Trot Pole Exercise: Controlling Pace

"wait, wait, wait, squeeze"

Since staring with Connie back in October 2011, I have been exposed to many different training exercises (also called gymnastics) in order to help Ruby with control, bending, rounding, and muscle building. I have been working with Ruby for the past week on the following simple gymnastic (Connie usually sets up a gymnastic that I use for a week, or for about 3 riding sessions, and then set up a new one):

o     o     o     o     8 (one stride) 8

(Imagine you are looking at the gymnastic from the side- the o's represent trot poles, and the 8's represent jumps)

For the first ride through, I trotted this starting with the line of trot poles. The key here is to keep a steady pace so the horse can make it to the jumps with ease and in stride. At first, these jumps were 18" cross-rails, so I asked Ruby to trot over them as if they were the same as the ground poles. Once we could do this without any hesitations or mistakes, I changed direction and asked her to do the poles starting with the cross-rails. After getting both directions at the trot, the jumps were raised to verticals; about 2'. For this part of the gymnastic, I asked her to trot into the poles and then jump the first vertical, trot, and jump the second vertical. Ruby jumps with a squeeze. We then worked with this until I had her trot into the poles, jump the first vertical, one stride, jump the second vertical. This variation is fairly simple: keep leg on, look up, steer straight, and Ruby goes right on over.

The other direction, however...

Going the opposite direction (cantering the left lead), I asked Ruby to canter into the vertical, one stride, jump the second vertical, then trot the poles. If your horse is anything like Ruby, he/she will have a lot of momentum coming into the first vertical, a little less coming into the second, but still too much if you do not hold back for the poles. Asking Ruby to canter, jump, then trot was difficult, but we were able to figure things out after a few tries. Ruby and I both seem to perform better when we have more to do. I usually have trot poles in a circle placed at one (if not both) end(s) of the ring. If we get too forward or she starts moving with her head too high, I ask her to trot her poles on the circle. This helps with bending and encourages her to relax and stretch down (think "long and low")- I highly recommend using these circles!

When doing a bounce, the rider should stay in two-point position between jumps. I find one strides a little more awkward, especially if your hose is known to refuse. For Ruby, I usually jump, sit a slightly taller two-point, then jump. This keeps me from snapping up, but allows me more control than staying in a full two-point.

 When doing pole work, I ride in a half seat. If your horse is slow or not pushing from behind, I would sit these exercises in a full seat until your horse learns to accept your weight

 Eyes up! Most horses will hesitate or even refuse if you look down at your poles

I personally LOVE gymnastics/grid work. The exercises I do with Ruby can get pretty complex, but I don't usually ask her to school much over 2'6" with the occasional 3'-3'3" jumping course. As Connie always says "if your horse can do the low jumps, she can do the high jumps." Despite how much I disagreed with this at first, I am now learning that this is actually true.

Trailer Mayhem

"Get on the damn trailer!"

Ruby had never had much trouble getting on a trailer until a few years ago. Typically, I walk her up to the trailer, go inside in front of her, ask her to "step up," and she comes in (both ramped and stock trailers). However, Ruby and I boarded at a barn where the owners (although super nice people) were not comfortable handling her...and one misunderstanding led to another until Ruby started picking up her old shying/pulling away habits. Although Ruby has a history that obviously caused her to be skittish around people, she is also smart- let her get away with something and she will stomp all over you! I have a suspicion that this is what happened, but back to trailering:

I was getting ready to leave one barn and go to another. A friend brought a trailer for us to use- a small, bright yellow stock trailer that we referred to as the "flapping banana" (the window flaps were also yellow tarp). To cut a long story short: Ruby would have NONE of that. After a few hours of lunging, coaxing, bribing, and pulling, we gave up and decided Ruby there was nothing we could do short of sedating and dragging Ruby into that trailer. Another friend came with her trailer- a white, two-horse ramped trailer.

Considering the bad start already, I knew getting Ruby on this trailer would still be a struggle. Here is what I ended up doing with her:

1. Walk up the ramp as far as we could until Ruby either stopped or balked
2. At the first sign of refusal, I asked Ruby to back up, and made her walk backwards down the ramp
3. Repeat until front feet were in the trailer
4. Backed her out
5. Repeat until all four feet where in the trailer
6. Backed her out
7. Circled her around the trailer until she walked in freely behind me without hesitating

Now, this was a very time-consuming process- about four hours. Could I have lunged her until she almost dropped and dragged her in? Yes. Could I have had people stand behind her with a rope and forced her in? Yes. Could I have given up and waited to try another day? Yes. So why did I spend all that time getting her to do something so simple? Because in the long run, you want your horse to trust AND respect you. The aforementioned methods do not teach the horse the correct response, and I have see too  many riders out there use those other "tactics" as shortcuts. Shortly after this escapade, I trailered Ruby in another stock trailer- she went in with very little hesitation. She made it to my church to give a riding demonstration and to give pony rides to little kids! Despite how much I wanted to strangle her that last time, I firmly believe that taking the time to work with her made her subsequent trailer experiences hassle-free.

