Feel and Timing

As predicted, things are returning to normal between Finn and I. He's been coming up to me in the pasture like usual, and today I turned him loose most of the way across the bottom pasture from Fiver and he showed no need to bolt away from me. In fact, he was still grazing happily where I left him as I pulled out the driveway. That's what I like to see.

I rode him today and yesterday... not unexpectedly, it feels a little like starting over again after his week of semi-vacation. I've been riding out from my car parked at the lower gate and the stretch of driveway that passed behind the upper gate and shelters is providing its usual challenge. Finn is convinced monsters hide there.

Yesterday, I confess I let myself get a little flustered and frustrated, but we eventually achieved some measure of understanding. I made the goal simple: take me to the next "safe-spot" (ie - the space where I park my car when I park near the upper gate) so I can dismount. We did quite a bit of trotting through the scary, squeezy part, and I allowed Finn to show me some rather impressive movement. A few times, he got very suspended and powerful in his trot, and boy is that a feeling! Although it's not coming from a relaxed state right now, I am reluctant to shut it down at this stage. In fact, I want him to feel he can offer that amount of energy and freedom while I'm on his back. I am sure going to want it later! This little horse is going to have an extended trot to die for one day.

Today, I planned to by-pass that confidence issue by leading him to the arena for a ride. I wanted to do a little work on the D,N exercises, because I am eager to keep making progress on that front. But somehow that ended up NOT being what we did. For whatever reason I was compelled to repeat yesterday's goal instead... take me to the "safe-spot" calmly so I can dismount and we can be done.

I'm glad I did, because I actually had an excellent ride. One of the things that was really getting to me yesterday was my failure to feel like I consistently get the HQ/FQ turns right. While I can generally get the HQ and then the shoulders to yield, I knew the footwork wasn't accurate, and I can't consistently cause Finn to step his forehand smoothly across. He is generally either lagging or leaping.

Yesterday I was squarely in a state of conscious incompetence... I felt like Finn was getting more dull to my rein and leg, but I knew that it was because my timing wasn't right and my feel wasn't accurate enough. I was asking him at times he was unable to comply, and not feeling his feet well enough to even know how close or far we were from getting it right. That's what really started frustrating me. But today I was able to keep the frustration at bay and simply practice... brushing it off when we totally missed.

That was a big improvement for sure. And I was able to feel for the hind feet moving under him as he yielded his HQ, and at least attempt to ask the FH to come through when it was able to. I'm aiming to ask when the outside hind lands, and I'm releasing for even small efforts if the inside front attempts to reach promptly when I ask.

This stuff is SO not easy. Trying to feel what the feet are actually doing has frustrated me endlessly for the last several years... frustrated me to the point that I usually just abandon it and continue on in ignorance. I want to be done with that pattern. There is, after all, only one way to get better, and that is to endure the frustration and commit to the long process of practicing until I get it.

I do so want to actually feel those feet under me, to be able to direct them with good timing and feel as though they are my own. I've got a lot of work to do.

500!

As of yesterday, I have logged 501.5 hours with Finn this year. We reached our goal of 500 hours in 2014! And with time to spare, I might add. I am grateful, though, to have done it before I start my seasonal position at UPS, since I am unsure how much time that will leave me to ride. We have had a busy, productive, hard-working year so far, and it is likely we're headed into a bit of a lighter winter.

I was super pleased I was able to "celebrate" reaching 500 hours on a stellar trail ride with S and a visiting friend of hers. We went to Clear Creek and went even further than last time; I think we did between 8 and 9 miles total. The Fall weather was glorious and, as usual, the mountains were beautiful.

"Termination dust" (snow) on the mountains.

Finn was absolutely super. He took a couple small spooks, but for the most part felt very grounded. I think his confidence was a little shaken by the experience at Montaña de Oro. When we turned around, he was a little over-forward for a while, but patiently insisting that he maintain the same distance behind slower-walking Rainey helped him settle down. He gradually started taking more and more responsibility for maintaining the space, even when it meant balancing himself better downhill to avoid falling into it. I was pleased. He also crossed a bridge twice, following Cody closely for confidence. I was VERY pleased. And we even had a chance to practice water crossing, thanks to a large puddle in the parking area!

Fun to ride with a group of three!

All in all, it was a lovely, relaxing, awesome ride. I felt very grateful for the horse underneath me, the time we've spent together this year, and all the tremendous experiences we've had. They've been fun, challenging, funny, scary, frustrating, relaxing and everything else imaginable, and we've been together through it all.

Customary ears photo.

I am, of course, contemplating my goals for next year already. I have a general idea of where I want to head... continuing with our study of Dressage, Naturally, for sure. Starting Finn over fences. Taking him to his first shows at some local dressage and/or H/J schooling shows. But I'm not quite sure what I want my specific goals to be. Whether I want to increase my hours, or trust that being employed all year will make getting 500 again challenging enough. I may set a goal next year for the number of rides I put on him... There are so many options, and I have quite a while to choose.

And here's my favorite pic from the ride; I'm so glad it occurred to me that this little turn in the trail would make a nice photo op! I adore Finn's expression here, even though one can barely make it out. I'm just glad to have a photo that captures my joy for me... my love for this challenging little horse and for the beauty of Northern Nevada. Things are looking up. :)

Two Videos are Better Than One

First up, when R was out at the farm with me yesterday, he took a few short videos of me riding Finn in the new saddle. I wanted to keep it simple, so I rode a large circle around him and he shot a lap or two of each gait. Here is the finished product:



R over-exposed so I'd be able to see detail around the saddle, since that was the main point of the project. Must say, I like how it looks on us!

I think this will also serve as a better "before" video for our study of Dressage, Naturally because I have figured a few things out since that last video that have really shifted some things. For one, Karen's presentation about the four different postures helped me gain clarity. In this video, I am committed to the "whatever" posture... ie - I'm letting Finn do as he pleases. I'm not asking him to hols himself in any particular way, and I'm not being super particular about his energy. I'm just rolling my bubble along and expecting him to stay in it.

One thing I do want to note is that this video definitely shows me I need to revise my feel for energy a bit. Finn is really moving well in this video... certainly not super active and inspiring, but he is a flowing mover with a long stride and a natural desire to stay balanced. While we will, over time, be more balanced and do higher energy things in balance, I think it is a bit unfair of me to pick at him incessantly over this neutral energy, as he is certainly not crawling.

I sort of wish we'd taken some video of our transitions, because our transitions have really gotten better since I started experimenting with "go is release" and being more deliberate about the "get ready" part of the transition. Far from perfect, but so, so much better!

Next up, I took the tarp out with me today and alternated playing with it and playing with the cavalletti. Finn ACED the cavalletti, by the way... even at the canter! He definitely showed me that he understood the objective of maintaining gait through the canter poles, and even adjusted his stride approaching the poles to meet them at a doable distance. Super horse!

Back to the video, though, this is just one of the things we did with the tarp today. I was super pleased with Finn's reaction. This is where we ended up, obviously; not where we started. Even when we started, though, he was very self-controlled. I kept tossing until he could refrain from moving his feet to sniff the tarp where it landed.

You can see in the video that a couple unexpected things happened, and Finn handled them like a pro. Go pony!



We also worked on crossing the tarp and had the interesting revelation that sometimes more is better. For example, crossing the tarp at a trot might be easier than crossing it at a walk. And getting a walk across the whole tarp laid flat might be easier than getting the walk when the tarp is folded in half. All in all, I'm happy I was able to keep an open mind and be flexible in search of what would help Finn accomplish what I was asking of him!

