Sooo I did an oops and forgot that I’d already committed to a Real Life thing on the day of the show, therefore the dressage show didn’t happen after all. My bad. I forget that real life exists sometimes. But we did manage to get a dressage lesson in on Saturday, and omg Henry was AWFUL.
the cutest he looked all dayI think it’s 99% because I’ve been riding him in his hackamore for two weeks… he came in from the field with a Bitey Face injury to the corner of his lip and it took forever to get it to scab up sufficiently to where the bit won’t rub it. Now he seems to have forgotten what a bit is. The other part of it was probably that we always go to Trainer’s to JUMP. He was extra grumpy when we walked over to the dressage arena instead. Who needs a mare when you can have a seriously over dramatic gelding?
as good as it gotThe whole lesson was pretty miserable really. It was hot and humid as balls, I had rivers of sweat rolling into my eyes the whole time, and SOMEONE was just about as uncooperative as possible. It was like he’d forgotten everything we’ve worked on for the past year. The whole point of the lesson was to practice test B, but we didn’t make it all the way through it. Ugh. He’s been so damn good lately, too.
when your homework looks like thisTrainer sent us home with a few bits to play with to see if maybe that would help (we’d been talking about experimenting with bits with him anyway), first of which is a Myler. We tried it yesterday and he was ok… still a bit turdish (that’s totally a word) but definitely not as bad as Saturday. Granted, I think the turdishness (also a word) has everything to do with the brain and nothing to do with the bit.
mare glare on pointWe’ll keep playing around this week and see if I can find the horse I had two weeks ago. Or exorcise whatever demon seems to have crawled up his butt. Lord knows I don’t want to take it with us to the show this weekend.
Ah well. Can I just say I think it’s cool that you share about your off days, too, and not just the rides that went swimmingly or the show results you’re proud of? Because, we all have those days, and they probably serve us more in the journey of learning/progressing than the amazing ones. The way I think about it, my horse puts up with ME when I’m up there riding him grumpily, distracted, unfocused, tense, asymmetric, and carrying around all the stress of whatever happened that day…so I really owe him grace and patience on his bad days too.
Bad days are frustrating as all hell, though. Especially if and when they happen to land on lesson day, when you’ve spent time trailering them to trainer and everything involved in that. 😐 Not awesome. Clay and I had a very bad day during a clinic, for which we had trailed three hours one way, and the trainer giving it had flown across the country to be there. Womb womb. But, in the end, working through bad days, problem solving, and gaining patience and understanding in our horsemanship is what sets us apart from “those” horse people (ya’ll have seen em) who lose their shit on their horses if they act up at ALL or aren’t perfect every second. I don’t want to be like that, and handling frustration and disappointment with grace takes practice. So, I guess, thanks for the practice, Clay….
oy good luck. maybe he thought that you had forgotten about dressage and that you all got to be done with it forever? poor guy, hopefully in a few rides he’ll be begrudgingly back on board.
first of all i think you subconsciously found a way out of the dressage show real life be damned 😉 Hee.. and second. Henry glares are great. and third, I just squealed aloud when i realize the show this weekend I WILL BE THERE FOR !! YAY.. i completely forgot i go to Austin this weekend (In like 20 minutes from just discussing it HA)..I may melt but I may be there to see how Henry really glares in person. Wait your dressage is like 5 am or something..not sure i will make that. But will be there to see him go WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE over jumps.
I feel the same way about dressage Henry and so does Remus. HA I am glad you have bad days too. I do enjoy them almost as much as your good ones because…well we all like company in our misery 🙂
Re Bits I am telling you that Boucher/Baucher is the only thing Remus can totally not be a grump in. He likes the french link loose ring BUT he likes to lean on that so he only gets that once in a while (Plus cant stop him in it so if he is up in the air (2 times a year at most) I have no brakes.) Horses….gotta love them 🙂 .
Bit changes are a never ending thing in my world! I think I found the one that works, I just don’t want to shell out the money for a brand new one of them and I can only find that exact bit from Bomber.