Ruby and I at church, riding bareback in a halter

Horses have a pretty decent memory and are animals of habit. Taking the extra time to thoroughly work though a problem will help both of you in the long run. I am hoping to get Ruby to some shows next spring, and I know that our trailering exercises will be essential!

Pony Kisses

"Ruby, give me a kiss!"

Teaching a horse to do tricks is very similar to how you would teach a dog to do tricks. With Ruby, I actually managed to teach her a little on accident. When I first started riding her, I would finish riding, untack, grab her chin, kiss her, and give her a treat. Every single time. Eventually, she started anticipating what I was going to do, and would reach out to "kiss" me right after I went to grab her chin.

Noticing that she was starting to do this, I then decided to teach her the word, to see if I could get her to kiss me outside of our routine. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but it worked! First, I would touch her chin, point to my face, and say kiss. If she reached out to me, I praised her. When she actually touched my face, she got a treat. We continued doing this for a few weeks. Eventually, she learned that the word "kiss" meant that I wanted her to reach out and touch my face- we no longer needed the hand signal.

Getting her to kiss other people was more of a challenge. Sometimes she would listen, and other times she acted like she had no idea what that other person asked her to do. So, I made up a new trick: "go get 'em." I followed the same procedure I had before: touch her chin, point to a friend's face, and say "go get 'em" until she figured out that one too!

Now, Ruby is quite the kisser. Bring a peppermint with you, and you will for sure get a pony kiss!

My two loves :)

 Brayler (brother-in-law) getting a kiss

 Julia (twin sister) getting a kiss

Me getting a kiss from my pony

From Then to Now

“No sense keeping a hose you can’t catch.”

Horses require one to be patient, compassionate, and understanding. This was even more true with Ruby. I mentioned in an earlier post that Ruby would rear/run backwards when you tried to halter/bridle her or just touch her ears and face. This is called “head shyness.” Head shyness occurs when the horse has been taught to think that touching of the face/ears will result in pain. Although we do not know for sure what happened to Ruby (she was only 2 coming 3 years old when I bought her; all I know is that she came from a western barn), but we assume she was ear-twitched. It took me about six months to get her to trust me enough to let me reach up and grab her ears. From there, we worked together to address her other issues*

*Note: I don’t like calling them “issues” because they are not her fault. No horse is born “mean” or “bad;” a horse develops based on what it has learned from us humans. Despite some frustration I still have with Ruby, none of it is her fault. It takes a pretty terrible person to hurt an animal, and Ruby’s psychological damage at such a young age disgusts me.

We worked on communication, aids, vocal commands. We built trust. We developed respect for each other. The pony that would break the cross-ties and run down the aisle will now ground tie with a single command: “stand.” I can leave her standing alone in the middle of the barn, ask her to stand, leave to get lunch, come back, and she will not have moved. The pony that dragged me around the ring will now stop with just a slight weight shift back and a command to “stop.” She slows down by one gait immediately at “whoa.” She slows down her current gait at “easy.” The stiff pony that made boxes now bends in and circles at “circle” depending on the direction I am looking. She shoulder-ins. The pony that balked at jumps and floored it over ground poles now does complex gymnastics beautifully (we have done every single exercise in Linda Allen’s “101 Jumping Exercises for Horse & Rider”…a few times over) and will let me bareback her over jumping courses as high as 3’3”. The pony that wouldn’t let me touch her face now lowers her head into the bit/bridle/Christmas wreath/necklace/anything with the word “head.”

Sounds like a perfect pony! I love her to death, and we have come so far together, but there is one “issue” I have never been able to fix. Ruby can NOT be caught from the field outside of meal times. Yes, we did joining-up exercises. Yes, we round penned her. Yes, I sat in the field with her for hours at a time trying to get her to come to me. Yes, I paid trainers to take her and help her. I ALWAYS, without fail, got my pony and money back (and it was always significant chunk of change I might add). No, she does not come for grain. No, she does not come for treats. No, you cannot bribe her with her best friend (Angel). She simply will not come in (with you). She is not mean about it- you can walk up to her, touch her back, and talk to her. The second your hand gets near her neck/face (she is turned out with her halter on), she bolts. If she wants to come in, she runs away and will actually come back to you at the gate. Try to touch her, and she runs off again. If I were to open the gate (I refuse to do this unless there is a hurricane/tornado on the way because it is teaching her the wrong behavior) she would walk to her stall and put herself in. If you corner her (also something I avoid), she will realize she is stuck, put her head down (act of submission) and walk to me. She does this to everyone, myself included. So what is the issue? Don’t ask me, I still don’t know even after 5 years!

