Quick Update

Alright friends, the weather has been total crap lately so I'll make this one quick.

Another cute video of JJ trying (failing) to make friends:

Pulled all of JJ's shoes last week for the winter, since the ground is as soft as it probably ever will be, and I can't do much riding anyway. He was a little bit like "WTF" for the first few days, but he actually seems alright now. And the best part? He's actuallyTHINKING about where his feet are landing!! For anyone who has seen JJ try to trot around a ring, you'll understand how incredibly AWESOME this is!! Normally, or, in the past anyway, JJ would just throw his feet and hope they landed somewhere. As you might imagine, this often ended with a major stumble for JJ and a healthy dose of whiplash for me. I've ridden him twice since he's had his shoes off and he's been SO good. Very exciting.

He's been wonky on the trails out by himself lately (have I mentioned this already?). Anyway he got into this habit of just kind of stopping, spinning, and bolting towards home. So, I started handwalking him all over creation. Up and down the long dirt road across the street, down the street to Pipestave, letting him graze in fields, etc. What a sight we must be, me decked to the nines in orange hand walking a giant horse like someone might walk a dog... Except not. Cool.

Yep.. That's it. Enjoy the video!

New Friends and Field Trips

Aside from trail riding I've got a few other current projects happening at the barn.

For one, I've taken on trailer lessons. Trailer lessons are both for myself and for JJ: I'm learning to hook up and drive the trailer, and JJ is learning to deal with it :) This week we took JJ for a field trip over to the Pipestave grounds - his first real field trip! He loaded very easily on the property, pawed the entire way to Pipestave, pawed while we made him stand on the trailer for a few minutes, and then unloaded very nicely. After a quick look around he went straight for the grass. He munched happily. Five horses (and as many dogs) came galloping towards us, and he munched happily. Those horses and dogs ran away, and he munched happily. Walkers came by with their dogs, and he munched happily. And so, after about 20 minutes of this, we attempted the reload. JJ very calmly walked halfway on the trailer several times before committing to loading. Even when he was all the way on the trailer I allowed him to back out a few times before lifting the ramp and locking him in. Then came the pawing, all the way home.

JJ's been making new friends at the barn too. The video here shows a friend... Maybe I'll say the friend he is most "fascinated" by... Anyway you'll have to watch the video to see what the means :)

We also recently began turning JJ out in the big paddock with four other (older) geldings. He started by travelling all around the paddock and checking everything out, then decided to meet his soon-to-be friends (or so he thought). He literally tried to play with EVERY SINGLE horse. I'm really kicking myself for not getting a video of this, because it is probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. He approached one horse at a time and followed the same pattern each time. First he would get close to the horse's hindquarters, then he would start licking the horse. Yep, licking. If that didn't get a rise, he would nip the horse. Still no reaction? Another nip. He did this until the horse chased him away, at which point he would attempt with all his heart to play, but the other horse would just walk away. This happened with every single horse, until three of them threatened to kick. He gave up on those three and attached himself to the fourth, most passive horse, Gunner. I'm pretty sure Gunner despises JJ's existence, but he tolerates his antics and the two of them are always together in the paddock.

More updates to come soon!

Enjoying Life, Trail Style!

Since our show debacle (debacle, by the way, is defined as "a sudden and ignominious failure", which I find to be a completely perfect description of the event), JJ and I have been taking it easy and enjoying the fall weather, sunshine, orange leaves, and all the miles of trails West Newbury has to offer.

Along the Merrimack in Hunter Orange

We've run down old dirt roads, walked around a reservoir, hacked along the Merrimack, waded in Mill pond, walked over a wooden bridge (JJ demanded to be led over this), and played on some of the cross country jumps at Pipestave. As JJ's introduction to cross country we did a small rail on the course. He was happy enough to hop over that. A few days later I pointed JJ at a small trakehner style fence (suspended log with a wider base). He actually collected himself for this fence and gave an awesome, powerful jump, complete with a couple celebratory bucks! Then a small log, another small trakehner, and a tiny bank uphill. We saved the ditch for a future date :)

And in the midst of all of this JJ has taken to bout of immense stubbornness. He'll choose something along the trail, say a muddy creak bed or some such "obstacle", and decide that if he goes near it, it will eat him alive. Swallow him whole. No mercy. And therefor, he cannot possibly go near it. So he'll just stop. I'll ask him to go forward and he'll back up. I'll ask him with more fervor and he'll threaten with mini-rears. He'll try to turn and I'll keep him facing the obstacle. He'll strike the ground and I'll push him forward, and so begins the cycle again. BUT, if a horse goes in front of him and leads him through/across/around whatever it is, he has no problem. AND, if we are headed towards home as opposed to away from home, he'll go through/across/around anything, no problem. Stubborn little butt head.

Alas, I know what I have to work on :)

Show Woes

I know this is a little delayed - it was a busy week AND Mike's camera has performed a disappearing act so this is a picture-less post. Sorry - I'll update with pictures as soon as the camera resurfaces.

Anyway, the show. Got to the barn nice and early to clean up JJ. Tacked him up and rode him over to the show grounds. He was fine all the way there - I hopped off halfway up the field as he began to notice the commotion ahead of us, and walked him the rest of the way. He was fine. When we got on to the grounds he danced around for about 10 minutes before settling in nicely. Because we were a good 2 hours early, I untacked and let him graze for about an hour. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Then I brought the saddle back out... And JJ freaked. Ugh. He wouldn't let me get close to him with the tack (why had I even untacked him in the first place?). He danced around for a while as I tried to get the saddle pad on, and finally I gave up and decided to lunge him a bit. Twenty minutes later I tried again and got similar results, except maybe worse. The only time I've ever witnessed this type of behavior from JJ was the first couple of times I tried to get him on the trailer.  He became extremely defensive and you could watch the transition as he lost all brain function and went into auto-don't-hurt-me-pilot (why did I untack him?!). It was about this time that the show secretary was calling my number into the dressage ring. Sweet.

I let JJ graze again, tried one more time with the saddle only to have it tossed in the dirt, then headed home - JJ on lead. So anyway, I know what I need to work on, and I keep telling myself (and everyone else) that at least I didn't get eliminated (kind of)! There's always next year.

Wednesday I went for a trail ride with a couple other riders and we decided to try out JJ's affinity for water. There's a nice little beach at a pond nearby. The two other horses walked in a stood while I brought JJ closer. He put his nose in the water curiously, then (and I kid you not) leaped in. LEAPED. As soon as he had all four feet in, though, I forced him out. Believe me when I say that horse was ready for a nice bath, and seeing as my saddle had just been thrown in the dirt I figure that last thing it needed was a soaking in nasty pond water. Oh well, at least JJ isn't scared of water. He's also getting better at picking his feet up over roots and rocks on the trails, which is good.

