Bare Essentials

There are so many ways to ride a horse: English, English country pleasure, hunt seat, dressage, English side saddle, western, western pleasure, roping, western sidesaddle and then you can get into the country specific ways to ride a horse such as a Peruvian Paso or the Arabian horse. Most times riding a horse involves a saddle of some sort. The saddle provides, theoretically, comfort for the human rider and comfort for the vehicular equine; though there are arguments against this in regards to both species.

I remember only two times riding a horse bareback. Once was a when I was around 12 during a Breyer horse show at the 4-H grounds in Loudon County Virginia. The horses stabled there were used for therapedic riding; which I had often helped along side my mother during the summer months. My favorite horse was a Meiko, a bay gelding that was very gentle and sweet. I simply adored him but of course never got to ride him. A group of girls were out in the paddock during the lunch break and a couple of girls were mounting up on the horses bareback. Peer pressure or just pure desire to be on the back of my handsome steed led me to hop up on Meeko and ride him around the paddock; though the ride lasted under a minute. He trotted a bit and then I dismounted at the first call of alarm from other kids that the adults had caught us in the act…uh-oh. I don’t regret it; even though we were not allowed to go ride the horses, for our safety I’m sure, it was still a thrill to ride my love!


The other time was right after a lesson on BC, my favorite chestnut Thoroughbred lesson horse from my later riding years as a kid (I think mainly late middle school early high). When BC was all groomed down my instructor let me hop up and ride him as she led him to the pasture. BC was 16 hands, maybe a bit shorter; not a really tall height for a Thoroughbred so it was easy to get boosted up onto his red back. The ride was short and sweet and slippery if I recall.

This past Sunday I decided to try Willy out bareback. I was pretty tired from spending a week for business in Atlanta, GA and I had not seen Willy for 14 days so I wanted to have a nice relaxing ride with him and not work too hard. I missed not seeing him the last Sunday so it was good to see his sweet little face again. I groomed him up in the indoor ring and bridled him. He sort of looked at me like I was forgetting something as I led him off to the mounting block. I stepped up on the block and swung my leg over his back and kind of scrambled around to get in the right position, yeah this was easier when I was a kid! Then I walked him around the ring doing circles and figure eights while concentrating on the movement of my seat. I could definitely feel his backbone along with his muscles as he swayed front to back and side to side. Honestly, I don’t think bareback is the most comfortable way to ride. I see a lot of people using a bareback pad or a blanket to sit on but then to me, that’s not bareback so why bother; just put on a saddle. We lazily walked about the ring for a bit before I dismounted and fetched the saddle to get some serious work done.

Sleepy Willy



My main goal was to keep him trotting continuously in the ring. He doesn’t have a problem on the “trail” but going in circles he trots for a bit and then wants to quit. I get a pretty big work out trying to squeeze him back into the trot so I brought my old faithful crop with me to use as a reminder. Just having a crop in the hand often times is enough with most horses but the occasional tap after Willy ignored my legs also did the trick. I was tired and I’m sure Willy wanted back to his hay so I groomed him down and brought him back to his pen. Until next week my little bay friend!

How to Fence with a Horse

In college I thought about taking up fencing but never got involved since I was busy with an outdoor club where we did backpacking, hiking etc. It’s still a sport that seems like it would be fun to learn but I hadn’t quite intended on learning “fencing” during a riding lesson on a horse!! My lesson on Divine started with circles and transitions, I’m still working on asking her for collection and working on me realizing when and how to best collect her to keep her in a consistent pace.


We started down the sides of the arena to work on the all more difficult aspect of riding a horse, going straight. This seems to be an issue for a lot of riders, go figure, we work on circling all too often so that when we, as riders, want to go straight we have issues getting it perfect. Granted I walk straight all the time on Willy but it’s not the collected “dressagey” (to use a word from Laurie ;-) ) type of walking straight. Since delving into this dressage type world I’ve learned a lot, anyone can ride a horse but to ride well in the classical sense is kind of like comparing ballet to break dancing. Dressage is the ballet of the horse world and I’m certainly not even up to par with the “training” level classes; not that I want to show but still, I digress.

When walking straight it’s amazing how my body reacts to being near the fence along the arena in this “walking straight scenario”. Fearing for my knee’s safety I get an extreme sense of panic and pull Divine in towards the arena and away from the fence….ah but not really away from the fence..turning her inwards actually pushes her to the fence. After several times of being banged into the fence and hearing Laurie repeating the same instructions, (“turn her nose towards the fence!”) which frustrated me even more I dismounted and Laurie explained and drew in the dirt what was happening. My brain was so alarmed in the saddle that the instructions, which on the surface seemed counter intuitive, just blew through my mind as my aggravation escalated.