I paid handsomely for a well-known western trainer to come work with Ruby. For four hours he worked with her (in the snow!) in a round pen. For four hours Ruby ran from him. Not once did he even touch her. He gave me my check back, told me Ruby should be an endurance horse, and said “there is no sense keeping a horse you can’t catch. She would rather die out here in the pen than let me catch her. Get another one.” HA. Yeah, right.

The Purchase

"Someone is coming to look at her."

July 18th, 2007.

I received a call earlier that day from the barn owner. Thinking nothing of it, I answered the phone and wondered if someone needed me to come feed that evening. What I heard was worse. Much worse.

"Laura, someone is coming to look at her. To look at Ruby. If they buy her, she will be going to North Carolina."

You know that awful sinking feeling? Like the floor has just shifted under you feet and you can't find your balance? Imagine standing on a frozen lake and realizing the ice is shattering beneath you; it's spidery web of cracks propagating in all directions. This does not even skim the surface of how I felt, but it will do. This pony, who had become my friend, who I had worked with, understood, and bonded to was going to be sold to some snotty little show brat. No. No, I would not let that happen. Even if I had to tell the buyer's family that Ruby was a monster who ate small children...I would not let her go.

I arrived at the barn in record time. In a sort of daze, I wandered over to her stall. I opened the door. She was there, waiting for me, softly nickering as she always did when she saw me. At that moment, the truth of the situation hit me- I could not, WOULD not lose her. I cried.

Despite my pleas in the past to have this horse, and the many refusals my parents gave, I had to try.

"Dad. I need you to come to the barn. Someone is coming to take Ruby...I can't lose her. She means the world to me. I will do ANYTHING you ask if you can get her, for me. I will pay all her bills, even if it means working all the time. Even if it means giving up my other hobbies. Even if it means I have to eat oatmeal for the rest of my life. I NEED her."

I won't go into the details of why this swayed him over. We females are very hard on ourselves and each other...to the point that, I believe, every one of us has a dark spot in our lives. Ruby kept me afloat in my darkest time. In a sense, my parent's owed her for this.

My dad wrote the check right after he arrived.

 

To this day, I vow that we will never be apart. I will always be there for her, as she was/has been there for me. Through friend fights, family deaths, a rocky six year relationship, and an even worse break-up, she was there. Loyal. Faithful. Respectful. Unwavering. Understanding. My pony, the definition of unconditional love.

Round Two

"You have GOT to be kidding me!"

I stared incredulously at the lesson board: Laura 7pm -Ruby.

Looking back, I suppose I should have been flattered by the fact the my trainer thought I did well enough to warrant a second ride (of possible disaster), but that wasn't how I took it. Some days, you really just want a push-button pony to ride.

Fuming, I went to her stall, brushed her off, and slapped the saddle on (yeah, I didn't even bother trying to tack her in the cross-ties). Fearing for the worst, I mounted up, warmed up, and prepared for the wild ride...

Except it didn't happen. Sure, she dragged me around some (like I said, someone forgot to teach Ruby the gaits between walk and gallop), but that was it. Nothing. No bucking, so scraping, and no run-outs. Perhaps that first ride was her way of testing me and she decided I was worth listening to. Who can say? For the next nine months or so, we stuck together.

                                        Don't text and ride! One of our first lessons together

Hate After First Ride!

"Sit it cowgirl!"

That (compliments of my trainer at the time) pretty much sums up the first ride I had with Ruby.

First, I'd like to say this: Ruby was the pony from hell. Even tacking her up was a struggle- I was sweating before I even made it to the mounting block. She wouldn't stand still, she broke the cross-ties, reared when I tried to put her halter on (more on this later), and pretty much made me wonder why she wasn't glue. After much yelling, struggling, and incredible amounts of willpower, I managed to get her ready...and that was, unbeknownst to me, the easy part.

I mounted up, walked around the ring to let her look around, and did the basic warm-up routine that was the standard in my lessons. So far so good: she listened to my aids, she steered a little stiff but otherwise well, and she, for the most part, kept her head down. I asked for a trot.