We've got a lot of work to do.

After Long Hiatus!

I know it's been quite a while since my last post and while I've meant to update several times since... What was it... August 11th... Eesh... Anyway I've got lots of news since then but I've also moved, started a new job, and moved JJ twice in the meantime so I have been a little busy!

But the main updates are as follows:

He likes mud...

When we moved from Harvard it took a good 4-5 hours to get JJ on the trailer. It was an awful and exhausting experience. He settled in quickly to his new home and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on the whole trailering ordeal with him there. So, I did. Right around dinner time I filled JJ's bucket with his grain and put it on the ramp of trailer, thinking I would be so lucky as to get him even that far. Then I brought JJ out and faced him at the wide open trailer. He marched at it so boldly that I grabbed the bucket off the ramp and as I walked into the trailer with the bucket, JJ didn't even hesitate behind me. Yep. First time he marched all the way on without so much as blinking an eye. Suffice to say I was pretty dumbfounded, but happy all the same. For a week or so I walked JJ on and off the trailer, sometimes with grain, sometimes without. Didn't bother him at all.

A couple weeks later the farrier was out to the barn. I wasn't able to be there when the farrier was so the following story is all I have to go on (and remember, I've had JJ since February and had never had an issue with him and the farrier): The farrier fought through shoeing JJ's front feet while JJ reared incessantly, hitting his head over and over on the ceiling of the barn. He was acting "dangerous" and "without concern for his own safety, let alone anyone else's". And at one point he almost flipped over a small door behind him. Again, I wasn't there and to hear this report was more than a little upsetting. I don't know what happened and I don't know why, but the farrier only managed to do his front shoes before declaring he wouldn't shoe JJ unless he was tranqued by the vet.

Riding shot

I considered this for the next week or two until JJ threw not one but both of his back shoes, and was so sore he refused to even move. I had no choice but to find a farrier willing to shoe him. I called a few and was very straightforward about what had happened. One farrier agreed to come out and try and I made sure to be there to hold JJ the whole time. Surprise surprise, JJ was fine.

It was about this point that I decided JJ and I probably needed to find a new place for various reasons. Shortly thereafter I found a nice farm in West Newbury for both of us. The owner drove down to pick him up, and he marched right on the trailer. Success!

JJ in his new home - nice in/out for the night
and separate large turnout during the day.

We've now been at the new barn for a little over two weeks. A couple days after JJ arrived he threw a front shoe and tore up his hoof a little in the procces. Four days later the farrier was out to replace the front shoe, but the foot has been bothering JJ since then (i.e. almost two weeks of a lame horse). The farrier was back again with hoof testers but couldn't seem to find anything specifically bothering him. He also did JJ's right front to even him out a little (he had been walking around with one long toe and one short toe - kind of like trying to walk wearing a sneaker on one foot and a high heel on the other). Anyway, JJ continued to be sore for a few more days, but I daresay he has felt a little better the past couple of days.

Anyway, while JJ was sore we took to a lot of walking and, better yet, walking on the trails! Miles and miles of trails surround the new farm. JJ has been a trooper on the trails. Walking down the roads he's not at all bothered by cars and only mildly amused by cyclists. A car pulling an empty boat trailer rumbled by, which JJ also found pretty interesting. A man was roofing his house and blasted his nail gun as we rode by. This involved a little more excitement but nothing too traumatic. We rode past soccer games, through giant hay fields, corn fields, woods, past a pond, got attacked by ankle-biting yappy dogs, etc. etc. etc. And the one thing that bothered JJ? Having to walk between two large rocks. Such a strange animal... All well I'm still proud of him!

JJ in his new home - all
the hay he can eat!

AND THE MOST EXCITING NEWS OF ALL!!!

I am fully planning on entering JJ in a local schooling show for next weekend (note: assuming he is sound and has shoes on all four feet by then)! WAHOO! We'll be entering a "combined test" as opposed to "horse trials", which means just dressage and stadium - we're not quite ready for cross-country yet. We'll be doing a walk-trot dressage test and 18'' stadium course (read: tiny crossrails). I'm psyched. My goal for the day: stay in the dressage ring ;)

WISH US LUCK! I promise to post photos/videos afterwards (that is assuming we don't get eliminated before I can get any photos or videos!).

Deer Flies and a Dodo Brain

I'll keep this one quick since I have no media to share (sorry). Had some awesome friends from the good ol' days come out to visit this past week and meet JJ, which was loads of fun. First visit was from a high school friend and mentor... Will be visiting him and his wife and meeting her horse this week so I'll make sure to get a picture, which I meant to do when they met JJ but forgot.

Today one of the best horsewomen I know came out to meet JJ. In high school I boarded at her farm and took lessons from her and over the years she's taught me more than I could ever fully thank her for! Anyway, it was a good reunion and she was very helpful in many ways, not the least of which was replacing the trotting poles every time JJ was too lazy to pick up his feet (which was pretty much every time through... I've decided that once he "gets" something, he gets bored with it and loses motivation to do it correctly, because he definitely knows how to trot through poles at this point). Anyway, she seemed to think he was a pretty cool little project and that I was doing well with him, which was good to hear :)

Other than that nothing too wild to report. Tried to trail ride a few times but was repeatedly driven out of the woods by the deer flies.

Cantered JJ over his first pole (on the ground). Cantering up to it he seemed a little unsure of what I was asking. Kind of like, you want me to who over the what now? But with a little leg and reassurance he went right over it, no problems. Did a few more of that, then set up two poles three strides apart. Well, let's just say that's when I discovered just how long JJ's canter strides are... We fit two strides ;)

Also I've been incorporating some cross-rails and other various obstacles into our flat work. My hope is that JJ will get used to jumping as just part of the routine and see jumps as simple obstacles in the way of flat work, and not get overly excited about them when we really start jumping. So every now and then in the middle of a circle I'll just throw in a cross-rail or small cavaletti. He seemed pretty content with all this so the other day I set up an actual vertical to incorporate as well. So we're trotting around and I bring him straight down the quarter line to the vertical and he... Just keeps right on trotting. Knocked the whole thing down. Awesome. So I get off to reset the jump because obviously I can't end on that! I take him to it again with a little more leg. He half-heartedly lifts his front end but apparently forgets that he has FOUR WHOLE LEGS that need to clear the rail. Down again, and down I go to reset it. One more time. More leg and a big shout of "GO" right at the base of the jump are enough motivation for him to pick himself up into a cute little jump. Yay!

