Cantering Does Not Lead To Weight Loss

Sat Mar 5, 2005

I haven't written about Himself in quite a while, frankly because I haven't done anything with him for quite a while! In fact it's been a week & half since I rode the little goober at all!

Beautiful sunny day out there, temps around 40, still a couple of feet of snow on the ground though. Quzqo was way out in the field at a big pile of hay, but put up no protest when I brought him in, he just calmy do-bopped along behind me on the rope. He was extraordinarily mellow and friendly...maybe it pays to not ride him too often, eh? He even allowed me to put his spint boots on without causing a fuss, and he about sucked the bit into his mouth on his own!

I rode him English with his Dee ring snaffle & the running martingale, our biggest problem was motivation! That boy did NOT want to move! It might have been that it was "warm", and he's FAT, and it was sort of a drowsy sunny day out there...when the horse is yawning BEFORE you ride him, that's a clue! But I know better than to judge a horse by his cover, the little dink was full of energy, he just didn't want to use any of it! We did a lot of bending and circles, then sitting trot (which in itself is an achievement! Rarely can I get him to go slow enough that I can sit the trot), plenty of posting trotting, and...cantering!! I can now say his training re: the cues for the canter is complete! I can get him into a NICE canter from a standstill with just the one heel now...no more need for exaggerated cues or making him trot until he breaks into a canter...he knows what I want and responds! Both directions!! Huzzah! Got him into a couple of sweet canters, very balanced and nicccceeee! No extended cantering, because there was a married couple and their horses aimlessly meandering around the arena, basically getting in my way...I'll be so glad when the snow is gone and I can ride him in the outdoor arena! More room!

Confidently I could say today, I could canter him safely out in the hayfield without him tearing off with me, LOL!

Found a flier up in the viewing room, the regional horse club is sponsoring a Seminar, Tack Sale & Horse Auction at the barn on April 2nd!! They're getting a pair of trainers from downstate to work with people and their horses...hey, sign me up!!! If only to get an outside opinion that I'm doing all right with the little guy, considering!

And, I found a photo I took of Quzqo last Spring...and thought you might get some amusement comparing him to "now", LOL! I'm going to make up a gag poster with these pix for the barn..."The Windsonnet Diet", ha! Little fuzzy tubby! Even his butt looks rounder! (and that ain't ALL hair, believe me!)

A New World's Record!

Sat Feb 5, 2005

55 degrees and sunny, who could resist annoying a horse on such a February day!! Now, I've been very sloppy about working with Quzqo this Winter/post-Holiday period, only riding him on the weekends, if that. But it seems he's not suffering for it, who knows, maybe he appreciates the break.

F'instance, week before last I was working on trying to get him to leg-yield, he would barely do it, which didn't bother me, because as far as I know, nobody's asked him! But last week, I asked him to leg-yield, and he oozed on across the arena like a champ!! (well, near-champ)...as good as Tezlu on a bad day! Both directions! Now either somebody's training him for me during the week (like those mystery sheath cleanings Tezlu enjoyed!), or he knew it already and I only jarred his memory, or he's learning things VERY quickly!

We have been working on our cantering, he knows the cues very well, it's gotten so I have to be careful because if I inadvertently shift my weight "just so" I can feel him bunching up to go into the canter! I've been trying to give him definite, exclusive signals to let him know the canter cue IS coming, so if I accidentally bump him with my outside leg he doesn't just tear off...so I collect him up, a gentle wiggle to the bit, shift the weight, outside leg and away he goes (I don't even have to lay the inside rein across his neck, he knows what the other stuff means!). Pretty dang good for a horse that had NO clue less than a year ago!

BUT, the Big News...today we cantered around the entire arena...TWICE!! (consecutively with no break!). THAT is the Quzqo Indoor Arena Cantering Record! I invested in a running martingale, I don't know if that helped or not, but he did very well and was a VERY nice balanced (but fast) canter....not the jarring horror that it used to be! He's getting there!

Week before last I got him into a canter and it was SO collected and balanced and SLOW, surprised the heck out of me!! Only lasted a few strides, but boy, it shows his potential! He can do it, providing it's 8:30 at night and he's very tired, LOL!

