The MN Horse Expo: Haul

The MN Horse Expo was nearly two months ago, but I can't pass the opportunity to show off the items I purchased! I only bought one new item, long lines. I bought a pair of driving reins about a year ago, but they are too short to be much use - unless I want to stand directly behind my horses's back legs. I've been eyeing prices online, so when I found a cheaper pair at the expo I jumped on the opportunity. Not to mention, I didn't have to pay shipping. I've used them a couple times, but no pictures yet. 

Driving reins coiled on the right.

In the photo above, you see the Parelli halter I've had for years and attached to it, a brand new (well, to me) Parelli lead rope. It's definitely in rough shape, but even well used, the quality is exceptional. Parelli lead ropes and halters are my absolute favorite. Since they are crazy overpriced, tack swaps are the way to go.

I scoured the halter section of the huge 4H tack swap for anything that resembled Parelli brand tack. I didn't care if it was the right size - if it's Parelli and only $5-$20 I'm going to buy it! I found a Parelli hackamore set for about $20. I had no clue whether it would fit or not, but if it didn't I could remove the 22' lead from the halter it was tied to. After doing some research, I discovered the hackamore is one size fits all. And it fits!

It fits better than my other halter.

The last item I purchased was a halter. It does not fit my horse, since it is pony/weanling sized. I guess there must be some baby horses in my future?

I already have a pony/weanling sized Parelli halter from when I used to ride a pony. I may or may not have a halter hoarding problem . . . but someday I plan on having horses to fill them all. Maybe not all at the same time. We'll see.

Discouragement

I had a different post planned for today. However, I think there is power in authenticity; in breaking down the facade of perfect so easily built through social media. 

I made a promise to myself to really try this horse training thing. I've been half-trying out of fear that I won't be able to do it. I do this in many areas of my life. As long as I don't try my hardest, I have an excuse for failing. If I actually try my hardest and fail . . . no excuse. I would have to admit I'm not good enough. This isn't healthy at all, failure isn't a reflection of personal worth, it is just a rung on the ladder of growth. 

I made this realization by listening to The Perfectionist Project by Sam Laura Brown. I absolutely recommend her blog and podcasts if you are a perfectionist and struggle with procrastination. But back to the equestrian content. 

I made a commitment to myself to regularly go to the barn this week, because I've been using a lack of motivation as an excuse to avoid really trying to succeed at training Avalon. 

True to my word, I dragged myself out to the barn. I had a plan (word of advice: never fall in love with your plans, because you have no idea what God has in store for the day). I lugged my equipment out to the arena. I traipsed through the long pasture grass.

I was expecting Ava to be a little spooky, since it was a windy day. All the Arabians I know are extra spooky in the wind. It impacts horse's ability to hear, which makes them vulnerable as prey animals. 

Watching the horses.

Avalon was a little spookier than normal, but mostly we were not on the same page. She is more herd bound than she was before and I may or may not have accidentally taught her to rear at barrels . . . oops. I have a bad habit of freezing to reevaluate when she rears which turns into an inadvertent release of pressure. 

As I led her back to the pasture she completely disconnected with me, running around, blowing me off, even barreling into my personal space. I would have liked to find a place to tie her away from herd until she calmed down, but I don't have a good place to do that. I had to let her go because I was going to be late to work. 

I left the barn feeling discouraged. Immediately my mind went to "you're not good enough" "you're making her worse" "she doesn't trust you". But I took a few deep breaths and reminded myself bad days are part of the horse world, of any world. I am working with a living creature that has choices and emotions. She isn't a little machine. As someone on Instagram reminded me: tomorrow is a new day.

If you're hitting a rough patch, whether that is a day or month or even longer. It's okay. It doesn't reflect on you as a person. You aren't alone. If you feel comfortable, comment below. I've found that the blogging community is full of helpful, kind advice. 

If things are going well with your horse, when was the last time you felt like you ran straight into a wall? Comment below and join in encouraging each other!

Today We're English

Get yourself a horse that can do both (or one that can't do either but dresses the part).

I can't ride in this saddle at the moment, because one of the billets is broken, but it fits Ava well. I will fix it at some point, but for now it's a great desensitization saddle. 

Ava has gotten really good at grazing with a lead rope. When she steps on it she backs away from pressure. Apparently she doesn't mind ropes on her face either. 

Notice how relaxed she is in the arena!

Avalon has been much more relaxed in the arena. Partially because it is summer and she mellows out in the summer, but I think that taking time to slow down and connect helps as well. I set up a couple of ground poles to encourage her to lower her head and pick up her feet.

