Poor husband, he'll cheerfully say "Oh don't worry you're going to do so well!" - to a normal human being this is probably a comforting and nice thing to hear. To freaked out med student it feels somehow both insulting and patronizing.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Grumpy and Grouchy
That's what being in the middle of week 3 of finals will do to you. Ugh, how do they expect us to possibly fit all these little tiny facts into our overstuffed/overstressed/overtired brains? Not feeling very zen right now.
Poor husband, he'll cheerfully say "Oh don't worry you're going to do so well!" - to a normal human being this is probably a comforting and nice thing to hear. To freaked out med student it feels somehow both insulting and patronizing.
Poor husband, he'll cheerfully say "Oh don't worry you're going to do so well!" - to a normal human being this is probably a comforting and nice thing to hear. To freaked out med student it feels somehow both insulting and patronizing.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Tricky Situation
At the therapeutic riding center where I teach and volunteer we receive a good number of horse donation offers each year. We've had a number of just super horses come to us this way, many of them a little older but not ready to retire, perhaps not able to do the level of riding the owner wishes, or the owner may have too many horses to keep in work.. There are lots of reasons. Our horses have amazing lives, have free turnout 24/7 on our acreage, cared for by an on-site property manager who treats them all as her own, and are doted on by volunteers and students.
Our clients range from four - sixty-four year olds (and everywhere in between) all of whom have some type of mental and/or physical disability. Understandably, our vetting process for new horses is pretty strict, and unfortunately we're only able to accept maybe 1/3 of the offers we receive for trial, and of these maybe only another half make it to being a full member of our herd. A lot of the reasons we have to say no have to do with health, many people are in search of retirement homes for their loved older horses, and while we Love gentle older horses they simply need to be sound and able to be in light work (and by light, I mean at most 5 days/week, up to 4 hours (2 max consecutive) at mostly walk with a little trot). It isn't a retirement-type situation. We have to turn away horses that have any propensity to stumbling, who need corrective shoeing or expensive health maintenance.. We also only accept geldings over the age of 10.
After email or phone communication and a visit to the horses home (we expose them to a few of our toys and props and see their reaction, watch the owner ride, and ultimately ride ourselves if everything looks to be going OK) we ask for a trial period to bring the horse to our center and see if they'll work out.
So, the situation at hand - we've had a horse 'on trial' at the farm and needed to make a decision re stay or go. I worked with him once a week in Oct/Nov, along with another instructor on other days, and when the equine manager asked if I thought he should stay I had to give my vote of No. He is physically in OK shape for the work he would need to do here, but mentally I just don't think he has what it's gong to take. Therapy horses are super special guys and it's just not a job for everyone. They need to be able to deal with working with different volunteers every night, and have to be a little forgiving of a rider who is learning, and is going to make some loud noises or abrupt motions, and frankly some 'mistakes' too. We always set up our horses to succeed, they wear halters and have leaders with the most involved riders, and many riders have sidewalkers walking next to them for support, but we count on our horse as integral team members to the students' success too.
Horse in question is just not there mentally (some concrete examples include two separate occasions on the lunge line where he rushed me and has turned to kick out to the center.. 'laziness'/wanting to get of work I'm ok with but dangerous behaviors like rushing aren't good signs). In hand he is manageable to an experienced horseperson but many of our volunteers have basic knowledge and while they work excellently will well trained superstar horses, may not be prepared to work with a horse who has 'NO' in him. So, basically for a variety of reasons including those above, he is not going to be accepted into the program as a therapeutic riding horse.
The problem - the owner is upset that we don't want him, and will not agree to take him back. This hasn't actually happened before, and we're not sure what to do about it. Unfortunately the contract we have in our lease doesn't have language that can force her to - I'm not sure how all that is written or what the deal is but that's what I'm told. (I assume that wasn't an anticipated problem..) I keep thinking about it and I can't help feeling guilty and worried about what's going to happen to this horse. He's older, doesn't have nice manners, and not very nice conformationally. It's a difficult situation, and I'm not sure how it's going to play out. We've been looking for people who might want a 'buddy' pasture horse, but frankly there aren't many of those homes out there especially in the middle of winter. In any case, our contract is being re-worded.