Also got him to back 4 steps today (not all at once, he had to "rest" between attempts..."soaking time" one trainer calls that)...with the martingale he couldn't fling his head up and fuss!

Kinda neat!

'Tis a Sad State of Affairs....

Sun Jan 9, 2005

When the ARABIAN is the best-behaved horse in the arena!

O, what an interesting afternoon at the barn! Quzqo was pre-exhausted because, since I didn't go out there yesterday to bring him in, they left him out all night (it was "mild" though, around 30), so he never gets much sleep, Mr. Spoiled Boy that he is. We had a very good time today, using the new Wintec saddle. He is getting SO good at backing!! (well, compared to what I started with in June...). He does it willingly now, THAT is a big thing. Heck, he backs better than Tezlu ever did (but then, I didn't know what I was doing with Tezlu...if only they had RFD-TV in 1989 it'd have been a different story).

We walked, we trotted, we sitting-trotted, we cantered, we halted, we backed, we flexed, we just did SO nice!!

Everybody else though...LOL! The owner's daughter was giving lessons this afternoon, and her first pair was a husband and wife team of boarders, the wife is "experienced" with a crazy off-the-track TB named Mr. Ducks (?), the husband less so, but at least his horse only spun and balked and threw his head constantly. Mr. Ducks went into a full-blown all-four-feet-off-the-ground bucking fit and dumped his mom flat on her back (OUCH!), but she isn't one to be trifled with (if you ever heard how she speaks to her husband, you'll know who wears the pants in THAT family), and she held tight to the reins in a death grip...the horse backed up about 30 feet, dragging her with him until he held still (for the record, both horses had side-pulls on, by the time he stopped the noseband of his WAS sitting on his nostrils).

She did get back on, and rode Mr. Ducks some more...although Jenn, the daughter, didn't say anything, I could see a couple of errors right away. The sidepull was still way too low on the nose, on the soft bits, she had her hands waaay too high, making the horse high-headed and hollow-backed, and I think she should have spent time doing small, calming circles until
the both of them relaxed. But they made it through the rest of the lesson intact.

I was working Quzqo in the safety of the round pen when all those fireworks happened, and he got VERY upset, stopped in his tracks and looked at me with wide eyes...like..."Whaaaaa?????"

We had a blissful half hour or so of the arena all to ourself, where we did the afore-mentioned good things, then it started filling up again...teenage girls with horses, the family with the ponies showed up (they own 4 ponies & all 4 kids ride them all at once), and some guy who I don't know on a horse that really needed lunging. But being a Manly Man, of course, he just got on the mare and started cantering her around. Well now, that girl didn't WANT to be cantered, so she was spinning, rearing, smashing into the fences, then would behave, then would start to rear, and got into a BIG bucking fit in the narrow area between the round pen fence and the arena rail (it's about 9 feet wide)...again, full-blown airs above the ground WITH the bonus of a spin in there...Mr. Manly Man flew off her back like a sack of shit and met the ground nice and hard (GOOD!). But, he got back on, and began riding the mare, more cantering and cantering...the owner's daughter was lunging a crazy young mare in the round pen, so SHE was ripping around and bucking and snorting, all the other horses started fussing and acting nuts (herd thing),

Quzqo started pinning his ears and veering to and fro...when Mr. Manly Man's mare started bucking again in a corner, full-blown midair antics (he stayed on, durn)...I called it quits. I've got no real death wish, and all I need is that jerk and his mare to go bucking into me !

FWIW, Quzqo was puffing and sweating from our little workout. He's gotten to be such a tub, he needs the exercise, LOL! Maybe a session with Mr. Manly Man!

Quzqo VS The Killer Belgians, Part II

Fri Jan 7, 2005

When I stopped out there last night, I was relieved to see both the Belgians tied up in the indoor arena...which meant I could get Quzqo in peace. I did see the owner and told him what happened the day before, he chuckles and said "Well, that mare IS really protective"...uh-huh (then I did see that one Belgian was a mare, the other a gelding...guess we can guess which one was doing all the "protecting")

So I go out to get the horse, who once again I got to walk back with me without lead or halter (just a constantly-crinkling peppermint wrapper!)...and a young Foundation QH named "Wyatt" followed along...and THEN I see, coming up the aisleway between the fences...the Belgians! Aarrrgh! They'd thoughtfully turned them out for the night...

