Warmup Time

Well, it's rather warm here in the Great American Southwest, it being the time of year when we win the Weather Wars (the Frozen North will win again come June, when it's 105F here), but what I'm really doing is a warmup to writing fiction. And I owe you all a dose of neep, anyway. So.

There is also a photoblog, but it's here. Fat White Ponies lying down! And getting up! Oooof!

We survived the holidays mostly intact. Getting back to reality has been the usual challenge, but we're mostly there now. I'm just about caught up with the very patient Mentees, and getting used to the idea of a new year ahead. January Camp was a great success. March Camp is up next, with sartorias and rachelmanija and coraa , and we're looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, the horses are getting a tiny fraction of what they consider to be their fair share of attention, about which I beg to differ, as in, Wait Your Turn, Kid!
We now have White Horse Yoga as a regular thing--third Friday of the month, every month, plus if there's a Camp, we have an extra edition. What we do depends on the group, and especially on the horses. Pandora is our Enlightened Master. She teaches about as much as J does, and reinforces lessons in amazing ways. Need to improve your position or balance? She's there. Need to learn patience or calm or peace of mind? She goes down in front of you and goes to sleep (as in the blog over at Book View Cafe). She is, in a lot of ways, the soul of the yoga classes.

Camilla has also been prominent. She has stories to tell, and she's telling them to everyone. What the story is depends on who you are and what you need, as well as on who she is. With me it's patience, always a challenge; and not getting fixated on goals and gotta-do's, which is a major problem of mine; and relaxing and breathing and taking things as they come.

She's going to get her very own one-on-one ridden-yoga class in February. She's taken too much damage from riding lessons pre-S to be happy even with S, whom the rest of the crew adore; she needs a different approach. So we're going to try this one and see what she thinks. She's been happy just noodling with me, and is quite in favor of work, she just needs a particular kind of work.

In a lot of ways I think she's an equine version of an autism-spectrum person. Things come at her too fast, too hard, too strong. She gets overwhelmed, which makes her tense, which makes her angry. She doesn't have the repetitive behaviors that some horses do (weaving, pacing, cribbing, etc.), but she grinds her teeth when stressed, and under pressure she locks up solid and then can't move at all--until she explodes. Most of the time she's a sweetie, if pushy; she's a great help with the young ones and she has lots of friends in the herd. But work for her is either something she wants so bad she can't stand it, or something she just can't cope with.

And then there's the fact that she's phenomenally flexible, which crashes head-on into her phenomenal strength and means that under saddle she can wobble something awful. Then, she'll freeze up. Which in turn means I have to be perfectly balanced on her back, no matter what she does.

So. We'll see if balance, breathing, and gentleness will get through to both of us in a yoga session. I've tried some of it on my own, with my highly limited knowledge, and she likes it.

Bear in mind, this is, on the hoof, the best horse here. Fantastic conformation, movement, balance and raw talent. But getting through to her mind has always been the issue. Pooka has the mind, so with somewhat less of the rest, is coming along just fine. Camilla has been...a process.

And the first element of making it work is not getting hung up on what she could be, but on accepting, and working with, what she is. She'll get there through not being pushed or driven, because those things throw her completely off the rails.

This has been a great help actually with the others, who don't have all or most of these issues. For one thing, it's taught me patience. For another, I've learned to dial down the volume--which for Ephiny in particular is important.

Ephiny has had a hiatus from saddle training. First I got bucked off Pooka and hurtlikehell for a long time, then there were holidays. This week has been about getting her back on track. We've started with groundwork, which turned out to be a good idea because she's back to throwing her head around and cow-kicking with that restless right hind. She bit me twice in the first session, while I was simply asking her to loosen up her neck and find her back end again. But that ended with soft eyes and calm manner, and she was a little teed off that it didn't last longer. Then next day she wanted MORE. And each day is better, calmer, softer, more focused. I'll be back on her soon, once she's back in her bod again and remembers how to relax and let me call the moves.

Always an issue with the young Lipizzan mares, that. If they (and you) survive the first year or so, they're wonderful. Beyond wonderful. Awesome.

Yes, Capria was hell on wheels as a young horse, too. Oh, was she.

She has a new student btw. Lady from the yoga classes, who a few years ago was terrified of horses. She's been riding S's amazing (and forever young) 28yo schoolmaster, but a few yoga classes ago, Capria let her know there were more things to learn. So M comes on lesson days, and Capria gets a massage, because M's a bodyworker, and Capria teaches M about balance and confidence and riding a horse with fully functional warp engines. And they're both very happy.

