When it comes to endurance riding we all know that our horses need to be conditioned and fit. That much is pretty obvious! But what about the rider? If my horses have to be fit, should I be fit to make it easier on my horses as well? I am not just talking about weight, I know I have a much easier time riding when I'm fit than when I'm not. I don't get as sore after rides, I'm not as tired after long rides, I use my body better while riding, I can get off my horse and run with him up a steep hill instead of making him pack me up it. It seems like if I'm fitter and more functional on my horses it is easier for them too.
I'm not saying as a rider we have to be marathon runners or track stars. I'm not. But I think riders should be somewhat fit for long distance riding. I run to stay fit, and I'll admit I let myself "go" a bit over Christmas and the cold November/December/January months. I was still walking my dog 3 or so miles 4-5 days/week, but I stopped running and ate a lot of bad food over the holidays. Now with spring on the way, I'm kicking my butt back into shape and running again. For me, being about to run 3-5 miles does make me feel A LOT better in the saddle.
The other day I decided to take Little John with me on my run :) Why not? I ran 3 miles with him trotting beside me. I actually got the idea from another blog I read (http://inthenightfarm.wordpress.com/). It sounds silly, and my hubby thought I was a total goof, but it makes sense to me too. Gets my green horse out and active, even if a 3 mile trott without a rider isn't that much of a work out for him, it does get him out, seeing different things and getting used to going down the road. Works on his ground manners, trotting next to me at a nice distance and not lagging behind or going ahead. Plus if he's used to trotting out with me he'll be good for the vet in trott outs at endurance rides, I hope LOL! Plus it's just fun....I had more fun running with him and my dog (gets him used to crazy Lucy too! haha!) than I would alone.
Once Player is healed up (almost there!!) I'll take him on some runs too. I think I prefer having an equine running buddy to a human one :)
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Pink Ponies
I've been working Little John quite a bit on his stops and turns on the lunge, and he's definitely doing pretty good. Here's a quick video from today...tried to pick a part where you can actually see something since I positioned the camera pretty cruddy LOL It's a 15 min video but I cut out most of it to just 2 minutes so as not to bore you...I know lunging is not the most exciting thing to watch.
Yes, I am wearing sweat pants and Uggs haha! Our high today was -15 C (5 F) and sweat pants are the best for layering over top of long johns. And Uggs are just warm!!
http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k558/hoofbeats1/Little%20John/?action=view¤t=MVI_2519_FIX.mp4
He's definitely feeling his oats today, you can see in the video why my lunge whip just stays on the ground with him. He moves off kissing and my body language really well. He thinks he's pretty cute there at 1:20 in the video haha! Tomorrow I want to start working on figure 8's with him so I'll try to get a video of that too.
Both boys got their tails wrapped today. Pink is the only colour of vet wrap I had on hand so they get to be a bit girly for a while....I'm going to try and keep them wrapped and keep their tails nice this year. Once summer hits I may bag them instead though so they can still swat flies.
Such manly steeds ;) They are also standing on almost 2 ft of solid packed snow there, so that's why my hitching post looks so low to the ground. It's not I swear!
This is how I wrap my boys' tails....here is a tutorial with pictures. It usually stays in quite a while!
http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/tail-wrapping-tutorial-with-pictures-169520.html
I've also added their grain back into their diets. No Player is not in work quite yet, maybe in a week or 2 depending on his fetlock, but I don't think it'll hurt him. He actually isn't as fat this year as other years despite having free choice hay in front of them 24/7. Not that they are skinny either, just at nice weight actually for winter time.
The grain I feed is MasterFeed's Exactor Lite.
http://www.masterfeeds.com/view.php?public/Animal_Nutrition/Equine
It's a higher fat, low carb grain for performance horses. It's also good for horses with stomach problems. I used it with my barrel horse in the past and he looked and performed amazing with it so I figured I'd stick with it for the endurance ponies this year too.
My hubby is coming home on Thursday so I will try to get him to take some under saddle pics of LJ and I together. For now this will have to do!
Yes, I am wearing sweat pants and Uggs haha! Our high today was -15 C (5 F) and sweat pants are the best for layering over top of long johns. And Uggs are just warm!!
http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k558/hoofbeats1/Little%20John/?action=view¤t=MVI_2519_FIX.mp4
He's definitely feeling his oats today, you can see in the video why my lunge whip just stays on the ground with him. He moves off kissing and my body language really well. He thinks he's pretty cute there at 1:20 in the video haha! Tomorrow I want to start working on figure 8's with him so I'll try to get a video of that too.
