Sadism vs. Sarcasm vs. Sweat

There's a horse wearing a "cloaking device". Also in Discover magazine this month. The Cloaking Device, not the Horse!! Who knew Harry Potter was as prophetic as Arthur C. Clarke? Not to mention the greatest TV show of all time, Star Trek:)
:)

Definition of Sadism: "Any enjoyment in being cruel".
Sarcasm: "Harsh or bitter derision, a sneering or cutting remark". Somewhat similar in intent, don't you think? I've got an extremely sarcastic sense of humour, I'm told, by those brave enough to speak to me, like my family and friend. I don't think I'm sadistic, but I'm biased:) My friends may beg to differ..

Yes, I do have one RL friend:) Okay, two. Okay, never mind. People scare me. Snakes don't.

Would YOU want that SS attitude around your horse? Ever? No, I thought not. Strong negative emotions have no place in training horses, or teaching students. IMO, of course. I don't mean laughing! Or even crying. I mean yelling, screaming, shouting, bellowing, growling, etc. on an ad.nauseum basis, directed at the hapless horses ears.. Or the rider's ears.

The assistant trainer that worked with my cousin was just hell-bent on destroying my confidence. These people need help. If you have someone telling you you are never going to do anything, why would you believe in that negative concept? Limitations abound for ALL of us. Good grief, Batman. I've observed it many times. The great trainers know when to press, with both human and equine. Not so great? Don't.

Yes, depends on WHAT that darned horse is doing:) Entirely situational, the timing of the taps, whacks, growls, bellows, whatever. These reactions should be SO rare, coming from you, that any beast for MILES around reacts, appropriately. I've heard mention of this elsewhere, i.e., eg., FernV + Mugs, how just one voice can quiet a fracas. I've done it myself, but for me, it's always been involuntary. That's confidence. Trust what you need to do. Like FernV with her power voice, stopping critters in their tracks.

Pure reaction, to what's in front of you. The second-guessing of your own instant reaction will kill you (figuratively speaking). It's the confidence factor, which is given, or taken away, by your very own trainer, or yourself. Or of course, both.

You can read about it until you are blue in the face. But, when push comes to shove, you have to ride the buck, the rear, (shivers rearing horses were rare in my day), the trip, the spook, the bolt. Yes, I taught ponies to rear, when I was eleven, at First/Worst barn. Stupidest thing, ever. A rearing horse is a dangerous beast, people.

Oh, well. Anyway, whatever's happening, you have to ride it. Practice trusting yourself. Follow your instincts. ALWAYS stay ready, for anything, from the balance of your seat. Balance will save you, before strength.

I was at one of my first little horse shows with parents attending. I'd been "cleaning up". We watched as a young girl died from a fall. I'll never forget the sight of that young girl's arm, under her horse, reaching up, and grabbing reins, and pulling the horse back down, on top of her. Julia was the girl's name. I'll never forget her young lovely face, in the paper, later. No, I didn't clip it. Death and life both happen very quickly.


Think ahead, is what I bellowed at my nephew, in the pool, after he'd scared the life out of me, by diving feet first, on top of my nieces' head. Think, ahead.
Drop your reins, roll out of the way if/when a horse drops. Practice it! JBG didn't fall down, but they sure can, and do. And had done so to me, more times than was necessary for my back:) Try to avoid situations that send your spidey senses tingling.

I didn't, and pretty much did my back in, that day. Rode a "weak in the hind end" chestnut mare that I didn't like, for demonstration purposes, while teaching a lesson. Mare tried to kill me, it was fascinating:) Have I told that story before? Can't remember. It's interesting as well, how time slows, when unexpected events occur.


Try to never approach anything without at least a desire to accomplish it, in your heart. Fear? Anger? Frustration? Leave it by the wayside. If you don't know what to do, don't do it. Try something you know how to do. Slowly introduce new concepts. One boring step, at a time. Stick your chest out, be proud!


Forward, and HappY. That's not too hard, is it?
Okay, I know it is.

I never should have exulted in the weather yesterday. Today is pouring rain. I knew it! Never gloat about weather!!! Jeeesh..My fault, as usual.

I keep forgetting, people don't KNOW I live under a rock, you see. Guess what Discover also covered? The growing, widespread use of get this "attention enhancers",or "cognitive enhancers". Yes, folks, drugs. Like Ritalin.

Quote "modafinil.. taken in moderation, doesn't give the jitters of amphetamines or even caffeine. In a world of attention overload, you do not have to suffer from ADHD to have trouble focusing." OH, boy, new drugs for the brain!! Never mind we still don't quite get HOW anesthesia works. Heck, gravity still has us scratching our heads.

Quote "Exactly how these drugs work remains unknown". Yeah, but they work!! Holy jumping JehosaphatZ! Here's a typical media fear-mongering statement, also from Discover "Think of millions of workers in India or China cognitively enhanced with neuropharmaceuticals. Will the US be able to compete?" GASP!! Someone throw me a pill, quick!

I'm such a bonehead. There are indeed, better-acting speedily derived drugs. Everybody who's ANYbody must be on them. I can hear the teeth grinding now. Horses, too.
So, my point is now terrifying me, I think I'm heading back for my rock.


I will pick up on Rainy another day. Discover magazine always sends me onto the strangest tangents:)

To Horses and calmness. I am so GLAD I quit caffeine!
impossible out.

SnakeHerdingDay!

whoooootHOOT! A sunny, mild, non-windy day:) Heaven, thank you. Everyone needs a shot of pure Vitamin D once in a while. Helps fix all kinds of things, it does. Spent the better part of the day walking and picking up debris from the winter, keeping a wary eye above me, around the trees standing dead. Flip was no help, at ALL.

