Category Archives: horse training journal

Amazing how often I can manage to get to the barn these days without that pesky little day jobbe stuff going on.  Doesn’t hurt that the horse is now shaven and that reduces the after-ride care by quite a bit.  Plus her skin is looking a lot better.  She’s not as itchy and I try to find a time and place for her to roll after a ride in the winter if she’s not dripping wet.  Incredible what a difference this makes for a working horse.  She’s much more relaxed than she has been.  She also stays warm under her blanket, so no worries there.  A happy Mocha is a hard-working Mocha, and that’s good.

And, as far as working goes…we keep on with the counterbending and the more elaborate two-tracking work.  Slick today, so we didn’t work on counter-canter.  So far the area’s at the fourth highest recorded rainfall for the month, headed for third or even second….it’s amazing the footing in the arena has stayed as nice as it has.  We loped big circles as part of the warmup, but it was too slick in one corner for my liking.  That’s okay.  We have lots of stuff to school at walk and trot.

Then I discovered that one of the other boarders is playing with low-level jumping stuff.  She was going into the arena just as I was leaving…but hmm, maybe we can set up a mutual session working ground poles and crossbars?  Miss Mocha is going to need a break from plain vanilla lateral work soon.  I’ve been contemplating ground pole patterns…but a jump session would also be good.  In any case, a low-level bounce would be good for a mental break.

Hmm.  Maybe if there’s a few more days without rain.

Clipping Mocha was the right thing to do.  I checked underneath her blanket before I pulled it off and she was toasty warm.  Nice loft, and she was relaxed and comfortable.

Under saddle, she showed more energy than is typical for her on a cool day.  She tends to be sluggish in winter; not so today.  But it was a focused energetic, not stupid, and while she grunted the whole time we worked it was also productive (most likely her commentary on the heavy emphasis on alternating bend and counter bend.  She doesn’t necessarily approve of it.  But it makes such a nice difference in how she works.  Even if she doesn’t approve.  I don’t approve of the yoga that loosens up my stiff hips and all, but I do it anyway).

Got a nice counter-canter after one failed attempt.  I just popped her and growled, and backed her a few steps.  She picked it right off, and today I got a nice, more rounded counter canter in BOTH directions, helped in part by the fact that the footing is still odd and encourages her to round up and work, I’m sure.

So nice lap of counter-canter in each direction, balanced and round.  After that, we took advantage of Not Having Rain to hack a little bit outside.  We explored a few feet past one of our usual spots, and Oh, My, Something Eats Horses Here.  So we explored further, then turned, walked, whoaed, lather, rinse, repeat.  Then I turned her back.  This time she approached the Big Scary Whatever Shed with an energetic walk and lowered head, ears forward.  Apparently if we didn’t get chased then it becomes something to be curious about.

Took her back, brushed her up, starting to get a shine going on her freshly clipped coat.  A nice work and better than a lot of other winter works I’ve had on her.  I suspect clipping may be the way we go most winters, if the trend continues next year.  But next year I’ll definitely do something about it sooner.  She’s a lot more relaxed.

One thing I’d figured out in early December was that this year was not going to give me any grace in managing Mocha’s workouts and dealing with sweat.  For whatever reason, the past two years I’ve been able to engage her in intense workouts during the winter without ending up with a dripping wet horse.

Not so this winter.

In past winters I’ve gotten away with a trace clip–essentially, just a trim of her windpipe and chest.  That’s been enough to keep her from sweating up.  This winter I went with a more aggressive trace clip—essentially, the “racing stripe” clip where I shave the windpipe and half her neck, the chest, and then a six inch stripe along her belly and across shoulder and haunch.

That wasn’t even enough, even after I got G’s heavy duty clippers and shaved it back close.  Why?  Darned if I know.  Could be age, could be muscle development, could be weather patterns or haircoat patterns…most horse folks I talk to are remarking on the heavy, thick undercoat they see on their horses.  I saw that thick, felty undercoat as I clipped Mocha today, and I’ve got to say, I’ve not seen that heavy an undercoat in a couple of years.

