Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[warmblood]

I was riding this little 12hh (approximately) pony named Knee-High on Tuesday . He doesn't get worked that often and he loves refusing jumps. Anyways, I was jumping some cross rails with him and around 2ft jumps. He kept refusing them. He doesn't stop in front of them he actually goes around the jumps and it's really hard to stop him from doing this. Anyways, after a while I finally got him to jump most of the mini course and for one of them he took off too early and was like "screw you distance" ! And knocked over half the jump and stumbled onto his knees and sent me flying face first into the dirt. I actually don't remember what happened all that well. Sprained my neck and got a concussion, and I've been excused from physical activities for about 2 weeks. Sigh. Good thing is that I have a doctors note for me to be excluded from homework aha. Pretty much spent 5 minutes spitting out dirt and went to the washroom. When I was in the washroom I couldn't remember the lesson or how I got to the washroom. I can remember most of the lesson now, but I still don't remember doing the jump that led to my fall or how I got to the washroom. This gelding is a little brat but when he does try he tries so hard. I've only ever slipped off a horse a bunch of times, never any more seriousfalls like this one.

Does anyone know how I can stop him from going around the jumps?

[Luzien]

Does anyone know how I can stop him from going around the jumps?

oh my... what a fall, hope you have no lasting problem and all is well!

you can try stop this with a extra jump on both sides....or something like little trees standing there could work too
...but also what could be bether....start ground training ,also with jumping him from the ground with a long lead rope or such till he does not stop...you also could set up the whole jump course at one side of the arena and Close the sides off with ropes or poles or such so that he needs to run the whole course as you push him from the ground and he jumps it free in his own Speed happily...
so you also can see bether where he has trouble, if he may hurt somewhere while jumping and so on..

and then when he does jump it all the time without trying to stop or run away you can do one day with a rider and low jumps that get higher with time...but very slowly and when it takes days till it goes up one bit...till he does not even stop to jump or runs around the jump...
a pole in front of the jump can give him a way to see the jump bether..

may i ask if the Pony is healthy or maybe does not like to jump because of hurting back or leg..?
or he really has no fun jumping at all , or needs to jump new things to maybe outside on the trail... not sure...

[Hime]

I don't even know where to start, I've been crazy busy past week or so, and just generally feels like time flies. Spring finally arrived last week, after some wintery weather set backs earlier this month. That unfortunately also means bugs and bugs mean itchy Heta. Tý so far is looking itch free, but I'm still holding my breath with him and keeping all my fingers and toes crossed he'll stay healthy. I did go to breeding show last week, not that many horses unfortunately, but many good quality ones. Only two yearlings, who were Feykja's half sisters and I could definetly see familarities. Though I still think Feykja moves bit better, but obviously foals are tricky to show as their moves and behavior can be totally different at the show or change really quick over all. Both were really nicely behaving though.
Feykja is really ugly build at the moment. Like seriously that butt has growth pace of it's own... So obviously good thing we skipped the breeding show last week. She's been behaving pretty good. Only issue we have is going back to the paddock, she doesn't want to go, so it takes a while to persuade her to come along. She's not being afraid, just stubborn for some reason. I guess she finds things more interesting outside paddock. I ended up introducing trailer to her on Wednesday as we had one on the yard. First she was actually pretty scared of it. But being such and brave and curious girl as she is, soon she was checking out the ramp and then suddenly she pretty much just hopped into the trailer from the side. I took her further in, hang around there for while, she could care less and wasn't even tense. Then I backed her out, and she backed up perfectly without any fuss or trying to turn when we got to the ramp. Needless to say I was Very proud of my little girl.

Heta's been okay. Needing a massage check up though, as she had really tense muscle at the hind end, but luckily it seems to have loosened up on it's own during past couple weeks. Last day without itch rug. Riding wise she's been okay-ish. The trainer coming over thinks there's improvement, and so do I. But she's also gotten little more clingy to hand, which we do need to work on again.

