Finny and Indian Caves

Yesterday, I had to write part of the following on my friend Tammy's website Horsetales.

I had a great ride today. I had put Finny into a mechanical hackamore the last 2 weeks. We were working on some chomping the bit issues, etc. He was riding great at home! We went to Indian Caves yesterday. After check in, I rode for about an hour, just Finny and I. He was mister calm, and rode around like he does at home. I blanketed last night, and this morning was a little chilly, but no snow or rain!!! We rode 20 miles, had great obstacles, did well at P&R's. After the 2nd P&R, we had 4 miles to camp, and since we were way ahead of time, we mostly walked in, with a little trotting. No changes. He did great all day. Finny even wanted to stop and graze on the way to camp. But, at camp, he wanted to lay down even before I got the saddle off. Strange, since the only time he rolls is when I turn him out to pasture after a ride. He was off. After a little water, very little hay, a little bit of grain with some water on it, he wanted to lay down again, all within 10 minutes of the first time. Then within another 10 minutes, it was apparent that something was wrong. At that time, the vet judge was coming to trailers, and she was there to help with Finny. We got some banamine and another muscle relaxant into him, and it only took the edge off. With friends helping, while Finny was being helped, hay bags and water buckets were put into my trailer, I was already hitched, the trailer was pulled onto the road, and Finny was loaded. He needed to see a vet. I made the hard decision, in 15 minutes, to not try for colic surgery but get vet care. I trailered to the vet clinic near me, but it was too late. The vet said that nothing would have helped. Finny was twisted near the rectum, and the vet said it probably happened during the ride, since he was uncomfortable at the very end of the ride. The vet says that can happen, that guts can twist any time. Finny was already in too much pain, and I put him down. Go hug your horse tomorrow. You really never know. I was having an awesome day, but Dear God, when does the hurting stop?
I'm thanking you now for your thoughts and prayers, as I don't think I'll be able to respond for a few days. I'm having a hard time tonight.

Today:
I was able to talk to a few people. Very few. I can’t believe how bad I hurt. I can’t believe how tired my brain is right now. I feel terrible. A friend who knows horses well and understands all about pharmaceuticals, told me that I could not have seen this coming, or have prevented it. He was not stressed during the ride. His P&R and metabolic check was great just an hour before finishing the ride. The day was cold out and he didn’t sweat and become over heated.
I knew as soon as I got back to the trailer that something was wrong. He wanted to lay and roll. That wasn’t like him. He didn’t roll until he was turned out. He wanted to go keep going down. This wasn’t looking good. He got very bad very quickly. Drugs didn’t help him. I knew this wasn’t going to be good. He was in distress and help was almost 2 hours away. I prepared for the worse, hoping and praying for a good ending. As soon as I opened the trailer door, I knew. He didn’t have that death look, but he had been down and struggling. He got up, he walked with me. He walked with me to the exam. He walked with me outside. He walked with me to where he would go to sleep. He laid down easily, and I said goodbye. I tried to close his eyes. I was able to save his tail. We covered him up. I turned to my husband and cried. I started to shut out the emotions as I had to drive home. Emotions opened back up that night. My heart felt like it was breaking in two.
I have to believe this happened during the ride for some unforeseen and unbelievable reason. I have to believe that this just happened.

Tonight, I emailed my friends to thank them:
From the bottom of my heart, thank you! For your kind words, thoughts, prayers. I am better today, but very, very sad. I cried myself to sleep last night, poor Tom. He is definitely my rock. I woke up with a headache at 5:30, took some tylenol and slept until 8:30. Each of your words are healing my heart and giving me a reason to go on. TV, if you ever doubt whether this group is worth having because there is not much talking on it, don't ever go there again. The first posts made me cry harder, and I had to turn the computer off last night. This morning, I was able to read but stilled cried. Tonight, I can read without crying, then I was able to re-read everything and read what people were actually telling me. I am feeling better only because I had all of you out there, helping me in my pain, confusion, guilt, questions. I needed people who understand, and like some of you said, we understand because we have gone through this. I didn't think a heart could feel so bad. My heart was breaking last night. Going to bed was the hardest. That is when everything hit me like bricks. Dear God, I hurt so bad. Today, I didn't do chores this morning, and I made Tom take me to town this afternoon, to get away. My head cleared and I could do chores tonight. But I really couldn't talk or watch the horses. I wasn't ready to think anymore about Finny. I am mentally exhausted tonight, to the point of no thought process, so maybe that is why I can type this now. I was able to tell my sons tonight without crying. I still can't bring myself to actually talk to my daughter about Finny, I could only text her. Terri, your words were so insightful and I appreciate them. TV, thanks for what you said about what Finny was to me. To all of you, you all have made me feel a little less sad. I don't know what will happen next, but I know we all have each other.
Thanks for being our friend, Brenda and Finny

