planBE

Im all for the student becoming the teacher, and learning to fly on their own. I live in a world where education is the core but everyone is an optional player. But I cant help someone who won’t help themselves or take responsibility for their situation. If you want to work with me you better be ready to commit to the process and do your homework. I have zero patience for slackers. Classes start tomorrow and Im revving up for my first day of the year speech where I explain to my students that they can choose to stay or go. But staying means work. They then have two weeks to withdraw. Our poor wounded warrior at the barn is having surgery tomorrow and probably getting her broken jaw wired shut for 4-6 weeks. An awful situation made worse for this self-employed rockstar that will probably not even be able to teach while she recovers from her broken jaw and ribs. And of course riding is out of the question. I am simply aghast that her two most bumbling students with no natural talent, wor...

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...

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...

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...

Before we talk about the chronic mistakes, let’s discuss the occasional slips and telegraphing. I’ve had much success in focusing only on the behaviour. As training evolves, and my “box” narrows, my “ask” becomes increasingly specific. This may actually be the reason why I despise arena work these days, as Im not interested in the work and discipline required to be so specific. I believe in the philosophy of whisper, request, ask, demand with at least a beat of time in between each escalation. I believe in the release of aids while the horse is completing the ask and I believe the horse needs to maintain the ask until I provide a new instruction. Im pretty black and white. It starts at the mounting block. I spent six months teaching Q to parallel park using Tristan Tuckers turn on the forehand move. I get on, fuss with the saddle and bridle, feed Q a peppermint, wait some more, and then I move on with a specific request (either turn on the haunches or straight forward walk). Th...

There was an accident on the trail yesterday and the rider was taken away by an ambulance. The horse tripped, got caught in the reins, panicked, the rider fell, and then the horse fell on her. The ambulance was able to drive down the trail in a special AWD vehicle and retrieve the rider that has probably broken her leg. We are still waiting for confirmation. It was a freak incident. Rider and horse are well tuned trail horses and have lots of miles under their belt. But accidents happen. So what did the horse do? The mare stood stock still next to its owner until help came. Friends and family made it to the trail section of the incident and walked the mare home while the owner got loaded in the ambulance to then spend several hours at the hospital getting x-rays. Clearly this wasn't a "mistake". But I thought I would spend some time thinking about the "correct answer" before I deep dive into the land of errors, snafus, and miscommunications. Having sta...

When the dog bites. When the bee stings. We have been shut down for a week. At first most of my friends and family thought I was overreacting and being too cautious. Now everyone seems to have accepted our new temporary reality. I try to not think too much about how long this might last and the long-term impact to our economy or my income. Turning off the tv and getting lost in blogland has been a relief and I wanted to share a few of my favorite blogs and thank all the bloggers out there for the sense of community, the humour, the great pics and the brief window into a different world. It is healing. The Pusher - Lytha from horsecrazyamerican was the one who pushed me to start blogging a year ago. I love following her adventures across the pond with her beautiful horse Mag and donkey Bellis. She is courageous beyond measure to have packed up her American ways and adapted to a very different culture. Just knowing how she endures the daily scowling at the Aldi cash is a testam...

I recently learned that there are 60 million horses in the world. While research has shown us that the domestication of horses probably began 5000 years ago in Kazakhstan, the proliferation of horses across the globe has supported our agricultural, industrial, touristic and recreational revolutions over the century, in addition to being of critical military support through many of those centuries. Where do you think the horses are? Let us begin with the top 10 countries in terms of horse population. Not the usual suspects. I expected to see more G10 countries on the list, and was certainly surprised by the low numbers for the United Kingdom. All this began when I realized that Canada has more horses per capita than the UK. Certainly our land mass has influence. As it does for Mongolia and Russia. The sheer numbers of horses per capita in Mongolia is staggering. No doubt the tourism boom will continue there for the romance of galloping across the Mongolia steppes. A friend of mi...