So today we went with the full body clip.  I didn’t clip her head or three-quarters of her legs.  But her neck, her belly, her haunches and the top third of her legs got clipped.   It took two hours of work.  I stopped after each section to clean the clippers and let them cool while sweeping up hair and brushing Mocha off and feeding her treats.  She needed the break from the clippers as well. It was her first time for a full body clip and while she’s good with clippers, the vibration got to her after a while.  I stopped halfway through and lunged her a little bit to let her get the antsies out.  She reversed quite nicely at the trot on a vocal command alone…first time I’ve tried that without a lunge whip to give her the visual reverse cue.  That tells me we’ve done it enough that she knows what switching hands on the lunge line coupled with the verbal means.

Then once I got done clipping her, we went riding.  The footing in the arena is slick because everything is wet and there’s no way to keep anything dry.  It’s deceptively dry on top with slick underneath.  Winter in the Willamette when it’s raining hard on a daily basis.  Welcome to December schooling.

There’s a reason I keep my Western horse in a snaffle, and December schooling is it.  This is usually the time of year when the footing is either slick (even in the best of indoors) or frozen solid.  December work is walk-trot season, focus on counterbends and lateral work.  Many schooling figures (work around the slick spots in the arena!).  Lots of trot work.

What I find interesting is that, even though my back is totally messed up, I can now sit Mocha’s big extended trot more comfortably than I can post it.

Anyway, we did lots of haunches-in, haunches-out work, two track diagonal, two track on the rail, half pass….counterbend at walk in small circles alternating with regular bend, focusing on changing the bend based on seatbone more than leg or rein (as much an exercise for the rider as for the horse).

And at the end, no steamy, sweaty horse.  I pulled off her saddle, let her go roll, brushed her off and put her back in her stall.  We were both a lot happier about that.  She has a nice heavy blanket and if I have to get a liner to keep her warm, so be it.  Neither one of us was happy about long periods of her standing around with a cooler and all of that song and dance.  I wasn’t liking the way her skin was looking under this hair coat after getting put up after those intense and wet sessions.

She certainly seemed more energetic and eager to work after the clip.  We’ll see what happens in the long run, though.  Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to some respite from an hour or more trying to get a horse dry after a moderately intense work in midwinter.

Just one of those years.

While G and a new leaser were around for the first part of tonight’s ride, for the most part it was just the two of us.  So it turned out to be an intense schooling ride.  Footing in the arena is back to just a few slick spots, and not too bad.  The Girl is starting to (finally!  after all these years!) figure out that I’ll guide her around the slick spots and help her balance IF SHE WOULD ONLY LISTEN.

Or, IOW, if I shift my weight and maybe ask her to bend a little bit more sharply, maybe there’s a reason.

Yeah.  She was ready for a blowout, too, offering up some rather energetic cantering.

We revisited some complex stuff we’d been schooling before Paris.  Nope.  Need to spend more time on rebuilding that foundation.  Sigh.  But it’s stuff like two-track canter and changing leads on the big circle; things that violate The Beast’s Sense Of What Is Right And Balanced.

So I cut to the chase.  Countercanter.  I’ve been tiptoeing around countercanter ever since I first tried to teach it to Mocha.  She fought it so hard that I had to spend a lot of time reschooling from that.  But heck that was…good grief, three years ago?  Lots of other schooling and conditioning down the pike since then.  I attacked changing leads on the rail first, and basically let her switch back on the short sides.  But then she started getting rushy and pushing out when she’d change back to the inside lead further and further back on the straightaway tonight.

Finally, I decided This Must Happen.  I set her up for countercanter, gave her a free rein so she could balance herself and let her body figure out what to do (no, not kosher dressage training but this is what works for Mocha and me), and went for broke.  Set her up at the very edge of the long side, asked for the outside lead, and then pushed her through the corners.

And she did it.

It was fast.  It was a bit clumsy.  She threw her outside leading leg waaaay out there and did execute a pretty nice outside bend on her own.  I was slightly off the seat, a very light half-seat, doing my best to keep myself balanced, and she had her head level and down, very long rein.  We did several circuits, switched to the correct lead, then switched back, few more circuits, whoa, praise, long rein walk, then repeat on the other side.  Both times the second request came much more easily.

I need to remember this.  If she can learn new and complex stuff on a longer rein in a half seat, she’s a lot better about it.  I need to remember that she needs to be able to find her balance on her terms, and those terms tend to be reiner/cowhorse in nature, not the more elevated position of a dressage horse.  If she can get her balance in her reiner self, then I can get it in dressage form.

