The Return to Riding Report Card, week 3: Grrr, Ow, and Perfect.

[lagilman]

The grrr: The fact that momma, daddy, and little brother come to hang out while Sis has her riding lesson is wonderful -- I'm sure it's a good bonding experience. But if you HAVE to bring your small yapping dog without any stable manners with you, please keep it away from the stalls and/or anywhere people may be walking horses. Because if I'd had less experience dealing with spooked/nervous horses, today might have had a Very Bad Ending. (to be fair, dad had words with little brother and took the dog off to one of the unused paddocks. But jeebus, people! Look at how the stable dogs and cats behave, and get a clue!)

the ow: I seem to have passed some sort of test last week, because C turned it up a notch, today. After in-saddle stretches, the next twenty minutes were given over to 2-point/posting/sitting/2-point trots, over and over, while C worked my legs and I worked the upper body, and owwwwwwww. Legs back, elbows bent, shoulders open, seat back, core grounded, eyes forward, chin up, heels down.... Multitasking until it's muscle memory. Owwwww. But it's paying off, because there were periods of 3-10 strides where it all came together and dayum baby, that feeling when you and the horse and the world are in perfect sync is like nothing else -- you know you nailed it, and so does the horse. That's the addiction, right there.

the perfect: I got two of 'em, in fact. "That's it, that was perfect!" I would then promptly lose it again but hey, baby steps. And we got good marks on the trot-canter-trot transition, too (Sancho has a bad head-bob tendency when he picks up his canter that keeps throwing me off, but once he's started he's got a nice rocking gait)

And, because Sancho was done for the day after my lesson, I got grooming time in, too. Sometimes I'm not sure which I enjoy more, the riding or the grooming. Different kinds of satisfaction




This is my boy, Sancho, just before I took him out to play. He's perfect-sized for me -- his withers are about nose-high to my 5'4" (so that would make him... 15.6 hands? Something like that? Help me out, equine-owners!). (EtA: I should specify that 'perfect sized' means 'within my comfort zone.' I used to ride a near-17 hander named Sandman, and as much as I loved that troublemaker, I was never perfectly relaxed on him)


This is Peanut, the one-eyed pony of previous mention. His withers are about forearm high on me, and I think I saw a stuffed pony his size for sale at FAO Shwartz one December...


And this is Peewee, proof that someone has a perverse sense of humor. I'd need a step-stool to reach his withers (okay, not quite. But close. Can we say draft blood, boys and girls? ). He's a big'un

Comments

[nycdeb.livejournal.com]

ooooooooooooooooh, horseys!

(I can be no more articulate about them)

ooooooooooooooooh, horseys!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm so jealous - I used to love riding so much!

[lagilman]

yeah, getting back to it has been...marvelous. Is there anywhere near you, once life gets back into some semblance of normal?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There is, but I find that riding isn't passing the... it doesn't have a name yet, I guess I should call it the "knee-jerk test" or less patronizingly, the hesitation test. I've discovered, what with budgeting and the Sunday 7 and all, I have an immediate gut feeling about what is REALLY immediately important and knee-jerk do it without hesitation. Whereas things that I might like I stop and think about and find that I'm talking myself into. Would I like them? Undoubtedly. But do I have time for stuff like that until I've cleared up a few other things?

I loved riding passionately - have a few ribbons from back in the day. I read you writing about it with fondness and nostalgia, and yet when I think about making the time and money available, all that fondness and nostalgia grinds to a halt. Will I ride again? Maybe. But in my heart, I don't seem to really want to right now.

[lagilman]

Understood. For me, given the choice between riding and other "disposible income" things, riding won without hesitation. Will I miss those other things? Yeah. But it was the right decision for me, right now.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

It was hard for me to learn not to judge or argue with that gut decision. Yes, I'm passing on things that used to be very important. Yes, what I'm going for isn't cosmically worthy. But it's what I want, right this minute, and there's nothing wrong with that, whereas not listening to that gut would only lead to unhappiness.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

I *will* ride again someday!

[lagilman]

Yep. It took me more than a decade, but I got back to it. Just keep an eye out for the opportunity.

[(Anonymous)]

*nod* I shall be. I last took lessons when I went back to college, and they hurt, but y'know, I learned SO much. I cannot wait for that kind of opportunity again. I miss horses something fierce.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Eeep! That was me. Sorry, forgot to log back in! :)

[bigferret.livejournal.com]

You have to wonder what people are thinking when they bring their pets to places where they may be a problem for those around them.

*shakes head*

Glad you had a great time!!

[lagilman]

Well, there are animals all around -- there's a dobie mix who has free run, and a jack russell (it's not a stable without at least one jack russell) and three or four cats of varying ages. But they either live at the stable (the cats) or belong to instructors (the dogs) and are comfortable around/familiar with horses. They know better than to, for'ex, rush at a horse being led from stall to ring, yipping madly.

Sancho was...not happy. Neither were my arms, for having to pull him back down and away from yapping dog, before yapping dog got his fool skull kicked in.

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry sir, but your doggie came yapping at this horse and it startled him and he just reacted as any animal would. I'm truly sorry that your dog is now roadkill.

