Perfect Weather

I was skimming through old pictures and I happened upon this one. I don't remember the picture, but I remember when it happened. Gambler is spooking at a saddle pad laying on the ground out of the picture. He looks gorgeous. That neck! And he looks so much skinnier. Part of that is that now he has a summer coat, but part of it is that I don't see him often enough to keep him in shape. He's definitely an easy keeper. But I'm not worried, it's good to go into winter with a bit of chub.

It's a reminder of just how far we've come. Today I put a big blue tarp on the ground right where that picture is to set all of my stuff on (it is a misty, moist day and I didn't want the camera or my equipment to get wet). When I walked Gambler by it he didn't blink an eye. He was curious and wanted to eat everything, but I didn't get the slightest spook out of him.

I went to see Gambler by myself again today, so I only have a few pictures. The weather was perfect. It was my very favorite kind of day. All day there was a layer of fog drifting in the air, thick enough to make everything seem magical, but thin enough that you could see. I absolutely love that weather. It was wet, but thanks to the sandy nature of the pastures at the barn, the footing was great. The temperature was about 39-42 degrees Fahrenheit. Overall, it was the perfect day.

I only had about half an hour of daylight to work with, but I made good use of it. I started by playing the friendly game with the bareback pad and the girth/cinch thing that comes with it. I lightly threw the pad onto his back and then pulled it off then repeated those two steps until he either licked and chewed or cocked a leg in relaxation. In the end I never did get the girth/cinch thing tightened, but he did relax and we ended on a good note.

He was grunting again today. I have a new theory about the grunting. I think that he is remembering an old injury. If I very, very lightly set the girth on the place where his back becomes his butt, he grunts loudly. But when I feel it with my hand, lightly slap it with my hand, groom him, or anything else I don't get a reaction. He isn't hurt, but he acts like he is hurt. For a long time this weirded me out. I know my horse, and I know when he's pulling one over on me. When I rub the girth on his neck and he grunts, someone is definitely just trying to get out of work. But whenever I touch that one place with the girth he genuinely thinks that he is in pain. But he isn't, I've messed with his back a ton and he isn't. So my new theory is that he was injured there, probably with a saddle on or while being saddled, and he freaks himself out and thinks that if he lets me saddle him he'll hurt himself again. So I'm just going to keep on keeping on and slowly step-by-step show him that I'm not going to hurt him.

After he relaxed I put the pad away to give him a release. Then I longed him for the first time in a long time. I was amazed at how responsive he was. He backed up with a wiggle of the hand (I didn't even have to shake the rope!) and he picked up a trot with a cluck and a pointed finger. I asked him to canter a little, but not too much because I haven't worked with him in a while and he's seriously out of shape. He seemed to enjoy himself and even offered a canter once when I wasn't asking for it.

Finally I ground tied him (sorta, we're still working on that) and gave him a good grooming. I picked out his left front foot and his right front foot! Since I was grooming him in the arena instead of the barn I had the room to back him up. So when he kicked out with his right front I backed him up and tried again. Right away he was licking and chewing and let me clean out his right front for the first time in weeks. Not that I haven't cleaned out his right foot, but it's always a battle and he usually pulls it away before I'm done.

Consistency

Today was the perfect winter day. I would be overjoyed if the next four months were like this. The snow melted, the temp cool but not below freezing, the ground damp but not slippery or boggy: it was wonderful.

I think the western saddle might be too narrow for Gambler (*cough* fatty *cough*), and even if it isn't he has been working himself up during the saddling process. So I put the bareback pad on him instead. I know that he doesn't have an issue with the bareback pad because I put it on him way back in June or July without any negative reaction. Today, however, he tried to get out of it by moving around and grunting. I know for sure now that the grunting is an excuse. He is not colicking. I haven't put a saddle on him for weeks. He doesn't grunt consistently. Not to mention that he was grunting before the girth even touched his belly. How does that work? It just so happens that I have one of the goofiest, smartest, brattiest little horses out there.

I longed Gambler walk/trot in both directions with the bareback pad on. I would have asked for a canter, but the ground was still a little sketchy. He didn't react at all to the bareback pad once it was on. Then I sent him over a "jump." It was a pole on a tarp on the ground with buckets on either side. He didn't jump it, which didn't surprise me because it wasn't jump-worthy, but the point wasn't to jump it. The point of the "jump" was to give Gambler something interesting to think about so that he didn't get bored.

