Yet more great work from Pinto last night :)

I spent an hour de-fluffing him and there is still loads to come out. Poor boy stands in his box sweating atm because it is so warm. Thankfully his summer coat is a nice bright white, and i may just have enough time to get rid of all the nasty yellow winter hair in time for the completition on 08 May. I don't know what I'm going to do with his mane and tail though! Talking of manes...


What do you think? Not too bad for my first attempt at pulling a full mane? Becky wants a trellis plait for the competition, (that's going to be fun on the Thursday night!) but afterwards I'll take it a little shorter so that it is all one length - then I can let it grow out again :nod:

Anyway, back to the riding... I dusted off my Fhoenix, and although Pinto was horrified to see a saddle two days in a row he stood nicely while I girthed up. I'm not sure though whether it's too far back - but that is where it "sits" - what do you think?



Again I'm always amazed at how well Pinto moves out in this saddle, but I find it such a faff to put on. It has to be absolutely straight when I girth up, and I have to do the girth up one hole at a time alternating sides else it sits crooked. I also have to do the girth up a lot tighter than I really like else it slips. To top it all off, it never stays in place once in on either. It always creeps over to one side as I'm riding as well. It usually takes about 1/2 an hour, but once it is crooked, I have to completely ungirth and start again - like I said I find it a faff!

Surprisingly though, for all it has been a long time since I rode in my Fhoenix it didn't take that long to get used to the set back bars, and I only had a few minutes of OMG no balance when trotting. The main problem I had was that I just couldn't get my whole leg on Pinto, I felt my ankle was dangling in mid air - however once my hips had stretched a bit ( :-/ ) I could manage a bit better.

I tried something completely different tonight. I made up my own walk/trot dressage test and rode it like I was at a competition... Cor Pinto was a bit sparky! It was almost as if he knew exactly what I was doing. it was good for me to, and gave me something to focus on, and made me more aware of my placement within the manège. "Having" to make transitions on the markers was good discipline for both of us. It made me much more aware of preparing for the transition - as daft as that sounds!

I did eventually get more control over my legs as the time went on and I felt Pinto worked really well. He was lower with his head carriage (and considering this is only the third time I havent used an elastique for months something of an achievement) and felt like he was reaching for the contact. Now I'm a bit more sure of myself, and hopefully Pinto is feeling better, I'll have to start asking for more definite curvation rather than just a hint.

We only worked for 20 mins, but it felt like a great 20mins so we stopped on a good note - fortunately for the dog obedience/agility club - who I had forgotten use the manege on a Wed night lol

Very pleased with my gorgeous man :)

Pinto had a quiet weekend as I was busy in my garden, so last night I decided that it was time to do a little bit of work.

Luckily the 7:30 group went out on ballade so I could use the manège, I had planned on having lots of great photos, but unfortunately my camera battery died during the warm up. Possibly it was for the best as we were struggling with losing the light and the photos I did get are really grainy.

It didn't take Pinto long to settle, and the only thing which marred my evening (and how selfish is this...?) is that one other person was in the manège practicing for a dressage test so I had to keep one eye on her and her direction and I wasn't able to concentrate 100% on Pinto.

Anyway we did a bit of work on direct transitions, and halt/trot/halt is getting so much better, with real jump into the up transition and very little walking in the down transition. We still have to do a lot of work containing the energy though, and asking for halt from trot does not result in immobility (at the moment!) but quite a lot of sidling and stepping. I am quick to praise even a second to complete still ness and I'm sure it wont be long before we can stand still for as long as I want! At the other end of the scale, we positively bounce back into trot from halt which is great, but there is then the propensity to rush off rather than containing the energy for a true working trot.

I played around with a lot of school figures and tried some serpentines for the first time in aaaaaaaaages. I really need to get my eye in on the markers again though as my three loop seprentine was a bit squished at on end and fairly wide at the other. Pinto managed very will though with two half 10m circles B-E, though i was getting an awful lot of strange looks from the other rider, as it is not something that is done very often(!)

My highlight of the evening though was when I asked Pinto to take the rein down in a stretch, and he did, even maintaining a contact on a fairly long rein... I was so pleased, that I stopped there.

