The high point of the day:
http://vimeo.com/4407056
At least we have improved at something.
Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
How do you solve a problem like Willig?
(To the tune of "How do you solve a problem like Maria?")
After our terrible experience on the xc course at the derby, I am feeling pretty low. As best I can tell, trying to be objective, Willig has gotten WORSE at jumping, not better. Although it took me months and months to jump him the first time after I bought him, last summer we went to two derbies (both intro) and a clinic with Jonathan. There were no refusals, and he wasn't refusing at home.
Then he got a few months off over the winter with the problems at the prior barn, and this year my goal was to move him up to starting to experience Beginning Novice, since the height is no problem (he's 17 hands!), and he needs to see the different types of jumps. I think we've been on a steady decline since February.
I don't really know what to do about this. I think we're a bit stuck - I'm afraid he's going to refuse, and therefore, he refuses. Then I gather all my confidence and ride him assertively to a fence, but he's learned to refuse that fence. And the refusing started before the fall, but that big fall off really, really shook my confidence in him. It doesn't help that he randomly tries to buck me off now. (He did it again today - working circles (I WANTED to be working stretchy trot circles; instead we worked rhythym instead of racing around circles), and out of nowhere, a buck. Now, it was half-assed, and I gave him a good pop in the mouth, a yell, and a smack, and he didn't try again, but still - what the hell?)
So, the problems are:
- He's an insecure horse, and I'm not riding him confidently, and that's my fault, not his.
- He's also an inexperienced horse, and he's going to be wary of fences that look new and different - which is most of them so far in his life.
- He's also a jerky face, and so on a course, when there's a lot to look at, he's going to look at it, and I just have to be able to ride him through that - getting him straight and looking at the jumps as far away as possible.
- I'm scared of the big, solid jumps. This is new - being scared. And I'm scared because he's not a reliable jumper. And the only way he's going to get to be a reliable jumper is if I keep jumping him.
My plan of attack is this:
- Work at home on:
- Bigger fences (2'9" to 2'11")
- XC fences and "spreads"
- Courses (12 fences in a row)
- Everything at the canter
- Drop back down to Intro for the next couple of shows to build his confidence (and mine)
- Haul him to some of the recognized shows for the day for him to get the show feel without the nerves and expectations
And my goals are this:
- Ride him BN at a show with no refusals by this fall
- If I can't, send him for a month of training with Jonathan in the fall or spring
- And then if I still can't ride him, sell him and get a different horse
But I'm really perplexed why he would have been so completely unfocused at the derby when he did so well at the clinic. The obvious answer is my nerves, but I KNOW how to ride a show, and even if I'm nervous, I know what to do and was trying to do it. I just got ZERO response from him.
I don't want to sell him. I also don't want to screw him up. I've really never had a horse like this that is this much of a challenge. Although I noticed today, riding Mercury is SO easy. I think Willig is making me a better rider, but I'm so insecure about everything with him. I feel like I am just ruining both of us.
Here's our one fence (the first one) at the derby - note I am, horrors, jumping ahead. Argh.
AF Derby - We suck at jumping
Ok, the good points first:
Our dressage test was our best yet. Willig got a 34.8, with a few 8s and only 2 5s, but best of all, I understood the judge's comments and agreed with them completely and remembered each of the errors. So I think we have a lot of potential to improve even more and be consistently 8s in dressage.
Even after three days there, and all the activity, Willig was, on our stall "block" the calmest horse there. He munched his hay, licked his ball, and was like "Oh? We're going out? Ok, then." Tom commented on his sweet, calm disposition.
It was all a ruse, but I'll get there.
I decided to warm up a bit early for jumping - not so much for a lot of riding (Willig was pretty tired after the second day of the clinic and his back was a little sore), but to let him look around and see the sights and not be nervous about all the activity. So I mixed in riding in the arena with walking around the hopeful jumpers and down to the xc course start and back up and around. He was fine until a loose horse went tearing past, then it took me quite a while to get him relaxed again.
Things were a bit late, which messed up my system, and the beginner novice warmup got really crowded, so we didn't end up doing as many warm up fences as I wanted, but he had done really well over the hopeful fences a few times - really nice jumping, smooth, calm, and obedient.