In a nutshell if a horse is turned away from the fence line the arch they make actually puts my knee into the fence, whereas by turning her nose into the fence she arches in a way that puts her nose and rear closest to the fence and my knee is in a safe, happy place. “Okay….I’m kinda getting that” I think as my adrenaline lowers and Laurie mounts up to actually show me what she means. Divine was apparently throwing a wrench into the game as well. She wasn’t properly responding to my aids; the ones Laurie had been telling me to use and that I was trying to apply to the best of my harried mind. Laurie worked her through it and showed me what she was doing. She then had me stand in front of Divine along the fence as she walked up the arena towards me. I could see that turning Divine's nose towards the fence and pressing with the outer leg really did get her away from the fence. I think the movement of Divine’s head towards the fence freaked me out in my panicked state so that I didn’t let the action follow through enough to finally realize that yes, indeed those aids will get my knee back to safety. Sometimes you just need to actually see things you know?

I mounted up and practiced around the ring, getting Divine near the fence and then pushing her away from it. It was like magic! We ended the lesson with a figure eight at the trot. I kept to sitting the trot and worked hard at getting Divine to perform the exercise at least one time around while being responsive to my collection aid and keeping at a steady trot. YES! We did it and perhaps now I have actually learned how to “fence” with a horse; though I think I’ll leave the rapier to the real fencers, that could hurt on horseback!

How to Lunge a Horse

Now I'm not talking about the type of lunge whereby you take forward steps "in place" at a gym, while trying to impress some hot guy, thereby straining your hamstrings.  I'm talking about exercising a horse in a circular pattern on a long lead for training or exercise purposes.

Lessons learned in lunging a horse

1) Fold the excess lungeline in your hand rather than looping it so you don't get your hand caught in it if the line pulls out for some reason (i.e. horse freaks out and runs off)

2) While the horse is working in a circle around their person, that person walks a small circle in the center.

3) Push the horse with your body language: moving behind the girth will encourage forward motion or a faster pace, staying at the girth will help with maintaining the pace, stepping ahead of the girth signals to slow down or stop.

4) Don't pull the horse around with the leadline, your are "pushing" from behind

5) If using side reins to help with teaching headset and collection start looser and work up on a new or untrained horse

6) Lunging is a lesson in communication both for the rider and the horse

7) Go both directions so you don't work only one side (muscle group) of the horse.  And so you don't get too dizzy!

I found it quite intuitive and had a good time lunging Divine with just a halter and then the bridle with her "bitted up".  I'll have to try lunging Willy sometime to start working on him with collection.

The video below is one my mother took back in April.  Laurie is lunging Divine.  Sorry no pics or videos of me lunging a horse yet!

Loss of a Mini-Friend My Gerbil Benny

I haven't posted in a while but I have several horse posts in the "queue", I was planning on writing some this afternoon but a small little friend passed away today.  Benny (Bennigan) was one of two gerbils Steve and I purchased 3 years ago.  Earlier this year we put his friend Nibbler down since he had a huge tumor and infection going on.  Nibbler passed away in his sleep last night.  Yesterday he was running around, chewing on cardboard and snacking on seeds; I guess it was his time and I'm glad he went peacefully.

I know this is a horse blog but I love all critters, big and small and each has a special place in my heart.  I'll post my recent horse blogs soon I'm just not in the spirits to do so right now.  Every creature that has crossed my path and shared their life with me, has become a part of me so that when they pass on it's always hard to say goodbye.  Benny will be missed but I hope that somewhere he and Nibbler are cuddling in soft tissue paper shreds somewhere.  Give your critters (large or micro) a hug and kiss everyday, they are precious.

Silly Saddles

I've been on the lookout for odd tack, funny tack...anything that would work for the blogger of Tacky Tack.  Hopefully she got the email I sent with these two pictures below but if not maybe she'll hear about this post and do a blog about these silly saddles.

The first is a saddle made by Wintec, I'm sure it was long ago.  Today they might hang their head in shame having this image come back to haunt them.  I have to say the Wintec saddles I've tried have been very comfy and I seriously want to check them out when I buy a new saddle for my future horse....of course the saddle will be in all black!

