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which_chickCertainly it's been nicer than LAST YEAR's February where I would have been typing this one-handed, which made for brevity but also was super frustrating because it wasn't even the smart hand. The weather is remarkably fit (50's (10's in C) is quite good for this time of year and it's only somewhat muddy instead of full-on mudtastic.
I've been getting spins on Birb, as and when I can. He's still in dad bod territory and there's gonna have to be some fitting up before we can run headfirst into the brick wall of our Summer Project which is Flying Lead Changes you betcha. Fitness is key for success in that. For myself, I'm making headway in the yoga (slowly but surely) and I've cleaned up the diet a bit. Bird is making strides on overall fitness (moar forward, so much moar forward) as well as particularly on his abs fitness.
Since he tends to drop weight in early spring (due to increased workload and effort of growing in new fur), I am on High Alert for his diet and stuff. Attention is being paid. He cleans up his food better if it has a cup of beet pulp shreds (dry, not soaked) mixed in, so... okay buddy. I don't think beet pulp shreds look very tasty but he likes them pretty well.
Right now he's getting about 3/4 of a can* of 14% non-sweet horse chow that our local feed mill makes plus also about two thirds of a can of the cheap Senior Horse pelleted stuff plus a quarter cup scoop (heaping) of flaxseed which he likes and a quarter cup of granular fat which he doesn't like and also the cup of beet pulp which he VERY MUCH likes, go figure. For now, he's in the big "for winter" field and gets one-a-day chows but end of February he gets moved to the playpen with a buddy and thereafter will be enjoying two-a-day chows because otherwise I can't keep enough weight on him when he's working five days a week.
Playpen two-a-day chows are as follows: Morning chow is half a can each of the senior horse pellets and the 14% protein feed plus the scoops of flax & granular fat and beet pulp. (Both horses in the playpen get this.) Evening chow is the same, except he's the only one that gets evening chow. The other horse in the playpen isn't in regular work and tends to chonk up so that we usually have to rotate the buddy out for a different buddy due to weight gain issues.
Trys has been putting rides on Peake. This is fine, not like Peake needs rides, but it won't hurt her and Trys needs practice Doing The Skills. She's not particularly proactive about shit and she tends to give in before she should. More passenger than rider, which is why she sold Tin to my lesson barn, and this has been an ongoing mindset problem but y'know, we play the cards we're dealt.
We went out on Sunday to work on generalized fitness efforts. Try's leg yields on Peake are... insufficient. She lets Peake trail the HQ and kinda stealth-pop the leading shoulder. And I'm like "Yo. This is not straight. Fix it." and fixing is not happening. So... okay. I threw her on Birb, who has a very nice, very straight, very legit leg yield in him. He ALSO has enough abs to persist through several efforts of rider faffing about until they can get it to to work, like, he won't be tired after three half-vast efforts. Bonus, he does not "fill in" for the rider. If you ask for a shitty leg yield, you GET a shitty leg yield. If you ask better, you get better. He's a great indicator of how well you can control/ask/shape because if you do it right, he does it right. If you don't do it right, he's like... LOL OK and you get exactly what you asked for.
And as expected, she gave me shit effort which I could totally see on Bird. She can feel it be not-straight but she stops there with what sounds very much like a learned helplessness "He's not straight". Mmm, yes. And what are you going to DO about that? I do not know how to explain that you don't just... sit there and feel it being not straight, you feel it and then you FIX IT. (I do not think this is a rocket science concept, but apparently...)
