Now what?! Keep Moving Forward

Trotting was such a big demon for me. I am not even sure why now. Logically there are reasons, but when it came right down to it, I was not even nervous. Now two weeks before I was a little shaky when we got a fast walk. So what happened?

As I mentioned before, on the drive over, I all of a sudden remember that I have trotted a lot. I could feel the trot, the rhythm, and how my body feels at the trot. I knew this feeling, it was home. I also knew that I had control of this horse. R.'s horses are calm, reliable and well trained. In the arena ,on Drew, I really did not have anything to fear.

I think I did figure somethings out. Each new milestone is going to be overcome in a different way. My plan for progression is going to need to be adapted after each new milestone. And of course, "Keep moving forward," That is from Meet the Robinsons.


Yup, I think that keep moving forward pretty much sums it up. What is that next step to take to keep moving forward? I guess I can look at sending Kinsey off as the next step. Really there is nothing to overcome with that step. Once she is evaluated, I am sure there will be steps to take. Either to sell or get her riding.

I need to keep riding Drew, if Drew is sold that is going to be a problem. I need miles. I'll have to start all over with another horse. I wish I had the money to buy Drew, but he is out of my budget so that is basically out of the question. I have things I want to work on just because I feel I rode horribly, but I am rusty. It has been about 4 years since I was really riding so no matter the horse, I need to get myself coordinated again.

Another step is to step it up again with the weight loss and fitness goals. I really need to kick myself in the butt and get going again. I admit I have been slacking. Enough of that.

I thought I had it all figured out when I got on Bill. Visualization was the key. Well, it was the key for getting on Bill. I am seeing that each new milestone will be unique. I did not do as much actual visualization to trot as assessing the risk and remembering what it felt like, and realizing what the hold back was. I am sure that for what ever comes next, it will grow organically. I am going to page though Jane Savoie's book again. I know that there will be steps that will work better now than they would have before.

So I have some things to do. Get Kinsey over to R. (she is going on the 8th), keep riding Drew, and get busy on my fitness and weight loss goals. And Keep moving forward. . .

Oh yeah . . . Riding lesson #4

Got up this morning and the sun was absent. Droplets of water collected on my windshield on the way to my riding lesson. Wind was blowing as I got out to the barn. I got Drew out. I ask him to stand and he walked off. Maybe it is just a cloud over my head?

Drew knows to stand when he is put in a place and told to stand there. Makes me wonder what the rest of the day will be like.

We fixed that minor problem and move on to grooming and tacking up. Out to the arena, I ask Drew to stand again. He looks around and walks off. Wondering what this all means I go and get him and bring him back. We do a little training session. Finally I can walk away to get the mounting block and he stands.

I have been thinking about why the trot all of a sudden freaked me out. It was a lack of control I had over Abby. I was afraid of that lack of control. Drew walking off was again a lack of control and was started to frustrate me. I knew that if I did not have control of this horse I would not trot.

I got on Drew and the first think we worked on was a good solid, "Whoa." Every horse is trained slightly differently. I worked with Roger and got Drew making a good solid, but soft "whoa." I don't want an abrupt harsh stop, but a solid one. We practiced that a bit.

Okay. . . I said I would trot today. Damn it I did. So without hesitation, I did. I think I took R aback a little.

"Your trotting." Then he paused. "Oh yeah you did that last time."

"Nope I didn't."

"Great!" Then "But that doesn't mean you don't have to keep him on the rail."

What a trainer. . .

LOL

Oh my gosh, then I just had fun. I was doing circles, quarter lines, figure eights, and on and on. I will have to admit that I was not doing them as well as I would like, but I have not really ridden in 3 years. I was so pleased with myself.

I think R said it best when he said, "last time you were just walking around, now you are actually riding."

Wordless Wednesday

Trotting . . . thinking about it

I have a very tired worn book on my book shelf. I would be very sad if I ever lost this book, particularly this copy that has water stains, holes, and binding that is starting to give away. It is a much loved book, it has notes and parts underlined. Many a day have I read a passage and practiced it with my departed horse, Hope. I hope that you have this book on your shelf too: Centered Riding by Sally Swift. I don't care if you ride dressage, western pleasure, hunter, saddle seat, trail, or any other equestrian sport, Centered Riding is the corner stone of riding in my humble opinion. It is based on basic biomechanics.