Also also, I fit in a little groundwork last night. Sent JJ between the coops with no problem, then asked him to walk between the roll-tops where I had laid a couple empty grain bags for him to walk over. He wiggled away the first time and jumped them the second time. By the third time through he stepped on them and, scared by the noise, trotted away. Eventually I got him walking over the bags calmly in both directions. THEN! I had lined up all the flower boxes with the intention of having JJ walk over them. I sent him towards the line, which he marched at with his nose on the ground and ears pricked as forward and as tall as possible. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so intrigued by anything before. He gave the fake flowers a good sniff but hesitated. I asked him to walk forward. He walked over them without a fuss, and came around the circle to approach them again. This time he hesitated. I asked him to walk forward and he wiggled away from the flowers and towards me. Sigh. I lined him up again and asked him to walk over the flowers. He did, again without a fuss. I had him do this a few more times in both directions with no problems. Yay!

That's about it. JJ moves to his new home on Saturday, so we'll be on to a new adventure. I still have hopes of entering a low-key schooling show this fall... We'll see!

We're Baaaaa-aaaaaack!

Whoa guys. Whoa. What a long, lame month of July it was. So I won't spend to much time talking about it, except to tally up the totals:
-4 stitches
-2.5 weeks on stall rest
-1 bandage change every 24 hours
-2 boxes of surgical gauze pads
-2 boxes of rolled gauze
-1 week rest after removal of stitches
-Immeasurable amounts of hosing, alu-spray, and scratches cream
-Hand-walking and grazing whenever time permitted

Yep. That was July.

He might be an idiot, but he's just so gosh-darn cute!

But this is August, and August is already amazing. Oh, and I did not start the month off with a rabbit. Stupid rabbits.

I began riding JJ again last Wednesday, but really only walked in order to ease him back into the idea of work. Thursday I did a bit of trotting and towards the end of the ride noticed he felt a little off. I admit, I panicked a little bit. I gave him Friday off, and Saturday morning tried again. Still off. I asked Eventing Rider to take a look, and she determined it was definitely NOT in the hind leg, but rather that he looked a little footsore in front. Which was fair, considering he was overdue for shoes.

The farrier came that day and was amazingly patient with him as he threw little baby tantrums about holding his feet up. I won't spend too much time complaining about the fact that he has always stood very nicely for the farrier, and why is he being such an impatient brat now? No, for now I will just focus on the positive things.

So I rode again Sunday and with his feet feeling much better and over a month off work (and putting on weight all the while)... Let's just say it was a bit of a wild ride. He eventually agreed to pay attention to me and I must say I was a bit impressed with some of the leg yielding I got out of him! Hey, it's the little things.

Monday I rode again and had an even better ride. A Super Awesome Friend even came out and got some video footage for your viewing pleasure. YAY! I've taken the liberty of outlining some highlights and lowlights so you don't have to watch all the boring crap in between. Aw who am I kidding, I'm the only one who watches these things anyway :)

In the first video JJ is showing off his oh-so-impressive giraffe neck and disdain for anything related to the idea of contact. Rather amusing to watch, not fun to ride.

The second video shows JJ coming to terms with the idea of contact and relinquishing some of his favorite giraffe past-times. It doesn't last long though.

The third video gives you a sense of what he's like the entire time - he goes back and forth between giraffe and maybe accepting contact. Often times he lands somewhere in between, and when I start to ask him for more he throws his head up, then I ask him more and he finally drops his head for a few seconds. We'll get there.

And finally, videos 4 and 5 show a canter in each direction. Not so lovely, but we got the correct lead both times and we didn't run into anything, which is always a bonus :)

That's all for now. I decided not to ride today in lieu of spending the evening updating the blog. More updates soon :)

Caution: Graphic!

Yesterday, when I woke up, I said the word "Rabbit". First thing I did. I've heard that if the first thing you do on the first day of a new month is say the word rabbit, you will have good luck all month. So, rabbit.

This morning I woke up wishing yesterday was just a bad dream. Maybe next month I'll try elephant.

And here's why:

The phone picture is not the greatest. Basically there was a big crater-style hole in his back left leg, halfway up, on the frontish side. And my first thought was something to the effect of "antibiotic cream isn't going to fix this one..!" There were definitely things visible in the wound that should never really be visible on a living creature. Ugh.

So, emergency vet call. The vet was waiting for his truck to be finished at the shop, and gave us an ETA of 10PM. Which basically just leaves me very thankful to have a vet who is willing to drive out at 10PM.

Four stitches and two doses of heavy sedatives (for the horse, not me!) later, JJ is set to go. He will be on stall rest for the duration of the stitches - two whole weeks. The poor thing. He's on antibiotics to stave off infection and bute to keep him comfortable, and I'll hand graze him for as long as I can stand the bugs!

Retro Update

I meant to include another little tidbit in my most recent update but somehow forgot, even though it was pretty much the most exciting part of this past week...

Quick lunge on Monday

After riding in the ring on Monday I decided to hack JJ in the field. He had been good in the ring for the majority of the ride, but towards the end he seemed to decide there was a monster somewhere nearby that was ready to attack when he least expected it. I tried to regain his attention to no avail. After he danced around a few times I gave up and went for the field instead.

He started out fine in the field just walking around, then randomly he decided the coops in the field were terrifying objects (even though we had wandered the entire field the previous evening). I worked on walking him closer and closer to the coops. He began to settle eventually and I had him walking close to a coop, when he happened to step on a branch on the ground. The branch snapped up, scraping the coop on the way.

Ha.

Up JJ went. All four feet straight into the air. He must have flown a good three feet straight up. I somehow managed to have enough composure to pick up the reins and say "HO". He landed and miraculously didn't take off. Good thing too. His launch threw me enough out of the saddle that if he had decided to take off I would pretty much have body-slammed the coop. But he didn't take off. He stood still and I wrenched my way back to center, took a breath, and laughed. He walked away calmly. I made him circle the coops a couple more times and then headed back to the barn.

After I untacked JJ I lead him back to the field straight to the branch that had caused the previous ruckus. I kicked it into the air in front of him. He flinched and backed off. I did this a few more times, always walking away from him and kicking the branch away from him as I went. Eventually he got over it and I called it a night.

Whew!

One more teensy update. Or long update. We'll see. Anyway while I was riding this evening a German Shepard came barreling out of the woods. The dog (a known friendly dog, although perhaps not the most horse-savvy dog) stopped when he saw us, then began circling JJ. JJ was a little unsure of the creature at first but when he realized it was just a dog he was willing to go back to work. The dog, on the other hand, had other plans. He continued circling and began barking. JJ was very unsure of this... Almost as if to say "what does it want from me??". It was pretty clear the dog was trying to herd us. Sigh. Clearly we weren't going to get anything more done until the dog's owner claimed him, which she did very quickly.

At that point I pretty well lost my motivation to work, so we headed back to the woods. This time I took a smaller side trail to see if I could find a loop. I ended up at the same dead branch covered muddy spot, but this time I was determined to get through it so we didn't have to keep doubling back on our route. JJ was very unsure of the mud and branches, so I got off and lead him through it. Once through he was fine, and I had to lengthen my stirrup by three holes just to get back on, but JJ was awesome the whole time. Whew again!

