Billets and Snow

We're having a colossally snowy winter this year. Over in Wisconsin, at the farm where Arya and I went to ride (ok, groundwork) with Tik Maynard, their indoor's roof fell in from the fiendish combination of a day of rain on existing snow plus ten new inches added quickly on. Luckily no one was hurt (except, perhaps, the chickens, but one has been found!) and roofs at my house are looking pretty decent thanks to the 40 mph winds we enjoyed for a day and a half last week. I feel like all I do is shovel out my barn doors and the path I take to the barn, especially if it's been windy, but we are managing.

I'm not totally sure how deep the snow can get before I shouldn't ride in it, but the horses still choose to bomb around the pasture, so I've been fitting in short rides with Bailey and continue to groundwork Arya. We've had a lot of positive progress; I've had a few really magical nights when I go out to catch Arya and Bailey for turn in and Arya will approach, stop about 12-15 feet away (which is the length of the rope I've been using for ground work, give or take) and I can use the same cue with my body that I use on the line to invite her into my space, and she walks up to be caught. It's a pretty tingly experience! 

We do still have bad days or nights; usually if there is a lot of snowmobile traffic, and still have a few minutes of discussion during daylight hours, but that's all it is. We discuss, for 10 minutes or less, depending on how fresh she is. If she's fresh, she and Bailey do some galloping away and back from me kicking and being dorks, but I don't walk after them at this point, because Arya comes right back towards me. In her groundwork we're focusing on softening to light pressure on her face, moving the front and back feet and crossing over/disengaging the hind while still retaining a respectful space around me. She's a good learner and seems to really enjoy being in my space when she's allowed (it probably helps that I massage her tight poll and behind her ears). 

Bailey has been lovely and stretchy during our rides, and seems to like the myler loose ring I finally got onto her bridle. I'm hoping Arya likes it, too, once we start working with tack again. I also finally replaced my dressage girth; I'd been using Arya's for Bailey, which was fine, but I really prefer to have her in shoulder relief girths just based on how she's shaped. We had a 28" that I sold when we got a different saddle that it didn't work with, and bought a 26". When I sold the 26" I wasn't going to get another TSF; the 26" gapped pretty badly, putting pressure on only a small part of her belly. I could fit my whole hand in the gap without making it wider. I broke down and got another TSF, but a 28" again, and in the synthetic. It fits really well and I am always a fan of less leather to clean, so I am very happy with the purchase (plus it was a steal!). 

I still intend to send my dressage saddle to have it's tree stretched, but I will be able to get the billets re-done locally; due to my partnership with a local fitter, I can get billets redone in trade for work I've already done for her. This is super exciting to me, and I'm all ready to get the dressage saddle to her. I want to redo the Courbette Galant's billets as well (and she is going to do both eventually) but I can't decide how to redo them.

So I ask, blogger friends, would you put long billets on a "normal" jump saddle? 

I've had problems with both of my jump saddles and buckles digging into my leg so I am very tempted, and both horses have a good wither and I don't have problems with lateral slippage. Is there a reason not to put long billets on a double flap saddle? I'd love your opinions!

Walking Her Down

I had a moment of serendipity last week, when right before I went out to do chores, I was reading one of my Richard Maxwell books that just had arrived and I ran into the "what to do if your horse does x" list. And one of those items is "What to do if your horse is hard to catch".

Arya has been off and on hard to catch for most of her time with me. It has gotten worse, especially lately, and tends to coincide with her being difficult or impossible to ride. The respect is totally gone when she's like this, and translates to both on the ground and under saddle work. So instead of opening the gate and letting the girls run in and out like I have been, I've been walking them in and out, and requiring Arya to be caught every night. This weekend was a long holiday weekend for me, so I not only got to do more horsing than usual, I also had three solid days (make that four, with today) of being able to catch Arya multiple times.

Angry, sweaty, steaming horse

It seems like her moods come in waves: the first night, she hooted and hollered around bucking, kicking and leaping for probably forty-five minutes before she abruptly stood and let me walk up to her. She then didn't want to lead, and got groundworked heavily all the way into the barn because we don't refuse to walk nor do we run over the human. NOT OKAY.

The next night involved less running (thankfully, as she had sweated up both her liner and blanket and had to stand with a cooler on for half an hour the previous night) and more of her power walking away from me looking stressed before she relented. The rest of the week, she seemed to have figured it out. It took 10, 15 minutes, tops, to catch her for dinner, instead of the protracted 45 minute affair. And then on Saturday, she decided to revert (also, catching her during daylight is TOTALLY DIFFERENT, in her mind) and ran around a whole bunch. She played and galloped and bucked a ton, and actually spooked Bailey through the fence with her kicking antics. Bailey. luckily is totally fine, as her blanket took the rope burn, and lucky for me, that blanket is a Smartpak Ultimate, so it's replaceable now that it has a hole.

After my first catch Saturday, I worked the naughty horse on the ground, and put her back out. And caught her again much more easily that evening. Sunday, I caught her at least twice, if not three times. And yesterday, another two. And today, by accident, she got another two good catches.

Today's catches were easy; the first one involved less than a minute walking away from me, and absolutely no shenanigans once being led, and the second (shockingly, because she'd been turned out less than 30 minutes before because my farrier was late) was effortless.

I'm trying to think up what I want to tackle next with her, as the catching item seems to be becoming more consistent; her groundwork has continued to be wholly obedient and respectful. I have, in the sessions I do quickly once catching her (mostly because I feel like I have to do something with her when I catch her, or she could fall back on her old trick of allowing herself to be caught and then acting shocked and being a pill when you try to lead her anywhere) started to focus on yielding her poll and to the sides, and on stepping under and disengaging the hind end. This has been improving, as, slowly, have her manners in her stall. She still isn't trustworthy loose when I'm in her stall, but she is starting to figure it out.

On other fronts, I don't think I am going to continue with the SmartTranqulity supplement. Despite my great hopes, it really seems to be the work, and not the supplement, that is making a difference. I do still wonder if I should try Smart Mare Harmony, just because a friend with a similarly smart-but-anxious mare had great results with it, but haven't made up my mind. I had some hope it would help, but she doesn't seem any less reactive to the sounds and situations that tend to set her off, and she definitely isn't lacking in energy to run around and/or scare her sister through the damn fence (it wasn't electrified but now it is. Hopefully that deters any attempts at freedom). I didn't expect it to knock her on her ass like sedation, but I was hoping for a more relaxed demeanor than I am seeing. If she gets worse once the paks run out, I might change my mind, but for now, I'm going to skip the extra cost and try to keep feeding relatively simple without a lot of extras.

On the Bailey front, we've been riding, and she gets very confused and stands behind me while Arya runs in circles around us on her bad catch days. She's a good girl, but she also gets hard to catch if her sister is being a shit, so hopefully the time I'm putting into walking Arya down (and the energy - walking through super deep snow is exhausting!) will benefit both horses.