Paloma's Progress

Finally, an update!

2010-07-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

Paloma came home from Steve's in mid-April. Since then, I feel that i have gotten to know the real horse, not the one that was scared, or in pain, or that I'd developed bad habits with. She is super fun, and agile, and smart, and sweet. I am so glad I sent her to Steve. I learned a lot too, especially about not being too structured with her and not training on her. We do a lot of trail riding, and projects with other horses. We went horse camping in the Sierra's last week, with Kona too, and had such a good time. She is a wonderful trail horse!http://gallery.me.com/jenniferruffolo#100078&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=20

When I rode Kona, I let Paloma go free (it was Donna's brilliant idea) and Paloma just loved it. She was happy and having fun. We are all having fun, and now I know why I ride!

Taking a break at the top of a long climb

Working with Dave

2010-03-11T23:39:00.000-08:00

At the end of February, Steve brought Paloma up to Winters when Dave Hillman was at Somerset for a few days. Dave worked Steve and Paloma into some projects - working a colt in the round corral and working with Emily and Del to prepare for trail riding. Here are some photos from the project with Paloma and Del, to get the horses together before "hitting the trail" (which was an adventure down the driveway!)

Then Dave went to La Grange for a few days, and Paloma was his horse. They went trail riding and did clinics on gates and all kinds of projects. I feel very fortunate - to have both Dave and Steve working on my horse! Paloma had some long days, but she never tires. She is the energizer pony! Here are some pictures of Dave and Paloma.

Horse Soccer

2010-03-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

Last week Paloma showed Steve her less-than-perfect side. He wrote that Monday was a difficult day. She was antsy, spooking at everything, including her own shadow, terrified of the neighbor's horses, and jigged and piaffed home. But they survived, and I think it was good for Steve to see that side of her, because until now, she's been pretty reasonable and I'm sure he was wondering why I had sent her to him.

The next day she was still nervous, but better, and survived the ambush by the pot belly pig without taking off for the next county.

She's learning that those things just happen and she isn't going to die. At least, that's what I hope she's learning!

The next few days they played horse soccer,

And Paloma's learned to ground tie!

On the Road

2010-02-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

This week Steve took Paloma out for a tour of the neighborhood. With help from her friends, she managed just fine. In fact, while her friend Pearl struggled with a muddy creek crossing, Paloma was kicking back and "having a cigarette."

First visit to Camp

2010-02-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

I drove to La Grange today to see how Paloma's doing. She is definitely settled into her new life as a ranch horse and seems pretty happy. I helped get all the horses out in the corral, there were 5 people managing 6 or 7 horses, all charging around the outside, getting aired out. Paloma is pretty good at this, she's learning to stay away from trouble and keep in the clear. She has such fun galloping along, she really shows her thoroughbred side. And while the others were puffing away, heaving after their run, she seemed like she wasn't tired at all.
Steve rode her and I followed along on his horse, Gunnar, a nice little palomino who does everything you ask (take note Kona!). Steve showed me how he's working on her yielding, turns, walking out, trotting out and moving into the canter from a big reaching trot. She has shown him her sticky places, where she gets herself worked up and he told me how he's dealing with her, which is to manage her steps and to insist that she go forward. And over time he's giving her a little less time to deliberate about what she wants to do, instead he's expecting her to do as she's asked. It's just what she needs. and while he's riding her on a loose rein now, he'll soon start asking her for more softness and start to take a feel. but not until she gets the going forward part.
Steve said she does all her ground work and round pen work really well, so her learning needs to be under saddle. He also ground drives her, which also helps her with bit acceptance. He'll be taking her out on trail and exposing her to everything in the neighborhood, charging dogs, big tractors, sheep, etc. etc. Again, it's exactly what she needs to boost her confidence .

Paloma seems to really like Steve, and he seems to like her a lot. Paloma is turned out daily with Pearl, a little black arab mare. when Paloma comes home she's going to go into a pasture situation, to help keep her happy. I'm really looking forward to my next visit in a couple of weeks when I'll ride her...

Breakthrough??!!