Four snakes were in the the middle of the lawn, close to their burrow, sunning themselves. So, Flip had something to do. She loves bossing these poor creatures around. She'd like to really stomp them, but I won't let her anymore. So instead of sheep, she herds snakes.. Flip drools on them a lot.


While Blaze and I threw FrisBee and cleaned up sticks, Flip carefully herded each one, every which way. Two headed straight for the pond, one went into my AppleTree Garden, and the fourth is still whereabouts unknown, lucky for HiM.

Flip's little buddy at work, the jack russell/yorkie cross, Sega, absolutely worships the paws of the mighty Flip. Sega will pick a fight with any other dog, I'm told. Not my girls. Sega knows a true predator-dog when she sees one:)

That's a picture of Flip visiting Sega, while we were at work. Since Flip got her little sister Blaze, Sega is kinda beneath Flip. Why play with something that is pretty much stuffy size anyway?? It's sad to see Sega get rebuffed by her only good friend, but it kinda looks good on her too, snooty little thing:) Sega submissive pees, a LOT. In my office, hey ThankS. I know, it's not her fault. Typical training of a small dog went on, with Sega.

Sega was there, the day my old dog died. Little Red Dog insisted on going to work that day, and it was Sega who licked my face, as I held my old girl on the lawn in front of work. So, yeah, Sega's my buddy, anyway:).

I finally quit with the pictures, the darned snakes kept slithering towards me for help. Oh, it's almost time to shed the first layer of clothing (rubs hands together, not even for warmth!!) Just like a snake:) Then Flip decided to dig out a chipmunk burrow, under some tall evergreens, right in front of me, took me a while to find her! Darned black dogs, they have a cloaking device, I believe..

Okay, now for the rant, because I'm way overdue. It seems I was incredibly lucky in my life with horses, earliest days excluded. My teaching days with "my boys" were wonderful times for me. They all had something to teach my students. At the previous School Barn I'd been at, the Schoolies were not nearly as uniformly safe and sound. Many had next to no schooling, and a few were not safe, at all.

I remember refusing to use one pony in a lesson, because he was unbroke. Kids flew off of him at every lesson. I felt it wasn't much of a learning experience for the students I had. But no, use him I did, throw a kid, he did. Scared the crap out of said kid. Annoyed the hell out of me. These were beginner rider kids!

At "my" School Barn, I had the luxury of knowing "my" School horses would be there for me. Working with me. Except, of course, for my RainDance. He was my gift to my advanced students. Oh, if only he'd been taller. RainDance was a 14.3 hand QH/Arab Cross. Arab Mommy. Rainy was a little tough for my taller riders, they had to jack their stirrups right up for schooling sessions over fences. Rainy wasn't popular bareback, as he had a lovely sharp topline:)


Rainy!! If you said it just the right way, he'd whinny right back at you. Rainy's name was his voice, he loved that. What a funny character he was..

Rainy was part of the dissolution of the original barn's fraud problems, and after the assets i.e. GoLightly et.al. was settled, RainDance just fell into my lap. Peter didn't want him, and was kind enough to let me "have" him. Rainy was just four years old, and even with his short neck, and twisted body, he was still a lovely jumper, and a fancy enough pony. Rainy had been reasonably well started. All my advanced riders got to ride Rainy, and we had a blast teaching him his job. Not that he wanted to WorK all that hard:)

Oh, Rainy. RainDance was pure white, when he was euthed a few years ago. A lovely dark dapple gray in his earliest years with me. I was so happy when a dear student family bought him, and gave him a forever home. I couldn't bear to visit him, of course. I'd betrayed his buddies, after all.

Pony. Say it to Rainy, in the right musical tone, and he'd sing right back at ya. High/low tone,POneee, Sweetie pie. A kind pony is nature's way of making up for the little hellions scattered among them.

Hey, where did my rant go? I think, maybe, Hawaii.
Or it melted, with all this warm sunshine. I wish the same to all of you. Warm Spring Sunshine, and Warm Winds to You All:)
Have a great time, Mel!! (She's kinda guaranteed of ThaT.)

The book "Lads before the Wind" was written by Karen Pryor, chronicling her work with dolphins, while in Hawaii. Okay, totally distracted now:)
Great book, anyway.

RIGHT, dressage and it's connotations to us all.
It's the snoot factor, that my vet mentioned today. My dog vet, she isn't horsie:) My dog vet said she's thought for years, that I am still working in horses now. I do look pretty horsie, it's a curse:) Probably the green rubber boots are the give away.
It's such a fashion statement.

FYI, Canadian Horse Whisperer Chris Irwin is doing a clinic again, through CADORA, up the road from me.
Here's to extra sales this month, so I can go!

To Toronto. Feel better, that's an ORdeR! My transmitter hasn't tweedled in weeks!

To lots of Vitamin D, in our futures, and oh, that pot of gold, too.

To RainDance, and more about him, to follow.
and again, Hawaiiiiiiiii.
Oh, YeaH!!

Okay, let's go There.

Now, there's an OLD picture. 1970. Ouch. I'm 15 years old, riding at Second Worst barn. We're in a tiny schooling show here, after I'd "won" everything. The photographer, bored to the eyebrows, asked if I'd take Red Harrison over a fence bareback. Globe and Mail, oh, yeah. 15 seconds of fame.

Bad heckquitation, huh. Red Harrison was a QH (GasP) Stallion. Nice horse. Just a sweet easy going guy, solid liver red chestnut. 15.3 hands of classic Quarter 'orse. His head was very naturally above his withers. Short curly-ish tail:) Not high-headed by any means. Red was justright.

Not like some of the tapir builds on equines seen today. I'm in total love with QH's. Always have been. I just wonder what the point is, to the low-head=slow=relax=always a low head WP thing of today. I just wonder. It seems so backwards. I can't explain why. Straight hind legs. I can't get that, sorry.