Tonight:
I can think about Finny now. I really don’t want to do anything with the other horses yet. I did ask my husband if he thought we had plans for Duke, our stud. I had planned on gelding him last year, and then this spring, but thought we might want to have babies again. I’m thinking about gelding him and riding him. I have always loved his lope. He is Finnys’ older half brother. But I need to wait until my heart is there. I need to be fair to both Finny and Duke.

I will, sometime, figure out the reason that this happened. Maybe there isn’t a reason why, maybe I will just understand why. I hope I will be able to go on and help someone with what I learn.

Thanks for being my friend, Finny. We have had some awesome rides together. I miss you so much already. I was, and will always be, your riding buddy. My heart aches for you, and for what happened to you. I am so sorry that you suffered. I hope I was a comfort during your last half hour.

I wish you could come along on the next ride with me. I pray that you will always be with me in spirit.

More Conditioning Part 2

Since the Stephens Forest CTR, I needed to actively condition my horse, Finny, not just ride him for a specific amount of time or for a specific distance. Over the last week, I continued working on what I had changed during the previous week. I really hadn’t changed anything else. I needed to make sure that what I had changed was going to work for me. And it has!

Last week, I had decided to shorten my stirrups 1 notch. I know I could keep more leg on my horse if my stirrups were shorter, and this year I could do that. This year, with my Centered Riding exercises, I haven’t ached. My feet are grounded in the stirrups, giving my a solid feeling, like I am standing on the ground. I keep a little more leg on my horse as I 2-pointed, yet I still kept my knees soft and relaxed. So that I didn’t appear as if I was hitting the cantle as I 2-pointed at the extended trot, I hold just slightly more with my calves. But I don’t hold so tight that I am squeezing with my knees. Hold enough to stay steady when you 2-point.

I constantly check my balance now. I keep aware of staying in the middle of my saddle so I wouldn’t change my balance as I move. A slight ½” lean can make you appear very off center, with one leg longer than the other and with the whole body leaning. I stay aware of my stirrup and leg length. The angle of the upper leg should equal the angle of the lower leg. As I rode this past week, I stayed aware of staying in the center of my horse. When riders are centered, they ride over the horse’s center of gravity. You feel the horse’s movement, and you move with the horse. You move as one!

I had changed my arm position as I am holding the reins. I always check to make sure that I don’t have tension in my shoulders. With the additional Centered Riding exercises that I am doing, I rarely have shoulder tension. I also stay aware of how I am holding my neck. Centered Riding is about staying BALANCED. And having skeletal alignment. Since the head is 11-14#, (isn’t that amazing!), it doesn’t take much of a head tilt, looking down or looking sideways, to have your neck out of alignment. And with that weight tipped forward, think about how much weight is on the forehand. It would be like 2 or 3 5# flour or sugar bags leaning on the horse’s shoulders!

To work on Finny’s bit chomping, I rode with a mechanical hackamore this week. I love it!!! He is not anxiously or nervously chomping on the bit. He isn‘t even trying to chomp. It is amazing! He grazes easily. I have worked on him standing longer. When he didn’t want to stand still, I moved him forward and backward. I have stayed relaxed. The mechanical hackamore has done the job of helping Finny to relax.

Now, I’ll continue riding with the hackamore this week. I’ll add some distance and some speed. I’ll let him graze after each extended trotting time. I’m hoping for a more relaxed horse next weekend!

AND, another big area that I will work on this week, is HOW I 2-point. I have a traditional Quarter Horse Hunt Seat training, or what I had perceived as correct. This was NOT correct for Jumping! While during my 2nd part of the Level 1 Centered Riding Instructors Course, I learned that the rider’s CENTER is to stay over the Bubbling Spring of the foot! AND, when you 2-point, that remains the same! My next blog will be about me actively riding this way. I have also started teaching this during my past few lessons with students!

Come along on the ride with me! And continue to stay relaxed while you ride!