Lessons Galore!

Whew, lots of updates this week! I've been a little too busy between the new job and getting JJ settled to update, so this is going to be one looong post!

So, on Monday I rode again, and JJ was awesome again. Pictures below to prove there were some good moments and, of course, some bad moments! I put him back in his stall for dinner and was chatting with friend/barn owner (henceforth FBO) about teaching JJ to trailer. She practices a lot of horsemanship and groundwork and graciously offered to teach me a few things with JJ. COOL! We got to work that evening. She showed me certain cues to get him to move his feet in very specific ways, and how to ask him to walk, trot, sidestep with the hind end, and side step with his forehand. JJ responded very willingly and I was very impressed.

On Tuesday I just worked on solidifying my knowledge of the simple groundwork I'd learned Monday. Friend/fellow board (henceforth FFB) was in the ring and offered to do a little work with JJ (she also knows the ways of the horsemanship). She played with him for a bit before FBO returned from work and showed me the next step: asking JJ to pass between objects. She set up two roll tops about 2 feet apart, leaving a narrow hallway for JJ to walk through, then asked him to do so. He put up quite a fight about this, and the reality struck: if he was so hesitant just to walk between a couple jump obstacles, how would he ever walk onto a trailer?! She did get him through eventually and then asked him a few more times, and he was better.

Wednesday I had a lesson with eventing rider (henceforth ER). ER really liked JJ but said I needed to put a lot of work into getting him looser in the neck and shoulders and better at bending around corners. We spent the majority of the hour just on that one thing and made some serious progress. The video below was taken towards the beginning of the lesson - I wish I had one of the end of the lesson to for comparison!!

On Thursday I did more groundwork. I had JJ going through the roll tops easily so I set up two coops side by side and asked him to walk between them. He hesitated a bit but went through much more easily this time around. So, I asked him to step over a low cavaletti. Easy. I raised it. Easy. I put one of the roll tops under it. Uhh... Little scarier. He went around it once and the next time he jumped/fell over it. Good enough. I asked him to go over that a few more times, then asked him to jump a pair of sawed-in-half blue barrels. Not a problem (aside from the whole coordination thing). Cool!

AAAND today! I was excited to hop back on today and work on the things we'd done Wednesday in the lesson. I tried to do all of the same things that ER had showed me, but of course the ride was not going nearly as well. I spent 45 minutes trying NOT to get frustrated, and in truth there were some nice moments, but eventually I threw my hands in the air (by which I mean I sat and asked JJ to walk and dropped the reins to the buckle). Fed up with bad circles, I glanced at the trailhead that branches straight off of the riding ring. I would swear it was calling my name. Well, why not? So out we went - JJ on his first ever trail ride! I wasn't expecting anything and I don't know the trails at all (hey, I never said I was smart), so I sort of planned to just go a few hundred feet and then turn around. JJ was so good that we went quite a bit farther than planned though! He marched into the woods with his neck stretched down, nose straight out, and ears pricked forward. I steered him around a few right turns, thinking I might find a short loop back to the barn. I'm pretty sure I would have too, but we came upon a giant fallen birch limb with branches and leaves strewn all across the trail. Surrounding the branches was about 6 inches of mud. I considered trying to get around it anyway, but decided not to push my luck so we turned back. BUT I am still super proud and impressed with this little 5 year old marching into the woods for the first time without a buddy so boldly!! Go J-Man!

JJ's Summer Home

FINALLY! Thanks to a good friend, JJ finally arrived in his Harvard, MA summer home Saturday evening. We had left MA at 6:30AM to pick him up in NY. We arrived mid-morning after a smooth ride, and after I loaded up the trailer with all of my tack and such, I brought JJ down. He had no interest in getting on the trailer... UGH. Three people and a syringe of ace later, he was finally on.

JJ's new digs: Mansion!

JJ's new digs: grassy paddock!

All in all the whole trailering experience was very frustrating for me. I've had awful experiences with non-trailering horses in the past (Ahem, DOLLY anyone?!) and I really haven't ever seen a good way of teaching a horse to trailer. JJ was also not on his best behavior. I'm not surprised about that - he hadn't been really worked in several weeks and I had been in MA the entire week prior to trailer day. Anyway, as we were all trying to get him on the trailer he began his kicking-out thing again that we had worked through way back in March. $%$(*%#$#)^. The in trying to have him back off the trailer, he acted like he didn't know the cue to back up, which he absolutely does. So basically anyone who met JJ yesterday probably thinks I've done nothing productive with him in that past four months. Very frustrating. At any rate, I'll have to work on trailer training at some point... A tricky summer project.

This morning I lunged JJ in the ring for about 15 minutes without tack (VIDEO BELOW). He threw in a few kinks as seen in the first circle, but settled down quickly. We later turned him out with a chestnut mare named Olive in hopes that they would be pasture buddies. After a few discussions, the two of them settled and enjoyed their afternoons munching on grass.

In the evening I tacked JJ again for another short lunge, then hopped on for a ride. I am SO pleased to report that JJ was AWESOME today. Better than I ever would have expected. HOORAY! Hoping to start taking lessons soon so we can start making some real progress!

A Lameness Rant

OK I know it's been a while since the last post, but it's not entirely my fault. There was a good week in there where I was pretty busy and only rode JJ twice. Then towards the beginning of June I noticed JJ's feet were beginning to crumble and his front shoes were a bit loose (Note: he was shod May 1st). I lunged him and saw that he was somewhat sore on the front right - the foot crumbling most. The next day he seemed a little better, and since he had only been ridden twice in the week leading up to this point I knew I needed to get on while I had a chance and get some of his energy out, so I did. It was EXHAUSTING. And, at the end of the ride, he threw that right front shoe. That was on Tuesday, June 3rd... And so starts the shoe saga:

Sue called the farrier immediately but he said he couldn't get out until June 11th. UGH. Oh well, JJ's foot was fine, really, just sore from being barefoot on rocky terrain. I didn't ride him the rest of that week but secretly hoped a few days of getting used to walking barefoot would make him more comfortable. No such luck. On Thursday I tried out a booty on his foot to try and protect it from rocks. By Friday he had thrown that booty off too.

It was also Friday that I noticed he had wrenched his back right shoe only halfway off - very problematic. These shoes have little triangular "clips" that fold up over the front of the hoof to help keep the shoe on (haha). So when the shoe twisted half off of his foot, that sticking up triangular clip gouged out a nice hole in the bottom of his foot. The result: a dead lame horse and a very upset me.

I soaked his foot and packed it on Friday, then continued to soak it Saturday and Sunday. JJ was on stall rest all weekend, which he hated. I managed to get another farrier out Monday morning (THANK YOU!!!). He fixed up JJ's feet but warned me that he thought JJ might have a stifle injury on the right side, contributing to his lameness. Well crap.