Tý headed over for second training period on Wednesday. Him day before heading off to the trainer. Yes there's a neck under all his mane. lol Day before heading out 'poor thing' had to tolerate me getting him used to the hose, which he thought was a beast that was going to eat him or something (hilarious considering he's been fully washed at least twice in his life). Like he didn't super freak out about it really, just shied away from it and thus run around me in circles, as we don't have a proper washing place. So you need to hold the horse in one hand and hose in other, unless you have someone to help you out. Eventually he did settle, when he realised he could eat the grass while I had hose on him. (He also had to tolerate me detangling his mane and dividing it evenly on both sides, and he's not that patient horse when it comes to standing still especially if there's movement on the yard.) He's also treat picky I've noticed, and even though he may not seem super super stressed time to time, he will start refusing treats when he is. Like when he was shod, for some reason the front legs he got really nervous with and then again with the hose, even though I hadn't even pointed it at him yet. And the pickiness comes out in sense, that he will eat dry bread and carrots(I think they may just be his favorites so far) and so far only one type of horse treats. I got some treat samples recently, banana and rasberry flavors, banana ones he would yet but didn't seem to like them that much, but the rasberry ones he picked up bit through once or twice and dropped out of his mouth. Anyway, I've told previously he's bit scared of the trailer. But it seems that fear is fading little bit, he still gets shaky nervous when loading up and in trailer, but won't freeze up totally or panic. He actually loaded up really good considering he was afraid and stood pretty nice when L closed up the back of the trailer, he was moving his head around quite a bit though so he could see what was happening behind him, so it was bit hard to get him tied up properly. While driving he's mainly good, this time he was just neighing every now and then as he has gotten quite attached to his paddock buddy. Driving part of my end could have gone bit better to be honest, but not all things were up to me... We got new car just few weeks a go and it has manual gears and last time I drove a manual was when I got my driving license which was like 6-7 years ago... So I've had quite lot of getting used to driving one again past few weeks, so considering that all went pretty well and the car worked well as hauling car(it better have since that's what we got it for). I did have couple ooops moments of little too jerky gear changes and one stop, but over all I think it went pretty well... I hope at least, we'll see about that when I go pick up Tý. Tý was bit stressed when we arrived, like he wouldn't accept treats in the trailer, but then started to calm down pretty fast when we got him out and walked to his new paddock. He also got two new friends of same age with him, which made him relax and settle down a lot better.
Unfortunately it seems my plans of having him shown in hand in the second breeding show in July may not work out. I heard from the trainer the show in July is planned to be foal show only, so only one offical judge is going to be there. Meaning if I were to take Tý there then he could be judged, but the points wouldn't be offical and thus not recorded in the database and so to public eye would not matter. And as it costs 140e I'm not sure if that's something I could settle with, even though I really would like to have him shown as a young horse since they are free lunged as well and movements/gaits are evaluated that way. Older than 4 year olds just gets conformation judged or they need to be shown under saddle. The trainer though it would be better to show him for conformation as 5 year old anyway so that he has had time to build more muscle. But I don't think she new I'd like to have him shown because of the gaits as well. So I'm little torn on what to do with the breeding shows. Like if I don't get the chance to show him now, I really don't feel like showing him just for conformation next year either. Also as he's a gelding, I'm not sure can he even be shown first just for conformation and then later on in full assesment, since geldings have this limit they can be only shown once in full assesment... I was thinking if he would have gotten nice evaluation now as a 4 year old, then I maybe would have considered putting in the efford to have him shown under saddle in full assesment when he's 6. Argh, I hate it when my plans don't work out because things out of my control change.
______________________________________________________