[deire.livejournal.com]

Ick. Yeah. On the farm, new dogs had this learning curve about not chasing or barking at the horses. It involved being sent flying at least once, and that usually cured them.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

I figured (having an inkling about your riding past) that after a few lessons (and a few more sore muscles---more still to come :D) that the muscle memory would kick in...and you'd relax---and the horse would STAND UP AND RECOGNIZE FOO'!
*ahem*

...that you'd get back to enjoying riding is what I meant.

I know riders that tend to focus in on the technical neepery (which is what your trainer on the ground is paid to do for you) and forget to have fun.

Have you done any pleasure rides yet btw?

**and yes, depending on how long your nose is...15.6 hds is about right ;)

[lagilman]

Have you done any pleasure rides yet btw?

Not recently -- they do trail rides in Central Park (one of the only stables left that does) and I may indulge myself for my birthday....

The stable actually marches along the edge of one of NYC's largest parks, and I know there are trails there, but I'm not yet at a level where I get to be let out on my own.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Huh.
I guess there really isn't a lot of acreage unless you go waaaay up north... weird.

[lagilman]

I live in NYC, dude. Many hundreds of acres, but all NYC greenfields.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Right, right, pardon my country-isms... out here in OKie-ville there's yanno....thousands of acres of land and creeks and trails etc. When you said the place you were riding was about 15 minutes away from where you were living it just never occured to me that it was still within the city.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Was ist das 15.6 hands? It's 4 inches to the hand, so the top number is 3, as in 15.3, then it's 16 hands.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

I was converting .6 into 6/10ths of a hand sorry.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I am easily confoozlemented.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

No. No. I was technically wrong. Liz (my Liz(tm)) has always given me grief when I write 15.2 hands as 15.5 ... I am teh noob.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Nose-high to my 5'4" is 14.3 (Capria's size, if you remember where she stood in relation to you). Perfect!

(Iconpony is 16.1. Withers higher than my head, but nowhere near real draft size.)

[lagilman]

Hrm. Sancho's taller than Capria, but narrower overall, as per my memory....

*adjusts math to 4"*

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I did the nose test just now while wearing the thicker-soled riding shoes, and the ones who came to that height were in the 15-15.1 range. Sound about right? Capria's on the nose when I'm in sneakers and the thinner-soled Ariats.

Drafts aren't my cuppa, either, but they're neat horses. I find many seem to be surprisingly slab-sided, so they're not as broad to sit on as you might think. One 18.3hh Perch fit nicely into a saddle that would have been too narrow for Pandora, and the kids who rode him said he was amazingly comfortable, though it was a looooong way down.

And btw, congrats on today's Moments of Perfect Beauty. :)

[lagilman]

I did the nose test just now while wearing the thicker-soled riding shoes, and the ones who came to that height were in the 15-15.1 range. Sound about right?

I'm wearing my half-boots, so yeah, probably. I'd been guestimating a little over 15 hh before I got the bad info on hands=inches.

[lagilman]

Peewee has the feathers of a draft horse, in addition to the musculature, but he's not quite as broad. Estimating, I'd say I could place my hands on his withers without standing on my toes, but I'd be fully extended.

Not my cuppa, but some of our larger gentlefolk might find him comfortable.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Y'know... if you've got a fractious horse, or might ever be on one, I'm going to pass on THE most valuable training in all my riding days.

1) Learn the flying (aka "emergency") dismount.
2) Never get off a horse any other way again, ever.

When it's second nature in the stableyard, it's going to be second nature when you need it, be that targeting a feedsack going by at a canter for musical saddles, or getting the hell off Dodge when he's gone beyond your ability to hold back without your full weight on the reins.

[lagilman]

Yep, been there, learned all that. Rode from pre-teen to 21, got thrown, got off damnquick in bad situations, learned how to deal with yahoos who thought it was funny to hit their pickup's airhorn as they drove by the ring, etc.

In this particular instance, I was walking Sancho from the stall when the dog -- wrongfully off-leash -- raced at his hooves, yipping madly, and Sancho spooked and tried to kick out.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Rode from pre-teen to 21

I keep forgetting that part! (That's my experience too - stopped freshman year in college as was not impressed by the guy who ran the local stables.)

RACED AT HIS HOOVES???!!!! It's one thing to have an annoying yapper, it's quite another to have a laprat so far out of control it's actually trying to attack!

[lagilman]

I don't know if he was trying to attack (Big Thing! Coming at Young Master!) or just overexcited by all the strange newness, but it was a bad moment, yeah. If your dog isn't used to horses, I don't care how many other dogs are wandering around loose, you keep yours on the damned leash! (kids, too, for that matter).

It was a cute dog, and I would have been sad to see it kicked. But even more sad to see either me or Sancho injured because of it.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the Perfect! And you'll get more and more and more of those moments!

One thing I must give Maedchen--she will turn herself inside out to keep from stepping on small yappies. I used to have regular heart failure when Kathy's dogs would run after her in the round pen, yelling terrier threats--but the only time she actually stepped on one, she stopped instantly. Kathy had to take the dog to her car, and Mae just stood there looking after her, very worried. She couldn't get her mind back on her work until Kathy brought the dog back to lick her nose.

The barn owner had a Chinese Crested who used to get into it with the Yorkies right under her feet. She never turned a hair.