And, to add to all of this fun, Mike and I are currently in the process of moving to MA. So Mike and I will leave at the end of this week but JJ will be in NY until the 21st. The vet will be out next week to check out his limbs, and by the time he shows up in MA he will have had a good three weeks off. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there's nothing wrong with his stifle (essentially the knee of the horse), and that as soon as he moves into his summer home I will be able to get him back into work. I have goals of a schooling show in the fall!!!

P.S. I'll add pictures later - no time now.

Do You Trust Me?

In early May, the Budweiser Clydesdales were performing a routine in which 8 were pulling a wagon in tough-looking patterns. On a particularly tight turn, one of the inside horses stumbled and went down. If you've ever participated in a three-legged race and your partner went down, you can probably imagine what happened to the rest of the horses. But, you don't have to imagine - someone caught it on video and you can read about the incident and watch it here: http://www.horsenation.com/2014/05/14/budweiser-clydesdales-ok-following-scary-hitch-accident/.

Anyway, the ensuing dog-pile of horses was a heart-wrenching, terrifying sight. Anyone who's ever dealt with horses or knows anything about the animals knows that their typical reaction to any unsettling stimulus is to run. But the Budweiser Clydesdales stood stock still (those who were still standing, that is) and waited calmly for their handlers to free them. Talk about complete and utter trust.

Unrelated image of JJ enjoying a good roll in the dirt.
Because blogs are boring without pictures :)

JJ and I had our own version of the unsettling stimulus yesterday, and it goes like this...

I'd had a decent ride on JJ and on a whim decided to do some ground work in the ring. I was too lazy to go up to the barn, untack, and return to the ring, and I wasn't planning on spending much time with the groundwork anyway, so I just hopped off, loosened the girth, and pulled the reins over his head.

I pulled out the tarp, which had been sitting in a jump standard since the last time we played tarp games (when was that... February??). JJ hardly noticed it so I began leading him around in my right hand and dragging the tarp in my left. Didn't care. I laid it flat and walked all over it. Didn't care. Then I asked him to walk over it. This took slightly more convincing, but eventually he decided it might be OK and followed me over it. I picked up the tarp and started the whole process again, a few more times.

At one point I asked JJ to just stand on the tarp. He complied with ease, and I decided to call it a day. And then. Out of nowhere, the wind kicked up the tarp which was still under JJ's feet. Before his brain had a chance to process the information, instinct sent him straight into the air. He practically launched himself OVER my head. And before my brain had a chance to process, my own survival instinct kicked in and I let go of the reins. I LET GO of the reins. I have NEVER dropped a pair of reins in my life. I swore at myself. Swore for dropping the reins. Swore for not untacking him before playing tarp games. Swore for leaving the stupid f***ing gate open so that JJ could run straight out of the ring and back to the barn, or worse, into the road.

The worst imaginable situations played out in my mind as a stood watching him. I could only coo in my calmest, deepest voice "Hoooooo, hoooooo". The reins dangled dangerously close to those uncoordinated front feet. "Hooooo". The open gate glared at me. "Hoooooo".

Unrelated image of JJ getting fat (I hope).
Because blogs are boring without pictures :)

As JJ danced toward the gate, he stepped on the reins. My heart sunk. His head went flying and the bit popped out of his mouth - something broke. Better something leather than his mouth though. "Hooooo".

And to my complete astonishment, JJ hesitated. Just slightly. Then he turned his head and looked at me. Then he stopped, and turned to face me. He began walking toward me, and I couldn't even remember how to breathe. "Easy baby, good boy". I reached out ever so slowly and grabbed an intact piece of the bridle. I can't even put into words how amazing that felt, and I can't tell you how much time I spent standing there just praising him, petting him, soothing him. Does JJ trust me? Well, it's certainly a start.

Where's JJ's Brain?

JJ and I have fallen into something of a rhythm. Once JJ is tacked, our ride typically starts out with a game of Where's JJ's Brain. This is something like Where's Waldo, except in the search of JJ's brain your book is the size of an encyclopedia and the target may or may not actually be on any single page. JJ starts out all hyper and ADD, listening to the quad roving around, watching the other horses, eyeing the neighbors, and consistently trying to run and stay above the bit. During this time I do my best to stay patient with him. I know his brain is in there somewhere, it's just a matter of finding it and switching it to the "on" position. And so I've created some exercises. We start out by trotting a cloverleaf pattern around the jumps at the bottom of the ring. I'll do that until he begins to anticipate our turns, then ask him to walk and leg yield down the long side. He's really quite good at the lateral movement, but not so good at staying at a walk. Then I'll go back to the trot with more cloverleafs and some figure eights thrown in. In between circles of the figure eight I do some trot-halt-trot transitions. Again, he's usually throwing his head in the sky to avoid the bit at this point, so halt transitions are particularly challenging.

Anyway, after about 20 or 30 minutes (depending on the time of day - in the morning only about 10 minutes, anytime after 4PM 30 minutes+) of finding the brain games, JJ finally begins to focus and I start our ride. It's like instead of warming up JJ's muscles I need to spend that time warming up his mental game. Sometimes it's extremely frustrating and I really want to give up, but I know that's when I have to push myself harder. If I give up, I'll have twice as hard a time getting JJ to focus the next day. So I have to stick with it and find his brain because each time I do he begins to learn where it needs to be.

Once we start our real ride he's a lot of fun. He's slowly experimenting with stretching into the bit, and every now and then we get some really nice strides. He relaxes nicely once his brain is working and I can do all sorts of fun things with him. And, with all the cloverleaf patterns we've been doing, our bending and circles are becoming quite nice!

Thanks to a Barn Buddy I have some awesome videos and pictures to share today! Thanks Barn Buddy!

Videos 1+2: JJ towards the beginning of our ride. Brain doing pretty well at this point. I rode him at 1PM - early enough that my Where's Waldo book was only the size of a long novel.

I got a couple canters in today too! This was particularly exciting because up until this point I had only cantered in the field, and once in the ring, with no one to witness our awesomeness. I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was lying when I told them how nice JJ's canter was, but today we had a large audience!

Videos 3+4: JJ Cantering.

Monsters, Mayhem, and a Fourth Gear!

After a nice ride on Sunday and a day off on Monday, I arrived at the barn on Tuesday with a tight schedule. Because of this lack of time I planned on simply lunging JJ. I had also just received the chambon that I ordered in the mail, so lunging would work out well to see how JJ went with the chambon for the first time. I ordered the chambon at the suggestion of a good friend and former trainer of mine. It's a piece of equipment that goes over the horse's poll (just behind the ears), such that when he raises his head he feels pressure there. He is not restricted at all, but the more he raises his head the more pressure he feels, so he begins to play with the idea of bringing his head down. I like this much better than his being restricted by the German Martingale.