@Whippet.: With that pony it sounds like they wanted you in more chair seat like position, which is really not ideal in anyway and far from secure really. Personally when riding a bouncy gaited horse in canter, I'd rather go in two-point than try to cling on. Sometimes our bodies pick up things way too quick, which I suspect now happened to you, so you kinda need to re-train you muscles back to the normal position. If your leg is gripping it's tensing up, so you need to think about relaxing your leg and imagine your thigh is long and going down, rather than curling up. No stirrups would be ideal to get the correct feel and stretching your legs down, even if you could just do it in walk. I'm thinking you are having issues with loosing stirrups because you are used to having your leg curled up more, thus if you do put them longer then your legs don't know that position and automatically try to go back to the way they are used to being in. Two point may help to re-teach them to find support from the stirrup, but I think it may also be seat/general position issue. I mean I used to also loose stirrups on canter, and even more so in sitting trot at one point, I think it was exactly because I tried to grip some with my legs and wasn't following so well with my body. So I needed to learn to find my balance properly with my seat so that I wouldn't rely on my legs so much and thus could relax them, as after all you ankles can absorb some of the 'shocks' from the movement. It's hard to describe, but you need to relax your body so that most of your weight is on your seat bones, then legs are relaxed and long, not pushed down heavily but still find support from the stirrups. It's not really the heels you need to keep down necessarily (physically pushing them down leads to tense leg), but rather find your weight going through the balls of your feet to the stirrup and then imagine that your thigh is also long and reaching down.
Also quick tip for figuring out stirrup lenght, when your legs don't match your arms. If you drop them, you should be able to put them back on mainly just by lifting your toes some. That's usually decent flat work/dressage lenght. If their bottom of the stirrup is hitting the knobby bone-thing on your ankle they are considered jumping lenght.

@Favorite fall: I'm still under 10 falls count, and personally I'm fine with the count staying there. I think my 'favorite' one was my first fall which was also the less hazzard one of them all. lol Basically I was riding bareback, in walk, and Heta suddenly spooks at something and jumps to right, while I sort of stay at the spot and fell on my butt. I think that's the only fall that I've been able to laugh at afterwards, rest of them didn't end up so well or had potential to end up worse...

@pills: There could be raised poles placed on the sides of the jump to form short of shoot, which would direct him to the jump and maybe prevent him from running out. If we can assume that there's nothing physically wrong with him or tack causing him discomfort while jumping; I would maybe go back couple steps with his jumping, especially if he doesn't get worked much in general(if he's not in that great shape, that may also be a reason why he doesn't like to jump). Like simply riding between jump stands with pole on the ground in the middle, or even make it look like a ground pole task with several poles. Riding techicue vise, if you know he's likely to run out you need to be really firm with your legs and ride forward. Have a crop on the side he's most likely to run out and give him a tap to the shoulder if that's not working. Obviously even small ponies have lots of willpower and if he really doesn't want to jump, then he will find a way of not jumping. Also praise works wonders with some horses, so everytime he does good praise him and don't push your luck too much when things start rolling. It's best to end the excersise early in good note than prolong it and potentially get him fed up and act up again.

[ξƞçɧαƞtєđ]

Some updated pics of Buck enjoying the reopened upper pasture on the farm.

[Whippet.]

Update:
We're on our way to fixing the stirrup problem! I constantly reminded myself to keep my legs long and didn't lose either stirrup woohoo! I did a small bit of no stirrup walking as you suggested Hime, but the horse was having a lot of moments today so couldn't do more lol She was a bugger of a thing! Rearing, bolting, running sideways (more than usual anyways lol) safe to say we took out quite a few trees ahahaha you don't realise how strong they are until they really want their own way

[Nocte Luna]

Long time no see! Things have been busy but I should have more free time soon!
@Enchanted
Buck looks great! Glad to see some pictures of him enjoying the pasture!

@Hime
Of course it's always great to hear about your wonderful horses too. Hopefully Feykja grows into herself a little more soon so you can do some breeding shows.

@pills
I agree that some sort of chute made out of poles would be more effective, either that or a person on one side and a wall on the other side can work as well. Since this is a smaller pony, then I would recommend keeping jumps low and inviting - not a lot of 'scary' fillers, lots of cross rails and low verticals. Run outs can be very common for horses that aren't as comfortable with jumping, so keep it simple and small - don't push it with him if he hasn't jumped or been worked in a while, and if you do a course, something simple like an outside line and single made up of crossrails is probably a great place to start. As for you as a rider, sitting tall and feeling like you're sitting back just a little more than usual (especially if you tip forward like me) and moving your leg forward just a little bit can be encouraging. Don't oversteer, just point him straight to the center of the jump, and squeeze to encourage him to keep moving forward. If he starts to try and run out, use your other rein and push him away with the leg closest to the direction he's trying to run out to. If worst comes to worst, bring him down to a trot and make him trot the jump, then come back around again so hopefully he's encouraged to go over it.

