Category Archives: horse training journal

This show ended up being a number of firsts for both me and Mocha.  Some of the biggest firsts for her included her first overnight/multi-day show and her first trip to a show alone without a barn buddy.  While we did several classes that were new to us (actually, the bulk of the classes were first timers), those two factors were really huge for her.  There definitely was an adjustment issue, but not enough to throw off her ability to perform.  She was anxious, yes, but it was more of the same sort of anxiety she showed at her first show, where she screamed any time she went outside of the barn and away from other horses.  In the barn and in the arena, she did fine.

I got inspired by watching halter classes and banded her mane–a first for both of us.  Instead of a single row of bands, I did a double row.  Saw it on a little dun mare who was clearly a reiner type, with a mane like Mocha’s, and thought it looked cute.  So I spent an hour banding her mane.  It looked cute, was an attractive way to give her a little bit of a cultured look, and the bands stayed in all weekend with only a few falling out overnight.  Win!  The process also relaxed Mocha and sent her into drowsy mode.  Girl does like her primping!

I got further inspired and added 18 and Over Showmanship to our schedule.  I figured we didn’t have a snowball’s chance of placing in the large classes, especially since Mocha’s not had formal Showmanship squaring up training and it’s been 38 years since I last did Showmanship, but I thought it would be a good way to expose her to the arena and to competition before In-Hand Trail.  Um, well, despite her calling once, peeing, and being a little antsy, we got two fourth places (and I think a fifth, can’t remember now).

Trail ended up being pretty exciting.  The course was deceptively simple, with a gate, a mailbox, a water obstacle using a tarp, sidepassing a L, and walking a pole around a barrel.  The complicating factor was the transitions and space between obstacles.  Gate to mailbox was walk.  NBD.  Jog 20 feet to tarp.  Bit of a challenge.  Lope 25 feet to the L.  Now that was tight.  Even little short-coupled Miss Mocha found it tight.  Luckily, she’s sensitive enough that I could halt her right at the edge of the tarp (as shown in the pic) so we could pick up the lope, get in two-three strides, and stop right at the L.

This was the challenging obstacle.  Two barrels and an eight-foot piece of molding with attached handle.  You had to ride up to the side with the handle, pick it up, and walk around the barrel to replace it without allowing the molding to fall off of the barrel.  It helped that Miss Mocha seemed to have been watching the other horses doing the course and knew That Thing Is Not Supposed To Fall.  She watched it closely and we did well.  Namely, two blues, several thirds.

Then it was on to the Reining classes.  When I lined Mocha up to wait for the starting whistle, things narrowed down around me.  We launched into a lope and I kissed her up to a full gallop.  The first couple of strides, she was hesitant, then she dug in and went for broke.  As we sizzled around the first corner heading for the rollback, I felt my hat wobble.  Semiblah rollback, around at lightspeed for the second rollback, then the large fast circles.  Mocha was going for broke, thundering hard but steering well.  As we went by the gate, I flipped my hat off so I wouldn’t keep thinking about it.  G said he knew then that I was going for broke.  Which we did.  We flew around the large fasts, then checked for small slows, the flying change, and back to the large fasts, with another nice small slow, then on for the last build for a hard stop, backing up at least 20 feet, and spins.

About halfway through the first run, I started hyperventilating and gasping.  I think I’d been holding my breath until then.

Afterwards, the runner, who’s a barn rat from our barn, came up to us and said “Dayum.  You guys were smoking out there!”  I thanked her as I choked on my asthma inhaler.

Second run was much the same, except I bagged the hat from the beginning.  And kinda sorta remembered to breathe.  On the third run, Mocha bagged out of the spins.  She’d been a little off on the rollbacks, but she flat out objected to the last spins and sidepassed to the wall.  I didn’t push but took the DQ as I figured she had a reason–soreness or something–and I wouldn’t push it.

Later, I found that we’d been at the top of all three judges’ cards until the spins.  First one, I went five spins.  Second one, I went three.  Four was the correct number, and only four were allowed.  Oh well.

