DefinitelyDressage.com

Well, after a bumpy (literally) start. We are back on track. At the trainers for this month riding my guy and a number of other horses, 2-3 horses about 4x a week. Her goal for me, to have fun. I am having sooooo much fun!

4yo wasn't getting enough turnout at the temporary place before I brought him home (meaning barn 13 miles away instead of 33 miles away) and it showed. He had a nasty spook (surprised the crap outta everyone, especially me who got dumped-no serious injury, just soreness but a serious scared reaction. I haven't come off in 25 years). So, we went back to the trainers where he had been for 4+ months and he is back to his sane, non-reactive fun self. Such a smart boy and so much fun. The new barn up here will be more like the trainer's place. Lots of turnout and friends to chew on.

We went walking with the hounds last week and are going to a hunter pace in a week. He was so good with the hounds, reacted even better than my trainer thought he would. We are exposing him to everything we can. We popped over a few tiny fences and he loves it. No over jumping, just fun. I haven't jumped in 30 years but have wanted to so this is AWESOME. I'm hoping to take one of the steady eddy mares hunting this month. The week before the hound walking we went hacking and I moved a gate from his back, his trainer had done that before. No reaction, acted like a old, steady cow pony. Went through so many huge puddles like they were nothing and was just mr. cool, 'cept for the dog who barked at us from across the street, and that was only a few strides of soft trot/canter and back to walk on his own. And no reaction the second time the darn dog started up.

I take a lesson with my instructor once a week so I feel like he is well-rounded and not overworked. I think this is what we'll be doing until he's 5. It seems like he could very easily come behind the bit so we are keeping his neck out and him moving forward. And boy does he have a push from behind. He is a little croup high right now he'll probably grow a little in the withers as well. Saddle fitting sucks but he's worth it.

He sounds like a wonderful guy, so glad you're having a blast with him!

Fabulous

Nice! Looking forward to hearing more of his journey!

And the next goal is to get him sound. He got banged in the pasture and his front leg is blown up, like really blown up.

Horses...

Don't know if you'll be able to see this but here is a video of him jumping before I bought him. Going down the chute... Of course, I got hin to be a dressage horse but you never know.

https://www.facebook.com/celia.vornholt/videos/1821597941232320/

Oh dear!

You are in the in-hand group, right? There are lots of good suggestions for youngsters and what you can do while he is healing.

paownyc wrote:Oh dear!

You are in the in-hand group, right? There are lots of good suggestions for youngsters and what you can do while he is healing.

Yes I am.

He's already feeling better and swelling is way down so I hopped on today and did a little bit of flatwork as my trainer calls it. She's a timber rider just for perspective who has a dressage background.

That feeling when you get on your own horse after a week off and fall in love with him all over again... oh my!

Glad to hear of the significant recovery. I think jumping in a variety of forms helps build muscle, improve timing and tact and dressage of course gives the rider more tools to support that. All of mine jump, just not all do it competitively. We still enjoy doing hunter paces for that reason. Once he's fully healed just don't look back!

Thanks exvet.

We did wind up doing the hunter pace. He only had little swelling around the wound and had been sound on it since Tuesday. He was amazing and handled it like a champ. So relaxed trailering and around all the other horses and such. Relaxed at the start, up a bit after we started but went right through the hay bales and pumpkins without even looking. White cows, what white cows? Threw a big, soft "woohoo this is fun" buck on the race track (to which I pulled his head up and said no bucking!!! ). Yes, we got to ride on a training track at a TB farm. He would have taken off if I let him but noooooo. And he had to lead the babysitter through the finish hay bales as that horse wanted nothing to do with them.

I love my horse!!

We were lucky to be able to clinic with Linda Zang today. We did only one day as I don't think my guy could have handled 2 days, and I don't think we would have benefitted much more from 2 days. She's wonderful with young horses. I rode at her barn for 13 years and watched her import horses and have people work them so I knew she would be fantastic. And her sense of humor and manner is so inviting. Her wealth of knowledge is a given. I audited the last one and every single rider and horse improved immensely under her instruction so I was really excited for this.

We have our homework and my boy could not have been better,well except for jumping into the wall at one point. Over reaction to a tap of the whip on the shoulder for a canter depart but he figured it out after that.

I am still looking for a saddle for him and she started by changing out the saddle I was riding in. There was one at that barn that I am taking to try next week so we tried that one. It worked much better than the one I was trying so she was happy with it (after lifting the back). We got to start my lesson after that. The previous saddle throws my weight way back on my butt and he has a short back and the combination is not ideal in any way.