And then Trys was "I would like to see you sit on Peake and try this." Now, Peake is 14 hh almost exactly. She's 3" shorter than Bird and feels... tiny compared to him. So tiny. She's fucking dainty and wee. Anyway, so I got on Peake, whom I started under saddle and have ridden occasionally before. So I ask for leg yield in a relatively smallish trot. And we get... mincing trot, ducking face (I am NOT in her face, there is no reason to be ducking except this is an evasion.), bulging shoulder, light front end. And I sit, calmly fixing the issues as they appear, quietly and politely asking for the leg yield. And in what I can only characterize as a FINE, DAMN IT move, I get a lovely (if furious) leg yield. Good Job! We walk on loose rein. I pet her. And then we go the other way (the not-so-easy-for-her way). Mincing, ducking, bulging, light, oooh there's a halfhearted buck. There was a whack for the buck, which was more of an opinion than a "GET OFF NOW". And we tried again. And there was a leg yield, again a FINE DAMN IT effort. Much petting, loose rein, good horse. After that, we put the lateral work away for the day and instead worked on trot games (smallish trot, expand to bigger trot, bring back to smallish trot, then try for teeny trot, then expand, etc.)
Leg yield isn't super hard and this is a fair amount of drama. However, Trys typically backs off a little when she gets any ... disagreement from Peake, which is not ideal. *sigh* Peake's efforts (mince, duck, bulge, light front end) have reliably worked in the past to stop, soften, or reduce the rider's demands for a legit leg yield. When what used-to-work stops working, that's gotta be frustrating. I mean, I get it. And doing-the-thing is harder than the evasions. I also get that. But, if you want me to stop asking, you gotta do the thing. I am 100% fair. You do the thing, I will put it away and not bother you anymore. There isn't a "come on, just one more" from me these days because I'm now at the point where I try hard not to burn successes. Wish I'd learned that twenty years ago, but whatever.
Trot Games went well. Peake was fussy for Trys the last time when we did Trot Games but this time we got through the first two reps and she settled right in to the activity. Yes, I can make the trot smaller. Yes, I can make the trot bigger. Any size trot you want, yes ma'am! Nice lifted back, nice calm and relaxed face, good rhythm through all phases, etc. Bird (who is about a hundred times fitter and more muscled and stuff) for his part got Trot Games In Lateral Positions, so, shoulder-in and trot small, trot big, all the whole thing while being in shoulder-in. Don't lose the shape or the rhythm or any of it. He did well, and as he flattened (lost poof-spring-lift) we changed to just regular straight trotting without the extra helpings of lateral.
*a "can" is a standard #10 can.
I've been getting spins on Birb, as and when I can. He's still in dad bod territory and there's gonna have to be some fitting up before we can run headfirst into the brick wall of our Summer Project which is Flying Lead Changes you betcha. Fitness is key for success in that. For myself, I'm making headway in the yoga (slowly but surely) and I've cleaned up the diet a bit. Bird is making strides on overall fitness (moar forward, so much moar forward) as well as particularly on his abs fitness.
Since he tends to drop weight in early spring (due to increased workload and effort of growing in new fur), I am on High Alert for his diet and stuff. Attention is being paid. He cleans up his food better if it has a cup of beet pulp shreds (dry, not soaked) mixed in, so... okay buddy. I don't think beet pulp shreds look very tasty but he likes them pretty well.
Right now he's getting about 3/4 of a can* of 14% non-sweet horse chow that our local feed mill makes plus also about two thirds of a can of the cheap Senior Horse pelleted stuff plus a quarter cup scoop (heaping) of flaxseed which he likes and a quarter cup of granular fat which he doesn't like and also the cup of beet pulp which he VERY MUCH likes, go figure. For now, he's in the big "for winter" field and gets one-a-day chows but end of February he gets moved to the playpen with a buddy and thereafter will be enjoying two-a-day chows because otherwise I can't keep enough weight on him when he's working five days a week.
Playpen two-a-day chows are as follows: Morning chow is half a can each of the senior horse pellets and the 14% protein feed plus the scoops of flax & granular fat and beet pulp. (Both horses in the playpen get this.) Evening chow is the same, except he's the only one that gets evening chow. The other horse in the playpen isn't in regular work and tends to chonk up so that we usually have to rotate the buddy out for a different buddy due to weight gain issues.
