Tag Archives: horse training journal

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.

As the Pacific Northwet is doing its best to live up to its nickname these days, of course the moods seem to be matching it, horse and human alike.  Quirky, grumbly, but still good for a work session.

When I got to the barn, once again Mocha was standing there with her tail in the bucket.  Nice and relaxed, but her tail was living in her water bucket.  Walked off as calm as could be, even when the wet tail hit her legs.  There was a certain flicker of sarcastic amusement in her eyes when I opened the stall door.  Clearly it’s meant to be some sort of horse joke.  The expression is too much like that in the eyes of a middle school prankster.  However, being a mere human, I’ve not the faintest clue what the joke is about.

We’ve run short on doing works over the past two weeks due to scheduling stuff, and it shows under saddle.  She resisted softening up and coming onto the bit for the longest time, even though she was eager for the initial stretching.  Well, heck, she’s probably a little stiff and achy with all this rain.  I am too.  So I kept pushing, kept asking for the bend at a walk, did two-track, half-halts, whoa-back, and finally we broke through the Wall O’ Stiffness.  Suddenly she wasn’t fighting the rein but softly carrying the bit.  A little bit at the walk, and I started asking for it at the trot, which was quite nice.  She’s gone from “dear God this trot sucks” to having a quite nice sitting working trot.

But the nicest part of this afternoon’s session was moving from lightly collected lope to hand gallop and then back to it.  I’ve been schooling this for the past few weeks and had the chance to try it while riding through a lesson.  G had two little intermediate level kids who were working at all three gaits.  Mocha and I did several circuits of collected lope and then we had to pick up the pace to squeeze out of a tight spot.  I asked her for the gallop and she gave it.  We continued round, then I asked her to come back into the collected lope without breaking.

She did it.  Yay!  Mocha gets pretty wound up at the gallop, especially after a lot of collected work and when working at that speed around other horses, but this afternoon she was very rateable and soft in the hand.  I was very pleased with this state of affairs and we did it several times, quite nicely.

Not quite done with snaffle work at the moment.  I am so very pleased with schooling in the latigo leather reins.  The feel is more secure and when I have to take hold of Mocha’s mouth to lift a shoulder or correct her position, it’s steadier and much, much more effective.  I’m able to use less pressure with the stiffer rein and I really do think it’s a better feel.  In return, she seems to like these reins better now, and responds more effectively, with fewer objections or annoyed reactions.  She just feels happier in my hand.

I do need to borrow G’s mullen mouth curb, though.  I think she’s ready to move on from that correction curb, and it’s different enough that I think she could like it.  If she does, then the trick is finding another one like it.  It’s an Arab bit in size and weight, but she’s got an Arab-sized mouth with Arab-sensitivity to it.  Could mean I spend a lot of time in tack shops checking out bit weights and balances over the next few months….

I continue to be astonished at the differences between Mocha in the snaffle using the English strap goods/saddle and the Western strap goods/saddle.  Once again today, I had a really good session that was nothing at all like the sessions we’ve had in the Collegiate, and I don’t think it’s all the saddle.

To wit: while today she was stiff (in heat, not wanting to bend well on the right rein), all the same she was soft, maintaining a steady contact that is nothing at all like the contact we had in English, and elevated. Now some of the time I thought she was trying to emulate those Saddlebreds again, but really….

But I don’t think it’s all the saddle.  To some extent, I think it’s the lack of the second noseband (the one on the English headstall never fit her that well).  The Western dropped noseband is lower, goes over the bit and headstall, and allows her to move her jaw a little bit better.  I also think it is those 1″ seven foot latigo leather reins.  There’s a little bit more weight to them, because of the way they connect to the bit they hang more like her romal rein on the curb, and I find that it’s actually a much more secure grip than the web reins.

Whatever it is, so far she takes up the contact differently from the English strap goods.  There’s more relaxation–and, as a result, better movement.

Today, G coached us while giving a lesson.  He commented several times on how nice her lope was (well, it was…much better than her trot today).  It is more relaxed, more elevated, and I’m able to bend her and flex her better.  I’m also finding my best position ever, and half halts?  Oh baby, let me tell you about half halts, I can still feel them in my abs.

I also feel bad because it’s clear the curb has been pinching her for a few weeks.  Not long–I’d like to think I’d have noticed that wiggling in the port–but long enough.  It’s going to take a little while to get a replacement, and I may talk to G about borrowing his mullen mouth curb to see how she goes in it.  We shall see.