I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone's decade retrospective, sparked by May as Well Event Picture Challenge . I have loved reading the history of blogs I have been following, and have added a few more to the mix. But it sure was a challenge to find some good pictures from those early years.  2010 seems so long ago, given how much my life has changed in these few years. It was a ho-hum year, with lots of work stress, and riding with my mom and our two palominos (my first mare on the left, and her son on the right). We logged lots of trail miles and I convinced my mom to do some local showing with me, including a pairs class. Note the Elvis outfits for our pairs pleasure class. Hilarious! 2011 is most notably marked by my meeting my husband-to-be and us spontaneously being engaged within 3 months and married within 6 months on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. We had a lovely honeymoon and wedding trip on the islands and New Zealand and became quite fond of the isl...

It was a rainy day, but I decided to get out in the woods despite my regular companions abandoning me. I do enjoy a solo ride just the same, and chose to put on the bareback pad for a quiet amble. I also switched back to my bit bridle with a slightly bigger snaffle which doesn’t pinch Qs lips. Although I enjoyed my hackamore rides, I felt that it was hard to not put pressure on his nose (and create a rub or indent) and I also felt he was starting to disrespect it on our last ride when my buddy and I practiced side-by-side canter on the way home. Ok, maybe that was an unfair test. Anyways, we had a lovely ride in the woods heavy with fog, and lots of sprouting mushrooms. Q was a gem, and I feel he does a good job of protecting me when Im bareback. He got tense when he felt a deer nearby, and did a bit of a scoot when there was some new tires lying about, but he was quite cautious of not unseating me. Things are good. Im riding 3-4 times a week, logging about 40-50 km...

After a long wait, the new western saddle has arrived. Within a few days I had logged in eight hours on the trail and about 40 km, and although my hip was screaming after the long first ride (longer leg drape changes the hip angle and requires some adjusting) I was good to go by ride #3 with the help of advil. I have been riding both western and english for several decades now, and while I love my A/P County saddle it isn't the best solution for the long trail rides that I regularly do. The western saddle provides a broader weight distribution and is also safer for those 180 degree spins when the deer / wild turkey / chasing dog / atv / x-country skier / snowshoer / jogger / biker / baby carriage (you get the idea) causes a spook. It is also the better way to start a colt. Lots of leather and flopping around does a good amount of desensitizing. And it has a stabilizing effect on those first rides. First day with the new saddle When Q first arrived home, I did the basic i...

It was a lovely day at Spruce Meadows and it turns out that our 5$ rush entrance gave us a good spot to see the CP International (first place wins 1M$). We locked in to a cute terrace on the north side with easy access to washrooms, hot tea and soup. As the weather cooled, that was a good thing. It also turned out to be a great spot to watch a technical hairpin turn from a triple to a skinny that left many riders knocking rails. At one point it almost felt that every rider I took a picture of was jinxed. But then the final riders appeared in the large group of 50, and the clear rounds started multiplying. Of course everyone was rooting for homeboy Eric Lamaze, who despite his brain tumour is doing great and had won the Suncor cup the previous day. But Beezie Madden took the CP International cup, and 1M$ Cdn, with a fast clear round in the jump off with chunky stallion Darry Lou. It seems like Darry Lou is not too good with people and standing around so he got to go back to his...

I was bribed to come for a weekend in Calgary with a promise to go to Spruce Meadows. Always one to jump for a new adventure, we quickly secured our plans and booked our trip. But I had another special plan while my husband hung out with his childhood buddies ... and it involved horses. About 30 minutes from Spruce Meadows is the beginning of Kananaskis, and the Moose Mountain. I booked a dayride at a local outfitter and got the homerun: great weather, solo ride with an awesome guide, and a good horse (Noah). The trail conditions were SO SO different from what Im used to in my cushy bridle paths back home. Here it was up, down, over trees, mud, aspen forests, amazing lookouts. It was wild and beautiful without a hint of development or urban sprawl. The ranch is on 380 acres of their own property and the horses are out 12-16 hours a day on huge meadows to hang out and play around. They live in a big herd of 40+ horses. My sweet steed Noah was quiet and responsive, never trying ...