But reiner has to come first.

After a difficult day at work it is very sweet to wrestle the barn door open to a welcoming Mocha nicker.  Because the atmospheric river is aimed right at the Northwet right now, it’s kind of damp in our indoor…dripping from minor roof leaks, flooding from saturated ground around the barn.  That leads to a slick footing (dry with wet underneath) that argues against fast work.  But hey, it’s lit and it’s mostly dry, which is more than what I can say about conditions outside.  Just about need a boat to get around today.

We don’t need fast conditioning work these days.  While Mocha and I did a few laps of a careful canter on the rail, the rest of work was (some) walk and mostly trot.  Random walk changes in direction at walk and trot, and more work at sitting the extended jog (though I venture to say it’s getting to be more of her big extended trot, not jog).  At one time I couldn’t do that.

Ended with two-track at walk and trot.  Then loose rein cooldown, added in with work on turns primarily from seat with a little bit of rein.  Mocha likes doing this with her head very low and I let her do it as it’s clear she’s stretching out her back and neck when she does so.  The relaxed swinging back is its own reward for the light work focusing on balance and suppling.

Snaffle work.  And then a chat with G about training stuff.  He’s big on her and Trail class right now.  He really liked the way she did it at the show.  Well, hey…that’s a good winter’s practice there.  I foresee lots of ground pole obstacles in our future (working on sharp, precise transitions).  And it’s work she likes to do if she can’t practice thundering around the arena.  Neither one of us are particularly fond of tearing around when it’s wet enough for her to start slipping on a sharp turn.  Best to save that work when it’s less slick.  No need to focus on that now.  Just winter maintenance and tuning work.  Fine enough for a wet winter’s evening.

It’s back to the dark and cool evening arena rides, with a steaming horse at the end of the session.  I’m not quite sure why Mocha’s sweating so much this winter, unlike the past two, except that her coat has come in very thick and heavy, almost felted.

So I did a trace clip.  I’d been assured that a trace clip (for the non-horsey–looks like a racing stripe) would help keep Mocha from sweating so badly.  Well–yeah.  She didn’t sweat badly where I clipped.  The remaining coat was as drenched as ever.

I guess that means a full body clip this year, as otherwise I spend a good hour getting her dry after an hour’s ride.

Otherwise, she worked pretty well.  A bit overreved in the rollbacks; another horse was schooling them during our warmup and she got a bit excited (I’m also working on perfecting the cue by taking my outside leg off as we stop, when she’s in a strong mood like tonight that’s all it takes).  Mocha’s also getting excited about other stuff we’re doing, like two-track canter and two-tempi/counter canter work.  But it’s the kind of excitement I really don’t want; basically a strong rushiness.  It has taken me a few years to tell when she’s getting strong and rushy because she’s mentally worried about what we’re doing (Oh! No! Different!) or if she’s getting strong and rushy because it hurts her to do it.  Finally figured out what each one feels like.  Right now it’s about Learning A New Thing, and it’s different from what she usually does, and it’s difficult, and I have to have my back in gear and supporting her hind end.  And, for some reason, that seems to be easiest for me to do in a half-seat.  In a Western saddle.  So it’s more leg, hand and weight shift than seat right now.  Not a feel she’s accustomed to, which causes resistance in itself.

But…she has to figure out how to engage her hind while rounding her back and elevating her shoulders more than she would left to her own devices.  Come to think of it, once I started doing the foreleg stretches, Good Things Started Happening in our work.  Hmm.  Need to figure out how to do more forehand strengthening.

She does have the more difficult side.  Every horse does.  That’s also the side where she picks up the speed and tries to BS me through the two track or the change.  I finally had to bust her on that with a yell, fast stop, and a backup.  Then she settled down and did it.  It’s funny how that works.  It wasn’t something that worked with her as a young horse.  Rather, it’s something that’s evolved as she matured and we developed a deeper confidence and communication with each other.  Sometimes she gets rushy because it’s her way to resist something challenging she’s not in a mood to do.  Other times, it’s a clear sign of fatigue or pain.  Part of the art of horsemanship is figuring out the difference.