Raven, the buckskin I've previously bloogled about, was derned spooky:) I was expecting Red Harrison, I got the physical equivalent of a tapir build in front. Weird. That's all I'm saying:) Ooops, too late, already blathered enough.

I've been browsing some horse for sale sites. Some nice horses, many not so nice.
You should see what goes through our auction. And the breathless glee, waiting for the catalog, from so many people. All looking for that diamond in the rough. Or someone else's wreck.

Meanwhile, diamonds abound at FernV's, and kestrel's, and Tx's, and HP's, etc.
Horses ready to be ridden.

The major difference I could spot between the dressage and the reiner (in the video kestrel kindly posted from mugs excellent blog) was the shape of the horse. The western horse was lower, more cat-like. The WB was all upwards and outwards, the western more inwards and downwards. Coiled as opposed to sprung. Somehow. I'm not sure I know what I mean, anyway:)

Not the same. But so alike. Different builds, different carriages, different shapes, but the same aids obviously interchange easily. Gee, have I been saying something to that effect all along? Probably not.

Which horse would you rather ride? At this ancient stage of my life, the QH would throw me from a much lesser height..
I'd love to ride the QH, but I wouldn't want that disappearing neck thing. That's just me. The WB could throw me much farther down. Snickering the WholE time:)

I would ride a JBG, if ever I'm back in the tack aGain. See, I don't believe in rushing. Wonder how long it would take to get fit again. Ow, the thought hurts..

Another QH solid bright bay gelding I rode, Boomer King was his silly ol' name, quite the barrel horse, me being his first English, fervidly jumping rider. Poor guy. Boomer was a darlin'. I don't know how he put up with me. He was 15 hands on tippy toe, and I was still riding as if my legs should be touching the ground.

Boy, did I sour him well. Aye, aye, aye. I was of the jump every possible ChancE crowd. Still hadn't noticed/heard about flat work, except you trotted and cantered before jumping. It was all about the jump, in those foolish days.

Tangents, right, darn tangents..
Red Harrison was one of my two jumpers in my string of horses at SecondWorst barn. He sold them to Chicago.. I quit, when the 2ndW.guy wanted me to jump a calf-kneed, unbroke two-year old TB mare. I'd been flattened by horses several times by this point, I could see the mare wasn't a safe mode of transportation. I've typed that before, draT!

2nd.W guy was the low-level kinda dealer/trainer, you see. I'm not saying by finances. He never made it out of "don't cut-your-toes-off-in-a-lawnmower" school:) He was pretty low on talent, too. He brought all kinds of crap home from the auctions, to make some money. He just never quite did.

It's such a terrible shame, that Auctions must needs to continue. If only for the horses. They deserve more value placed on them than that. You know the type of Auction I mean.

If not, if they are indeed dangerous/"useless"/terribly ill, they can expire, and if possible, serve us again, with their incredibly rich equine shells. Everything on this earth needs put to use. Or it becomes useless. Nothing ever wants to be useless.



Pretty Flowers, for spring.
Which is SOMEwhere, out there! Not here, although it is raining, 38degreesfahrly-freakin' cold and the snow-drops are up!

To Horses. Your Horses.
They are so lucky to have you. So many don't have the luxury of great owners, who'll care for them to the end of their days.

I need to answer the foolish idea that dressage is elitist. It's just such a wrong way of thinking. I wish we could change the word back to Training.

Hang in there, all you hearts in love with horses.
A horse's great heart stays with you forever.

Where Was I?

Right, Johnny Be Good has just tripped as he landed over the fence. My heart just about stopped, as I did what he needed, which was to sit up, a little back, but not heavily, and drop the reins. No, that doesn't always work, depends on the situation, of course. A lazy, tripping horse can need a lot more encouragement/help.

My dear old Johnny scrambled his darndest, and from on his knees, he popped back up again, still at the canter. We'd covered at least three or four strides, JBG on his knees. We cantered around the corner. I pulled him up, checked him over, jogged him 4sound, jumped off, stripped his saddle and walked him back to the barn for a good grooming. I had no problems turning to fences after that. Johnny had "said" very calmly & clearly, "I will take good care of me and you. That's what good horses do. We don't want to fall down."
Well, he did. I heard it, my confidence heard it.

Johnny was a long horse, with withers like a knife. He was NeveR picked for bareback, but he was just as kind as they come. He had the cutest small ears, turned in like tulip petals, but they were rarely forward when he was a working schoolie. He liked to grump at the other horses, being the senior citizen and all. Except he sure liked those treats, and allowed as how he didn't much mind school life with me..
He loved his kids,he just didn't show it:) He'd get a fierce look of concentration on his face with first time canter people. Making sure they could balance, if they started losing it. He had the old-style bony nosed face, and his nostrils rivaled Leo's for disdainful expressions.

JBG was the type for saving your butt. Not breaking it. Best kind to put the greenies on.

My old boss Peter used to have a laconic saying for a tripping horse.
"Don't fall down".
Very important. His way of saying, it can happen anytime, too.

To My Johnny Be Good.
I couldn't have turned GoLightly to any jump, without him.


I was not yelling:)

But really, it's amazing, isn't it? Does anybody get it? I guess I am just tooooo old, or something.
Horses have changed so much, haven't they?
nonotreallyatall.
Training has advanced so far hasn't it?
see above.

dark ages out.

Nobody's Perfect

Well, except me:) I have been achieving perfection in my life constantly. It's easy, since I am perfect. Oh, it's so simple, the pressures involved in constant perfection achievement.

Except when I was doing this.


Or, this.

Except my horses generally fell through the jump, not after..
But I always got back on. Except once. And my confidence was lost for the next year.

I'm even pretty sure I looked like this a few times..


But, I never expected I'd end up looking like this.


