A cold lesson day

Last week it was frigid here.  So cold that Cinch's training days were few, and his stall time longer than usual.

When I got to the barn Saturday, I found out that the last time Cinch had been ridden was Wednesday.  Unlike Tico, Cinch isn't the kind of horse who can be left to his own devices for a few days and then hopped on without a care - he's a bit of a fire-breathing dragon for a few minutes until he settles down. So, no fool,  I asked Romain, the trainer to ride him. :)

He was, as expected, a bit fresh. Though he did eventually settle down, and looked really nice. It gave Romain  a chance to explain a few things he wanted me to work on, including how to get on a fresh horse and work them until they're listening.

This is Romain spinning Cinch after he'd gotten him settled down.

So, Sunday. We had been told by the weather people that it would be warmer than Saturday - something we all had been thrilled about... but they lied.

I was going to be taking a lesson with another boarder, Angel, on her relatively new to her horse. His name is DP Trashman, but the animal communicator told her he didn't like that, so she changed it to T-Man. Yeah, horse people are crazy. I don't blame T-Man for not liking the name, though - he's a good looking, athletic horse and "Trashman" sounds a bit insulting. :)

I pulled off most Cinch's clothes - he was body clipped, so he wears more layers than I do. He's also very mouthy - he doesn't bite, but he does grab things and holds on, That means that taking his layers off is a bit like a comedy routine: you get a piece disconnected, it's in his mouth. You try to unbuckle another piece, he's got your sleeve. I feel like I need eight arms sometimes, to get him ready. Yes, I'm trying to work on the mouthy stuff, and he's actually better now than he was a month ago, when I bought him. And he is nicely calm about a lot of things, including dragging the blanket over his ears going either way, on or off - and I like being able to pull them over the head even if they have an opening in front. Yeah, I'm lazy.

Anyway, I got him down to his bottom layer and brought him to the cross ties. Cleaned his feet, put his leg wraps on, pulled up the back of the blanket, curried; pulled up the front of the blanket; curried; brushed, pushed down the front, picked up the back again, brushed; and finally, took off the final layer to saddle him up.

The next part, putting the bit in his mouth, is another little challenge: though he tries to put the bridle, reins, and anything else within reach in his mouth, the bit is another matter entirely. I've had my entire thumb in his mouth tickling his tongue and he'll still have his teeth clamped. I eventually get it in, but he doesn't make it easy. Another thing to work on...

We were finally ready.

I got on him, and I had the fire-breathing dragon from yesterday. I'm not kidding, he huffsnorts (new word) when he's "up", and prances. He's really cute when he prances, but I digress.

I started trying to do what Romain said yesterday: get his attention, bend him to the left and right, move him forward through it... and Cinch did a Hi-oh, Silver! (No, I was not pulling back on the bit, or at least not to the extent that it would have produced this.)

I'm not a big fan of a horse standing on his hind legs, but I'm also not a big fan of falling off at the age of 59 (been there, done that, back when I still bounced... don't feel the need to repeat it much anymore). I grabbed the front of the saddle, leaned forward, and rode him back down - into a couple of sort-of bucks that eventually evened out to the fire-breathing huff-snorting but moving forward trot again.

Well, that was special.

After my heart rate came down a bit (and he tried a couple of other fresh things, this time Romain witnessing them) we started the lesson. Which was "trot/jog until you're in control and he's listening." at this point.

Cinch's trot is quite lively. I'm still getting the hang of sitting it - I've been really spoiled by Tico's daisy-clipping trot that I can sit without a care. I probably tense up a bit with Cinch, which meant that he didn't settle as quickly as I'd have liked, so we did a lot of trotting. And steering. And stopping. And trotting. You get the picture.

While I was trotting circles at one end of the indoor, Angel was doing the same thing at the other.  We'd switch sides so that Romain (who was up at the front) could concentrate on one while the other was working things out by themselves.

Angel's and T-Man's trot circles and steering were going well so Romain had her start working on canters. T-Man was a bit more challenging for Angel with the canter, so Romain gave her stuff to work on and moved me up and into the canter circle.

For whatever reason, Cinch and I nailed canter circles.  As Romain said, it probably had a lot to do with my comfort level at the slower gait, so I see a lot of trotting in our future. My back will thank me to learn to sit it comfortably, for sure.