Go is Release

Karen Rohlf does this speed-coaching thing on Facebook. The "game" is you have to pose your question or problem in only five words, and she answers in three. She posts about it unannounced and, in theory, only answers the first handful of questions she receives, so a little luck and good timing is essential. It just so happens those things were on my side yesterday evening!

I even had a question planned, one I'd been thinking about asking if I was ever "on time" for Karen's post. I hadn't thought about it in a few weeks though, and I almost didn't ask because I didn't feel like it was such a pressing issue for Finn and I anymore. In the end, though, I decided to go ahead with it. The question (or problem) was: "distinguish 'get ready' and 'go.'"

Karen's answer was: "Go is release."

My initial thought was "hmmm." Clearly the point of a three-word answer is to point one's thoughts in the right direction rather than fully explain anything! So think I did... and not without a bit of confusion and a touch of frustration. Okay, go is release... but how?

It's not like the idea was totally foreign to me. I can recall the feeling of asking for a trot lengthening like that... when you compress the trot a bit and build up energy in the corner and then allow the horse to power up into the diagonal or long side, and it does feel like release. But I was a little stuck on how that applied to other transitions. Halt to walk, for example. And I was even more stuck on how it'd apply to riding on a loose rein or even playing on line. I suppose because I was erroneously thinking of the reins as the only way to instruct the horse to wait while you build the next gait inside the current one. How wrong was I!

I think the best thing about Karen's response was that it reminded me that "go" can and should feel like a release, which is a far, far cry from where Finn and I have been lately! As I contemplated that last night, I could see that I had gotten way off track, because "go" felt like pressure and more pressure, like PUSHING and disharmony. In short, it felt pretty awful!

So, I went to the barn today thinking about that. I also downloaded Karen's audio recording about relaxation, energy and balance, and listened to the energy segment while driving to the barn. That provided another super helpful gem in the form of a simulation demonstrating how the "get ready" and "go" conversations might sound from one human to another.

I played with Finn on line only today. I slowed down and was more deliberate. I talked aloud a bit more to help myself focus on the desired feel. And I tried to feel the new gait within the old one, build it up, and find a feeling of simply releasing into the transitions. To some degree this was a leap of faith... I just pretended I expected it to work, and lo and behold, it actually did. Yes, I had to get a bit "bigger" to clarify to Finn what I meant a few times, and a few times I had to remind him to try instead of tuning me out, but the bottom line is WE FOUND IT.

We found upward transitions that felt like release. We found a walk that had a trot inside, and a trot that contained a canter. And in taking things a little slower with the trot, I think we even found a few tiny glimpses of real power (that elusive combination of energy and relaxation) in which Finn pushed and lengthened with each stride instead of hurrying. The silly thing is, he is apt to do that... but I have a sharper eye for quick than powerful, and I think tend to push him quicker than I should.

So, hooray! It felt like a big triumph for us. In addition to all the transitions and gaits being improved, Finn's attitude was also much more willing! Goodness I hope I can find this stuff under saddle next. Crossing my fingers that the Thorowgood arrives early enough tomorrow to take it out to the barn, but I'm not holding my breath.

Groundwork

Somewhat without meaning to, I ended up deciding to give Finn a light week. He certainly deserves it after how hard he worked and tried on the camping trip. To some degree this was precipitated by my ongoing concerns about the suitability of the Ansur saddle and the fact that the Thorowgood T8 jumping saddle I've been wanting to try is due to arrive on Thursday. On point or not, I kinda wanted to give his back a break before fitting and trying the new saddle.

It was also brought about by a desire to revisit some groundwork after our the Montaña de Oro trip. I figured a few days focusing on groundwork would be a nice change of pace and give Finn's back a break, too. Seemed like an all-around win.

I pulled out Buck Brannaman's red groundwork book and started looking through it for things we haven't done yet. Since we now have a nice round pen to work with, I am also able to do some things I couldn't do before. For example, the lass rope exercise where you throw the slack between the horse and the fence while the horse is moving around the pen and then yield the HQ towards you and allow the horse to change eyes and go the other way. That one confused Finn at first, but the great thing about him is confusion doesn't really turn into fear with this stuff. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had kicked at the rope as part of his learning curve, but he never did.

Today I even did the exercise where you "rope" a hind foot and stop the horse from trot or canter by applying steady pressure. While this made me a little nervous, once again there was no panic on Finn's part. Our biggest challenge was that Finn wanted to turn towards me when he stopped.

Finn's laid back reactions to this stuff are definitely encouraging. At least I can say he's got some good stuff in him, but of course I'm still wondering about the stuff that isn't. So this is all fine and dandy, but his spooks and reactions on the camping trip tell me there is still stuff that needs to be dug out. I'm just not sure how to go about getting at it. More plastic bag, I guess. And more tarp. Maybe tomorrow I'll bring those toys and do some of the fence work with them and see what I can find.

I have been considering looping the handles of a plastic bag around his fetlock, but I wonder if that's taking it too far. For one thing, I worry he'll step on the bag with his other front foot, or even a hind. On the one hand I suppose I'd like him to be prepared for the eventuality, just don't want to be unfair or unsafe in the process of getting him there.

I've also been continuing to practice my D,N groundwork, working towards finding the sweet spot on line, and today I added in a few cavalletti exercises as well. First I set them for a walk and rewarded him when he chose to stretch his stride and go forward to make them instead of putting in a tiny half-step to make the distance work. I then set them at a trot, which he is an old pro at. He stretches his top line and looks LOVELY over trot poles.

Finally, I really upped the ante and set two canter poles for him! I experimented with the distance and settled at 10 - 11 of my foot lengths. At this stage of the game, I don't want to make it hard for him. I want the distance to match his stride pretty closely. Even with an easy distance, this was definitely a challenge. Many attempts were fumbled. Going right (and uphill, the way I had the poles set) was easier than going left.

He got a little rushed at points, especially because I had to remind him a few times what the request for canter meant. (Energy!) His last success to the right was a thing of beauty... he was relaxed, has a slightly slower tempo, and actually stretched a bit to find the distance. His last success to the left was a lot less glorious, but it was a start. This is definitely going on our list of things to keep on doing. I'd like to get to cantering all four poles someday soon, so I'll just keep building him up until he's ready.

Wrapping up, I want to share this conformation shot R took of Finn about two weeks ago:

I know the light is a little harsh on his neck. I'm going to consider this our starting point for our new adventure into dressage. For comparison, here's a photo of Finn before he was started:

Gosh he's pretty, isn't he? It can be difficult to make useful comparisons between photos with a lot of inconsistency... the horse has definitely changed in demeanor, which for sure effects his appearance. I also can't vouch for the ground in either of these situations being especially level. But the one thing I do believe I see is an increase in the dip in front of his withers in the more recent photo.

I'm not going to obsess over it, but this does add a little bit of urgency to my decision to begin the D,N program with him. I am in a hurry to learn to help my horse move better and be healthier! The trick is to not let that hurry enter into our day-to-day interactions and cause impatience.

Montaña de Oro: We're Back!

Actually, we got back late Wednesday night, but it has taken me this long to scrape up the motivation to write a blog post about it. The trip to Montaña de Oro was more challenging than I expected in several ways, and I think Finn and I were both pretty drained by the experience.