Perfect, right? Well, no. Never did I ever achieve the perfection we all ride for train for, live for. It's something you just keep trying to achieve. But if you're all wrapped up in how "good" you should look, or how "perfect" your horse should be, you aren't really riding. You are looking for instant gratification, something that many people have been trained to expect. Young people, especially. It's all they've ever known. Hungry, go get a big mac, thirsty, go get a pepsi, bored, go see a movie. Instant pleasure, instant perfection. There seems to be no such thing as patience anymore.

Even in Canada, my country, where I always assumed everyone knew you line up and wait your turn politely. That courtesy is disappearing, fast.

Every ride is a brand new day, for rider and for horse. Enjoy each day for the wondrous experience that it is. Have a plan, have a goal. Or, plan to have no plans, and just enjoy. Just be clear, in your head, where you want to "go" today.

After a bad fall onto my helmet-less head, my confidence disappeared entirely. I had wanted to get back on, the idiot owner of the horse insisted I get into a hot bath instead. I guess it looked pretty bad. The horse, a TB mare 14.2 in front and 15.3 behind, had no talent for anything, at all. Why the owner wanted her jumped is unknown. I didn't even know I'd lost it, until several days later. I was riding another horse, a far nicer animal. My heart started to pound as soon as we trotted an "x". I kept at it, but without my confidence, the mare just didn't perform as well as she had previously, for me.

Not long after this, I got the job teaching at the barn where I would ultimately ride GoLightly. I was fine teaching, and riding, but jumping.. (shivers) I was skeered. Furious with myself too. I'd never lost my confidence before, and I didn't know how to get it back. I SHOULD have gotten back on that bad jumping mare!!

A schoolie named Johnny-be-Good handed it back to me, tidily. Here he is coddling a student, at a little schooling show.


JohnnyBeGood would have been 18-20 when I started teaching with him. I was really struggling with my nerves over fences by this point. I had several beasts to ride, but they were all of various states of bad-brokedness, not good for the nerves. I didn't trust anything I sat on over fences. Not good, very bad, actually. Fine on the flat, but jumping was not happening. I just couldn't turn a horse to a fence.

My school was still pretty tiny at this point, and I was still in University, so riding was limited to mostly weekends, three days out of seven, if I was lucky. Not enough, for sure, with the problem I was having.

Johnny had had quite some time off, as I tended to use the younger horses a bit more, and I guess I was saving him for me, too, unconsciously. He'd had an easy couple of weeks, hacking, turn-out, etc. I had just recently "gotten" him, that's right. Started with four, then JohnnyBeGood, then RainDance.
Anyway, I knew he could help me. Stout, but not squat, 16.1hand liver chestnut QH, a little long in the back, short in the leg, not much though. JBG was pretty fancy in his day. Another duck-mover, always hard on his shoes. Long toed, low heeled. A chronic cribber, poor bugger. Lovely forward gaits, a great rockin' canter. Johnny had a beautiful classic great big QH long sloping crouped butt.

We hacked around a bit in the indoor. He had a long no-crest neck, and he was very well-balanced, straight in his directions, easy to handle. Of course. JBG was another Premium SchoolMaster, worth x amount per pound.

My heart racing, I trotted him over a few trotting poles, a few cross poles. There was a low wall in the ring, on the diagonal, about 3 foot. Nothing, right? I'm still really nervous, but if this horse couldn't carry me over, I knew no other horse would.

We cantered around the end of the ring, and I saw a nice distance off the corner. We flowed easily over it, and he tripped on landing..

to be continued.

I'm learning not to put all my cards on the table, every single frickin' time:)

Oh, and here's some important links to our ever-so-esteemed government. You know, the one that is on board with bailing out bad management practices?

These agencies are directly involved in the horse slaughter industry. They have worked up beautiful tomes that describe how well our government does our jobs.

Here they all are. Enjoy. We need people like Temple Grandin working with these people. I have been told that they do indeed work closely with Temple's ideas and concepts.
You be the judge.

And do not support your local Auction. Just My Own Opinion. Make sure you can call always call a spade, a spade. Dealer or rescue?
Very fine lines. Sorry for my recent obtuseness in this regard. I never have said I was brilliant either. Just perfect, thanks to my Butch:)


National Farm Animal Care Council

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

More CFIA

Livestock Community Sales Act.

Handling of Food Animals

Fingers and Bum, Numb.

To be Continued, HAH!
I'm a serial blooger.

Oh, CRAP. Links are confuzling. I'm pretty sure the government spelled Quality wrong..
No surprise there!
My editing eyes get positively bored with this stuff:)

Scritches to Beasties of all Species..
I haven't fed the dogs yet!!! Flip sighs, pitifully, poor neglected thing..
Has anyone seen the goat?

Calm Forward Straight Simple

Words by Gen. Decarpentry, and Jim Wofford for quoting it. HorsPoor for the idea. I'd forgotten it, trying to remember the far more intricate "dressage" training scale. You know, the oracle. Rhythm, looseness, contact, impulsion, straightness, collection. RLCISC. Yeah, I keep forgetting it. Calm, forward, straight. Easy-peasy, and then I remembered it well.

GoLightly taught me that, and carefully re-worked my thoughts on all that other stuff above there. (RLCISC)If I was better at charts, I'd try to show you what I mean, but the simple fact is, without calm, you have none of the above RLCISC. Without forward, same thing. Without straight, yup, same bleedin' thing. Trying to complicate the simple, can actually get in your way. In a large way.

Jim Wofford's article on Art or Violence was bloody brilliant, in my huge extravagance called Practical Horseman Magazine.. Favourite line "I believe in classical principles, and I also believe you can't have good hands, if you don't have enough bit". That's a TraineD rider he's talkin' about.

Anyway. The simple three, Calm, Forward, Straight also applies, are you ready? To You, the Rider. If you aren't any of the above when you get on, you might as well get off again.. Your body lines up with the horse, or vice versa. If you are learning, the horse is leading, once you are really riding, it becomes the dance.