Both boys got their tails wrapped today. Pink is the only colour of vet wrap I had on hand so they get to be a bit girly for a while....I'm going to try and keep them wrapped and keep their tails nice this year. Once summer hits I may bag them instead though so they can still swat flies.
This is how I wrap my boys' tails....here is a tutorial with pictures. It usually stays in quite a while!
http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/tail-wrapping-tutorial-with-pictures-169520.html
I've also added their grain back into their diets. No Player is not in work quite yet, maybe in a week or 2 depending on his fetlock, but I don't think it'll hurt him. He actually isn't as fat this year as other years despite having free choice hay in front of them 24/7. Not that they are skinny either, just at nice weight actually for winter time.
The grain I feed is MasterFeed's Exactor Lite.
http://www.masterfeeds.com/view.php?public/Animal_Nutrition/Equine
It's a higher fat, low carb grain for performance horses. It's also good for horses with stomach problems. I used it with my barrel horse in the past and he looked and performed amazing with it so I figured I'd stick with it for the endurance ponies this year too.
My hubby is coming home on Thursday so I will try to get him to take some under saddle pics of LJ and I together. For now this will have to do!
Monday, January 31, 2011
2011 Rides
It's -37 C (-35 F) here today so I'm stuck inside. Far too cold to do anything with the horses! So I checked out the ERA website and see they have the list of rides for 2011 up. Hurray! There are some new ones this year too.
April 23rd is the first ride of the year. Usually it's in May so that makes me happy :) Especially since I am missing the May ride this year as I have a wedding in the States at that time. Anyways, it's a new ride down by Okotoks so it'll be neat to see the trail. I'm going to go with the flow on this one though, I will for sure ride a 25 at it but I'm just not sure which horse. Player would definitely be up for it but I want to take LJ if I feel he can mentally handle his first ride away from home then. Ideally I want to get a mountain trip under him before an endurance ride so I may wait until June to take him to one. We will see though, I will just go with it and if I think he feels up to it I'll bring him. If not, old Player will love to hit the trail too and I can use it as a conditoning ride for the 50 I want to do with him in June.
10 rides on the calendar this year, though I have already discounted 2 of them I can't make. But if I do get in 8 rides between the 2 horses it will be a pretty awesome year!
April 23rd is the first ride of the year. Usually it's in May so that makes me happy :) Especially since I am missing the May ride this year as I have a wedding in the States at that time. Anyways, it's a new ride down by Okotoks so it'll be neat to see the trail. I'm going to go with the flow on this one though, I will for sure ride a 25 at it but I'm just not sure which horse. Player would definitely be up for it but I want to take LJ if I feel he can mentally handle his first ride away from home then. Ideally I want to get a mountain trip under him before an endurance ride so I may wait until June to take him to one. We will see though, I will just go with it and if I think he feels up to it I'll bring him. If not, old Player will love to hit the trail too and I can use it as a conditoning ride for the 50 I want to do with him in June.
10 rides on the calendar this year, though I have already discounted 2 of them I can't make. But if I do get in 8 rides between the 2 horses it will be a pretty awesome year!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Back to Basics
Well after yesterdays little blow up I did some thinking. I tend to dwell on things like this and try to figure out what I did wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.
The answer? While most horses would flip out at a dog barking and trying to chase them, they *should* come back under control fairly easily. LJ did not. And that being only his 3rd ride since mid-November he was obviously not ready for a road ride.
So I've decided to spend about 30 days doing all the basics with him again. He only had 2 months of work before his time off when the snow hit, so he needs refresher and more work on bending, giving to the bit, and one reined stops. So I decided to start back at square one today and we had a 1/2 hour lunge session working purely on stops and turns. By the end of it he was working very nicely and responding well to me, so I was happy and put him away for the day. I'm going to keep taking it slow with him and get used to being actually worked again (instead of just fed, petted and aaah'd over LOL).
Little John is a very forward horse. He responds quickly to my cues and doesn't need anything more than a kiss and maybe a flap of my arm to get him going forward and he usually needs a minute to settle down and get his focus on me. So usually my lunge whip is on the ground. Today he worked very nice and was stopping immediately when I said whoah and stepped slightly in front of him. I didn't even need to pick up the slack in my line. The last few sessions we have been working on our inside turns as he was having a few issues with it the one way. By the end of our session today I was just making sure his nose was turned in towards me and stepping over and kissing and he was turning inside no problem. I love it when you feel so in tune with your horse!
