Gym Can Uh

After the "incident" of last Saturday, I was very hesitant to be on my horse for any extended period of time. This was my first scary incident where I lost control of my horse, and my muscles were sore and I had a huge bruise on my belly from the saddle horn. I think I'll re-new my search for a saddle without a horn.

However, I had already agreed to go with my barn posse to a Gymkhana. What is a gymkhana? I hear you asking, and you're trying to sound it out in your head too. It's pronounced just like the title of this post, and is an event where a series of timed events are held. Barrel racing, weaving in and out of poles, and similar things are set up to challenge riders and their horses.

There were quite a few people and horses there, and I was very vigilant, watching for any possible trigger that could upset the great white whale. I rode him that day in his twisted snaffle bit, and I found I needed a very light rein, and he responded very well to it. I could also tell that he hates it still, but I wanted to be sure I could get his attention in case something spooked him.

He seemed just fine though, even happy/excited to have a task to do that we have practiced before.
They broke up the competitors into classes, Over 18, Under 18, Walk/Trot, and Lead Line. Over 18 and Under 18 is pretty self explanatory, Walk/Trot meant that if your horse broke into a canter, you would get bumped in the regular over/under 18 category, and Lead Line meant that your horse would be led through the course by someone on foot. We chose the Walk/Trot class, simply because his canter isn't polished enough, and I don't feel comfortable cantering on him, especially during a public competition!

We competed in the following events:

Barrels: The typical 3 barrel set up you may have seen at a rodeo
Bi-Rangle: 2 barrels set up, you have to go around both
Poles I: Poles are set up in a straight line, you have to weave in and out of the poles up and back
Big T: Poles like the above are set up, with 2 barrels at the end like Bi-rangle that you have to go around before you go back through the poles
Speedball: The rider is given a small ball that they have to take to a traffic cone at the end of the arena, drop it in to the opening in the cone, and come back

He only walked in the first challenge, and then after that, offered a trot with very little encouragement. My imagination would like to think that he figured out that speed was a factor, but my logical brain says he probably just wanted to get things over with quickly.
Competing on a draft horse who would rather not move at all is a little more difficult, and I know we'll never be competitive in a gymkhana, it was good to expose him to a busy setting, with trailers and trucks roaming around, some horses who were less than happy about being there, tiny little ponies running near him, and a loudspeaker announcing things.
Here we are trotting across the line after speedball.

After the competitions were all over, they started announcing the winners of the categories. One of the ladies at the barn has a very zippy horse, and even though it was her first competition too, she one quite a few ribbons!!  Yay!
Then I heard my name called. Whaaaaaaaaa-!!!!?!?!?!!
We won fourth place in Bi-Rangle!! (And yes, there were more than 4 people competing...)
I was shocked! We collected my very first ribbon in our very first competition!

He tried to eat it, so now it has a smudgy lip mark on the bottom, but I don't care! He got a celebratory flake of hay as I untacked him, and then we made our way back to the barn.
What a good day!

Improvement? We haz it!

So, first off..

An open letter to Altivo.

Dear Lazy White/Grey horse:
I cheated on you. I went on a trail ride on another horse. A mare, even. I blame HorseFriend. She's the one who threw a bareback pad on her Quarter horse and told me to hop on. She was there with her Morgan, so I can't lie about it- I have too many witnesses. Next thing I knew, we were out on the trail and I just couldn't help it!! I was a little scared, since I was bareback, and her mare is a little green, but her personality is similar to yours so I did all right. I know you won't really care since I bring you apples and pears but I just needed to come clean. Guilt is an awful thing.

We didn't ride for very long, really, and the brush wasn't that edible....so don't be mad, ok?

-BigGreenGirl

Ok, next on the update-
Big improvements with the big horse (my sister said he's as big as a bus....) since I blogged last!!

First, here's what we did.

1. I had a bodyworker touch him. I admit, I was skeptical that the bodyworker would be able to do anything for him, after all, a horse bodyworker doesn't seem to be able to do much, but really, it was interesting watching her. She lifted his ribcage, pushed and pulled on various parts of his body, and yanked on his tail. She showed me how to do certain moves sort of like a "horsie yoga" and how to stretch parts of him to keep things aligned and happy.

2. Asked the trimmer to back up his toes a teeny bit. Basically, he shaved down the hoof in the front of it slightly, so that it gives lazy horses who don't pick their feet up a little more ground clearance as they move.

3. Bought a new bit. This one is a sweet iron twisted snaffle. That means that the part that goes in the horse's mouth is made of "cold rolled steel" which rusts and supposedly has a sweet taste to it. I didn't get the bit for that reason, I got it because I wanted a twisted snaffle bit and the sweet iron one was the only kind in his size....Yeah. Most bits are 4-5 inches wide...he's a 6 1/2. sigh.  Moving on... Twisted means that instead of a straight piece of metal, it's twisted around to give the horse a different feel in his mouth. It doesn't hurt them, but it does make them pay attention just a little more. Here's a picture-

4. 2 times a week he gets a "schooling ride", where he is put through his paces by someone who knows what they're doing.



Now....all of this combined....and the tripping has all but stopped. I took him out this morning for a ride, through the sand arena, the pea gravel round pen, the dirt arena, the back pasture, and the gravel road. He tripped once in the back pasture, because he was staring at a cat in the field and not watching where his feet were going. I worked on trotting him and controlling his direction at the same time, as he seems to be rusty on it, and he trotted willingly and without issue.


I'm overdue for a lesson, but I was on vacation and then the weather got so insanely hot that I backed out of a couple- I can't concentrate when it's 100 degrees out and I'm on top of a 100 degree animal. But I'll blog about it when I take another lesson. Should be soon.

Oh, and I found yet another horse blog that I love- here ya go!!

www.horseandman.com