Magic is on the Midnight Train to Georgia

Okay…so he didn’t leave at midnight, but Magic did head southward to his permanent home in Georgia at around 8AM this morning. Over the last 5 months that he’s been here, he has relaxed considerably. He’s figured out that trail riding is pretty much the best job ever. I’m really proud of how far he’s come.

In addition, Wings has been approved for work. I’ve already been working her in the round pen and plan to get on her later today! Yippee! Flirt and Jewel both went very well in lessons last week with Sarah. We’ll be taking another lesson a week from today. I definitely enjoyed the lessona and I’m looking forward to the regular feedback.

 

Magical Trail Ride

Just a note to update you all on Magic. He is still hanging out with me, although his owner is planning to have him shipped home around July 21st. We had a wonderful ride the other night. The temperature had dropped and there was a nice breeze. We went out to the outdoor arena and walked, trotted and cantered both directions. He’s still pretty sticky with his left lead. He much prefers to canter on his right, which I find amusing (usually its the other way around with track horses). Anyhow, after about 15 minutes, we headed off on the trail. He was a superstar!! He looked around a lot, but just walked. My proudest moment for him was when we came to a mulberry tree and he stood still allow me to pick berries until I had my fill (or at least picked what I could reach from the saddle). Then we headed off to the barn. I’m really pleased with is progress. Will he be a show horse? Nope. But he’s perfect for the trail!!

 

Magic, Darcy, Flirt & jingles needed for Jewel

Well I picked up Magic today and he is like a completely different horse. MUCH more confident. Really laid back. Its as though he finally took a deep breath and realized that life just doesn’t have to be rushed. I was thrilled to see him go so well and even more thrilled to get to ride him. Jan gave me a tour of the property during a 30 minute or so trail ride. Magic did great and I know his owner Chris is going to be thrilled with him! I’m looking forward to some good trail rides in the upcoming weeks.

Since I had access to the truck and trailer, Sara Busbice, the FFI president asked if I could move a couple of horses around. After getting Magic back home, I headed down to Horse & Hound Vet clinic to pick up Bartlett, who was left there after not passing his vet check to the desires of the adopter. He went back to his foster home and will be starting training for a beginner level horse trial later this summer. He seemed excited to be home. From that foster home, I picked up Darcy (registered name Sea Dar) , who will be heading up to Jan and Archies in June.

When I got back, I brought in Flirt and Jewel to ride them. Jewel had a swollen knee with what looked to be a scrape. Turns out to be a cut. It looks like she just cut the surface skin (the hide) on her right knee. I have no idea what she could have cut it on. The whole knee is swollen, and while she’s sore on it, she isn’t lame. She trotted sound on the lunge line. I cleaned the wound as best I could and determined that the cut at least is superficial. I can’t find anything that looks like a puncture or a deeper slice. I have no idea what she did. I guess it could be a kick, but the cut is so clean that I’m tending towards a wire cut. I gave her a gram of bute and tucked her in her stall for the night. We’ll see how she is doing tomorrow. I wish I’d seen it before I drove to the vet’s today to pick up Bartlett because would have hauled her down there just to be on the safe side.

Flirt was filthy. Just absolutely gross looking. Such is what happens when we get 7 inches of rain in one week. She was also shedding like crazy, so I decided to give her a bath. She got a good scrub down and looks so much better! She’s a bit thin for my taste. She just looks racing fit. I’d like to see more fat on her, but I think the issue is that she’s gone through another growth spurt because she is no longer butt high. I left a note for her grain to be increased. After the bath I lunged her out on the grass arena. It is actually dry enough to work out there (I’m surprised!). If the weather holds out tomorrow, I hope to get to ride her out there. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

Picking Up Magic

This post will be short and sweet, but just wanted to let everybody know that I’m heading out to pick up Magic today. He’s been up getting some trail ride training at Jan & Archie’s place for the last month or so. I’m excited to be able to get him out on the trails and such outside over the next month or so. Here are a couple of the pictures they sent me of him figuring out that there is more to riding than running and racing.