The snow started again today, and the wind was pretty cold. I was not dressed for the elements! Brr! This weekend the temps are supposed to drop back down around -18 C to -20 C as highs (0 to -4 F) and it's supposed to snow both Saturday and Sunday. So it seems that winter is back. Darn it! I really enjoy those chinooks. Not long until April I guess!
LJ and I today in the snow. My lil buddy!
The answer? While most horses would flip out at a dog barking and trying to chase them, they *should* come back under control fairly easily. LJ did not. And that being only his 3rd ride since mid-November he was obviously not ready for a road ride.
So I've decided to spend about 30 days doing all the basics with him again. He only had 2 months of work before his time off when the snow hit, so he needs refresher and more work on bending, giving to the bit, and one reined stops. So I decided to start back at square one today and we had a 1/2 hour lunge session working purely on stops and turns. By the end of it he was working very nicely and responding well to me, so I was happy and put him away for the day. I'm going to keep taking it slow with him and get used to being actually worked again (instead of just fed, petted and aaah'd over LOL).
Little John is a very forward horse. He responds quickly to my cues and doesn't need anything more than a kiss and maybe a flap of my arm to get him going forward and he usually needs a minute to settle down and get his focus on me. So usually my lunge whip is on the ground. Today he worked very nice and was stopping immediately when I said whoah and stepped slightly in front of him. I didn't even need to pick up the slack in my line. The last few sessions we have been working on our inside turns as he was having a few issues with it the one way. By the end of our session today I was just making sure his nose was turned in towards me and stepping over and kissing and he was turning inside no problem. I love it when you feel so in tune with your horse!
The snow started again today, and the wind was pretty cold. I was not dressed for the elements! Brr! This weekend the temps are supposed to drop back down around -18 C to -20 C as highs (0 to -4 F) and it's supposed to snow both Saturday and Sunday. So it seems that winter is back. Darn it! I really enjoy those chinooks. Not long until April I guess!
LJ and I today in the snow. My lil buddy!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Sometimes things do not go as planned
Well today was supposed to be Little John's first trip down the road in '11. However it did not pan out to how I had it planned.
I caught both horses, de-wormed and wunderdusted Player and turned him back out. He's not short striding or limping at all, but that scrape is still open so he's still out of commission for a bit. Anyways, I started LJ off with some lunge line work. Just practiced our stops and turns. During this a big German Shepard dog (from who knows where?!) came out of the bush and started trying to chase LJ while he was on the lunge. I hollered at him and chased him off, and thought he was gone. LJ was okay so I finished our lunge session, saddled him and got on.
He was fine, calm and his normal self, but as soon as we got onto the road that darn dog came back! At first he just trotted along behind us, I told him to "git" a few times and he didn't. LJ got a bit concerned and started to prance which set the dog off. He came running at LJ, barking and LJ just took off crow hopping. I had him circled and thought he was under control, but the moment he started prancing I SHOULD have got off. However at the time I wasn't thinking and figured he'd just crow hop a bit and that'd be it. Wrong. He actually blew out and BUCKED. Head down between the knees BUCK. Third or fourth one got me off LOL However once he started blowing out I aimed him towards a big snow bank so I had a soft landing. The big buck at the end just slipped me over his shoulders and head and I landed chin deep in snow on my knees. Perfectly fine, snow is a good cushion to land in. When I got up the dog was still running at us barking and I was worried he was going to bite me or LJ, so I stood up and starting hollering at him pretty loud and through chunks of snow at him (yeah I'm scary LOL). He did take off at that and I didn't see him since.
Poor LJ took off straight back to the horse pen (and Player). Which wasn't far being as we were only at the end of the driveway when this all took place. Luckily my reins did not flip over his head. I went and caught him and checked him out for injury, thank goodness no scrapes or cuts. I pat him and rubbed him all over and once he was calmed down I took back over to our lunge area and lunged him to make sure he wasn't lame. He was fine, no limping or short striding, and settled down pretty good. So I got back on him and just did some arena type work with him. Worked on our stop, walk, trott transitions and just made sure he was okay and settled down.
So...I should have handled the situation better and just got off him when that dog started trotting after us and LJ got nervous. A lesson learned on my part! I do thank God though because it sure could have turned out worse than it did. Especially if I had hit the hard plowed out road instead of a huge, soft snow bank.
Hopefully he doesn't spazz out next time I go to ride him down the road. I am going to try and figure out who owns the dog and talk to them and let them know what happened, and just ask them if they will keep it contained. Definitely doing that before attempting another road ride. Unfortunately we are in a pretty backwoods area where most people just let their dogs live outside uncontained on their farms/acreages so they have no control over them. Hopefully this dog's owners will be nice about it and contain him.