Now the only way out was blocked by two huge horsey masses, slowly lumbering up the hill...Quzqo and Wyatt both stopped in their tracks BEHIND me, ears pricked, tense...watching...(behind me...LOL). I quickly got the halter & lead on Quzqo, didn't want him running off...the drafters took their time, stopping repeatedly to stare at us...finally they came up and came right towards us (ears forward). No thanks...once again I had to "HOOHAAAAAH" & fling the lead rope at 'em...they weren't so quick to leave, but they did eventually, and I was surprised to see Wyatt tag along after them like a kid brother. They just ambled on down the fenceline perpendicular to the rest of the horses, and ended up kinda hanging out by themselves, with Wyatt. Maybe they made a friend, or Wyatt, being a dork, figured to cast his lot with them for protection, LOL!

That pasture is big enough and there's enough haypiles, I imagine the Belgians will just form their own little "herd" and be fine. There's 3 "herds" in that pasture already...unfortunately Quzqo is a member of the Dork Herd, LOL...with Wyatt & a grey QH gelding named Colby. But that's just fine. At least it seems he's the Head Dork of that little herd.

Quzqo VS The Killer Belgians

Wed Jan 5, 2005

Life is always interesting with a horse in it!

As usual, I stopped out at the barn after work to bring Quzqo in...as I was walking out the barn door to the back, the guy who works there in the afternoons (really sweet college age guy, very sensitive to his and other horses) hollers and warns me that they put a pair of Belgians out in the pasture and they've been fighting with the other horses all day, so, be warned! Oh, great...I look out the door, and at the end of the fence aisle leading out to the big pasture are two HUGE silhouettes guarding the entrance to the pasture...and all the smaller horses further up the hills at the haypiles.

The aisle is still sheer ice and snow and still hard to negotiate, but I had my snow boots on tonight, made a lot of difference! The Belgians were coming down the aisle towards the water and the gate when I was going out...BIG gorgeous red-sorrel boys...damn, they are BIG muhfuhs!! They looked at me kind of interested...so interested that they decided to follow me back out to the pasture! Rather quickly! Okay, yes, I was worried...I could hear their big feet crunching the ice rather close behind me (at work today we were discussing being chased and mauled by cows and horses, so...kind of apropos)...but they hung back by the fence, leaving me to go find Quzqo in the usual growing darkness of the early evening hours.

And, again, he saw me, I called him, he left his haypile and walked a good 40 feet right up to me!! Little snot wouldn't let me touch him or position myself so I could get a rope over his neck, he wanted me right in front where he could keep an eye on me and get the peppermints! LOL! But he was momentarily distracted by a small band of horses (the Upper Echelon of the Herd actually...6 of the dominant horses) that broke away from the haypiles and started moving en mass down the hill toward...the Belgians! Once I got Quzqo haltered, we started following that small band...until I saw they WERE heading right for the two Belgians, and damned if those 6 horses didn't start ganging up on the two drafters...heads snaking out, ears pinning, squealing, rearing, the Belgians started moving quickly away out into the field, the band of little horses (lol...QHs mostly) passed them and ran ahead.

BUT then the Belgians stopped, saw Quzqo by himself alone (I was on his other side, I don't think they saw me)...and the big fat bastards turned and started CHARGING at him! I'm talking snaking heads, flattened ears, rolling eyes, right for poor little Quzqo!! I jumped out around the front of him, lead rope flashing, and started yelling and hollering, smacked the one right
in the chest with it...happily they took right off in the opposite direction...and then along comes that band of 6 horses again, and they started herding the Belgians back towards the barn! Oh shit...

So now we've got two aggressive Belgians slipping down the icy aisleway, followed by 6 crabby QHs, and I'm trying to get Quzqo past all that..we stuck to the edge where there's some bare dirt (separated from the rest by a good 3' section of glare ice no horse would dare walk on)...(and unfortunately a live electric fence on the other!). I felt like I was watching an equine version of West Side Story, I tell ya...the 6 QHs started squealing and snapping and ear-pinning at the Belgians, kicking and rearing before heading back out to the pasture...the Belgians started moving towards us again, but again I waved the lead around & hollered at them (I do a very good gutteral HOOHAAAAH! when I need), and they moved on back out to the pasture as well. I kind of think I impressed Quzqo, because he stuck to me like glue the rest of the way to the gate, LOL! Hey, I make a good Alpha Mare I guess!

