Yesterday I rode Dixie and then rasped half my knuckle off. The searing pain in my finger greatly decreased my desire to blog. Today I rode Champ and managed to not injure myself any further. My finger even feels better! Yippie!
So. Yesterday. I got great gobs of hair off of the white yak, but the end is nowhere in sight. Surely this too shall pass? Eventually I figured I'd gotten off enough hair so that the saddle wouldn't slip loose on a magic carpet of fur. Time to ride!
We usually start off our sessions at a brisk rack for a couple laps, til Dixie calms down and decides to try to listen and cooperate. Yesterday, we started off at a brisk canter. We got in a huge fight about whether or not she'd get to canter wildly, then I decided I didn't want to have that particular fight. I let her go.
We cantered around the indoor for about 15 minutes. The first three times she tried to slow down, I goosed her back up into a canter. You want to run? LET'S RUN. Eventually when I figured she'd gotten my point, I asked her to slow down and she very politely did.
We rode around for another 30 or 45 minutes. There's so many things I need to work on, but I don't feel like I know enough to do them properly, or I only know what I want and not how to get it. Pretty depressing. I kept riding anyway, trying to keep pushing her forward with my legs, keep her straight except for when I wanted her to bend, find some contact. At one point she finally wanted to stretch her neck out and down, so I let her stretch out as we walked. Then I very very carefully picked the contact back up and very carefully brought up the energy in my legs. We got a really nice active walk on the bit! We! Me and Dixie! Wheeeee!
I quit on that high note. I still don't feel like I have much of a clue about what I'm doing, but... that was nice.
I turned Dixie back out to roll and grabbed Champ. I was planning on taking pics of his hooves and trimming them a bit, but I haven't found my trimming gloves. I've been trimming for like two years now, surely I won't rasp my hands, right? Wrong. I got both front hooves rolled before I rasped my poor middle finger knuckle. Blood everywhere. I got blood all over my jeans trying to get it to stop, and I almost bled all over the camera before I gave up and wrapped it in a piece of napkin and some vet wrap.
Today I went back for vengeance. Champ did not make me rasp my knuckle - only my clumsiness did that - but he didn't exactly make it easy for me to succeed. He kept yanking his hooves away and whinnying for Dixie, so I was trying to hold his hoof on the stand and put my finger in the path of the rasp. Hmph. So I went in today to make him sweat for my poor finger.
We did w/t circles for a while, then I decided I wanted to try Champ in the snaffle again. I swapped out his bridle for Dixie's and maaaaan he was pissed. But he listened fine! More w/t circles, with me trying to get a canter out of him and no luck at all. He doesn't really canter, he just switches from a very fast trot to a full gallop. I'd really like to have a canter. Yet another thing I don't really know how to teach my horses. :(
Ha! I tried to do the "you want to canter? Then we're going to canter." And 45 minutes later, we were still running around the arena at warp speed, no signs of slowing and no brakes either. I decided not to do that again.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am the queen of rasping my own hands... maybe I should get a pair of gloves.
ARGH I did not want to hear that, Andrea. When I ride Dixie it's always a combination of "What would Andrea do" and "What would Mugwump do" and yesterday was a Mugwump day. I am hoping that she will somehow magically calm down before she gets so fit that we canter for 45 minutes at a time. :(
ReplyDeleteAlso, you need some of those gardening gloves that are cheap knit stuff dipped in rubber. Like these were the first ones I googled. They're really cheap and durable and you can find something similar in any gardening section.
OUCHEEEMOMMA!
ReplyDeleteOh that sound ick Fund! I did that once and i can feel your pain now...I wear gloves now and feel a it better for it too!
I won't be cantering anytime soon..
though the little arena is jsut that, little..not like the last one that was a mile long and when Wa took off..she really could get some speed.
I am taking it slow and when I do canter, I will get it on tape!
Sounds as though Dixie has some energies!
Kac