All in all, a nice riding day.  Probably the best part of my spring break.

Sigh.  Enough horse post, must get back to household chores and education article.  Sigh.

I really, really like using the KK Ultra with the Western headstall, dropped noseband and latigo reins.  The headstall is sturdier leather (also latigo leather) and of a better quality than the English headstall, and the latigo leather splits make me keep my hands upright rather than sneak into puppy dog paws or twist them around or whatever the heck else I keep wanting to do instead of keeping them in a correct snaffle rein position.  Interestingly, too, I feel like I was getting a better quality of schooling today in the Western saddle than I have in snaffle work of late in the English saddle.  Just easier to sit more upright and sink my heels down hard.

I suppose that means if I ever get another English saddle I should be looking at dressage saddles instead, or a medium tree rather than a wide tree.  As it were, I found myself using my core more effectively and doing more without that bracing feeling we had the last time I did snaffle, in English.  Lots more half-halts.  Lots more support from the saddle itself.  The Crates does have that little sweet spot that you can lock into which is similar but not quite the same as a dressage saddle thigh block.

And we won’t talk about how much more effective it is to go two-handed in a snaffle rather than a curb.  Oh hey, I guess we are.  Even with a correction curb, it’s not the same, and I’m always backing off because, well, hey, it’s a curb.  But there’s not that same feel that I had in the single-jointed snaffle, either.  With the KK I can pick her up a little bit more effectively and she’s not getting pissy about the joint bumping her in the mouth, either.

I have this sneaking hunch that the Collegiate was grabbing her in the shoulders whenever I started half-halting/working from my core/lower back, especially at the trot and canter, because now her reaction is totally different from when I was doing this in the Collegiate and the KK.  Instead of getting pissy or backing off, she’s rounding up, taking herself forward–and the withers are coming up.  I’m getting a stronger, more elevated trot and a rounder collected canter without the fits and starts and stalling out.

Plus much more effective two-track work at the trot.

So interesting work.  We’ll see where it goes from here.

Mocha loves to be groomed.  It’s part of her whole Princess Pony persona.  After a good hard workout, her clear idea of a perfect post-ride primping is a good, solid roll in the arena followed by a thorough brushing.

She’s one of those horses who makes a science out of rolling.  Never rolls all the way over but once, but that’s after she’s thoroughly scratched and itched everything on that one side, which means several half-rolls.  If she can do it in soft arena dirt then she’ll work her face over and over until she’s satisfied.  Footing is a big deal.  She won’t roll if the ground is frozen and hard, and she’s a lot less enthusiastic about rolling on a firm surface.  After the roll, she stands by the gate with a relaxed, blissful expression on her face; eyes, ears and lips relaxed.  But that’s just the beginning of the post-ride groom.

On hot days, she gets less grooming and a solid rinse instead.  She clearly likes doing that and at liberty will turn right into the wash stall without being prompted.  On cold days, as I progress through the ritual of soft curry, stiff brush, soft brush, she’ll relax and drop her head, leaning into the brush a little bit when I hit an itchy spot.  During shedding season, like right now, I’ll lead out with the shedding blade and that gets the blissed-out, relaxed mare right away.

Last night she was funny about it.  We’d had a good work, including a long session with a very nice working trot.  Not at all Western, think of it as a good seated trot in dressage, only with Western curb and saddle.  No jog about it at all, but she was round, elevated, and soft.  Just…faster than will get you pinned in any Western rail class. I had to sit up, breathe deep, tighten my abs and soften my back to follow and sustain this big, energetic trot as a sitting trot.  But it was definitely different from posting trot as well as Western jog.  The more I softened my back and sat up and back, the bigger and more elevated she got.

(I am thinking about selling my English saddle because I am now consistently getting good elevation in the Western saddle.  But that’s another post)

Anyway, it was a long, conditioning work rather than any pattern work.  She came out cool with only the slightest bit of wetness after.  So she had a good roll, and then I got to work on the winter coat with the shedding blade.  I got the equivalent of a Standard Rex in hair off of her, and she was relaxed and drowsy before I was even done with the shedding blade.  A bit of precise scritching with the stiff brush under her mane earned an appreciative lean into the brush with happy horse nose wiggles while I addressed the itch.

A good night, both under saddle and grooming.  More food for thought about where I’m going with tack and riding.  Simplifying sounds pretty good.

Let’s just start with a cute Mocha picture because, after all, she was the star of the whole shindig and I swear she made this face for DH on purpose!  After some other things she did at the show, yeah, she’s that smart a horse.  She also was very focused, serious and intent about doing her show work job.

