Videos (some jumping and a bored pony)

No riding tonight mostly because Kieran had apparently lain in the mud all day and it was still wet and stuck to his coat and there was no way I was going to put a saddle and girth on on top of that and if I'd bathed him I wouldn't have wanted to tack him up wet so we did this stuff instead:





And then he told me how boring it all was:

Kieran Torture

Proof of what a terrible horse owner I am:



Yes, those are blue sparkly fairy wings (I love the dollar store!). Yes, Kieran is wondering why someone won't rescue him. ;)

In other news, I free jumped him a bit tonight. Set up the chute with first a low crossrail, the cavaletti, and then the jump at the same height we had on Sunday. Ran him through a few times and gosh, he was being lazy! So I changed the crossrail to a vertical and did it again and he did better. Then I added a single barrel to the middle of the last element, and changed it so the crossrail was the second element and just put a ground pole as the first element (since I was adding in the barrel, I wanted to make the other things simpler, and use the crossrail to kind of funnel him to the middle of the chute).

So he comes through and totally puts on the brakes at the barrel. Like, "wtf, mom, don't you remember that thing might eat me?" So he tries to go around, but there's a wall on one side and a rope on the other and me over there telling him to "go over, okay!"...so he did, from a standstill. Heck, I would have taken him just bulling through it like he's done other things. So then he figured out he was capable of jumping over the one barrel and we did it a couple more times, but I noticed he was trying to jump to the far left of the jump (next to the rope, where there was no barrel).

So I added a second barrel, and at that point the jump was set up the same way as it was on Sunday (except that Christina only had it as a single jump, and I still had my chute set up).

Hah, he ran right on through for me, but when he got to that last jump, he totally cleared it with a few extra feet than he needed to. So I sent him through a couple more times until he did it more reasonably and ended there with lots of praise and a cookie. Now, at least, he knows he can do it. I'll probably do it again with him at least once more before we try tackling it under saddle (and when we do again, I'll probably ask Christina if we can't set up a similar grid since I think it helps him find his spot).

Oh yeah, I also had finally remembered to bring a tarp up because I just wanted to get Kieran to walk over it at some point (one of the obstacles at a judged trail ride some of the barn folks went on had a tarp that the horses had to cross). Well, as soon as I shook the thing out and just laid it on the ground, Kieran came over to inspect it. One hoof on the edge and a snort. Then he looks at me. He paws at it. Snorts. Paws. Looks at me. And I coax him toward me from across the tarp (I had been planning on leading him but since he was so willing to come over on his own...) with a treat. He streeeeeeeeeetched his neck as far as it would go but didn't move his feet. So I just put a little pressure on his halter and he came right on over. Then I led him over again (no hesitation that time). Good pony!

I feel it was a pretty productive horsey day.

Ouch, my pride

Jumping lesson today. Christina set it up so there was the caveletti on one side of the ring (at B) and then on the other wall (at E) was an actual jump (started with a crossrail, then made a vertical. Jump cups were set at 2'6") and in the middle on the F->H diagonal there was a "crossrail" with very ghetto plastic chair standards (the other set of proper standards is still frozen in a pool of ice. I threw some road salt around them today in hopes they'll unfreeze at some point this week. Problem is that they're sitting in a spot that stays shady most of the day).

Anyway, warmed up, then trotted over everything a few times from different directions. Then Christina asked if we wanted to canter and I was willing to give it a shot. (for this, we just stuck to the stuff on the rail and didn't cross the diagonal. He doesn't do flying lead changes yet and those would be some pretty sharp turns) I noticed it was easier to jump when Kieran was cantering, but looking at the few videos we got? I was still jumping ahead and coming back down too soon and just generally not looking good. Kieran was his normal saintly self.

Then Christina decides to add barrels in front of the jump with the comment that it wasn't actually any taller than what we were just jumping. Which, it wasn't.

So I steeled myself.

And we went.

And I stared at those barrels like they were going to eat me if I took my eyes off 'em!

And Kieran was, quite naturally, convinced they'd eat him too!

So he whipped out of the way at the last second and remember how I said I was jumping ahead? I was already halfway out of the tack when it happened and so...

...off I came! And landed right in front of Kieran's path somehow (I had a fleeting vision of his huge hooves trampling my poor, mangled body). Saintly, again, he stopped as soon as I hit the ground and so...I did not get trampled.

Nothing hurt, in fact, but my pride. Dusted myself off, got back on, Christina removed the barrels, but left the jump up and we went and did it again. Got jumped out of the tack this time (he jumped higher than I was expecting. Those invisible barrels might eat him!) and the Christina turned it back into a crossrail and had us trot through/over a few times just to give Kieran something easy to end on that we know he does well. By that point, the lesson was over.

I told Christina I could make a jump out of the barrels to free jump him over to give him a chance to learn how to do it without me on his back messing him up and then we could give it another shot.

And here's one of the videos. Not of the fall (we didn't get it on camera, alas) but hey, there you go.

EDIT: Video didn't look like it was working, here is a link: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150380374455062&comments

Lazy day (for me! Not so much Kieran)

Today I wasn't feeling overly motivated to ride but I felt I should do something with Kieran, so we did free jumping again, this time going a different direction than usual. I also set up the chute so hopefully it'd work as a series of bounces (at about 9 feet between each). By the time I had help so I could video and not chase him so much myself (leave that to the kid), he was starting to get tired, so he's not really cantering through here. That said, I think he still makes it through pretty well.

Afterward, I hooked a long lead rope to his halter and hopped on bareback to walk him around and wait for him to cool out. He went pretty well in the halter, turning and stopping easily so now I'm considering trying him in a hackamore.

So I ended up riding today a bit after all. ;)

Lesson tomorrow!

Free-jumping, redux!

Okay, here we go again...

:)

First, his new $10 horseloverz bridle with fancy schmancy Nunn-Finer reins that I couldn't resist. I actually felt bad putting such nice reins on such a cheap bridle.



Screencaps of one run, the one rail was already down before he came through but since it wasn't really in the way, I didn't stop him from going:









Better? I had the little "fence" set back at about 11 feet. (I wanted to use real jump standards, but the other set is outside, currently stuck in ice and wasn't budging)

Actual video of one of the jumps:



And here's one of his last runs through. I put down a ground pole, a very low "vertical", and then the jump. Each are still about 11 feet apart (I brought a tape measure!)



And before we did this, I spent some time just letting him stand next to the block, getting praised if he stood still. Then I'd step up to the middle step. Praise if he stood still. Then I'd go up to the top step and stand over him. Praise and treat if he stood still. If he didn't, I'd just get down, follow with the block, and wait until he stood still again. Didn't actually get on because I hadn't come prepared to ride and I figure it can't hurt for him to learn that sometimes, I just stand next to him and give him treats and sometimes...I get on and we ride, but he has to stand still either way.

Free Jumping Kieran

Here's some screenshots I pulled from two of the vids:
















Figured it might help Kieran to figure out what to do when presented with a fence if he did it some without having to worry about a rider, too. He seemed to enjoy the challenge!

So, what do you think?