You two think together, calmly, forward and straight. You cannot have this without balance. Straight line from shoulder, through hip, to heel, to start. Like Fern Showed us.. And the guy in my previous post. Amazing rider, no longer in it. I know, and he knew, he was a little goose-necked and puppy-pawed, it's effeminate affectation that has SurE caught on:):)
Makes bad hands worse, good hands silly lookin', IMO. Plus, your elbows can smack people..

And then, forever, through the various angles you will bend, in walking, in two-point, or while trail-riding and cantering and galloping and walking.. You have to be calm, and going forward, and straight to the curves of your horses two sides, with your 2 legs and 2 hands. Equally. Musicians, like the Almighty Mel, have a real advantage. Dancers, too. Like the Master. AnY kind of dancing.. Ambidexterity. Your horse has it, shouldn't you?

It's amazing, the connection you can feel, when you are calm, and forward and straight, and comfortable..

Does that make sense?

This picture and this one and especially this one demonstrate too long stirrups over fences. Might as well HavE no stirrups. Bigger fences. Berry berry bad, heckquitation. The pictures are mature, they're from 65-67 or so. That's 1965, to anyone who doesn't know what I mean. (looks behind, wow)

No straight lines anywhere, in those pics. My heel is at the hip of the horse, fcs. I collapsed my upper body downward, and threw myself forward. Oh, yeah, horses can jump, it's amazing what they'll put up with. Saxon was my first hero horse for jumping, then Musket, then that big old bay Whip.

The point is this. You cannot, repeat, cannot learn to jump properly, if you spend too much time trying to do it without stirrups. The horse will throw you up, when he jumps, IF you let him. Without stirrups, you cannot get light enough in the tack. Yeah, yeah, show me legs of frickin' iron, first, and a LighT seat. But it's better for the horse, with stirrups. Ask him, he'll agree.

Oh, and one last thing. (As if..) Straight line from shoulder, through hip to heel. Say again..
If your heel is back towards his hip, you is SO in the wrong place.. POSTURE!! Two-point, without falling forward, is correct. Falling forward while in two-point, is NoT.

Much easier to maintain that line, if you practice my handy dandy Christilot Master exercises... Yes,the line does have angles, but they are all straight. STRAIGHT.

I wasn't yelling:)

Wasn't I a funny lookin' kid:) Rough and ready, with stirrups at Cavalry length, and eyes and shoulders down, and horse "hoping for the best".

This is what GoLightly taught me to do. Took 17 years, but as we all know, I take a while..Yes, I know, I know, A little too crest release, posy-wosy, teeny fence...
Silly, smooth moving mare, that Spider.. Bit of a jug head. Lazy jumper. Hey, I'll ride it:)

My posture and my ability to wait for the horse to JumP, was taught (well, finally hammered into me) by Master GoLightly. I rarely jumped him without stirrups. It really isn't that fair, unless you're a masochist, or something. I already had a strong two-point. You can't really do a proper two-point, over any size fence, without stirrups. I mean, easily, and daily, and all.. What's the point?

Jockeys tend to keep their stirrups, yes?
Yes.

To all your fine horses. Scritch a few withers, and rub some noses. Tell them I do miss them, painfully, daily.

(where did that tangent GO??)

ChristilotBoylenClinic!

The best picture I managed to get, demonstrates quite nicely the concept of the horse moves as you do. This Rider is Crooked. Not dishonest!!

She's riding a very well-schooled dressage master, and Christilot has been working with the rider to teach her "Two hands, Two legs". Ambidexterity. If you don't have it, your horse won't have it, either.
The rider had a fairly deep supple seat, she certainly wasn't a "bad" rider. An advanced rider, with a very common problem. I admired her courage for the 150 pairs of eyes that were watching her. It's tough to do, riding in a clinic. You better leave your ego at the door.

Notice how high the riders' left shoulder is, compared to her right. Look how collapsed she is, on her right side. The rider's right leg is a little too far back, pushing the horses' hindquarters into the inside track. Notice how the horse is cantering with all his legs landing in a SINGLE line, not on two tracks. Outside hind and outside front should be tracking on the same line. The horse was cantering "inside" himself. The rider was telling him to do this, with her collapsed, crooked position. It was FascinatinG.

I chose a great place to sit, right in the centre of the arena, on the short side. As the rider continued cantering on her left lead, the horse, not knowing which way the rider wanted to turn, started swapping leads, anticipating, because her position was so illegible to him.

Brilliant horse, GuesS his colour. A bay, of course, light, bright bay. The horse was so cute, so pleased to have an audience!

Showing the areas of tension, behind the throatlatch, in a 9year old ex-broodmare/hunter chestnut hanoverian mare.

The mare was inverted, and had developed the thickened "bracing against the bit" muscles behind her throatlatch, from heavy, constant hanging hands. The mare had taken off like a pistol on the longe, prompting a mild "Well, isn't she the crackerjack" comment from the Master. She rooted quite a bit against the initial placement of the side-reins.It was lovely to see her soften, after The Master raised the side-reins up a bit.

When the side-reins are attached below the point of the shoulder, the horse is forced too low and heavy. The mare traveled much more happily after that. The Master then mentioned that the side-reins could be raised further, to just below pommel level, for more advanced work. But as The Master said, we are in no rush. Steps by step, the horse moves on.

I really do wish I'd been able to see what the camera was telling me. I took 20 shots, deleted most. I was pleased with my crooked shot, though. It was a bit distracting having the camera. I'm afraid I got zero good shots of my favourite horse/rider combination. I finally just put the camera down, and enjoyed watching them work, instead. Next time:) No, I couldn't find the movie button, aGain. My eyes, I tell ya!

