...and we CANTER!!!!

This Friday, October 28, will mark the second anniversary that Dino and I first met in Kentucky. I can't begin to say just how lucky I am to have him, that through the ups and downs of this retraining process, we've clicked and bonded together. It doesn't matter where Dino is in the pasture, when he sees me coming he always lifts his head, nickers and walks to the pasture fence.

Horses are a lot like people with their varying personalities, and sometimes they just don't click; with their herd mates or their humans. Its a part of life. I've had a lot of friends who got horses, off the track or from private buyers, and have had to face the fact it wasn't going to work out because of conflicting personalities. To me, that's the hardest reason to sell a horse. I can accept lack of potential and injuries, but conflicting personality just seems like such a trivial problem. However, its not. You're not doing yourself or your horse any favors by keeping him/her if you can't get along. I've been very lucky.

Dino and I have struggled all summer with our right lead canter. I had skirted the issue all the way up to camp and had to face facts, we needed to canter. The nice thing about an OTTB is that their canter is probably their best gait, since they did so much of it training on the track. Dino canters on the longe line with side-reins and I've even long-lined him and cantered, he has a beautiful canter. I knew that Janet told me not to canter him under saddle until Dino picked up the correct lead 80% of the time. "It should only take you a few months," she told me. Well, let me tell you I can stretch a few months into a few years.

I've always liked cantering, and my fear of cantering stems from my riding accident eight years ago. Since then I think I've cantered a handful of times and I've only been over fences once. Fear is just a funny thing and personally, I can't be pushed out of my comfort zone, I have to do it in my time frame. Well the time was right and I felt comfortable enough with Dino that I could canter.

When Dino and I attended camp this past July, it had been a full year since we had cantered last. Over the course of that year, I was able to ride on the buckle and reach forward with my hand to pet Dino on the neck. I was becoming less and less a bundle of nerves. Dino, bless his soul, has been so patient with me and so in-tuned to me that the more relaxed I became, the more relaxed he became. After camp, Dino and I went back to the longe line and worked extensively on the right lead canter. The more we worked, the more I wanted to ride.

On October 8th, I bit the bullet and longed Dino under saddle. He was good and so I mounted up. Worked a little on the trot and when I felt comfortable, I asked for the canter. The first two times, Dino did pick up the wrong lead but he came back down to the trot - a year ago, he would have done a flying lead change. The third time I asked, he got the correct lead and I literally whooped-and-hollered around the arena. I'm surprised my neighbors didn't come out! After a change in direction, Dino cantered but was a little flustered, so back to the trot. The second time we cantered, he was so round and soft that I just melted into the saddle.

By the end of the ride, Dino and I had switched directions a few times working on cantering and in the end, I just couldn't be happier...for him or myself.

Cantering again was not quite my "Ahh-haa" moment, but a flashback memory of the rider I once was and with Dino, could be again.

I've recently switched Dino to Tribute's Kalm Ultra, a 12% protein, 12% fiber, and 12% fat feed. While he's at a decent weight, I would like to see him just a tad fuller.

Tricks of the...trade??

People send me sale ads all the time. Sometimes they amuse me. Other times I'm terrified for the safety for all involved. More times than not, I wonder if people realize just what 'picture' of themselves and their horses they are putting out there for the WHOLE WORLD TO SEE. I'm guessing they don't. Or they don't care. Then you have the professional ads, the ones from big name stables with big name trainers/rider and horses to boot. I like how they word their ads. My favorite is: "Has a great work ethic" or "Likes his/her job".

No. No they don't. Really. They don't.

If given the choice of a)carrying a rider on their back while they work on bending or b)lounging around and eating all day; they're going to go with B 99.999% of the time. And who can blame them? I'd rather lounge around all day watching a Storage Wars marathon, but unfortunately my horses have foolishly become accustom to their lifestyle. Which, funny enough, consists of lounging around and EATING.

Of course there is that 0.001% of the equine population that does enjoy their job and does have a great work ethic. I can tell you just where they reside, too: in a stallion barn.

How does this relate to Dino? He has a bag of tricks he uses, when he's asked to do something in a training session that he doesn't want to do. Its a small bag and once he's exhausted all of them, he'll actually do what I'm asking of him. You might be thinking: "There could be something wrong that's causing him to react that way; pain or fear. Maybe you're just not speaking his language or you just haven't played enough games with him..." I have very little use for New Age Horse Trainers and hardly anything nice to say, at all. So I will say this: horses are like teenagers. You walk a very fine line between disciplinarian and friend.

My trainer asked me one time how things were going with Dino and I. "You mean besides the bucking, bolting, and rearing? Oh, we're good," I responded. Those aren't Dino's only tricks. He can back up faster than a reiner and he'll change his tempo from super slow to high speed. He also likes to drop his shoulder and fall in with his hindquarters. Lately it's dropping his head below his knees and then hanging on the reins, giving me great discomfort in my lower back. None of this makes Dino, or any other horse for that matter, a bad horse. I just always need to be ready to counteract Dino's next move. Flex his jaw and keep his poll as the highest point. Come with a little spur or a tap of the whip to keep his hindquarters in line. As for the bucking, bolting, rearing, and backing up: that's longeing.

A week or so ago, Dino ripped a D-ring off my surcingle when he backed up nearly a 100' and then bolted. Dino then ran around the arena like a mad man, probably didn't help I was chasing after him with the lunge whip. But I didn't care, he was going to keep his feet moving until I told him he could stop. And stop he did and came directly to me when asked. How could I be mad? Instead we just went back to work and finished our session. Dino still didn't want to trot, but was more than happy to after I turned the tables on him and made him canter...a whole six minutes. Everytime he broke back down into a trot, which was about every 30 seconds, I cued him back into the canter and each time he picked up the right lead. I was so happy with him because we've been struggling with the right lead all summer.

I think what really started this episode, was that Dino wasn't happy I moved up the side-reins on the surcingle to keep his poll higher. I then ran the lunge line through the bit to the top D-ring on the surcingle, so that I could continue flexing him and engage his inside hind. The first day Dino wasn't happy with this new arrangement, but he went along with it. The second day, he threw his little temper tantrum and ripped the D-ring off my surcingle. Which is typical, the first day back to work from a break or doing something new, Dino goes along with it but you can see the wheels in motion. The next day, he acts up. No big deal and in the end, his being 'bad' didn't get him anywhere, he still had to work. The way I see it, it is merely a rough training patch that I try to turn around to accomplish my goal. In this particular example it was not as successful as I would have liked. He was never forward in the trot, but he didn't want to canter anymore and he was out of tricks. :)

And I can't even be mad at him about my surcingle. I bought it from Dover Saddlery about 13 or 14 years ago. I'm amazed it held up this long. I don't even use the nylon girth that came with it, instead I just use my dressage girth which just seems more comfortable. As far as I'm concerned, Dino did me a favor...heck Dino just bought me AND him a gift - a new surcingle.

Sometimes, its just the little things that can really make one happy. :D

Dino on our first cold morning, requiring the use of a quarter sheet.
(September 16, 2011.)

(The above picture is prior to my moving up the side-reins. Again, here they are only looped around the girth. When I first got Dino, like a lot of off-the-track-thoroughbreds, Dino carried his head too high and was above the bit. In an effort to encourage him to bring his head down and come over his top line, we placed the side-reins around the girth. This also helped in teaching him to carry himself, not use me for balance, and take contact with the bit - as the side-reins were on the last hole. Well, it served its purpose and now Dino needs to bring his poll up and eventually carry it as the highest level. Therefore the side-reins are attached on the second ring from the bottom, and have been taken in to the third hole.)