More Conditioning

Once I saw my scores from the Stephens Forest CTR, and I saw where I lost points, I knew what areas I had to work on. I need to be more conscience of keeping my body centered. I need to make sure that my stirrup length is the same and that I am not putting more weight in one stirrup, causing me to be off centered. I need to make sure that when I 2-point, and trot with “Dancing Knees”, I don’t allow my body to stay too relaxed. Being too relaxed makes it appear that I am not holding with my legs and that my body is hitting the cantle. It was disappointing to read this. I feel like I am very centered, and that I am sitting in the center of the saddle. It is obvious that I need someone else's eyes on me, to let me know when I am slightly off balance. To correct this, I will ride by finding my center and neutral pelvis. If anyone is around while I am riding, I will ask them to watch me from behind, and to tell me if I am riding in the middle of my saddle and if I am leaning slightly.

I gave my horse Monday and Tuesday off. Wednesday afternoon, I rode at Virginia’s again, riding almost 2 hours. Thursday I rode in the field, alternating walking and trotting every ½ mile. I had a lesson with an adult Friday morning, and rode in the arena. I was teaching the Centered Riding basics, and I spent time centering myself and working on Centered Riding exercises. This was an excellent time for both my horse and I to slow down, relax, and spend time on breathing and stretching exercises. Saturday, I had a shorter, 3 mile ride in the field, as I was riding Indian Caves on Sunday.

I finally was able to ride with my husband, Tom, on Sunday! He had time to go with me on the practice trail ride to Indian Caves. We met Virginia and 3 of her youth riders, that would be doing the Indian Caves CTR in 2 weeks. We needed to practice on the hills. Tom rode Chick. Poor Chick. She has been a lesson horse all summer, and hasn’t had the conditioning that she was used to when she was in reining and cow horse competition. She is a trooper, though, and she kept up. With the steep hills, we made sure to give our horses frequent rests. Every time that Chick was winded, we left her stop and rest. Tom was a trooper, too, and never complained, even when Chick wanted to trot to keep up. I’ll check with Tom tomorrow and see how he is feeling!

With knowing everything that I needed to improve from my last CTR, I made some changes in my riding this week. I decided to shorten my stirrups 1 notch. I lengthened them last year when my knees would ache after a 4 hour ride, let alone 2 days of 40 miles. This year, with my Centered Riding exercises, I haven’t ached. I know I could keep more leg on my horse if they were at the perfect length, and not longer as many of us older riders tend to do. With the shorter stirrups, I kept a little more leg on my horse as I 2-pointed, yet I still kept my knees soft and relaxed.

I constantly checked my balance. I kept aware of staying in the middle of my seat so I wouldn't change my balance as I moved. By doing this, I stayed equally aware of my stirrup and leg length. I asked Tom to check me from behind today, and being the loving husband that he is, he checked with critical eyes. I want to be perfect and he knows that. So he carefully checked, and told me that my right shoulder was a little lower. No one has ever told me this. I changed my arm position as I was holding the reins by lowering my right hand. I checked to make sure that I didn’t have tension in my shoulders. I told Tom to check me again, and he said I looked even.

As I rode the hills today, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t move side to side. While going downhill, I relaxed and walked with my ankles, so that I didn’t sway. I tightened my hold with my legs, and moved my pelvis forward and backward so I didn’t sway. I went into 2-point position, leaning a little heavier into the stirrups, so I didn’t sway. I think if I can slow Finny down as he walks downhill, I think the forward and backward movement of my hips keeps me from swaying the best. I know as I tired, I think stepping a little heavier into my stirrups, and holding with my calves, will help. As I type this, I think I will work more on grounding my feet before my rides this week also. I need my feet to feel solid in my stirrups.

Another issue that I have been having with Finny is chomping on the bit. He is not anxious or nervous. I have worked on him standing still longer when he chomps. I have tried correcting him when he starts to chomp by keeping him moving, both forward and backward. I have stayed relaxed when he starts to chomp. Nothing seems to be working. He is performance bred. He wants to go. He wants to keep moving. I have decided to try a bit-less bridle, a mechanical hackamore, and practice with one the next 2 weeks. At least if he tries to chomp because he has to wait, there won’t be anything to chomp on.

Ok. Enough to work on for 1 week. I’ll let you know what happens as I am changing a lot of what I have been doing. I have 2 weeks.

Come along on the ride with me! Stay relaxed with me this week.