I was annoyed by neighbouring spectators, who couldn't seem to stop whispering. It was raining, and I had to strain to hear Christilot's voice over the rain and the buzzing gossips behind me. I did shoot a couple of filthy looks behind me. These unfortunately bounce RighT off the door closed crowd.

Honestly. Why go to a clinic, if you don't want to listen??

Blaze is insisting that I go outside, and she's right, I'll be back..

We arrived late, because we took the scenic route, and the pouring rain and fog made for an interesting drive all the way around Musselman's Lake. Oops, north of that road, not that road.. Oh, well, Cathy G. and I had fun!

Oh, the coolest thing was in the question and answer period. The Master was explaining the two-hand two-leg idea again, and people were confused, one gentleman asking if a horse could have "false" lightness. Of course, Master said, that's when you have heads turning and shoulders continuing to follow a complete other track, as in the popping out of shoulders we all know and have ridden. How does the horse's body conform to the track you are riding? People weren't "getting" it.

That's when my hand went up. I said "I'm trying to simplify what you're saying, in my head" (for the people not getting it, but I didn't say that). "Are you saying the shape of the horses body determines your position? That your body follows the position you want the horse's body in?" The Master said No, that's backwards. YOU LEAD, you don't follow. Your position does indeed do both. Depends on how good a rider you are.
Like Fred Astaire, and Gene Kelly.
Great Dance Partners, they were. They led, the partner followed.
Dancing with horses, always needs a great leader too.

(sighs)
Then the Master said I made a good point. And continued. We both laughed a bit, because we both knew what I was trying to say. You can do either, lead or follow, when you ride.
You better have a straight, balanced, even, equal seat and hands on your horse, or you'll never lead. At least, not in a way the horse can understand.

Several people mentioned having trouble seeing the mistakes The Master would ask for, from her more advanced riders, because the quality of riding and horses was sooo GooD.

Does this make any sense at all?
I'll post a Butch picture, he's been missed, I hear. He felt like rearing today, spring is coming, apparently.


To Good Training, and ambidexterity. Work on it, your horse will love you for it. Dang, I've said ThaT before:)
Dance more on the ground, and work hard at making both sides of your body equal in strength. Your influence as leader will increase. Guaranteed.
GoLightly taught me that, too.

TahDah!! TadPlaid

Okay, I'm trying something here.

Don't Laugh if it doesn't work..
Not done yet, I'll be back.
Crap..

Okay, anybody know how the heck you make it so the pic FITS into the blogger page??
Oh, well, it'll get ya to my pics, which I took SecondWindAcres advice, and loaded them up to the big PhotoBucket.
No peeking ahead, or behind.
Oh, okay, go look then. I will remain muted, momentarily.
VERY momentarily:)
At least I got the darned thing UP there!
Trying something else..

Ah HAH!! Success!!!!!
Kinda pretty with just his head and knees..
I want to talk about broke. BOY, do I want to talk about broke..

The word "should" be TRAINED. Trained does NOT equal DEAD. Trained does not equal broke. It's a bad word in my vocabulary. Hackctually. I KnoW what Peter said. But, that's not quite what he meant. So broke, so GooD.

GoLightly was just a dancin' fool. Training Horses to dance, is more what we ShoulD mean. Don't think for a minute that none of my horses sparkled. Good grief. TadPlaid did the BEST 180 and beyond with me, going up a hill. They should always be ready to help, and to listen. Their flights of fancy need to know when they should be expressed. But they will express! GoLightly was VerY expressive. Oh, yeah. The only show I got to go to with Lightly was so cool, from his perspective. Oh he was smart and catty in the mad house warm-up ring. But he had great fun eyeballing the pigeons, keeping an eye out for bombs, I swear!
I warned ya AofG, I did:) I am OZ, don't fergit.

Oh, this is what I want to leave you with. I wrote it when my Royal Gamble mare was 6, soo, I was 18. Probably out of the house, by then. Not in a great state of mind.

I think I wrote it to GoLightly, or vice versee.

question: where?
answer: forward.
question: why?
answer: life is forward. not backward.
question: will it take long?
answer: You are impatient, forward can always happen Let life take you quietly
Well worth the wait.
life will take you and drift you in
its current wash your ears out
its drive pound you on the back
It's beauty to twist your heart and courage your mouth.
It's lust to twist your mouth and courage your heart.
Love, for life only, but
it grows inside you
when you are completely at peace.
Going forward.

Weird, eh? Yup, I were weird..

Now, tangent of unknown destination over, let's talk broke. What is it?
Not people broke.
I got that one down, pat.
HORSE broke. As in, oh, never mind HorsPoor. What does broke do for you? How would you define broke. For me, it isn't lifeless. Depends on what they're broke for.
See I use the term a lot, but it's OLD.

Training...
Isn't Tad tres adorable?
Oohs, and ahhhs, only. Any snide comments about I'm this and that?
Hey, he'd just done a WOW did you SEE that umbrella over THERE?? We were just fine. It was rain greasy slick that day. Nasty footing. I was being super
broke.
Anyone confused?
Good:)

Back to temporarily muted, for the moment..
Great Horse, that was, Lisa Jacquin rode him. Hah! Funny how the memory works.
Oh, oh. I'm getting the "oh, woe-be-gone eyes" from two starving pooches.
Poor THINGS!!

SparklingSpartacus

Boy, my last post reads like a darned jigsaw puzzle, and I just don't feel like sorting it out. Sorry, darned tangents. You'll notice that since Fern is back, well, just sayin'. It's the pressure, Captain!