First off, the trails were more of a physical challenge than I expected. Many of the trails around the horse camp and towards the beach consisted of deep sand. While perfectly logical, I just wasn't prepared for that, especially because many of the trails also featured significant elevation changes. Fortunately, Finn was up to the job, thanks to our extensive riding all summer.

Sandy trail en route to the beach.

Next, the trails definitely challenged Finn's confidence more than I expected. There were many places where steps had been added to help resist erosion, and if there was more than one step close together, it became cause for consternation. I was definitely surprised by this, and there were several places where I had to get off to walk Finn through tricky parts of the trail. In fact, on day three, we encountered what pretty much amounted to a full-on flight of stairs, and I simply chose to get off and walk him back to camp. By that point, it was clear he wasn't getting more confident, but instead more anxious, so I figured it was time to cut our losses.

The beach also challenged Finn more than I expected. While I certainly wasn't expecting him to walk right into the surf without question, I didn't realize we would have so much trouble with clumps of seaweed, the way wet sand changes color when you step on it, or even the effect of hoof prints being left on fresh sand. Looking back I sort of wish I had lowered my standards a whole bunch and simply been happy with less, as even my best efforts fell short of accomplishing what I thought were reasonable goals. Live and learn, I guess.

Really not bad for first-timers.

Finally, the size of the group seemed to unnerve Finn more than I expected as well. After his success riding out with the group during the Washoe Lake overnight, I thought we were covered, but this environment was much less forgiving for a nervous horse and offered far fewer options for helping him stay with me.  I had some success just keeping him in front of the group when he was feeling a little amped, and we definitely had spans where he was able to relax and be in the middle, or even the back, so it's not like there are NO positives to note.

Bringing up the rear on day one.

Finn became extremely attached to Tiva during this trip. Perhaps I shouldn't have put him in a pen next to her... something I will consider for next time. But this wasn't a huge surprise; while S and I have worked on separation on our rides around home, I know Finn isn't fully confident when Tiva leaves us behind. If Tiva is behind us, he's usually fine, but Tiva going out ahead of us is a whole different story. He is by no means unmanageable or impossible over this, but it is difficult to have genuine connection with your horse when half his brain is locked on keeping track of his buddy.

Not saying they don't make a cute pair...

Finn's confidence definitely took a hit on this trip, and I'd have to say I think mine did, too. Especially because on day two I fell off Finn for the first time, and the second. Yeah, day two kinda sucked.

The first fall happened like this: I was riding along on a loose rein and Finn felt totally relaxed. Tiva was leading us by a horse length or two, and the rest of the pack was behind us. We were winding through some sandy trails towards the beach. Tiva tripped and stumbled, and my horse pretty much vanished from underneath me. There were some loose branches in the sand around where this happened, so they may have played a part in Finn's spook, but I'm not really certain.

I hit the ground with the reins still in my hand and, of course, tried to hold on to keep from losing my horse. Unfortunately that basically turned me into an unidentified potential monster trapping Finn in a mortal danger in his mind and he sent a double-barrel kick my way and connected with my right shin. At that point I am grateful I had the presence of mind to recognize what was happening and just let go. He blasted past the other riders at Mach 10 and galloped off like the terrified prey animal he was.

Luckily, and true to form, he didn't go far. With nothing further contributing to his terror, he crossed his flight line, realized he was alone and stopped to look for the herd, which was waiting where he had left us. I prepared to hike out there to fetch him, but he soon came bounding back, cutting through the brush, and headed straight for Tiva. After pausing for a few minutes to let our adrenaline wear off, I remounted and we continued on our way.

The second fall happened on the beach. I was trying to get Finn to step into the receding waves and he got startled and once again spun so fast it was like he practically disappeared from under me. Luckily this time I landed on my bum in front of him, in a position where I could hold onto my reins without risk of being kicked. After pulling back for a moment, he calmed down and realized it was just me down there.

I'm not going to lie, this is somewhat unnerving. I have sat through lots of Finn's spooks, but these were really in a whole different category when it comes to speed and suddenness. Maybe I would have held on better if I'd had my own saddle with it's lovely suede seat (I do find the saddle I'm borrowing from S very slippery to sit on), but who really knows? On a positive note, at least the saddle didn't spin like I've always worried about!

I am considering not riding in S's saddle anymore... which will basically amount to not riding anymore until I can get a new saddle. I have one en route from Smart Pak to try that I have high hopes for... I am REALLY hoping the Thorowgood T8 Jump saddle proves the answer for us.

But I am itching to get back on my horse. We finished out that second ride without any further problems; Finn was as relaxed as could be heading home from the beach, aside from being extra skeptical about a few things that had hardly bothered him on the way out. But still, I feel like we've now had a string of less-than-successful rides, and I'm impatient to begin re-building some positivity in our partnership.

Anyway, the third ride (on the next day) was the one where I turned back at the stairs. Apparently that trail was chock full of similar challenges, so I'm glad I made the choice that I did. In retrospect, I wish I'd have taken a few minutes to walk him down and up the stairs from the ground, but I don't want to waste time fretting over THAT of all things. We went back to camp alone, which he did willingly and with relative calm, although he was calling fairly regularly. After working him some on the ground, I tied him to the hitching rail and let him practice that for the next several hours.

He actually settled down quite well while the other horses were gone, but he had quite a melt down when Tiva returned, went out of sight to be untacked, and then went to her pen. It took several hours for him to really find peace on the rail.

The next morning, I tied him while I was cleaning his pen and getting ready to ride and was super pleased that he was contented to stand right off the bat. However, when S took Tiva to the trailer to tack up, he lost his cookies all over again and I ultimately elected to just stay at camp and let him work that out. While it was a bummer to miss the last ride, I felt it was the right decision for Finn at the time. Going out on those rides certainly wasn't helping him! He actually did quite well, settling down to stand pretty calmly only 30 minutes after the other horses left.

Realizing he hasn't been left here to die.

He once again had a bit of a fit when Tiva returned. In an ideal world I would have let him stand at the rail until he was over it, but with the long drive back to NV ahead, I had to settle for less.

All in all, the trip didn't go quite like I hoped, but that's life. Group setting and challenging trails like this are good for pointing out all our holes, and not so good for fixing anything. That is the attitude I am trying to take for all this... I now know more about where Finn and I are struggling and all I can do now we're home is do my best to fix it. More to the point, trying to fix these things on the trail wouldn't have worked; not with this group, not in that setting. Sometimes you just have to live to fight another day.

Yes, this was all somewhat discouraging. Yes, it has made me question my horsemanship and my goals for this horse. Yes, I shed some tears and had some lapses in positive attitude. In the end, however, that's just life.

I look forward to getting back to some routine riding and seeing where we're at. I feel like I am still in need of better tools and techniques for this horse if he is ever going to be a solid trail horse. I feel like I really need a better strategy for helping him navigate tricky things. But paramount in my mind at the moment is a commitment to setting us both up for success in the immediate future. I slipped up and over-faced him, not just on this ride, but on some of our other recent rides as well. Now we're both a little less confident, and only time and positive experience can repair that.

Token photo from the inland trails.

Onward and Upward

I was fortunate enough to have R come out to the barn and take some video of Finn and I today, like I've been hoping to do for some time. As I'm delving into the Dressage, Naturally material, I wanted some "baseline" footage... this is where we started.

Although I have watched most of the video, I don't have anything to share yet. Shooting with R's fancy cameras often means the process of cutting the video together is a bit more involved, and my time was pretty limited this afternoon, for reasons I will get to in a moment. First, though, I want to at least share my observations.

