Lesson day!

Yesterday was more of the same at the barn. Rode Chico, groundworked Fonteyn and Sully, mucked out (two carts seeing I missed the day prior due to thunderstorms). I also went out with Lana, Chico and Selena (Lana's standard poodle) on the trails. Selena needs to learn to go with Lana when she goes on the trail. She has been walked there before, but never gone with a horse, so I volunteered to take her and a leash. After a few minutes I let her off ans she followed happily along behind us. When Lana and Chico went for a trot, Selena knew I was there but she also knew she should stick with her mommy. Very good instincts and also a very good first time out with the horse.
Lana saw a racoon crossing the path near the couch (there is an ancient, falling-to-pieces couch at the fork near the start of the trail, that has been there as long as anyone can remember) so we turned down the nearby dead end trail first and it was gone by the time we had to walk past the couch. Sadly, I didn't see the racoon, just the bushes moving as it walked through, into the woods.

In the evening we went to Dusty and Phyllis' for dinner. Dusty had cooked prime rib. Honestly, there was about half a cow on the table ;) and as seems to be the case with anything he cooks, it was delicious. My dessert, a dairy-free tiramisu, went down a treat. I used a light sponge cake soaked in coffee + kahlua, topped with a mixture of eggs (separated eggs, whipped separately with a little sweetner, vanilla, more kahlua) that had been combined with coconut cream. I think the only way to improve and refine would be to use something like amaretto instead of kahlua, as the almond-y flavour would go well with the coconut.


Today I got up at the crack of dawn (5.30am, to be precise, which is just about the time when the sun comes up) to be ready for a 6am pick up by Peggy, who was accompanied by Susan's dog, Josie (a small poodle, only 7 or 8 months old). We were at the ferry terminal at 6.35am for the 7.05am sailing to Seattle. The ferry takes 30 mins to get across the sound. Then it was a 30-45 min drive out the the barn in Redmond. We stopped on the way so Peggy could grab breakfast; I had a look around the grocery store which was a neat little place. Before we drove the last 5 minutes to the barn, we let Josie out (on leash) to stretch her legs.

The barn is where one of Peggy's clients, an instructor, boards. The lessons today were 1) a new client of hers, who's lovely horse had been moved to the barn only 3 weeks ago, 2) another client of hers, who has also done clinics and lessons with Peggy in the past, riding a cute little Arab x Appaloosa pony mare and 3) the instructor and her rehab-in-progress horse.

Horse #1 was so stuck it was difficult to get him moving. He was a very nicely put together horse but simply didn't understand what he needed to do with his feet when he was asked to walk on. His habit was to get head high and back up. His left hind dragged while backing, and also while walking. His rider said he gets stuck and won't walk on (he has reared), and, he has two gears: ON and OFF! To begin, his walk was very slow. His feet were lazy and he was on the forehand.
Peggy did some gentle, quiet groundwork exercises to start him 'sitting' and coiling his hind end. It took a lot longer than the allotted hour of lesson time, but, it takes the time it takes and you have to work with the horse you have on the day. She also did some balancing work (moving one foot at a time as she used her rotation to move him in and out) as he can be very awkward to line up at the mounting block (never in the right place, always moving off, head high, etc). The horse found that difficult, too. However, by the end of the lesson, the rider was able to hop on and feel his walk, which she described as much more regular, free-er, and easier.

Horse #2 had had some groundwork as warm up while the first horse was being worked. Still, she came over head high, fidgety, tossing and flicking her head, not able to stand still. Her walk was uneven (she has a past injury to her left hind) and she was on the forehand.Peggy started with out/in to forwards. The horse starting tracking up almost immediately and her walk improved. After a time, the rider mounted. This horse also needed time and re-balancing to stand nicely at the mounting block with her head down. The rider felt the horse and was happy with the length of stride, free-ness and even-ness (that the horse doesn't normally have right away under saddle). Then, I led the horse while Peggy talked the rider through some exercises she could use to find neutral. Finally, the instructor rode the horse (I led her again for a while, as Peggy used her to demonstrate a few other concepts of neutral posture). She got some beautiful trot from the mare, as well as a canter transition in both directions (something the owner had had trouble with for some time).

Horse #3 is a work in progress. He does not currently have a saddle so was only groundworked. He got a lot of exercises as he stood there. He is a very clever, very mouthy horse who was constantly grabbing the reins and tossing his head. His owner led him around to begin. Peggy then showed some groundwork techniques that work for horses like him, who hold incredible tension in their bodies.  These included hair slides (a TTeam technique), various ways of doing the heart-girth presses, mouth and ear exercises.
She also noted that with a very active horse, you often need to meet their energy (rather than trying to bring them down to earth with low energy), until they loosen up.

The important messages from today were:
When the horse loses independence of its four legs, it loses suspension.
Retraction is dysfunction, and leads to loss of suspension.
Horse needs to learn a weight-bearing posture to have independent legs, and thus gain back its suspension.
The horse needs to move its feet with lightness and clear intention.
Find the non-habitual ways of working with the horse that will bring a change.
Find different ways to override the 5 Fs: Flight, Fight, Freeze, Fidget, Faint.
Lengthening the spine is CRITICAL to enable the horse to find his own suspension, and the ability to oscillate the head.
Finally... Being effective: what do I want and how do I get it? Remember to follow a clear process to get the horse coming through.

We collected Susan from the airport on our way home. Peggy decided to drive around rather than drive 30 mins to the ferry, wait an hour, spend 30 mins on the ferry then 20 mins driving home. Consequently, we arrived in Poulsbo sooner than the ferry would have been in Bainbridge. Josie got to play with Selena briefly then they went home to rest after all the travelling (eg, Peggy drove nearly 1000km yesterday). Lana and I played one game of Skip Bo as I ate the rest of my lunch (it was 3.30pm, lol) then I went out and spent an hour and a half weeding in the last parts of her garden. Thankfully the rake I decided to find made the job a heck of a lot quicker so I was inside at 6.00pm to warm up some leftovers for dinner... followed by the last small slice of last night's tiramisu! It was neat to see that my adapted recipe did survive the night/day without separating... If anything, I think it tasted better today than last night - yum!