Reader, you may have realized that I have not posted as much in August as I did in July. Rest assured, there is a reason for this. In the beginning of this month, BM was trampled by one of the horses (no, not Nic), and activities at the barn have rivaled the stratospheric, acid-reflux-inducing drama of Beverly Hills, 90210. I don't know about you, but I hated that show (ok, I secretly love it, but I do have my sardonic reputation to maintain, so keep it on the down low).
BM is left with an L2 compression fracture, and the boarders are left trying to piece together some semblance of normalcy. I won't go into the who, what, where, when, or why of the event, but suffice to say, I've been a little stressed and more than a little annoyed lately. Maybe September will be more auspicious.
There's an old joke in the horse world that goes something like this:
Q: How do you build a small fortune in the horse business?
A: Start with a large fortune.
Yuck-yucks aside, the only thing in the horse world you will get for free is advice. Lots and lots of advice.
Well folks, I hate to say it, but the worst vice is advice. Once one trots down that garden path of tossing out opinions like so many rose petals, it's kind of hard to turn it off.
I have been urged, nay, nagged, a little too frequently this month, also, to find a permanent trainer for my horse by well-intentioned outsiders. The good conduct on my part, namely voicing my neurotic concern for the horse's training in an attempt to seek resolution, has been well chastised by this blathering, and maybe someday I will learn to keep my big mouth shut. In this area, decent trainers run between $1200 - $1800 per month, although when dishing out this prescriptive advice, my urgers have a sudden onset of amnesia, and forget I am flesh, not legal tender. Donations, anyone?
Moving on.
I had another lesson this weekend, with a local trainer. I like her a lot, and will have another lesson next weekend. She gave me some advice that I like, and that I hope to follow. Among the advice is:
1. When I sit in the posting trot, that is the time to half halt. That makes sense, since when you rise is the time to activate the hind leg.
2. Nic isn't on her outside rein enough (I did know that), so ride her on a square to make her listen to the outside rein. The result is a more connected trot.
3. Release my right rein.The Wonderful Wizard of WAZ said the same, which I find interesting, since no one said it before. I guess I have a "kung-foo" grip on the right rein, when what I really want is a "To Wong Foo" sort of grip. I've been trying to do so, and have had good results, mainly with the mare dropping into a frame and connecting better. It's a hard habit to break, but a necessary one. I've often wondered if this is why both BFF Steph and myself have chronic shoulder injuries to our respective right sides.
I sort of knew this, but something that's come to light in the past couple weeks is that I don't use my outside rein enough to encourage the horse's poll down. I rely too heavily on my inside rein, which results in a disconnected mare that cannot push into the bridle. On the flip side, WAZ told me to ask for roundness on the inside rein (see my previous post with the video URL for reference). I haven't figured out the disrepency, but the two seemingly opposite notions have to dovetail somehow. My puny brain just hasn't sorted through it yet.
(I apologize to my non-equestrian readers for the technicality of this post.)
The freaking story of my life is keeping this mare relaxed. Reader, I am well aware of my part in making the mare tense. I am a tense person, that's just how it is. And honestly, for reasons I won't expound on here, I'm not willing to change. So, the result is, I have to find a way to keep the mare relaxed despite me. We were doing good on daily 4oz of magnesium, and in accordance with the directions, I reduced the mare's intake to 2 oz daily. Well, that was a mistake. She returned to her normal crazy self. So we have gone back to the 4oz, and are calling it a day with that. She was quieter today.