As usual, I was impressed by Finn's rhythm, general relaxation and natural movement. There is no doubt in my mind that everything with this horse comes from and returns to relaxation (except when it doesn't, like when he totally looses over something that unnerves him, but we're not practicing our dressage in those moments). He may not fully understand how to combine energy and relaxation yet, but I think that's more physical than mental. And he goes right back to sleep in no time flat.

He is also not a horse that has trouble reaching under himself with his hind legs. Finn has a very naturally long and reaching stride. Now, that's not necessarily the same as him actually carrying and/or pushing with his hind end, but at least he's got a head start of sorts. Although his "neutral" trot can feel slow as molasses from the saddle, in the video it looks rhythmic and supple with a still decent length of stride.

Although I still often feel like I'm treading water on our discussion about energy, the fact is I saw a clear change in the video. His willingness to go is definitely increased; walk, trot and canter. Additionally, in the video it was plain that some of the higher energy trots I've been asking for are beyond his ability to perform in balance. To put that another way, I'm running him off his feet.

That, combined with having to watch myself (after already being somewhat discouraged to feel myself do this) fall into drilling him, really made it clear to me that I need a clearer and more appropriate picture of what I'm asking for. Often in my rides I get carried away by something I'm trying to accomplish and I work at it too long without pausing to appreciate Finn's effort or consider what I could change to make it easier for him. In this case, a more moderate idea of the energy I'm requesting and more commitment to getting it crisply and letting Finn understand his success would really improve the feel and productivity of our sessions.

I was really pleased watching Finn's whoosh-y yields out of the walk, too. Both his hindquarter and forequarter yields were really quite lovely, although I did have to clarify a little at the start since our focus had shifted to other things over the past few rides. We will, of course, continue to refine and build on those.

Now, to get to the reason why my time was limited this afternoon... I'm going camping, and I'm taking Finn with me. Yes, you read that right.

This is why I love what I do... because when I'm not working, I'm not working, and I get to do whatever I want. S had this trip planned already and asked me semi-last-minute if I wanted to join and I said: yes, yes, a thousand times, YES! We're going to Montana de Oro State Park in Los Osos, CA... 8,000 acres on the central California coast. And YES, there is beach access for equestrians. In fact, the beach is very near the horse campsites.

While the beach is one of the main attractions, fact of the matter is Montana de Oro is a veritable wonderland of gorgeous scenery. I can't wait to explore it. We're meeting a couple other folks there (friends of S) and we may stay as long as 5 to 6 days. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.

I doubt I'll make any blog posts from the trip, but I will definitely be taking pictures and hopefully get a video or two as well. I am really hoping the beach presents some options for taking our gallop to the next level yet again, letting Finn hold the faster speed longer to get comfortable there. Yeah, I'm dying for a good, long gallop!

And on that note, I bid you farewell. I still have packing to do. Sometimes I hate being a chronic procrastinator.

Clear Creek Revisited

I was so pleased to be able to squeeze another trail ride in with S before I head off to braid again! I really wanted Finn and I to have a more positive experience than our last ride before we both take a break. So, after some deliberation, I chose Clear Creek, a trail we know well and that doesn't present too much challenge to our emotional fitness.

After all the wooded, more mountainous rides we've done lately, it was really nice to be back to winding through the sagebrush on a sandy trail:

We took advantage of the good footing and gradual, winding climb through the foothills to get in some long, steady trots and even a few nice canters. Finn did awesome, I was so pleased with his relaxation and rhythm in the trot, even though at times S and T were quite a ways ahead of us.

It was about 80 degrees and the horses are starting to put on their winter fuzz, so they got pretty sweaty during that part of the ride. There was, however, snow in sight... I love mountains:

See the snow caps on the distance mountains?

We went further than we've ever gone on this out-and-back trail, and wouldn't you know it... less than 100 yards from where we've stopped before, there was a bridge! Luckily, this bridge was at least three times as wide as the ones we struggled with at Brown's Creek, and it had safe, sandy "landings" on both sides. I thought at first it might not even be an issue, but Finn definitely informed me otherwise.

He would have been happy to rush across, but I wasn't having that. I got off to discuss going without rushing, asking him to step his front feet onto the bridge and stop, until he could semi-relax there. I did get on and ride across after that, and then we rode a little ways further before turning around.

Again, I thought the bridge wouldn't be such an issue since we had just had a prolonged discussion about it, but Finn said otherwise. Again, he would have been happy to rush across, but I wasn't having it. In the end, I didn't ride him across on our second go, just got a slight improvement on the ground and moved on. We had to be back to the barn to meet my trimmer at a certain time, so I didn't want to take up more time.

Clearly, we need to work on this at home. Finn absolutely has to learn to walk calmly and confidently across a bridge in order for it to be safe for him to do so. So, I'll have to talk to the barn owner about maybe keeping a large piece of plywood in the arena for a while. I'll need something I can easily lift and move by myself. At least it will give us a starting point.

Anyway, Finn was a little on adrenalin heading back towards home after the bridge... I'm not sure if it was the bridge or the change of direction that got him so fired up. He was by no means terrible, still maintaining a walk on a loose rein (a VERY forward walk, but still a walk)... but he wasn't really connected. He had a hard time standing still when we stopped. So, we kept stopping and standing until he could commit to stopping, then going on. For this part of the ride, I asked S to ride behind us so there wouldn't be yet another thing (T) drawing him forward.

He settled back down after a while and the rest of the ride was really lovely. S and I both played quite a bit with transitions, which resulted in us being quite far apart at times. Finn handles S & T disappearing behind us with absolutely no concern. When they disappear ahead of us, he starts to think a bit about looking for T, but again nothing too dramatic.

Anyway, all in all, it was a super ride! Exactly what I was hoping for, even if we didn't quite achieve what I'd have liked to with the bridge. When I come home, we'll get back to that!

Another view of the beautiful desert.

The best view there is. :)

Brown's Creek

I can't say I'm super enthused about writing this post... it is so much fun to talk about the good stuff, but today's ride was more sobering than exciting. Finn and I crossed the line of what we were capable of accomplishing together, and I am just grateful beyond words that neither of us paid for it too dearly.

It was the creek crossings that did us in, because they were not particularly horse friendly. Not a problem for a truly seasoned and confident trail horse, but Finn is just not there yet. Instead of a nice jaunt through a shallow creek, which Finn and I have gotten pretty good at handling, there were very narrow bridges, steep banks, and very limited options:

The second bridge.

Finn actually crossed the first bridge twice successfully with me on the ground. With the help of Tiva's lead, I then rode him across, but that ended somewhat awkwardly when he tried to take a half-leap off the far end to avoid stepping on the rocks and slipped a bit on the bridge. So, I got off, thinking I would lead him across a few more times. Two attempts later, he made a mis-step and fell off the bridge.

Thank God he popped right up with nothing but a few scratches to show for it. I cannot help but think how easily that could have been way, WAY worse. Which is in my nature... I had that thought from the moment I saw that bridge. I didn't feel it was safe. But I allowed naive optimism to over-rule my true intuition.

I want to point out that this is NOT a question of the bridge itself being safe or not. It is plenty safe for a sure-footed, confident horse that is used to handling such questions. It was not safe for Finn and I, based on his nature, experience and our level of communication. I wish I had understood that sooner. To put it in eventing terms, I challenged a Novice level horse with an Intermediate level question... recipe for failure.

