Well, as it turns out, I've found a new favorite saddle soap, thanks to my adventures in saddle cleaning last week.  So if you have tack to clean, I recommend using "Higher Standards", and no, I'm not getting paid to say that!

Anyways, it's been a long week.  It only ever seems that way in retrospect.  In it's midst, there never seem to be enough hours in the day.  Wednesday found me questioning myself, and Saturday found back with the same horse and feeling on top of the world.  Lola and I worked on those flying changes every day for a week, with much success might i add, and then shifted our focus the past three rides to correcting flaws in our sliding stops.  Which left me feeling a little frustrated on Thursday.  Thankfully, I had a friend around to tell me to stop feeling sorry for myself, which apparently I needed to hear from someone other than me.  I kept on trucking and finished a late night at the barn that saw all horses worked and each ride ended on a good note.  Come Saturday, Lola and I went back to working on stops, but this time we had the whole arena to ourselves so I opted to weigh our ride more heavily on just running straight.  So we fenced.  And we fenced.  And we fenced.  And I took note of how much better she is these days than the first couple of times we fenced.  She waited for her cues to lope, didn't get ahead of me as much as before, and while after the first time we actually stopped she did get a little excited, she came back to my hands much more easily than in the past.   The first stop was a really good stop.  I mean, really good.  She was straight, and responsive, and really got in the ground and stayed smooth up front.  The next couple of times she was a little excited about it.  She jabbed the ground, skipping like a stone in back.  So we went back to fencing.  I could feel her thinking about stopping, so I just kept her going.  And after a few times, she stopped anticipating.  And when she stopped anticipating, and ran straight, I asked her again.  And there it was, one of her best stops yet.  In my excitement, I hollered at a gal across the arena to bring her phone over and take a picture, because mine always finds itself on the charger in moments like this.  Oh, and I measured our slide.  7'8".  not at top speed.  and clean--no skipping. 

The point?  Just keep showing up.  Keep putting in the work.  There will be days where you feel like everything you think you know is wrong.  But.... then there will be rides that will make you feel on top of the world.  Cheers to everyone that is out there putting in the work.  Everyone that keeps saddling up.  May we all ride great horses.

Today I get to clean my main saddle.  It'll be raining most of the day, and the indoor is closed for a dressage clinic.  If the clinician didn't speak in a low tone through a mic only the rider can hear, it might be worth cleaning while watching the clinic riders.  But, you can't hear him from the bleachers, so, meh, I'm going to sit home in front of my heater and play Andreas Fappani training dvds while I soap her up and butter her down.  For as much as I seem to put off doing it, it's a chore I really do enjoy.  I guess I just put it off because the list of chores never seems to end... If I'm lucky, I get through it before rolling back up to the top of the list again.  Anyways, today I'm going to try out a new product, Higher Standards Handcrafted Saddle Soap, "Woody's Confidence Blend".  It's fancy, it smells good, and it came with it's own sponge.  I'll lather on the saddle butter afterwards.  I'll post an update later with my thoughts on their product!

Less is more, especially to mares

I've been inspired to create this blog and write this post by my beautiful, wonderful, picky, particular, sensitive, willing, hard-working mare, LOLA.  This is a horse who has, and continues to, teach me, and forgive me, and give me all that she can, but mostly only if I can figure out how to ask.  That sounds wrong, I think that sounds like she won't try if I don't ask her right, and that isn't the case.  She will try, and state her opinion, and try again, and even if I'm asking her wrong, we do get improvemnets.  The horse is all heart and passion and go, and all that is her is packed into a petite type quarter horse frame bred for cow work and made to rein.  She is the sweetest thing on earth if you can laugh off the dirty looks-- it's all for show.

Now I've ridden alot of horses over the years.  I haven't kept an exact tally, but when I spin the rolodex of memories, my math says over 100.  There's an old saying, "when the student is ready, the teacher will come."  And time and again, Lola is that teacher.  Not my only one, but very maybe the best.  She has taught me the value of consistency--be the same rider, every time.  Don't get mad, just correct.  And when the old timers say "use only as much pressure as it takes", Lola says, "re-define pressure."  What I mean by that is, the mare has made me more skillful at rolling back my use of pressure, and increasing it only incrementally.... but, and here is where it gets tricky, exactly how little pressure can be considered pressure?  Well, just about any.  Things I haven't even thought of as pressure, have taken on new meaning for me as a trainer.  I'm not the first to discover these things, and I won't be the last, but I'm living this moment and blessed with this horse, and I'd be remiss to not share my experience on the off chance that it will help another pair like us out there is this vast but small world to improve, to offer each other a "better deal".

My epiphany came tonight as I worked on some (*slightly modified*) excercises and techniques introduced to me by a dressage trainer that I have worked with on four occasions as of today. (To be clear, I am not a dressage rider, but I am a student of dressage because I have every reason to believe it will make me a better rider, a better trainer, and a better reiner.)  Now, Lola is what I'd call a "natural changer" meaning that lead changes come very naturally and freely and correctly to her.  But harnessing that ability has been challenging, as she can become excitable and expresses her discontent with me and the way I've asked for the change in a variety of ways including kicking at my leg and flying through the air (look, it's a lipizzaner!).  So today, we changed our warm up routine slightly, worked on lengthening the stride of the inside hind through our corners first at a walk, then at the trot then at the lope.  If her shoulder drifted out, I'd gently ask her to bring it in.  The first couple of times, she thought it meant go faster, but she's a smart cookie, and she caught on quickly.  Once we were doing this at the lope, and I felt she was tracking straight, and my legs were loose at her sides, I intentionally weighted my left side for two strides, counting, then shifted that weight to the right side.  No leg, no lean, no rein, no change of direction.  Just weight.  And then.... BOOM.  She nailed it.  No kicking, no flying through the air, no big deal.  Perfect.

It could be a fluke, but I'll take it.  We quit our ride there.  Some folks might have done it a couple of times more just to see if it was luck or skill.  But I think sometimes, if we time it right, we collect on luck and turn it into skill.   And that ride tonight, made me feel like a million bucks.  This is why I do this. 

Never stop improving.