Now I'm going to have to break trail with LJ on my in-law's land LOL They have 40 acres and 30 of it is bush and trails so I can get conditioning done there, however with the amount of snow we have right now it's going to be slow going and tough to break through it all. It is supposed to start snowing again tomorrow night and snow all weekend again too. The joys of living in Alberta!
I caught both horses, de-wormed and wunderdusted Player and turned him back out. He's not short striding or limping at all, but that scrape is still open so he's still out of commission for a bit. Anyways, I started LJ off with some lunge line work. Just practiced our stops and turns. During this a big German Shepard dog (from who knows where?!) came out of the bush and started trying to chase LJ while he was on the lunge. I hollered at him and chased him off, and thought he was gone. LJ was okay so I finished our lunge session, saddled him and got on.
He was fine, calm and his normal self, but as soon as we got onto the road that darn dog came back! At first he just trotted along behind us, I told him to "git" a few times and he didn't. LJ got a bit concerned and started to prance which set the dog off. He came running at LJ, barking and LJ just took off crow hopping. I had him circled and thought he was under control, but the moment he started prancing I SHOULD have got off. However at the time I wasn't thinking and figured he'd just crow hop a bit and that'd be it. Wrong. He actually blew out and BUCKED. Head down between the knees BUCK. Third or fourth one got me off LOL However once he started blowing out I aimed him towards a big snow bank so I had a soft landing. The big buck at the end just slipped me over his shoulders and head and I landed chin deep in snow on my knees. Perfectly fine, snow is a good cushion to land in. When I got up the dog was still running at us barking and I was worried he was going to bite me or LJ, so I stood up and starting hollering at him pretty loud and through chunks of snow at him (yeah I'm scary LOL). He did take off at that and I didn't see him since.
Poor LJ took off straight back to the horse pen (and Player). Which wasn't far being as we were only at the end of the driveway when this all took place. Luckily my reins did not flip over his head. I went and caught him and checked him out for injury, thank goodness no scrapes or cuts. I pat him and rubbed him all over and once he was calmed down I took back over to our lunge area and lunged him to make sure he wasn't lame. He was fine, no limping or short striding, and settled down pretty good. So I got back on him and just did some arena type work with him. Worked on our stop, walk, trott transitions and just made sure he was okay and settled down.
So...I should have handled the situation better and just got off him when that dog started trotting after us and LJ got nervous. A lesson learned on my part! I do thank God though because it sure could have turned out worse than it did. Especially if I had hit the hard plowed out road instead of a huge, soft snow bank.
Hopefully he doesn't spazz out next time I go to ride him down the road. I am going to try and figure out who owns the dog and talk to them and let them know what happened, and just ask them if they will keep it contained. Definitely doing that before attempting another road ride. Unfortunately we are in a pretty backwoods area where most people just let their dogs live outside uncontained on their farms/acreages so they have no control over them. Hopefully this dog's owners will be nice about it and contain him.
Now I'm going to have to break trail with LJ on my in-law's land LOL They have 40 acres and 30 of it is bush and trails so I can get conditioning done there, however with the amount of snow we have right now it's going to be slow going and tough to break through it all. It is supposed to start snowing again tomorrow night and snow all weekend again too. The joys of living in Alberta!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Trailer Loading
Yesterday I hauled Little John out to my dad's to borrow his round pen. Little John had only ever been in a trailer once before, for his 7 hour trip home from Saskatoon. He loaded up pretty easily his first time, but yesterday he was not quite so trusting of the trailer. He doesn't flip out, spin around or back up. He just plants his feet and won't move. So I had to think out my game plan to get him in without too much struggle. I tried the whole lunging him and using the lunge whip to encourage forward movement to get him in, but that just started causing his emotional state to escalate and him wanting to back up and resist. So I decided to try a different approach, the simple approach of me hopping into the trailer and tugging and kissing to him. For every step forward he'd take I'd praise him, let him stand and sniff things out. Pretty soon he had one foot in, then both front feet and then he hopped right in. It took 1/2 an hour total to get him in, but it just goes to show that taking your time, having some patience and staying calm is the best way to get things done. Player loads perfectly, but I know if I were having issues with him he'd respond better to using the lunge whip behind him to get him loaded. Every horse is different! And Little John and Player have very different emotional states and personalities.