Our clients range from four - sixty-four year olds (and everywhere in between) all of whom have some type of mental and/or physical disability. Understandably, our vetting process for new horses is pretty strict, and unfortunately we're only able to accept maybe 1/3 of the offers we receive for trial, and of these maybe only another half make it to being a full member of our herd. A lot of the reasons we have to say no have to do with health, many people are in search of retirement homes for their loved older horses, and while we Love gentle older horses they simply need to be sound and able to be in light work (and by light, I mean at most 5 days/week, up to 4 hours (2 max consecutive) at mostly walk with a little trot). It isn't a retirement-type situation. We have to turn away horses that have any propensity to stumbling, who need corrective shoeing or expensive health maintenance.. We also only accept geldings over the age of 10.
After email or phone communication and a visit to the horses home (we expose them to a few of our toys and props and see their reaction, watch the owner ride, and ultimately ride ourselves if everything looks to be going OK) we ask for a trial period to bring the horse to our center and see if they'll work out.
So, the situation at hand - we've had a horse 'on trial' at the farm and needed to make a decision re stay or go. I worked with him once a week in Oct/Nov, along with another instructor on other days, and when the equine manager asked if I thought he should stay I had to give my vote of No. He is physically in OK shape for the work he would need to do here, but mentally I just don't think he has what it's gong to take. Therapy horses are super special guys and it's just not a job for everyone. They need to be able to deal with working with different volunteers every night, and have to be a little forgiving of a rider who is learning, and is going to make some loud noises or abrupt motions, and frankly some 'mistakes' too. We always set up our horses to succeed, they wear halters and have leaders with the most involved riders, and many riders have sidewalkers walking next to them for support, but we count on our horse as integral team members to the students' success too.
Horse in question is just not there mentally (some concrete examples include two separate occasions on the lunge line where he rushed me and has turned to kick out to the center.. 'laziness'/wanting to get of work I'm ok with but dangerous behaviors like rushing aren't good signs). In hand he is manageable to an experienced horseperson but many of our volunteers have basic knowledge and while they work excellently will well trained superstar horses, may not be prepared to work with a horse who has 'NO' in him. So, basically for a variety of reasons including those above, he is not going to be accepted into the program as a therapeutic riding horse.
The problem - the owner is upset that we don't want him, and will not agree to take him back. This hasn't actually happened before, and we're not sure what to do about it. Unfortunately the contract we have in our lease doesn't have language that can force her to - I'm not sure how all that is written or what the deal is but that's what I'm told. (I assume that wasn't an anticipated problem..) I keep thinking about it and I can't help feeling guilty and worried about what's going to happen to this horse. He's older, doesn't have nice manners, and not very nice conformationally. It's a difficult situation, and I'm not sure how it's going to play out. We've been looking for people who might want a 'buddy' pasture horse, but frankly there aren't many of those homes out there especially in the middle of winter. In any case, our contract is being re-worded.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Hank
Lesson Friday! This week I was on a new horse, I get out to the barn and trainer is in the back with the farrier and sends me out with a halter to catch Hank, an 11 yo draft-paint (??) that he has in the barn to sell for his owner. Overall, I do think it's good for me to get to ride lots of different horses and experience different ways of going but Man do I wish I had my own horse.
Hank was fairly good on the ground but needed lots of reminders to No stay out of my space and Hey stop flipping the cross ties around. This was my fault for just getting up on a horse I'd never met before, but after mounting and trying to warm up he jigged all over then started bumping around up and down and breaking to canter and trot (not dangerous just excited and fresh). Trainer was there at this point so he had me dismount and we free lunged him for a little while to let him express himself and Wow I was glad we did so - lots of 'expression' / exuberance/ bucking and kicking! Up I went again and we began our lesson.