So we went down to xc, and one rider went before me, and I had been visualizing a perfect course and breathing and being calm and thinking about how well we were going to ride it, just like Jonathan had been working with us the two days before - nice forward, assertive seat, looking from point to point, nice straight approaches to jumps, and circling if I needed to collect him between the jumps.
We lurched over jump one.
He refused jump two.
We circled before jump three because he was being a spaz.
He stopped for the water and wouldn't trot through it.
He refused jump five (water counted as four) - apparently because two people were standing one jump over watching.
He also refused jump six.
He lurched onto the bank (jump seven).
And then I pulled him off the course, after we hurky jerky went down the gentle hill.
Because jumps 1-7 were the jumps I wasn't nervous about at all. They were the easy ones - tiny - and all jumps we had done several times, extremely successfully, during the clinic the last two days.
Jumps 8-14, however, were going to be a challenge, and I had been visualizing how excellent we would do after building confidence on jumps 1-7.
Now, in my entire riding life spanning about 20 years now, albeit with gaps, I have NEVER, EVER pulled a horse off a course because I thought he couldn't do it and might hurt me.
And I am extremely, extremely disappointed and discouraged and frustrated, and mostly, I have no idea why. I have zero idea what went wrong or how to fix it.
Next post addresses this issue.
Our dressage test was our best yet. Willig got a 34.8, with a few 8s and only 2 5s, but best of all, I understood the judge's comments and agreed with them completely and remembered each of the errors. So I think we have a lot of potential to improve even more and be consistently 8s in dressage.
Even after three days there, and all the activity, Willig was, on our stall "block" the calmest horse there. He munched his hay, licked his ball, and was like "Oh? We're going out? Ok, then." Tom commented on his sweet, calm disposition.
It was all a ruse, but I'll get there.
I decided to warm up a bit early for jumping - not so much for a lot of riding (Willig was pretty tired after the second day of the clinic and his back was a little sore), but to let him look around and see the sights and not be nervous about all the activity. So I mixed in riding in the arena with walking around the hopeful jumpers and down to the xc course start and back up and around. He was fine until a loose horse went tearing past, then it took me quite a while to get him relaxed again.
Things were a bit late, which messed up my system, and the beginner novice warmup got really crowded, so we didn't end up doing as many warm up fences as I wanted, but he had done really well over the hopeful fences a few times - really nice jumping, smooth, calm, and obedient.
So we went down to xc, and one rider went before me, and I had been visualizing a perfect course and breathing and being calm and thinking about how well we were going to ride it, just like Jonathan had been working with us the two days before - nice forward, assertive seat, looking from point to point, nice straight approaches to jumps, and circling if I needed to collect him between the jumps.
We lurched over jump one.
He refused jump two.
We circled before jump three because he was being a spaz.
He stopped for the water and wouldn't trot through it.
He refused jump five (water counted as four) - apparently because two people were standing one jump over watching.
He also refused jump six.
He lurched onto the bank (jump seven).
And then I pulled him off the course, after we hurky jerky went down the gentle hill.
Because jumps 1-7 were the jumps I wasn't nervous about at all. They were the easy ones - tiny - and all jumps we had done several times, extremely successfully, during the clinic the last two days.
Jumps 8-14, however, were going to be a challenge, and I had been visualizing how excellent we would do after building confidence on jumps 1-7.
Now, in my entire riding life spanning about 20 years now, albeit with gaps, I have NEVER, EVER pulled a horse off a course because I thought he couldn't do it and might hurt me.
And I am extremely, extremely disappointed and discouraged and frustrated, and mostly, I have no idea why. I have zero idea what went wrong or how to fix it.
Next post addresses this issue.
JE Clinic - Day 2
Day 2 was better than day 1. We started with a few show jumps. Willig started great, but then refused the "big" red oxer. And then refused again. Then Jonathan lowered the front rail to an x, and he went over it twice - HUGE. I jumped off and Lexy (one of Jonathan's students) rode him up and off the bank a few times - at first he refused and then got it and did excellent (and then the other horses refused).
I rode him on and off the banks a couple times, and he acted like it was no big deal.
We went out into xc course, and he did excellent - until ... scary hill jump. The jump itself wasn't that big, but it was on a slight downhill (the downhill off the bank instead of the bank itself), and, like the day before. He refused, and refused, and refused, and refused, and refused. It was so frustrating.