I think demons are crawling in gelding butts here in VA as well…was ready to send Copper away last week…and I didn’t even ride, it was just ground manners. Wth. Lemme know how that exorcism goes.
He may have contracted the Eggs and Bacey demon. I have yet to find a priest or the right amount of holy water to make it leave. I’ll let you know when I discover the way.
My goodness. He sure does have that mare stare down, doesn’t he? Haha. Let’s hope it was just an off day from the hackamore use. I’m afraid to get on my big red gelding after what I’ve read of you and sarahczspots’ recent accounts with your own.
Henny too hot to dressage.
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Ah well. Can I just say I think it’s cool that you share about your off days, too, and not just the rides that went swimmingly or the show results you’re proud of? Because, we all have those days, and they probably serve us more in the journey of learning/progressing than the amazing ones. The way I think about it, my horse puts up with ME when I’m up there riding him grumpily, distracted, unfocused, tense, asymmetric, and carrying around all the stress of whatever happened that day…so I really owe him grace and patience on his bad days too.
Bad days are frustrating as all hell, though. Especially if and when they happen to land on lesson day, when you’ve spent time trailering them to trainer and everything involved in that. 😐 Not awesome. Clay and I had a very bad day during a clinic, for which we had trailed three hours one way, and the trainer giving it had flown across the country to be there. Womb womb. But, in the end, working through bad days, problem solving, and gaining patience and understanding in our horsemanship is what sets us apart from “those” horse people (ya’ll have seen em) who lose their shit on their horses if they act up at ALL or aren’t perfect every second. I don’t want to be like that, and handling frustration and disappointment with grace takes practice. So, I guess, thanks for the practice, Clay….
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oy good luck. maybe he thought that you had forgotten about dressage and that you all got to be done with it forever? poor guy, hopefully in a few rides he’ll be begrudgingly back on board.
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first of all i think you subconsciously found a way out of the dressage show real life be damned 😉 Hee.. and second. Henry glares are great. and third, I just squealed aloud when i realize the show this weekend I WILL BE THERE FOR !! YAY.. i completely forgot i go to Austin this weekend (In like 20 minutes from just discussing it HA)..I may melt but I may be there to see how Henry really glares in person. Wait your dressage is like 5 am or something..not sure i will make that. But will be there to see him go WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE over jumps.
I feel the same way about dressage Henry and so does Remus. HA I am glad you have bad days too. I do enjoy them almost as much as your good ones because…well we all like company in our misery 🙂
Re Bits I am telling you that Boucher/Baucher is the only thing Remus can totally not be a grump in. He likes the french link loose ring BUT he likes to lean on that so he only gets that once in a while (Plus cant stop him in it so if he is up in the air (2 times a year at most) I have no brakes.) Horses….gotta love them 🙂 .
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I’m not sure what this “real life” is of which you speak…
*Goes into barn, into stall, closes door*
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I dunno, but sometimes I get in trouble when I forget that it exists.
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Bit changes are a never ending thing in my world! I think I found the one that works, I just don’t want to shell out the money for a brand new one of them and I can only find that exact bit from Bomber.
Good luck on the bit search!
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I think demons are crawling in gelding butts here in VA as well…was ready to send Copper away last week…and I didn’t even ride, it was just ground manners. Wth. Lemme know how that exorcism goes.
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He may have contracted the Eggs and Bacey demon. I have yet to find a priest or the right amount of holy water to make it leave. I’ll let you know when I discover the way.
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Melodramatic geldings are at least as difficult as mares. My friend has one and he actually makes me glad that I have a mare sometimes lol
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My goodness. He sure does have that mare stare down, doesn’t he? Haha. Let’s hope it was just an off day from the hackamore use. I’m afraid to get on my big red gelding after what I’ve read of you and sarahczspots’ recent accounts with your own.
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Thank goodness real life only interfered with Dressage and not something more fun! He’s probably just mad you didn’t let him jump at trainer’s.
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