Topaz Dreams

1. Move the horse, don’t let the horse move me. With Fetti, this means committing to only forward motion at the walk instead of shifting sideways all the time. Also means actively riding every step of the circle so she can’t drop me sideways off an edge.
2. Find the left and right edges, then squish the lost one back into place. Left is difficult.

1. Tilt forward and back to find center. It will feel too far forward. This is fine. Stay there and “plugged in.”
2. Take left leg. Rotate. Attach properly to horse. Repeat as necessary.
3. Circle right more. It’s not doing either of us any favors to keep going left all the time.
4. In transitions, stay with the horse, don’t lose that connected feeling by getting left behind.
5. Engage left hind. In both directions of the circle, at both gaits. Think of moving it forward and diagonally towards right front.
6. Practice turn on forehand on the ground. I don’t feel the cross-over well enough to insist while riding.

I’m going to keep this short and all in one. I knew that 2018 was going to bring some changes.  I had put in notice at my job and was working part-time at the beginning of the year.  Combine that with a new and longer barn commute, and a riding partner who was out of commission with some health issues?  My motivation to get out for long rides tanked.  I did some.  It wasn’t a lot, and it wasn’t really what either of us needed.

I started a new job in May.  The good: I love my job, what I’m doing, the people.  It pays better and offers the flexibility I need.  The bad: it’s in the opposite direction from the barn.

So naturally I bought a second horse.  I’m going to try to be better about blogging now that we have blog-able things.  Let’s face it: “walked around the barn for 20 minutes and appreciated how zen this horse has become” is not particularly interesting.  Which is fine.  I like non-interesting for my nighttime hacks.  The alternative is “walked around the barn for five minutes, barn-sour and herdbound horse pitched a fit and a tiny rear, and strong words were had in the round pen afterwards.”  Much less fun.

Second horse.  Baby pony – she’ll be three in July and I plan to keep calling her the baby until she’s eight.  

Q4 Goals Recap:

Ponying into the park?  Check.  Kept happening.  Between an unfortunate mishap with my trail buddy and the dam being up, this is not a thing for Q1.

Headlamps? Check. This is life now.

Solidify backing? Fail. Still working on it – right now, this is a thing at least briefly every time I get her out.

Polite hoof-handling? Doing well. Not perfect.

Fly spray: Fail. Did not work on this at all. Have spray bottle, have done nothing with it.

Into park solo via highway? Nope. Wasn’t needed in Q4, probably not going to try for this in Q1.

Goals:

Commit to being at the barn 4x/week.  I had nearly talked myself down to three with just Fetti, but Polly needs to get out regularly.  Boyfriend and I discussed this prior to purchase and he’s on board.  Grace periods allowed for fantastically awful weather.  I have a wonderful support system; sometimes it’s not worth a two-hour drive in a downpour just to pat them on the noses.  Nose?  I’m not sure which is right here.

Start seriously saving for a truck and trailer.  I may be able to make do without and have her started lightly at the barn this year, but it is something I want to have for off-site rides.  I did not have this with Fetti.  I want this with Polly.

Pollyanna: Groundwork.  Lunging.  Ground-driving.  Learn a new skill monthly, work on something in-progress at least weekly (versus “turnout” or “ponying around the barn” or “standing still while tied” – all these are in regular rotation). I’m dabbling lightly with clicker training and probably the low-level Parelli stuff too.

Get in at least one trail ride with Fetti per month, weather allowing.  Bringing Polly along is optional but may make this easier in many cases.  

More specific January-February Pollyanna goals:

Continue work on ground driving.

Occasionally wear a bit; research baby bit options.

Horse appropriately.  (No injuring the other ponies.)

Install a solid “back” cue.

Also: I have a lot of photos, but WordPress and I can’t agree on uploading them. Hopefully fixed soon – but waiting means I’ll be publishing this in May, so text-only for right now.

Fly masks need to go on politely in the dark. It’s not clear yet if it’s the fly mask or the flashlight at her head that she objects to more; both need some practice before winter comes in. Pre-posting edit: it’s the light. This winter will be good for her.

Good ponies do not threaten to mount their friends in turnout. Good friends, however, will absolutely double barrel kick in an attempt to teach that lesson. It hasn’t sunk in yet.

Lead ropes can be stepped on without totally losing it. Polly leads beautifully and ties politely. However, this may be more luck than serious lesson pre-learned? At the end of a ride I hopped off Fetti and left Polly standing with her lead on the ground. We were right near her stall and I figured she wouldn’t go far in the time needed to clip Fetti to the tie rail and maaaybe pull her bridle. Instead, I clipped Fetti to her lead rope at the tie rail, Polly must have stepped on her rope, and she fell over. I think there was some attempt to go up in front involved, but it all happened rather quickly in the moonlight. Ahhh, babies. (She got up and appeared fine.)

Good ponies do not trot into the lead horse. Or bite the lead horse. Confetti has been exceptionally tolerant but took offense to being run into. Maybe that will help enforce this lesson?

Truly, though, she’s been very good. We went into the park bareback and ponying because that’s how we roll around here. My biggest issue was my lack of appropriately strong bit on Fetti, who shamelessly took advantage and dove for grass regularly. Polly went for grass more politely and mostly when stopped. If there’s no pressure on the line I can’t object too much.

And another pre-posting addition, since I’m way behind: successful trotting in the park. My goal is to do a more prolonged trotting ride before the dam goes up; after that, it’s one horse at a time til spring.

Polly is also very Haflinger and very nosey and every time I come out there are new scrapes. Help. Send bubble wrap.

PS: Fetti would like you to know that she is not being neglected, but is definitely rubbing a chunk out of her mane. No mane photos, it makes me sad. She is not, however, tearing up her face. Small wins?

Polly was reported to be not-good at fly spray. “What the heck,” I figured, and held onto her as I coated her in fly spray. She danced around a bit, but she did not completely opt out.

Similar reactions were had to hosing off her hind end. Everything else was okay, that involved some polite sideways shifting of ‘I would really rather not’ but again, zero leaving.

Baby attention spans make standing still hard. It’ll come.

We did a tiny hike through the back woods. One of the logs looked scary, but again she was polite about disliking it. She wouldn’t initiate stepping into the river but walked right in once I got my ankles wet. Gold star! I fully expected that to be a challenge and I’m so grateful that it might not be.

Ponies are still working out their differences but hopefully we can start more trail work soon!

I look at this and see two very different Haffies.. yet almost everyone else has to ask me which horse I have out.

Still chest-narrow. Cross your fingers for me that she grows out and not just up.

Polly got a bit of a pass on Saturday as far as manners goes. Her brain and body were both a little overwhelmed by a five-hour trailer trip to a place significantly busier than her pasture. We walked, we looked, there was grazing and an occasional snort.

She met the Gypsy pony very politely.

Fetti.. had some opinions about this stranger in her stall. Unfortunately, it’s the bigger of the two, and it felt more fair to give the pasture pony more space – at least initially. Fetti disagreed. I brought home another horse? Without asking her first?!

Sigh.

I turned them out together the next day. Fetti maintained her opinions.

Polly has a tiny nose compared to the older and draftier ponies.

My boyfriend did get some good comparative photos though.

But Fetti was mostly just “please go away. Mom can I get out now?”

I see we have some work to do before ponying begins.