Come Gallop With Us!

This week here in Southern Virginia it's still summer.  We're supposed to get near or just over 100 degrees Tuesday through Friday this week.  That means EARLY morning rides for Son of a Lynx.  Strictly speaking, he doesn't need to do conditioning gallops for anything we'll be doing at the Nationals horseshow.  However, he did come to work with me, an eventing trainer, which means he's being introduced to everything from the three phases (plus the additional things good all-around horses have done like trailriding, bridges, cows....)  

 

That includes learning to gallop cross country in the open.  We've had several sessions of this now, and he does seem to enjoy it.  If I'm precise with my aids he can pick up either lead, and has a fairly natural flying lead change when we change the bend going around corners.  Leads and picking up the canter isn't automatic on a circle like in an arena setting yet, but the fact that he's getting it out galloping in the fields means he's figuring out the cues and that will transfer to the arena later.  After cantering up and down hills and changing leads through the woods, cantering on flat footing won't be too hard a mental leap.  Plus, it's so good for his fitness. 

 

Lynx has figured out the spots where I usually ask for the canter and then gallop, and now associates my voice cues with it.  "Trrrot" with clicking my tongue mean trot, and "CAnter" with a kissing noise means canter.  Further kissing and adding leg while the rider is in two point means gallop . To stop, I shift my weight and tilt my pelvis back, then take a deep audible exhale.  That brings him right down, so we mostly don't need the reins. 

It's interesting that the dogs also know all these voice and breathing cues.  When I was trail running regularly with Pascal (on foot), when we'd get to a steeper downhill trail I'd do the bigger exhale and he'd slow right down and stay by my side.

My dogs do their best to keep up, but my retired horse training dog, Rizzo, was really the only one who could truly keep up with a galloping thoroughbred back when she was working.  Pascal and Mahzi do their best, but Mahzi, at 70 lbs and 14 years old, is like 85 in human years.  She justifiably cuts some corners and waits for us where she knows we'll reappear.  Pascal mostly takes the same routes we do, but just catches up once we come back to the walk.  

 

I'm nearly there with the gopro video and taking spectators on a gallop with us.  I still need to fix the visor on my helmet so that it doesn't flap and hit the camera when we're really moving, but at least I've got some galloping footage with Son of a Lynx and the dogs now!  I may need to replace my SD card as this one is quite old and doesn't seem to be able to process the longer videos.  Because of that, this gallop video is kind of short, but still gives the viewer the idea of how he gallops in the open.  Not necessarily a requirement for a show pleasure horse, but a nice way to pad his resume'.  

https://youtu.be/IG4UQPkMy0M 

This video starts with us catching our breath at the walk with the dogs after warming up at the trot.  We pick up the gallop not too far into the video.

Just in case you were wondering how he is after he's been galloping - he comes right back to the trot or walk, whatever is asked of him.  Then we stroll around the fields on a loose rein to cool out, the dogs catch up with us, and eventually we make our way back to the barn.  If you don't mind me singing (I have some music going on my phone while the gopro is recording) you can ride Lynx's cool out with us here:

https://youtu.be/upg51p8FUS8 

 

Professional Horseshow Photos

So many thanks to IC You Photography for getting these great photos of Lynx on Saturday at the horseshow!

Horseshow Report

The Crystal Creek Piedmont Horseman's Association open horseshow this weekend was a little over an hour away, and it was a blessedly uneventful drive.  Lynx and I entered the English halter class, I wasn't expecting to have eight horses in the class!  That was about how it went all morning, eight to ten horses in each of our classes.  Considering Lynx has only ridden with up to two other horses in the ring at a time, this was a big new experience!

The halter class went as well as could be expected.  I neglected to explain to him about trotting in hand ahead of time, so we just paced in hand.  The judge recognized him as a Standardbred from his pace as well as his brand, which could be seen more easily since I'd braided him.  She said she's a huge Standardbred fan, and was really happy to see I'd brought him today.

After halter we got tacked up and then rode all over the grounds and warmed up in the arena. A large poster flapping on the gate startled a horse in front of us, and Lynx just quietly slowed down and gave the horse the side eye as if to silently judge him for spooking. Of course Lynx would have seen all kinds of things at the track, so posters flapping, the sound system, other horses going all directions, traffic, none of it was a problem for this chill gelding.

I didn't expect the classes to be quite so large for the walk/trot groups, and I didn't realize that they allowed cross-entries.  I'd entered Lynx in walk/trot because he's been cantering at home, but I want him to be more confident and balanced before doing it at a show, especially in a large group.  However, because they had cross entries, that meant every other horse in our classes was experienced with cantering and was also in the walk/trot/canter classes. Considering the large class sizes (for a local open show) Lynx did really well! 

We earned ourselves a fistful of ribbons, and I went back to the show office to pay my tab and get checked out.  I told Mary in the office how well run and efficient the show was, and that we'd had a lot of fun! I was able to shake hands with the judge as well and thank her for the long day judging.  I've done that job and it's a lot of work! Lastly I found the show photographer, and was able to talk to her about how to get the photos once they are posted.

I was just clearing up the last of our stuff back at the trailer when I heard my name being said over the loudspeaker, and something about Son of a Lynx.  I didn't catch what it was about though, so I headed back to the show office. When I got there to my surprise I discovered Lynx and I had won reserve champion for our division for the day, which came with a rather large ribbon!  I'm so glad I heard our names and went back!

It was a great day with a great horse.  Considering he has less than 60 days of riding training on him, I'm wildly impressed and proud of Lynx.  We may have one more local show next weekend, and one more trail ride, then we get busy packing for Nationals in New Jersey!