It was a great 30 to 40 mins, and I can't wait to repeat it :)

09 April 2009

Well Pinto's rest didn't really happen. On the spur of the moment I joined my old class since there was a space in the lesson. I'd had prior knowledge that it would be "travail sur la plat" plus a little surprise, so I wasn't too concerned.

After the previous day Pinto felt a bit tired, but amazingly worked for me so much better and with more consistency than I've had for a long time. Though I've finally discovered the secret to "tête en place" - a full fly fringe - lol!

His trot was springy and consistent, we had good control over the pace, I could ask for a faster pace then bring it back without any problems. The only real hint that I had that he was tired was that he leaned on the rein occasionally, and he wanted to stretch more than usual, but that was the only hint.

The little surprise at the end of the lesson was to walk up to the cross and being able to have a walk about, practicing walking up and down hill. It was a comepletely different experience to the last time I was up there (but that was almost three years ago now!) this time I had no issues with the downhill bits, and I though the uphill bits were very inviting for a canter - Pinto did too, and I had to remind him frequently that we were only walking!

At the end of it I was really pleased that I joined the lesson, as both i and Pinto had a great time.

08 April 2009

Woo hoo, holiday at last. No more work until next Tuesday. I bet poor Pinto was wishing the same thing...

Becky is home from school for her Easter holiday and took Pinto on three ballades today as an 'accompanying rider' Fortunately two of the groups were ponies so it wasn't too frantic, but when he got back after the second ride he was lathered. He then had an hours rest and was out again with the G6/7 group and had a whale of a time apparrantly!

He can have a rest tomorrow...

07 April 2009

Was really pleased with Pinto yesterday.

I had planned on riding but since I didn't get to the yard until late (and of course since I was running late Pinto had decided to lay iin all the poo he could find!) I decided to lunge instead.

Now lunging has always been a bit of a tricky subject with Pinto, as he has had this awful habit in the past of bogging off when asked to canter, and I've tried lunging with a cavesson, with a bridle, off the bit, and i actually had the most success with a rope halter. Anyway, since we were only meant to be doing gentle exercise I decided to try him in just his headcollar and tried to banish all thoughts of bad things.

He was a really good boy and remembered all of the cues, despite not being lunged for aver a year. To keep things calm and collected i worked a lot on transitions, making sure he was making trot/walk/trot transitions at least 3 times on every circle, so really only having 2 or three strides of each before another transition. he took to it really well, and on the whole, his transitions were really nice and snappy.

We only worked for about 15 mins before stopping and doing some "manners" work, i.e. leading properly, stopping when I stop, backing up when asked. And we also did some work on "stay" at the end of the lead rope and not moving until I invite him closer.

We had such a great time.

Isn't it funny...

You can deal with all kinds of weird and wonderful things when you are concentrating on other things!

I took Pinto out for a "gentle" hack on Saturday as part of his osteo rehab and was meant to include "gentle and controlled trotting" Well we managed to start off gentle and controlled, then as soon as it degenerated I asked for walk, which lead to much bouncing, trying to escape left and right. - and I just sat there and ignored it all Even a year ago I would have been wibbling and thinking about getting off. Even more amazing is that I've hardly ridden at all for ages and this was my first hack since Jan or beginning of Feb.

One thing is for certain... with the right training Pinto would have a FANTASITC piaffe and passage lol

06 April 2009

What a fantastic weekend!

Spring has finally sprung in the Alsace, and both Saturday and Sunday the temps were hitting 20C. I was in the garden by 9:30am on Saturday and worked hard for 3 hours creating a proper flower bed before retiring for lunch and changing for the stables.

For the first time in ages I was able to tie Pinto up outside to give him a really good groom. Poor soul still has most of his winter coat, and was sweating just standing still. I was able to have a really good look at his feet too, after the farrier trimmed them on Wednesday. Once again all hint of his bars have been removed, but apart from that I am really pleased with how his feet are looking atm. The outer wall is a good 3-4mm all the way round even at the heels (and this is something we've struggled with a lot), and near the toe gets to almost 6mm. His frogs are also looking great, and for the first time has come out of winter with minimal ickyness and no cracks or impossibly deep central sulci.