By this point it was nearly midnight.  DH and I thought we’d unsaddle her by the car, so as not to have to lug the saddle to the car.  Point of having a horse, right?

Well, uh, no.  She was convinced there were Horse Eating Monsters in the parking lot and she wasn’t going to have it.  So I took her into the barn, where she calmed down.  Fed her, put the Back on Track boots on, watered her (I’d watered her during the competition, during the Trail class breakdown–basically, took her back to the stall, dropped the bridle and let her drink).  Headed off to the motel, worrying that she’d colic or freak out about the hock boots.

In the morning, the main thing was that she was hungry.  And she Did. Not. Want. Botheration while she ate.  She was a little sore in her chest but the hocks were good.  We went on to pick up several more fourths and fifths, as well as a couple more thirds.  There’s the final ribbon pic.  Two firsts, five thirds, six fourths, and three fifths.

She was pretty funny when she got home.  Eager to go in the arena, she had to amble around for about ten minutes before she finally dropped and rolled.  Then she was ready to go back to the stall.

This post is long enough, I’ll write more about training and Pleasure later.

It’s interesting juggling horse show prep with day job stuff in the fall.  Last time I did the OHA Gold Classic show, it was closer to the event and only a single day.  I followed G and his wife with the horse trailer over and we did our English and Western thing all in one day.

That was then.

This year, DH and I are going to a concert the night before the show.  G is judging, and since he’s Mocha’s ride, she goes over on Friday afternoon.  Because the show has Trail and Reining events on Saturday, then Equitation and Pleasure events on Sunday, we’re showing both days.  I’ve wanted to do some reining classes, not because I think we’ll knock anyone out of the park (I’m too much of a practical rider, not a show rider, and I think we’re still a bit jerky), but because I wanted the experience.

Reality is, we just don’t hit the show pen frequently enough to have the smooth, practiced, show ring glide to compete seriously in these particular Western classes.  I don’t spend the money on training fees, clinics, or other stuff that it would take to reach that level.  I do approach each show as a learning experience, and shows definitely make an impression on Miss Mocha with regard to her understanding of how/why we do things.  Then again, she’s bred to be a competitive show horse in Western performance disciplines, and to a certain degree I can see the stamp of those cultivated instincts in how she processes new experiences.  After last winter’s experience at the Mt. Hood Equestrian Center, I’m curious to see what she remembers of the Yamhill County facilities.  I didn’t expect her to remember when we went back to Mt. Hood, but she sure did.

That plus she seems to understand more about the show environment with each exposure.  She gets excited about the new place but she also isn’t upset by it.  However, this show is her first multi-day overnight, and she’s going solo.  Big changes for the little mare.  And G is dropping her in the stall, not me.  OTOH, she knows and trusts him.

But I do plan to spend time with her just grooming and getting to relax the next morning.  I know I’ll worry about her until we’ve had some time.  And that day is our big energy day with Trail and Reining–three classes of each, and the first Trail class is in-hand.

The next day is Equitation–one class, and three Pleasure classes.  I don’t expect much from the Pleasure classes other than a nice workout and maybe a ribbon.  She’s not built to be a Pleasure horse; she doesn’t move like a Pleasure horse.  If we get seconds or thirds, I’ll be thrilled.  It’d be cool if I placed well in Eq, but again, reality intrudes and I tend to be a practical rider rather than a pretty rider.

So a first multi-day show.  My goal is to keep it relaxed, have fun, and do my best to show off my pretty horse.  I have those fantasies about being the dark horse schooling rider who comes out of nowhere to blow everyone away at the show, but I also have a damn good grasp on reality.  This is just for the experience.  Doesn’t mean I won’t compete as hard as I can, but I want to have fun, too, with a horse who likes to put on that little extra pizzazz in front of an audience.

Not every horse likes it.  Out of the five horses I’ve owned, only two were certified showoffs, Mocha and Windy Foot.  Windy never made it to a show, but Mocha sure does like to strut a little bit in front of an audience.  She also likes to swagger when she’s had a good reining workout. Unlike the Sparkle mare, who sulked in the show ring, Mocha perks up a bit.  Plus it’s just fun because she’s so interested in what’s going on, instead of shutting down.  I try to encourage that pleasant attitude toward showing.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when strut meets swagger.  Could be hella fun.