I will require you all to ooooh and aaaaah at my Sparky. He's the bay, naturally. In the fences pic, look at his kneees. I KnoW the standard and his black legs kinda blend, he still had the perfect tight knees. Table-Flat back, but hey, Sparky was also a wonderfully safe method of transport. Sparky was just as saintly as Leo, without the tension. Sparky had a caterpillar canter. 1234,1234,1234. He could do changes so clean! His legs never really left the ground much anyway. Sparky never needed bute, and was happy to sail along, smooth as silk, his broad back catching beginners as they lost their balance.

Sparky was my textbook ringbone, jack spavin etc. case. Sparky would sure snap, crackle and pop, in the morning, but he always limbered easily. Sparky was good to himself. Oh, I loved Sparky's face! The type to carry a baby gently, and still have enough fire to show off, if wanted. Sparky never offered anything more than was needed to his rider. Sparky never turned into the centre of the ring in disgust. He'd try to move more softly, if he could, or he'd stop. I had to yank a child off, when she kept jerking on his mouth. She didn't come back. Sparky had a very soft mouth, incredible with his age and experience. Sparky was a baby-sitter. Yes, they really do exist.

Oh, Sparky was a kind one. Sparky's back was made for bareback riding. His intelligent face just looked right into you. Notice he's a plain bay. Of CoursE! No white, except the cutest little star. Sparky thrived and blossomed with me, and people who'd ridden him at other schools would come over at the shows and ooh and aaahh at him too. "OH, is that SparkY?? I used to ride him at(..) Oh, doesn't he look great!"

Spartacus was a show-stopper. Just keep the fences under 3 foot, for fairness. Sparky LoveD to jump, as you can see with his handsome face looking through the bridle over the giant oxer:) Those perked, happy ears! His rider is still riding, I hope. Such a nice family, the Walmsleys. Michelle was very gifted. 1983, people.. Gawd, I've seen some years..

Sparky's worried in the pic of the strange blue-tank shirted woman with white shorts, touching his hind quarter. Yeah, I know how to dress for schooling shows..

It was 120 degress with the humidity that day. I did not wear heavy clothes when I taught:) "My" pony, the gray Quarab Raindance is visible to the left, behind Sparks, Rainy's hind leg cocked in boredom.

Sparky's worried about me, quite rightly. A horse I brought to the show died there that very day. Only a few moments after it happened, this picture was taken. Sparky was my rock, and the student Michelle, (how many Michelle's were there??) was so great to hang in there and keep smiling, as I tried to. That's another story...

Sparky was my 15.1 hand Morgan cross. Maybe he was full Morgan, impossible to know. I met him at the grand old age of wow, that OLD? About 18, maybe 20.

Sparky usually carried the rider that Leo dumped on her head on the hack, but we had a less "experienced" rider that day, so... I know, I know. Leo was planning something. He always planned ahead, my Leo.

Sparky's coat was a gleamer, yes? That healthy bloom is what all good animals deserve. We (my students and I) rubbed on those horses. A lot. The father of the girl jumping Sparky also took the picture of me teaching, Raindance and the barn ahead of me. You'll notice the round shape to the big barn roof to the right.
Yeah, I look funny. I'm making them laugh, and pretend riding, at the same time, doing my Christilot knee bend exercises:) I think Rainy's laughing, too.

Well, after a huge snow-fall, record-breaking, I'm teaching one night. All five (one horse always got time off) horses are at the end of their lesson, neatly lined up for dismounting. An avalanche roared up above us, suddenly, all the snow sliding raucously down the curves of the barn roof. Guess who only widened his eyes, but didn't move a single stood foot. Spartacus, strong, brave and safe.

All the other old farts reacted, in various states of hilarity for us. Old BeauJangles, the truly ancient one-eyed SaddleBred cross, actually ended up the farthest from the dismount line. LeoBear coiled into a ball, and leaped forward, ancient Johnny jumped around a bit, silly RainDance (the youngest) teleported straight up and then forward. It was very funny to watch! Good thing it was all advanced students, it was a great experience for them. I look on everything that happens as an opportunity to learn.

Sparky calmly choked one Sunday afternoon, and eventually cleared himself, me fretting the whole time. Sparky was a VERY easy keeper:)

Ok, enough blather for one day.
Ooohs and aaaahs accepted at the door. No commenting without relevance:)

To Great School Horses.
I honour their memory, having known them and loved them. They honoured me, it's the least I can do.

To
Johnny-Be-Good, BeauJangles, Chinook, Spartacus, Leo Bear and RainDance.
Listed by probably oldest first. All were wisest, too. Ok, except Rainy. Hey, he was pure luck to me! Wish I had pictures of ol' Nookies.. Beau, too. No pics of them, nada. I had no camera! Shoot me!

eloquence, FAIL:)

MarchMyLeo!FinalEdit

I love the IceHeron picture. There is a light that comes bouncing into your eyes from deeply frozen water that seems to glow inside, as well. The ice has captured the light, and hangs on.

Light just keeps bouncing and bouncing, doesn't it? When my eyes are closed, I can do amazing things with the leftover lights in my head. Not usually voluntarily, more of a watch "this" if you like light, kinda deal. Really. I don't DrinK! You know. My Dad got "eye-lights" as I called them, or he called them wigglies. They are now called TIA's. I like eye-lights BetteR.

It's the bright shiny lights we've always been so fascinated with anyway. Tangent alert, I guess FernV MUST be back.. How's the sinuses FV? Hope you breathed lots of salt water through your nose. Since I am geographically impaired, I don't know if it was Pacific, or Gulf oceanic waters. Either way, welcome BacK! I hope you missed the blizzard weather your poor, over-worked, under appreciated DVM 2012 had to endure. Well, besides ThaT! You came back to Alberta, in winter. Don't you see how wrong that is?? (kidding, hugely, 'k?)

I know how I felt after one week in the Bahamas, a gazillion ok 18 years ago. Whine, I do not want to GO! Shirley Valentine, anybody?

