Beefcake with brains

Blu is a machine that just seems to get better with age. My "old" pony has turned into Benjamin Button when Benjamin was about 30 - 40 years old and looked like Brad Pitt at his best. He has developed his back, chest, neck and butt. They all go together beautifully and oh the way he uses himself... It is just spectacular. He no longer resembles two men in a horse suit when he moves. He is the proudest beast and takes my breath away with his powerful rhythmic gates.

 Susie has been long lining weekly and the metamorphosis is better than anything I have ever seen. He has gone from pony trotting at the start to coming out after 4 days off and stepping under and through.  He is oh so fresh on the long lines and you can tell he is having fun expressing his opinion but being Blu, he is a gentleman under saddle. Sure he may snarl a bit on occasion but heck, he would not be Blu if he didn't tell me how he feels. If I just ask the right way he is oh so happy.

Tonight after a week out of the saddle this Weeble got on for a ride. I felt top heavy and on occasion, like I could tip right off. Blu always patient waited for me to center and off we went. My goal was just to stay out of his way and let him carry me. I certainly was not in a place to fix him. He was magnificent! He tracked up in all his gates. His canter was just too good to be true. Even the bit of sitting trot was incredible. We did canter from a 20 m circle down to a 10m and back then a bit of a medium on the long side -- powerful and uphill it was! Also did a few canter halts and when I thought "piaffe to halt" his transition was perfect and from behind.

I want to be back to the barn tomorrow but the weather may preclude my visit. If that is the case, Susie will again long line... I am so lucky to have someone so skilled caring for and rehabilitating my pony. I will then be back as soon as the storm ends and will yet be graced again with the most perfect ride on the most perfect horse.

His freshness

Blu has made remarkable strides in his ongoing work to strengthen his back. When I got him, he did not know how to take the reins down in a long low frame. Coming through his back was an impossibility. I would attempt to feed him the reins and he would bounce around on the end of them looking to connect with my hand. He just could not figure out how to get there.  This led to kissing spines and wear on his coffin joints requiring yearly injections. Long lining has been his saving grace. Today he has built up enough strength to carry himself correctly through his back. His tendency to hollow is not constantly in play. Instead, when I get on him he looks to stretch through his back.

With strength and yes cold weather Blu has a freshness about him I had never seen previously. On the long lines he is just too full of himself for me to contain so I remain grateful to the barn manager and long liner extraordinaire Susie, for helping me with this important regime. At the end of the last session he was over tracking and he had a true medium trot! Under saddle he is just a delight! While he finds things to spook at they are never big. On some evenings it is a little more irritating than others but by in large he is still the best boy ever! He has so much to teach me and I only hope I am able to give him back some of what he gives to me.

All I want for Christmas are my hocks injected...

Dr. Liz was out several weeks ago and marveled at Blu's development. He showed her his collected canter, canter lengthening and some medium trot. Just when he thought she was not entertained enough, he threw in some FLCs. What a ham! Despite his showing off Dr. Liz could see he was getting ready for hock injections... Sure enough the next week was cold and he got even stiffer behind. Soooo Merry Christmas to us and now we are slowly ramping up again. He felt so very much better today during his walk and trot. He loosened up faster and his steps into trot were so much better. Happy horse ... happy mama... Tomorrow -- walk, trot AND canter! Happy Day!!!

Break through!!!

Another fabulous ride and a hard won break through yesterday. Blu has a predisposition for carrying himself very upright, hollowing his back and not using his hind end. For this reason it is important that every ride focuses on powering up his hind, encouraging the swing through his back and reaching for the bit. Easier said than done because he is such a wonderful poser. I have learned lots since I started long-lining Blu. Seeing his movement from the ground has helped me envision how it should be from the saddle. Blu learned very early in long lining that dropping his head to his fetlocks was a great stretch and he would do it without much prompting or warm up. Getting him to do that much of a stretch under saddle was unheard of until yesterday.... We had a lovely school taking the warm up slowly allowing Blu the time he needed to progress. I did not push for energy in his work I just focused on getting his right hind leg underneath him and I did it slowly... I progressively asked for more. I did this with shoulder-in, renvers and transitions. I got some of the best trot I have ever felt. At the end I asked for long and low on a loose rein and at first he responded with a  "not so much". It is just not in his nature to go there. I have figured out I can not just throw the rein at him instead I need to slowly give him as much as he will take. It is a very diplomatic negotiation between the two of us.  He needs the comfort of the connection and if I slowly give him more rein he takes it bit by bit and for the first time he dropped his nose to the ground. Yay Blu! Yay me!!! He has never done this for anybody else since I have owned him. What a break through. He even held it for an entire 20 meter circle. How fabulous!!! What a milestone for both of us.  We know he is very capable of dropping his nose to the ground :-)

Am I still listening?

I think the most important thing we can do for our horses is to shut off our busy brains and just listen to what they are telling us. They are always telling us a story and if I stop and think about all the horses I have been blessed with, Blu is probably the most expressive. So why do I not take the queues he is so generously offering? I think the simple answer relates to my humaness. The only time I really have a quiet moment is when I am with Blu so I frequently find myself re-hashing my day or dwelling on those issues I can't seem to resolve to my satisfaction. Blu is my lesson... stay present... listen to me...listen to what is around you... Let me share a real life example that is unfolding.