This other saddle was a velveteen fabric.  I honestly don't know what to say!  It's been at Equiline, a used tack store in the Colorado Springs area, for a while now....about 6 months or more!  Don't get me wrong they have a lot of nice saddles, these are the only two I've seen that have been a bit "odd".  I love the store and glad I was able to snap these pics.

Of course this last saddle makes me think of every horse lovers dream!  I know this is always on my Christmas wish list!

New Area to Ride In

Willy really seemed to enjoy the grooming session today.  He had a particularly itchy area behind his pole on the far side at the base of his mane.  I curried the area and he leaned into the brush, closing his eyes, a pleased grunt uttered on his happy horse lips.  He was so cute.  His dirty coat took a while to clean, I ran some hand wipes on the dirtier areas to bring off some of the dirt that I just seemed to be moving around with brushes.



Willy Ear

 I purchased a new bit for the bridle, an egg butt snaffle that is a little bit milder to see how it works with Willy.  Once he was tacked up I mounted up and worked him around the indoor ring.  I tried to get him to trot consistently around the ring while I checked out my position in the two mirrors on the wall.  I was having difficulty with keeping Willy at a nice trot, so I decided to take him outside and try a new "trail riding" area. 

Willy Nose

One of the Friesians

I took Willy right down Meridian instead of left.  We crossed over Garrett.  The footing on the side of the road was not quite as good as I would like so we crossed over Meridian onto the east side.  I was planning on taking Willy down the first dirt road a bit to get off the larger street.  He stopped several times on the side of the road, looking around.  Even though he was a trail/endurance horse in his prime I don't know how long it's been since he regularly went out on rides.  At this stable he probably stays on the property most of the time so I can understand his apprehension when we go somewhere new.

We turned down the dirt road and I asked him for a trot.  I worked on posting but his trot was really quick and choppy so I was having a hard time.  I tried slowing him down with my seat and hands but he threw his head and nose into the air with very little rein pressure, nothing different there really.  We finally got back to a walk but with him hollowing his back, and stiffening his legs.  I was using the same aids that have worked well on Divine.  Though I know that sometimes my aids aren't perfect and Divine lets me know by being a bit more bumpy she has more smoothness than Willy and I think that's from her collected gait.  I really want to work with Willy on collection, I'll have to see what Laurie says at my next lesson since we are planning to work on lunging Divine.  We trotted a few more times with the same results even though I tried to change my seat and aids a little bit.

Beautiful Friesian head

We walked back to the stable and I worked on lateral movements with Willy on the road.  To make him move laterally to the left I turned his head slightly to the right and pressed with my right leg; to make him move laterally to the right I turned his head slightly to the left and pressed with my left leg.  He and I did pretty well considering!  We finished our ride and I got Willy groomed and put back in his pen with many carrots.  Of course I had to give a few to Two Socks his stall mate.  I then went on up to the top of the sloped property to visit Lorraine's Friesian mares.  They were very sweet but hard to take pictures of since the light was bad and since they kept following me and nuzzling the camera!  I can see why she loves them so much, Friesians are so beautiful and her mares are so gentle.  I went to say goodbye to Willy, collected my tack and headed home.  On my way out a man with his daughter asked if it was always so quiet here, this was the first day he was out here with his daughter leasing the grey horse, Misty, Willy shares a stall with.  I told him yes it was usually nice and quiet here.  Hopefully that girl will learn a lot from leasing a horse like I have so far!

Colorado State Fair

My parents and I headed down to Pueblo for the State Fair.  I hadn't been to one since I was about 5 or 6.  There weren't any competitions going on at the time we went but we visited the animal barns.  One of my dreams that ties in with horses is that once Steve and I buy some land, we'll give homes to other farm animals.  Steve wants a donkey, I want a miniature cow and a handful of goats.  Anyone who knows me can tell you I love all sorts of animals.  Right now I own a 55 gallon tank with 5 goldfish and a plethora of other water babies, a gerbil, two dogs, a cat, and a spider.  I used to have more but my lizard and other gerbil have since past on.  Anyhow it was fun to look at all the critters and think about the future when I will have the land and ability to tend a little "farm".

The goats were awesome!  I simply adore goats!  The house on the corner where I turn up the road to Laurie's house for my riding lesson has a herd of miniature goats.  I could easily load up my Honda Civic with a few, they are so cute!  Anyways at the Fair, one of the friendlier goats got up on the railings of her pen and was eye to eye with me, rather curious about my camera.  The goats were very friendly and nice to pet.  I've read that they are good to graze with horses, they tend to eat the vegetation that horses don't necessarily touch so it's good for pasture maintenance.  I also enjoy their quirky little personalities and their inquisitive stares.