 

An Interesting April

Its been an interesting April. Flirt is doing really well and I’m very pleased with her progress. Hopefully the weather clears up so that I can get on her outside without tearing up the footing in the outdoor. I’d really like to get some cantering under saddle time on her before she leaves.

Roman has had it pretty easy. The family that came to look at him from Ohio determined that they probably weren’t going to be a good fit for him. While they were great riders, they don’t offer nearly the same amount of turnout that Roman gets at my barn (nearly 24 hours in the summer). They were concerned that his very mild cribbing could become an issue if he is left in a lot more. I too think it could be an issue. Plus, physically, he does much better being turned out than standing in his stall.

Jewel continues to be the princess. She is fat and sassy as ever. There is a clinic this weekend with Linda Heiny, but I don’t know if I’ll be riding in it. Probably not. Considering my riding has been restricted this month pretty much to client horses, I think I’ll wait until next month when I have the chance to ride my own horse a little more frequently.

Magic is doing very well up at Jan and Archie’s place. They sent photos today of him being ridden out on the trail. It looks like he is really coming along well and I couldn’t be more pleased. Its exactly what he needed!

 

Quarterly Inventory

Well its the end of the quarter, so I guess I’ll do a little update on the ponies.

The first is Flirt, who I haven’t written too much about. Flirt is a former FFI horse that was adopted in March 09 by Stephanie from Michigan. She is a 2005 filly and a Seattle Slew grand daughter. She is a super cute filly and tends to learn pretty quickly. She has made major improvements over the past month. Round pen work has been great for her. She really needed to understand that she wasn’t in charge and that it was okay for her to trust a human. She has also calmed down in cross ties as well. She didn’t freak out in them, she just danced in them. However, I think we’ve finally gotten that taken care of. Under saddle, she is improving greatly in regards to balancing herself. She still needs help moving over to the right (lifting the right shoulder and stepping outwards), but she is happy to yield her haunches. The ground work we’ve been doing has been helpful as well. She’s understanding more that she needs to step under rather than just shuffle sideways. Its a combination of a young horse and track horse thing and she’s very willing to learn a better way. All in all, I’m pleased with her progress.

Magic is the 2nd horse that I’m working with. He continues to be nervous with a strong flight instinct even after the two months with me. After some discussion, it looks like someone will be taking him up to Jan and Archie Pickets for 30 days of trail training. He’ll actually get worked every day, which is exactly what he needs. He is only getting worked 3 times per week with me. Anyhow, I think it will be just what he needs to build confidence. And then he’ll still have a final 30 days with me before heading down south to his new home.

Roman is the 3rd horse. Technically, his official training time is over, but I will continue to ride him and help him progress until he is adopted. I was able to ride in two clinics with him. Linda is really thrilled with his progress and how much more supple he is getting. He’s still a stinker about wanting to give to the bit, but he’s getting better. And he’s a very smart horse, so part of it is just him testing the line to see what he can get away with. But, he learns so quickly that I really think that with more consistent work, he’s just going to blossom! There are also people driving from OH this weekend to see him. I’m really excited about that because it sounds like they’re going to be a perfect home for him.

And finally we have Jewel. More and more, I look at Jewel and just can’t believe that I own such a nice horse. Her weight is fabulous. I think the worming every month was exactly what she needed to maintain her weight. I recently rode her with Linda Heiny, who said that aside from working on some position stuff with me, she felt that Jewel was ready to show 2nd level. This is so gratifying for me. We’re finally back to where she was before the colic surgery. I couldn’t be more pleased with her.

And so there we are after the first quarter of the year.

 

A Diamond In The Rough

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of riding three of my mounts in a clinic with Linda Heiny. It was at Centerline Stables in Greencastle, IN. The facility was beautiful and boasts a 20m x 60m indoor arena with heated viewing area and bathroom. The footing was lovely and the arena was full of natural lighting. It is an ideal place for a dressage clinic and those who board there are indeed lucky!