I love to see her trotting with a lowered, relaxed head.

Spicing up the circling game with barrels

Trot poles to build awareness and topline.

Avoiding the trot poles

An artsy phone taken by accident. It shows the complicated reality of lunging while taking photos.

Sweaty girl

Mostly even sweat marks.

A weird sweatless spot in between the saddle and the girth.

I'm hoping to get some ground driving in soon with the long lines and western saddle.

Playing Dress Up

Who is this gorgeous, tacked up horse? 

I've been saddling Avalon regularly again. She accepted the saddle when I bought her and nothing has changed. She walks, trots, and jumps without a buck, but throws a mini tantrum every once in a while at the lope. I have a suspicion that it has nothing to do with the saddle and everything to do with having to lope. 

She even put up with my fiddling as I desperately attempted to get the cinch to fit right. I had to take the latigo home afterward and punch a hole in it. Now I think the fit is perfect.

We spent a lot of time just chilling with the saddle and hackamore on. Relaxation is key and tack doesn't always mean work.

I love her expression here.

Relaxed girl

Ft. the extra-friendly chickens

Slowing Down

I repeat myself a lot in my blog posts. There are some recurring themes that I emphasize because they are important and others that come up because I learn the same lessons over and over. 

Every individual has a propensity toward certain types of mistakes. Perfectionism is one of mine. I fall into an unhealthy mindset where I need to be doing everything, perfectly,  all the time. Today, for instance, I didn't go to the barn because it was raining. I didn't spend time with friends because I've had a social event nearly every day for over a week. But I don't feel rested. 

I feel restless and lazy. It's ridiculous of course. I'm blogging. I changed the water in my fish tank. I made a healthy breakfast. I'm probably going to clean my room and do laundry before working my seven hour shift. But my mind constantly tells me that I'm not doing enough. This unhealthy, hurried mindset follows me into the equestrian world. If I allow it, my perfectionist mindset will pressure me into pushing Avalon (or myself) too far too fast. 

Expectations. No one has any expectations for me. People I know either think I'm better at training than I am or they don't care at all. I don't have any showing ambitions. I just want to have fun. I need to learn to slow down, both in the equestrian world and in general. Slow down, and trust the process. 

So after the horse expo, brandishing Warwick Schiller's ideas, I brought Avalon into the round pen. I sat down on the ground, closed my eyes, and breathed. I spent the next half hour just sitting, breathing, praying, and listening to the sounds around me. That's all we did. We just relaxed. 

Confused and not so relaxed.

Love seeing her head down.

Then we moved into the arena. I let her move around as much as she wanted. All I asked was that she bring her attention back to me. I waited until she relaxed and focused on me, and then moved to a new spot and repeated the exercise.

Beautiful, but not calm.

Love to see yawning!

Looking at the scary machinery next door.

When she was calm in the arena, we moved the the far pasture connected to the arena (very far away from her pasturemates).

I took this pic on my birthday and titled it #notponyclubapproved

A few weeks in, we added the saddle.

One cloudy day, I put the saddle on Avalon, brought her to the round pen and sat down reading a book.

Aren't you gonna make me do work?

More yawning

Eventually she walked up and began to graze next to me.

MN Horse Expo Day 3

By day three, I was over it. The mixture of dust and mold and hay and other unknown allergens had me sneezing since the first day. I was exhausted and itchy. It was time to be done. I don't regret going  all three days, but I'm glad I wasn't able to make it to Thursday because four days would have been too much.

I attended a demonstration by Barb Schultz on mindset. I'm not familiar with Schultz, but mindset is something I've been learning about lately. She taught four equestrians three strategies for keeping a healthy mindset during competition: scripting, breathing, and visualization.The exercise was fairly basic, but all the riders struggled to apply the concepts. I believe this was partially due to the stress of riding your horse in a busy environment in front of an audience. However, it also says something about how stressed and unhealthy the equestrian mindset can be. 

Next, I watched two demonstrations by Jim Masterson. He has a fascinating equine massage method. Basically, you bring the horse's attention to areas of tension on its body so that it can release that tension. You begin by holding your hand a hair's breadth above the skin and move on to gentle and eventually stronger pressure. To return once more to the importance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, you find areas of tension by watching for the horse to blink and hold the pressure until the horse relaxes and uses the parasympathetic nervous system (licking and chewing). I've tried it a few times with Avalon, and she reacts in all the ways Masterson said she would.