What's done is done. I pray I don't find Finn any worse for wear tomorrow, and based on several hours of monitoring him (ie - finishing our ride) after the "incident" I don't have any reason to believe he will be. So, there's nothing much for it but to reflect on what I learned.

First, I learned to be more conscientious about the questions I present to my horse. From now on, I hope I will do better at honestly evaluating our chance of succeeding.

Second, I gained much food for thought on the general question of how we operate our horses. When it comes to things that scare Finn, I have a habit or philosophy of allowing him to think it through/make his own judgement. My thought process being that I don't want him to feel forced, I want him to see for himself that it is safe. While I wouldn't say we haven't gotten results with that approach, it proved inadequate today. Facing a scenario we couldn't control where there was no room for error, this approach of letting him make his own decisions was inadequate.

I think of all the times I have let him leap across the tarp, telling him that it's fine if he rushes across, I just won't reward him for it. While I wouldn't say that is wrong, it again was a pattern that served us poorly when facing the "real" world. When the chips were down and I needed control of his feet, I didn't have it.

I don't really have any conclusions to make at this point, because I don't know what is right. What I know is that I want this to get better. Not only do I want Finn to get more sure-footed and confident within himself, I want him to learn to rely on and obey me when he isn't sure. And, of course, I want to set him up to learn it when there is no great price for a mistake, until I have a realistic reason to believe we won't make one.

So in the end I guess today was a lesson learned and that's all there is to it. Ever more reason to explore my convictions and beliefs about horsemanship.

Finn and I at the end of our ride.

The Excitement is Killing Me

Timing is a funny thing... not that this really has any impact on me, but it just so happens that today is the first day of the next six-month course in Karen Rohlf's Virtual Arena. I will not be signing up, of course, since it is WAY out of my budget, but I feel somehow more motivated on my own personal immersion plan to dive headlong into her book. For the next six months, she'll be guiding students through her six-step program I outlined in my last post, and I'll be working through the same six steps on my own. For one thing, I think knowing this will keep me on a more progressive timeline.

I'd really like to have some quality before and after video footage, but I don't think the GoPro is really going to cut it. I'm working on getting R to come out to the barn, but no luck so far.

Anyway, yesterday I began establishing our conversation about balance by focusing on "whoosh-y" yields, from the ground and in the saddle. One of the most fascinating observations I made was that there was some unexpected brace in Finn's HQ yield. I believe this is primarily due to confusion/lack of clarity rather than any real defensiveness or concern on his part. When I would ask for his HQs, he seemed torn between disengaging and engaging for a forward transition. We sorted it out pretty easily, though, and I will just have to be careful to be more clear in the future.

This group of exercises about balance is about where I got stuck and gave up on this with Journey several years back, and that has been on my mind. Mostly because I have been asking myself: how will this time be different? I think the key is going to be keeping a curious, open mind, and not allowing myself to get bogged down in everything I don't know. Rather, allowing myself to experiment, to feel foolish, to experiment, and to trust my intuition. That should get us through.

Today we took our discussions of relaxation, energy and balance on the road, and added in a little hill work for good measure. Being outside of the arena, I only worked on our whoosh-y yields from a halt instead of playing with the transition from walk to yield. But the real excitement of the day was all about energy...

My plan was to play with the exercises for maintaining energy, and Finn's initial responses to requests for energy were right on from the beginning, so we got right to it. Going into our two main hills, I asked Finn to bump it up from a 3 walk to a 4, and the response he offered was really lovely. His walk was big and swingy and active, and I only had to remind him a few times to keep to it.

When it came time for our first trot hill, I established a 4 walk and then thought about transitioning smoothly and directly into a 4 trot, which we had been playing with the day before in the arena. Well, low and behold, Finn responded immediately and matched my energy perfectly, which I can partly attribute to the patterns of anticipation I have built into this program of ours.

He powered up the hill, high-headed at times, but going into the second half, he started stretching his top line more consistently and really getting to work. In fact, he even did a few strides of a baby trot lengthening, which felt amazing! I've felt a HUGE trot from him before, but it was done with a completely upside-down posture... those few strides today were easily the biggest trot I've ever felt him STRETCH into. The last several strides he leveled back into a more moderate trot, but still felt super committed to carrying the energy and maintained a lovely stretched feeling. Talk about a Yes! moment!

Although I had planned to ride longer, I also needed to get home early-ish today and I was so impressed with Finn's big effort, I decided to just quit on that note. While I enjoy the longer, leisurely sessions we mostly have these days, sometimes there is nothing like short and sweet, an excellent way to reward a horse for being on point from the start.

Feeling that kind of energy and stretch in Finn is so exciting. He is such a talented mover with so much natural athleticism, I can't wait to watch him own that. I can't wait to help him grow stronger, more powerful and more confident. And you better believe I can't wait to ride the movement that's been in there untapped all along!

While I've asked myself, "How will this be different than last time?" (as in, "What's going to keep me from getting stuck again?"), somehow I just know it will be. I can feel it. I can feel it as though it has already happened. I know Finn and I are going to rock this.

High Sierra Riders 4H Trail Trial

I am SO grateful Mother Nature held off and allowed the High Sierra Riders 4H Trail Trial to go off without a hitch. After watching the forecast get progressively more grim throughout the week, I woke up this morning to a forecast of 70% or more chance of thunderstorms all day long! Well, suffice it to say the forecast in Northern Nevada is often even less predictive of the actual weather than in most places. While it drizzled on us a bit and was rather chilly, all in all I'd say it was a lovely day.

Finn, by the way, was an absolute super horse. Aside from the Buck Brannaman clinic this May, this was his first big "event." It was also his first competition, although I don't think he noticed. He was somewhat confounded at first by all the horses going every which way, but he soon grew accustomed to it. That alone was a huge part of what I was hoping to accomplish! I've had Finn half-way LOSE IT over horses in the distance before... today there were almost constantly horses in the distance and it was no big deal.

When it came to the actual obstacles, I was pleased to find that the Novice level challenges were pretty appropriate for us. There were several obstacles which Finn handled with ease, such as picking up a rain slicker, mounting and dismounting, walking through a "car wash", or navigating ground poles. There were others that concerned him more, requiring that I allow him more time to think his way through, such as circling a tarp-enclosed water hazard and crossing through a white PVC gate. And there were a few we accepted a score of '0' for, but still found a way to achieve success by our own definition.

For example, at one obstacle, we were asked to walk across a board laying on the ground. After several minutes of working at it from the saddle, I asked if I could dismount and work on it from the ground. Luckily, there was no one behind us waiting, and the judge welcomed me to spend some time schooling. After a little more discussion, Finn gave it a try, making the first crossing in a half-leap, and the second in a lovely walk. I would have happily left it there, but the judge invited me to remount and try again. After a brief hesitation, Finn willingly took a little half-leap to the other side, and on the second try walked across perfectly. So far as I'm concerned, the score of '0' does absolutely nothing to detract from the value of that experience! I was thrilled.

Trying it from the saddle first...

Helping Finn find success from the ground.

On another note, the PVC trail gate had the added challenge of a semi-hidden small board on the far side which the horses had to step onto. I know Finn well enough to suspect that he might launch a bit when that board moved under his feet. If I hadn't been doing a trail trial, I probably wouldn't have set something up like that, because it did test my nerve. I worried that Finn might put a foot across and then suck back, potentially catching a foot on the bottom bar of the gate.

