Weekend Update

Some fun photos from the action over the weekend here at Bit of Honey Training.  We had Cole and Jasi tearing up the arena and flying over fences together.

Check out Cole's knees!!  The tight knees and the expression on his face perfectly illustrate his love of jumping and teaching.

Notice as well that Cole rides and jumps exactly the same whether he has a bit in his mouth or not.  Jasi even mentioned that she forgot she had no bit for a while because Cole was exactly the same without it.  I like to get riders started jumping without a bit in the horse's mouth, that way if there is a goof up or the rider accidentally pulls back on the reins they don't have to worry that they were rough on the horse's mouth.  Especially as she progresses to jumping larger fences it's nice to not have to worry about it while she's learning.  The bridle I use on Cole for this is a leather noseband that has rings attached to it for reins.  If you're looking to purchase one you would search for "jumping hackamore," although I don't know anyone else who uses a hackamore like this for jumping.  Here is a closer look at it:

Cosmo got to come out for some liberty work in the round pen, too.  Jasi wanted to learn how to do liberty training (no lead rope or equipment) with a horse, and Cosmo is a fun one to play with.  Here is a cute video of him turning, walking, trotting, and jumping with Jasi at liberty.

Highboy enjoyed some jumping this weekend, too.  He likes to watch Cole, I swear Highboy is a sponge absorbing everything he sees and learning from it.

Highboy and I also upped the height of some of the fences to push him a little. Joan helped us out by being jump crew while Kim H. took photos.  Miles and Highboy of course wanted to help.

I first introduced the higher height to him as a cross-rail.  The center of the fence was quite low, but visually it looks large because we had the sides of the poles in the highest jump cups.  Highboy eats up the fences, he is always eager to give it a go.  This large cross rail was no sweat for him.

Once he had happily cleared it a few times each direction we raised it to a vertical.  This fence was about 4'3".  Highboy make quick work of it, rocking back on his haunches and propelling us into the air. 

In later examination of the photos I discovered that I caused him to knock down the pole at this height.  I hesitate to give him a large release with my hands because he so often performs his touch-down dance on the landing side of the jumps with bucking and twisting.  If I let him have his head entirely, the odds of me coming off on the other side are pretty good.  We'll continue to work at the slightly lower heights until he isn't bucking as much, then I'll give him his head over the larger fences when he's proven he's trustworthy.

I love this photo for illustrating the release of hands over fences.  In this picture we were warming up, meaning Highboy was cavorting around after landing.  Because of that I'm doing a smaller crest release, my hands are on his mane and not too far up his neck so I can maintain control of him as soon as we land.  If you look at the lines drawn in the photo, you can see the ideal of a straight line from Highboy's bit to my elbow.  If I were doing an automatic release over the jump my hands would be following his head down into the stretch in order to allow him head room and consequently the ability to lift his back more over the fence.  The shorter arrow shows where my hand should be in order to give him the maximum rein.  A great educational photo!

Highboy's warmups are getting progressively more civilized, though, as evidenced by this nice trotting picture.

He still enjoys a flair for the dramatic, though.  Warm up fences that are too small are (in his mind) just cause for catapulting over as though they were huge.

There is always time to snack in between rounds, though.  He likes to munch on the tumbleweeds that meander into the arena while he watches his friends take turns jumping.

Walsh watched us ride from his paddock, then he got a turn to come out and play.  He still gets remarkably tense when I do even very minimal jumping with him, so the plan for him for the next week or so is to do liberty work in the round pen over fences.  When jumping purely for the fun of it and to earn cookies, it's hard to get tense and worried.  Hopefully this new perspective on jumping will translate to saddle work for Walsh.

Highboy and Joan are in love.  They spent some time at the end of his ride smooching.  Kim H. took the photo of them and Jasi said they looked like engagement photos and I should photoshop a diamond ring onto Joan's finger.

At the end of it all, you know it was a full day when even the border collies are tired.

A Tale of Two Quarter Horses

I'm often amused at how different two horses of the same breed can be.  For an example we have Beauty, a blue roan cutting bred quarter horse, and her owner's other horse Sloan, a grey quarter horse mare.  They have very similar temperaments in that they both are uncomplicated and like to work.  They have similar conformations with the balanced stocky quarter horse build.  They even move similarly because of how they are built.  However their chosen jobs are very different!