He got to stay overnight at my dad's as I'm going to work with him some more today there, and we are going to have a fun trailer session as well (in and out, in and out until he's progessed to loading up easily).
We had some great weather yesterday! Round penning was a bit of a bust, as the snow is up to LJ's knees and me trying to run around in it was exhausting LOL Here's what we were dealing with:
Yeah, not that fun. So I rode him instead! First ride since November and he acted like a broke old pony. What a great horse I have!
Today I'll be attempting some HGS training challenges with him, so there will be videos in my next post :)
He got to stay overnight at my dad's as I'm going to work with him some more today there, and we are going to have a fun trailer session as well (in and out, in and out until he's progessed to loading up easily).
We had some great weather yesterday! Round penning was a bit of a bust, as the snow is up to LJ's knees and me trying to run around in it was exhausting LOL Here's what we were dealing with:
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Introductions
So I've decided to start a blog about my horses, their training and endurance rides. I think this will help me keep track of my goals and training, plus share it with my friends who are interested. So I guess I'll introduce me, the horses, and my goals with them first.
I'm a 27 year old girl (lady?! I'm getting old!) from Alberta, Canada. I'm married to a wonderful guy who totally supports my horsey habbits and even enjoys going for trail rides and working with the horses too. We own our own company and I'm lucky enough to work from home doing our books so I have lots of time (and daylight hours in the winter!) to work with our horses. We don't have real kids but we do have a "furbaby", our 3 year old Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu mix, Lucy. You'll probably see her lurking in the backgrounds of photos and videos here. She's our constant shadow. She does have 1 blue eye, so don't be alarmed by how crazy she appears. It does suit her personality too!
Onto the ponies...Play It By Heart and Chall Struck WA (aka Player and Little John (aka LJ)). We'll start off with Player.
Pedigree: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/play+it+by+heart
Player is my coming 12 year old Arabian gelding. I've had him for almost 2 years now, and he's completed several 25 mile distance (endurance and competitive trail) rides plus numorous poker rallies, camping/trail riding trips to the mountains, etc...We attempted a 50 mile endurance ride last summer however we were pulled after 18 miles due to him short striding in his trott out. The conditions were terrible (pouring rain, mud up to his knees) so I wasn't too disapointed. He can be a bit of a challenge, he's very well broke but loves to go fast and and loves to have his way. He tends to want to stick with a pack and always wants to catch the horses in front of us. He is a huuuuge suck hole though and always wants to be right in your pocket. My goals for him this year are to get us pacing ourselves better during the rides, keep working on teaching him he's okay by himself on the trail, and to have him ready for another 50 by June or July. He's laid up right now as he skinned up his fetlock but hopefully in a couple weeks he'll be ready to start conditioning again.
Here we are at a gorgeous competitive trail ride down in southern Alberta, from 2009.
I'm a 27 year old girl (lady?! I'm getting old!) from Alberta, Canada. I'm married to a wonderful guy who totally supports my horsey habbits and even enjoys going for trail rides and working with the horses too. We own our own company and I'm lucky enough to work from home doing our books so I have lots of time (and daylight hours in the winter!) to work with our horses. We don't have real kids but we do have a "furbaby", our 3 year old Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu mix, Lucy. You'll probably see her lurking in the backgrounds of photos and videos here. She's our constant shadow. She does have 1 blue eye, so don't be alarmed by how crazy she appears. It does suit her personality too!
Onto the ponies...Play It By Heart and Chall Struck WA (aka Player and Little John (aka LJ)). We'll start off with Player.
Pedigree: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/play+it+by+heart
Here we are at a gorgeous competitive trail ride down in southern Alberta, from 2009.
My new horse is Little John (LJ).
I just got him in September and he's a bit of project pony. He is coming 6 years old and still pretty green. I'm doing lots of foundation work with him now and my goals for him this year are to get a good foundation on him, and have him conditioned for some 25 milers by June (the first ride here is in May but hubby and I will be down in Arizona for a wedding) and if all goes well and he's ready I'd like to do a 50 with him by the end of the summer. He's a lot more timid than Player, but has really buddied up to us and is the type of horse that just wants to please and do what you ask. It will be interesting to take him on his first ride and see how he does. I'm hoping to get a mountain trip in on him before we do our first endurance ride.
So there's our introductions :) I will try to update this at least once/week. I made this blog not searchable so if you are seeing it I probably passed it on to you and hope you enjoy seeing the horses. This isn't a personal blog and won't be, but if you like horses or endurance riding and want to keep up with my horses then you'll like it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)