Brrr

Emily and Chip, Me and Roanie, Caroline and Deja.
Out hacking with a high of 25° and driving wind.

Well, it's beginning to look like the cold weather is here to stay for a while. I guess it's time to come to terms with the fact that going to the barn now entails having three pairs of pants, six jackets, two hats, and a gallon of hot coffee (you think I'm kidding....) I have devised an ingenious and remarkably accurate way to determine if I'm wearing enough layers for the daily arctic temperatures: If I can put on all my clothing, walk from my bedroom, down the hall, and into the kitchen without physically breaking a sweat, I don't have enough layers on.

It may seem like I complain endlessly about the cold weather, but believe it or not, there is someone who hates the frigid air more than me..... Roanie. My big tough ranch horse sure has adjusted to barn life. I am in no way one of those owners that has twelve blankets to be mixed and matched for every degree change throughout the day. Roanie does, however, always have a blanket on whenever it's below 40° (and she has several on when it's below 30°.) Whenever the days are cold and windy I always know I'm in for a more challenging ride. Starting with attempting to remove Roanie's blankets. The blankets have to be removed slowly by folding the back of the blanket in sections up towards the front, grooming as I go. As soon as there is room for the quarter sheet, it better be put on fast, before she gets cold and starts squealing and flinching as I touch her. If I manage to get a cold saddle put on her back without her jumping away from me or kicking out, then I consider it an accomplishment. After she's completely tacked up, and miserably grouchy, it's time to attempt to have a nice calm relaxed ride.

This past week we've been working on collection. We have worked on counter bending Roanie and using haunches in to really help establish an outside rein connection. Subtly straightening her with my outside aids then subtly bending her back inside helps keep her in the bridle and helps me control her outside shoulder, which likes to bulge to the outside. As Lisa says: Your horse should be in between your legs and you should be able to push them around like you're skiing. If I put my right leg on, Roanie's hind end should move to the left. If I put my left leg on, her hind end should move to the right. By asking her every few steps to move her hind end to a different location (inside bend, outside bend) I'm able to help loosen her whole body up by asking her to consistently push her rib cage, and therefore, hind end in different directions. I am also able to keep her from bracing at her poll. If she is able to brace her poll, she is able to contact her inner giraffe and invite said giraffe out for a visit. Which is very frustrating, but ultimately, something that has improved tremendously.






Oh, and did I mention that the aforementioned exercises have also helped with her canter? Having control of that hind end, and the poll, have improved the canter phenomenally. It is starting to feel like a canter that I would feel completely comfortable riding to the base of a fence on.

It's so exciting to see the progress continuing to be made with this mare! For now, it's time to bundle up, get some coffee, and weather this nasty winter! We can't wait until spring time, but with snow in the forecast for tomorrow, I think it's safe to say that springtime is a long ways away. Stay warm.

Wintertime blues.

What an unusually difficult winter we've had here in North Carolina this year. With the "Polar Vortex" plunging our normally mild mid-January weather into the mere single digits, our training regimen has greatly suffered. Roanie has had several days off each week for the past few weeks. It's been exceptionally challenging to keep her conditioned enough to make any sort of progress with her flat work (hence the lack of blog entries lately.)

We started the month with a lovely vet visit... Roanie was getting extremely grouchy when it came time to saddle her up. She has always been one to throw her head and pin her ears when it came time to swing the girth under and fasten it to both sides. We attributed that to having a western saddle thrown on and tightened immediately, but here lately, it had gotten much worse and she was acting sore and I wanted to see if our vet could determine the origin of the soreness. Well, it turns out that Roanie's topline has changed and raised up enough that the saddle wasn't sitting properly on her back anymore and it was pinching one little spot on her withers. Ultimately it's a curse and a blessing. On the plus side, I know for sure that all the hard work Roanie and I have been doing has been paying off. On the down side, my favorite dressage saddle no longer fits. Dangit.

After we figured out the dressage saddle was causing discomfort we took her off work for a few days, which was well timed, because it was unbelievably cold and I had no hard feelings about having one less horse to ride in that weather. We brought her back into work slowly with lots of lunge work and we added back in the hill work in the field. Every ride now begins with a ten to twenty minute hack in the field consisting of walking and trotting. This greatly loosens her hind end up and allows her to bring her hocks up underneath herself. When we decided to temporarily quit jumping her we also took all field work out of the equation as well because she would get too hot after trot sets to do anything productive with for a few days. We sacrificed her fitness for a few days of mental stability. Being able to add in trot sets before ring work without her going bananas has been truly exciting and shows me that we are well on our way to having a mentally balanced event horse. Hooray!