Five Lazy Hours of Riding

Yesterday was amazing! We went to a horse show and took Blacky, Santana, Coffie, and Frosty. We left home at ten, got there at eleven, and stayed there until four. Coffie and Frosty did beautifully! We led them around for a little while, then got on and stayed on for about two hours. We walked around, let them eat, trotted, cantered. Nothing real stressful. Then for the other three hours we were on and off them. I rode Coffie and Aleythia rode Frosty. Coffie learned how to side pass. It was kinda by accident. I think I just wanted to see what she did and she eventually just took one little step over. After that I was working on it on and off for the rest of the day. Frosty learned how to move her shoulders over. Coffie sorta did. Not quite as good as Frosty. Frosty will just plant her back foot and boogie right over. Coffie will take maybe two steps. Oh and two of Terry's grandsons rode Blacky and Santana. And we had their dog, Rebel, with us too. It's funny. Rebel will be sitting there and one of the fillies would get curious and go and sniff her and she would go hide. The last hour I took the saddle off, and when Santana and Blacky's classes were called, I hopped up on her bareback and her lead rope tied to her halter for reins. And we walked up there. When we were going back to the trailer I trotted, then asked her to canter. She did a nice easy lope. Woot Woot!!!

Saddle Seat!

Hey everyone,
Here's a little something on saddle seat. It's one of those disciplines that you've never heard of and there's very little written about it. I only know of two books that have been written specifically for this discipline. So, for all you people who are just  getting started in saddle seat or who just want to know what the heck it is; I'll explain.
Saddle seat was originally used to ride to church because of the horse's really high stepping action and all around beautiful appearance. Saddle seat was originally the most common type of riding, but someone introduced a knew type of English saddle, I think the hunt seat, and it caught on like crazy. So now there aren't a lot of people who ride saddle seat.
The saddle seat's position on a horse is put farther back to free up the horse's shoulders, but the girth still stays in the same place. It's also a longer and flatter type of saddle so when one goes to ride it looks more like sitting on a chair, but the feet should never be in front of the girth. The bridle is actually a double bridle; there's a snaffle (they're usually thinner than your average snaffle) and a curb bit. If anyone wants to know how to hold the reins please ask and I will make a video for you.
As far as the position of the rider; the stirrups should hit your ankle when your leg hangs and maybe one notch lower. Depends on how comfortable it is for you. The lower leg is kept off the horse's barrel unless you are giving a cue.Your heels do not line up with your hip, shoulder, and ear.
When posting in a regular English saddle your posting more forward and back and the action is coming from your whole leg. In Saddle seat you post more up and down with the action coming from clenching your knees and thighs against the horse. The lower leg does not touch the horse at any time.  This is also how to post bareback, but it's really hard to do at first because it takes a lot of thigh muscle. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh! The arms! I heard it explained as they should look like you're holding a beach ball between your arms. That means your elbows are in, but not actually touching your sides. Saddle seat horses should lower and raise their head to make it in line with how high your hands are. If anyone wants to know how to hold the reins in a double bridle please ask and I will make a video for you.
So, there's your rundown of saddle seat. If your still having trouble picturing it go on youtube and observe how the great competitors do it. That will help a lot. If anyone wants to see me ride Saddle Seat while explaining all the above information I would be more than happy to make a video. Also if there are any people out there who ride saddle seat and notice I have something a bit off  or just want to add some more info please comment. I would love to know more about this flashy style of riding.

Enjoy your riding!

Can I Bite It?

