the DARK (left) Side

The rain on Friday left arenas to wet on Saturday and since Patty and Ashley went to Stillwater for the equine Special Olympics, we didn't get to Party. But first thing Sunday morning, the TEXT came in - C was free until 11, so I dashed to Springs Cheval to ride Sister in the wet SANDY arena.

Mallory's place holds up to rain pretty well and although wet, both round pen and arena were ride-able by Sunday. So, we started some lounging work on a walk circle. Sister was sniffing as she went so I asked for trot. One and a half circles trot circles and she dropped like a rock to roll - not even breaking the trot until she hit the ground. Dressed in my trusty Isabelle! I yelled and she scrambled into a canter. We worked canter both directions before we tried trot again. Whew.. after a bit of ground tie, I mounted and we moved on.

Sitting trot and circles left and right on a fairly loose rein - things were pretty good. We were getting left bend! Mostly. I tried to focus on body position (shoulders LEVEL?), even weight in both stirrups, deeper seat, even seat-bones, quiet hands, elbows in, etc ... ... HARD work for me!

So, we worked leg yields left and right and then haunches in left and right. Legs yields were not bad. Haunches in? Not for more than a stride or two. Then a bit of "extension" along straight lines (extension is relative here since it wasn't much). We finished on a good note after just an hour of work since the footing was heavy.

The bad news is that this work has clearly identified my weak side (left you think?). Well, we have something (things) to work on. YaYa!

PS - my brave YaYa sista's are headed to Flint Creek next weekend for a hunter pace - I will stay home and work Sister and/or Splash.


PPS - sand art by Roxanne, Ivy, and Alaina.

Shoulder Issues

Rain was in the forcast today and I had an appointment with the eye doctor at 10 AM.  Dr T's operation is a well oiled machine and I was out by 10:30.   No rain yet - so I headed to Mallory's Paradise to get a ride in on Sister before the rain came in.  Amazingly, I had all  my riding gear in my Honda Farm Truck.

After a brief lounging session, we started working on trot and bend in the round pen.  Since left bend is difficult, that is what we focused on.  When going to the left, I really struggled to keep my weight even.  Sister seems to be right sided and so do I.  So, I tried to keep my left leg on at the girth and I was inconsistant - so Sister was too.  Leg-yield right was the correction I could get after not getting bend.  So C suggested we work on my seat.

First, we worked to the right so that I could focus on my position without worrying about left bend.  Within 2 minutes, we had uncovered a real issue.  My left shoulder moves up and forward - so, my left seatbone lightens and my right side gets heavy.  Not just a little.  Yikkes!  So, I practiced sitting deeper, rotating my shoulders back and level, and NOT leaning back.  I made some progress and Sister was pretty consistant, keeping trot regular on a fairly loose rein.  Next we reversed direction.

Going left was so awful I started laughing - that didn't help.  My seat was non-existant.  Sister and I both lost our left shoulders, mine went up and she dropped hers.  We slopped around cutting in and loosing my balance.  I could not sit the trot going left.  It was not pretty.  Using my left hand on the back of the saddle, I held on and tried to keep my shoulders even.  We worked until I got a couple of better left bends and I practiced keeping left leg on and right leg light.  It was hard.  It looks like Sister and I have some serious work cut out for us to resolve our Shoulder Issues.

A few rain drops fell while I was loading up and the rain really came down shortly thereafter.  But some sun came through too making a beautiful rainbow.  I take that as a sign the we can overcome all our issues.  Yaya!

Mighty Preparations for STATE

My riding is as a standstill since Splash is still in re-hab - he finished his week of bute and is currently taking joint supplements to try to help him mend.  I will try some light riding after we get back from the 4-H State Horse show scheduled for the 19-20.  We will head to Shawnee first thing on Thursday; the girls will compete in English on Friday and Western on Sat.

In anticipation of the State Show, we have been practicing every moment and running between barns for lessons.  Pico is at Patty's in Inola and Sunny is with Dawn DiAmico.  Ivy and Pico are making some great progress with equitation and jumping; Alaina and Sunny are working on Western Pleasure and Showmanship with slow progress and great progress respectively.  They will each get one more lesson before we head to the BIG SHOW.