We got him up and out of his right shoulder and worked on canter transitions, which I have struggling with. I'm so pleased. Not to mention this was the indoor he dumped me in so that was a huge mental hurdle to put aside. And it was my first time trailering him myself. My husband was my groom/assistant/emotional support so huge bonus points for him.

I could not be happier with him. I have positional stuff to work and we need to get over the saddle hurdle. But we have time and I want to do this right. He's just fun! He was relaxed and his tail was swinging softly throughout the trot work. So nice to see.

Great news Chantal!

Kudos on the accomplishments! I love bringing this young ones along. Nothing better than seeing the light bulb go off and/or feel the relaxation with assurance.

Went on my first hack on my own with a friend today sans trainer. He was very well behaved and walked through so much mud/water. We babysat the friend this time. She's timid and we had a great ride and he was a stellar babysitter (for an 18yo OTTB).

Oh, we dressed up in hunt fashion for Halloween, jumping saddle and everything. At least that's what I told my friend... jumping saddle on a dressage horse, whaaaaaaaat??? He's been doing that a lot lately.

i somehow read "training goats for my four year old" and was sadly disappointed to find no goats!! i wondered what you were training them to do, lol

Chisamba wrote:i somehow read "training goats for my four year old" and was sadly disappointed to find no goats!! i wondered what you were training them to do, lol

Goats are awesome!

Well, the goats are fairly well trained as companion animals at his current farm. My guy loves them! They do get into the feed, lie in aisles when we are working horses and chase you every once in a while but still...

So, we moved to our new farm closer to my house in early November. Great move for both of us, though I loved being at my trainer's farm. But we are now 10 minutes from my instructor, bonus. Lots of trails and fields, which will be even better if ever stops raining. The indoor is wonderful and I've learned how to use my inside leg to keep him from spooking to the inside when things make him looky. I was resorting to the whip a little too much but we are back on track with that.

I was hoping to go to another Linda Zang clinic in mid Dec but between a nasty cold for me and a cough and runny nose for him, we had to cancel. We are both better now though it took me a few weeks to get over my cold, not the cold part, the exhaustion part.

This has been the best week training-wise in a while. I realized when we hack too much he gets too looky in the indoor. So now we do a very short trot/canter workout in the indoor after a hack-which lately all we can do is walk so we don't tear up the fields. We did trotting poles on Thursday to mix things up and he is calm but doesn't take them too seriously, not big enough we think. He did passage the first time through the 4 poles... slo-mo.

We have a jumping clinic next Saturday to play with very basic stuff and again, to keep him from getting bored. Mostly poles and some small fences, and more for my confidence. And it'll be his first ride in his trailer, whee!

He is very happy, very forward, a quick learner, and I am so in love with him.

Edited to add a few pics here. More in the next post. Disclaimer-I haven't jumped in a loooooong time so I have lots to work on.

I'm glad you are having so much fun with your handsome red head. The smile on your face says it all.

Such a great update! I look forward to more photos and news.

What a fun clinic! Gymnastics with a kind, knowledgeable instructor. Gah, she had to lead him through the first time, he was like nope, nope, nope, nope... and every time something changed, the nope/hesitation came back out. I probably could have been more insistent with him and caught it a little earlier. We followed one horse a few times to boost his confidence too and he loves that. We ended with a few good lines, trot in, canter the rest and canter out.

He was great trailering for an hour to a new indoor and dealing with all that kind of stuff, I'm so proud of him. And he did a great job gymnasticizing. I could be bolder but she liked how I rode him through his silliness. So there is that.

Trying to figure out how to get the pics from hubby's fancy new camera/photo program into a shareable format.

Congrats on the successful outing. I find going to 'new' places so beneficial for their character building moments. I plan to start Junior over fences this year just to get some more conditioning in and to assist in building up his back end......plus just to have some fun. Looking forward to the pictures!

Pics for you amusement a few posts up. By the way, Mikey wants you all to know that POLES EAT HORSES.

One of my favorite pictures from the clinic.

Lovely pair and really nice photos.

exvet wrote:Lovely pair and really nice photos.

Thank you

Chisamba wrote:i somehow read "training goats for my four year old" and was sadly disappointed to find no goats!! i wondered what you were training them to do, lol

Don't get me started on training goats.....