As best I can tell, the first time it was my fault - he was looking at it like 'whoa! scary!' and I was thinking "whoa! scary!" and so he screeched (slowly probably) to a halt. So then the next time I thought "I bet he's going to refuse" so he thought "I better refuse". So the THIRD time I thought "damn it, we're going over this jump" and he thought "This is the jump I'm supposed to refuse."
Jonathan told me I needed to be careful about not letting him start to learn he's going to refuse every jump ...
Foreshadowing ...
I rode him on and off the banks a couple times, and he acted like it was no big deal.
We went out into xc course, and he did excellent - until ... scary hill jump. The jump itself wasn't that big, but it was on a slight downhill (the downhill off the bank instead of the bank itself), and, like the day before. He refused, and refused, and refused, and refused, and refused. It was so frustrating.
As best I can tell, the first time it was my fault - he was looking at it like 'whoa! scary!' and I was thinking "whoa! scary!" and so he screeched (slowly probably) to a halt. So then the next time I thought "I bet he's going to refuse" so he thought "I better refuse". So the THIRD time I thought "damn it, we're going over this jump" and he thought "This is the jump I'm supposed to refuse."
Jonathan told me I needed to be careful about not letting him start to learn he's going to refuse every jump ...
Foreshadowing ...
Friday, April 24, 2009
Jonathan Elliott clinic - day 1
In brief:
Willig was full of himself. He was finding things to spook at in the indoor arena after I lunged him, and when I jerked on his face, he reared so high I actually thought I was going to slide down his back. It's the most impressive rear I've ever ridden (actually, I was a lot more worried he was going to fall over backwards on top of me).
We started on show jumping fences - several lines that varied. What I describe as Willig rushing is not such a big deal to Jonathan - he wanted to fix me (I ride with my hands down at the withers instead of out up on his neck, which feels really bizarre to me) and because I anticipate him running on the other side, I clench my hands and then he fights me as we approach and go over. What I did with the "rushing" was make a trot circle on the other side of fences with a nice bend from my inside leg before walking.
This accomplishes an unprioritized goal, which is to keep my head up. I never look down at the fence anymore because we're zooming around, and so my posture is, I think, better. I am doing better letting him push me up instead of overjumping, even though the good lord knows I look pretty pitiful over fences nowadays.
However, when we were almost done with the show jumps, Willig went bananas and started refusing this one fence (that he already had jumped just fine several times) and then we tried. And tried. And tried. And TRIED to jump it. Willig was willing to run over Jonathan instead of jump it. And so then Jonathan said that Willig didn't respect me in the big canter (he jumps just fine - he just won't listen to me), and so I need to do things like bring him down to a trot, then ask him to canter again more controlled. Jonathan thinks he's a good jumper, he just needs more direction from me.
Sigh.
What worked was if I looked at my spot - the next fence, a spot I needed to point him at, and "rode the line" instead of trying to ride him over the fences, we worked much better together.
So then, after everyone else had to wait an agonizingly long time for us to make it over the vertical, we went outside into the glorious weather. And Willig did great with some new challenges (jumps on top of "hills" going both ways), until we got to the off bank.
The last clinic (the one I fell off) we did a little bank in the show jumping arena, and it took him a few tries, but he got it. This bank, which seemed to be basically the same size, he didn't get.
I couldn't get him off of it. So once again, we tried. And tried. And tried. And TRIED. This time, Jonathan asked if one of his students could ride Willig (after we followed her, several times, to the edge, which her little pony just stepped off of, and Willig screeched to a halt), and I said "YES". So she took him around a few times, and then, to my horror and relief, he wouldn't jump for her either.
So then ANOTHER clinic rider had to try to lead him off with her horse, and he still wouldn't go, and then finally, he went off. She took him off it a few times, and then I asked if Willig could quit for the day on that. The other riders got to do one more course.
Tomorrow Jonathan wants his student to ride Willig off the bank once more, then he wants me to do it. He said that Willig just needs experience, that when he jumps the fences, he looks great, but he's timid because he's inexperienced. The student described him as something that sounded like "fun".
So, my take home message was:
- Hands up, short reins, but not death grip
- Head up! Look at my line and the next spot and ride him from spot to spot.
- Don't put him in situations where he spooks out sideways, and push him back under me with my leg when he does, instead of trying to move back on top of him.