In the end, he did launch somewhat... forward though, which is almost always preferable to sucking back, especially for a future jumping horse. I was on it enough to have taken a hold of my breast collar when I felt him commit to going, so I stayed right with him and didn't catch him in the mouth. I praised him big time for his bravery and moved on, as there were people behind us and thus no opportunity to school.

The reason I am dwelling on this (and a few other things that happened) as a success is this: nothing Finn did today felt concerning or difficult to ride to me. His handful of startles and his one big leap all felt reasonable to me, and never once did I feel like he was anywhere close to really losing it. In other words, one might say I have ridden through some of his antics and survived! That is definitely a confidence booster.

The thing is, Finn has shown me some very dramatic reactions in the past, reactions which I would absolutely NOT want to ride. He showed me them at a time in my life when my confidence in my horsemanship was already faltering, and to be honest I have felt more nervous, heck even fearful, around and on this horse than I had EVER felt before, especially with one of my own horses!

But that's changing... I trust Finn more now. I trust my own abilities more now. And altogether I no longer feel like getting on him is a gamble... now we've got enough going on to really put the odds on our side. That is HUGE!

So, all in all, a fantastic day full of growth and fun and laughter and Yes! moments. Exactly the outcome I had been hoping for all along. Again, I am SO grateful Mother Nature chose to play along with our plans!

Super Horse!

I had super and very different sessions with Finn yesterday and this morning. Yesterday, I was still feeling pretty unmotivated and bummed about my saddle, so I decided not to ride and instead pulled out our old "friend" the tarp.

I realize our long and checkered past with the tarp precedes this blog, so to briefly sum it up: we have had issues. We spent a great deal of time working with it early this year, but we were stuck at tolerance, not acceptance. While I could toss it on and around him, have him walk over and across it, and even get him to put his front feet on it for short periods of time, he was not truly calm about any of it.

Finn's injury in March interrupted our program with the tarp, and when he was 100% again, I decided to let it rest a while longer. We were making so much progress in other areas, strengthening my leadership and our mutual trust, that I wanted to see how his feelings about the tarp might change just because so much stuff between us had changed. Well, based on his response yesterday, I'd say this was an excellent decision!



To be honest, I cannot believe this is my horse. I have studied this video and the others I took over and over again wondering if he might be "catatonic," but as best as I can tell, he is simply relaxed, which is how I read it in the moment, too. What a novel concept! Seriously, I am in disbelief.

Next up, crossing:



This might not look like much, but it is SO improved. Earlier this year, I could get him to cross, but he felt like he might leap 20 feet in the air at any moment if the tarp so much as wiggled a smidge. At first he would rush, and I would reward him with a break only for walking. Then he figured out he was supposed to walk, and it was the TIGHTEST walk I had ever seen!

He started out super yesterday, then back-tracked a little into uncertainty, then ended on what you see in the above video, which I consider absolutely awesome. This is a horse I could imagine riding across a tarp without fearing for my life. That is major progress.

There are still a couple things I'd really like to get solid with the tarp. First, actually tying it to my saddle and having Finn carry it through some ground work. Second, having him be able to stop and stand on it 100% relaxed. Third, crossing it confidently from the saddle. And fourth, dragging it from the saddle and even being able to pull it up and over him. The thing is, I feel 100% closer to all of those things after yesterday's session. Now I feel like they are all within reach.

Moving on to this morning's session... I have been getting some inspiration and ideas from a new series of free videos released by Karen Rohlf, and I finally felt motivated enough to actually play with the D,N exercises again. I went out today with the intention to focus on 100% clarity in the simple things.

The nice thing is Finn and I actually have quite a lot of clarity already. I think even an objective observer would agree that our communication is high quality. Not perfect, but certainly above average. What was really helpful, though, was the reminder to strive for 100% clarity, and the high level of focus that requires, at all times. Also, the reminder of how important 100% clarity is to helping the horse be a confident, motivated and willing partner. Of course the horse will be more interested in working for someone who remembers to tell them how absolutely right they are!

After working at this for a while, I shifted to thinking about creating "inspired" movement. After listening to Karen's videos, I was thinking a lot about how to help Finn feel truly inspired and eager to let his power come through. In other words, really getting to the core of the conversation about energy we've been kinda stuck on for the last several weeks.

I asked Finn to show me what freedom looks like. I told him I knew he was so full of power, and I'll love if he could show me some of it. I showed him some freedom in my own body, exaggerating my body motions and really shaking it loose. I went out to really and truly PLAY with it, instead of having a certain way of doing it in mind. And the last thing I changed was I tied my stirrups up, to remove one reason he had to hold back while working on line while saddled. (While he is not afraid of the stirrups bouncing around, he finds it unpleasant, and I can't blame him.)

Well, among those changes we found the key, because we really got it today, first on line and then under saddle. I felt transitions so free and flowing I almost missed being stoked about it because it felt so easy! We quit our on line session on a walk-trot-canter transition in which Finn showed me three strides of the biggest, most elevated, most powerful trot I've ever seen him offer. While the riding was, by design, a little less exuberant, the last transitions felt no less free. And I made sure Finn knew he had gotten it, 100%! Yes, yes, yes! I told him he was my hero.

I am realizing how important and powerful it is for the horse to feel safe to make such a big offer, and how critical it is to make it SO clear to them that's exactly what you wanted when they do. Especially for a quiet, timid type like Finn! This is how we inspire a horse through 100% clarity.

So, both days offered big victories, and opened the road to so much more I want to play with! That's always a good thing. While it's lovely to dwell on moments like these, one makes progress by continuing to move forward... onward and upward.

Lackluster

You know, I didn't have the most super-est ride on Finn today, but there was a lot to be thankful for. First off, the air was clear! We could breathe! It was lovely.

Second, Finn seemed happy. He gave me a big whinny when he saw me coming, which always warms my heart. The lump on his nose is smaller than it was yesterday, so chances are good the porcupine encounter will have no ill-effects. We were far from perfect harmony, but we enjoyed each others' company and were both happy and healthy, and that's what really counts.

We rode with the flag for the first time ever, and Finn was stupendous. To be honest, I was ten times more nervous than he was. That was good for me to feel, because it is something I need to work on. We've made so much progress this year, but it is clear that there is still much we need to dig through together. Just think how much stronger we'll be, how much more I'll trust him, and how much more he'll trust me, when we've filled these subtle, easily hidden holes in our partnership.

I had an interesting play at Liberty with Finn to warm up, mostly because I didn't have a line longer than my 12' lead rope, which wasn't terribly well suited to what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do was focus on availability and freedom... so the confinement of the 12' line was a bit contradictory.

While some nice stuff occurred, I think the reason I feel a little blah about the whole session is because I was paying too much attention to the contrast between what I have now and what I would like to have between us. For whatever reason, that was weighing on me today. And I'm going to just be okay with that, since I know inspiration and motivation will return.

Last note... Finn is putting his winter fuzz on, and has developed some patches of white hairs along both sides of his spine about where the center of my saddle sits. This is somewhat discouraging, because it could WELL be an indication of a significant amount of pressure being put there when I ride. Since my saddle is treeless, this wouldn't exactly be a surprise.

Subtle, but definitely there.

What can I say, the treeless saddle has never really sat right with me... but I have used it anyway because Finn didn't seem to be complaining; nor did his posture seem to be deteriorating. After all, this is the horse that moved like an upside down giraffe before he'd ever worn a saddle. While he is not to a point where he is engaging and using himself exceptionally well, he mostly carries his neck at a relaxed level and feels loose, which seems appropriate for his level of training.

