highschool and forgave me for losing my mind and screaming at her rather than trying to see things from her point of view.

I anthropomorphize horses. These days, I manage to do so in a less detrimental way than I did when I was a child. I no longer assume "he just knows better." or "he's just doing this to be an asshole." But I still see horses as kind, and generous, and honest. These are feelings echoed by a great many horsepeople, so I don't see this as anything that needs fixing.

My point is that horses have shown me a nonjudgemental relationship where I can be accepted for who I am no matter the clothing, attitude, or time of day.

xxMysteryStockxx on DeviantArt

My primary goal as a riding coach is to mirror the sort of relationship that horses have shown to me. I want my clients to realize that riding is not just about more finesse, or precision, or balance. Riding is about being compassionate, looking at a situation through many different eyeballs, and just taking a deep breath. This is a hard goal. It is nebulous. I don't even know what that looks like sometimes.

Last night, I worked with two students who are going through some really dark times. It feels lonely, down there in the day-to-day, when it feels like this week will never end and you have seven more freaking months until summer. Or until Thanksgiving, or whatever you're waiting for. It feels frustrating, crushing, scary, and overwhelming. These two feel as if there are bullies lurking in every corner, as if everyone they speak to ignores them, and as if it will never get better.

I listened the best I could. I asked one what his game plan is. I asked if I could help. And then I told him to gallop as fast as he possibly could and let it all wash away for the rest of the night.

I stood in the middle of the arena, biting my tongue on "keep your elbows closer to your ribs", wondering how the hell I was supposed to get this kid through this moment.

It's not my job. I am merely one adult in plethora who care about him. Between parents, teachers, friend's parents, tutors, etc, I am just one coach. I have no right to assume that I have any leverage that these people don't in terms of getting the kid through.

But I have horses. I have these wonderful, soft-nosed beasts who test us, challenge us, and love us despite it all. I have a partner in this challenge.

My conclusion, after all this rambling? The best I can do is continue to mirror horses, allow them to find pride and improvement in their lessons, and encourage them to know that they are whole, complete, wonderful people.

What does your riding coach mean to you? Has your trainer ever supported you through tough or difficult times?