After much thought, and not without regret I decided that I would have to shorten his mane. His forelock is very short, now that it's been pulled into some sort of shape, and his tail is almost show-cob length, so he looked daft with a long mane. I just started slowly, and over the course of an hour I shortened his mane by about 4 inches, then I left it and will finish the rest today hopefully (photos are promised when he's all done!) Honestly I didn't think I was taking that much off, a couple of hairs at a time, but when I came to sweep up, it looked like I had lopped someones tail off!

Pinto was still on rest on Saturday, so we went for a walk in hand. Usually we would normally just potter around the village, but instead we followed a short hack, which would normally take us about 25-30mins to do. Saturday it took us just on an hour with 2 stops to munch the grass. I really felt it on the evening as my riding boots really aren't meant for walking!

When we got back I decided to scrub Pintos knees. He has a competition on 08 May, if everything goes well, and I really need to start washing his white bits now to have any hope of him not looking disgusting. lol

On Sunday I went to the yard mid afternoon, in order to avoid the hoards of teenagers which congregate late morning. After Saturday Pinto only needed a quick brush over before I could tack up and off we went for a walk.

I think we'll have to build up the "lots of controlled trotting" as prescirbed by the osteo. Controlled and Trot just don't go together with Pinto when we're out hacking, so we did a few strides here and a few strides there and I ignored the bouncing and jogging after each transition down to "walk." His back certainly feels much more free now, and I could really feel the difference up and down the hills, his hips dipping and rolling with each stride.

After we got back we went around to the orchard to eat grass while he cooled down and dried off.

So... a wonderful weekend

03 April 2009

The osteopath came back out on Thursday

After walking and trotting him up and having a short feel down his back he asked if Pinto received many sugary treats... his spleen is inflamed due to too much sugar, so no treats apart from carrots or bread.

He also had 3 blocked vertebrae in the same place as the last manipulation. The osteo did a whole load of new releases, but said that it will take time for the musculature to adapt and until this happens Pinto will need regular treatment to stop the vertebrae from popping back again. So my "homework" is lots and lots of slow controlled trotting outside to help strengthen the correct muscles and to avoid cantering for the time being, until the muscles have strengthened a bit.

I'm pleased it wasn't anything too bad, and my lovely osteo didn't charge for the follow-up visit.

I decided to make a notice to put on Pintos door to say that he is poorly and not to feed him anything at all, thank you very much! We have bunches of kids come to the riding school and it can't be guaranteed that they will feed just carrots or bread if I said just carrots or bread, so for poor old Pinto it's nothing at all

I also decided to create an exercise journal for Pinto so that I can keep a track of exactly how much work he is doing, and what kind of work he is doing. It can also be somewhere my sharer can make a note if anything untoward happens.

30 Mar 2009

So after the great lesson on Thursday, I was really looking forward to a lesson from a visiting friend on Saturday but...

For only the 2nd time in 4 years (and the first time was a field injury which needed no treatment) my pony is broken

I was really looking forward to having a lesson from a visiting friend on Saturday evening, but had to call it a day after about 10 minutes as Pinto was Not Quite Right.

It was probably highlighted as after warming up we worked on spiralling in from a 20m circle and he was very resistant any smaller than about 13m.

I got off and my friend got on, and it was immediately apparant that he was very stiff through his left hip, which he kept dropping, and was coming up about 10cm shorter on his left hind than his right. he wasn't lame, or gimping in any way, but he was definitely Not Quite Right.

On Sunday we walked out of his box extremely stiff, but we did some liberty work in the manege and after a few minutes he loosened up some. This time he was worse on his right side

Theories abound as to whats happened...

1) he tweaked something on Friday when he was with my sharer.
2) he's tweaked something in the box
3) last weeks osteo treatment has left him sore due to using himself in a new way after the manipulation
4) he is suddenly feeling his age (he is 15 this year)

Anyway the osteo is coming back out on Thursday for a follow-up, and I've asked my sharer not to ride Pinto, just either to walk him out or to gently loose school.

If all else fails the vet is coming in 2 weeks for follow-up vaccinations, and I'll ask for a longer appointment to do a lameness work-up.

27 Mar 2009

Perhaps not riding for weeks at a time ( ) improves my riding

I had a really good lesson last night, which was a real "on the spur of the moment" thing; and while I am really pleased I had the lesson, it really confirmed that I just can't be doing with group lessons any more - not unless Certain People actually respect the rest of the class and do the exercises correctly - more on that later...