Six days to go.

July was…well, a lost month in horse time.  Now I’m back to something approximating a regular schedule, and we’ve got the prospect of a show in six weeks.  With reining classes.  Coupled with Furthur concerts two days before.  So various dilemmas arise…

Meanwhile, it’s now time to get the training back in shape.  I think Mocha picked up on it yesterday.  Certainly she let it be known she was ready for work, between nickering to get me to hurry up and get her out (oh, okay, it was also the apples.  She loves the fresh Gravenstein apples).  But she dropped her head and rounded her back for the saddle, and went through all of her “getting the game face on” behaviors.  In spite of a little cut on her shoulders, which fortunately is not where the Western saddle rubs (but the English flap would have).  Snaffle bit this time.

The work itself was pretty basic conditioning–warmup, circle of pearls at walk and trot, then trot and lope cloverleafs in a 7 loop repeat, followed by diagonal figure 8s with flying changes.  Then two track in each direction, haunches in and haunches out, a bit of work asking her to round up and move consistently in collection at jog and lope, a little bit of extending the lope and coming back to collection, and then cooling.  During cooldown I worked on turning from seat only with leg emphasis–needed to remind her with the rein a few times, and we went from that into slow spin practice.  A good work, overall.

But!  Little stinker pulled a naughty while untacking.  If no one else is in the arena, I’ll pull off her boots, then her bridle, and saddle last (actually I uncinch saddle and breast collar before removing the bridle).  Normally, she stands until I release her by pulling off the saddle and telling her to “go roll.”  When we don’t do this in the arena, we’ll often do this in an outdoor paddock and we’ve done it that way the last few times.  But given yesterday’s heat, I didn’t want to cool her out outside, nor turn her out to roll outside.

So I was talking to G, and she decided to start wandering.  With the uncinched saddle still on.  My “whooooah” after she stepped away kind of reminded her, but she got anxious and evaded me (quietly) for a few moments, eyes big.  I caught her, brought her back to where she’d been, and put a rein around her neck, continuing to talk to G.  Then I made her stand still for a while without the rein, but still with the saddle on, while I walked around her, still talking to G.  She watched me, eyes big, now waiting for the release.

Finally I pulled off the saddle and let her go roll.

That’s the kind of small resistances she’ll pull.  Nothing big, nothing dramatic, but little tests to keep me on my toes.  She does a lot of these little checkins to make sure that the rules haven’t changed.  They take relatively small corrections but if I didn’t correct them…well, small steps lead to big landslides, and she’ll get more pushy.  Just the kind of mare she is.  I didn’t even have to raise my voice to reprimand her for this one.  Taking her back and making her stand longer with the saddle on was sufficient.

Afterward, I brushed her up and rinsed her off.  She still asks for a treat when I rinse her face, but she’s pretty good about it now (doesn’t hurt that I’ll let her drink from the sprayer and spend a bit of time spraying under her jaw.  She really likes that).  I almost got her all of the way to the stall’s tie at liberty, only had to take her halter to place her in it.  Not bad, considering we’re almost completely doing liberty leading to and from the arena on a regular basis.

The little pieces of horse training can be so very foundational.  I expect any horse I train or work with to get to the point where I can do certain basics–tacking, hoof picking, brushing–without restraint.  It’s a point of convenience and of self-discipline.  Training the horse to stand and wait for a release is a simple safety issue and can pay off in unexpected ways.  It’s not magic or horse whispering–just a lot of consistent, persistent, training and regular work toward the goal.  A horse that has been trained to stand (or ground tie), relax, and trust its handler will be more likely to respond to those cues to stand in an emergency, or at least be more easily calmed down in most circumstances.

And, with horses, at some point there will be an emergency.  Better to prepare the training for it before it happens.