@Whippet.
I would definitely agree with Hime, but also I would recommend lengthening your stirrups. I know it may seem counter intuitive, but you'll probably find that riding longer forces your leg to stretch down rather than clench up. I've taught a few kids recently that would go into a posting trot and automatically raise their heels, which made their posting (what posting they could do) extremely difficult, and shortening their stirrups only helped them short-term. Short stirrups can also cause ankle and knee problems, so gripping with your knee and not having the flexibility in your heels is more likely if your stirrups are too short. I've found short stirrups to make my own riding more difficult - even though I do a lot of jumping, I still need my stirrups longer so I can stretch down into my heel. No stirrup work is an excellent idea - you're more able to stretch your heels down. Next time you ride, try just working with a lengthened stirrup at a walk and trot. Also, I wouldn't recommend changing where your knee sits just because of a canter - just let your legs stretch down and your hips follow the motion of the canter. Of course this is all easier said than done, but I hope I can give some helpful advice.

@My Updates
-Riding
First of all, we have so many new horses that I haven't talked about! While I was away on vacation, we got this new mare named Cricket. She is very very chubby and has these huge mule ears, but she's very sweet. Apparently everyone and their mother rode her while I was on vacation, and now that I'm back, I haven't had a chance to ride her. We also got this tiny pony named Fawna - a very fuzzy little thing that was quite an escapist. She was a therapy horse that hadn't been ridden all winter, so she was at our barn for a few weeks so she could get back into work. I rode her once, and one ride was enough, I wasn't very fond of her. We also got this new hunter pony from a girl who used to ride at my barn - personally I never knew her - but this pony, Whisper, is a pretty great ride. She's a cute little black mare with a white snip and a small star, and no other markings. I've hacked her a couple times and I really like riding her. Her only vice is her head-tossing - if you half halt too hard or hold on too tightly, she tosses her head. She'll also do this while waiting in the center. Other than that, she's great - she's got a beautiful and smooth trot and a speedy little canter that's actually very adjustable.
-Lessons
Since I was on here last (where I think I talked about jumping Callahan?) I jumped Callahan again. Just as terrifying as the time before where he basically just dragged me to the jumps. We got over them, but I'm glad to have K back from her maternity leave so he can get worked by someone who is more proportional to his size. I also rode Gabby a lot, who has been an absolute star. She's been very forward lately, which I really appreciate. I prefer to slow her down and balance her more than try to get her going. And my last couple lessons I've been riding Whisper. She jumps so nicely - she picks up her knees and rounds herself like a good little hunter. I'm also more willing to take long spots with her because she takes them so easily and she shows off so much. M, my trainer, has really liked us as a pair. Unfortunately it's been so rainy on Fridays that on Saturday, the arena is soaking wet and we can't ride outside. Last Saturday we were inside and Whisper decided she didn't like the downspout from outside while we were trotting around, spooked, and because I ride so forward I slipped off and landed on my left side. Oops! M barely even noticed, but that isn't the best first ten minutes of a lesson I've ever had. Maybe I'll even get a video of some of our courses up. We also have a new rider in our class. I personally don't think he belongs at our level, considering he doesn't know his diagonals or how to get a good leg yield, doesn't know what bending is, and doesn't have clean canter transitions, but maybe I'm just being salty. Anyways.
-Shows
We had our schooling show last week! At this point there's numerous reasons why I'm not doing it, but it's great because then I can get paid to work at the show and I can cheer on all my friends without the stress of having to get my horse ready. It's been great to help out rather than ride. The only thing that I'm not so fond of is the way some of the classes were judged - I saw 3 excellent rides that were clean, had good lead changes and great equitation, and someone else who was trotting around on the wrong diagonal got second place. I'm not quite sure what the judge was looking for, but I wasn't very happy with that class. Keep in mind this is the new rider who's in my lesson...
On a much happier note, I'm going to be competing a couple times over the summer, and since Quinn just got into a little accident in the pasture, I'll probably be riding Whisper or Gabby instead. Fingers crossed for Whisper - as much as I love Gabby, my equitation feels more solid on Whisper.
-Teaching
My students have been great lately! Though I'm going to school next year and I won't be living in the same place, I already know who will be teaching my students when I leave. I'm so excited for my replacement, she's an excellent rider and I think she'll have a great time teaching my students. So I'll get to help teach her a little over the summer.
-Future Stuff
I'm going to school next year and I'm riding for my school! I'm very excited! More details soon, hopefully
-Buying things
I've started to look more into saddles and other riding related things, but mostly I'm looking into saddles. I've looked at a few used ones and couple new ones.

