As of yesterday Dex seems to have gotten all of the alfalfa out of his system. We even had a productive lesson today.
Although we had one little lunge/buck fit yesterday after he slipped on a bit on the mud. I had been avoiding all the wet spots in the pasture but Dexter thought he knew better and veered off into a mud pit. His front legs slipped and he decided to jump and buck to get his balance.
He's done this before and I never understood it. Dear Dexter, flailing your legs around in various directions will not help you land steadily on your feet. But yesterday I figured it out. Have you ever seen a cat loose its balance or do something stupid. They kind of look around to see who saw and act like they totally meant to do it. That's what Dexter is doing, he doesn't want me to know he trips over his own feet so he starts the little bucking act to pretend like he meant to do it.
Don't worry Dexter, I understand. As long as you don't go for an Oscar winning performance and buck me out of the saddle.
January 8, 2011
January 7, 2011
Dexter on Drugs
or as other's know it...Alfalfa. When I first purchased Dexter he was on grass hay, the new place I was going to board at primarily fed alfalfa. We fed alfalfa a lot in FL and since I didn't want him to have to be kept by himself, we decided to wean him off the grass and onto the alfalfa.
He seemed a little snorty and more high energy than I remembered when I had tried him out but I tossed it up to being in a new place with new things to worry about. Then came the spooking and bolting, see How did you get there?. I was not a fan, this wasn't the horse I signed up for and started to really worry about what to do with him. He was snorting, bolting and generally nervous about everything.
I started doing some research and found several comments and articles regarding alfalfa hay. Some said it affected the horses energy, some said there was no definite proof. Anyways, I decided to get him off the alfalfa, it took some convincing of the barn owner (mostly because it was so hard to find), but we got him back on grass...what a difference.
Some may think it was in my head, maybe so, but all I know is he became much more manageable and the calm, laid-back horse I had bought. Sure he'll jump a little every now and then at a truck backfiring (who wouldn't). But it would be a quick jump and look vs. a full on race to the barn.
We have been on grass for a while and he's been doing dandy. I went on vacation over the New Years and the barn owner gave him some alfalfa while I was gone to keep him warm. I told her that was fine, because I wasn't riding him, I saw she was still giving it to him as of Monday and asked her to stop being as I planned on riding once the snow melted.
Fast forward (or rewind depending on where you are) to yesterday. I went to ride him, knowing it was chilly, and that he had been off for a week, so I expected some extra spirit. What I got was some extra stupid. I knew we weren't going to get much accomplished when he started prancing and snorting just entering the barn. As I tacked him up he calmed down and was OK when we first started riding. The ground was still wet and slightly slick so we didn't do much. But he was having trouble focusing and I could tell he was way more worried about just about everything except me. We'd get one trot circle in then I'd feel him tense up. His neck would get rigid and he'd take shorter steps. For the most part we worked through it, but every once and a while I had to stop him and remind him I was still there. There were a few times he jerked his head up to look at something, what, I don't know. We rode for maybe 20 minutes working on transitions then called it a day. I wasn't ready for another fall, and the slick ground worried me. We stopped just in time, because as soon as I got off the boogieman came out. He spun around, looked off into the distance and gave a big huge snort, you know the kind you see stallions do when they see a super cute filly. He lifted his head to remind everyone just how big he was, and kept getting ahead of me and generally walking all over me. We spent some time working on ground manners then went in.
The thing is the alfalfa doesn't seem to give him extra energy, its not like he's moving faster or wants to run, it just makes him crazy/stupid, on edge really. Everything is scary, he's worried about every little noise or movement of the wind. Like last night he tripped over his own foot and decided that warranted a little buck/lunge/spin routine. Did the ground offend him?? He becomes scatter-brained and unfocused. It makes riding totally un-fun. Maybe if I was younger and had a pair, I'd consider it a fun challenge. I've never known anything to alter a horses personality like that before, it really is bizarre to me and makes me think I'm the one with issues.
And maybe it is other elements that are causing this but it just seems way to coincidental. Does anyone else have issues with alfalfa? Some people swear by it. I know the barn manager thinks I'm crazy because all her horses act fine on it.
But luckily it isn't a permanent personality flaw, and all I have to do is keep him away from drugs, I mean alfalfa..
He seemed a little snorty and more high energy than I remembered when I had tried him out but I tossed it up to being in a new place with new things to worry about. Then came the spooking and bolting, see How did you get there?. I was not a fan, this wasn't the horse I signed up for and started to really worry about what to do with him. He was snorting, bolting and generally nervous about everything.