To be honest, I am on the fence about how exactly to move forward. There is part of me that wants to put my Ansur up for sale right away and never ride in it again, and there is a part of me that thinks, all things considered, will it really do any harm to keep riding him in it a little while longer? I have two Thorowgood test ride saddles on back order from SmartPak... hopefully they come soon, and hopefully we love them! As to whether or not I will ride in the Ansur in the meantime... probably so. But I will likely limit the amount of time I spend in the saddle.

I'm Back!! And the Porcupine Misadventure

Goodness it feels like it has been FOREVER! I think I squeezed in three rides in between my trips... nothing terribly eventful except for one unfortunate flashback to the olden days of Finn having a panic attack and me handling it not-so-well. That happened last Monday between my braiding trips, when I was thoroughly exhausted and really shouldn't have been in the saddle in the first place. Lesson learned.

I got back from braiding yesterday afternoon, super stoked about having the next two weeks to play with Finn without interruption. I am HOPING the smoke from the King Fire will not wreak havoc on my time, as it sure is unpleasant to be outside when the air quality is so poor. So far, though, the smoke has been intermittent, and usually not too bad in the morning.

Headed out to the barn this morning planning on a short, relaxing ride on Finn. It takes a couple days for me to really bounce back from working nights for two weeks, so I didn't want to push it too much. Plus, the smoke. But, my plans abruptly hit a road block when I found THIS:

I know the picture is not the clearest, but those are, in fact, porcupine quills sticking out of the front of Finn's nose, NOT newly evolved super whiskers. There were eleven of them, to be exact. Having never before had ANY experience whatsoever with porcupine encounters, I was a little freaked out at first. I consulted Google and tried to gather info from a couple friends, reluctant to spend money on an unnecessary vet call. In the end, though, I called the vet to be sure. He gave me the a-okay to remove them on my own and said it would be highly unlikely for complications to develop.

Now, I was feeling none-too-awesome about the idea of actually yanking these things out of Finn's nose, but once I got the first one out I realized it wasn't such a big deal. I tied Finn in the grooming area and was able to convince him to cooperate with a little effort. In between each quill, I let him have a few bites of grass. By the third quill, we had it pretty down pat... I would back him to the end of the rope, hold his nose against my shoulder with my left arm, and take hold of a quill with my right hand. Once I had a good grip, I would pull a little and Finn would yank it right out with a sharp toss of his head. Done deal.

After the removal of porcupine quills was complete, I let Finn have a nice graze along the driveway. And then, since it really seemed like such a non-event, I decided to have our little ride anyway.

I decided to stretch our comfort zone by riding in the opposite direction from the pasture... instead of up towards the barn, down towards the mailboxes and the road. I really expected this to be a bit of a challenge, and planned to do some approach and retreat, but Finn surprised me by being totally chill about the whole thing and we made it to the mailbox in no time:

Funnily enough, it makes me more nervous than Finn to be so close to the road. No doubt because I can imagine the dire consequences of being hit by a car, while he mostly seems to consider passing cars to be unworthy of his attention. I guess I'll need to do more approach and retreat! If I build up enough confidence, I could ride to Washoe Lake one day... what a feat that would be! For me, anyway.

Finn wasn't as soft or responsive as he might have been, but we worked on doing the little things with feel and I left it at that. It was hot and a little smoky, and I was pretty much spent, so I thanked Finn for being such a super horse and turned him back out.

There's a tiny bit of localized swelling around where the porcupine quills were, so I'll be keeping an eye on that. As long as it keeps going down and Finn doesn't seem bothered by that, I'll assume we're in the clear. Tomorrow, hopefully we'll have a decently clear morning to get a more serious ride in...

Parting Ride

My last two rides before my trip to TX didn't really go according to plan, thanks to some unexpected drama at the barn... I swear, it is simply not possible to have a boarding barn sans drama. But, I did get to ride this evening and I did have a wonderful time with Finn, which is all that's really important anyway.

We took a relaxed saunter around the farm, sometimes checking the availability of a bigger walk, but often just letting him pick the pace as long as he was committed to the direction I had in mind. We stretched our comfort zone a bit... going further past the arena on the hill and further down the second driveway. We checked our yields at the points where we turned around, working on getting backwards, HQ, and FQ yields with lightness and without using the reins.

We trotted up the hills once, then decided to go for a canter. On the left lead up the first hill, Finn show-cased his rocking horse canter. I really wanted the right lead for the second hill, and it took two tries to get it, and then Finn wanted to roll into a hand-gallop and I gave him the OK. It was an absolute blast to ride... he RAN laser-straight past the arena and right over the crest of the hill which has marked our threshold for a couple of weeks. It was also nice to feel him so confident and enthusiastic about going somewhere fast... remember what I said about enthusiasm in my last post?

On the one hand, I am observing a pattern developing that features Finn's left lead as the slow direction and his right lead as the fast direction, so I feel a little bad that I played into this instead of working to counter-act it. But mostly I am just pleased. Pleased because Finn has always lacked a bit of confidence to just GO, so I love to encourage him when he gets such ideas in his head. (I certainly don't want to make him feel wrong for offering more forward.) Pleased because of the amazing harmony of two beings sharing one idea. Pleased because I was very appreciative of all Finn's efforts today. And finally, pleased because it was just plain FUN, running up that hill with Finn. I hope he enjoyed it, too; I have a feeling he did.

I lingered quite a while letting Finn graze after we finished our ride. Truth be known, I'll be back Sunday. I might even have time to visit Finn that afternoon. But I miss him anyway. I know this few weeks of being away will be over before I know it (leaving the 4-H trail trial right around the corner!), but it doesn't make me any more content about all the rides all be missing and all the days that will pass without seeing my good friend.

What does make me more content, however, is the knowledge that being away makes me appreciate being home even more. That makes it easier for me to consistently bestow appreciation upon Finn. So, all in all, it isn't such a bad thing. Maybe.

D,N: Exercise 1 and Pre-Reqs

Last night I began reading the exercise section of Dressage, Naturally again, and realized at once I was guilty of never having actually done Exercise 1: Assess Your Horse. This, you see, is exactly why I feel the need to declare this "big commitment," because I want to do something other than my usual pattern... which is doing the reading, but not doing the work. So, I went and did it.

For the exercise, Karen asks you to go out and assess your horse, pretending you've never seen the horse before. The idea is to try to look at the horse as objectively as possible and record your observations so you have a clear idea of where you're starting from. After playing with the horse for approximately 15 minutes, Karen instructs the reader to "pretend I call you on the phone, and you must tell me, as concisely as possible, as much information about the horse." (D,N, 48)

As suggested, I played with Finn both on the ground and in the saddle, for about 15 minutes each, and if I had to summarize it as concisely as possible, this is what I'd say:

He's a good-natured horse with an attitude of partnership and a strong basic foundation of relaxation and understanding. He has a steady rhythm and basic balance at all three gaits, generally even and swing-y movement, but lacks energy and freedom. Tight through his back at the trot and canter. He hasn't found his power.

To sum-up the exercise, Karen poses three questions, again to be answered as concisely as possible:

1. What is a positive feature that I would like to keep? His goodwill and desire to connect.
2. If only ______ was better, I think everything would be better. If only Finn had more enthusiasm for energy, I think everything would be better.
3. How would my horse answer those questions about me? "I like that my human ______," and "if only my human changed _____ I think everything would be better." I like that my human is attentive and understands my ideas. If only my human consistently kept her cool when we're confused I think everything would be better.

