Improving My Mount

Improving My Mount

Some of you may recall that I broke my wrist a year and a half ago.  After the operation to add 2 plates and 10 screws and several months of physical therapy, it healed up beautifully.  It never hurts and works as good as ever.

Since I had a weight limit on it long after the splint was removed, whenever I rode, I had to mount with a mounting block.  I was really worried that I would have trouble mounting from the ground, but I was still able to do it.  It just wasn't as easy as it was in the past. 

A lot of people frown on mounting from the ground--as it puts pressure on the back--and I get it.  Mounting using a mounting block makes more sense--it is easier and better for the horse--but what if you are out on the trail with nothing you can use for a mounting block?  I feel it is an important skill for a trail rider.  Since I am the only one in my group of riders that can do it, I am able to help everyone when they drop something--I can pick it up.  It happens fairly often.  

It seems that I have been struggling to mount lately, and I was thinking that maybe it was time to give up.  I have been using my hand on Cole's withers way too much to pull myself up.  What happened to my spring?  Has age caught up with me?  What to do?

I started to experiment.  At first, I thought if I increased my hops before hopping up, I would strengthen my ankle and be able to mount lighter.  That didn't seem to help that much.  After 4 or 5 hops, my ankle would be too tired to give me a good hop.  

Then, one day by accident, I sunk down too low on my last hop--and flew up into the air and landed lightly in the saddle.  Now what did I just do?

The next day, I bent my knee before I hopped, and it happened again.  That is when I realized my mistake all along was thinking I could hop up from my ankle.  Duh...I needed to use my whole leg.  My ankles might not be that strong, but with all this riding, my legs sure are.  It seemed like a miracle.   Maybe my body forgot about it when I was only using a mounting block during my wrist recuperation--or maybe I used to have much springier ankles in the past.  I am not sure.

I told Ellen about it.  She needs to use a mounting block, or I will hole her stirrup on the other side when she mounts from the ground.  She is a much better mounter than she thinks because I barely feel a tug on the stirrup when she mounts.  Well, she tried it that day when she mounted after leading Dante across the ford--and she said it was much easier.  She also used it when she used the mounting block, and she said it helped her then, too.

I told Kevin all about it.  He never noticed my mounting was getting bad.  He never noticed my extra hopping.  He was clueless.  Then next time we rode together, he came over to watch--and I completely flubbed up and caused the saddle to slip!  I must have over thought it.  

Since then, I have continued to improve.  So if you are mounting from the ground or a mounting block, bend your knee a bit and use that to help push off.  It is a lovely feeling to fly up into the saddle like I did back when I was a teenager...

Continuing with Baby Driver

Continuing with Baby Driver

Why didn't anyone tell me that ground driving was so fun?  Now that we got through the initial introduction to it, he seldom has any big misbehaviors.  In fact, he had one really bad day where he tried everything in his bad horse arsenal, and I just patiently worked through it and ended on a good note.  Well, that was it.  He has been super ever since.  (This is something that has happened in other parts of his training, too.  He has a really bad day right before he gets really good.)

I really enjoy ground driving, and Trifecta seems to, also.  When we are walking, he gives me such a lovely, free flowing, forward walk.  He is usually very attentive to me, too.  His mind seldom wanders away like it used to when we were lounging.  We sometimes have troubles in the indoor arena with him wanting to visit the horses in the stalls along the perimeter of it.  He usually does better in the outdoor arena. The only real trouble I have out there is that he can be distracted by the horses in the turnout areas--but the distraction usually doesn't last that long.

We walk all sorts of figures.  I have to coordinate myself to switch sides when we switch directions--he pays very close attention to where my body is.  

Lately, we have added in some trotting.  That is more challenging, of course, but mostly for me.  I have to be quicker on my feet to stay in the correct position.  He doesn't have a really fast trot when we are working, and that is an advantage for me.  Just the same, when we trot, we do very few straight lines.  Instead, we do circles, half circles, serpentines and figure eights.  We also do walk, whoa, walk trot transitions.  It is just so fun.  I feel like I am riding because these are all things I would be doing if I was riding him.

I am driving him with a surcingle and a side pull hackamore, and it is working very well.  Eventually, I will switch to a bit, but there is no hurry.  Riding is still a long way in the future, so the saddle and bridle can wait for a while.  

He is just learning so much from this.  He is getting used to having a girth around his belly--and standing still while I put it on.  (Clicker training is very useful for that.)  He is learning how reins work, extending out his attention span, working with distractions, standing still when we attach the reins, standing still when he gets tangled in the reins, standing still when we untangle him from the reins and having me work with him from behind which is very similar to working with me above him. 

This has been so worthwhile!

I am teaching Cole to ground drive next winter...

Money Plants

I always had purple money plants in my garden.  My sister got some white ones and gave me some of her seeds.  Now I have both colors in my garden.  That is, until I found these today--bi-colored!

Trifecta out for a run

 

Tri-zilla

 Tri-zilla

I took Trifecta out to the outdoor arena for a driving session. Ellen thought she would give me some extra challenges by setting up some poles and cones.  I led him around a bit, and we practiced a little on the poles.  When he first saw them, he got really excited and jumped up in the air.  I brought him over, and he immediately trotted over them.  He remembered all our pole sessions from earlier in the year.