For our finale, we each did a spin in both directions. The week before, T-Man was in whirling dervish mode, Romain saying "Don't ask for such a fast spin! Hold the horn, it's ok!" and Angel saying "I'm NOT! How do I ask for a SLOW spin?"  This time, they both did great.

My biggest problem with spinning, with any maneuver actually, is taking my time to set up for it. I actually like spinning a lot.

Cinch was again a star - he's really good at spinning, and if I take my time and ask the right way, he does his job.

This is me spinning Cinch, a few weeks ago. I have some work to do:

So, fun lesson, stuff to work on, and positive feedback.  I was chuffed. :)

When I've had a good lesson, I'm pumped. And Tico gets to be ridden a lot longer than he'd probably prefer, but too bad.

The Great White Whale has gotten so plump that both my County Stabilizer and Bob's Ladies Reiner pinch him. Not to worry - he's a big fluffy couch, easy to ride bareback.

I pulled his blankets off him, took him into the indoor, and we had some nice trots, and canters, and practiced our side-passing and back-ups. He'd been inside a lot the previous week because of the cold/ice too, so he was up for a little running around.

While we were still out there, Kathy, the lady with the cute little Paso Fino Roxy, asked if we minded if she put her girlie in the round pen. Kathy hadn't been around for a few weeks so Roxy, though she'd been getting turned out fairly regularly, had a bit of pent up energy.

This round pen is actually about half the size of the usual round pen and is built into a corner of the indoor.  The walls are solid wood. It's mostly used when Romain first puts a saddle on a baby, or as a tiny turnout when the weather is bad, or when one of the barn ladies is cleaning a stall and the horse could use a stretch of the legs.

It also doesn't get watered as much. And Roxy, being a Paso Fino, moves her little legs a lot when she's banging around.

We were up the other end, but Tico still found it all very exciting. All we could see was a little black Paso Fino head twirling and spinning around Kathy, dust billowing up and out, with some accompanying snorts. I let him watch for a while (him in full giraffe mode) then asked that he come back to earth and do a bit more work.

He did - not to say he wasn't distracted, I was using the hunter hackamore and had to haul his head around a couple of times. But we finished up.

While this was all going on, Casey, the girl who leases Margie and had had a lesson on her after mine, had untacked Marge at the front crossties and was bringing her through the indoor to her stall in the back.

Margie took one look at the dust bowl with the disembodied horse head swirling around in it, stopped, snorted and stuck her tail straight up in the air. I didn't know she could even get her tail up that high.  Pretty, but silly girl.

Back at the crossties with Tico for post-ride grooming, I grabbed the green smoothie I'd brought to the barn for a snack for myself (with kale, banana, grapes and oranges). Tico was very insistent that I share - anything that goes into my mouth is potentially something he'll want, too, of course.

I borrowed a shallow tub that another boarder uses to give her horse coconut water (yes, some of us are odd, myself included)  and poured a bit of my smoothie into it. Tico proceeded to slurp it up noisily, gave the tub one final lick and looked at me expectantly.

I drank some of MY smoothie.

He gave me the stink eye.

So, yes - I'm a pushover. I gave him a bit more, and he slurped that up and licked the bowl clean.

Meanwhile, I'd finished it off and put the cap back on (I'd poured it into a repurposed Vitamin Water 10oz bottle), and said (admittedly a bit maliciously), "All gone!"

Apparently I wasn't believed. Tico grabbed the bottle out of my hand really quickly, but not to be outdone, I leapt after him and pulled it back. Without the cap.

I jammed my hand up his mouth. Tico motored backwards, head up, and the crosstie halter savers (I forget what they're actually called) came apart. I grabbed his halter, the fingers of my other hand still in his mouth and searching against his tongue, against the inside of his teeth -  and I couldn't find it. I tickled the roof of his mouth. I grabbed around his tongue. I was having visions of calling the vet and saying "he's choking on a Vitamin Water cap!" (right up there with "He just flipped over on his back!" "What's he doing now?" "He's just standing there...")

I couldn't find it.

I pulled my hand back out, and looked helplessly at him. He looked me in the eye and spit out a very mangled bottle cap.

He does keep things lively.