After that I did more mounting preparation. I've gotten on him before, but I want to slow down the process. So many horses, both green and fully trained, have a horrific habit of taking off when the rider gets on. Right now I want Gambler to learn to stand calmly and quietly while I get on and off. He is doing much better. I can now stand on the mounting block, rub his back, and lean on his back without him moving around too much. He still gets fidgety when I jump up over his back though.

I have pictures, but the light was fading and neither Gambler nor I were holding very still, so they're blurry.

I think the biggest setback in Gambler's training is the lack of consistency. When I spend time going over the same task three or four days in a row he picks up new skills quickly, but when we take a few days off he falls behind again. The barn owner installed a light on the side of the barn that shines into the arena. It doesn't give a lot of light, but I think it's enough to get some basic stuff done. I want to see what I can still do with Gambler's on Tuesday and Thursday, even after the sun has gone down.

Speed Bump

A new complication has risen out of the ashes of the last. A few months ago Gambler had a small case of sand colic. I noticed that something was wrong when I tightened the cinch and he grunted (although at the time I thought he was coughing). Since then we have been giving him Metamucil every Saturday and he hasn't acted colicky at all. The grunting, however, has not stopped. Back in September he continued to grunt when I tightened the cinch. Then, a few days ago he started grunting when I put pressure on his back in preparation for mounting. Today I set the saddle on his back and moved it a little to get it centered and he grunted. I shook it around, and he grunted. I barely tightened the cinch around him, and he grunted. So either somehow Gambler has back problems again (although the chiropractor was just out a little while ago) or he's getting colicky again (although he is pooping fine) or he's just too smart for his own good. I'm hoping for the latter. Other than that interesting development, Gambler was good today. There wasn't much light, but we managed. We got some good pictures too.

Playing the friendly game.

A practice one-rein stop.

Standing ground-tied to be groomed.

An artistic shot.

Oh, I remember this thing.

The saddle goes on . . . 

Check out those gorgeous Arabian ears!

More pretty ears as Gambler watches Kezi come galloping toward the fence.

Watching Kezi and hoping that she will stop - at least I was, I'm not sure what Gambler was hoping.

#grumpymareface
She doesn't appreciate it when Gambler gets all the attention.

Right here I was shaking the saddle. At first he was grunting, but then he stopped and yawned which is a release of tension. 

Tightening the girth . . . 

The face Gambler making when he is grunting.

Simulating the cinch with the rope while Gambler grunts and makes the "grunting face."

More "grunting face."

Big yawn!

The more I think about it, the more it seems like Gambler is just pulling one on me. I hope that is the case. I'm just going to continue the mounting preparation and saddling. If he's being a smart alec, then the grunting will stop. If it gets worse, I'll go back to groundwork and seek the advice of a vet or the have the chiropractor out again.

Back on Track (Again)

Today was the first day I've found time for a session with Gambler in over a week. The light was fading fast, so everything was a bit rushed. Gambler was attentive and relaxed, which was impressive given the circumstances. He's always a little squirrely when I haven't seen him in a while.

I started out by playing the Parelli games with him just to see where we were. Horses live in the moment. They remember everything, but they don't live for yesterday, or tomorrow; they live today. So every time I  see Gambler I run over the basics to see what horse I have for the day.

Circling at the walk.

Yielding the forequarters

Yielding the hindquarters

Lateral flexion

Lateral flexion

Flipping the reins over Gambler's neck to get him used to the motion.

One thing I have been focusing on Gambler's right side. He is not comfortable seeing me out of his right eye. He prefers to be led from the left, and whenever I groom him on the right he wants to turn his head and look at me from the left eye. I've spent enough time on the circling game that he is comfortable going both directions, but the friendly game is scarier on the right. Not to mention when I play the driving game to move his forequarters on the right he will swing his hindquarters at me threateningly. Today I spent some time on the right side and it paid off. He started licking and chewing and yawning, releasing a lot of nervous energy. 

Then I did some mounting prep. He still isn't acting spooky, but he is grumpy. I've had the chiropractor come out, so I know everything is okay, but he's acting like he is in pain. I hope that it's a ptsd sort of thing, and he is just remembering a past injury. I'm afraid the damage is deeper. For now I'm going to continue. I've sat on him before without any grunting so maybe he just had a belly ache today. Fingers crossed.

While my mom and I were trying to put weight on him without head tossing, biting, and grunting, a new situation arose. Kezi is apparently no longer herd-bound to Gambler. Gambler, on the other hand, is definitely attached to Kezi. So Kez just walked away into the other pasture and Gambler went bananas. I'm talking full-out cantering in circles, bucking, kicking, you name it. For the most part he listened to my cues and stayed out of my space (he needed a few reminders), which was impressive. Needless to say, it's just one more thing we'll have to address at a later date.