I have blogged about the delicate balance I have to keep between Blu's back, his shoeing, saddle fit and general joint maintenance. When one is out of whack they all eventually suffer. With Dr. Liz and Danny the farrier in Blu's corner, I have been able to do a world of good for Blu. The saddle continues to be a problem and I am actively trying to manage that to a quick resolution (why should this be so hard... that is another blog in the making...) So when Blu starts to pin his ears when I bring my saddle out or when he steps wide with his right hind do I take notice? Yes, I do but my reaction as to taking the next step is not always immediate. I get caught up in thinking about other issues and truly do not focus on what Blu is telling me.  I need to learn my lesson so Blu can be as sound and happy as possible. Dr. Liz saw it the last time she was at the barn but she saw it after I warmed Blu up. She did not see what he was like cold under saddle. Did I connect those dots when she said to me he may need hock injections in the next couple of months? No I did not. It did not hit me until my next ride when I really struggled to get Blu to use his right hind. Even last night I had to be reminded by him that he had an issue and when was I going to listen? Bingo! I got your message Blu! Finally at long last! I called Dr. Liz's office and asked if she was going to be in the area anytime soon if she could come back out and see Blu and possibly provide him with some injections... Whew... I finally got the message! So I guess the moral to the story is that I am harder to train than a horse :-)

Here is a picture of the most beautiful Blu and a lovely ride we had at a Gil Merrick clinic.  He is truly the very best horse!!! Pictures provided by permission of oatsnews.com

Helloooooo....

Perfect harmony

Horses will be horses...

More time has passed and I have not been diligent about capturing my thoughts. Too much to do and so little time... Last week was a slice of heaven -- vacation time and my first priority was Blu. Going to the barn in the early AM was out of the ordinary since I am an afternoon rider on weekends. Blu caught sight of me while out in his paddock and gave that quizzical "what are you doing here now interrupting up morning hay in the sunshine" look. Never the less, he was easily persuaded my presence was a good thing when I revealed the carrots that were waiting for him. He is so easy... or is he?

Despite his good nature and willingness to please, Blu is a horse. After 3 years of ownership he delighted me with some bad boy antics. Long lining has been added to our repertoire. While I can still initially fumble with the lines... what goes in which hand... I have got the feel for what I am trying to achieve. Blu loves his long lining. He immediately uses his back stepping under from behind, carrying over his back and deep into the bridle carrying his nose down by his fetlocks. Blu also is slightly opinionated so when he gave me a little "whee" and then a bunny hop kick when we started our session the other day I did not think much of it. I pushed him forward and he settled nicely into his work. Being habitual I always start his work to the left since this seems to be the easier direction. I give him plenty of time to walk and really stretch and then we go off to trot working transitions between gaits. Then we get a nice canter in. He just seems to grow into this really big horse. Then we go the right. This takes more time since he doesn't  necessarily like stepping under with his right hind. He will try and either not use it or swing it a bit wide. He seemed to warm up nicely to the direction so we moved on to the trot work. All was going well and then he felt like he was bulging through the outside shoulder and getting a bit strong in the bridle. I gave him a half halt and he scoffed at my attempt bulging more to the outside. I gave him an even bigger one and he went "WHOA" stepping on the brakes. I did not anticipate this reaction and found myself forced ahead of him and in front of his girth. He took full advantage then and slammed into reverse at full speed almost flattening our beloved barn manager and her sage mare. Of course there were others in the ring to notice our misadventure. Sweet... timing is everything.  I tried to let him have as much rein as possible and the asked him to whoa again and he just did not like it charging backwards again. Oh crap. Finally he stopped and stood still so I could gather the reins some and move him forward in the walk. Once settled and listening to me I asked him to trot and he was HUGE... OMG beautiful. We worked a bit more and then I took his naughtiness to the grooming stall to clean up. I picked his feet and then got the broom to sweep up around him like I usually do. His freshness thought I was going to assault him and kept spooking as I tried to sweep. Bad boy remorse... he was just pitiful. It carried over to the next day with twitchiness. He really is something!

Since then I had a wonderful lesson. I have decided that riding him with spurs is a MUST. I do not have to use them but their presence makes him so much more mindful of what I am asking him to do. Our canter work is perfection. He is balanced and uphill. We even did some working canter pirouettes... so much fun. Someday I will learn to sit his trot... someday. I am so challenged. Despite my zealous but failed attempts at trot perfection, I am making small gains... I need to let him carry me. We have moments. I just need to string them together... that's all. Despite the challenges I just can't wait for the next ride or to see his happy face.

A long time coming...

It has been way too long since I have written about the most wonderful horse and exploits as an amateur rider. I tend to go underground when things are not going well. Why should this blog be any different? The good news is that we have come out the other side. So here is what has happened...

After struggling in the show ring, Blu and I continued to train vigorously. He kept showing very mild signs that something was bothering him... heavy in the right rein, a tad sore in the back before ride, not as forward as he usually is. He would work out of his stiffness and we would have good rides but nothing that was stellar. Slowly but surely, Blu finally had enough and told me he just did not want a saddle on his back by pinning his ears, doing small bunny hop bucks and not going forward. Oh my!!!

Dr. Liz has shock waved him, he has received a fair amount of rest but most important Blu and I took up long lining. We have been having so much FUN!!! His trot grew, he came through his back and willingly dropped his head to his fetlocks in all gaits. His back has strengthened to a point where we are back to full work as of last night.

He was terrific last night. During a lesson we did it all including canter pirouettes and flying lead changes... oh my it was just too fantastic. His lead changes were up hill and forward thinking. I was just so thrilled. I think I will live off of this ride for days to come!!! Coming up the end of this week a clinic with Gil Merrick!!!