Trot Sets and a Bath

We're planning to go to an open show tomorrow, so I wanted to just have a fun ride this morning with Lynx, then give him a bath.  The dogs came with us, Pascal keeping up pretty well even during our trot sets and cantering, elderly Mahzi wisely cutting corners when needed.

When we were done we walked back to the barn and untacked, we all had a drink of water, and then I gave Lynx a bath.  Thankfully he's close enough to dirt colored that it's not a big project.  When I was a kid I showed paint and pinto with a medicine hat patterned mare named Docs Bit of Honey, and yes the barn is named after her.  I certainly paid my dues in scrubbing with purple whitening shampoo all summer for years in order to do showmanship...  sometimes I'm surprised my fingers aren't still stained purple!

Anyway, Lynx stood like a champ for his scrub, only moving when those darn humongous horse flies would go after him. Mostly I could hit and squash them once they'd landed on Lynx, which he very much appreciated. There must be something about him that they like extra well, because they don't go after my other horses like they do him. Everyone is about the same color (it really is bay watch around here), eating the same food (just in slightly different amounts), and if anything Lynx gets bug spray and swat applied more frequently because he gets hosed off more often being in training. Another question for the ages.

He's mostly clean now anyway, and his tail conditioned, detangled, and shiny.  We're ready for our next batch of show photos!  He got turned back out with his friends and they all wandered back out to the pasture.

First Oxer and Gymnastic Line

Kathy and Dylan came over this morning to ride and set fences for me and Lynx.  We took a walk around the fields and neighborhood, with Mahzi the dog right alongside us.  Pascal got distracted chasing the barn cats again so he joined us later for the jumping exercises.

Once we were ready to work with the jumps, we started with walkibg over ground poles as our first step in this progression.  The pivo was convinced it should be tracking Dylan, so Kathy went through the gymnastic line of ground poles too.

We went through it both directions at the walk, then we each trotted through.  The basic idea is to start small and go slowly, then gradually raise the jumps and increase the speed. I did make a couple adjustments to the distance between jumps as they got higher so Lynx would have an easier time getting the strides right. 

Lynx had looked at these jumps yesterday during our ride, and I could tell he was interested.  I wanted to wait until I had someone here before tackling this particular exercise, and Lynx was definitely eager to work on this today! 

Once he was cantering through the line accurately we raised the jumps again, making the blue crossrail quite a bit larger on the sides.  It was no problem for Lynx, he jumped right through.  

I did notice that he was getting a little flat over the last fence, though.  This is a common thing as a horse is learning to jump.  He jumps harder to get over the bigger obstacle, but doesn't realize he needs to change the shape of his body in the air.  We want more of an arc, less of a flat back.

The easiest way to teach this body shape over fences is to make them wider, with an increasing element.  So I set up the last fence as an oxer, with a smaller crossrail in front of a slightly higher horizontal pole. This was Lynx's first oxer, but because I've introduced jumping to him so systematically, it seemed to him like the logical next step in the progression.

Here are the videos of the jumping efforts, this is so exciting!  Lynx really does like these thinking exercises, I'd love to get him out on a cross country course!

https://youtu.be/X8gn7Fe7Jic?is=-eaXVCJpeak0PjIR

We have another horse show this weekend, so be sure to follow along for his next batch of fancy horseshow photos!

First Cantering

 

It was a serendipitous first canter - and we had great success!  Lynx and I were out with the dogs riding around the fields and the neighbor's, and we were aggressively followed by one of those horse flies that's gigantic - the ones that are the size of your thumb.  Lynx was upset about it flying around him, so I said let's trot to get away from it.  We trot all the time in the fields, so nothing new there.

As we kept trotting, though, Lynx continued to wring his tail around in a circle, and I figured the bug was still with us.  In an attempt to outrun it, I asked him for a canter.  He has cantered on the lungeline previously, and recognizes a kissing sound as a canter cue, so when I added a little leg and kissed, he picked up the canter right away.  He did a great job and was quite balanced, so we carried on until we were back at the front fence line.  When he came back to the walk he was moving oddly, so I looked back to see the darn bug stuck to him, right next to the base of his tail!  I leaned back and squashed it and then gave Lynx a good scratch.  He was relieved to have the bug finally gone, but he also had figured out cantering under saddle!  

Lynx did so well the first time, that we rode to the back of back field and tried again.  This time he went into his big trot, then picked up the canter going up the hill, and we cantered all the way to the front of that field!  He even gave me a lead change when I shifted my weight around one of the corners.  This guy is a natural.  

Sadly, I managed to forget my gopro in the house, so we were down to the cell phone again.  This smart horse had no trouble, though, since I've spent an inordinate amount of time videoing our rides and talking to the camera while neck reining.  As I described the first couple canters to the video, Lynx knew what I was talking about.  He asked if we could do it one more time, so I agreed.  

 https://youtube.com/shorts/8CNWGJlLDrk?is=pZCM3JrfuCNoQmSe

This was our video capture for the day, with me cantering while neck reining with one hand and holding the phone to video with the other.  At the end of the video he lost his balance since I wasn't able to help him as much while multi-tasking, and broke into the pace.  No big deal, I expect things like that to happen until he is really confident and strong in the canter.  I just brought him back to a walk and reorganized.  He gave me one more good go of cantering to make up for it, and then we walked back to the barn to cool off.  

Tomorrow we'll try the gymnastic with canter strides, and I'll have help so hopefully that will be a great next episode in Lynx's story!