I started doing some research and found several comments and articles regarding alfalfa hay. Some said it affected the horses energy, some said there was no definite proof. Anyways, I decided to get him off the alfalfa, it took some convincing of the barn owner (mostly because it was so hard to find), but we got him back on grass...what a difference.
Some may think it was in my head, maybe so, but all I know is he became much more manageable and the calm, laid-back horse I had bought. Sure he'll jump a little every now and then at a truck backfiring (who wouldn't). But it would be a quick jump and look vs. a full on race to the barn.
We have been on grass for a while and he's been doing dandy. I went on vacation over the New Years and the barn owner gave him some alfalfa while I was gone to keep him warm. I told her that was fine, because I wasn't riding him, I saw she was still giving it to him as of Monday and asked her to stop being as I planned on riding once the snow melted.
Fast forward (or rewind depending on where you are) to yesterday. I went to ride him, knowing it was chilly, and that he had been off for a week, so I expected some extra spirit. What I got was some extra stupid. I knew we weren't going to get much accomplished when he started prancing and snorting just entering the barn. As I tacked him up he calmed down and was OK when we first started riding. The ground was still wet and slightly slick so we didn't do much. But he was having trouble focusing and I could tell he was way more worried about just about everything except me. We'd get one trot circle in then I'd feel him tense up. His neck would get rigid and he'd take shorter steps. For the most part we worked through it, but every once and a while I had to stop him and remind him I was still there. There were a few times he jerked his head up to look at something, what, I don't know. We rode for maybe 20 minutes working on transitions then called it a day. I wasn't ready for another fall, and the slick ground worried me. We stopped just in time, because as soon as I got off the boogieman came out. He spun around, looked off into the distance and gave a big huge snort, you know the kind you see stallions do when they see a super cute filly. He lifted his head to remind everyone just how big he was, and kept getting ahead of me and generally walking all over me. We spent some time working on ground manners then went in.
The thing is the alfalfa doesn't seem to give him extra energy, its not like he's moving faster or wants to run, it just makes him crazy/stupid, on edge really. Everything is scary, he's worried about every little noise or movement of the wind. Like last night he tripped over his own foot and decided that warranted a little buck/lunge/spin routine. Did the ground offend him?? He becomes scatter-brained and unfocused. It makes riding totally un-fun. Maybe if I was younger and had a pair, I'd consider it a fun challenge. I've never known anything to alter a horses personality like that before, it really is bizarre to me and makes me think I'm the one with issues.And maybe it is other elements that are causing this but it just seems way to coincidental. Does anyone else have issues with alfalfa? Some people swear by it. I know the barn manager thinks I'm crazy because all her horses act fine on it.
But luckily it isn't a permanent personality flaw, and all I have to do is keep him away from drugs, I mean alfalfa..
January 6, 2011
One Event To End Them All
Every time I watch Eventers on TV I am amazed at the courage and stamina of both horse and rider. They make it look so fun, galloping across the countryside, leaping over giant barrels and flowerbeds. I start to wonder if I should try eventing again.... then I remember.
Apart from Pony Club Combined Training Rallies (which were actually kinda fun) I only competed in one real Eventing Competition when I was about 16. I'm not even sure why we did it, I had been showing dressage for a while and I usually went to other shows if I was tagging along with friends, but I remember being there by myself. Maybe we just wanted to try it out. It was a learning experience none the less, I learned I am not an eventer.
Cross country was first, I had my watch, I had walked and memorized the course. It was different than our little course at home but had most of the same elements, logs, tires, ramps, ditches (well we didn't have ditches at home, but we'll be OK right?).
The buzzer rang and we were off to the first jump. LE (my QH mare) looked at it and backed off a little but sprang over it. On to the second... I see it, LE sees it, I'm looking over it and LE is looking at it. Nope, first refusal. It's OK, new course we will just try again, nope, second refusal. I start to get a little flustered, LE doesn't usually refuse. So I give her some "encouragement" with my legs and crop (sorry LE) and I'm sure there was some loud "GIIIT" noises. I think I would have been much calmer except despite that fact that this was a small event they still thought they needed an announcer. And I could hear him, I don't remember exactly what he was saying other than it was to the effect of "Rider #4 freaking out and beating her horse at jump #2, less hope she gets over this jump soon." So I think we refused one more time then got over the jump.
Onto the rest of the jumps, I think we refused every other one, and the ones we didn't we cleared by a good foot and a half (they were only 2'6" to begin with). Then we hit the ditch, a small 2ft wide ditch. LE had seen these before at rallies but I guess she didn't approve of this one. At this point I had lost all hope for the course so I wasn't so spastic, after a few refusals we walked up to it and she leaped over it. I don't remember the rest of the course, but I remember when we were done I didn't cry, I wasn't mad, I just thought "Wow, that was a disaster and embarrassing."