[ScarDolphin]

@Enchanted
Buck looks great, lovely pictures!

@Whippet.
It's good that you're working on your stirrup problem! I'm sure you'll get there c:

@Nocte Luna
Wow, a lot has happened for you! You seem to ride a lot of different horses - which one is your favorite?
I hope you had a good show! I'm entering one soon and I'm slightly nervous I hope it goes great riding for your school next year c:

My update:
Last week it hasn't been going too well with Reimer. I feel like I get frustrated at him for not listening and it makes things worse and its an evil circle that never stops. So I hadn't ridden him for a few days; I had lunged him and he had had a few days off. Today I had my first lesson on him since coming home from boarding school and it went really well! It was warm so he was drenched in sweat, but he was lovely.
The only thing that concerns me a little is that when I'm practicing getting him to bend on the right, he stiffens up in his neck, and if he loosens up, he'll "lean" on the bit on the right side. He seems to not want to bend to the right. I'm thinking of getting someone out to have a look at it - my current idea is he might be sore? I'm gonna get a second opinion on it from my experienced friend at the barn, but if anyone has any suggestions to what it might be I'm all ears!

I hope it's going well for everyone c: My (black) horse and I can sure feel the heat of summer coming xD We always cool off with a bath though

[Hime]

@ξƞçɧαƞtєđ: I forgot to say earlier, but Buck is looking really good. c: Also that flying photo bomb like donkey butt, lol.

@NocteLuna: Whisper actually sounds like one pony at our stable, who also protest by head tossing if the riders hand in not to his liking. He also likes to buck or try to run out if he's not fancying the riders position or seat though. Great teacher in that sense though.

@scardolphin: Might be sore or just stiff. Soreness could be from many things, from simple muscle tightness to leg issues. If it's new thing then I agree it's good idea to have someone check him out. Little leaning to the bit is not bad thing necessary as it's usually good thing if the horse seeks the bit contact. Obviously being clingy and heavy on the bit is not good, nor is seeking uneven contact(like clinging more to the outside rein).
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I've been bit lazy with Heta lately... Well I did have one last pain in the butt essey to finish before last day of May. And the weather has gotten nasty with temperature under 10C yesterday and today, plus heavy rain showers and even hail and sleet yesterday (doesn't that just scream happy first day of summer?), not to mention pretty crazy winds. I ended up spontaniously jumping with her one day as someone had left raised poles with cavaletti pieces on the arena, so after warming up(jumping idea popped into my mind as I didn't have any better ideas and needed something different to our rutine) and going through them couple times as they were I popped them up to max cavaletti height (which is probably as high as I'm comfortable asking Heta jump). I think she has a nice jump (free jumped her while back, sort of, can't remember if I posted that clip or not...), it's just that the approach is bit of an issue as she's not very sure cantered nor is it that adjustable. And I'm not that techinical jumper either so things like distances is like, nope... To right she jumped over them pretty good imo, like I actually could pick up canter way before the jumps and then turn her nice towards them and she kept it. Left I had to pick up canter after turning towards the jumps, as she tends to loose it if I ask her to turn off the usual track. The two jumps were maybe 4 strides appart, so bit technical task for us. I mainly jumped them from right round, since the left canter is pretty dodgy. Like I think the second time I jumped them to left, when she actually jumped them both(she also likes to run out jumps, not in bad way, just like 'I think I'm not jumping this, lets go past it') she didn't quite figure out the order of her hind legs to continues, which resulted in horrible hopping kinda feeling canter before I slowed her down. To right we got some really nice jumps though (imo that is) and I actually think Heta secretly likes jumping.
Long reined her on Monday I think and that went really well. Funny thing was as we had some circles drawn on the arena with some chalk powder on Sunday, Heta thought those lines were pretty scary and she tried to avoid first going even near them and then going over them. Like I had to lead her near and around them at first and even still when trotting over them she picked up her legs sometimes as if they were ground poles or something. She's starting to figure out the cantering in long reining as well, and she had super nice looking right canter when I got her to pick it up. I did have to run along her around the area to be able to get her to keep left canter, but at least it was good quality canter.
Heta had massage on Tuesday. There was some tightness on her poll/neck and there was a pop in the loin area. But over all she was apperntly pretty good. The massager didn't know what to think of the super tight area on her other hind legs, which I think I should have mentioned before. Like it wasn't tight as it used to be, hasn't been for week or two, but there was still this small tight feeling area. It wasn't painfull nor was there any heat, so the massager didn't think it was pulled muscle nor anything of sort. So I will just keep eye on it for now and put some arnica or something on it if it starts to act up again.

