planBE

Lots of things happened this week, to me and around me. Our local H/J trainer got bucked off and kicked in the face, fracturing her jaw and ribs on a young colt on his first ride. She was wearing a helmet and of course it could have been much worse. But we have all been a bit shaken by the event. She doesn’t remember what happened or how it happened but the owner was holding the horse, she put her belly on his back and boom! Next thing she knows she is sitting in an ambulance. I saw her today and she is a true warrior. Ive gotten to know her lately as Ive been helping her with her own 2 year old gorgeous Hanoverian colt in introducing the more difficult obstacles like the teeter totter and the waterbox, and helping her improve her groundwork skills to tackle the difficult obstacles. The colt is learning quickly, and she is building a new language of ask/release that is starting to work miracles. So much so, that one of her clients asked me to help her with the teeter totter. I knew thi...

We are in “back-to-school” mode with classes starting for me in 2 days. Lots of organizing to happen before then, plus the first trip to the hairdresser in months. It was awesome to dump 10 inches of hair to the floor!  And today delivered the first “feels-like-fall” day even though we still have another 25 days of summer to go. Weather dropped to 16C, and with blue skies and bright sun that has changed its angle in the Northern Hemisphere ... well ... every colour just seemed crisper. It was also a reunion of sorts for my first trailride with B and his horse Shadow. Shadow had two bad bouts of colic back to back in May and has been in recovery rehab after his two hospital stays. The events were brought on by a vet giving an incorrect dosage for a medication to help with headshaking. 10x overdose. Since the medication also has a sedative effect, the horse stopped drinking ... in the middle of a heatwave. Impaction colic. So for the rest of the summer, Shadow was taken off hay and g...

Yesterday was my fourth fall off Q, and probably my 200th fall since I started riding. My first three falls happened on my very first ride at the age of 6. I had been begging my parents to let me ride (or buy me a pony) ever since we spent the summer of the Montreal Olympics camping at the equestrian park. I was enamored at first site. Of course my parents did not buy me a real pony, but I then began the long process of receiving toy horses, horse books, and of course riding lessons and eventually summer riding camp for many years. I finally succumbed to my passion at the age of 19 and bought my first horse (a quarter horse named Rocky) with my own money. Life was never the same after that. And of course at that point in my life, through University and grad school, I had no money. But when I was 6 years old my mom took me to a trailriding barn and we went out with a group. I was at the back of the pack on a fat lazy pony that would always stop and eat grass. When the group got far enou...

I knew it was coming but I chose to ignore (or minimize) the signs. On Saturday, I chose to tire Q out doing canter circles in the arena before our solo trail ride. It didn’t work. I had seen the dragon appear in the last few rides with some subtlety. Q would accelerate within the gaits, would anticipate turns that take us back home, would be reluctant to slow down. All little signs. I usually achieved compliance, but with a bit more effort and time than I usually expect. Our riding had gotten sloppy. On Friday's trail ride with lovely intern C, Q showed me something completely new. He literally pulled out a fifth gait from his ass and gave me the most incredible flying trot. I wish I had a video of it, but it was impossible to sit. It felt like rockets exploded from behind, and C's horse was galloping to keep up. The first few seconds were amusing, and then I started holding the reins to keep him in check. By the 30th second I was literally hauling on him to slow down, which h...

Gathering from the blogland, this oppressive heat is becoming an issue all over the world. Except Chile. There they have snow! We have had several days in a row this last week where the heat has been sizzling with a humidex near 40C. In the barn we all wear masks now, even the crew that cleans 40+ stalls a day and manages turnouts. No air conditioning for them. It is atrocious. As a result I have been spending minimum time in the barn because of the mask requirement and oppressive heat. This week I had to clean my tack locker of mice debris (they got into my apple snax and littered crumbs all over) and the hour of scrubbing and shifting things around left me panting. I did get in a few quiet rides with M this week where she has started cantering, but we mostly walked. The woods, even in this heat wave, are a cool and soothing place. Now if only my horse could magically tack himself. And the blackberries are getting mature, so we have started picking them from horseback. I had the brigh...

One fine morning with blue skies and sunshine we set out to do some canter work in the outdoor ring. We started with a five minute warm-up walk, a few minutes of trotting serpentines, and then did 10 minutes of 30m canter circles with simple changes, reverse loops, and some halt-canter-halt and walk-canter-walk transitions. By the end I was sweaty, thirsty and exhausted. My back was in spasms. We occasionally took a one minute break to do some trail obstacles like the bridge and balancing beam, but we mostly cantered with a few hand gallops thrown in. It all lasted less than 30 minutes. I then proceeded to do a cool-down short trail and check the dragons energy. Lo and behold, the dragon was not quite tame. He still proceeded to sprint down the trail. So we kept on trotting and cantering and about ten minutes later he finally chilled out.  The dragon was tamed. But it took my back two days to recover. Yesterday I crawled back into the saddle for a restorative ride and Q was gloriou...

After a mostly sleepless night I headed to the barn for what I hoped would be a good ride on what was turning out to be a spectacular weather day. Temperatures had cooled to 24C with bright blue skies and a slightly damp track for some nice footing after all these days of rain. My hip was still hurting so I was going to take it easy, but I did want to work a good canter stretch with some lead switching in a particular spot. Q had other plans. At our first trot and canter he clearly told me that THIS.IS.NOT.FAST.ENOUGH ! Then he started his usual “dragon mode” of tight back, hard bouncing, head in the air and increasing his speed at every stride. Ouch, my back! I didn’t argue with him, but chuckled a bit at his antics. I used all that energy for good (as much as my back would allow) and worked on contact, leg yields, transitions and shoulder in. It was the best lateral work he has ever given me. But we have a date, in the arena, for lots of canter circles and then we will go back on the...

I do lots of different kinds of rides, with lots of different kinds of riders. But cantering always has me stumped. I have an established checklist of rules, but not everybody shares my view on this. Here is the short version I do not ride on trail with anybody who is not comfortable cantering their horse (at least in an arena). I don't want their first canter experience to be the spook and bolt when their horse sees a deer. I will occasionally make an exception to this rule for very short and controlled trail rides within proximity to the barn. I do not race. The order we start in, must be maintained until the end. No passing. With some of my trail buddies we will canter side by side, and it is glorious! I do not gallop. I have made a few exceptions to this rule with individuals that I trust, and on a trail I know well. The gallop stretch never lasts very long. I do not canter up ravines or anywhere I do not have a long line of sight. Again, I sometimes make exceptions to this on ...

The sun was out, we had the afternoon free with healthy energetic horses and so I took my two new trail buddies (happy C the intern, and new boarder and stall neighbour MJ) out for an adventure. With my steady Q leading the whole way through canters across fields and long trots up forest paths, into deep and thick bogs climbing over fallen trees, and on country roads blocking oncoming traffic to protect my new buddies, we had a blast. I was particularly proud of Q as he gave me good warning of a few things that scared him, and with a little heat of my calf he just carried on without a spook. After 2.5 hours in the saddle, we were all beat and thirsty. While downing a litre of water with a face mask on, I gave Q a good long shower, let him roll in some thick sand for a good body massage, stuffed him with bananas and carrots, and then got ready to leave. But I couldn’t find my keys. Uh-oh. I backtracked, emptied my tack locker, looked to see if they fell out of my pocket at the mount...