Next was show jumping. Surprisingly LE got her jumping legs back and we did the course with no refusals, maybe a few knock downs though. But being as my trainer wasn't there to tell me different and I was so focused on the time, I took every tight turn available. If there was a long way or a short way, I took the short. Yanking poor LE around tight turns. I was a nervous wreck but she did well. I started to think I might place (certainly not win). All that was left was dressage and I knew dressage! This was the part most people struggle through, they had jumpers they were forcing to do dressage, I had a dressage horse I was forcing to jump.
Finally dressage, we could do this! And there were individual ribbons for dressage so I was confident we would at least go away with something. As we walked around the ring waiting for the bell to ring the scribe asked me if I would like her to hold my whip. What an odd question? No silly scribe I'll keep it, I don't usually use it in the test but it's nice to have, thanks anyways. We did the test well, dont' remember much of it as it wasn't stressful or brilliant, just a good test.
After a good break I went back to check my scores... Cross Country - bleh, Jumping - OK, Dressage... DQed. What?? Disqualified?? (Apparently you can't use a whip in combined training classes, you can in Pony Club so I had not clue). They still showed my score - best score in dressage... I would have at least gotten a ribbon in that class. Great. Stupid me for not reading the rules or questioning why someone would want to take my whip. Hey, they tried.
So that was my first and last Event. Not because I'm a quitter (maybe a little). But because overall I wasn't having fun, LE wasn't having fun and it just wasn't our cup of tea. We still jumped over our jumps at home, with no pressure or time constraints and still had fun, but for showing, dressage was it.
Apart from Pony Club Combined Training Rallies (which were actually kinda fun) I only competed in one real Eventing Competition when I was about 16. I'm not even sure why we did it, I had been showing dressage for a while and I usually went to other shows if I was tagging along with friends, but I remember being there by myself. Maybe we just wanted to try it out. It was a learning experience none the less, I learned I am not an eventer.
Cross country was first, I had my watch, I had walked and memorized the course. It was different than our little course at home but had most of the same elements, logs, tires, ramps, ditches (well we didn't have ditches at home, but we'll be OK right?).
The buzzer rang and we were off to the first jump. LE (my QH mare) looked at it and backed off a little but sprang over it. On to the second... I see it, LE sees it, I'm looking over it and LE is looking at it. Nope, first refusal. It's OK, new course we will just try again, nope, second refusal. I start to get a little flustered, LE doesn't usually refuse. So I give her some "encouragement" with my legs and crop (sorry LE) and I'm sure there was some loud "GIIIT" noises. I think I would have been much calmer except despite that fact that this was a small event they still thought they needed an announcer. And I could hear him, I don't remember exactly what he was saying other than it was to the effect of "Rider #4 freaking out and beating her horse at jump #2, less hope she gets over this jump soon." So I think we refused one more time then got over the jump.
Next was show jumping. Surprisingly LE got her jumping legs back and we did the course with no refusals, maybe a few knock downs though. But being as my trainer wasn't there to tell me different and I was so focused on the time, I took every tight turn available. If there was a long way or a short way, I took the short. Yanking poor LE around tight turns. I was a nervous wreck but she did well. I started to think I might place (certainly not win). All that was left was dressage and I knew dressage! This was the part most people struggle through, they had jumpers they were forcing to do dressage, I had a dressage horse I was forcing to jump.
Finally dressage, we could do this! And there were individual ribbons for dressage so I was confident we would at least go away with something. As we walked around the ring waiting for the bell to ring the scribe asked me if I would like her to hold my whip. What an odd question? No silly scribe I'll keep it, I don't usually use it in the test but it's nice to have, thanks anyways. We did the test well, dont' remember much of it as it wasn't stressful or brilliant, just a good test.
After a good break I went back to check my scores... Cross Country - bleh, Jumping - OK, Dressage... DQed. What?? Disqualified?? (Apparently you can't use a whip in combined training classes, you can in Pony Club so I had not clue). They still showed my score - best score in dressage... I would have at least gotten a ribbon in that class. Great. Stupid me for not reading the rules or questioning why someone would want to take my whip. Hey, they tried.
So that was my first and last Event. Not because I'm a quitter (maybe a little). But because overall I wasn't having fun, LE wasn't having fun and it just wasn't our cup of tea. We still jumped over our jumps at home, with no pressure or time constraints and still had fun, but for showing, dressage was it.
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