As I was lunging JJ, a friend of mine (and an EXCELLENT rider), showed up at the barn. She had just returned from her first year at college in Virginia, and was itching to be back in the saddle. I didn't even hesitate to offer her a ride on JJ - I knew this would be fun for both of us! After a few times around the ring at the trot and canter, she popped him over a few crossrails, then aimed him at a vertical, maybe 2' or 2'3'' in height (remember, I haven't taken JJ over anything really since the 2' vertical from a while back, which he trotted over quite nicely). He didn't balk at the fence, but he didn't really know what do with it either. He sort of jumped/leaped/fell over it, knocking the rail down and almost landing on his back feet instead of his front. I almost died laughing. Excellent-Rider-Friend then aimed him at the culvert pipe in the middle of the ring which, even though it has been there since before JJ came, apparently posed a threat. The culvert pipe is only maybe 12'' or 18'' in height, but looks like this:

Monster? JJ thought so. He did everything from stopping in front of it to rear/falling over the corner of it, but he was NOT going to go over it. I tried standing on the end of it with my arms out to block that as an escape route, but that just ended with me dodging giant horse baby. I'm really quite sure his little baby brain wouldn't even have registered running over the human in the way. So that didn't work. Excellent-Rider-Friend tried a few more times, then jumped him over the normal vertical and some more cross-rails before dismounting. I do not fault her AT ALL for not getting him over that culvert pipe, and to her credit she spent another 45 minutes or so working with him on the lunge. She tried leading him over the culvert and lunging him over it all to no avail. But she was not devoid of tricks yet. She lunged him over a simple vertical, then placed a black barrel in front of the vertical, leaving him enough space to jump next to the barrel. She lunged him that way a couple times, then placed two black barrels in front of the same vertical, leaving him space to jump in between. She lunged him that way a few times, then filled the entire from of the vertical with black barrels. JJ didn't like it, but LEAPED over the barrels like a flying Pegasus. The barrels are probably almost twice as big as the culvert pipe. She lunged him over the barrels a couple more times before calling it a day. I hopped on JJ's back just to cool him out, and was surprised to feel how anxious and unraveled he felt. Whew - his little baby brain got overworked today!! He eventually calmed down, stretched his neck, and began breathing again. 

It was really good for me to watch Excellent-Rider-Friend work JJ, because I saw how easily she ignored all his anxiety and head-upness and quickness, and just went about her job riding him. I've been trying to focus on that since.

On Wednesday I decided to let JJ take it easy. I took him up to the field and trotted and cantered a bit, then felt a little bold and squeezed him forward into fourth gear. The three beat rocking canter became a four beat, driving gallop. I let him run the edge of the field once before sitting up and quietly saying "ho". He dropped right back into an easy walk and I dropped the reins and let him relax again. So nice to have breaks!

Thursday was great aside from a minor incident in which my saddle ended up on the ground... I was doing a quick saddle pad change on JJ, with an arm looped through the reins to keep hold of him. I lifted my saddle while Sue attempted to switch the pad under it. As soon as things began moving around on JJ's back his brain seemed to disappear. He bolted forward, catching the reins on my arm and launching into a rear. SLAM went my saddle into the dirt. He reared again before I could get a real hold on the reins and calm him enough to keep his feet on the ground, and then he seemed fine. And my saddle is fine to, so it's all OK, and I ended up having a nice ride at the end of it.

New Directions

Pictures and videos! Today turned out to be one of my best days with JJ, despite something of a rough start. More and more often I've been noticing that JJ seems to be running around without a ticking brain in his noggin. This means I have the lovely job of winding that brain back up so it ticks again. Lately, that's meant a fair amount of groundwork as well as some low level dressage-type movements in the ring. I'm not the greatest dressage rider so I can't really say any of it is pretty, but it gives JJ something to consider while we do circles in the ring. And actually, there have been a couple of really nice moments where he has stretched down into the contact instead of coming behind the vertical or above the bit, which he usually does to evade the contact. His avoiding the contact has been one of our major ongoing hurdles, so having even just a couple moments of him stretching into it in the past two days has been AWESOME. Pics and video:

But mom this is HARD!
Also - can we please just talk about that left leg in the bottom right photo?
I mean, where is it going?!

And some nice moments...

And check out that lateral movement! JJ's got serious potential I think!

After ring work I took JJ out to the field to walk out. Since I've been taking JJ out to the field I've been dying to trot him out there, so today I finally decided to try it. He was amazing. SO amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I sat and closed my leg. JJ stepped into a soft, easy, quiet left-lead canter. It felt like a cloud. I was so thrilled and scared at the same time. Scared that I might ruin the canter if I tensed up too much. Scared that JJ would get strong and run. Scared that he would get excited and buck, rear, anything. I kept my seat and hands quiet and we cantered two large circles in the field before I closed my fingers and softly asked for a trot. He came right back. I was seriously so happy I almost cried. The past couple weeks I'd been having a really hard time with JJ and I'd been getting really frustrated. That brief but wonderful canter in the field today restored my faith that we might actually have potential as a horse and rider pair. YAY TODAY!

Fields and Fox Pups!

Well, the good news is that now that I've been getting after JJ about his feet the kicking out has pretty much stopped completely. We did have to have a brief but effective discussion about the appropriate uses of teeth today, but I think I made my point quite clear. This is the first time a teeth issue arose and it was very similar to the beginning of the kicking issue - no aggression behind the behavior, just typical baby stuff. But, alas, I've learned my lesson about ignoring the "baby stuff".

Random adorable fox baby at the barn

Every day that I've ridden JJ this week I've either started or ended in the field. I really think he likes to get out there even though we just walk around (barring any uncontrolled variables such as a herd of deer...). Yep, we did run into deer Saturday morning. They burst from the woods not 20 feet in front of us. JJ seemed to think that was the BEST THING EVER but calmed down after a few snorts, farts, and a moment of dancing.

On Monday I took JJ into the back field with a another horse and rider pair. I was pretty impressed with how oblivious he was to the other horse - that is until she hit a pile of leaves and scared the crap out of him. He's such a baby. Oh wait... He is a baby... I have to remind myself of that fact 20 times every day!

Random adorable fox baby at the barn

Always trying to keep JJ's brain ticking, I free lunged him in the round pen today and then set up a small vertical for him to ever so gracefully leap over. Ahem... or... Ahem... Run away from bucking... In hindsight, I clearly should have placed the pole on the ground before setting up the TEENY TINY little "jump", but hey, I'm still learning too. Sigh. I waited until he calmed down enough for me to lead him over the pole, and literally led him over it SIX TIMES going left. Yes. It took six times for him to stop spazzing out over the darn pole. I led him over it twice going right and figured that ought to be good enough. Got him trotting around again to the left and he trotted over the pole quite easily. I had him change direction and go right and OH GOD THERE'S A POLE THERE!!!! Sigh. Led him over the pole six times to the right. We did, eventually, get over it in both directions, and I even took a video of it for your viewing pleasure!

