Dinner and a Show

And by show, I mean trail ride!

I went out today to get Reina, and she was allllllllllll the way on the other side of her paddock. But when I waved and said "Hi, Reina!", she pricked her ears at me and... came walking up to me! Yes!!

She walked right up to me and was all "hi, Mom!" It was adorable. She wandered off shortly after saying hi, but I caught up to her quickly (she was only walking) and brought her in.

I asked Chi if she wanted to go trail riding, but she had so much work to do and was so tired that she said she couldn't. But Laurie (Chi's friend who's staying with her for now) wanted to go, so I went to tack up Rei!

My horse is adorable.

Anyways, we head out on the trail and the first part, Reina feeds off Laurie's horse's nervousness and it's slow going at first. Also, the wild hogs in the field to the left took off running, all the little babies flying around and squealing. Luckily, my horse is sane and didn't freak out. She did stop and look, though!

She proved yet again that clicker training is the best policy with her - she got nervous and I got annoyed, and, of course, that didn't help matters whatsoever. So I chilled and started clicking her for good behavior. She calmed down almost immediately!

A few minutes into the trail ride, both horses calmed down and Reina starts taking the lead as usual. She just needed to find her stride is all! Soon, Laurie and her horse were struggling to keep up with Reina's walk. (Reina is big; Laurie's horse was a little Arab mix, haha.)

Oh, and Laurie was nice enough to take pictures of Rei and I while we were out!! Warning: picture overload incoming!

I don't know what's up with her tail frizz, as I brush it all the time and stuff, but I guess it had a mind of its own today. I think she's looking pretty good, minus the weight problem. Chi's been having trouble getting weight on a few of the horses, Reina included, and she thinks the last bunch of hay she'd gotten might've been bad. Luckily, spring is here and grass is growing, so hopefully that'll fix the deficit in Reina's diet and she'll get back to a healthy weight.

Otherwise, though, she's perfectly happy! She was very excited to be out on the trail today and was a total pro. There was even a bunch of wild turkeys out on the road towards the end of the ride, and they up and flew off right in front of us! Reina watched, but she didn't stop or even flinch! I was so proud.

Such a smart girl! (Yes, she nicked her eye... somehow. I don't know how, but it was new today. She also had a rub on her butt; I think she was getting feisty before I came out today! lol!)

Laurie and I had a blast out on our ride and talked a bunch. She was great company.

When we got back, we washed off our horses and gave them their dinner. Reina practically vacuumed hers up, haha!

I helped Chi and Laurie bring in the new baby and her momma tonight, too, since there are going to be thunderstorms the next few days and Chi was worried about the little baby. She was so cute!! I got to love on her and help lead her into her new stall. Gosh, she's fricken adorable.

Then, Chi was nice enough to invite me to dinner! It was tons of fun and she's an excellent cook.

Could a better day exist? Hm, I think not!

New Baby!!!

Reina was excellent today, as usual. I got to share our story with Chi's new friend, and it was really fun. We all went on a trail ride together!

Nothing new to report, except that she was fabulous as usual and I'm super proud of her still. :) Best horse ever.

But the something new I will report is: we have a new baby!!! Her name is Bunny, and she was born 2 days ago. Oh my god, is she not the most adorable thing you've ever seen??

So that's about it for today! Very good day. No giant breakthroughs, but that's because she's just so consistently good these days! :D

Solidarity

I swear... every time I ride her she improves exponentially.

We did "arena" work today. She was fabulous. We were trotting and cantering loops in our arena, and she barely rushed at the trot. She rushed a bit at the canter, but she's always been strong cantering - cantering to her means gallop, so I have to remind her that cantering to me just means cantering!

Lookit those loopy reins! Oh yeah.

She was very good, though. She got her leads on both reins again - she's either a genius or has been trained for this before! - and she settled into the rhythm of my cues instead of rushing madly. Her racehorse turns are getting a bit slower and more deliberate, and less "omgIhavetoturnnowohlordIdon'tthinkI'mgonnamakeitAHHAFENCEokIturned." At first, I was trying to sit up and support her through the turn, but I don't think she understands yet, so instead I tried to just be light and let her figure it out on her own. That seemed to work better and we got some turns that didn't feel like I was racing a motorcycle!