Feykja is same as usual. I think her front is finally starting to catch up a little with the hind, but still has ways to go. She's still hanging on to her winter fluff though, and I can see why due the recent weather change... Due the bouncing weather our pasture hasn't grown that much, plus the fences need fixing (really bad), so we haven't been able to turn horses out in the pasture yet. That would do her some good. She's also very much afraid of shetland ponies by the way.
L's one mare was still pregnant after all, we started seeing foal movements month or two back. She's due next weekend (11th), which is bad as L is away that whole weekend. So I promised to sleep over and keep an eye on the mare, unless she foals before that. She has had some behavior changes past few weeks, so we are thinking she's starting to think about foaling. Outside appearance vise, not there yet and the progress still goes back and forth. So we shall see. This cold weather probably will set her back some as well. Couple weeks ago we already got bit excited that she's going to foal early, but I guess not. lol Camps start next week, so I'm not sure are we actually hoping her to foal during next week before the weekend or not.

Good news about the breeding show in July though. It's held maybe 10-15 minute drive from our stable. Recently in the same town as our stable is, an Icelandic horse person bought one boarding stable, and she has tried to turn it into mainly Icelandic horse boarding stable. And she has indoor arena as well, so it suits for foal evalutions so I guess our breeding show organisers asked if it would be possible to arrange a show there as it probably won't cost that much (and I think the owner needs some free advertising). Bad news, it's offically just for 1-2 year olds, plus 3 year old mares. But they are taking horses for unoffical conformation evaluations for cheaper than usual price. So I'm thinking taking Heta along with Feykja. That way Feykja gets really nice first time traveling experience and I can get Heta evaluated for cheaper price, even if it's not offical, which I've always wanted to have done. Who knows maybe if she gets good points I take her to offical show next year. ;D Still on fence about Tý, I guess it all depends on what sort of price discounts were are talking about... Unfortunately L can't possibly come over to watch the show as she's expecting a litter of puppies around the time the breeding show is, and I believe dogs are usually quite punctual with their due dates... (I totally do not have a puppy fever, nope, totally not, as the parents are super great dogs)

[Albino_]

My miniature horse mare is accident prone -_-

She has about a 3 or 4 inch cut going across her stomach from god knows what -_- and she is due this month also so it scared me because she scratched herself and it bled badly but didn't need stiches. And doesn't help that we have a mini show in the next state over in less then a month *sigh*




Then our little mini horse colt who was born about 3 weeks ago escaped his moms stall


I amalso gonna be her to g a kill pen miniature horse from End Of The Line Horse Placement! The next shipping of horses when they come in I am hoping to see another mini horse!

[warmblood]

K so 10 days ago I got a minor concussion from a bad fall off a pony. Went to a specialist today for a checkup and he gave me the all clear to go back to riding but said not jumping till the END OF JULY. He said the risks of redamaging my head were too high and I'm so salty right now ugh. Summer plans are kind of ruined since I planed on showing, but oh well. I guess this will give me more time to work on other stuff, but I'm still so mad.