And finally - the bad news is that JJ seems to have developed a mild case of rain rot on his hindquarters. Rain rot is easily treated but makes little scabby bald patches in the coat which makes JJ look more scraggly and pathetic than ever. All well, I'm really glad it's not something worse!!

Promises

I solemnly swear that I will post at least once a week from now on. See, the problem is, I've been having various issues with JJ lately and when we have issues I get depressed and when I get depressed I don't want to blog about things that depress me. But, alas, the reason I started this blog in the first place was to be able to look over the bumps in the road from a very distant land in which JJ and I are galloping around the Rolex 4* on our way to winning on our dressage score.

So, I'll update.

I started my journey with JJ trying hard to put him in his place without putting too much pressure on him, because I've been trying so hard to build his trust. I think, though, that I've been a little too soft with him. He's developed this issue of kicking out randomly - like little temper tantrums from impatience. I'm beginning to understand more and more about how his little baby brain ticks, and I'm beginning to fully comprehend just how much work this little man is going to be. Anyway, today one of his little kicks came a little too close to my personal space bubble and I gave him a good hard thump and yell for it, at which he decided to dance in circles around me. All of this took place in the back field after I dismounted from a lovely ride. But it was close to 5:30PM and JJ's internal alarm clock was screaming dinner time and his impatience was over the top. So, I solemnly swear to get after him for all the BS he pulls, rather than excuse it as baby behavior.

Also, I'm pretty sure JJ is pretty sick of doing circles in the ring, so today we hacked out into the back field for the first time. I feel pretty comfortable with JJ - there aren't many things that bother him, and he really was fine out in that field... Once we got there. The clock was approaching 5PM as we headed out so JJ found a nice puddle along the way and used it as an excuse to avoid going forward and turn back to his paddock. We spent a good 5 or 10 minutes having a heated conversation about this behavior before I leaped off his back and marched him through the lousy puddle. Days passed the point of having any fear of JJ, I climbed back on his back in the middle of the field (Yea OK I was pleading with him not to take off while I hauled myself up). He stood quite nicely and once aboard we wandered around the field at the walk for a while. I think JJ enjoyed this and I solemnly swear I will keep him out of the ring as much as possible.

P.S. I don't actually have any ambition to ever compete at the 4* level. I think pre-lim is a pretty sturdy goal for me.

P.P.S. I broke Mike's camera (actually I blame JJ...) so documentation will be forthcoming...

Updates Galore: Racehorse Relapse and More!

Ooh. Epic April fail - many updates needed! I'll let most of the pictures/videos speak for themselves.

April 9th: Attempted another canter on the J-Man. J relapsed into racehorse mode. The following ensued:

After that I had several really nice rides on JJ, including an EXCELLENT trotting lesson the day before I left for a week-long visit to MA/NH. Which means JJ had a week off. I knew what to expect upon return...

April 20th (return from break): I only lunged JJ, and actually he only had a few small outbursts. Nothing like his flying days of February. Also, note his brand new booties courtesy of Lisa's tack shop ;)

Yesterday, Monday, I decided to forgo lunging JJ at all. I swear it just makes him more wound up and stressed out. I brought him down to the ring and hopped on his back, and he was like a little angel. Well, up until he heard to quad driving around and delivering dinners, but you can't have everything I guess!

Jumpin' JJ: Part Deux

Had a blast this weekend!!! So much good stuff - I love this little man!

On Saturday I was trotting around the ring and over poles on the ground, having a grand ole' time. Sue turned her attention to me. Anytime she sees that JJ is going nice and calm she decides to its time for a challenge. She set up a couple cross rails and had me go over them one at a time. Meh, no problem! We've done that! With success over single crossrails she had me do two in a row. Aside from a fair amount of wiggle-wormy-ness in between, JJ was fine.

Sue seemed to be getting bored so she dropped one of the crossrails and made a two foot vertical out of it. I was watching her and seeing the 2' jump I said NO! We had never done a vertical - I wasn't ready to start over something two feet high! In my head all I could imagine was JJ coming up and leaping over the jump as though it were 5' tall instead of 2' tall. If you've ever seen a young horse learning to jump, this is a fairly common reaction.

An explanation of jumps for all you non-horsey people :)

"Relax! I was just seeing how high it was!" she answered. She put the jump down to about 18'' - the lowest it could be set. "Come on over!"

What I expected to happen

I relaxed, knowing I had to trust Sue and I had to trust JJ. He had never even tried anything bad and he had never been anything but predictable. Why would he throw a wrench in the system now? He didn't. He trotted over the vertical so easily that if I had closed my eyes I wouldn't have even known it was there.

Up it went to 21''. JJ's reaction was the same.

What actually happened.. More or less...

24''. Back to the height it started at. I was laughing at this point. Stupid me, what had I been so worried about? JJ tried to trot over it again but couldn't lift his legs high enough at the trot and stumbled a bit. "OK, so you need a little more leg in front of the jump so he starts to get the right idea", Sue said. Right. I brought him around again. He wiggle-wormed in front of the jump as if to say hey are you paying attention? You're steering me into something when there's plenty of space on either side to go around it! I got him up to the fence and squeezed, and up he went into a little hop over the jump and landed in a confused canter. I'm pretty sure I had a huge smile on my face at this point and patted JJ happily. Yay! We did the jump a few more times before I cooled JJ out.

On a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon we tried another canter - this time to the right. JJ picked up the right lead and we did a couple rather decent circles on the top half of the ring. Yahoo!!

I GIVE UP!

It's true - I gave up!

I was so stuck in the mindset that I had to get JJ in a nice frame and fuss with his face to do so. I wasn't hard on his face at all but I was consistently asking him to bring his head down, so of course the poor thing was trying to escape the pressure. For JJ the only solution was to pick his head up, hollow out, and run.

I want you all to know that I blame all you readers for not slapping me in the face and reminding me that all horse problems are really rider problems. Come one guys, pay attention!

So anyway, on Thursday I gave up. I dropped the reins. Dropped them. Held the buckle. JJ trotted around like a happy little duck, and I actually had to apply more leg aid to keep him trotting. There was even a giant herd of deer in the field adjacent to the ring and he didn't mind one bit.