Some thoughts worth dwelling on right there, for sure! Some interesting vocabulary choices. Thinking about developing Finn's enthusiasm is sure different than thinking just about getting more energy out of him. And looking at my emotional fitness issues as a simple instance of us both being confused makes it feel a lot more fix-able... and a lot less like an excuse to beat myself up. Which is a good thing, trust me. Being aware of my flaws is helpful; beating myself up is not.

After my initial assessment ride, the ride sort of morphed into checking on the prerequisites Karen lists for beginning the D,N exercises, and I'm happy to say that Finn actually exceeded my expectations on that front. Many of the pre-reqs are more directed at the human's understanding of the principles of natural horsemanship, and while I ran through them quickly, I also took them to heart as an always useful reminder to stay true to an approach based on psychology and understanding. The two that gave me pause last night were these:

1. You are comfortable riding bridle-less walk, trot and canter.
2. You and your horse can do all the basic yields (forward, backwards, HQ, FQ and sideways) without using your reins.

On the one hand, the answer to the first is, "No problem." I'd ride Journey bridle-less anytime, anywhere. Also, having ridden bridle-less as much as I have, I'd be pretty willing to get on most horses bridle-less and tool around in a small arena if I've seen enough to be confident they aren't going to do anything too out of whack. On the other hand, I had not actually ridden Finn without a bridle yet, so it was tough to just say "check!" to that.

As for the closely related number two, well I've checked out most of those yields without using my reins, I haven't spent nearly as much time working on that as I had with Journey at this stage of her development. Thus I didn't feel confident to say that they consistently work, and, believe it or not, I had never actually asked Finn for direct sideways before!

So, I started by checking on those yields, with my rein hand fixed on Finn's neck, and lo-and-behold they all worked, even the sideways after a few steps of trial and error on Finn's part. I was also able to steer in figure-8s, circles and around the rail at the walk and trot. In fact, this went so well, I figured I might as well just take the bridle off and prove to myself we had number one down as well.

And that's how my first bridle-less ride on Finn happened, and it was really a non-event. We rode at the walk, trot and canter, and even popped out a few simple lead changes. I had to use a neck rope for some steering corrections, which I will definitely take note of for the future, but if the pre-req is to be comfortable bridle-less, we're definitely there.

So, all in all, I now feel I can confidently declare we are good to go on this Dressage, Naturally journey. It's a nice feeling... let me explain: I've mentioned before that foundation before specialization is a primary tenet of my horsemanship. But, developing Finn has been really different from developing Journey. I'm no longer following the cut-and-dried Parelli path, and while I love what I learned with Journey, among the lessons were a few about what I didn't want to repeat. Primarily, I didn't want to allow or encourage Finn to move with unhealthy posture for several years before I felt "ready" to discuss posture with him. This is a major reason I have ridden him so much in the bridle from early on in his development - it has helped me encourage better flexion from the get go.

I also wanted to spend more time in the saddle with Finn, so haven't done as much elaborate ground work. These things combined often make me doubt whether my foundation is really strong enough to progress to the next stage. Well, based on my ride today, I'd say it is.

Which is not to say my foundation is finished or perfect, but Karen allows for that. Her thoughts on this were so helpful for me to hear. First, that as you progress to the beginning of dressage training, you may find holes in your foundation, at which point you have the opportunity to go back and fill them in. If we practice our dressage artfully, we will continually expand our foundation. So, if I find something missing along the way, it's no reason to be disappointed. It's part of the process.

Secondly, Karen says if your foundation is strong in the arena, but still needs work on the trail... well, practice your dressage in the arena and continue to work on your foundation on the trail! Simple as that. This was definitely a good reminder for me, because the fact that Finn and I lose some connection outside the arena shouldn't prevent us from beginning to discuss physical things that will be beneficial to his health and well-being. Our ride today definitely confirmed that our foundation is solid in the arena, which makes it a safe, promising place to begin our conversation about dressage.

So, that's that. We're doing this. And I'm awfully excited about it!!!

Jones Whites Creek Loop

Finn and I went on another brilliant ride with S today. The Jones Whites Creek Loop is 9.2 miles... add in the .4 miles from the parking area to the loop, and it'd be fair to say we rode about 10 miles today! There was quite a bit of climbing (and descending) involved, some very narrow trails with significant drop-offs, creek crossings, and a few fallen trees... all in all quite a challenging ride, but our horses were stupendous and made it feel like no big deal.

This was one of the more "comfortable" narrow spots...

The loop we were on passed nearby the bridge we crossed last week, so both S and I took the opportunity to ride across it twice. Finn was hesitant and took his time evaluating the situation, but crossed willingly once he'd had a minute. He was similar at each creek crossing... while there was some hesitation on his part, I never had to go beyond about a phase 2 to encourage him to try. That's quite a change, even from last week, but especially if I compare to six months ago!

View from the trail, sans ears...

Another noticeable change: while I had to remind Finn a few times to be available to my requests for more energy, and he still wasn't keeping pace with T most of the time, his forward FELT different. He was more mentally committed to it. Trying to explain the difference to S, I said it felt like each footfall was a foregone conclusion, instead of like Finn was asking if we should slow down with each and every step. This held true both uphill and downhill, over rocks and on softer terrain. While it wasn't physically much faster, it was definitely different. Considering all the work we've been doing in this area lately, I felt really positive about that change!

All this riding is really building up Finn's butt!

There were many areas where the trail was very narrow, and to be honest, that kinda freaks me out! Luckily, I am usually pretty good at managing my nerves and not looking down. Even more fortunately, I am getting better at trusting Finn all the time. I work on focusing on where we're going and staying our of his way, and hopefully each time we survive will be one less time I get nervous about it. There was one point on the trail today where I almost decided to get off, but there wasn't much space to. Since there was a turn approaching, I decided to get off there if the trail didn't improve around the corner. Luckily, it improved markedly!

The huge plus of this, and the rockiness of the trail, too, is that it seems to really develop sure-footedness in the horses. For certain, Finn feels many times more sure-footed than he did in January! That's a feature that will really come in handy when it comes time to jump cross-country. Of course, his having seriously earned my trust will be really handy, too. I told S today, after some of these trails, running a Prelim cross-country course should feel like cake!

We stopped for a rest (and to reset my saddle) at the top of the climb.

This trail unseated last week's as the rockiest we've ridden so far. Happily, both horses felt even better over the rocks than they did last week. That, my friends, is the magic of conditioning. It was awesome to feel Finn (and watch T) negotiate the trail with confidence and feel, like nature intended. Neither of them seemed even the least bit foot-sore, even after ten miles with little break in the tough terrain. I've been keeping my horses barefoot for over ten years, but I'd never tested it like this. I'd say Finn's hooves passed with flying colors. I felt very fortunate to at last truly witness and experience something I've believed in all these years.

View of South Reno towards the end of the loop.

At one point during the ride today I summed it all up with the simple statement: "This is so much fun!" I never knew trail riding could be SO AWESOME! Now that we're past the stage where it takes continual effort to keep Finn with me and relaxed, I'm learning about a whole other stage of relationship development and just plain enjoyment.

Finally, today was definitely a day when I was struck by how lucky I am, how much I love my quirky little bay gelding who certainly didn't make this easy for me. He is truly developing into the horse I've always dreamed he would be, and boy am I glad I didn't give up on him in the dark moments. Now, I wouldn't trade him for any horse in the world.

My favorite pair of ears.