Firstly, the whole lesson was geared to improving the canter transition, so we did a lot of work on voltes to get the hing legs stepping under and through properly, first in rising and then in sitting trot.

Pinto was great, he was much less fussy with his mouth since he's had his teeth done (which makes me feel even more guilty!), and we were even having some signs of bending - even though I was using baby-style open and leading reins. Also since his treatment by the osteopath, he wasnt constantly bending to the outside. The osteo certainly did something (this was Pintos first ridden exercise since his manipulation), as at the beginning of the trotting exercse Pinto spent a good 5 minutes blowing and snorting and stretching down through his back - much more than usual. To me it seemed that he was saying "oooh, this feels different"

My only concern was that it felt like there was very little energy *there* I felt that I was having to ask a lot more than usual, rather than holding back all the time. My friends, one of whom I was riding with, and the other was observing, both said that Pinto was moving really well, with a very good working trot - and that is what it felt like - but it also felt like there was no *spark* none of that special "Pinto energy" that I'm used to. Even though he is worked regularly, including lessons, with my sharer, he felt unfit and tired. Now it could be a lot of things. This is the first winter when the horses have had a granulated compound feed rather than lucerne, so it might be a feed thing. He could be depressed, after all he has recently lost his next door neighbour (Iris was pts after a colic a short time ago) and they were always hanging around in the field together. Or it could be medical - there has been a lot of changes on the yard recently with new horses coming and going, so he may have picked up a low grade virus, or it could be anaemia. So I'm going to start giving him a small extra feed of sugarbeet and linseed, and if nothing changes I'll ask the vet to do a blood test when he comes for the second lot of vaccinations in 2 weeks.

Back to the lesson...

Amazingly, the exercises in sitting trot I could do without any of my normal bouncing/unbalance-y problems, which is nothing short of miraculous, considering that not so long ago I used to go pale at even the thought of sitting trot on Pinto Again my old, old problem crept in, or should I say up??? I wish my heels would stay where my brain wants them, rather than going where my muscles want them! I know it's because I'm gripping with my calves and tensing with my thighs in an effort to stay on. It's one of my oldest problems, and it still happens, even if I feel balanced and in control - silly body!!!

Then the frustration and the elation...

The actual canter exercise:

So we were told to take an inside track in rising trot, and, working in open order, when we wanted to attempt the exercise we have to come onto the track at either B or E, take sitting trot, then in the corner ask for the canter, canter along the short side of the school, then return to sitting trot in the other corner and come back off the piste and resume rising trot (the whole point of the exercise being quality of the ask and the depart, NOT the actual canter)

Now, first of all I have to gather my courage, as I am still very, very, very nervous of cantering on Pinto (even though it has been over a year since my accident), so I have to think calming thoughts and gear up for the actual exercise. I attempted the exercise twice, both times I didn't actually get a depart - completely my fault because I'm thinking "OK... go / OMG DON'T GO TOO FAST!!!" So all I get is a manic cob-trot. Then I have to calm Pinto down (since he is how a fizz-head and rushing) and gather my nerves again. Managed the exercise once on the left rein - well managed a stride or two, but really sloppy depart.

Then the frustration - once some Certain People have done the exercise once or twice, they then start to canter for longer and longer... One Person actually managed 2 circuits of the manege in canter of couse this means that no one else can actually do the exercise properly, since those travelling at speed have priority on the piste

Then came the elation...

After everyone had calmed down, and people were mainly just walking around I decided to try just once more, on the right rein. Came onto the piste at B, Pinto was being stressy, managed to get him settled before the corner, asked for the canter at F, got a silly trot, took two strides to settle him again before asking again just before K and got the most wonderful balanced, non-rushy canter I have ever had on Pinto - EVER - was so pleased, I was very naughty myself and carried on up past S before asking for the trot again. Wow I was sooooooooooooo happy I was very pleased to end the lesson there, and Pinto had a great many scritches and hugs.

In the future, I'm hoping to organise a semi-private lesson with a friend, every now and again, and I think I would probably gain more from say, one lesson a month than a group lesson every week.