The cows were also really neat, a lot of them were huge!  There were some miniature Zebu cows, not the miniature breed I want (I'd love to find a mini Jersey or something like that) but they were still pretty cute and soft to pet.  The babies were to die for!

We also went to watch the horses, we watched two girls go over their western routines.  They did circles and then did some sliding stops.  I still don't understand why people don't where a helmet!  Anything can happen on a horse, no matter how good a rider you are or how "slow" you'll be going on the horse it just makes sense to protect your noggen.  Anyways we toured the stables and looked at one shop that had some cute rope halters.  A lady came over with her chestnut Quarter horse named Smarty.  He was very sweet and Mom and I spent some time petting him while the owner bought a few things in the shop.

Later when we were looking over some of the shop stands I found a beautiful metal horse wall hanging, it shows different colors in different lights and angles.  It was very pretty and made me think of riding in the Colorado Rockies; I love this state.  Of course after all the animal stuff we went on the rides and a had a great time but I won't bore you with that, just know that my mom and I scream in sync on the rides!  I wanted to post about the critters even though most were not of the equine persuasion they were still very fun and perfect additions for my dream mini farm!  I'll be working on the horse ownership dream first!

No Stirrups!! Ack!

Running late for my lesson I was doubly happy that Ushi was riding before me.  As I approached the stable I saw Ushi riding Divine.  Once her lesson was done I joined her and Laurie in the ring.  Divine got a nice rest as we all talked.  Ushi stayed to watch my lesson, I always like watching other peoples lessons, you can learn a lot, so I never mind having her watch mine. 

Brownie- looking cute with Legs in the background

My lesson was all on the lungeline as Laurie was going to have me work on the posting trot.  I know it's a common problem, I've seen it in magazines and at shows but often a rider will turn their leg outwards while posting.  So we worked on the proper position for my legs and the proper movement of my hips as I moved up and down in rythm to the Divines trot.  Then she had me work on sitting trot without the stirrups.  Oh the torture!  LOL.  It really wasn't too bad and actually is quite helpful to get balanced without the stirrups.  In a sense stirrups can be as much a handicap as a helpful tool.

Laurie and Gadiel

Later she had me work on the posting trot without stirrups, now it's been a long time since I've ever done that, talk about Thigh Master!  It was difficult to say the least and my inner thighs were rubbing on the saddle, I was thinking that my new jodphurs were too thin and that was causing the problem.  Laurie insisted that I had tension in my thighs therefore causing rubbing that would not occur if I was relaxed and using my lower legs properly.  I'm still amazed at the vast knowledge she has of how little things in our body can affect our seat and our horse.  She even commented about how much Divine reflected my body.  When I was tensed up she tensed up, once I relaxed she relaxed with her head and neck and the gait became even more smooth.  The lesson ended on a great note with me sitting the trot, still without stirrups and using my seat to bring Divine smoothly into a walk and then a halt.  How awesome that felt when I was in complete sync with her.  Laurie was pretty proud too and made me beam even more!

Divine should be a fly mask model!

After I released Divine back into the arena after her grooming session I loved on Pstar a bit.  Laurie had been talking earlier about a mare she wanted to purchase, potentially, as a second lesson horse but needs to find Eksodus and Mystic Magic (Brownie) a home.  If one of them finds a home she could justify getting the mare.  She seemed pretty smitten.  She also mentioned in passing the difficult decision about selling any of her horses, even Eksodus and Brownie.  It made me really hope that she'd never sell Pstar, I love seeing that mare when I come to the stable.  She's always the first to greet me.  I have no idea how she'd be to ride in the ring or on the trail but her beauty is one that comes from the inside out.  There's just something special about her.  Honestly I think there's something special about all her horses.  I just hope when I get all my ducks in a row and I go horse shopping I can find a mount that's at least half as sweet as her horses!

Gadiel gazing at the beauty of Sala

Thinking about Braiding

I've never braided a horses mane before, the one time I was in a horse show way back when I was 12 (I think I was 12) the horses I rode already had the simple hunter type braiding done.  Hunter braids are probably the most common braids seen in the show ring but require a shorter mane from my understanding.  Not something I would ever want since I love a long flowing mane but the braids do look sharp.