Capria also is happy to teach Tia how to do the long-running pas de deux, which happens with Tia at liberty and entirely of her own volition and often in all three gaits, and which is amazing and all that, but it's time for Tia to learn to, you know, wear tack. And do this stuff the more conventional way. So she's learning about the longe cavesson and doing groundwork in a halter. I'll be fitting her new bridle to her soon--she had one, but Pooka broke his and appropriated hers, so ebay to the rescue again--and then we'll see how she feels about wearing a saddle.

Working with her is an Experience. She's totally motivated and seriously into work, but she's also an alpha, and a Lipizzan alpha at that, which means an exceptionally high level of self-awareness and self-confidence. She cares about me, a lot, and she really cares about becoming the best riding horse Evar, but this thing where I tell her what to do is just a bit, you know, haaaarrrrddddd.

Sessions with her are highly interactive. She asks Lots of questions. "Can I throw my head around? Can I chew on the lead/reins/longeline? Can I paw-paw-paw realrealrealclose to your foot? Can I levade? Can I strike? No? You want me to just stand there? You nuts? What, you want me to move my foot where YOU want it to go? But that's BORING! It's not boring? It has a point? OK, what if I back up real fast? No? Well, crikey. All RIGHT. ...Wait. That feels kind of good. Can we do it again?"

And if she's a real stinker, I just remind her, in so many words, that if she wants to be like Capria, she has to be safe and calm around me, and she has to pay attention. And mostly she does. She WANTS to. She just has to learn all the rules, and they have to make sense to her, which is the sticky part. But she's working on it.

She is going to be...interesting to ride. But I think in a good way. Serious, motivated partner. And I think she'll take me with her when she goes eek--as Capria did at that stage.

Pooka in the meantime has been getting his ante upped in lessons, which means mine has been as well. I haven't had sore hip flexors in many a year, but now after lessons I do. ow. This is WORK, Mom! says Pooka. No kidding, kid.

The ante that's been upped is connecting that back end, then bringing it all back toward the front. I.e., classical collection, stage 1. And now, O the humanity! having to be supple through the body and the neck while he does it. And straight. Did I mention straight? He so wishes I wouldn't.

We do a lot of half-halts. A Lot. Rock back, connect, lift, forward. ROCK back, connect, LIFT, forward. On the ground, in the saddle. Transitions, transitions, transitions. And now, as of the last lesson, supple through the body, step into the rein, connect, collect, forward (including the down transitions--they're forward, too). My hips and seatbones are getting a serious workout, right along with his. Oh, and? That rhythm thing? No more all over the place. No more dribble dribble RUSH dribble stop lurch dribble RUSH RUSH RUSH stop dribble.

Nice side effect: quieter rides Out, when he starts to get boingy and I can plug my seatbones into his hindlegs and defuse the flippy bits.

No more plowing around. He has to OPEN up those shoulders and BEND that spine and SITZ that butt. Booyah.

And as for Lipizzan Number Nine, the beautiful Gabriella? She had her massage session right after the New Year, in which it was determined that she was sound of mind and body, sane, sensible, and ready to ride. So, last week, while T had a lesson and the arena was free of ricocheting jealous Girlz, I saddled her up (Camilla's saddle, her brand-new ebay bridle with the pearl browband; she is a Moon Princess after all)



(noseband that came with was too small--she has one now that fits)

and did a little groundwork, and then with S to hold the stirrup, mounted up. And ZOMG she fits me perfectly. She's rusty, of course; it's been quite a while. But she naturally raises her back to carry me, she's thinky and thoughtful and careful, and she's so ready to do this.

S could not say enough good things about her--her topline, her balance, her movement, her attitude. I think S kind of likes her. :) "She's going to be so easy! She has it all! It's ALL THERE!"

And to think nobody wanted a 17yo broodmare, because, hey, old and flabby and probably not ridable. WE knew better. This is one beautiful mare, amazingly fit for six (or is it seven?) babies, and if you want to know where Tia got her motivation, look right here.

And, you know, My Lipizzan. Ephiny is ferociously jealous. But, she'll get the lion's share of the ridden work for a while, and then she needs to call her own human, because that's what she wants and needs. Someone she connects with the way her mom connects with me.