The weather changed from in the 70s to in the 40s last night and I actually am wearing two pairs of pants and had to wear two jackets on the way there. And the wind! The sand was blowing up into the air. I had a bad feeling about today. Full of dread I lunged my horse as my bundled up husband took pictures.
They had dragged the arena for me and it was a silken blanket of white. I hate messing it up.
How is his mane doing that! I don't normally ask people to enlarge photos but maybe this one merits enlargement. Did he put curlers in his hair last night?
He was spooky and cold and bucked at me several times while cantering. I apologized to my husband that this is going to take a bit longer, because I need to get past the bucking. T and her husband were watching the entire hour we were there. And both their horses were on strips of grass on three sides of the arena, and they were more unruly than usual.
Extinguishing the bucking...
Finally I got on but wanted T's help because of the difference in Mag's behavior since last time. She did what I would have done, she stayed a distance from him and told me to do lots of different things, and she'd keep up. Of course I'd have to tell her first, like, "I'm going to go left a few paces, then right again. I'm going to make a circle around you, I'm going to stop." Then I said, "Can I try backing him?? I can't remember if he knows that." I asked and he just stood there. So I asked her to give him a signal from the ground to back and he did. By the third time she didn't have to do anything, he said, "I know the answer!"
She also asked him to drop his head to the ground by touching his poll. He took a minute because I don't do it like that, I use the rope or halter pressure, but she said she could tell he's been taught to drop his head to the ground.
As we walked around she said, "Did you just notice that - you started talking and Mag blew out and relaxed?" Yah, normally I talk a waterfall of words but with her I don't. She said, "My trainer said I should sing to relax my horse." I said, "What do you sing?"
She literally sang some lines of Take Me Home Country Roads to me as I rode along. It was surreal.
Then she said the way he moves, he's so unbalanced, she doesn't believe he actually had 4 months under saddle. I said, "Well, I didn't believe it when they told me he was ridden 5 or 6 times a week, because if that were so, he'd be much, much more trained!"
Or it could be that Mag simply regressed in this big move to another region, because he was so much calmer back at the dealer's. I see glimpses of that calm horse lately and it makes me excited.
A comic moment when I was attacked by a bug and fruck out. And T had no idea why I was flipping out while my horse was perfectly calm.
T taught Mag to unbutton her jacket. She encourages his mouthiness. OK then, if she thinks it's cute.
I had to include this photo to show you how cold it was - he's got his tail clamped to keep the wind out, and hey, no 5th leg today, imagine that.
I got some stills from the videos J made. This shows his rambunctious canter. At first I thought he might be actually galloping around but no, he has three legs on the ground. And if I may mention a pet peeve of mine that some of my friends and bloggers do, they call a canter a gallop. A gallop has no more than 2 legs on the ground at one time, even though a canter can really feel like a gallop!
OK well it turns out he has a real trot. But I'm asking for a canter.
Here he shows a 6 hour old horse's mastery of coordination.
Lift off. But wrong lead.
Someday he'll learn he doesn't have to explode.
I'm turning right, right? No, left? Oh I forgot.
Yes I'm actually asking for a halt here. He wasn't sure.
I have videos!
At the beginning he tries to change directions and is corrected. See if you can recognize my transition requests.
7 comments:
He really has a lovely trot.
It's unusual for a horse NOT to be a spazzbot when the wind is up. It probably has something to do with sound--the wind messes up their ability to tell the location of sounds (plus wind is loud all by itself, of course), so they feel vulnerable and spooky.
Plus, I'm pretty sure that foals tell each other scary stories about "the filly eaten by the wind" when they sit around the campfire at night.
He looks amazing! Lovely trot, listening well. Yeah!
Oh I love the church bells! And the sand is so white! Is it all white there? I love being the first one to make tracks in an arena.
He looks pretty good, so pretty at the trot
Aarene, I never thought about it that way, how they might perceive the wind/sounds. Hey, I remembered something the other day. Stories called Billy and Blaze.; )
Irish, he listens some of the time at least, but more than this I cannot expect because wow there is a lot to see up there on that hill. They have a panoramic view from that arena, I can see the next large city which is 20 miles away!
Crystal, They ring every morning at 7 and on Sundays before church and during the Lord's prayer, and usually more than just one bell so you get more "cacophony" feel. I do love the bells.
This is the only arena I've seen with white sand. It is pretty special, if not blinding in the sun!
I would be concerned about leaving (ahem) green spots in that WHITE arena. How do they keep it so white? and do they flip out when green happens in that pretty white sand?
Aarene, it's about time you came and saw for yourself. Hm?
But for now, Mag has never pooped in their arena, and their horses leave distinguishing hay-mostly-diet-poops. I don't know what happens when they let them eat more grass. I do know if Mag were to poop there, I'd run for the pooper scooper right away! It is as immaculate as it looks, that is mostly likely why I'm only invited there on special occasions.
Cute videos!
There are a lot of people who seem to use canter and gallop interchangeably. I had to watch back some of the videos of me cantering Chrome to see if he'd galloped and he hasn't. It feels like it sometimes when I'm on him. I'm so curious what his gallop is going to feel like!! I honestly don't think I've ever galloped a horse over 15hh. It seems like I'm always on these short QHs, Appys, ponies, etc. when I'm galloping. I don't know why... maybe because it seems like the dressage people in my area never leave the arena and never go faster than a controlled canter and the dressage horses are the only tall ones I've ridden. I did have a OTTB that was Chrome's height and I think I might have galloped him when I was a teenager, but I honestly don't remember what it felt like. Anyway I'm rambling. I miss galloping. I can't wait to gallop Chrome, but I'm going to have to be in a place where I feel really safe....
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