Bending

Today was my birthday, so I did what I enjoy doing, spent a good 2 hours at the barn (maybe a bit more!). Everyone was at the driving clinic, so I had the farm to myself. It was so quiet and nice. I am very tired from our 8 hour driving trip yesterday to the lurecoursing field, so I decided that I wouldn't focus on trot work today. So I did some walk, hault, walk transitions. Jonza was doing what I say, but she was a bit unfocused. So I did some trotting circles to loosen her up a bit. We did this for about 5 minutes or so, then began working on walking again, and bending!!!!!!!! We did lots of loops of serpentines, and worked on bending, bending, and MORE bending.

So thats what we did today, I think she did really good :) She doesn't like to move her body like that, and fights against it. So by the end it was good. Although she was throwing a fit halfway through each serpentine down the arena...and I wouldn't let her quit until we did a whole arena length without her freaking out halfway through. But she did a great job overall :).

Whata YOU lookin at?

Outdoor is ready :)

Today me and Jonza explored the outdoor arena....She needed some encouragement to leave the indoor to explore the new scarey world of the outdoor. She was obviously very nervous...and she got all rilled up and didnt want to go over the last bit of snow that was in the shadows of the indoor. She also got a little spooky over some jump standards that were laying on the ground in the corner. She did a jump twirl sort of thing, no big deal. Overall I think she did a VERY good job :) Here are a few pictures of her *first* few steps in the outdoor:

Then after she was comfortable with all the new things to see, there was an obvious change in her overall demeanor:

She is such a sweet and willing girl. I've decided that we will be working on mostly walk, hault and trot for the next month or two. I want her to be very comfortable with these movements before even considering the canter. She has only actually cantered under the lounge line, or if she takes a misstep. I want to make sure that she is happy and confident before we move on. I think that is the best thing. So for now, we've been working on walk/hault for the first 15-20 minutes of our ride. It has been working very well to calm her nerves with all the *new* stuff popping up. When we hault, I make her stay until she settles, then we walk on. After she is being very calm in each hault, and walking forward but not rushing, I ask for the trot. If she immediately starts rushing or even feels frantic, we walk some more.

This process has been working very well, and because of it in the Outdoor she was very calm within 5 minutes of walking around and exploring. Once I have her good and relaxed with only a few minutes of walking warmup, then we will be working on more connection with the trot, bending, and such. She is such a quick learning I bet by the end of the summer I would be able to do a decent training level test with her :) That is the goal.

Oh i'm so excited :)

Running free

What a pretty little Standardbred cater :).
She's such a good girl. Today we did some work on having her settle into the trot, and it was really nice towards the end. She seemed to be very rushy today, so tomorrow when I ride her, I'm going to walk and walk and walk until she calms down and just trots....when she feels calm and relaxed I will ask for the trot, if its choppy and rushed, i'll walk again....walk walk walk...then ask for the trot again....etc

Glo used this method with her boy Will to help him relax and focus on the work at hand. I think this will be a great thing to get Jonza used to doing. I want her to be happy to be with me. She's just a wonderful mare. I'm so happy to have a horse FINALLY its been too long. Now I just need to someone find her a horsey companion.

I finally have a horse

and her name is Jonza....which I love. Pronounced John-zaaaa. Isnt she just SOOO cute...Can you guess what kind she is??

Conformation Clinic

So today Robyn held a conformation clinic. We basically took standard conformation shots of a bunch of horses at the barn. I had Happy, he's a 7 year old Standardbred that I really like. He's a very sweet horse. He's the type of guy i'd love to have to hack around on. We completely destroyed the pictures by drawing all over them and measuring from here to there to discuss the different parts that make up the whole. For the most part Happy wasn't too badly put together, he has a nice back, decent legs, and overall soundness. His major fault is that his hind end is higher than his front by about 30degress! Which means his hind end is taller. But standardbreds tend to be really down hill because it helps for them to race faster. The good thing is that his overall measurements of his hind were pretty good, so that means he probably wont have many issues with his hind legs.

So all in all I came to the following conclusions about looking at horses to buy:
1.) There must be a strong back without a large space between the croup and the last rib
2.) Leggs should be relatively straight, with knees being better slightly to the inside rather than to the outside.
3.) Overall body porportions should be able to be split easily into thirds.
4.) Neck should be high from the shoulder, with atleast a fist being able to fit between the jaw bones.
5.) The overall body should be upward.

Of course the last two are mainly helpfull for us Dressage riders, we don't want a quarter horse with a low head/neck set, with a downhill conformation...because we want upward movement with collection.

Obviously there is never going to be the perfect horse conformation wise, but I feel like the above rules make for a well balanced horse, and something that anyone can look for in a mount for a reasonable price, and still be able to have a decent dressage prospect.

I have been doing a lot of browsing of horses. I am hoping within the next couple of years to get a horse of my own again. I of course want a dressage horse, or a dressage prospect. I like the eventing style horses. So all in all I think that this clinic was really helpful. I enjoyed it so much I went to boarders and bought the book that we were learning from.... The Horse Conformation Handbook, by Heather Smith Thomas. Its only $23, and very worth it for any horseperson's library IMO.

I know I know....hands OUT of crotch!