Spoke too soon!

Ya'll know that whole "Joey's going really well thing"?  Welp, I spoke too soon.

He bucked me off on Saturday and I ate dirt.  Hard.

One evening and a whole day in hospital later and I have a cast on my left arm from my fingers to my shoulder.  I have fractured all three bones in my elbow - the radius, ulna and humorous, have a random floating bone chip, plus some contusion of the ligaments at the back of the elbow.  Thanks Joey...

The long story short (as I can't type very well) is that he was being a brat and didn't want to continue on our canter circle past the other horses, so spun and bucked at the same time and tossed me off.

We've hit the next level of resistance, and it's just too bad that he managed to ditch me at this point.  I don't know quite how we are going to address this, but ground work will be a big must as he is not listening.  I could theorise as to the reasons why, but when it comes down to it, he is a horse that doesn't want to work.

It's not because he's in pain - his tack fits, and his feet and teeth are done regularly.  It could be because of his past experiences, but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he is very intelligent and is extremely fond of getting his own way, and as I mentioned previously, he doesn't like hard work.    How to change his attitude there is the part I am totally stuck on.  I'm not sure where to go from here, but I will ponder and come back to that later.  For now, I am looking at potentially 6 weeks+ before I can ride again, *le sigh* so for now -

See ya!
b.

And I fell off Sparrow again…

Yup, I did.  But it’s ok!  I was actually really happy with how the whole schooling session went yesterday – Sparrow did really well!  Yay! : D

It was interesting, because I wasn’t sure that he would behave.  It was a hot, sunny afternoon when I arrived at the paddocks, but in the two minutes between saddling him {complete with pulling faces on his part, some side stepping which I corrected and a growl on my part} and putting on his bridle a really fierce wind whipped up and blew in some nasty looking storm clouds.  Sparrow’s head went into giraffe/Arab/TB mode, and I was thinking that there might be a possibility of some trouble, so I debated whether to lounge him first or not.  But then I didn’t really have the time, and I wasn’t going to wuss out of my ride, so I led him to the arena instead, shutting all the gates behind me. {Even though the “gate” for the arena area isn’t a gate, it’s two rope strung across where the gate used to be.  Somebody stole it.  Our arena doesn’t actually have a fence either – it’s all rather open.}

He stood like a rock for me to mount {whoever trained him to do that did a good job!} and we got on with it.  A few jogs here and there, a bit of *stop* “Oh lookit!!  My mates are over there!” and a lot of “Yikes! That-horse-eating-barrel-has-moved-AGAIN-you-can’t-tell-me-it-won’t-jump-out-and-nom-me-how-‘bout-we-walk-over-THERE-instead”s, and he finally started to drop his head and relax.  10 minutes later we were walking around calmly and listening to leg signals.  Yay! 

We just did some simple schooling, walking, figures of eight, 20m circles {which aren’t quite 20m yet, more like 19m ‘cause he doesn’t want to “touch” the outside track… Grrr.}, trotting large and in circles, and in figure of eights.  I practised my leg position and my two-point position to make things harder for me, and we did a few serpentines. 

I was walking him past the horse-eating-barrels {they are painted bright green and white and sit just out side the arena} in a shoulder fore, working on the “let’s keep to the outside track at a straight walk, not a jog or veer, kthx” and he was slowly starting to listen to me, and not spook. Of course we had to be right next to the barrels when one of them went “Bung!” as the metal cooled down from the heat.  Sparrow went Ahhhh! *Jumps for his life*.  Stupid me lost my seat and I accidentally dug a spur into his side, so he promptly skittered away from that and I just slipped off the side and landed in the dirt at his feet clutching onto the reins. 

He then peered down at me with a “What just happened?” look on his face and I looked back at him and said “I fell off you goof.”  He actually seemed sort of relieved when I got up and patted him!  Away, then it was desensitization to barrel type noise time, so I walked him up to the barrels and started banging, kicking them, and knocking the buckle of the reins on them.  He actually hardly reacted to the noise at all, so that was good considering that he is quite sensitive to sounds.  When he looked bored with the whole business, I hopped back on and we continued our nice calm walking around and our shoulder fores past the barrels.  A little bit more skittery about the barrels, but really no worse then the beginning of our work out; still listening to me and really that was it! 