I only have 2 goats left from the 180 or so we originally had and they get into just so much trouble...
Friendly and Goatmum.
Goatmum is forever getting her head stuck in strange places, and Friendly goes through my fences like water... He squeezes through the most ridiculous gaps.




They have just finally arrived back on the property after going AWOL when we went to WEG. I think they were hiding in the scrub next door, because we'd see them from a distance and then they would disappear when we went to get them back in their paddocks.

OMG they are so cute!! We love goats!! (As long as they aren't mine...)

Goats are something special

Yes well Goatmum is very special, she helped to rear one of our favourite lambs Crepe Suzette after Crepe slid under the fence like a pancake at birth and her real mum refused to feed her.




Crepe has gone on to produce some stunning twins last year and the previous year she produced our lovely young ram Pikelet [airborne on the right] and his sister Pancake, who will hopefully start having her own lambs this season to one of our other rams.

Baroque...

*squee!*

*thud*

should have put a cuteness warning on those pics!

beautiful, wow

I did another jumping clinic, but for me this time with "my" hunt mare, Dagny. She's the best. And then we did a poles and cavaletti clinic for Mikey. Working on his confidence. He did so well. He tried to canter some poles, Mr. goofy... I want to do a couple of those before we start doing gymnastics or small jumps again. For his confidence and mine.

His dressage is coming along, small improvements every week. Getting the stiff/spooky side much better (going to the right) and working on his canter. Slow and steady, he is such a delight!! I love this horse so much!!


Video from jumping clinic with Dagny-remember I haven't really jumped in 30 years.

https://mikewest.smugmug.com/Equestrian ... /i-KRGFMXb

Mikey sounds like a great find!! Goofy is fun

I can't view the video, but so jealous you're getting to ride! Between the wet and then me travelling, the past few weeks and this upcoming week are a loss. Our outdoor arena is finally showing wear and tear from all the rain, and I am not introducing Maia to muddy trails without a good workout in the arena -- we have a 1/2 mile walk down a paved road to get to the park.

heddylamar wrote:Mikey sounds like a great find!! Goofy is fun

I can't view the video, but so jealous you're getting to ride! Between the wet and then me travelling, the past few weeks and this upcoming week are a loss. Our outdoor arena is finally showing wear and tear from all the rain, and I am not introducing Maia to muddy trails without a good workout in the arena -- we have a 1/2 mile walk down a paved road to get to the park.

I edited the link, try that one. Yes, goofy is fun. He's thinking so hard and he wants to do it, just figuring out how.

So nice to see you having so much fun with him, Chantal!

(And the goats are adorable.)

Baby boy is progressing and growing. We have gotten him out of the right shoulder and he is working with more suspension. We are almost at the end of the saddle ordeal. I bought a jumping saddle before a dressage saddle

We keep doing poles clinics and he is getting bolder and no longer stops at them. We did our second hunter pace today and he was great once we got out of the crowded warm-up and away from all the trailers and chaos. Good first intro to a warm-up area though.

I'm hoping to have gotten a few good pics from today, we'll see.

He has been tossing his head the past 2 weeks, maybe allergies. And when his brain blows, he is done working so we eek out a tiny bit more and finish. I find it funny that the hunter pace was so relaxing for him, so it seems like the right thing to be adding into his training.

Had 2 saddle fittings, have given up on the Custom Advantage R for a number of reasons. I had a fantastic Black Country fitter from Aiken come by on her way to Boston and I got a GPX from her for hacking and poles and playing. She came back by this morning on her way back south and we did dressage saddles this time and I am going to try a BC Eloquence. It puts me in a much more stable position than the Advantage R and the panels fit my guys shorter back much better. I will get the trial saddle in a few days as someone else had it and is returning it. I'm excited to try it. This woman was amazing, I would recommend her to anyone! I emailed her in Jan to see if she could refer me to someone in our area and she remembered me and talked to me a few weeks ago to see if I was still interested/needed a saddle. Ha, I needed 2!

And gratuitous pics from the Hunter Pace. I'm still trying to get the weight on him he lost from moving farms but it's coming. The grass will help too.

Lovely photos!

I agree, lovely photos. I miss doing hunger paces and hill topping back east. While we've had really nice weather lately and an over abundance of flowers, I miss the springs I had growing up on the East coast.