Gosh I love those fillies. They make me laugh. They are all doing extremely well. I'm still not riding Toffy, but I've got her walking across a tarp. My goal is to get her to be under the tarp. Frosty did. It was hilarious. After I was done riding her I unsaddled, and took her over to the tarp. Frosty has a motto. If I can bite it, it must be okay. When she first comes across a new object she'll blow at it, then try to bite it. After that the world is a beautiful place. I picked up the tarp, and it is a huge tarp. It's supposed to go over a rack of hay bales. I picked it up rubbed her for a sec, then pulled it over her back and drownded her in it. She just stands there like yea whatev it's all cool. We took a video, but unfortunately left it there. I'll get it up eventually. My ride with her was great too. It was windy and she likes to put her head up really high and look at stuff. She is getting a whole lot better with turning and going where I tell her. We're working on circles. Just getting them to find their balance and get on the correct lead. Actually we're working on a whole lot of other stuff too, but it takes too long to explain. Main goal. Circles. Not overdoing it though.
Misstack is out of commission currently. She doesn't want to trot or canter. She doesn't have any cuts so we're thinking that she has a rib out of place. Which she has done before. Terry will take her to the chiropractor tomorrow. Sadly I won't be able to come with him. I have to work all day tomorrow. Fun. But I'll get a nice fat paycheck and then me and my oldest sister will go shopping for boots. It'll be grand!

Jittery Bug

Yesterday. Hmm so we got there around 2:30 and then stayed inside for two hours until it cooled off a little bit. I discovered I can say "a little bit" in four different languages. I have skilzs. We talked about what we were doing with the fillies come fair time. We're thinking they'll do a western pleasure class, a trail class, and maybe a timed event. We'll take Dash and Frosty. They'll probably do a halter class too. We don't want it to be too stressful, so they'll only be there one day. So we need to sit down and plan what we need to train in the time we have. I'm smart guys. Ya know how Toffy has been landing wrong on her foot, well because of it I haven't been riding her. Or doing anything with her. Cause there's not much to do. And I just had a thought. I could do ground stuff with her. Like a tarp, getting her to pull something, ect.. Yep.
Misstack was great yesterday. She gets better every time I take her out. She was getting on her hind feet when I asked her to do a rollback off the fence, her turns are getting a whole lot cleaner. She is neck-reining half way decently too.
With Coffie I have just been working on getting her to go where I tell her, and not pop her shoulder out and run through my cues. It is something that I did not anticipate to be a big problem.
We shouldn't stay in the ring for everything we need to teach them. Some of it can be taught outside of a ring on the trail and it is more fun. It just takes up more time, but we can deal with that.
Terry wants me to do kalcuta with Santana. I probably spelled it wrong. It gives me butterflies just thinking about it. Everyone who enters gets lined up in the arena and people bid on who will win. There is one barrel. You get a running start through the gate, go down, turn the barrel, come back, and then you have to stop inside the arena. The person with the fastest time, without knocking the barrel over, wins. It's extremely stressful. I think Santana would do wonderful with it. I'm slightly worried about the running start, because usually I have to have someone lead him into the arena because he acts all jittery. It'll be fine though. I need to fix his third barrel. He anticipates the turn so he goes too early and usually ends up knocking it over. He needs to quit anticipating a turn. I'll fix it by turning him away from the barrel and circling and then go around it. I discovered riding him in a snaffle through barrels and poles does not work very well when he's hyper. It's funny when he turns that last barrel I know he's going to bolt for home. It's still a little bit of a surprise even then. When he turns that barrel you have to be hanging onto the saddle horn just to keep from flying out of the saddle because he speeds up so fast. I love it!