Thursday is drawing ever closer. I said nearly three weeks ago that I would trot on my next riding lesson. Leaping a the chance to drive last week I evaded it for another week. One reason I am still so apprehensive is because I just have not been thinking about it. Just like my first ride on Bill, I have to take a lot of time to visualize what I am going to do. I just haven't.

So I thought, I should read what Sally has to say about trotting. This is actually a neat position to be in, sort of a beginner again, only with a lot of experience. A bit of an oyxmoron, but rather accurate. I know what to do, but I have that disconnect.

So what does Sally have to say about trotting? First she reminds us of position again. Take a plumb line from your ear down through your ankle. In fact if you remove your horse out from under you, you should still be standing straight and balanced. Keep your chest open, being a large chested woman, this one is a bit difficult for me. She talks a lot about the ankle. Keeping them soft, not shoved down as we are so often taught. Remember for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Push your heels down, you actually push yourself out of the saddle. Just relaxed, we have about 25 percent of our weight in our legs so just keeping your leg softly draped around the barrel of the horse and a soft ankle will allow your ankle to drop. Keep an equal amount of weight in both stirrups.

I love Sally Swift for all her visualizations. Your body filled with ice cream that melts out your heel. This helps you to sink into the saddle, and also draws your leg down. Another visualization is to imagine your legs are so long that they drag in the mud, to again draw your leg down around the horse's body. For the rising trot imagine a bungee cord attached to your belly button pulling you out of the saddle, up and forward for every stride.

Reading over these parts, is helping me to think about the trot. Remember how it feels. My muscles remember what to do and I know that after the first few steps it will just be a matter of quieting the negative self talk and allowing myself to enjoy the ride. I actually do like to remember the feel of the trot. It is rather a comforting gait, so steady and rhythmic.

So I am going to do this. . two more days!

A milestone with Kinsey

Last night I walked out in to the pasture to bring in the herd. My horses live in a dry lot. They have a green pasture and get to go out to play for about 3 hours. They eat, roll, and otherwise have a heck of a lot of fun. Then I bring them back into the dry lot, well after today rather a mud lot. Preserving the grass is my goal every year. The horses know the drill. Friskily they run a little here and they and head for home where hay awaits them.

Last night I went out to bring them in. They were not out for as long as I have been venturing all over Wisconsin to repopulate my poultry population that has taken a toll due to a resident fox. They were out for a bit though. I quietly walk out and watched them greedily gobble up a little more grass, effectively ignoring me. Rather rare really. Especially the minis like to schmooze.

Then I caught Kinsey's eye. She started to walk toward me as I stood still as an old oak tree. Steadily she closed the distance between us. My heart started to rise in my chest. Was she really going to come up to me? Two lengths away she started to veer to the left. No! My heart called to her. "Come here Kinsey," I said aloud, "Come 'ere.

Her eye gave off a little spark, never departing from mine. Her path may have faltered a bit, but then she set her course back toward me. TO ME! She walked up, the last steps only a little timidly. She put her nose out so I could pet her. She did! I rubbed her face a few times. She bravely stood there and then her nature over came her and she trotted off.

But she came up to me! I did not step to her at all, she came to me. For any of my other equine friends this is just second nature, but for Kinsey it was a real milestone!

Sunday Stills

This week's Sunday Stills: Barns

Some of the barns in my area.

A sad barn:

And a very happy barn:

I am adding this as there have been a few questions about this last barn. Here is a little history about putting quilt patterns on barns. I am not sure if this quilt is part of the Kentucky/National Trail or not but it is a growing trend. This farm had another quilt on another barn, but as I was taking photos from the car, I couldn't get a good shot. Where I get my hay has sunflower quit, and out in western Wisconsin there are more, but were too far away for me to go and get.

Competely unhorse related

Blog related. . .

Does anyone else have this problem. . .

You look at the blogs on the left. Today for example Bitless Horse, since this is the latest one I am having this difficulty with. I see that she has a new post. But when I click on the link for the new post. It says there is no such page. Then if I click on the link for her actual blog, I get the previous post, not the new one. I don't know what the problem is. Sometimes, later on I will see the post that I was previously unable to see. Does this make sense? Has anyone else had this problem?

Ok, I called R and when he can he is going to pick up Kinsey. I have found the shafts I need for Ike's cart, I just need to send the guy the money. It is rainy out today and I was very upset to see my chickens running around followed by a FOX. I chased him off twice but I am not sure if he got anyone yet. Damn fox!