I have seen some horses with braids that haven't been "balled up" and sewn like the ones above.  I don't know if there is a technical term but they are simple to do with any length mane to keep the mane tidy and from getting into knots I guess.  I think a lot of endurance riders use this so they don't have to fuss with the mane on a long ride.  Of course anytime a horse has a braid in they need to be tended to regularly or else the mane can turn into a big knot or the horse could inadvertently rip out a big section of mane while they are itching on a fence post.

With Arabians, Andalusians, Lusitanos or other horses kept with a long mane and tail, the most common approach is the running braid.  I think it can look quite elegant but seems a bit tricky to do, kind of like the French braid for women's hairstyles.  I doubt I would use it for a trail/endurance horse but to maintain a long mane and keep it nice for the dressage show ring this would be a nice style to perfect.

My all time favorite style of braiding, though it's not a braid at all is the diamond pattern.  The first picture shows how to do this, it looks pretty simple, just time consuming but the end result is absolutely stunning!

Sometimes though, horse hairstyles can go a little far!  Check out this guy below.  Wow!

So that's my little post for today, talking about braiding.  I'm not really interested in showing but love seeing the fancy things people do with horses manes and tails....I mean, didn't we all have My Little Ponies as little girls and practiced braiding way back when?  Still the most striking beauty is a horse with a free flowing mane and tail that floats in the wind.





Sigh.

Itchy is the Word of the Day

I visited Willy on Sunday as usual.  I was a little disappointed that my friend Jessica who was visiting us this weekend had hurt her foot, therefore she could not join me to ride.  We had been excited to have her ride Riddle or some other horse and go riding together.  I think last time we rode together was in early high school!  Alas, she and her husbanded headed to their Air force posted home in Wyoming and then I came out to see Willy.  I was still pretty tired so I figured I wouldn't ride too long. 

View from the indoor riding ring towards the south and Willy's pen

It was nice to get Willy and groom him, the whole barn was vacant and I left the radio off so it was just the sound of wind blowing and the methodical sound of the curry comb that I was listening to.  Willy was particularly dusty today, each curry brought up more dirt on his coat.  I worked extra hard with the flick brush, going over the coat multiple times trying to get the dirt out of his hair.  I undid the braids in his mane, he had what looked like the remnants of a running braid that was beginning to turn into knots.  I got out the comb and tried to comb through some sections but decided that with the breeze going through the ring it was a losing battle.  I finished tacking him up and then led him out to the smaller outdoor ring.

We walked and trotted a little in the ring.  Willy wasn't really wanting to move forward much and I was too tired to keep my leg on him with any force so I led him out of the ring into the area around the arena in hopes that we could walk around the arena with a little more momentum.  It worked.  We mainly walked and trotted and I continued to work on halts with him.  It really is a struggle but as we continued he got quicker and quicker in his stop response.  I then had him canter up the slopes a few time, I think we both enjoyed that!  The canter is certainly my favorite gait but I think it's most peoples.  Of course Willy is not very collected so it's not as smooth and balanced as it could be but I'm not a horse trainer and don't know how to work on him with collection issues.  Most Sundays I just want to hang around a horse and have fun.

Itchy, itchy, itchy!

Ah yes, right there...got it!

After riding for a bit I took him into the indoor ring and rubbed him down, gave him a couple carrots and led him back to his run.  He did his usual scratching motions, twisting around to reach his rear legs like a dog would.  I laughed at him and told him the Native Americans were accurate in calling horses big dogs, since they didn't have a word for horse.  Willy was so cute, in between scratches he came over to sniff at me as I squatted down to get a better vantage point of his antics.

I wandered over to the grooming area near Riddle's stall, said hi to him of course since his little ears pricked up under his ear bonnet.  I also went over to the dark bay/black Arabian of the next door neighbors.  He was beautiful so I talked with him and stroked his soft face.  He seemed to soak in the attention with great splendor.  After some time I had to get back and get my tack sorted, plus I wanted to bring the carrots over to Willy and his two run mates; Two Socks another light bay and Silver (I think) a grey horse.  Willy was very grabby with the carrots, so I ended up putting a bunch in the hay bin and then gave some to Two socks and Silver in peace.  I then hugged on Willy as he went back to his hay, went to gather my tack up and headed home to crash...well shower first then crash.

The Mystery Horse

I love how worries and even tiredness go away when I'm with a horse. A sweet soft muzzle touches my hand and I am transported to a simple world of hay, leather and warmth. Even when the ride is not "perfect" a day with a horse beats any day without one.