I was thrilled at the end of the ride.  He did really well considering that the wind was whipping around in trees, everything from long grass to weeds to leaves was constantly moving and rustling and shaking about.  The fact that I got calm, relaxed ‘plodding’ from my four and half year old TBx for most of our schooling session says progress to me, particularly when just two rides before the only time he would relax would be half an hour to forty minutes into our session, and then it would only be for a few minutes because I would reward him and end the ride.  A trick which seems to have worked well! 

In summary, I think he’s trusting me more and that’s great.  I have only had him for three months, and three weeks out of those months I didn’t ride him at all, so all in all, we are actually doing okay.  > U <

If you manage to make it to the end of this rather long post – kudos to you!

See ya!

bonita

The Eight Stages of Aging on Horseback!

The Eight Stages of Aging on Horseback

Stage 1: Fall off pony. Bounce. Laugh. Climb back on. Repeat.

Stage 2: Fall off horse. Run after horse, cussing. Climb back on by shimmying up horse’s neck. Ride until sundown.

Stage 3: Fall off horse. Use sleeve of shirt to stanch bleeding. Have friend help you get back on horse. Take two Advil and apply ice packs when you get home. Ride next day.

Stage 4: Fall off horse. Refuse advice to call ambulance; drive self to urgent care clinic. Entertain nursing staff with tales of previous daredevil stunts on horseback. Back to riding before cast comes off.

Stage 5: Fall off horse. Temporarily forget name of horse and name of husband. Flirt shamelessly with paramedics when they arrive. Spend week in hospital while titanium pins are screwed in place. Start riding again before doctor gives official okay.

Stage 6: Fall off horse. Fail to see any humour when hunky paramedic says, “You again?” Gain firsthand knowledge of advances in medical technology thanks to stint in ICU. Convince self that permanent limp isn’t that noticeable. Promise husband you’ll give up riding. One week later purchase older, slower, shorter horse.

Stage 7: Slip off horse. Relieved when artificial joints and implanted medical devices seem unaffected. Tell husband that scrapes and bruises are due to gardening accident. Pretend you don’t see husband roll his eyes and mutter as he walks away. Give apple to horse.

Stage 8: Go to see horse. Momentarily consider riding but remember arthritis won’t let you lift leg high enough to reach stirrup — even when on mounting block. Share beer with grateful horse & recall “good old days”.

Note: I found this post on Equine Ink and found it too funny not to share!  I think I might be somewhere between Stage 3 and 4…  Sometimes Stage 2; depending on the day/the fall/the horse!  > < 

See ya!

bonita

Bite the dust

Yeh, so I bit the dust today, and not in the I’m-riding-fast-and-it’s-very-dusty-&-windy way either…  Joey, whom I have rechristened Sparrow incidentally, bucked me off today.  It was totally my fault though ~ I scared the living daylights out of him apparently!

See it went like this: we are in our lesson, trying to achieve a true right canter lead.  He does the left lead beautifully, but on the right, if I go straight for even one stride he’ll pop in a flying change{!!} and switch leads.  So we’re working, working, working on it; pushing past counter canters, and disunited canters, and he gets it right.  I wanted to make much of him, but couldn’t pat him or he’d take advantage and switch leads again. 

So I cheered.  Rather loudly too…  Ooops!  Next thing I’m above the horse, knowing I’m done for, hitting the ground{butt first ~ it hurt}, and rolling over while Sparrow heads for the gate.  My instructor said that he totally freaked out.  Which is all well and good for him, but of course I’ve got to get up and do it again, hopefully sans the bucking and falling off part!!  : /

I won’t lie, my legs were shaky.  It’s been quite a few years since I’ve taken a fall that bad.  I have come off a couple of times, but it’s never been a “What-The-Chocolate-Fudge-Brownies-Just-Happened??!!??” fall for oh, at least six years?  I have been able to feel it coming, rather than today’s BAM!  OUCH!  Oh, I’m off…

It’s rather disconcerting to say the least.  Still, I hopped on and the boring end to the story is that we did it again, got the correct canter lead, managed a full circle this time, and didn’t even have a hint of trouble.  I don’t think Sparrow did it to purposely dump me, but of course there is no WAY I am going to give him any clues that he can do that again!!!