Theo and I have been getting along well together (and I rode Luke in my last lesson, So great to be back on him as well!) - what both of these horses have in common that I love is that they are very sensitive off my seat and leg. Hank- not so much. Especially with Luke, I just need to Think about turning and it happens. Hank was not tuned in this way. I was using a Lot of inside leg and I felt like an inordinate amount of rein support to stay on the rail, and bending was very difficult for him. We did lots of circles to try to loosen up.. It was just a little frustrating because it honestly just made me feel like a bad rider to have a horse not listening (or not able to?) do what I've been working hard to achieve with Theo and Luke. It was good for me to experience working with a horse like this I suppose, and yes by the end of the lesson things he had gotten better. We worked a lot on driving him forward when he leaned on my hands and staying centered and tall in the saddle and supporting from my core. (Good lessons to take to my work with Theo) Finally towards the end of the lesson he started to carry himself a little more and things were going a little better, but he's just not physically as supple or capable right now as I would like/enjoy to ride.
I have a feeling though I may be riding him in more lessons. Trainer was very kind - he said Hank hadn't had much professional riding experience and he liked seeing him go with me / someone working to make him go correctly. Don't worry I didn't let it go to my head, but it was just such a nice thing to say and hear. Maybe there is a nicer horse in there, the end of our lesson definitely showed promise. We'll see what happens next week.
In med school news, dreaded finals are underway and I'm dying. Insert tiny whining violin.
Hank was fairly good on the ground but needed lots of reminders to No stay out of my space and Hey stop flipping the cross ties around. This was my fault for just getting up on a horse I'd never met before, but after mounting and trying to warm up he jigged all over then started bumping around up and down and breaking to canter and trot (not dangerous just excited and fresh). Trainer was there at this point so he had me dismount and we free lunged him for a little while to let him express himself and Wow I was glad we did so - lots of 'expression' / exuberance/ bucking and kicking! Up I went again and we began our lesson.
Theo and I have been getting along well together (and I rode Luke in my last lesson, So great to be back on him as well!) - what both of these horses have in common that I love is that they are very sensitive off my seat and leg. Hank- not so much. Especially with Luke, I just need to Think about turning and it happens. Hank was not tuned in this way. I was using a Lot of inside leg and I felt like an inordinate amount of rein support to stay on the rail, and bending was very difficult for him. We did lots of circles to try to loosen up.. It was just a little frustrating because it honestly just made me feel like a bad rider to have a horse not listening (or not able to?) do what I've been working hard to achieve with Theo and Luke. It was good for me to experience working with a horse like this I suppose, and yes by the end of the lesson things he had gotten better. We worked a lot on driving him forward when he leaned on my hands and staying centered and tall in the saddle and supporting from my core. (Good lessons to take to my work with Theo) Finally towards the end of the lesson he started to carry himself a little more and things were going a little better, but he's just not physically as supple or capable right now as I would like/enjoy to ride.
I have a feeling though I may be riding him in more lessons. Trainer was very kind - he said Hank hadn't had much professional riding experience and he liked seeing him go with me / someone working to make him go correctly. Don't worry I didn't let it go to my head, but it was just such a nice thing to say and hear. Maybe there is a nicer horse in there, the end of our lesson definitely showed promise. We'll see what happens next week.
In med school news, dreaded finals are underway and I'm dying. Insert tiny whining violin.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
One step forward
And two steps back.
My last two lessons ended on decidedly different notes.
After the first I was thinking Hey maybe I know something (anything?) and maybe we're getting somewhere on this whole dressage journey. We were working on a 20m circle and really Theo had a nice powerful trot cooking along, I was sitting and felt connected for once.. Trainer had us throw in 10m circles to the center off the 20m and alternate between motoring off in trot and picking up the canter as we got back to our 20m circle. And.we.could.do.it. It was neat. Accuracy with canter transitions is not my forte, I'm happy to get one in a few strides. All this circle-y stuff really helped us as we had to both stay super focused the whole time.
