Recap of January -June 2009

Back in December and January, Paloma started spooking all the time. In late January, she had a major melt down and blow up - tried to buck me off. That really scared me, and for a while I didn't want to deal with her at all. But with help from Dave Hillman, Ellen, and Susan, and a lot of acupuncture and time off, she seems to be back to a rideable state. I think she had some pain in her neck and back, which had probably been there all along, since before we got her. It must have gotten to the point that she couldn't take it any more. But she was never lame - just got crazier and crazier. She probably had some chronic pain from some old injuty, and that may be part of why she was so difficult for so many owners before I got her. But also, as Dave said, she's Not Innocent. She has a habit of stirring things up, making chaos, and getting herself into a frenzy. As her rider, I have to stay out of her stuff, and sometimes I let her work it out (on the lunge or in the round pen), but mostly when riding her I have to stop it before it begins. As Dave says, stop her in the first quarter of a stride. That's pretty much no time to react - instead, I have to be balanced and ahead of her, and when I feel her starting to even think about getting wound up about something, I have to firm up and stop her before she starts. It's taken a while to learn what that means in practice, but now I think I have it pretty well down. Back in May I had a fascinating (and scary) lesson with Dave on how to ride through the rearing, and how to prevent it from happening. I'd never learned about that before - just threw away the reins and hung on. But instead, I have to shorten the reins and firm up, and turn her if she feels like she's going to throw herself up or sideways. It's amazing how well that works to stop her from doing whatever she had in mind. And has given me a lot more confidence in my riding - I'm no longer worried that she's "going to do something." instead, I'm riding every stride and thinking about how she feels and where I want her to go, and we are having less and less bad behavior.

I have learned a lot about horsemanship with Paloma - one of the biggest lessons is that I have to ride the horse that I have on that particular day. Some days, she's not a rideable horse, but those days are getting fewer. Some days we only walk, but we get a really good reaching relaxed walk. As I think back on the last 6 months, I realize it's been an opportunity to start Paloma over again - but it's harder with an 8-year old that has developed some bad habits than it would be with a young horse. Or than it was to train Kona, who was a challenge and was naughty sometimes, but was never dangerous.

Double Black Diamond Horse

In September, Paloma started bucking and rearing. Without warning, she would just go off. It didn't seem the same as last winter, when she'd spook and shy and then take off. This time it just seemed casual, as if she was testing the waters to see what would happen. I got through it without getting dumped, but I decided I didn't want to ride her. So I've been doing a lot of groundwork and put her on Regumate to see if that would help. She also started her crazy spooking in the arena, and worrying about the eurocizer.
Before Thanksgiving we had 3 sessions with Dave Hillman. In the first, he worked her in the round pen and then rode her. It was clear Paloma was trying to start something, trying to get Dave off. In the 2nd session, we worked her off Kona, and taught her how to be ponied. In the 3rd session, I rode her in the round pen, and we treated her like a colt being started. She had to go forwards and turn. That was all; nothing fancy, no shoulders in, just go. And she did ok, but she started trying to get out of it and get me off balance.
I'm attaching some pictures of Dave and me and Kona working with Paloma. The best thing was Kona - she has turned out to be the greatest useful all around horse! and she likes bossing the young horses around, particularly Paloma.

Since Dave's visit I've been thinking about what to do. Paloma has many tricks up her sleeves, and she seems determined to use all of them and "whatever it takes" to get out of the work, to get away from the pressure, even if it's not much pressure at all. I don't know what's going on in her head, but I don't think I have the timing or the reactions to get her through this.
After a long talk with Susan, I've decided I need to send her away to someone who can ride her through this. I hope she can learn that being ridden is nice, it's good, and it's not going to put her into a scary situation. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'll do with her.
Dave has referred me to Steve Bauhr, and tonight I talked to Steve about Paloma. I hope I didn't scare him off with my description of her antics! He said he could take her in January, and we're going to set up a date for him to come all the way to Winters to meet us. He sounds a lot like Dave.

Kona and Paloma

Kona has become the super all around horse! Once we figured out that riding her in the Tom Thumb pelham was a good thing, she's become Miss Congeniality. That plus some acupuncture and massage, and a lot of variety in her work (some jumping, trail, a bit of dressage) and not drilling her every day in dressage (like I did for 5 years!) has brought out her happy side. No more Grouchy Mare. I rode her with Ellen back in May, and we started canter pirouettes! I have video that I will add soon.

I'm not sure what to make of this new Kona! But she always asserts her opinions about things, as you'll see from these photos.

This week my niece, Sophie, who is 11, came to visit and rode Kona. I didn't have to worry at all about Sophie's safety on Kona. She did 2 days in the arena, on the lunge line, and did very well at walk, trot, and halting. And Sophie was super with grooming, picking out feet, leading the horses, and even learned to flick the rope at the horse to get her to back up! On the 3rd day we went out on an hour long trail ride with Sarah B. and Roxy. Kona was super good, except when she did the shetland pony thing and dove down for grass....

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December update

Kona came home in October. Sarah is riding Kona and enjoying her, and Kona likes Sarah because she doesn't do dressage! Kona likes being a jumping and trail horse. Kona also likes having a roll in the round pen after her exercise and getting coated with sand and mud!

I haven't posted anything since September because I haven't taken any new pictures of Paloma. We've had 2 clinics with Ellen, and Paloma and I have made some big improvements. She's more balanced and tolerant of the reins, and has learned how to sit down and push. It's hard for her, as she's always gone around flinging her fancy front feet, and she gets tired and poops out. But she's getting the hang of it. The reverse shoulder in at the walk, and now a bit at the trot, are helping her a lot to strengthen her hind legs and get the coordination of stepping underneath. We went through a phase of spooking at everything outside the arena. It was not fun, and I was getting upset, which made it worse. But Susan taught me to whistle and laugh at her when she spooks and shies (easier said than done, particularly when she stands on her hind legs!) and that seems to have done the trick. If I stay calm and cool, and don't pick up on her little dramas, then she stops thinking about those things. Since Susan helped us with that, we've had good rides, even at night in a foggy arena all by ourselves.

Susan and Moneypenny

Our friend Susan and Moneypenny are burning up the show circuit! They look so pretty and confident. Someday Paloma and I will be going to the show too!

Camp Ellen July 2008

In July, we went to camp with our trainer, Ellen Eckstein for a week. Ellen and Katie A. helped Paloma learn that she could canter on the right lead! We went from pitching a fit and bucking and rearing to having a pretty nice right lead canter! It was a big breakthrough for both of us, as I learned how to hang in there and not give in when she gets worked up - Katie is my role model for riding what you get, and staying firm, but always being kind and trusting the horse. I'll add video when I figure out how to edit it for the blog, meanwhile, here are some pictures.

September Ellen Clinic

Ellen came to Somerset for 3 days of lessons on Sept. 5-7. It was HOT , over 100 degrees for two of our rides. But, hot as it was, we worked on smoothing out that right lead canter and started working on shoulder in and reverse shoulder in. By Sunday, however, we seem to have hit a bump in the road, as we couldn't get the canter at all. Ellen rode Paloma, and found that she is pretty tricky, throwing out one shoulder then the other. So, now we are going to work on some more basic elements, get the right feel and have Paloma really accept both reins, and get to both hind feet,before we move on. I was reminded that she is a project, although a very smart, beautiful, loving, and capable project. These are the ups and downs we go through. Once you get one thing, you think it ought to lead to another achievement. But sometimes you find out that you still need to work on the basics before you can get fancy. We had a great weekend, with good food and good company, with Ellen, Federica, Sharon, Katie D, Eva, Susan, and Tessa.