Monthly Archives: February 2012

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.

The plan is, at the moment, to go to a horse show next week.  Just a little schooling show at the Mt. Hood Equestrian Center and only do Western (I don’t think my back will hold up to English right now).  A couple of walk-trot classes, a couple of Horsemanship (pattern) classes, maybe some pleasure classes.  The show is a fund-raiser for a local horsewoman who needs hip surgery.  Nothing big.

Miss Mocha is getting back into shape and a bit on the muscle.  My back held up well today for some lead change hijinks.  But she was ready to go, especially after I booted her up front and back.  Putting the boots on gets more intense work out of her, especially anything involving stops.  I think they’re more comfortable for her to go fast and then stop in.  She also two-tracks better in them.

We did the gate from the left side, opening and closing.  Not a foot wrong, calm and quiet.  We’ll continue practicing just to make sure….

Whatever it was, we finished up with a loop around the round pen and a hard run down to the wall for a fenced stop. Twice.   She turned the afterburners on higher both times, faster than I’ve ever gone on a horse that wasn’t running away with me.

By then the rain showers had faded so I took her outside.  The guy who hauls off the manure had left his flatbed trailer that he hauled the tractor to load his truck on out in the parking lot, and she got all excited about that, both coming and going.  It’s interesting when she gets in the investigatory mode.  Head high, has to move sideways instead of forward at first, but once she gets up close to it she has to snoop all around it.

On the return trip she saw it and wanted to trot toward it.   And she Most Definitely wanted to sniff it all over.  Interesting, again.

Full of go today.  Lots of energy.  Could be interesting next weekend.

I’ve been cautiously watching the development of the Western Dressage association here in the US (unfortunately, I was sick the day that my state association had its official introductory meeting, so I’m out of the loop there).  I can tell it’s having some impact because I’ve already encountered one dressagista online sneering about “Wessage” and how one Just. Can’t. Do. It. in Western tack and call it “dressage” (with the predictable caveat that yes, of course, dressage=training but trying to do dressage tests in Western tack?  Horrors!  Abomination!  Obviously she’d never done a clinic with Jean-Claude Racinet.  I had the privilege of auditing a Racinet clinic and hearing him say he’d like to see someone do just that with a reiner.  My biggest regret is that I never was able to get Mocha to a Racinet clinic.  I think he would have liked The Girl).

And while that particular blogger came highly recommended, that put me right off of her.  See, it’s been my experience that anyone marching around sneering at Other People’s Tack not only has a monster ego, but can’t ride worth a shit.  Sorry.  But I’ve had lessons from some BHS-certified folks on the humble side of things whose flat basics didn’t differ significantly from the basics my AQHA high-level trainer/clinician/judge teaches.  And when I mentioned his name, they nodded knowingly.

Conversely, I’ve had some hair-raising, godawful, yank-and-kick lessons from folks like the aforementioned dressagista.  Without exception that ilk sneers at the mere hint of Western tack and Western riding.  So when someone gets tack snooty around me, I basically write them off.  But that’s the way I am.  Different tack has different uses, and I like being able to do both English and Western on the same horse.  And that means if I want to school movements in Western tack, then by golly, I’m gonna do it.  There’s nothing magical about a dressage saddle, and, quite frankly, I find the Western saddle easier to fit to a horse and more comfortable to my butt.  Period.

Anyway, so much for that rant.  What brought this one on was a bit of schooling Mocha and I have been doing.  Riding session before last night, on Saturday, I started mixing some things up to engage The Girl’s brain.  She was being a bit pissy so I started asking for small tight canter circles with lead changes in unexpected places.  At first she thought I was full of it.  We Had Discussions.  Then the light came on, and she started doing it.  Once she got the rhythm, we stopped schooling and went for a long cool-down ride.

Well, same thing happened last night, except that the tight small circles with changes in different sites became a necessity.  G was schooling a new horse who was green, opinionated, and a bit sparky.  His wife was schooling their show gelding, and a couple of advanced beginners were also schooling in the ring.  Mocha was full of herself, so she needed something other than rail work.  That meant small tight canter circles, with changes.

OMG.  She picked up on that work.  Lovely withers elevation.  Working back on her haunches.  And after a few sequences of quick changes in small circles, she started offering up changes with the slightest shift of weight and rein.  I’m pretty sure we had a few three-tempi changes and at least one two-tempi change.  I could feel the light starting to come on–“hey, this feels like a pretty fun thing to do!  YEEHAW!”

Which, with Mocha, is a key step toward getting her to buy into doing something.  See, I could school her from now until forever in the Approved Straight Line and she’d be grouchy about it.  But doing tight circles and changing leads in unexpected places, or swapping leads while dodging other horses?  Makes sense to The Girl.  And once she gets the feel for something like that, she likes to do it.

So yeah, redneck dressage moves.  Lots of fun.  She enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, and we’re progressing toward a goal I wanted, which is to be able to do tempi changes.  Won’t take much to straighten out those circles into a line.  Probably not the Approved Training Method, but hey, we’re doing this for fun.

And with a horse like Mocha, fun is key.

The other thing we schooled was gate work.  Mocha has no problems with opening and closing gates from her right side.  But ask her to do it from her left…sigh, temper tantrums galore, and she tries to switch around to do it from the right hand side.  I put my foot down last night and we schooled the gate.  It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it.  Away from the gate, she’d move away readily to the left from my right leg.  The cues didn’t change because of the gate.  She’d just chose to move into pressure to try and turn around to close the gate the other direction.

What finally broke the pattern was when I pinned her by pulling the gate with us so she couldn’t turn.  That got us locked against the wall in a tiny chute.  I could see the wheels spinning in her brain at that point–not a place she wanted to be.  She sighed, yielded, and I got her to sidepass off of my right leg while I pushed the gate with my left.  Step, release pressure and stand for a moment.  Step, release pressure and stand for a moment.  Lather, rinse, repeat, until the gate was closed and she stood by it.  I got someone else to latch it and we went on.  Later, we came back.  I unlatched the gate, had her step sideways two steps to open slightly.  Pause.  Step back to close.  Pause.  Repeat.

We never went over three steps on that one, but we took it slow and easy, and by the end she’d done it a couple of times with no resistance.  At that point I left it off and we cooled out.

Horses.  Gotta love ’em sometimes, especially these smart ones.