Beauty can be a little bit of a speed demon if you ask her for some gas, and her favorite activity is jumping.  She enjoys thinking through the gymnastic exercises, and will always give you instant extra effort with just a small amount of leg.  She will trail ride and go western if you ask her for it because she's a good sport, but her heart isn't really in that sort of work.

On the other hand we have Sloan.  She is more of a minimalist.  She likes to conserve energy, she prefers to move in an efficient manner, and likes to jog.  She will ride english for me because she's a good sport and is willing to do whatever is asked of her, but I can often feel her rolling her eyes at me when I to get too "dressag-y" for her taste.  She wants to work on a loose rein, with her head level at her withers, and would be quite happy with group trailrides as her main occupation.

I have a few fun photos that sum up the contrast between these light and dark mares.  Both of them going over the same jump, illustrating their preferred styles.

They are both very fun mares to have around and are wonderful representatives of their breed, showing off the versatility of the quarter horse.  It is an important part of horse training to me that I find the job that each horse enjoys, and then train them for that discipline.  Not every quarter horse wants to ride western, and not every thoroughbred wants to ride english.  Horse training is always interesting because I have to determine what each horse is telling me about their preferences, and then help them to be good at their chosen jobs.

Bragging Rights

I'm going to take some time to brag about one of my students.  Kim H. is most often known as our widely acclaimed photographer.  However, she also rides here at Bit of Honey Training, and is one of the most dedicated horsewomen I know.  She keeps on keepin' on, steadily progressing towards the goals she dutifully sets each year.  Often her progress in the saddle occurs in a serendipitous manner, great things accidentally happen on the days when she is playing around with her mare, Rain.

The latest accomplishment is cantering.  Rain had a great ride with my working student last weekend, and after some fun canter transitions Rain was geared up to practice it some more.  When Kim H. got on, Rain was cued up and ready to go.  Kim happily let her pick up a balanced canter and they proceeded to work their way around the arena with huge smiles on their faces.

I was sneaky and caught it on video to show her later how well they did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcc6wfjbd5U

They did it again this week, and Sara was here documenting successes this weekend.

As an addendum to their new adventure, Kim also took Rain over some of the small jumps set in the arena at the canter!

I just grin with pride each time I think of Kim and her accomplishments in the saddle.  She is an incredible example of persistence and dedication, and now she has cantering over jumps to show for it!

Note's First Ride At Bit of Honey

A few days ago Note and I went for his first ride off the track at Bit of Honey Training, and his first ride since castration surgery.  Note has had some extra time off as let-down from racing because he was a cryptorchid stallion, meaning that only one testicle had descended even at six years old.  Because the retained testicle was so high up in his abdomen, the surgery to geld him was fairly major.  I've given him plenty of extra time off to heal completely, I wanted to be sure that his abdominal muscling as well as external muscling were well healed before I asked for anything athletic. 

We began with lunging.  The photos make him look a little excited, but he was actually quite well behaved on the lunge line even with the dogs cavorting around him.

After lunging I bridled him and we took a few minutes to review mounting block etiquette.

I've worked on this with Note before to acclimate him to the idea of standing quietly for mounting.  When at the track, normally a jockey is tossed aboard the walking or jogging racehorse, so standing motionless is a new idea for Note.  He is a very smart horse, though, and figured out what I wanted quickly.

We started our ride with a well behaved walk, and Note showed me he will turn nicely based off of my weight shifts.

Next was a little trot work, and Note showed off his snappy knees and beautiful natural form. 

As the ride went on, Note reminded me that he was VERY good at his job as a racehorse.  He truly wanted to run, and was feeling fresh.  I stayed aboard, so no harm was done, but there were some exciting shenanigans.  This also gave us some very pretty shots of him in green-horse collected form.  For a horse to do something athletic, be it piaffe or bucking, he has to shift his weight, bring his haunches underneath himself, and lift his back to really do it well.  This made for a tantalizing glimpse into the athletic sport horse that Note will one day become!

When we were done riding I dismounted and took off Note's tack so he could play in the round pen a little to expend his excess energy.  He followed me at liberty like we usually do, and then he began to run!

The sand flying and the dark horse made us all think of the old movie based on one of my favorite books, The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.

One For Nothing (Note) Conformation Photos

A few days ago we got some great conformation shots of Note (JC One For Nothing) prior to his first ride with me here at Bit of Honey Training.