In other news, JJ's paddock has had a recent remodel - he is now surrounded by electric fencing and let me tell you, he HATES it! The electric went up on Thursday and JJ was absolutely convinced that suddenly EVERYTHING had become electric - the lead rope, the bridle, the lunge whip, all the fences... Everything. Poor thing. I think he's figuring it out :)

All In Good Time

Last week JJ basically had three days off - I only lunged him on Wednesday and failed to work him at all Thursday and Friday. On Saturday JJ was fine on the lunge but very quick under saddle. Not bad, but not as nicely consistent and balanced as he had been, which is quite frankly a little disappointing. He was the same on Sunday - quick, hollow, and unbalanced - basically exactly what you might expect from an OTTB. But what happened to my shockingly nice balanced boy?? All in good time, I suppose.

On Monday JJ was a little better and I was enjoying myself a bit more, until suddenly Sue called me down to the "top half" of the arena. There was only one reason she might do this.... "OK, sit and think canter!" she announced. Crap. I wanted to yell and scream and protest that I wasn't ready!! I'm not ready!! But I made a pact with myself a few months back that I would always trust Sue, no matter what. So I sat, and I thought. JJ didn't react, so I kissed and squeezed (OK that sounds weird to anyone who doesn't ride, but it's true). He popped into a sloppy, akward, unbalanced canter on... The wrong lead. UGH! I was going left for his benefit and he jumped into the right lead! Testament to me, I guess ;)

What I think happened

What actually (probably) happened

Whatever, it was fine. I'm pretty sure I didn't freak out that badly ;)

JJ's mounting block issues are... evolving... He for some reason feels the need to circle the block about 8 times before he is content to stand still. When he finally decides to stop moving he kicks like hell with his back legs, but the aggression seems to have disappeared - his ears are floppy and sideways and he's not aiming for me (trust me, if he was I'm sure he'd get me!). When I begin to mount he stands like a perfect gentleman until I am fully mounted and I ask him to move forward. Um... Weird? I'm really not sure what to make of this behavior so I've decided to stop worrying about it and hope he just gets over it. There's only so much I can worry about.

Today, Sue decided to climb aboard after my ride. It was a lot of fun to see JJ under saddle but I realized how disgustingly high his head set is - EW! He looks like a camel. Or a thestral. Or both. I have to keep reminding myself that we'll get there... All in good time.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: JJ has adjusted very well to his new home in the paddock and is quickly making friends with his neighbor, Scribbles. It's only a matter of time until I find JJ's halter torn off his face and lying somewhere in Scribbles's paddock!

Also, riding JJ just keeps getting better and better. I tried a German Martingale on him for a few days, but didn't like how restricted it kept him so I decided to forgo that. I am sticking with the standing martingale for now, though, to prevent a broken nose. Honestly though he trots around with his head in a natural little frame (much lower now) and I can walk him around on the buckle. He really is going VERY well under saddle - Sue says we can try cantering soon... EEP!

Videos from Sunday:

The Bad: JJ has suddenly become quite the little devil when it comes time for me to climb aboard, so that's fun. This started Sunday, though was significantly worse on Monday. On Sunday he just wasn't interested in standing still while I tried to mount, which had not been a problem previously. Monday I tacked him up with every intention of doing all groundwork and getting him comfortable standing still again. I began teaching him to "ground tie" - i.e. to stand still unless I told him otherwise, even if I was walking away. He did not pick this up very quickly at all, and I literally spent about 2 hours with him in the ring. I did switch it up with some lunging between the ground tying exercises so he wouldn't get too bored. Finally I asked him to stand next to the mounting block while I walked around (I had him on the lunge the entire time in case he decided otherwise). He stood nicely until I approached either side of him. As soon as I came near he lifted his head and pinned his ears. That's different, was all I could think. JJ is the kind of horse I cannot yell at or he completely loses it, so I tried comforting him instead. He relaxed at that, and I climbed the mounting block. Ears pinned, mouth wide, head tossing, back legs flying. BUT, he wasn't moving. So.... progress? Erm... I petted and comforted him more and he relaxed again, but as soon as a touched the saddle or girth area the ears went back. More petting, more soothing tones, and I called it a day. He had stood still anyway, and I really didn't know what to do about the aggressive behavior.

On Tuesday Sue was in the ring to help me, and though JJ still showed discomfort and aggression at the block it was immensely helpful to have Sue holding him and I mounted without too much difficulty and had an excellent ride.

Awesome little man!

The Ugly: I'm really just going to vent about the weather. This weather sucks. I want spring NOW. It's been close to freezing for four days and when it FINALLY warms up this weekend they're calling for three straight days of rain. #$@$%)(@#$*#$(%)!!!

A Transformation

Oof. A week and a half of no updates - sorry guys! This post will be more like a video blog because, believe it or not, I actually have THREE awesome videos, IN SUCCESSION, that show MAJOR PROGRESS in the past 11 days. Oh but can you handle it?!

VIDEO 1: Saturday, March 15th 2014. 

OK so here I was CLEARLY way off. Nervous. JJ had been something of an idiot on the lunge before I got and I had a hard time letting go of that. Of course, being the amazing little man he is, he was fine under saddle. I stayed on the lunge anyway.
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Video 2-A: Tuesday, March 18th

On Sunday the 16th, something changed. We had been at a show all day (where I was helping out, not riding), and when I got back to the barn in the afternoon I was pretty exhausted. Still, I had to work with Holly who had been out of work for a few weeks. I tacked her up and brought her down to the ring to lunge her, and to say she was a nutcase would be an understatement. She seemed PISSED to be asked to work again, and gave JJ a run for his money even on his worst days. Except Holly is STRONG and wanted to break away. Though she is the same age as JJ, she's half percheron (i.e. some of the largest draft horses out there), so she's probably nearly twice his weight. When she decided she was getting away from me, you better believe she was getting away from me. She dragged me around the ring for about 30 seconds before I gave up and let go. Frustrated and exhausted, I retrieved her from the corner of the ring where she had taken refuge, lunged her until we were both worn out, and put her away. After that episode, lunging JJ seemed like a dream. He might throw in a few bucks and crowhops but he's always seemed more interested in playing than getting away. (A side note - now in consistent work Holly is back to her old self!)

So what changed? I DID! After dealing with Holly's antics I was totally relaxed in dealing with JJ, and as a result we became a significantly better team. Videos 2-A and 2-B were both taken a couple days after the Sunday revelation.

Video 2-B: Tuesday March 18th

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Video 3: Friday March 21st

Ah yes - the best one yet!! JJ **almost** getting into a little frame! High head - yes. But I am SO IMPRESSED and proud of this little man!!! Not even two months of training and only off the track since December - how amazing is he?!

Another non-training related update: JJ got turned out in a paddock for the very first time today, and did so well he will be staying out tonight like a big boy! Thanks to Tricia I can share with you an adorable photo of JJ meeting his new neighbor :)

JJ, only accustomed to spending time with goats, isn't quite sure how to
handle this new situation... (And as a result he somewhat resembles a cross
between the Loch Ness Monster and a thestral from Harry Potter).