Right off–no, we didn’t win any ribbons.  Yes, it was a schooling show but it was a big, slow schooling show.  Twenty to thirty horses in some classes, and we went in four walk-jog classes and then bugged out because it was getting late.  Walk-jog or any big rail class of that ilk is not something Mocha will necessarily stand out in.  It’s not what she’s bred to do, so this was basically a show to put miles on her.  And that we did.

She didn’t scream at this show.  Rather, she was alert, curious and aware.  Despite the funny photo above, the below pic was a more accurate reflection of her attitude:

She knew at some point she’d be coming out of her stall and so she was eager to go.  Interestingly, when I first braided her forelock at the barn, she wouldn’t stand still.  In the show stall?  She stood like a rock, intently focused on me.  Note to self: probably best to plan on braiding at the show, if possible.  Seems to fit her mood best.

Mocha got a bit pissy about the crowds, especially with some aggressive pros cutting it close to her.  But once we got out into the big arena, she relaxed.

Funny thing was, she remembered from her first show that there was a spot in the warmup arena where she could look in the big arena that was now blocked up.  She spent a lot of time in the warmup arena trying to figure that out, and getting anxious because she couldn’t see it.  Nonetheless, a note for the future is that I need to find a quieter spot to let her stretch out and gallop, because she got tense with the crowds and tight confines of the warmup arena.  As a result, it took her a while to relax and soften in the rail classes.

A good moment.

Tense and Having Discussions.

Getting coaching from trainer G.

Finally softening and relaxing.  It didn’t help that I kept bracing my back, either.  Still sore in the back and three hours in the saddle didn’t help.

What nailed us was consistency, especially at the jog.  She’d get pissy about being asked to bend and soften and would drop into a walk for just one stride, and that’s something we need to work on.  Also, she’s still a bit of a looky-loo girl, and while her focus was better, it was still an issue of Big! Show! Excitement! and that was enough to rattle her a little bit.

But there were all sorts of good moments, and in the next-to-the-last class, I got about ten strides of a nice, soft, elevated jog with impulsion that reminded me of riding the Western Pleasure two-time world champion in lessons, where G said I was getting his championship jog.  She’s got it in her, it’s just getting it consistently.  And, notice she ain’t dragging her nose.  When she does drag her nose, she ain’t going slow.

I just love it when she gets all round and soft, though.  It’s very reminiscent of the videos I see of her sire, Chocolate Chic Olena (whose roundness shows up even racing around at liberty).  It’s hard for me to determine just who she takes after most, sire or dam, most of the time, but when she softens and goes round, she’s definitely daddy’s daughter.

G.’s wife told me I looked like an equitation rider out there, which was good.  One trick I hadn’t realized was helpful was the use of my Justin work boots as my everyday riding boot, and my Lucchese’s as my show boots.  There’s about a 3/4 inch difference in sole thickness, which means it’s easier to extend my leg and drop my heel at the show…but I think that as much as fatigue led to me stiffening my back.

So.  Things to work on–softening and consistency of the jog.  She’s good at walk and canter.  Softening my back.  Otherwise, just getting her out and getting her past some of the attitude stuff, exposure is good.  I feel pretty good about this show because there were a number of pros riding in the same classes, as well as high school equestrian team types.  Pretty competitive, overall.  Wish we could have gone in a pattern class, but better not to go into those with an aching back and after a long day already spent (slow-moving classes).

At the end of it all, we took the horses out on the other side of the barn from where we came in.  The minute we went outside, Mocha raised her head, located where the horse trailer was, locked on, and briskly picked up a bold walk toward the trailer.   This was even though we’d come in the arena from a different side, in daylight, and it was dark and a different side.  She knew that was her trailer, and she started nickering at it as soon as we got close.  Then she started nickering–a soft little talky nicker–at G to hurry up.  G’s wife, with the other horse, started laughing and told him Mocha was telling him to hurry up.  She’s not a talker, so it was a big, big thing.  DH also told me this morning that their horse got fussy while Mocha was in the arena and they had to bring him down to settle.  Once he saw Mocha, he was happy (even though there were twenty other horses).

Got back to the barn and turned both horses out to run and roll.   Mocha marched right to her home arena and did her thing, then was ready to go back to her own stall and relax.

Funny little mare.  And, obviously, smart little mare.  I need to think about the implications this has for her visual/spatial processing, because she’s obviously wired that way.