2010-02-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

Steve sent more pictures and reports from Camp.
He said that Paloma got a "C" in tying, she rarely stands still and pulled back several times. So he is working on that with a little exercise in which she gets moved over by the rope. She usually pulls back so they let go the rope on her head, and start over. Eventually she started to figure it out. I guess she got good enough to get tied to the tree for lunch - a PRIVILEGE only for horses who get gold stars on their tying!

And she and Pearl get to run! Steve says Paloma will never catch Pearl.... she must be really fast to outrun Paloma!

And last, but not at all least, Steve introduced her to the Silly Bridge. It's a teeter totter bridge.

Steve said that the Silly Bridge is also known as the Breakthrough Bridge, and once they get over it a lot of things start to come pretty quickly. I can't wait to see what happens now that she's gotten over the Breakthrough Bridge!! Steve says she's very proud of herself when she's on the bridge.

Kona's Progress

2010-02-03T22:08:00.001-08:00

It happened! Kona got her flyng changes last night - I've been working with her for MONTHS, since our last lesson with Ellen back in May, and she finally got it! We also worked on it from the hunter/jumper approach with Noni. Although she's been getting closer and closer, it was really hard for her and she couldn't get her feet organized. She got mad, she went sideways, she'd stomp her feet and shake her head. I had pretty much concluded she couldn't do it. But last night, she jumped into the change when I wasn't really asking for it, and voila! And we did it again tonight, with a bit of help from Susan on how to set her up and to use the whip to tap as I ask for the change. Kona tried to buck, which she can't do, fortunately! and then she didn't need the tapping to tell her to switch. Now we can work on fine tuning it, making her wait for me to tell her when to do the change.
Kona always approaches these things with a "don't tell me what to do , I know how" kind of attitude. Wonder where she got that? ha ha.... but now she's figured it out and it will be so fun to use the changes in our jumping and of course, to advance to 3rd level and beyond. ALSO, she has such a wonderful trot now, with an amazing collected balanced trot and a big medium trot.
Piaffe and passage, here we come!

Driving Miss Paloma

2010-02-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

Steve reported that he drove her around the ranch, to see what her cadence and patterns are. At first, she didn't like the ropes around her legs, and she didn't do bridges....

And she didn't like water much, nor being in a gully....

But eventually, she figured it out and voila! She now does bridges!

Steve said he is setting her up so that she has to figure things out and he's giving her the time to think about what to do. I bet she really never had that time or choice before. Sending her to Steve is the smartest thing I ever did for my girl.

Paloma meets the leaf blower

2010-01-31T18:31:00.000-08:00

Steve sent photos and described Paloma's first week or so at reform school. Here are pictures from her encounter with the leaf blower, which she did NOT like,

But with some help from Pearl, who Steve's been using to help Paloma, Paloma can now be blow dried!

Video of Steve and Paloma

2010-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

I finally finished the video of Steve working with Paloma. Then I lost my laptop (a long sad story) but I saved it to my gallery and you can watch it here:
http://www.me.com/gallery/#100015

Reform School Begins

2010-01-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

Paloma was a star yesterday for stage 2 of her trip to Bauhr Ranch. She loaded easily, traveled pretty well (although we could feel her moving around a lot in the back, as she was loose), and waited patiently to get out of the trailer when we arrived. It was 100 miles to La Grange from Wilton, not a bad trip.

Steve put her to work in the round corral, doing a project with another horse. Paloma was the horse to make the other one go, and the two had to get together as a team. She had to learn when it was that Steve was directing the other horse, and not to take off at a run. She figured it out after a few loops; she's a quick study and she'll learn patience eventually.

then Steve introduced the guaracha pole - I'll have to look up the spelling. That's the pole used in a traditional Spanish or Portugese riding where the rider plants the pole and the horse pivots around it. I have dreams of riding her, no hands, doing flying changes around the pole, doing figure 8s...

And Steve rode her, she was good until the canter, and then showed him where the project is, particularly going right. But I'm confident that with consistent work and going back to some of the basics, she'll learn how to do it and give up all her protesting.