The windblown look!

It was windy out today, and at first, Reina thought that wind meant she could jig or go faster. By the end of the session, she learned that just because the wind blew didn't mean she could up and race it! Really, though, apart from the occasional "can I trot?" she'd ask me, she maintained gait very well! Way better than she used to. It was like we were just a normal broke horse/rider pair, hacking out in an arena! It was awesome.

She remembered everything I taught her and outdid herself. She tried to cut corners at first, but I reminded her that she wasn't allowed, and she stayed on our track after that. She was only slightly scared of the far end corner, and with a few clicks she was completely over it and got down to business. I'm so proud!!

I don't know if you can see that ^, but Comanche is in the paddock next to our makeshift arena. Reina barely batted an eyelash! Comanche was calling, trotting up and down the fenceline, and generally being a nuisance. But Rei acted like she didn't even notice - she was like "riding with Mom, not now!" It was awesome. I didn't notice her new paddock was right next to our arena until we got up there, and then I just wanted to see if the distraction would effect her. Nope!

So basically, she was more than perfect. She was better today than the broke 18-year-old dressage horse I used to lease at my old barn. That horse took longer to canter and didn't always pick up the correct lead - my silly mare who's barely been trained did better than that!! Oh, I'm so proud I could just explode.

The only thing that gave her away is that sometimes, she would act like she was going to run into the fence instead of turn properly, and occasionally she's try to wander off the rail (but she only did this because she didn't want to step over a little weed-type-thing in this one place on the rail). Apart from that, she acted like she'd been doing this forever!

I really think that just having me work with her consistently has made all the difference. I try very hard to keep my cues and body language consistent so she can learn what I'm asking of her, and it seems like I've been doing a good job so far! Either that or she was dead broke sometime earlier in her life, but with her lack of steering and turning and knowing what an arena is, (not to mention her old habit of bucking at the canter and barely trotting...ever) I can't really see that as the case. Either way, we've made sooo much progress!!

So naturally, I'm a very proud mom. We trotted probably 3-5 times around the ring both ways, and cantered 2-3 times around both ways as well. I clicked her for outstanding moments of relaxation, head down, medium-speed gait. Her right side is still her worst side, I think; she was considerably more balanced starting off on her left lead than on her right. But that's okay! That'll come in time. In any case, I kept our workout pretty short as we're both rather out of shape, unfortunately. So after that we walked around a few times and went back to the barn.

I opened the gate from her back again - she was still confused, but slightly less so once I opened the gate. We're getting better! Then she walked right past the giant group of horses staring at her while munching hay. She didn't even get them a second glance. I could almost feel her saying, "what? Hang out with you losers when I'm being ridden? Pfft."

I tired her out!

It was hot and we actually did a good amount of work today (considering we usually barely do anything but walking and a little trotting occasionally), so she was a little sweaty. This means she got to drink out of the hose again! She definitely enjoyed that.

Chewing up a treat I just gave her!

Then I got to feed her in her stall. She was very polite and didn't try to run over me (much)! Although she did start cribbing, so I put her cribbing collar back on and tightened it until she couldn't anymore. I don't like having it that tight, but I also can't have her cribbing! What a horrid habit.

She let me know that she felt very betrayed once I got the collar working properly. I got lots of "how could you!?" and "but but but.." looks from her when she realized that the stall wall had betrayed her and she couldn't crib. Somehow, she knew this was my fault. Maybe it was the smugness I was radiating when I watched her try only to find out she couldn't.

Overall, a very good day! She impressed me immensely (as is her habit) and I couldn't ask for a better horse. She's getting more and more relaxed and has really started stretching down into her little riding halter and actually wants contact sometimes! It's amazing! And today, I felt like I was riding an actual horse, not the wind. She felt so there and with me and even if I had galloped her wildly around that paddock, I knew that she had no intention of surprising me ever again. That's why the title of this post is "solidarity." Because, even though we've always gotten along and she's always tried her hardest for me, today I felt her become much less flighty and worried under saddle. It was like she was saying, "oh, yes, okay - you are my partner up there, and I do feel safe with you. So just like how you try to warn me of changes, I'll warn you, too!"