They think those Belgians haven't been in a herd situation EVER (and they're both over 10), and don't know how to behave...and what "little" horse out there is going to teach them manners? Shit...only good thing is the pasture is 30 acres, so there's plenty of room for everyone to stay out of each others' way...I hope.

And as an aside, my new saddle from State Line Tack DID come today, I went back to the barn tonight to try it out, it fits GREAT...the gullet is a full inch wider than my old one (that was so uncomfortable for him)!! He didn't feel like being ridden, BUT I was able to get him to back three times with the lightest pressure on the rein, I am so thrilled about THAT! And the resident Trainer lady there (she's a legit trainer, doing work with a lot of horses there) complemented me on how well Quzqo's come along! Pretty good, considering I don't know what I'm doing, LOL!

Winter Trail Ride

Thu Dec 30, 2004

SOMEhow I got suckered into a trail ride yesterday afternoon!! 2+ feet of snow on the ground, 30 degrees, cloudy...but they were working on the indoor arena surface, so it was either go on the trail ride with 3 other people, or no riding! *sigh*.

NO clear trails or paths, we tried following the snowmobile trails but the snow wasn't packed down enough to support a horse (yet), so we struck out into the hayfield next door, plowing through the 2' or so of snow! Unfortunately for 14hh Quzqo, that meant the snow kind of came up over his knees, where the others (all QHs) it came maybe 3/4 of the way up their cannon bones! I felt so bad for the little guy, he was really struggling along. By the time we got to the corner where I fell off on Halloween, he decided we'd gone far enough, and put up a pretty enthusiastic hissy fit about the whole situation..head-tossing, rearing, spinning...surprised me! Luckily the snow was deep (hindered his movement) and I had the "mean" snaffle on him (Tez's old Dee-ring with a noseband), and with a few good sharp kicks to the ribs I got him turned the right direction and caught up to the others.

After a minute or so he decided he'd had enough, and started to turn around...again, more rearing, head-tossing, and getting his head yanked around (thank you Chris Cox!) & a jab to the ribs (I left my whip at the barn), and after the others...he decided "okay, she wants to follow them, we'll FOLLOW THEM!" and tried to take off at a canter (in the 2' deep snow)...I slowed him back down, then cued him for a trot!

Once we got up to the road, we went down a private drive and dinked around on some private trails back there (we have permission), snow was much shallower since it was in some pretty thick woods...back out and back to the barn. By that time Quzqo was huffing and puffing and the last 1/2 mile had me REALLY worried about him...his head was hanging low, his nostrils flaring, he was stumbling...I tried to halt him to rest, but he didn't want to, wanted to keep up...I then noticed he wasn't hanging his head from exhaustion, he was LOOKING at the hoofprints in the snow, and trying to step IN the prints of the previous horses (who were also all stepping in the exact same spots)...considering their strides were longer than his, that was pretty trying for the little guy, but he did it, and I could feel him relax when we got back to the barn and flat ground! Poor little feller...

Back at the barn he got wrapped up in his cooler (he was starting to steam), but what really worried me is it took him about 20 minutes before he got his breath back!! Of course hiking in deep snow is VERY strenuous on its own, plus add the fact he's an out of shape butterball...tsk. I told him we'd never do that again, and after 20 minutes he was breathing normally, warm and dry, and snooping for treats in my pockets, LOL!

Today I think we WILL work indoors. I bet he's sore though!

Yet Another Video

Mon Dec 27, 2004

This video is Himself enjoying a good time in the round pen this afternoon...and yes, I'm afraid he IS as fat as he appears (some of it IS fur, but I doubt all of it is). The boy does love to trot, but I got the couple bursts of galloping action by kicking some dirt in his direction, LOL! And yes, I did get quite dizzy shooting this as he went round and round and round and round...

Haven't ridden him since Friday, and now the horses are at the stage of winter where the snow is too deep for them to do any more than wander the beaten paths through the snow from hay pile to hay pile...so he was pretty full of beans!