It was a nice day. The jumps I was thinking looked big are actually quite easy to float over, when Willig jumps them. And since, once again, it's me who's the problem, now I can work on courses and riding lines at home to try to improve that.
Also, we got a sweet trailer parking spot - the weather is so great - I wish I was camping out there.
I brought my book (for work) and watched the end of the group after me and the following group. They both did really similar stuff to us, but some of the riders looked better. Interestingly, that's because it was a Novice/Training group, and then another Beginner Novice group. Unfortunately, I missed watching prelim and training/prelim, but I saw their leftover showjumps which were HUGE.
I'm pretty pooped. I'm kind of burned out and overloaded at work, which means I can't get stuff done at home, which means I can't get in enough riding or exercise. And I've been thinking a lot about Willig and whether he's actually improving with me.
Willig was full of himself. He was finding things to spook at in the indoor arena after I lunged him, and when I jerked on his face, he reared so high I actually thought I was going to slide down his back. It's the most impressive rear I've ever ridden (actually, I was a lot more worried he was going to fall over backwards on top of me).
We started on show jumping fences - several lines that varied. What I describe as Willig rushing is not such a big deal to Jonathan - he wanted to fix me (I ride with my hands down at the withers instead of out up on his neck, which feels really bizarre to me) and because I anticipate him running on the other side, I clench my hands and then he fights me as we approach and go over. What I did with the "rushing" was make a trot circle on the other side of fences with a nice bend from my inside leg before walking.
This accomplishes an unprioritized goal, which is to keep my head up. I never look down at the fence anymore because we're zooming around, and so my posture is, I think, better. I am doing better letting him push me up instead of overjumping, even though the good lord knows I look pretty pitiful over fences nowadays.
However, when we were almost done with the show jumps, Willig went bananas and started refusing this one fence (that he already had jumped just fine several times) and then we tried. And tried. And tried. And TRIED to jump it. Willig was willing to run over Jonathan instead of jump it. And so then Jonathan said that Willig didn't respect me in the big canter (he jumps just fine - he just won't listen to me), and so I need to do things like bring him down to a trot, then ask him to canter again more controlled. Jonathan thinks he's a good jumper, he just needs more direction from me.
Sigh.
What worked was if I looked at my spot - the next fence, a spot I needed to point him at, and "rode the line" instead of trying to ride him over the fences, we worked much better together.
So then, after everyone else had to wait an agonizingly long time for us to make it over the vertical, we went outside into the glorious weather. And Willig did great with some new challenges (jumps on top of "hills" going both ways), until we got to the off bank.
The last clinic (the one I fell off) we did a little bank in the show jumping arena, and it took him a few tries, but he got it. This bank, which seemed to be basically the same size, he didn't get.
I couldn't get him off of it. So once again, we tried. And tried. And tried. And TRIED. This time, Jonathan asked if one of his students could ride Willig (after we followed her, several times, to the edge, which her little pony just stepped off of, and Willig screeched to a halt), and I said "YES". So she took him around a few times, and then, to my horror and relief, he wouldn't jump for her either.
So then ANOTHER clinic rider had to try to lead him off with her horse, and he still wouldn't go, and then finally, he went off. She took him off it a few times, and then I asked if Willig could quit for the day on that. The other riders got to do one more course.
Tomorrow Jonathan wants his student to ride Willig off the bank once more, then he wants me to do it. He said that Willig just needs experience, that when he jumps the fences, he looks great, but he's timid because he's inexperienced. The student described him as something that sounded like "fun".
So, my take home message was:
- Hands up, short reins, but not death grip
- Head up! Look at my line and the next spot and ride him from spot to spot.
- Don't put him in situations where he spooks out sideways, and push him back under me with my leg when he does, instead of trying to move back on top of him.
It was a nice day. The jumps I was thinking looked big are actually quite easy to float over, when Willig jumps them. And since, once again, it's me who's the problem, now I can work on courses and riding lines at home to try to improve that.
Also, we got a sweet trailer parking spot - the weather is so great - I wish I was camping out there.
I brought my book (for work) and watched the end of the group after me and the following group. They both did really similar stuff to us, but some of the riders looked better. Interestingly, that's because it was a Novice/Training group, and then another Beginner Novice group. Unfortunately, I missed watching prelim and training/prelim, but I saw their leftover showjumps which were HUGE.