Like I said.  Not horse whispering.  Not magic.  Just plain old everyday groundwork.  That’s all it takes.

Either Mocha can count to six or else she recalls pattern elements really well.  This afternoon we were working a four leaf clover pattern at trot and lope, and I decided to do six and six sets of cloverleaf loops instead of four and four.  That meant that a change of direction swapped around with each repeat.

Darned if she didn’t start anticipating the lead changes in the lope every six loops.  Correctly.  No anxiety about changing before that sixth loop, but bam!  She was ready to hit those changes just a hair before I cued her.  I suppose I could have been shifting my weight, turning my head or otherwise very subtly signalling her before I gave the signal, but if so she’s still anticipating and anticipating correctly.

This is going to make schooling for the reining class this fall very, very complicated…..

DH came to the barn with me yesterday and took pictures while I rode.

Gotta say, my immediate response was…UGH.

Here’s a palatable one:

So what’s wrong with this picture?

1.) Elbows.  Too straight and forward.  More of a bend creates an effective line from elbow to bit.  Also brings elbows into shoulder/hip/heel line–more effective signalling.

2.) Legs.  Pushed forward, heels not under hip.

3.) Midsection.  Collapsed.  No strength in core, ergo, legs forward, shoulders rounded, causing more of a back seat/chair seat position.  Also means I’m not supporting myself effectively on Mocha’s back in this sitting trot, ergo, wee bit of hollowing in her back.

And here’s what it looks like at the canter:

Well, the elbows have improved slightly.  But to the previous sins add:

4.) Looking at the ground

5.) Leaning forward too much

6.) Heels wandering up.

The core is at the root of these sins.  I still haven’t rebuilt strength after losing it as a result of being so sick for two weeks that I literally got up, went to work, came home, went to bed.  No workout, no strength…means the core muscles have softened a little bit.

You need core to ride a horse like Mocha well.  Strong core=horse rounding into bit, light contact, minimal signalling.  Weak core=heavy on the bit, sore horse, sore rider.

Guess I know what I need to do to get back into shape.  In my defense, it’s only the fourth ride since I’ve been sick.  But still….

One side effect of being so dang sick and then having all of the end of the year stuff going on is that it took over two weeks for me to make my way back to the barn.  Fortunately, it’s a full care setting and I don’t worry (too much, of course I’ll worry, horses can do strange stuff to themselves).   When I can’t make it out, Mocha often ends up getting taken out and groomed by the college classes and she gets regular turnout.  Not a lot of turnout, but then again the weather’s been crappy and the paddocks have been soaked.

The first ride back, on Tuesday, I took the time to clip her up and primp her a little bit.  Girl likes that.  She stretched her head out for me to clip her jaw and got a soft, blissful look in her eye.  For some reason or other, she likes to have that area clipped.  Something about the vibration must feel good.  Then we did a light ride in the barn (short, both for her back and for my legs and core).

Today was a somewhat longer ride.  We went outside and she lined out eagerly for the big outdoor ring.  Spent quite a bit of time working in and around the railroad ties, mostly walkovers but some sidepassing and turns.  We also did some chained canter circles with flying lead changes when we changed direction.  Add in a little bit of schooling on rollbacks as well as a two track session and some other stuff and it really was a rather intense schooling session.  Still in the snaffle because she’s having some problems with an inside bend going right, right lead canter is also a little rough.  But that could be a slight bit of deconditioning as much as anything else.

We ended up with a long rein lope in one-handed snaffle.  At the very end, when she was picking up a bit of speed on the right lead, I sat back and breathed “whoa.”  No contact on the rein at all.

Her head went down, her shoulders came up a little, her butt sat down, and we stopped.

When I walked her off, I saw that her front feet had kicked up a little bit of loose dirt.  And the hinds…well, let’s just say that while there was about a foot of slide, the divot she dug in was about an inch and a half deep.

And that’s barefoot.

If I put sliders on…actually, I need to get bell boots on her first.  If she were to slide anything at all like her daddy does in his stallion video….eeek.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a camera.  Of course I didn’t have a camera.