Part of this is completely mental.  She’s a mature, finished mare with Opinions of Her Own about How Things Should Go.  Sometimes she thinks she knows what we should do better than I do.  However, we’ve schooled enough complex work that I know we just have to press on through in small but progressive so that she understands what it is I want her to do.  She knows it as well, and she’s more confident that I am not going to overface her when I ask her to do something new and different.  The feel of uncertain horse who needs things broken down into even smaller steps is a different feel from the horse still acquiring a skill who doesn’t want to do what you’re asking right at the moment because it’s more difficult than the previous, less complex habit she’s acquired.  Why change things?

The other piece of her acceptance, too, is that I make time for her to thunder around the arena at either an extended trot or a gallop once we’re done with the collected schooling.  That, too, is another factor.  Schooling fast work at the end means we close the schooling session with something she enjoys–running or trotting fast and hard.  Not a long period of it, but several rounds in each direction.  Lots of pleasant associations as well as developing control and conditioning.  She’s a mare who likes to use herself and work, and finishing with a brisk gallop or trot on a long rein so she can stretch out her head and neck suits her right well.  Suits me, too, since we also need to school controlled speed and transitions within both gaits.  Tonight, I managed to sit her big extended trot easily–a first.  Despite my sore back.

And when it’s all done and we walk out on a long draped rein, her head stretched out long and low as she swaggers around the arena, we both feel pretty good about the work we’ve done.  When she’s worked well she swings her back freely and loosely, with a lot of energy still underneath me.  It’s a powerful walk for such a little mare.  She marches right out, no dawdling around even in a coolout.

Then she stands quietly in the alleyway by the tackroom so I can strip her clean and throw the cooler on her.  It takes a while standing in the crossties before she’s dry.  Now’s the time I find little barn chores to do while she’s cooling out.

Yeah.  Winter arena training.  Something different of itself.

Now that I have Mocha in the Back on Track hock boots with a plan to give her the weekend off from them (per recommendation from the manufacturer), there’s been some interesting complications to the horse life.  Today, I premiered the next step of the new regime by stopping to put her boots on before going to work.  When I finally reached the barn tonight (prep time at work plus meeting), the hocks were toasty warm.  And The Girl was ready to work.  Not as elevated as Friday, but still, very much of a difference.

We also spotted a covey of quail outside the arena door early in the warmup (second walk loop).  I reacted in predictable ADHD mode…”Oooh!  QUAIL!  SHINY!” and pulled Mocha up at the door to watch them.  About twenty quail in all, pretty good-sized.  They skittered back and forth, nervous about us watching them, then finally flew off.  Mocha didn’t get excited but just watched them, ears forward.  Good horse.

The work was snaffle, pretty much plain vanilla schooling.  Tight circles are right out because the footing is slick in places thanks to the monsoonal downpour outside creating seepage and some drips.  We did several fanciful features that had larger small circles but allowed us to avoid the slick spots while still working on bends and changes.  After a bit of limbering up, we schooled counter-canter and a few tempi changes.  She’s tense about it, but that’s why we’re schooling in the snaffle.

After that it was just plain putting on some mileage.  Schooling figure 8 circles, but lots of trot as well of canter before changing direction/leads.  Consistency in reading seat and leg is the name of the game, and this winter I really want to improve the shape and placement of our larger circles.

At the end she was sweating pretty good but breathing steadily.  Normal function of early winter weather in the high 40s in early winter/late fall haircoat.  Walked her out then stuck her on the crossties with the cooler on while I checked waters and did other small errands.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased.  She’s clearly moving better, even after only a few hours with the boots on this round.  More responsive to seat and leg, springy movement in the hind end.  She’s also more willing and relaxed about working on things like counter-canter and tempi changes.  Clearly an arthritis/pain issue.  Not that she hasn’t been compliant before, but she has more energy and is just a bit more keen about her work, which clearly makes it a case of a low-level but very real pain that makes her more self-protective.  The end of ride coolout walk was her big, happy, swinging walk.

Had the barn to ourselves, rain drumming on the corrugated metal roof, other horses occasionally stirring but for the most part, a quiet schooling ride as wet afternoon became damp evening.  Yep.  Winter riding time, once again.

Donning my asbestos undies here….

Well, maybe not.  I don’t tend to attract a lot of the passionate equine arguers to this blog.  But it should serve as a lovely example of horse neepery to the non-horsey.