I'm pretty pooped. I'm kind of burned out and overloaded at work, which means I can't get stuff done at home, which means I can't get in enough riding or exercise. And I've been thinking a lot about Willig and whether he's actually improving with me.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Mike is a genius
Tonight was my second lesson with Mike, about a month after my first one.
It was the best ride I have ever had on Willig, the entire time I've owned him (which is just about a year and a half now), although we spent pretty much 30 straight minutes riding in a tiny circle around Mike at the trot.
The short version is: I have not been communicating properly with Willig, and Mike knows how to do it and is good at telling me how to tell Willig.
The long version:
We started by checking my tack and the bits. The skinnier bit should have been more severe, so it doesn't make much sense how I lost steering and brakes with it. Next lesson I am going to switch to it for the lesson and see how he does. For now, I'm going to keep riding in the Mylar Level 1.
Then I had a few questions about my position (the balancing blocks) because I feel like I'm too far forward (not enough on the two back legs, but on the front leg of the stool). It's a moving target, but it should be pretty evenly distributed.
Mike watched us trot for a few minutes (the only other time he's seen me ride was when my hip and shoulder were excruciating). (Side note here - at the NWEC derby I introduced myself to the couple who caught Willig at AF at the clinic. The guy said he saw me falling and that it was one of the most spectacular falls he'd ever seen, and he knew I was going to the hospital as I was going off because I was so high in the air, then bounced. He was amazed I could walk a month later and nothing was broken.)
Mike said that my lower leg (the back, near my heel) is too busy - it touches, touches, touches Willig and so he tunes me out and then doesn't pay attention to anything I ask of him). This requires a new lower leg position which feels odd and awkward, which means I just need to practice it and get used to it. I can still use my upper lower leg (below the knee) and my foot for a hard squeeze, but I have to hold it off him further all the time.
Then we started to work on my position, and Willig, out of absolutely nowhere, took off bucking, totally, totally naughty. I was so surprised I didn't punish him, and Mike was surprised too, I think. (Suspiciously, this is the second time he's bucked majorly since I fell off on the big huge bucks at the clinic.)
So instead of going straight to working on my position, we went to making Willig work, which ended up being an amazing experience for me. Actually, first Mike showed me how to stiff arm jab him in the mouth when he's terrible, and said I need to get his head in the air faster (hands up) to keep him from keeping going and eventually getting me off.
Ok, so first Mike held the reins and showed me the difference between rounded back/hunched shoulders (Willig can pull me out of position with barely any effort) and straight back/pushed out belly (Willig can hardly pull me out of position at all). We did a tiny amount of position work in a two point, and how if you push your butt back - like you're pushing it over the back of the saddle - your position (closing over your hips) actually gets really super solid, in contrast to if you round over his neck, where then you're just topsy turvy.
So then I put my hands on each side of his withers and held them completely solid and then tapped tapped tapped ("the police knocking at the door") with my leg until Willig gave with his head. Then I released the tapping and hard hands until he flung his head in the air, then I started tapping and hard hands again.
Then we did it at the walk, and I basically learned I have no capacity to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Then we did it at the trot, and a few miraculous things happened:
- Willig breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, you're finally RIDING me. Thank god."
- I sort of got it together and could totally, absolutely FEEL the difference in him - not just in his nice soft back, but in his nice, calm demeanor.
- We were a team! It was fabulous. I just went around grinning.
- He is responding to me. Each time I loosened to try to readjust my position, his head flung up (well, most of the beginning, then he "got it" and his head lowered when he had a chance), so all along it's been because I'm spastic up there on top of him and he doesn't know what I want him to do.
- I need to work on the release/praise/pat and then immediate firmness when he disobeys. I'm slow on the draw.
Willig took the bit and chewed it and lowered his head (we even did some stretchy circles!) and quit flinging his head around, and so then we:
- Bent to the inside. Interestingly, without his head flinging all around, I was able to notice he preferentially bends to the right.
- Worked, very slightly, on transitions. Again, I "throw him away", and so my job was to keep it all together and regroup and do it again if I messed up.