In fact, I hope that never EVER happens again.  I used to think that I was pretty good a sitting a buck, but I didn’t even feel this one coming, so I certainly don’t want to test him {or me} out.

On the upside, I think he’s going to be pretty nifty at dressage ~ he was doing beautiful flying changes on both leads, left and right.  It was funny, but he taught himself to do them all in one go!  The first time he tried it on the left to right lead, he only changed his front end, and ended up cantering disunited, but after one or two turns like that he got himself sorted out quick smart! 

He certainly is exceedingly fast on the uptake, and he’s good at sorting his own feet out.  I am really happy with how the whole lesson went barring the one, rather major, incident that saw me tumbling in the sand. 

He’s moving into my paddocks this weekend, so we’ll see how he goes with a change of scenery.  Should be fun!  : D

See ya!

bonita

To fall or not to fall….

Not! 

Yeah, that’s what I thought ~ so, thanks, but no thanks Copper…   > . <  We were off jumping again today and he was actually going quite well until he decided he’d had enough and that triple was just TOO much!!  He really pulled a few stunts today.  It’s not like the jumps were high, probably 45 to 55cms but three in a row?  Nah-uh!

The first few times I had to battle refusals at the second fence, than the third and then finally went we through all three without any hitches.  But then he had a wee break and he decided that he didn’t want to face the triple again; kthanxbye! 

He actually jumped the fences as he knew he wouldn’t get away with refusing, but when he got through the jumps he dropped his left shoulder as he went around the corner and tried to buck {I think}, and I lost a stirrup but after we halted, I promptly put him through it again.

Then he tried going really fast and dropping his left shoulder than swinging out to the right which almost had me off the left side, but no dice. 

I knew then that the first time wasn’t a mistake or high spirits then, he meant business and, therefore, so did I.  This was war!  : P Lol.  Not really, but there was no way I was going to let him get away with his naughty behaviour so we heave ho’d and headed for the jumps again. 

So he’s all “Well, that didn’t work” and this next time he did this really weird prop-drop-left-shoulder-bounce-right-prop-drop-right-shoulder canter-thing which seriously had me ten feet up in the air above the saddle{!!}, but somehow I managed to hang on.  I don’t even know how ‘cause he had me all a kilter with his bouncing, dropping shoulders act!

Thankfully after that little display he apparently didn’t have any more fight in him, and he waved the white flag of surrender.  Yay!  We popped through the triple again, this time reasonably neatly.  I would have preferred to go a little slower but it was definitely better than it has been. 

We took a few more little ‘uns {35cm} and I hopped off him and traded horses with a friend I was riding with.  She walked Copper around for me as I mounted her 17hh Andalusian, Bailey. 

Gee, now he is one BEEEEG horse!  It was so strange being up on his back, he was so tall, so wide and so slow…  Each stride felt like he was wading through jelly!  Anyway, my friend wanted to see him jump, so I popped him over the small ones a few times.  I’ve never ridden him before, so even though I knew full well he could jump higher, I could also feel him going “Who. Are. YOU??”.   He was sideling sideways and generally doing the head~for~home dance and I was all like; okay, I’ve done my fair share of almost falling off today ~ I soooo not going to push this! 

And gosh, it’s such a long way to the ground when you dismount the big fellows!  Most of our horses have been under 16.2hh, so I really am not used to the big guys, but Bailey is really quite sweet although he’s a bit spoilt, so I certainly wouldn’t mind riding him again.

Plus, there’s always the experience.  I love riding different horses and figuring them out ~ it’s such an exciting challenge!  Unfortunately, I don’t get the opportunity to do that very often at all, but maybe that’ll change in the future.  Who knows? 

See ya!

bonita