PRACTICE REVIEW!

WE NEED THE RAIN…BUT DANG!

California has been in need of serious rain and snowfall for a long time. This winter we are getting it. If you have been following the news you know our infrastructure is freaking out a little bit…or more than a little. Here in the Sierra Foothills most of the equine community is struggling. Horses are in muddy paddocks and pastures. Turnouts for stall boarded horses are wet and the footing is less than ideal. The number of available covered arenas that most folks can use is VERY limited. Folks are working with their horses in the short breaks between weather fronts and the horses are not only muddy but rusty and a tad crazy.

We are all in the same boat. Last week we got in two sessions before the weather came back. So Cearra makes two steps forward and one step back in her training because there is no safe way to be consistent right now. A little groundwork to keep the mind supple but even that sees the horses (all three of them) slipping around and not being happy. It has been another wet week up here.

PRACTICE REVIEW: The weather, the road conditions and a plague that hit several member’s vehicles the dead batteries, flat tires and other ailments impact the session. Those that did make it had to deal with a fairly busy arena. As scheduled, we loaded up and headed to Ione, CA. for the Nor-Cal Chapter of the Golden State Horsemanship Club’s February Focused Practice. The “theme” of the practice is the Three C’s of Horsemanship (Communication, Confidence and Control).

The “interesting” thing about going to public arenas is that you get to see full spectrum of horses, humans and horsemanship. We witnesses some good horsemanship and not-so-good horsemanship. We say horses that behaved well because of and in spite of their humans. We saws some horses that just lost their minds too! Thankfully none of the “not-so-good ones” were in our practice group. After some general warm up work we got to doing groundwork on the line. We covered SIX (6) exercises that helped with communication, feel, timing and body language/position. We saw some really great work from the horses and humans. Release and the timing of said release was focused on throughout all six exercises. We got the poll, neck, shoulders, rib cage and hind end moving with soft cues. Bending, transitions and suppling was also focused on.

Everyone grabbed a quick snack and got to riding!

Under saddle we worked on confidence and control. Riding on a loose rein is harder than folks realize! We wanted to focus on starting and returning to “softness” and being “quiet” in our cues. We works of fore and hind quarter control, bend, transitions, side passing, counter bending, lateral/vertical flexion and more. Lots of wins! Many of the horses had their winter shape (being round) on so sweat happened. The humans began to really grasp the concepts of clarity, patience and release. Getting folks off the face and on the seat was harder than they thought. Lots of old and “not-so-good” habits were illuminated and refined. Hopefully the “homework” will help everyone out this season!

Wins! Happy horses. Happy humans. No unauthorized dismounts. Learning happened. That is a successful practice!

Next month will be the Potluck Picnic and Play Day! That should be a GREAT TIME for everyone!

CEARRA’S DAY: Cearra has been to this facility once before. Still she gets itchy feet at new places which can, especially when it is raining, wear on your patience. The arena is covered. There are also “distractions” in her mind…which shows her age. Lots of horses…most of them loping around doing barrel race stuff, which puts out a certain type of energy, makes it a challenge to keep any horse –much less a young and inexperienced one – focused. For the first part of the day Cearra got to hang out in a pen that is attached to the arena. When it was her turn we did LOTS of groundwork to get her mind and body warmed up and focused. She did all the exercises pretty well. She was, at times, distracted, under saddle so we did a few “direction changes/ pseudo-roll backs along the fence Overall her performance is what we expected. We did begin to raise the “acceptable performance” bar and will continue to do so this season. She did LOTS of backing and hind-end building exercises too. It is the one place that is taking longer to fill out. She will never be “chunky” but we do want to see her butt get larger is possible. This season the struggle comes down to one word and that is EXPOSURE! She needs more “new places” in her world view. Something we and her future family will need to work on.