Lesson Coma
The state of being completely wiped out mentally and physically, after throwing it all into the riding arena on a surprisingly cool summer morning (yesterday was a record low high for the date--86F; normal is more like 103). The lower temperatures are wonderful. The humidity, not so much. Summer monsoons--which have blown in early and strong--are just that way.
The plan was to do half-lessons with both Ephiny and Pooka. As I fed and watered horses (and cats and dog) and finished barn chores and lugged tack and groomed two horses, I realized that's not going to work for the longer term. There's not enough of me to go around. So next time Ephiny will get the whole session, and I'll be doing homework with Pooka; will either alternate sessions or do a twofer every other session. We'll figure it out.
Meanwhile we did a twofer. Everybody was mellow; despite nonstop boom-boom-BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM boom boom BOOM BOOM last night, the horses weren't fazed, though I was rather ragged around the edges.
I started with Ephiny, because the work we have to do with her is a wonderful warmup for riding Pooka. She was much calmer this time than last, no explosions, and I realized as we worked with her that she's come a long way in her body awareness and willingness to use all her working parts (and they all work excellent well). No more fear reactions when asked to engage her hindquarters.
My brain shorted out when we got out in the arena. Went blank. S was patient. We worked on bendy bits and lightening the shoulders (which involves engaging the opposite hindleg), and on the familiar pendulum (big-time engaging exercise), and on lateral work. She was attentive and calm. No splodey bits. Only a little mouthiness, which for her is absolutely huge. She always goes to the mouth when she gets overfaced or annoyed.
But hey. She used to go do the right hind--kicking, spinning, blowing up. She graduated from that to biting at whoever was trying to work with her. Now she just tried to chew her reins a couple of times.
When she was balanced and moving well with me on the ground, she was finally ready for me to do the exercises under saddle. We squared up, and there we were. As with Pook, there were a few moments of remembering where all the parts were, and then we were off, with S asking for engagement and bending and forward, and Ephiny settling in, with back like tabletop. She was starting to respond to seatbones and a little leg, and generally being very, very cooperative and very, very thinky.
And she got her sugar and a hug and a chance to go in and rest and process all the data, and Pooka was already waiting at his gate for his turn.
More realizations as he got his saddle and started his warmup. Capria is still the Home Horse, but so is Pooka. My work with Ephiny has worked wonders for my ability to deal with him--the hormones, the sensitivity, the good old-fashioned balance hysteria. Starting a lesson with her focuses me and gets me balanced--the energy issues are significant, but it's still worth doing this as often as I can manage it.
With him, the exercises are much easier. He's much farther along on the training scale, and in many ways his layup was a reboot. The old issues have mostly faded or evaporated. He's more balanced and better connected in spite of being still out of shape. (Though that's improving noticeably.)
We did some work in hand. One thing we both enjoy is keying in so that whatever pace I set, he matches it. It's been a game with us for years. S moved in and made it an exercise. Four steps of collected walk, four of lengthening. Riding through the small of my back. (Horses will connect amazingly with humans, if the humans allow it.)
Then it was time to translate it all to ridden work. Bendy bits for warmup, and free walk. Then on to the collected and lengthening exercises. Walk first. Lift the shoulders for collection (which means engaging and sitting down behind), then keep the lift but open up for lengthening.
For Mr. Collectamatic, the collected part was easy. Almost down to half-steps? No problem. Lengthening, not so much. He'd want to drop down on his front end, or get rushy, or both.
Trot was occasionally hilarious, according to S. I was working too hard to be amused. Boing boing cuss shake head boing WTF?! stop boing boing... And then he got into it. He was falling in a good bit on the left, and I did remember that the right hind was injured, and we have much work to do. He couldn't handle it all in sitting trot; with rising trot in the lengthenings, he was more comfortable. S said he let out a couple of good exhales while he was working, which is a very good sign.
He worked hard enough that when he got to do a nice working trot around the full arena, he lasted three-quarters of the way before he started to get rushy--the new Pooka poop-out, not so much with the grinding to a halt, more with the fast-forward. Which is actually a good thing.
Tired happy Pooka. Tired happy human. I haven't worked this hard since the last time I had a for-real Pooka lesson.
Homework is carry on as we've been doing. A couple of times a week, do the collection exercises. He wasn't struggling today, any more than any horse would who hasn't done the work in a while, but we need to be a little bit gradual. No piaffe this week.