Stage one of the trip

2010-01-14T22:24:00.001-08:00

Tonight, we took Paloma from Somerset to Wilton for the first part of her journey to "camp."
Paloma was very good. She got right into the trailer, wearing her new shipping boots (a real fashion statement in navy) She traveled well, and got out nicely and patiently at Barbara's in Wilton. She looked around, very alert, but her feet stayed put and then she ate some grass. She's in a big stall in Barbara's barn with a little paddock, so she can go in and out all night. There are 2 other horses in the barn, across the aisle. She was whinnying a little bit but she's OK. She's eating her hay between pacing in and out. At least she won't stock up!
We'll leave by 9 tomorrow for the 2 hour drive to La Grange.

Off to Reform School

2010-01-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

Paloma leaves next Thursday, for an overnight at Barbara Washburn's in Wilton, then on Friday the 15th, we load her up and take her to Steve Bauhr's, AKA reform school. She won't have to wear a uniform, but she will have to show up on time and behave herself every day. It will be good for her. I'm sure she will learn a lot, and I bet Steve and Carolyn fall in love with her (everyone does) because she is so pretty. And if she is as good for Steve as I think she'll be, then she will make a lot of progress.
How long will she be gone? Everyone wants to know. I say "as long as it takes." maybe a month, maybe 2, maybe 3.
Of course, since my Epiphany (see December post), I've been having a good time with Paloma, and will be sad to see her go. She will look at me with those big brown eyes and... well, I'll feel like a jerk for sending her away. But, back to paragraph 1, it will be good for her. I've been riding her and working on managing her feet. She seems to be a lot happier and I am pleased to say we have very few blow ups. Sometimes something outside the arena scares her, and I don't feel it coming, and she gets away from me with a few leaps, but I quickly shut her down. In fact, she's kind of shutting herself down these days. We get back to whatever we were doing, and life goes on. Sometimes we make a project of just getting on and off and not going anywhere. Sometimes we walk around the parking lot, and there is always something that gets her going so that she wants to stir things up. All I do is turn turn turn, redirect her and get her to relax, then we sit and visit, or we go on, or I get off. No big deal.

Here is the link to the 15 minute video of Steve working with Paloma.
http://gallery.me.com/jenniferruffolo#100015
I think it's very clear that he will be able to help her out. One of my favorite moments in the video is when he says "I'd guess she's pretty sensitive to the leg?"
And when he says she needs to learn some patience for us humans.
Yup.

December Epiphany

2009-12-31T20:25:00.000-08:00

An epiphany (from the ancient Greek "ἐπιφάνεια", epiphaneia, “manifestation, striking appearance”) is the sudden realization or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something.
I had an epiphany of horsemanship this month. Maybe it was more a personal epiphany, but at any rate, it has really changed my view of what's been going on with Paloma. I watched Steve work with Paloma, and she was calm and responsive, displaying none of her crazy behavior. then I watched Susan working with Rani, a horse somewhat like Paloma, and saw how when Susan used the rope to manage her feet, and was in time with her, Rani calmed down instantly. Same thing with Dave and Paloma. I got to thinking how was it that my horse was so calm with them, and so explosive with me? I woke up at 2 in the morning, and I realized that my timing has been off for a year, that I have been part of the problem.
Timing and feel, it's come to have a new meaning to me. Managing Paloma's feet and being in time with her makes all the difference. Once I figured that out I was able to start riding her again. I got help from Susan in how to get through to her feet. All the way through, and to ensure that she is honest in yielding to me. I saw that I've been off - reacting to her rather than managing her from a balanced place, which has been like throwing gasoline on the fire. I've been talking about balance and bring her up or bringing her down with Dave, but somehow, it didn't fully register to me. It doesn't matter what she's reacting to, or what's going on. I have to make her focus on me. I have to firm up and not tolerate any crap, but I have to do it in a quiet way. The goal is for her to say Yes Ma'am!! Whether it's go or stop or speed up or slow down, she has to do it without any hesitation or sass.
Once I get her in that place, it's great - she's so light and easy and fun to work with, and to ride! She requires constant management - concentration but without intensity. Focused yet relaxed. Quite the paradox.
So now at the end of the year, Paloma is going well for me, but she is still going off to Steve in January for training (reform school, as Marc calls it). It will be good for her to get out every day and exposed to so much more than I can do at home. I'm having separation anxiety already!!

Recap of January -June 2009

2009-11-30T22:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-30T21:45:00.000-08:00

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

2009-06-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

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....

December update

2008-12-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

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

2008-09-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

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.