Anybody notice the incongruity in the picture? Hint. It's the Bronze Bird on a Post, to the right in the picture. BronzeBird's name is Hector. Our resident Great Blue Herons gave him several wide berths and cocked heads before they got used to him. He's a bronze, Brown Pelican, wondering into eternity, where the heck Florida went:)

I live at the bottom of a little valley, with the land rising away from me to the west. Blocks every single sunset. I used to live right next door to this place, by 25 acres or so. My old house, next door to the north and west is at the top of the hill. Oh, the sunsets, with the Niagara Escarpment, dipping lower, giant horizon filling ridge of land an hour away, as the crow flies. A giant rock. I rarely get to see it, from this house, but days are lengthening.....

We get great sunrises, though. Just no big rock to gaze out at. I love rocks, can you tell? I have surrounded my house with rocks I've picked from our fields. My back remembers this, very well. Mostly pretty and weird shaped rocks, plus I used to support my local lapidary. Have enough rocks now, hope I don't have to move soon. My back will need my nephews. Youngest nephew, and his dear friend helped me move many of them. That dear friend, a product of a less fortunate family, went on to become a pretty nice kid. They just need work to do.

My basement is too low for the geography. This translates into uh, oh, when it rains..

It's 9 degreesFahrickin', and my back pond has a beautiful, shallow at the north end, polished surface. It's being polished & scoured by howling north winds and dirt. No thanks, back pond, I like to skate, but the wind would push me south, and well, no. Too cold.. (Shivers) But it's MARCH, time to get crackin! The Pipes will be marchin' soon someWhere, again.

Including my water pipes. I prefer frozen, to flooded, meself. If winter could just go right to summer, that's fine. I'd skip spring, but I should be careful what I wish for.

Support your local pipe band, people.
Anybody ever hear or see "RiverDance"?? Oh, my! Tapping the toes is a very good thing, I used to plead with my mom. Wish RiverDance had come along sooner, is all. Mom didn't get out much. Never forget how to move, my GoLightly always said. I mean..
youknowwhatimean. If you don't jiggle the protoplasm, it solidifies... Jargin, for the technically scienced peoples.(jargon, hello, spelling police)

Okay, ahem, the Happy Face picture is my Blaze Puppy, happier than a clam. Or a toy football. Could she grin any wider? We're at my dad's for dinner in this pic. That is for sure, not my rug. Dad's Joanie loved light coloured carpets, too. Dad's house is slowly graying, no idea why:) (blinks innocently) My dogs are super shepshedshepShedders! If they were bigger, well, jeesh, what a mess:)

Never used to be able to even see my old dog RedDog's fur. Her coat blended quite nicely with the dirt inside and out. Perfect grooming trait for a dog. None. Against fall leaves, she was almost invisible. RedDog had the best feral camoflague (darn, I knew I was guessing). Okay, how do you spell camoflauge??? Gah. She blended, okay? Just like a herd of deer can appear right beside you. With RD, whenever I looked for her, and couldn't find her, I just had to look down. She was always right beside me.

Black fur is pretty obvious inside, but outside? The trouble is, you can't see them. Who knew black dogs knew they could disappear at night?? Flip is wearing two collars at night now. "Jingle" collar, and reflective collar (don't ask.. it's lavender purple, ok? So not her colour:) Flip can go into whisper mode, and you can't hear what she's doing, at all. See her?? Forget it. Most annoying, because Blaze is just so pluPerfect. She's my girl. Flip has things to do, that she knows don't thrill me...

They are both very sick of this house, but then, so am I !!

Question for AofG. If I make the pictures coarsely black and white, can they be "translated" more easily for you? I feel guilty, one of my daily rituals, for posting pics, when I know you can't see them. My CorelDraw Software is pretty cool. I wonder? I probably already asked you this before. No retention, as you know.:)

My third picture is of Leo Bear at another, slightly bigger schooling show, with a girl named Lynn up. Yes, I know, I told her seventy-three different ways from Sunday. She's a hand-&-body thrower. Her leg and seat were pretty darned good. Yes, I know. She's safe, is what counts. Another quite skilled once a week rider. Bless them, all. I had some great students. I just love the box-square Leo knees.

Maybe I'll let this run into tomorrow, this posting every day is plain silly:)
What's the darned hurry?? It's mY Bloog. Plus, my posts are so blasted long! How many hours can people spend in a day reading? Right, sorry BlueHeron. THAT many!

To All of my kind readers. Thanks for being there. See I'm hungry, and I start to fade..

When the horse jumps properly, he yanks his knees up so that his forearms are parallel to the ground. He should also bend as sharply at the knee as he can. Horses have varying degrees of talent for this, and some have no talent, at all. But all have varying degrees of capability. LeoBear was very capable. His poor legs. He was square when he jumped, but not when he moved.

Leo Bear was quite a comfortable ride, very flexible, but very square. He'd learned how to stay sound, clever boy. His ears were usually half back, as the picture shows, with hand/body throwers. Leo's just signaling "wrong way", but Rider never did believe me.. I always had to rotate Leo away from her in the schedule after a while. Leo was just planning something, you could tell. Leo liked the first rider way better. Marni..

I think the shapes of things are important, because they tell stories, themselves. I meant to mention GoLightly's head, on my last post, so I'll do it here. See how broad he is between the eyes? Similar to any breed, with quality, he had some width between his ears and his eyes, with a tapering, not flat, not convex, not dished, Straight to his nose.. GoLightly's head reckons of the spanish influence, in his beautiful, broad head. AofG, your TWH has the same shape, really, just smaller, as Lightly's. Cool, huh? Yes, your horses eye is smaller than it "should" be. Proportionately, GoLightly's eyes were not big "enough" either. Never bothered HiM!
People tsked about it. Pah, silly people. Talk to my fetlock, the hind one.

Where was I?
Oh, right, hungry..
Hoping someone hid that goat.