watch out, we got a wild one!

This week has been a bit of a quiet one. Temperatures have been back in the realm of 'bearable' after a long-ish heat wave, so that's nice. It's still hot tho, still in the 90s. Or maybe we're just getting used to it? Idk haha.

very prettily manicured little road!

Anyway, with back to back show weekends for our little 'mini mid summer season,' we've just been focused on creating a balance throughout the week. To recover from Tranquility, address some of the weaknesses shown during that event, and prepare for Fair Hill this coming weekend.

ooooooh a new field!

Recovery is maybe the easiest part there haha - tho naturally, Charlie made damn sure he got it by throwing one of those precious leather-lined shoes of his on Monday. Sigh. That was just under three weeks, if you're keeping track.

So he got new kicks put on up front on Tuesday, and we took advantage of a willing and able barn friend to go out for an easy, low key, but long-ish hack.

then back up the pretty little road again with bff / herd boss, Tip

"Long-ish" being relative here, haha. But barn mate showed me some previously unknown riding spots. Apparently we can completely circumnavigate almost all (but not quite all) of the big pastures to get around to a private road out back, that then leads to this other quite lovely field.

'oooooh there's a.... thing!' - charlie, probably

We just rode around the perimeter of the field before turning back, as opposed to staying there to work around (tho that's definitely something for the future!) - but it was still a nice distance for hacking around. Maybe 30ish minutes total. I wish we had more, but this is at least something.

"uh, wat r dat?"

Plus Charlie got to hack around some garden and chicken stuff on campus, and then in between a couple more active athletic fields where soccer games were being played. The chickens got a little bit of a leery look from Charlie, but the athletic fields were old news, considering they line Charlie's pasture fence anyway.

I'm still really craving long, satisfying trail rides tho..... hopefully there will be more opportunity for that later this summer. Maybe we'll go back to Sweet Air? Or to Austen's again? Or maybe a big group ride at Fair Hill? Hopefully something!!

"it clucked at me. and now i am perplexed :( "

As much as we love hacking freely about the countryside tho, that's not really the greatest way to prepare for a show. So we've been schooling too. Primarily on the flat, since that's where we both need the most work.

clearly exhausted from the exertion

I put Charlie back in that giant ridiculous Myler for another ride this week too. This being the third time he's worn it (we've been playing with it about once a month or every 6 weeks).

I continue to feel like the Myler is a useful, possibly effective, training tool used sparingly with Charlie. He's continued the trend of being less stressed out by the bit, and I'm able now to really put my leg on and push him up into the bit (whereas that would have resulted in extreme claustrophobia and probably a massive meltdown the first time he wore it).

"hello yes, i was promised cookies and nose smooches?"

And it gives me a lot more influence on how he carries his front end. Not perfectly - obvi I can't exactly use a bit to get the horse to lift his back or wither or 'sit,' bc... uh... that's not how it works haha. And he has a tendency to want to break at the 3rd vertebra and duck behind this bit (and a little behind my leg too).

But it does allow me greater control over the speed of his front end. And it reduces his leaning to zero. Those two factors, I think, are really useful right now in Charlie's development, especially now that he's comfortable enough in the bit for me to put my leg ON.

watch out for that wild horse in the cross ties!
also pictured: why i clip the ties to the cheek rings instead of the nose rings

Because he needs to really keep coming forward from the hind end, really push push push from behind. But his front end needs to slow down, to wait instead of getting heavy and just running more and more onto his forehand.

My hope is that this exercise of really getting him to wait up front (but not by letting him lean on my hands), while continuing to drive him forward from behind, will help to build that strength he needs to carry his shoulders more 'up.' And hopefully also helping him develop more longitudinal suppleness (provided I can keep him relatively straight.... bc that lateral suppleness ain't exactly well-developed yet either haha).
 

"who are you calling goofy?!? i am clearly impressive wild stallion! this isn't a fly mask, it's my fierce warrior armor"

We'll see tho. The value of the Myler (in my grand plan, at least) is that we can use the bit for the occasional ride to help establish that feeling in the horse, and then switch back to the snaffle while still being able to access the feeling.

We followed a similar pattern in the days leading up to our last Fair Hill starter trial, and Charlie put in what felt like a really good test for him. It didn't score well but it might also just be a long time before we're putting together enough "good moments" in a test to get the scores up.

sure, charlie. keep tellin' yourself that!

So for now I'm trying to just stay focused on getting the right 'feeling' from the horse - vigorously asking for it, searching for it in our rides - and rewarding as quickly and thoroughly as I'm able.

Bc flat work really isn't Charlie's favorite right now. It's hard for him, and not as fun as jumping. He's not super trusting of carrying himself in a new balance. It worries him a bit, especially as it makes him a little uncomfortable by being so difficult. And then he trips and is like, "WTF I knew this was a bad idea!" Poor guy.

But he can do it. I know he can. And the better I can do as a rider in holding my position, in solidifying my timing of when to ask and when to release, the better he'll do. Easy, right?

Anyway. It's Friday. Finally. And it's hopefully going to be a great weekend! Do you have any big plans? Are you in a ramping-up phase for anything? Or maybe you're unwinding? Or something in between - an easy holding pattern or the dog days of summer?