Anyway.  At the horse show this past weekend, I observed (in the frenzy of competition myself), two entirely different facets of the Western reining world.  Reining competition (for those not in the know) is frequently compared to dressage in the English world for its performance demands with regard to the level of athletic ability required to perform at the highest levels.  Many of the complex movements in both disciplines are similar.  Many of the training methods are similar.

Good and bad alike (well, okay, I doubt that aggressive fencing is common in dressage, while rollkur has its adherents in reining).

I saw training examples of both.  One trainer openly stated this show was a prep for a big California show.  That trainer and the trainer’s students rode in a very similar style.  Heavy-handed.  I literally saw one student yank and jerk her horse to a stop, see-sawing on the reins.  Every damn horse this trainer and their students rode looked more like a heavily framed up Western Pleasure horse than a reiner.  Backed off the bit, overfaced, sullen horses.  The trainer’s own mount moved off stiff-legged after a run.  The trainer was standoffish and a little bit pushy, and the trainer’s students were kind of the same (except for one extremely polite student).  None of this trainer’s students completed the pattern.

Those horses had good spins, though.  But I can imagine the aggressive schooling done for those spins.

That trainer and the students spent a lot of time in the warmup arena as well, riding and riding and riding.

In contrast, the other trainer was friendly and chatty with all of us.  This trainer took the time to give me some tips.  The horses this trainer’s students rode accepted the bit and carried it without being backed off of it.  The trainer hollered about seat and leg cues, not snatch and jerk like the other one.  None of these horses looked like broken-backed overfaced Western Pleasure horses.  Spins weren’t as fancy, and there were schooling moments, but overall the rest of the ride was much more correct.  Those horses also didn’t get their legs worn out in the warmup arena.  The trainer had a number of horses in the string coming back from layoffs (mostly due to injuries or broodmare time).  The trainer and students didn’t push the horses past the limits of what the horses could do in their current condition.  The trainer’s philosophy is one close to mine–this trainer repeatedly said “if a horse can do reining, they can do anything else” and talked about the value of cross-disciplinary training.

Which leads into a corollary thought.  One buzz that went around the holding pen during the beginning of Western Pleasure was a half-heard, quiet comment from one big exhibitor to another that these judges meant to enforce the rules on head position.  I didn’t hear all of it because I went off to show in Equitation, but the general buzz from what I heard was quiet approval.  I know I didn’t see much of the excessive broken-backed peanut roller movement.  In fact, a couple of the consistently higher scoring Pleasure horses were ranch types, moving out on light contact with light collection, nose slightly ahead of the vertical, head and neck either level or slightly above.  They also demonstrated the consistency and smoothness I associate with a good Pleasure horse.

That said, for me, a Pleasure class is a means to an end–practice in moving consistently and smoothly at all three gaits, in the show ring.  I can get that to a certain degree at our home arena.  Getting it in the show ring is still a different story.  Mocha is not bred to be a Pleasure horse, but she can certainly move respectably enough to place in a well-judged class.  At least in walk/jog.  Once it becomes walk/jog/lope it’s clear she’s a reiner.

Nonetheless, I figure it’s worthwhile to school for the consistency of Pleasure gaits because that turns around and helps me with the consistency and control I need to have with Mocha at speed in a reining run.  G told me today that she looked and moved like a reiner should, especially in her large fast circles.  It was clear we were fast but also under control.  I don’t think the two months we spent schooling large/fast and small/slow transitions necessarily built that speed control.  I do think the long periods we’ve spent schooling the maintenance of smooth and consistent pace at all three gaits created it.

Let’s just say that maybe I’m seeing that some of my theories about schooling seem to be coming together.  I prefer a horse to accept bit contact rather than be backed off like the horses of the first trainer.  In that respect, I’ll enter a Pleasure class with no real expectation of placing simply to practice consistent pace in a show ring setting.  But then again, for me, Pleasure’s a seasoning and schooling class, and a stepping stone to more challenging work for horse and rider.  That’s what I always thought it should be, rather than an end in itself.

But that’s a minority point of view.

Anyway, this is getting disjointed and rambling.  But I wanted to get these thoughts down before they skittered away.  Just a few thoughts from the horsey side of my brain.