Thank you, my husband likes to play with his camera. I am very lucky! One more of the kiddo just 'cause... oh, and gratuitous baby pic.

chantal wrote:Had 2 saddle fittings, have given up on the Custom Advantage R for a number of reasons. I had a fantastic Black Country fitter from Aiken come by on her way to Boston and I got a GPX from her for hacking and poles and playing. She came back by this morning on her way back south and we did dressage saddles this time and I am going to try a BC Eloquence. It puts me in a much more stable position than the Advantage R and the panels fit my guys shorter back much better. I will get the trial saddle in a few days as someone else had it and is returning it. I'm excited to try it. This woman was amazing, I would recommend her to anyone! I emailed her in Jan to see if she could refer me to someone in our area and she remembered me and talked to me a few weeks ago to see if I was still interested/needed a saddle. Ha, I needed 2!

And gratuitous pics from the Hunter Pace. I'm still trying to get the weight on him he lost from moving farms but it's coming. The grass will help too.

Patti Merli, I assume???

Awesome chantal! Love your chestnut boy:) Your doing a great job with his education.

Yes Patti Merli is who I was thinking of as well. I have a BC Vinici X and love it. My friend has the BC Eloquence hoop for her TB/perch mare and it fits them both like a glove (I don't like it quite as much for myself when I ride the mare, but my Vinici fits her so I can use it)

I have not used Patti for saddle fitting yet, have not really had a need for her. My Vinici surprisingly fits all 3 of my horses pretty dang well. It is a tad long for my filly she is so short coupled.

scruffy the cat wrote:

chantal wrote:Had 2 saddle fittings, have given up on the Custom Advantage R for a number of reasons. I had a fantastic Black Country fitter from Aiken come by on her way to Boston and I got a GPX from her for hacking and poles and playing. She came back by this morning on her way back south and we did dressage saddles this time and I am going to try a BC Eloquence. It puts me in a much more stable position than the Advantage R and the panels fit my guys shorter back much better. I will get the trial saddle in a few days as someone else had it and is returning it. I'm excited to try it. This woman was amazing, I would recommend her to anyone! I emailed her in Jan to see if she could refer me to someone in our area and she remembered me and talked to me a few weeks ago to see if I was still interested/needed a saddle. Ha, I needed 2!

And gratuitous pics from the Hunter Pace. I'm still trying to get the weight on him he lost from moving farms but it's coming. The grass will help too.

Patti Merli, I assume???

Yes, I asked her if she knew you ... she's amazing!!!

I got the saddle yesterday and am trying it today. For size for me. It wasn't made for him so I'll have to pad it up.

khall wrote:Awesome chantal! Love your chestnut boy:) Your doing a great job with his education.

Yes Patti Merli is who I was thinking of as well. I have a BC Vinici X and love it. My friend has the BC Eloquence hoop for her TB/perch mare and it fits them both like a glove (I don't like it quite as much for myself when I ride the mare, but my Vinici fits her so I can use it)

I have not used Patti for saddle fitting yet, have not really had a need for her. My Vinici surprisingly fits all 3 of my horses pretty dang well. It is a tad long for my filly she is so short coupled.

My guy has a shorter back too and the Eloquence fits him well. The Vinici didn't provide enough stability for me and my leg position was off in it.

I thoroughly enjoyed my fittings with Patti (had a jumping saddle fitting too). I would recommend her to anyone and everyone.

She doesn't know me but she knows my myofascial release person, Laurian Pope, quite well. And also sold a fellow boarder her BC. She's highly regarded up here.

scruffy the cat wrote:She doesn't know me but she knows my myofascial release person, Laurian Pope, quite well. And also sold a fellow boarder her BC. She's highly regarded up here.

Ah, your name didn't ring a bell, now it's clear why. Patty is excellent at what she does. She looks at things other saddle fitters never brought up and I'm flabbergasted as to why. Maybe we are really complicated but gosh, finding the right saddle for his movement and conformation is. My instructor has a good bit of knowledge about saddle fitting and Patty agreed with what she's been telling me so that's affirming as well.

Chisamba wrote:i somehow read "training goats for my four year old" and was sadly disappointed to find no goats!! i wondered what you were training them to do, lol

Mikey did have training goats, Cy and Cilla. And a mini, Ariel. The big horse with Ariel is his half brother, Gabe. Cy was always in Mikey's stall. They are great for desensitizing. Pics are from last year at the trainers.

He's 5 today!!

Did he get a bite of cake??

heddylamar wrote:Did he get a bite of cake??

He tried it and didn't like it. So he got lots of carrots instead.