Christmas break!

     Christmas break is here! I'm only a couple days in and I've been at the barn every day so far. My friend Kayln came back for winter break at college and she's been riding with us some. It's in our sights to jump a little next week!

     So far I've dome some suppling workouts with Malachi and some extra work on our sitting trot. He's really working on slowing down and collecting himself. I think the leg yielding work has payed off because he's become so round in his neck and back. I'm really proud of the guy.

     The first day I rode him it was after two solid weeks of pasture time. I lounged him for about ten minutes before hopping on and I swear he was just fine. He acted like there wasn't a day missed between rides. He was as calm as ever even though the neighbor's chain saw was raging in their loud little barn. I've been very proud of his good ride.

     Today I practiced some of Jane Savoie's riding tips. I'm trying to get him to listen to my seat bones when I tense up and push him with my seat. I use my retardant seat for slowing the pace and even changing gaits. Basically, I just sit very heavy and still in my saddle arcing my back a little and following through with my hands. Eventually, he will be so sensitive that I won't need the reins anymore. For my following seat I just sit normally, following with my hips. It's the natural position in walk, I just needed a name for it. And finally, my pushing seat. I think about lightly pushing the cantle to the prommel of the saddle with my seat to increase his gait. Until he gets used to the dramatic movement, I'll use a little leg, but like the retardant seat, I won't need leg.

     He's beginning to understand it too. The retardant seat is much harder because he doesn't quite understand the tenseness in my seat so he looks for a reason to spook. I have confidence in my pushing seat because he tends to understand the movement there.

     So we'll see what tomorrow brings with that training.

     He was really good on his left lead canter. The transition upward was really nice, but the downward transition was a bit forced. His right lead is still another story for another day. I'll try to get a video so I can show you an example.

     I had my camera with me and grabbed a ton of pictures! I'll make a post to introduce all the stable horses soon!

Malachi and his best friend Hurry

Pretty eye

Sweet face

He wants to follow my camera

Malachi and Hurry again

Sleeping baby

Look at his flat ears!

Forelock braids

This keeps the sweat off his neck

Wavy mane

It's been a while

     I'm getting so excited for winter break! I can't wait to have nearly twenty days off to make up for the hectic business that my life is now. I haven't ridden Malachi in about a week, and this week isn't looking too good either. I've been so busy that keeping up my facebook is even crazy. So nonetheless, I apologize for not being able to update SLASN.

     I'll just give a brief update of the past month.

     The last couple of weekends after Thanksgiving I got my dad out to the barn (which is in serious renovation). He brought out the Bobcat and pushed down trees, scraped the paddocks, leveled out the arena, and spread some dirt. It looks so much better out there! Everything is flat, smooth, and ready for riding. We've done some post-digging and more spreading by hand because the Cat ran out of gas before he could quite finished everything we wanted, but it was totally okay because he'd really done everything that couldn't be done by hand. That weekend I rode Malachi with spurs for the first time. I can't say it did much for us because he acted the same, and they didn't give me as much support as I thought they would. So I've converted back to no spurs because they're too hard to get on and some horses can't have them and they're just a pain. My horse really isn't ready for many changes yet anyway because I need to work on getting him balanced and frequent. He's not as bad as he was in terms of motivation, but he is definitely still a lazybones and he still needs a good disciplining.

     As for the jumping streak, it's pretty much gone now. I just haven't had the time to get out there at all and work him consistently. I don't have any clippers that work anymore so I can't get his nasty hair off, poor guy. He has a load of thick, short hair that attracts dirt like a vacuum as well as heat. He sweats mostly in his lower neck, his flank area, and of course the girth. He isn't even grown in yet and he's still looking pretty hot after rides. I hate the weather down here because it is so freaking unpredictable. One day it's blistering 82 degrees, the next it's 45 degrees and raining. It makes me want to hit Florida in the face.

     The last two rides I had were devoted to leg yielding. He is nearly 75% in the walk, he would be solid if he stopped playing games and focused only on stepping under. He can go over at whatever angle I want except straight over. I'm thinking about doing some research on how to get him focused on his ride, but I can never find one specific query that's like mine.

     Malachi is just so different from other horses that it is hard for me to realize that I need training methods tailored to his individuality. I can do many different things on the ground with him that work, but I just need one for on his back. The one thing that makes me mad at him is how defiant he is. If he would give an effort he would not be so green. All of his goofiness is superficial. He never truly spooks at anything. It's all a distraction he had planned for me. One thing that helps him with on demand focus is transition. I'll trot, halt, trot, walk, trot, halt, and change direction. Everything is really random so he doesn't have much time to think.

     But anyway, I had an epiphany on horseback the other day. I asked him to leg yield in trot and he struggled a bit at first before thinking about it and moving completely under. I don't think I've ever been so surprised. It just must have clicked in his brain at that instant and he crossed all the way over the diagonal. I tried the other way and he followed, but was slower and I figured it was like writing with my left hand. He was finally on board with it. I guess that just like that something can click in a horse's brain.