Yay!

Hooray for Trail Rides!

She was perfect!


I don't have many pictures, because I was too engrossed in enjoying our lovely trail ride! But she was so, so, SO good.

I went out to find Nick, Ann, and Nick's fiancée Heather tacking up for a trail ride. Nick was like, hey, get your girl, come out with us!

So I did.

Nick asked if I'd need help getting her into her stall. I said I didn't think so. And then, she made me a very proud horse mom: she walked right into her stall in front of everyone. Good girl!!

And she wasn't girthy at all when I tacked her up. Not a single grumpy face, even though I was being quick about it!

And when I went to mount up on a plastic chair, she stood perfectly still. Perfectly still. No steps forward, backward, sideways... no wiggles at all!

We rode off and she was so good. She rode point in front with Swani (the palomino mare Heather was riding). Rei really likes to be in front, and so does Swani, so it worked out fabulously!

Reina didn't spook once. She jumped a bit at a bunny that took off through the forest right next to her, and she snorted at the baby hogs that were running around. But that was it! Otherwise she was calm, cool, and collected!

We trotted a bit for fun, because hey, who doesn't like to go fast? But she was terribly good, perfectly well-behaved. She didn't even kick or bite Blue, who she hates with a passion! Blue was riding up on her butt for part of the trail ride, and she'd pin her ears intermittently, but that's all she did. Nothing else!

I'm so dang proud of my beautiful mare. She's so good, and tries so very hard for me! I couldn't ask for a better, more willing partner!! I think we both really benefited from today's trail ride... it was so fun, and relaxing, and I realized that I trust her completely on trails. The prospect of riding out on her, anywhere.. it's not daunting at all anymore. She walks right past flags, hogs, bunnies, water, crazy random pieces of trash. She walks through water, tall grass, sticks scraping her accidentally...

Yep. She's amazing. I'm so glad I have her!

We came home and she was perfect about that, too - no impatience to speak of! I rode her on a loose rein the whole time.

She walked into the stall twice more without any issues at all - once for me to untack her, and again after I rinsed her off so I could brush her a bit. I gave her another targeting lesson while she was being rinsed - there were orange wires on a chair she snorted at, so I gave her treats for touching them. I almost had her doing it on command.

We worked a little bit on lightness - working on her backing up without me touching her or tacking the slack out of the lead. I'd just walk towards her to give her more time to respond. She was starting to understand and be more consistent with it, yay!

Then I called it a night and turned her out. Did I mention that she's amazing?


Oh, and the moon was giant tonight:

Yeah, that thing that's as bright as the lights? The white light next to the red traffic light? That's the moon. Crazy, right?

Nick has some trail rides coming up that are gonna go out to some national park with wildlife and stuff. Hopefully, if my school schedule permits it, Reina and I will be going out there, too! We'll see how she likes new trails!

Gooooosfraba

If you don't know the title reference, it's a calming/meditation thing used in the movie Anger Management. It's a hilarious movie; you should watch it.

It's pertinent to my day with Rei because Reina is impatient, impatient, impatient. Goodness. Let me explain!

But before I do that... look! I took a picture of Reina's pretty new toes. Not bad, eh?

Anyways - I think I mentioned she was moved to a new paddock a little further away? This is it!

Lookit how pretty and green!

So, I go to catch her and we snuggle as per usual. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do today because I wanted to trail ride, but Chi isn't around, sooo... that means, what, arena work? Meh. Definitely wasn't in the mood for that. So I was plotting.

Nice butt!

We walk towards the barn and Reina stops short about a stride or two out from the concrete. Sigh. I was kinda expecting this, but I was hoping it wouldn't be the case. She... doesn't want to walk into her stall. Maaaan. Okay. So I take a deep breath and put on some patience and start clicking for small tries and steps forward.