But the fun thing is that my non-horsey sister has agreed to come with us to the state horse show as my alter mom-ego.  That will be way fun.  Trisha will arrive in Claremore Wed. evening - just in time.  The bad thing is that we will miss most of the Green Country Classic that will be in Claremore at the Expo on Sat. and Sunday but we will volunteer on Sunday afternoon and get a little taste of dressage to cap off our 4-H extravaganza.

Sunday was hot and humid but we fit one last horsey thing in before the weekend was done....  Ruthie came by to hang out and we played a bit with Diez and worked Sister in the round pen.  Then, Ruthie said she was game to ride Sister a bit at walk/trot.  Soooo.... we sadded up and Ruthie mounted up. I was so proud of both Ruthie and Sister.  After a very successful ride in the round pen, Ruthie dismounted and Sister got to eat the good grass for a bit before getting back to her regular pasture. I am starting to see my next dressage prospect and Ivy is seeing her next 4-H horse. 

After all the 4-H frenzy is over -  I am planning of spending the rest of the summer with my yaya sisters riding and sweating and having fun.  Good Plan?

RAIN - again

Well guess what?  It is raining - - and cold.  What a surprise.  The ground was starting to recover from the past onslaught of water/snow/etc. but a new system brought more rain last night and most of the day.  Full creeks, soggy pastures and flooded arenas are back.  But the weekend was not a total lost cause.

Friday afternoon Alaina rode with Dawn D and both she and Sunny are looking good when in the small arena under Dawn's watchful eye.  Hopefully, the show next weekend will not result in to much backsliding- but we all know that Rome was not built in a day.  Then, Sat. afternoon, Ivy got a lesson on Pico and Alaina joined in riding Jetter.  Ivy and Pico are making progress although Ivy's lesson on Thursday evening was really good.  Then Kathy B and I had the 3:00pm slot with a 4:00pm deadline so K and R could get in to Tulsa in time to see Reba. 

Splash was so hateful right off the bat that I had to dismount and longe him for 15 min.  He bucked and carried on as if he resented the end of his winter retirement.  Back in the saddle, we had adequate trot and canter work although it took a lot of effort on my part.  Our horsemanship was really bad.  Canter departs were either non-existant or wrong lead, headstrong and difficult stops, and worst of all sloppy geometry (we were back to fighting over who was driving).  Yuck!  Call and Kathy were LOTS better.  So, I made plans to return Sun PM and work some more. 

After our rides, Pico and Splash got some pre-show trimming including shaving off all the white on all 4 of Pico's stockinged legs as well as bridle paths, ears, and whiskers.  Rain was coming in but the temps weren't bad. 

Sunday, Alaina and I went to Owasso and Alaina rode Sunny and worked a little showmanship.  Then we trimmed his white foot, ears, etc. although I had to resort to twitching to get that pesky left ear done.  While we were at Dream  Maker, Heather gifted the girls with some hand-me-down show cloths!  The girls spent Sunday evening trying on outfits and both girls lucked out since there were western and english items in their size with some bigger items for future use.  WOW!  THANK YOU HEATHER! 

Then, home to pick up Diez, Splash, and Ivy to head to Inola to work the boys down there.  Alaina just wanted to play with Diez - she cantered 'no-hands' down the south side doing a 'dances with wolves' imitation.  Splash was MUCH better than yesterday, but still needs lots of work.

Some Very Sad News is that Bob Heidlage (senior) died on Tuesday and his funeral was Sat.  Bob was a pillar of Rogers County and Oklahoma 4-H horse activities and he will be very sorely missed.  Bob announced all the local, district and state horse shows when Jaime and Diez started their horse show careers.  When Jaime didn't ride well enough to get transitions in the very early days, Diez would take verbal cues from announcer Bob.  I feel very lucky that all four of my kids got encouragement and equine and character guidance from such a wonderful man.  Horse shows will never be the same.