By this point the sun had nearly set, so we brought the horses in to feed them. We gave Gambler an extra dose of Metamucil in case his grumpiness was caused by a sand colic flare-up. Then I spent some time grooming him in the cross-ties. 

A Huge Improvement

Since I am human, I never make stupid mistakes. I would never, ever set my camera on the dining room table and forget to bring it to the barn. I'm just not capable of that sort of negligence. 

Yeah, I left the camera at home. Thankfully, I have many old pictures to make up for it. That doesn't make it any less disappointing. The lighting was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was going down; everything was golden; and there was a wonderful sunset. The best part was the slight breeze. I think this is the first non-windy day in weeks! And it showed, Gambler was exceptionally good yesterday. 

I started up with the same warm up I've been using for a couple of days: longe walk/trot over ground poles in both directions for a few minutes and then canter over one pole on the ground. When Gambler is circling to the left, he tends to break gait at the poles, but he'll figure it out with time. 

Once he was warmed up I put on the saddle. This time he stood ground tied for me to put the saddle  on. Of course, I still had to hold him to tighten the cinch. I always tighten it in three stages, very slowly, but he still reacts strongly. Yesterday he was grunting again and throwing his head up. I thought maybe it was hurting him, but then he went back to normal. I'm convinced that the bugger is too smart for his own good. 

When saddle was on I longed him at the walk in both directions, then tightened the cinch. I trotted him in both directions and then tightened it again. The last time I cantered Gambler in the saddle he had a little bucking fit, so when I asked for the canter I was expecting a buck or two. He of course jumped into the canter and bucked a little. Gambler is the stop-and-buck type, as opposed to the run-and-crow-hop type, so when he stopped to buck I just asked him to keep going. After that he cantered with the saddle without a problem. I even added in the canter pole, but he took it like a pro.

I almost got on him yesterday. I did some mounting prep, but Gambler was pretty nervous. I'm going to spend some time standing on things waving my arms over his head and jumping around next to him until he learns to relax. I'm kinda glad that I didn't mount him, because I really want pictures, and as I mentioned before, somebody left the camera at home. 

1 Day-2 Posts (Part 2)

Today is a an absolutely gorgeous fall day. Remember that post about how much I love fall? Well today is one of those fall days I was talking about. The air is crisp, the leaves are starting to change, the wind is blowing . . .oh. The wind. Gambler's favorite weather in the world world-not!

I was sure I'd have a spastic-crazy horse today. In fact, I was tempted to put off the western saddle another day, but the truth is: if you wait for the right conditions, you'll never get anything done. I'm not sure where I saw that, maybe on Pinterest somewhere. The point is I just have to keep moving forward with Gambler's training, regardless of the inconveniences.

So my mom and I brought in the horses, fed them, and then set up the arena. Since I didn't have anyone to fix jumps/poles for me (usually my brother does that), I had to set everything up in different places. Instead of longeing Gambler in one place and switching out the poles/jumps I set up jumps in different places so that all I had to do was move the circle. The system worked exceptionally well.

I warmed Gambler up by walking and trotting him over poles. I also cantered him over a single pole-an exercise to prepare him for cantering over jumps. So far I have only trotted him over jumps, but I want to try them at the canter soon. When I first got Gamby, I thought that I wouldn't be able to do any training until I could ride him. How wrong I was! I already have a good foundation of dressage and jumping, before ever getting on him. He always picks up his leads, he is exceptional at bending in circles and figure eights, and he is figuring out his balance over jumps too. That being said, I need to stop procrastinating and focus on the riding part of training him.

Once he was supple and listening to me, I groomed him and put on the western saddle. As I tightened the girth, he grunted and my heart dropped. That is what he did when he colicked a few weeks ago. However, he was acting like his cheerful self and had just pooped in his stall, so it was unlikely that he was colicky. My conclusion is that he wanted to see if I would take the saddle off. I finished tightening the girth without any more grunting, which affirmed my conclusion.

Once the saddle was on, I walked and trotted him over a pole in both directions. He was a little racey per usual, but he didn't buck once! The trot pole and jumping work has really paid off, he didn't throw his head up ewe-neck style today. I saw a lot of licking and chewing too, which shows me that he is starting to relax and accept the saddle. I had to go earlier than I would have liked, but overall I am very pleased with his performance today. Even though it was an incredibly windy day--even by my standards--Gambler was calm, relaxed, and responsive!