After a few minutes, we get up on the concrete. Yay!! Lots of pets and love. Once she got up on the concrete, she became unstuck and would walk towards the stall. Another yay! She wouldn't go in though. So I let her explore and encourage tries and anything that said "I'm thinking about this stall, perhaps even going into it."

Once her body language stopped screaming "OMGAWD STALL!", I was able to resume my previous ritual - if you don't want to go into the stall, we're going to trot around and stuff! Two or three rounds of trotting had her walking into the stall again. Peppermint! Oh, she liked that. We went out and back in twice more to ensure she'd be okay, and then I brushed her off and tacked her up.

Oh. While I was doing all this, she had an epiphany that she could like... crib. What!? All this time she'd barely even tried since I got her the collar, and now she's up to no good again! This is her up to no good:

Doesn't she just look guilty? She's so bad at being sneaky.

It was weird. As fast as the switch went on, it went off again once she'd been tacked up. She knew she wasn't supposed to be cribbing, 'cause she kept eyeing me nervously and all I had to do was say "'ey!" and she'd stop trying. But in any case... after a few minutes of this she just... stopped. It was weird. But nice.

Me? Crib? What're you talkin' about??

And we were off! Last time I went to mount up, she wiggled around and tried to walk off. But this time, I mounted from one of the plastic chairs she likes to nose so well, and once I was up she took a step, but stayed in place so she could sniff the chair. Ha! Outsmarted! Click and treat! I bet she didn't even know she was being taught to stand still. ;)

So... I decide that we're going to brave the giant field with a sand track around it. It's behind Nick's house, and I figure that Rei and I could use some training together in big, open spaces with just us around. It's one thing to follow roads and a trail, or to walk around a ring in circles, but big open spaces... that's some kinda trust right there. So, off we go!

This is the field! To the left of the fence, with all the grass and trees!

She walks out really well. I'm shocked. And proud. She's listening and staying steered in the direction I want to go. But... omgasp! Shock! Spooky thing! A great chance for a lesson - I click her for being a good girl and walking up to it. When she touches it, even more clicks!! Soon, it's not scary anymore. We walk right on past it like it never had teeth at all.

Don't wanna look at scary horse-eating monster.

Did I hear a click? Are you bribing me to be brave?

Oh. Well. In that case, I think I will touch it, tyvm! Treat now?

We also walk up next to a paddock with other horses. Reina wants to say hi; I tell her that's unacceptable and she's working, so we should keep going regardless of the new neighbor to the right. She listens! Yay!

She doesn't even start when the horses in the other paddock run to catch up to us once we've walked on a bit. She stands, and listens, and is tense, but she doesn't go anywhere and certainly doesn't act silly about it. What a good, smart girl!

About halfway around the curve, we meet another nemesis: a giant log! I want to jump it, but Reina wants to run away from it. We repeat what we did with the first fire-breathing monster, and she ends up walking up to it and dropping her head to nose at it. Good girl! I try to get her to walk over it, but this confuses her. I don't think she's ever been asked to jump anything before, so I drop it, as I don't want to make her scared of it again.

Instead, I walk around to a smaller portion of the same log and we trot over it. She barely looks twice at it. Yay! Good girl! Lots of pets and a click and a treat.

By this time, we're on the stretch of the loop pointed towards "home," "barn," and "dinner." She starts getting wiggly, like she was before I taught her how to listen to me. She doesn't want to stand still; she hops, turns around, nods her head like she's lost her mind, and wiggles her front leg like she's having a seizure. (It's like the OCD version of pawing... oh Reina, you're so special.) I'm like, oh goodness! What happened? Are you scared? Calm down. So I start clicking her for standing and being calm. This doesn't seem to help like it usually does.

Hm... not scared. Okay. Are you hurt? We walk. She walks fine; more energetic and bouncy than usual, her head up higher. I stop her. More wiggles. This confuses me. She hops and is very persistent in her wiggles! Hmm. I think some more; she was perfectly fine on the other stretch away from the barn... did she just start hurting now? Is it a bug? I check her butt; it's flyless. Hmmmm!

So we keep walking around, back to the other half of the loop, and she relaxes and stretches down again and is generally unconcerned by anything. Lots of clicks and treats to encourage this behavior!