The clinic itself was also fabulous. I started by riding Magic who is one of my training rides. He has a lot of the stiffness issues similar to Jewel. I keep some lateral flexion in order to help him stay soft. He’s pretty much a 2×4. He also can’t be allowed to hang on me anywhere. I must constantly soften him and help him to yield his jaw and poll. Part of what I learned is that I must be very conscious of the outside rein and not lifting it or bringing it across the wither. It was a very revealing lesson for me and what I need to do to help support him. The key though will to not allow him to hang on me or ignore my aids all the while, I must not be reactionary. He reacts to things versus thinking about them.

The second ride was on Jewel. This lesson was amazing! Jewel has a very hard time loosening her back. Linda helped me to see what I was doing to block her hind legs from really coming forward so that she could stretch down and track up behind. My big issue is blocking that forward motion of the outside hind with my outside rein. I have a much better understanding now of what I need to do to allow her to take longer strides with the hind legs. By half way through the lesson, Jewel had really loosened her back and was swinging over her topline. It was really cool!

One of the biggest challenges I have with Jewel is shifting the weight back onto her haunches and getting her to sit. Linda gave me an exercise to work on that will help her learn to lift and sit. Here is the outline of the exercise done at a trot:
- make a 20m circle at one end of the arena to soften the horse
- with the horse soft, come across the diagonal
- about 2 strides in, change bend and go into shoulder-in (while still traveling on the diagonal)
- from shoulder in, move into haunches in
- in haunches in, do a 1/4 turn on the haunches
- continue straight and then change bend

So for example, to start, 20m circle to the left. When the horse is soft, come across the diagonal. Straighten and change bend to the right. Shoulder in to the right. Haunches in to the right and 1/4 turn on the haunches to the right. Continue straight ahead and change the bend to the left. When done correctly, the horse shifts its weight onto the haunches, sits and raises the forehand during the pirouette (1/4 turn). Jewel’s challenge has always been to sit. This exercise really helped her figure out how to sit. Linda said that she could see her sit and lift her wither a couple inches when doing the pirouettes. This is huge for her (Jewel). I’m excited about having a tool to really help her shift her weight.

My final ride was on Roman. He came out and I told Linda that I loved this little horse. She kind of gave me this look like she just didn’t understand. As always, Roman’s appearance is deceiving. For starters, he looks like a QH. He has a giant butt, short legs and his neck is set on low. He just simply looks like he’s going to have a short strided gait. However, once he gets moving, how he looks just standing there is completely forgotten.

Regarding his movement, Roman has the most amazing natural self carriage, “uberstreichen” and “schwung” of any horse I have ever ridden — including warmbloods. He doesn’t look like he should carry himself the way he does, but he does! Unlike the other horses which needed to be ridden with some lateral flexion in order to create longitudinal flexion, Roman didn’t need interference. As Linda put it, for whatever reason, he was like a young warmblood just starting off under saddle. He has tremendous natural impulsion and just needs to be ridden straight and forward. In fact, all she had me do is ride him straight forward and comb the reins. He automatically sought out the bit and stretched down. I rode him on the buckle with is head down nearly to the ground. And although his head and neck were stretched all the way down, he was not on the forehand. He was overstriding behind by 6-8 inches. The swing and impulsion were incredible and he just floated around the arena. Linda, I and the others there watching were in amazement. It was the most amazing feeling — and so unexpected. I knew he was a good mover, but this lesson was truly an amazing ride. I can say without questions that Roman is the most talented dressage horse that I have ever ridden.

AT the conclusion of the lesson, Linda was all smiles. She was just as thrilled as I was with his natural talent. One of the things that she said that stuck with me was “if he is like this now while still with racing muscle and very little self carriage muscle…imagine what he will be like when he actually has the correct muscle! There is no limit to his ability. He is truly a diamond in the rough.” I must admit that I am quite fond of Roman. While I adored JC, I just love Roman to pieces. He is an extremely talented little horse.