These last two days have been a lot of fun. Thursday we went to Terry's late. It was cooler at 6:30 than it was at two. Rode every one but Toffy and Santana. Two of Terry's grandsons rode a few of the fillies too. It was really funny. The fillies did great. They didn't understand what the boys were asking, but they tried there best. The boys couldn't figure out how to direct rein. We really need to teach those fillies how to neck rein. They were also having a little trouble getting them moving, but a little spank on the butt fixed that. They just walked. With one of the boys it was his first time getting on a horse in about four years. Terry got on too! He hasn't been on a horse in about four or five years either. Then I hopped on Ana bareback and bridle-less, and she hated it. She would grudgingly do what I ask, but she was not happy. She does leg pressure, just sometimes you have to kick a little harder to get her to do it. Ana is limping though. It is not good. We don't know why. We were thinking about giving Toffy a bath too, but it was getting late.
Yesterday HM came over and we took the herd out on a trail ride. Seriously. We took three of the fillies. She rode Coffie, I rode Dash, and Aleythia rode Frosty. And then another two boys, brothers, and grandchildren of Terry rode Santana and Blacky. It was fun. I kinda felt that if anything set Dash off I would be on the ground and she would be running toward home. We let some people pet the horses too. They new something about horses. They were surprised at how well behaved the fillies were for only being two. We got back and then got Santana, Misstack, and Strudder all tacked up and in the paddock. HM got to try some barrel racing and pole racing and also saddle seat with Strudder. She was loving Santana's turns around the barrels. And she loved Misstack's canter. Misstack loves to canter. She was trying to get Misstack to go through poles, but kept knocking poles down because she couldn't get her to move out far enough. We tried figuring that out. She went through fine with me. Aleythia rode Santana a little bit too. Both Aleythia and HM were having a hard time getting Santana to canter. Don't know why. I thought he was just fine. They were also really surprised when they turned that last barrel, and he just took off. It takes a little getting used too.
HM has a new appreciation for how different our horses are from hers. She rode Strudder and he was great for her. He kept wanting to quit though. He looked gorgeous. If only he got ridden a little more consistently.
But that was the last two days. I really want my camera. My sis said I couldn't have it.

Ziggidey Zaggidy

So I can't remember how many times I've gone to Terry's this past week, and not blogged about it. So I'll just tell you what we're working on.
With the fillies we are starting to train the barrel and poles. Which means that we are getting control of their hindquarters, ribcage, shoulders, and head and neck. Which you should do with any discipline. We will also start doing more trails.
Toffy is lame. We have no idea why or where. Something is wrong with her left front that causes her to do an awkward step where she brings her knee in and then her leg goes out and she lands on the outside of her hoof first. Next time the farrier comes out we'll see if he can do some corrective trimming.
With Misstack it is mostly working on her turns around the barrel. I want to get control of her shoulders, so I am doing rollbacks into the fence. Her turns are getting better.
Santana just needs to be ridden.
Ana: working on the walk an trot. She seriously needs to get ridden more often. *cough-aleythia-cough*
We rode HM's horses this last Sunday. It was fun. We did jumping. I love jumping. One thing we talked about was picking a speed in an arena, and keeping that speed. You let the horse go wherever he wants, you just gotta make sure he stays in one speed. If he goes into a corner, kick him out of it. He'll learn pretty quick how to get outta that corner. You can help him out a little bit though. Otherwise LEAVE THE REINS ALONE!! This will help the horse physically and mentally. The physically is that you'll be trotting for quite some time. Mentally it will help him to listen to your commands and do them until you say other wise. It will also help the rider to zig when the horse zigs, and zag when the horse zags.
Just something to consider

So, yea. I'm back home. Got home yesterday around seven. And then Aleythia was all like, "I want to ride Frosty. Let's go to Terry's." It was 8:30. I rode Misstack. She did very well. I ran her through poles, turned some barrels. She turned really nice.
These are videos from last week.

 Coffie

Dash

Toffy's first canter under saddle

Frosty's first canter under saddle

THE PLASTIC BAG!!! (In booming voice)