Oh well.  It was still sweet, nonetheless.  And she swaggered off pretty nicely from that one.

With the son’s surgery pending tomorrow, I took some time today to go out to the barn and ride Mocha.  I needed some horse time to get my head straight, she needed the work, and it was a sunny day.  Good barn day.

She was in turnout when I got there, out with old Shekina (38! years! old!) and a boarder mare who is sour, pushy and attitudinal.  How did she and Mocha rate?  Let’s just say that I saw Boarder Mare approach Mocha with lowered head and pinned ears (could not see Mocha).  Boarder Mare left Mocha at a faster speed than she approached, head high.

That said, The Girl wanted to cop an attitude when I went to get her.  Instead of approaching me when I called her, she turned her back and continued grazing.  So I grabbed a lead rope off the fence, started spinning it, and got her moving.  Cornered her up by the fence, where the mini stud serenaded her with sweet nothings while I played rollback games.  Between me and the stud she got a bit worried, so I let her move over to the other corner, away from the stud.  Couple more rollbacks, and she softened up, turning toward me.  I eased off the pressure and she walked up to me.

Disrespect like that is little stuff, just a spinoff from the earlier herd dynamic I witnessed.  Just a quick moment to remind the horse of who’s the real alpha.  But little stuff like that can lead to big stuff, and I’d sooner nip a potential rebellion when it’s smaller than when it’s bigger.  One of the things about having a pushy alpha mare in your life, even a quiet alpha, is that you’ve got to maintain the boundaries.  Early on, I realized that a key to success with Mocha was to be quietly dominant, with respect for differences of opinion on her part but no tolerance for open disrespect.  She’s developed a pattern where, if she has a question about something I’m asking her to do, she’ll check back and offer what she thinks I want.  Most of the time I tell her to go ahead.  Sometimes she’s right.  Much of the time she needs some more explicit breaking down of what it is I want her to do, because I’ve confused her.  But that’s a behavior I’ve trained for and cultivated over the years.

The flipside of the checkback is her muscling through something because she thinks it should be done that way, no checking back to see if that’s really what I want to do.  If she gets frustrated she muscles through rather than checks back.  If she gets confused she can do either.  Mental and physical energy levels are such that she’ll sometimes muscle through because she just wants to go.  And, sometimes, she just wants to Be In Charge (that usually comes hand-in-glove with a particular point in her heat cycle, shortly followed in a few days by the I Wuv Everyone and Everything mode).

Telling the difference is all about the feel.  When she’s checking back, she pops her nose back slightly and elevates her head (this is usually happening at the canter/lope, so think speed), rocking back slightly on her haunches.  If she changes a lead, it’s tentative and a shift of weight puts her back on the lead I want.  She hesitates.  She half-halts.

Muscling through, on the other hand, involves rushing ahead.  Head comes up, nose goes high.  Back hollows.  She speeds up.  It’s rather disconcerting to have leg, seat and hand signal one direction at a fast canter and have her push into those cues, blasting through them to do what she thinks is to be done rather than what she’s supposed to be doing.

There are various shades of nuance between the different phases of these two poles.  And today was a mix of hormones, not switching gears between Boarder Horse and me, spring turnout, and a little bit of dominance.  Under saddle, she put in a good hard work, though it was such that I realized No Real Collection Work Today, Neither of Us Are In That Space.

So we bent, suppled, circled, and I worked on getting a sitting trot in the Western Saddle, otherwise known as Gaits I’d Rather Post.  Not too shabby about softening the back and sitting it, though.  Almost could pass myself off as a dressageista.

Then we did Slow Canter Circles interspersed with Fast Canter Circles, and developed a semi-decent difference in cadence between the two in both directions (though Slow Canter was perhaps a bit more mediumish than usual).  She participated in that exercise with great enthusiasm.

And then, afterwards, we entertained the Pint-Sized Stud (on walkies to work on halter manners) with our marching through a mud puddle at walk and trot.  Then established that she is sacked out to Little Girls on Razor Scooters shouting Endearments To The Pretty Horsey as we rode by the road.