On a side note, Roman showed some of his true character as well. Centerline has very large mirrors. I have mirrors at home, but they’re set up a little higher. I don’t think he can see himself in them. Every time we went past the mirrors yesterday, Roman looked at himself. He was quite smitten with himself and it was very funny. He had to turn his head and look at himself each time we rode past. It gave us all a good chuckle.

And so I am home resting today and giving all of the ponies the day off. Aside from being tired, its really chilly out. However, I’m excited to implement the tools that I learned in my lessons throughout the coming rides. Linda will be back on March 21 at Centerline and I hope to be able to ride all three with her again at that time.

 

Magic & Roman Coming Along

Magic is really settling in well into life at the barn. Its pretty laid back here with not a lot of action, so its a great place for exracers to come and learn that life can have a slower pace. He does have some bite marks on his butt, but nothing terrible. He seems to have quickly figured out his place in the herd. He is also buddies with River, who is another TB gelding at the barn. I’ve seen the two of them running around together and playing. Their favorite game seems to be “I’m going to bite your butt and run!” Its pretty comical.

I don’t know if Magic had been lunged before, but he took to it pretty quickly. Its been cold and I’ve wanted to take it fairly easy on him, so he’s just been working on the lunge so far this week. However, I do plan to get on him tomorrow. I don’t think it will be a big issue. I would have ridden him today, however I was by myself at the barn much of the time and I make it a practice not to get on a track horse for the first time when I’m by myself. They usually don’t do anything stupid, but you just never know. I’d rather be safe than sorry. And I know there will be others out there tomorrow, so that will work out fine. Plus, I’ll have the week to prepare him for the upcoming clinic with Linda H, and it would be a good thing to have a couple rides on him before we go.

Roman is also going to the clinic. I’m really thrilled with how well he is doing. I rode him again today and he did really well. Like most exracers, he has a hard time getting off of his right front leg. When tracking right, moving outwards on the circle is really difficult for him, even at a walk, he really has to work to lift the right shoulder and move it over to the outside. It will get better with time. He’s also going through a growth spurt right now. He was 15.1 and fairly level when he arrived in November. He’s currently 15.2 in front and 15.3 behind. That doesn’t make it ay easier to lift the front end. Speaking of growing, his last baby teeth are falling out and his canines are starting to come in.

I lunged him outside yesterday too. He did great! I also let him run around the outdoor to get some action shots of him. These aren’t bad considering he’s having a hard time lifting the front end up and his neck is a little on the short side (not to mention being totally upside down from racing). Once he really gets some carrying strength and builds the right kind of muscle, he is going to be a very nice mover!

 

Magic is Doing Well

Magic arrived on Saturday afternoon. He has since settled in nicely and is doing very well. He is a real sweetheart! I think its a little strange for him since this is probably one of the first times that he has gone somewhere that Tianna didn’t take care of him. Tianna was his owner/trainer. He was a little worried at first, but seems to have really settled in well.

I worked with him Monday on the lunge line. He was happy to be out and about. He has a VERY nice trot and figured out lunging quite easily. He also picked up both correct leads at the canter on the first try. I could tell he was uncertain about what we were doing, but he tried hard and that’s all I can ask for. I was quite pleased.

After lunging I worked with him a little in hand getting him used to a dressage whip and moving his haunches or shoulders over when they are tapped. This is how I start to teach them to come to me at the mounting block. He’s very smart and tries really hard to do what I ask.

 

New Horse in Training

I’m pleased to announce a new horse that will be in training with me. His name is Magic Trial and his owner is Chris from Florida. Magic will be arriving on Valentine’s Day. He is a 2001 TB ex-racehorse who was locally bred and raced. He will be getting a good foundation for a new career and new home. I’m looking forward to working with him!