I affixed the long reins and drove him around the perimeter for a bit.  He did very well.  When we got to the poles, he willingly walked across them, but when he got to the last one, he reached down to look at it--and then tried to pick it up.  The next time, he was satisfied with just pushing it around with his nose.  

We then tried the cones.  I wanted to weave in and out of them.  When he got to the first cone, he wanted to sniff it.  I let him, but then he picked it up and flopped it down on the ground.  Sigh.  Ellen fixed it, and we tried again.  We were able to do some weaving, but he kept grabbing at the cones--trying--and often succeeding in knocking them down.

As I glanced at the carnage, that is when Ellen called him Tri-zilla.

The rest of the session was even more challenging.  He kept trying to back up.  Sometimes, he stopped and refused to go forward, and for a while we were stuck at the gate.  That is when I realized I had been going at least a half hour, and I probably pushed him beyond his limit. I insisted that he drive nicely for a few minutes before quitting, and then we did.

The interesting thing is that the same thing happened to us when we were training in the indoor arena.  He had a few really good sessions--and then he had a troublesome session.  The following session there was perfect, and he has been consistently good ever since.  Maybe this is his learning pattern.  I will know the next time I try to drive him in the outdoor arena.

Our next goal, now that the weather has gotten so warm, is to start working on the street and the hill.

The Total Solar Eclipse

The Total Solar Eclipse

Words cannot describe the eclipse experience, but I will try.  My sister and boyfriend came over my house to view it. My yard is on a hill--above the street lights. The best spot was right in the middle of my currently vacant vegetable garden.  

View before totality from my Kindle camera

We watched the moon start to pass over the sun with our special glasses, and that looked cool.  The color of our surroundings started to look funny--and things seemed to look sharper.  When the moon was about a third of the way across, the spring peepers (tree frogs) in the swamp across the creek started to sing.  Oddly, when the moon was at the halfway point, they stopped singing. Maybe it was because it started to get a little chilly.  The wind picked up,too.  They said that was going to happen.

My yard before totality

It seemed to take forever to reach totality.  Actually, it was about an hour and a quarter.  As we watched the sun turn into a sliver, we couldn't take our eyes off it.  When it reached totality, we tore off our glasses to look.

It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Any pictures you see do not convey its beauty.  I think because it looked alive.  It is so hard to explain.

All around us, it was dark.  People started shooting off fireworks, but I could still hear the spring peepers--they started singing again.  It got very cold, and I wished I had brought a jacket.  We could see Venus and Jupiter.  Eventually, the horizon--360 degrees around us was yellow. That was another amazing sight. 

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Poor pictures from my Kindle

At the bottom of the sun, there was a pinkish red spot.  I now know that is called a solar prominance--and it just added to the beauty.

And then, we saw the flash of light indicating that totality was over,and we had to put our glasses back on.  It instantly became light again.  It was the fasted 4 minutes I have ever spent in my life.

I wish I could do it again, but then next time a solar eclipse comes to my yard is in 75 years.  One won't come back to the US until 2044.

If ever you can see a total solar eclipse, you will agree it is one of the greatest experiences in your life.

Baby Driver

 Baby Driver

Ellen, Kevin and I just watched the movie "Baby Driver."  Kevin and I had already seen it, but we thought Ellen would like it, too.  She did.

Anyway, I have my own "Baby Driver."  I have been ground driving Trifecta a couple times a week in the indoor arena, and he keeps getting better. Kevin and Ellen have also driven him.  I decided it was time to take him out to the large outdoor arena.

The outdoor arena at the stables where we keep our horses is very large, and there is lots of space for a baby to get in trouble.  There are 2 turnout areas close by, too, and on this day there were horses out in both.  I knew that could add distractions, but I have been trying to work him with distractions to teach him to pay attention to me.

I started out by lounging him a little inside, and he seemed like he was in a good mood for learning, so we took him out. He did tell me that he wanted to be turned out to play with the other horses, but I was able to lead him by without any big tantrums.  It is so nice that he is improving with that.

Once we got into the big arena, Ellen closed the gate and we hooked him up.  At first, I let him follow Ellen around to help him out, but soon Ellen stepped away and we were on our own.  He did really well.  In fact, the only difficulty I had was keeping him from going to see Ellen.  Trifecta really likes his people...

I didn't drive him long because I just wanted to leave the whole experience positive, so we unhooked him and turned him out to play for a while.  

I was just thrilled about how well he did.

I didn't drive him for a few more days.  We were in the indoor arena because it was a rainy day.  I was asking for figure eights and serpentines--and he was doing really well.  After about 15 minutes, Ellen and I both had the same idea at the same time--I should just drive him out the door.  So I did.

We have a very small loop that I drove him around and then we went over to the big arena again.  He was wonderful.  At no time did he get worried, rebellious, confused or unwilling.  He really seemed to be enjoying himself, too.

I love my "Baby Driver."