Two new horses came into the barn; one planned, one unplanned.  I like the unplanned one better.  If Mocha wasn’t in my life, this boy could move right in.  Arab, gray, built like a Crabbet, lovely head with big soft eye.  From the East Coast, sixteen, seventeen years old.  Broke to death, held steady for deworming.  Been a pasture pet and companion to Planned Horse, a big ol’QH gelding with some issues.  New! Arab! Guy! is stout, sport horse type, and my first reaction in looking at him was “He’d make someone one heck of a trail horse.”

Hopefully I can get up on him at some point.  I suspect he will become very popular with the college students–he looks to be quite the nice guy.

So a very nice horsey day overall, and at the end of it Mocha was quite happy with having human time and treats and that lovely itching stuff that humans do oh so well.  Girl does like to get out there and Do Stuff, but she likes the afters just as much.

And now, to bed.  And worry, but that’s another day.

Horse had a rather disgusted look on her face when I showed up…it’s always interesting to see her reaction when I’ve been away for a week or so.  Either she’s very demanding of attention and work or she’s mad at me for being gone and is sulky.  Tonight started out sulky, but she was easily persuaded to perk up with treats and brushing.  Hard to say which one she likes best, especially when she’s still shedding the winter hair.

Cool weather meant she hung back a wee bit at the beginning, so I picked up a crop.  Funny how that changes her attitude–don’t need to use it, just need to carry it.  And then she moves right up.  I also will use it as a tapping cue to get her to back off of my leg a little bit, and she was responsive to that.

All the same, outside of a little stiffness when asked to bend on the right rein, she did pretty well for an unanticipated layoff (due to son’s illness).  She was ready to dig in and work, so work we did.  Lots of two-track at walk and trot, plus lots of sitting trot with good impulsion.  Some high-headed bracing at the beginning, but she eventually softened a little (not a lot, I don’t expect a lot after a layoff) and we played with legs and half-halt to get forward and impulsion.  Then we went to collected canter (well, semi-collected tonight) and gallop, which she enjoyed immensely.  And!  While our first couple of sessions of canter back from gallop weren’t as immediate as I would like, toward the end she was decelerating almost as fast as she can accelerate.  Which is pretty dang fast, considering how she shoots ahead when I lean forward and bring my hands forward.

Still like to get her on a track someday and see what it’d feel like to ask her to sprint all out for a quarter mile.  While she’s mostly Doc Bar (Doc O’Lena and Gay Bar King), there’s some Leo in there as well….and girl can run when she wants.  She’s got a pretty good engine in that hind end.

At the end she felt pretty good about her work, lining out on the long rein in her big, free-swinging swagger walk that could rival a Thoroughbred’s in its reach.  Back swaying, stepping deep under herself…going somewhere, head long and low, ears forward.  It’s a pleasure to ride and from what I can see of her expression, a gait she truly enjoys.  That big relaxed swinging walk of hers is so much fun to sit and she does it after she’s had a good workout and seems to feel good about it.

A good horse night.  Satisfying without being weird.  Both of us got a productive workout and we pretty much just focused on conditioning and fine-tuning our cues.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

Getting bored with horse posts?  Hope not, because here’s another one.  There is other stuff happening, just can’t/won’t talk about it as it involves work thoughts.  Writer brain is locked in revisions and not much happening there.  So horse or skiing, and horse it is tonight.

Mocha’s now recognizing the sound of the new car.  Today she was in her old post by the door, watching for me to come in.  It’s always a bit of a thrill to walk in the door and spot the white of her blaze in the front of the stall, showing that she’s looking for me.  While the Sparkle mare and the Windy pony both liked me well enough, and Sparkle would watch the back door from the pasture, they’d just as happily greet my mom as they would me.  Not so Mocha.  While G. and his wife I. have a spot in her heart, I really don’t have other competition.

The nice thing about having a broke horse is that if you’re riding and someone asks for help, you can just step down, tell your horse “whoa,” and go off to lend a hand while the horse stays in place.  I remember six years ago wondering if Mocha and I would ever be at that spot.  Well, now we are and we have been in that place for a good two or three years.  That skill is one of those little quiet achievements that are nonetheless important to me, along with being able to walk up to her in any circumstance and pick up a hoof without restraint.