Lydia has most likely told you about Dash's irrational fear of plastic bags. Well guess what! She's not as afraid of them anymore!
A few days ago I started swinging the end of the lead rope at a plastic bag before I rode Dash. It was sort of an accident. I was taking her halter off the wall and the lead rope hit the plastic bags underneath. Which Dash is standing right on the other side of the wall; she can hear it, but she can't see it. So she just stands there on high alert snorting. So, of course I had to fix this predicament. When she could actually See the bag she freaked out the first time. It was kind of interesting to watch, but I wouldn't want to be on her. She settled down a bit and as a few days passed she got better and better until she would stand not a foot away from the bags. I was very happy.
Well, Monday it was really hot out and I'm thinking what is the least amount of work I can make my horse do and still have her learn something. So, I whipped out the plastic bag. Before I had only just dropped the rope onto the bags and once or twice picked it up with the end of a whip. Now I worked on flapping the bag all around her and having her step on it. She didn't have a problem stepping on it, but did lean back when I shook the bag. Woot! Woot! Of course since I had nothing better to do I wanted to see her reaction if I rubbed the bag over her. Her reaction was pathetic. She was like, "Oh there's a plastic bag! I'm gonna' die!" Then, "Oh, it's a bag." She licks her lips and cocks a hind foot. The nitwit. Because she obviously couldn't have figured that out two months ago. *Sigh*
So yes, she's okay with the plastic bag now! Whohoo! I will continue working on desensitizing her to it every day, but from here on out I think it'll be easy as pie.

Also, Lydia and I did canter the two duns last Friday, and I would have written a post about it, but I don't know what the heck I'm doing, so I'll just have Lydia do it when she gets back.

Aleythia Johnson

Pathetic. I know.

News I have.
I go to camp this Sunday. Found out Wednesday.
Ok, I knew I was supposed to go to camp, I just didn't know when.
I'll be gone for a week. I don't want to go, but then I do. I want to go because I will get to see old friends, and make new friends. I love to go to camp. I'll get to ride new horses.
I don't want to go because I'll miss most of Toffy and Frosty's beginning of cantering. I'll start it though, so that's not so bad. I'll miss yet another cross country practice. Yes, I'm in cross country. Don't judge. Cross country practice started about three weeks ago, and I haven't made it to a single practice yet. I've been busy okay! It doesn't help that I don't even know when practice is. I think it is supposed to be on Tuesday. I was worried about missing a week of running too, but I found out that I can run in the morning. It'll be fine.
Aleythia and I spent Wednesday night at a friend's house, and we went running together Thursday morning. I died. She had us running an 8 minute mile. She can't keep that pace up, but jeez. I am a slow runner. Usually I make a 10 minute mile. I'm working on it!
Horses were great. We are going to canter Toffy and Frosty tomorrow. Should prove entertaining.
With Misstack and Santana I worked on neck reining, rollbacks off the fence, and getting control of their rib cage. I also tried to get Santana to do a nice easy lope. My success was small.
Coffie is doing really well. I just worked on her gaits, and turning.
I'm feeling really lazy today, so that's all I'm going to write.

Settin it Up

Today went pretty well. The videos help. I've been uploading them to youtube because it's way faster. I wish I could take pictures, but my camera is with one of my sisters in Tennessee.  

 

When I told Aleythia to stop and rest after every canter, the thinking behind that is as follows: If she can get Dash to associate cantering with a rest, her cantering will be way less fanatic. Also it will teach her that she can be calm after she goes fast. A valuable skill. I would know. I have a horse that doesn't have that skill.  

 

Toffy is amazing. She has come very far from bucking us off. I can't wait to start cantering.

 

Santana is getting some nice little exercise ponying Frosty. 

Frosty is getting more relaxed about the saddle every time I pony. I'm thinkin that tomorrow I'll have Aleythia get on and ride while I pony. Should prove entertaining. I had a thought occur to me as I was ponying Frosty. It would be really easy to teach a horse to canter with a rider if you taught him to pony first. The horse has learned to follow the lead horse's movements, so if the lead horse canters, so will the follower. Just a thought that I will totally have to use.
I didn't ride Coffie because she looked like she was limping. Very minor, but I'll give her a couple days rest. I rode Misstack too. She didn't do too bad. I need to get longer reins though. I've been using barrel reins, which is fine, its just that I could probably do the things I wanted to do with her more effectively with longer reins. I need to get her to listen to what I ask. I need her to let me position her around the barrel. She needs some work.