No one really filled me in on Ruby's training history, but apparently they forgot to teach her trot. Or canter. Or stop. There was walk, there was "run at breakneck speed," and there was "finally slow down after getting bored with playing tug-of-war." That was the good news! So the bad? Well, there was also "spin to the left as fast as possible," "buck when squeezed," "make the alligator face and avoid the bit," and my personal favorite, "scrape the rider off using the arena support beams." Needless to say, I managed to come up with more than a few creative strings of curses in that hour of riding. Fortunately, I had my own overdose of stubbornness. I managed to stay on, although I did acquire a lovely knee scrape from her last little trick (the scar from which can still be seen to this day).

My words after the lesson: "never again."

Love at First Sight?

"Riding is too dangerous!"

Well, that was the excuse my parents used as to why I was not allowed to ride horses. I begged, I pleaded, I kicked, and I screamed...for years. They didn't budge.

Fast-forward about 10 years (no really, I begged for a horse for my birthday/Christmas pretty much every year after that birthday ride). I had my drivers license in one hand, car keys in the other, and drove to the first barn I could find! It happened to be a decent-sized riding facility called Wintergate Farm, about half an hour from the house. Here, I met my first trainer, tacked up my first horse, cleaned my first stall, and had my first fall (and first injury- two back fractures). I was what we considered a "working student"-I cleaned stalls, fed horses, and did barn chores to buy myself riding time. For a few years, this was the way things went: work, ride, school, (and marching band). I rode anything and everything I was allowed to sit on- thoroughbreds, warmbloods, arabians, and those nasty little ponies with a reputation of being "dumpers." At this point in my life I was just happy to be riding. I knew horses were expensive and I knew I couldn't possibly afford one...but one can always dream right?

I arrived at the barn about thirty minutes before my lesson (as I typically did to give myself time to catch whichever horse was unfortunate enough to be stuck with me and to tack up). My riding buddy and best friend, Ann Turner, ran up the driveway yelling "We have new ponies! We have new ponies!" We hurried to the outdoor ring to see them- five new ponies for the school program: an arabian (Magic), a chestnut appaloosa (Brody), a palomino quarter horse (Izzy), a chestnut quarter horse (Houston), and...

There she was- a large pony buckskin, tossing her head and throwing some bucks. She was cute, despite the fact that 1. I much preferred horses to ponies and 2. buckskin wasn't really my thing. But damn, she was ADORABLE and had the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen. I, of course, went to my trainer and asked if I could ride this feisty little pony. Her response: :"Um, are you really sure you want to ride that one?" ABSOLUTELY!

                                             A picture of Ruby the fall after her arrival.

First Horse Experience

“Look to see who is coming to see you.”

Those are the words I remember most clearly. It was my fifth birthday, and my twin sister and I were surrounded by school mates, all dressed up in our frilly socks, heels, and flower-y dresses that were oh-so-fashionable at the time. We had been playing whatever party games were “in” for that age group (not that I remember much about those). Interrupting our beanie baby swapping and makeup application games, my dad came over and said “look who is coming to see you.” We all ran to the front door to see a truck and trailer pull into the driveway. I don’t remember how I knew, but there was no doubt in my mind that there was a pony in there. I burst through the door, a trail of screaming girls following behind. Excitedly hopping and giggling, we waited to greet the pony as he came off the trailer. 

Now, I suppose you expect me to say something about how magnificent he was and that I had some sort of magical moment that made me fall in love at that instant. This was not the case. To be honest, this was not a pretty pony (he was actually not a pony at all, but a horse, although I did not know this at the time). Poco. His name was Poco-just a standard plain brown, fuzzy quarter horse; nothing fancy. He looked like he had spent years working at a ranch, which very well may have been the case. Nonetheless, he was a horse, and he was at my house. Making sure I was still the center of attention (yes, I was quite the princess), I declared that I was going to be the first to ride him. 

Riding a horse isn't quite what I had imagined it to be, and they are a lot bigger that you might think when you see one in person (or, more accurately, in animal?). First, you are sitting on top of something that has a brain- that in itself can be pretty frightening. Second, if some unfortunate event occurs and you come off, it is a pretty long way down.  Despite the fears lurking in the back of my mind, I enjoyed the ride.

For my parents, this one nicety would lead to years of nagging, scheming, pleading, and some tantrum-throwing- I was hooked on horses, and determined to have one.

Introduction

This blog is essentially a place where I can document my experiences as a horse owner, and the story of how I came to meet the four-legged love of my life, Ruby "By Invitation Only." We have been together for over five years, and man, has it been a learning experience! I hope to share our story (and those to come); covering everything from learning to work together, medical scares, riding mishaps, and path that led me to her.

Enjoy!