We get to a gate at the far end of the loop, and she's like, "ooooomg, snoooooooort, a gate!!" Just like that. So we stop and have more "touch-the-scary-thing" lessons. She ends up poking the fence (my cribber... scared of a fence?? Oh brother!) and scares herself when she touches it, jumps just a bit. She gets a treat and lots of pets for being so brave about the horse-eating monster of a fence. She touches it again, realizes it really isn't going to eat her, and is suddenly fine! Dork. We walk on.

There. I touched it and the one on the ground. Happy?

Can we go now!?

When we get around to the log, she starts in on the wiggles again. Okay, I know it's not pain, now - pain doesn't reoccur on a certain half of the loop we're walking. I'm suspicious now. She's not scared; she doesn't mind the log or anything, and there's nothing inparticular I can find.

Then it hits me.

We're pointed home. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

She's impatient!

This changes things. I start waiting for her to be calm before I let us walk again. She starts being annoyed when I click, because it means she has to stop. Tough, girlie! I click, stop her, wait until she's standing calmly, give her the treat, pet her and tell her she's a good horse. Wait until she stands quietly again. Then, and only then, are we allowed to continue our journey.

We do this for a bit, and then we hit the other half of the loop headed away from home. She relaxes immediately once I ensure her that we are not headed home. Theory has been validated. I turn towards home, since it's getting dark and we've made good progress today.

Suddenly, she's wiggly and crazy again. Okay, not crazy, but.. um... energetic?

I go back to being patient. I basically sit out whatever she wants to throw at me to try to intimidate me into/convince me to starting home again. This takes a LOT of patience. She's almost as stubborn as she is impatient; this means that sometimes I'll have to wait for her to stand for a full minute before she'll catch on to the fact that her little fits of frenzied emotion aren't affecting me. This bothers her. But they start to get less frequent and less violent. She has one that's especially bad - almost a hop-buck thing, very small, but worse than just wiggles - and then kind of... gives up. She still wiggles, but she stops turning around 180 degrees; instead, she nods her head like she's half-insane and starts to OCD-paw, and then stands. So... essentially, progress! Yay!

By the time we get within a few paces of the barn, she's gotten it: no forward unless you can stand patiently. She still nods, or yaaaaaaawns (to tell me that she very much does not approve of my boring, stupid, stubborn behavior!), but she's taking her treats politely and is protesting much more quietly.

So... note to self! Work on patience!! She's not like this on trail rides at all, even when she knows we're going home... so, this is very odd indeed! But that's okay. Even her fits are much more manageable since I first got her; she never actually started hopping (except that one time) and she always listened even though she was upset at me - she'd turn, go forward, and back up on cue, and when I asked her to stop doing something she started without me, she'd stop. (Like, she'd stop walking when I told her to.)

Overall, not bad. Not bad at all! No spooks at all this time, whereas last time she kept looking and snorting at dirt piles. Yes, dirt piles. I thought it was weird, too.

She's gotten oh-so-much better. I'm very proud of her.

I had her walk all the way up onto the concrete in front of her stall before getting off of her; and she waltzed right into her stall with barely a look at it! Yay!! I think she was looking for her dinner, but I don't care. That's progress right there.

I rinsed her off and she was happy that she got to drink out of the hose (silly goose). She went right back into her stall again without any trouble at all. Then I fed her (and she was very polite about it), and turned her back out again.

I think the biggest challenge for me today was staying patient and waiting her out instead of reacting and having it escalate her tantrums. She's like a little kid sometimes, I swear. A smart, stubborn, 17.1 hand two-year-old. lol! But I did really well; I did get upset once or twice (this was in probably an hour of riding, though!), but I didn't do any lasting damage and was able to take a deep breath and go back to my happy place before I made matters worse. All I did was make her back up, and once I yelled. I feel bad about that, but I'm not perfect, and I am trying. Fighting with her for several minutes at a time doing nothing but standing there takes a lot out of my patience reserve.

I'm working on it, though. Just like she has to work on her patience! So... that's why the title of the post is named that - because we both had to work on patience today!