The circumstance for parking her came about from a request.  One of the working students needed to know the correct way to set up a stud chain as a training tool (pushy greenie in ground work, chain’s there to back him off of the lead rope and is wrapped around the halter noseband).  Greenie was being alternately pushy and jumpy; had to snap him with my thumb (thumb cocked behind index finger, pop in nose when pushy horse starts lipping the hand) a couple of times when he started to lip my hand.  He’d been tied to a patience post while G. taught a college riding class, tied up safely and then expected to learn to stand while other horses worked around him.  It works.  Takes time, but eventually even the pushiest learn to drowse off and/or watch what’s going on quietly.

I took my time to set up the chain as he was still wanting to pull back against the rope a little bit; simply stopped when he got fiesty and let him figure out that even though I was working around his head he wasn’t getting turned loose.  From the way he acted I suspect he’s been able to break away from being tied when the rope either got loosened or unsnapped.  So–let him hit the end of the rope, figure out nothing was going to get him loose if he was going to be a stinker like that, and let him learn.

Which he did.  It wasn’t panic or fear, never did have that panic wild eye.  More the calculating gaze of the pony brain who’s figured out a trick.  Two times back against the rope, I’d just stop what I was doing, he’d straighten right up and come forward.  Again, not the behavior of a panic.  Slow, calculated, thoughtful.  Watching what I was doing.  Thinking about what I was doing.

So I set up the chain, then got back on Mocha and we worked while the student put him through basic groundwork paces.  Noticed he was a bit pushy at first, then started developing some manners.  Working Mocha around him was good.  He got a wee bit anxious but settled as he realized she wasn’t affecting him.

Still working Mocha in the snaffle.  I’ve been working quite a bit on getting her to soften and yield to the bit.  As the pictures from the show demonstrated, she’s still not consistent with that and she really should be.  She’s also in dripping heat at the moment, so I’m happy with whatever I can get out of her.  It takes about fifteen to twenty minutes of solid warmup work before she softens up, and when she does…oh man, that big trot is amazing.  Definitely not a Western pleasure jog.  We didn’t have the full submission and softening for very long, but when we did….that feeling through her back and the way she just picked up and started to zoom at the trot–well, I just kept thinking “soft back, butter back, soft back, butter back” and making my legs soft and long and supporting her with my calves.  Yum.  A very nice working trot.

And she is getting oh-so-rateable in canter, and it’s not just me taking up the reins.  I can now relax my seat, lean forward, move my hands forward and she springs ahead into an extended canter/hand gallop.  Then I can sit up, take a firmer contact, slow my seat while still keeping it supportive and active so that she knows we’re still cantering, it’s just slower.

For us this is huge.  She’s not wanted to cooperate with being rated in the canter, slowing and extending have been big challenges.  It’s not something I’ve been able to pull together in the English saddle but it’s coming along much more easily in the Western tack, complete with seat cues.  Then again, if the English saddle was poking her, it’s understandable she wouldn’t want to be rated.  Her back is changing again, with more muscling toward the back of the scapula.  I have a feeling that’s tied into the changes in her movement.

Her stops have also improved.  I can breathe “whoa” in the hand gallop and she goes to ground.  Period.  Nose and butt down, and we’re stopped.

We also achieved a milestone this afternoon.  Thanks to the wet, there were many good mud puddles in the tree farm, including one nice wide long puddle that Mocha and I cruised several times at a walk.  Then I asked her to trot through it.  Just what I could see of her original expression from her ears and quick eye glimpse, and feel from her back was hilarious–Princess Pony’s “OMG, DISGUSTING WET WET WET OMG THIS IS FUN!!”

Keep it up and I’ll have her splashing through puddles and sending water flying like a pro.  Cracks me up, though, when she goes all Princess Pony on me like that.

Gotta love life with a horsey character.  Keeps it real.