I guess it's not just Star Trek that gets to do a reboot. This in many ways is like a whole new Pooka.
The plan was to do half-lessons with both Ephiny and Pooka. As I fed and watered horses (and cats and dog) and finished barn chores and lugged tack and groomed two horses, I realized that's not going to work for the longer term. There's not enough of me to go around. So next time Ephiny will get the whole session, and I'll be doing homework with Pooka; will either alternate sessions or do a twofer every other session. We'll figure it out.
Meanwhile we did a twofer. Everybody was mellow; despite nonstop boom-boom-BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM boom boom BOOM BOOM last night, the horses weren't fazed, though I was rather ragged around the edges.
I started with Ephiny, because the work we have to do with her is a wonderful warmup for riding Pooka. She was much calmer this time than last, no explosions, and I realized as we worked with her that she's come a long way in her body awareness and willingness to use all her working parts (and they all work excellent well). No more fear reactions when asked to engage her hindquarters.
My brain shorted out when we got out in the arena. Went blank. S was patient. We worked on bendy bits and lightening the shoulders (which involves engaging the opposite hindleg), and on the familiar pendulum (big-time engaging exercise), and on lateral work. She was attentive and calm. No splodey bits. Only a little mouthiness, which for her is absolutely huge. She always goes to the mouth when she gets overfaced or annoyed.
But hey. She used to go do the right hind--kicking, spinning, blowing up. She graduated from that to biting at whoever was trying to work with her. Now she just tried to chew her reins a couple of times.
When she was balanced and moving well with me on the ground, she was finally ready for me to do the exercises under saddle. We squared up, and there we were. As with Pook, there were a few moments of remembering where all the parts were, and then we were off, with S asking for engagement and bending and forward, and Ephiny settling in, with back like tabletop. She was starting to respond to seatbones and a little leg, and generally being very, very cooperative and very, very thinky.
And she got her sugar and a hug and a chance to go in and rest and process all the data, and Pooka was already waiting at his gate for his turn.
More realizations as he got his saddle and started his warmup. Capria is still the Home Horse, but so is Pooka. My work with Ephiny has worked wonders for my ability to deal with him--the hormones, the sensitivity, the good old-fashioned balance hysteria. Starting a lesson with her focuses me and gets me balanced--the energy issues are significant, but it's still worth doing this as often as I can manage it.
With him, the exercises are much easier. He's much farther along on the training scale, and in many ways his layup was a reboot. The old issues have mostly faded or evaporated. He's more balanced and better connected in spite of being still out of shape. (Though that's improving noticeably.)
We did some work in hand. One thing we both enjoy is keying in so that whatever pace I set, he matches it. It's been a game with us for years. S moved in and made it an exercise. Four steps of collected walk, four of lengthening. Riding through the small of my back. (Horses will connect amazingly with humans, if the humans allow it.)
Then it was time to translate it all to ridden work. Bendy bits for warmup, and free walk. Then on to the collected and lengthening exercises. Walk first. Lift the shoulders for collection (which means engaging and sitting down behind), then keep the lift but open up for lengthening.
For Mr. Collectamatic, the collected part was easy. Almost down to half-steps? No problem. Lengthening, not so much. He'd want to drop down on his front end, or get rushy, or both.
Trot was occasionally hilarious, according to S. I was working too hard to be amused. Boing boing cuss shake head boing WTF?! stop boing boing... And then he got into it. He was falling in a good bit on the left, and I did remember that the right hind was injured, and we have much work to do. He couldn't handle it all in sitting trot; with rising trot in the lengthenings, he was more comfortable. S said he let out a couple of good exhales while he was working, which is a very good sign.
He worked hard enough that when he got to do a nice working trot around the full arena, he lasted three-quarters of the way before he started to get rushy--the new Pooka poop-out, not so much with the grinding to a halt, more with the fast-forward. Which is actually a good thing.
Tired happy Pooka. Tired happy human. I haven't worked this hard since the last time I had a for-real Pooka lesson.
Homework is carry on as we've been doing. A couple of times a week, do the collection exercises. He wasn't struggling today, any more than any horse would who hasn't done the work in a while, but we need to be a little bit gradual. No piaffe this week.
I guess it's not just Star Trek that gets to do a reboot. This in many ways is like a whole new Pooka.
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