Trys has been putting rides on Peake. This is fine, not like Peake needs rides, but it won't hurt her and Trys needs practice Doing The Skills. She's not particularly proactive about shit and she tends to give in before she should. More passenger than rider, which is why she sold Tin to my lesson barn, and this has been an ongoing mindset problem but y'know, we play the cards we're dealt.
We went out on Sunday to work on generalized fitness efforts. Try's leg yields on Peake are... insufficient. She lets Peake trail the HQ and kinda stealth-pop the leading shoulder. And I'm like "Yo. This is not straight. Fix it." and fixing is not happening. So... okay. I threw her on Birb, who has a very nice, very straight, very legit leg yield in him. He ALSO has enough abs to persist through several efforts of rider faffing about until they can get it to to work, like, he won't be tired after three half-vast efforts. Bonus, he does not "fill in" for the rider. If you ask for a shitty leg yield, you GET a shitty leg yield. If you ask better, you get better. He's a great indicator of how well you can control/ask/shape because if you do it right, he does it right. If you don't do it right, he's like... LOL OK and you get exactly what you asked for.
And as expected, she gave me shit effort which I could totally see on Bird. She can feel it be not-straight but she stops there with what sounds very much like a learned helplessness "He's not straight". Mmm, yes. And what are you going to DO about that? I do not know how to explain that you don't just... sit there and feel it being not straight, you feel it and then you FIX IT. (I do not think this is a rocket science concept, but apparently...)
And then Trys was "I would like to see you sit on Peake and try this." Now, Peake is 14 hh almost exactly. She's 3" shorter than Bird and feels... tiny compared to him. So tiny. She's fucking dainty and wee. Anyway, so I got on Peake, whom I started under saddle and have ridden occasionally before. So I ask for leg yield in a relatively smallish trot. And we get... mincing trot, ducking face (I am NOT in her face, there is no reason to be ducking except this is an evasion.), bulging shoulder, light front end. And I sit, calmly fixing the issues as they appear, quietly and politely asking for the leg yield. And in what I can only characterize as a FINE, DAMN IT move, I get a lovely (if furious) leg yield. Good Job! We walk on loose rein. I pet her. And then we go the other way (the not-so-easy-for-her way). Mincing, ducking, bulging, light, oooh there's a halfhearted buck. There was a whack for the buck, which was more of an opinion than a "GET OFF NOW". And we tried again. And there was a leg yield, again a FINE DAMN IT effort. Much petting, loose rein, good horse. After that, we put the lateral work away for the day and instead worked on trot games (smallish trot, expand to bigger trot, bring back to smallish trot, then try for teeny trot, then expand, etc.)
Leg yield isn't super hard and this is a fair amount of drama. However, Trys typically backs off a little when she gets any ... disagreement from Peake, which is not ideal. *sigh* Peake's efforts (mince, duck, bulge, light front end) have reliably worked in the past to stop, soften, or reduce the rider's demands for a legit leg yield. When what used-to-work stops working, that's gotta be frustrating. I mean, I get it. And doing-the-thing is harder than the evasions. I also get that. But, if you want me to stop asking, you gotta do the thing. I am 100% fair. You do the thing, I will put it away and not bother you anymore. There isn't a "come on, just one more" from me these days because I'm now at the point where I try hard not to burn successes. Wish I'd learned that twenty years ago, but whatever.
Trot Games went well. Peake was fussy for Trys the last time when we did Trot Games but this time we got through the first two reps and she settled right in to the activity. Yes, I can make the trot smaller. Yes, I can make the trot bigger. Any size trot you want, yes ma'am! Nice lifted back, nice calm and relaxed face, good rhythm through all phases, etc. Bird (who is about a hundred times fitter and more muscled and stuff) for his part got Trot Games In Lateral Positions, so, shoulder-in and trot small, trot big, all the whole thing while being in shoulder-in. Don't lose the shape or the rhythm or any of it. He did well, and as he flattened (lost poof-spring-lift) we changed to just regular straight trotting without the extra helpings of lateral.
*a "can" is a standard #10 can.
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Date: 2023-02-19 11:17 pm (UTC)