- Then started working on me. No news to me, I can't sit the trot. It makes Mike cringe. I also pull my heels up, and so I have to push-push-push them down, and think toes raised too. I click instead of using my leg or whip. And, the canter, which I told him I've been having problems with, was still a struggle. (It's weird, because it's so nice on Merc.) I don't "wipe" the saddle with my seat, so then we tried some just seat exercises (hold the pommel and pull myself down and towards it while looking up at the rafters - then lifting my legs off and letting them relax back down). I can feel the seat then, but as soon as we canter, I lock up my knees and back. So then we tried to think legs open and wiping the seat, and although it felt like my knees were flapping around on the front of the saddle, I could feel the proper seat in my hips. Mike says we can fix my knees later, but to work on my hips.
So ...
that's not all of it, but it's a huge amount for me to work on and practice before our next lesson. I'm hopeful again now that Willig and I can be a team. I just didn't know how to ask him properly, and he was really great and willing once I got the hang of how to do it - he was a totally different horse and an absolute delight to ride. I really like Mike's descriptive style and corrections, and how amazing it feels when we do it properly.
It made my entire day - possibly the whole month!
(Oh yeah, so just to put things in perspective, we still can't do transitions, canter, sitting trot, or, oh, anything that's even remotely dressage. But I am so excited to have a great trainer again. The sky's the limit!)
It was the best ride I have ever had on Willig, the entire time I've owned him (which is just about a year and a half now), although we spent pretty much 30 straight minutes riding in a tiny circle around Mike at the trot.
The short version is: I have not been communicating properly with Willig, and Mike knows how to do it and is good at telling me how to tell Willig.
The long version:
We started by checking my tack and the bits. The skinnier bit should have been more severe, so it doesn't make much sense how I lost steering and brakes with it. Next lesson I am going to switch to it for the lesson and see how he does. For now, I'm going to keep riding in the Mylar Level 1.
Then I had a few questions about my position (the balancing blocks) because I feel like I'm too far forward (not enough on the two back legs, but on the front leg of the stool). It's a moving target, but it should be pretty evenly distributed.
Mike watched us trot for a few minutes (the only other time he's seen me ride was when my hip and shoulder were excruciating). (Side note here - at the NWEC derby I introduced myself to the couple who caught Willig at AF at the clinic. The guy said he saw me falling and that it was one of the most spectacular falls he'd ever seen, and he knew I was going to the hospital as I was going off because I was so high in the air, then bounced. He was amazed I could walk a month later and nothing was broken.)
Mike said that my lower leg (the back, near my heel) is too busy - it touches, touches, touches Willig and so he tunes me out and then doesn't pay attention to anything I ask of him). This requires a new lower leg position which feels odd and awkward, which means I just need to practice it and get used to it. I can still use my upper lower leg (below the knee) and my foot for a hard squeeze, but I have to hold it off him further all the time.
Then we started to work on my position, and Willig, out of absolutely nowhere, took off bucking, totally, totally naughty. I was so surprised I didn't punish him, and Mike was surprised too, I think. (Suspiciously, this is the second time he's bucked majorly since I fell off on the big huge bucks at the clinic.)
So instead of going straight to working on my position, we went to making Willig work, which ended up being an amazing experience for me. Actually, first Mike showed me how to stiff arm jab him in the mouth when he's terrible, and said I need to get his head in the air faster (hands up) to keep him from keeping going and eventually getting me off.
Ok, so first Mike held the reins and showed me the difference between rounded back/hunched shoulders (Willig can pull me out of position with barely any effort) and straight back/pushed out belly (Willig can hardly pull me out of position at all). We did a tiny amount of position work in a two point, and how if you push your butt back - like you're pushing it over the back of the saddle - your position (closing over your hips) actually gets really super solid, in contrast to if you round over his neck, where then you're just topsy turvy.
So then I put my hands on each side of his withers and held them completely solid and then tapped tapped tapped ("the police knocking at the door") with my leg until Willig gave with his head. Then I released the tapping and hard hands until he flung his head in the air, then I started tapping and hard hands again.
Then we did it at the walk, and I basically learned I have no capacity to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Then we did it at the trot, and a few miraculous things happened:
- Willig breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, you're finally RIDING me. Thank god."
- I sort of got it together and could totally, absolutely FEEL the difference in him - not just in his nice soft back, but in his nice, calm demeanor.
- We were a team! It was fabulous. I just went around grinning.