And then, I rode this weekend. We tried some new exercises, again with our friend the 20m circle, but it got trickier. We were in sitting trot again, having our nice little motor rhythm, then spiraled in to a pretty small circle, I'd guess 8m, around trainer, then leg yield back out to big circle (all in trot). This was going OK, we had some nice moments. Then things went to hell. The new task was spiral in, leg yield out to 15m circle around trainer and pick up canter and STAY on 15m circle. Mind was blown, people. Both mine and poor Theo's. He's doesn't have a super balanced canter and trying to get him to stay on that smaller circle was not so doable. It was like 15m for maybe half a circle then skitter skitter skitter Right past my outside leg - like blow right past it you're not stopping me lady kind of thing. It was disheartening. THEN we added in a ground pole, this did not help. Theo loves to jump and I think he was getting pretty sick of my trying to thrust my amateur dressage on him. Instead of ground pole helping us get him to rock back on those hindquarters and balance it was more of Ohhh whee let's grab the bit in our mouth and vault, then take off excitedly in rushy rushy canter till rider can organize herself enough to get even a modicum of connection. Not my finest moment, and frankly I Still am at a loss on what to do. He gets very strong and I KNOW dressage riders are Not supposed to have sore arms so I feel pretty that's a pretty obvious failure. It feels like he's pulling and leaning on me to help him balance, but I'm just not quite sure what to do about it. Trainer says to just keep sitting still and resisting and no pulling back whatsoever, sit tall and use my core buttt.... nothing seems to be happening (or at least, it wasn't in that lesson).
My last two lessons ended on decidedly different notes.
After the first I was thinking Hey maybe I know something (anything?) and maybe we're getting somewhere on this whole dressage journey. We were working on a 20m circle and really Theo had a nice powerful trot cooking along, I was sitting and felt connected for once.. Trainer had us throw in 10m circles to the center off the 20m and alternate between motoring off in trot and picking up the canter as we got back to our 20m circle. And.we.could.do.it. It was neat. Accuracy with canter transitions is not my forte, I'm happy to get one in a few strides. All this circle-y stuff really helped us as we had to both stay super focused the whole time.
(MS paint version of exercise)
Canter at the star. This version = success!
And then, I rode this weekend. We tried some new exercises, again with our friend the 20m circle, but it got trickier. We were in sitting trot again, having our nice little motor rhythm, then spiraled in to a pretty small circle, I'd guess 8m, around trainer, then leg yield back out to big circle (all in trot). This was going OK, we had some nice moments. Then things went to hell. The new task was spiral in, leg yield out to 15m circle around trainer and pick up canter and STAY on 15m circle. Mind was blown, people. Both mine and poor Theo's. He's doesn't have a super balanced canter and trying to get him to stay on that smaller circle was not so doable. It was like 15m for maybe half a circle then skitter skitter skitter Right past my outside leg - like blow right past it you're not stopping me lady kind of thing. It was disheartening. THEN we added in a ground pole, this did not help. Theo loves to jump and I think he was getting pretty sick of my trying to thrust my amateur dressage on him. Instead of ground pole helping us get him to rock back on those hindquarters and balance it was more of Ohhh whee let's grab the bit in our mouth and vault, then take off excitedly in rushy rushy canter till rider can organize herself enough to get even a modicum of connection. Not my finest moment, and frankly I Still am at a loss on what to do. He gets very strong and I KNOW dressage riders are Not supposed to have sore arms so I feel pretty that's a pretty obvious failure. It feels like he's pulling and leaning on me to help him balance, but I'm just not quite sure what to do about it. Trainer says to just keep sitting still and resisting and no pulling back whatsoever, sit tall and use my core buttt.... nothing seems to be happening (or at least, it wasn't in that lesson).
Exercise 2: Not successful
Black arrows at trot, spiral all the way in around disgruntled looking trainer, grey arrows leg yield out to 15 m circle and pick up canter at Star, attempt to canter 15m circle but instead careen out to orange line matching despairing trainers face.
Oliver says to stop whining and get back to studying.
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