- He is responding to me. Each time I loosened to try to readjust my position, his head flung up (well, most of the beginning, then he "got it" and his head lowered when he had a chance), so all along it's been because I'm spastic up there on top of him and he doesn't know what I want him to do.
- I need to work on the release/praise/pat and then immediate firmness when he disobeys. I'm slow on the draw.
Willig took the bit and chewed it and lowered his head (we even did some stretchy circles!) and quit flinging his head around, and so then we:
- Bent to the inside. Interestingly, without his head flinging all around, I was able to notice he preferentially bends to the right.
- Worked, very slightly, on transitions. Again, I "throw him away", and so my job was to keep it all together and regroup and do it again if I messed up.
- Then started working on me. No news to me, I can't sit the trot. It makes Mike cringe. I also pull my heels up, and so I have to push-push-push them down, and think toes raised too. I click instead of using my leg or whip. And, the canter, which I told him I've been having problems with, was still a struggle. (It's weird, because it's so nice on Merc.) I don't "wipe" the saddle with my seat, so then we tried some just seat exercises (hold the pommel and pull myself down and towards it while looking up at the rafters - then lifting my legs off and letting them relax back down). I can feel the seat then, but as soon as we canter, I lock up my knees and back. So then we tried to think legs open and wiping the seat, and although it felt like my knees were flapping around on the front of the saddle, I could feel the proper seat in my hips. Mike says we can fix my knees later, but to work on my hips.
So ...
that's not all of it, but it's a huge amount for me to work on and practice before our next lesson. I'm hopeful again now that Willig and I can be a team. I just didn't know how to ask him properly, and he was really great and willing once I got the hang of how to do it - he was a totally different horse and an absolute delight to ride. I really like Mike's descriptive style and corrections, and how amazing it feels when we do it properly.
It made my entire day - possibly the whole month!
(Oh yeah, so just to put things in perspective, we still can't do transitions, canter, sitting trot, or, oh, anything that's even remotely dressage. But I am so excited to have a great trainer again. The sky's the limit!)
Newsworthy Willig
Last Saturday, unexpectedly, Willig had a great day, so pursuant to the Conrad Schumacher instructions, I took our "comfort circle" and kept expanding it.
Willig was so good we did five stretch goals:
- cantered a course (instead of trotted it - he got hot, but at least we did it without mishap);
- jumped the big "brick" wall (a refusal and then a spook looking at it, but then the second try he did it fine, well "fine" for him);
- jumped my fake ditch (which he has been getting better and better at, and next time Tom comes down, I am going to try to jump the real ditch);
- walked around in the huge pasture on a "trail" ride; and
- and then went out in a pasture and let him loose to eat grass (according to Shannon, the owner, he is afraid of the pastures) for 15 minutes!!
Tonight we did another pasture turnout which was a bit more sketchy, but not too traumatic.
By the way, a couple weeks ago on a Monday, I set up two lunge "jumps" (one at 3 and 9 if I'm the center of a clock). First they were just poles on blocks (so a high step up, but by high, I mean like 3"), then one became a jump (less than 2') then the other became a jump. I had to set up the fly poles to keep him from darting out to the side each lap, and I noticed he kept his years pretty much pointed away from me the entire time. Then I did Merc over them too, and I did not need the no-run-away poles AND his floppy ol' ears stayed looking at me most of the time. Hmmm. So clearly there is something missing in my communication with Willig.
Willig was so good we did five stretch goals:
- cantered a course (instead of trotted it - he got hot, but at least we did it without mishap);
- jumped the big "brick" wall (a refusal and then a spook looking at it, but then the second try he did it fine, well "fine" for him);
- jumped my fake ditch (which he has been getting better and better at, and next time Tom comes down, I am going to try to jump the real ditch);
- walked around in the huge pasture on a "trail" ride; and
- and then went out in a pasture and let him loose to eat grass (according to Shannon, the owner, he is afraid of the pastures) for 15 minutes!!
Tonight we did another pasture turnout which was a bit more sketchy, but not too traumatic.
By the way, a couple weeks ago on a Monday, I set up two lunge "jumps" (one at 3 and 9 if I'm the center of a clock). First they were just poles on blocks (so a high step up, but by high, I mean like 3"), then one became a jump (less than 2') then the other became a jump. I had to set up the fly poles to keep him from darting out to the side each lap, and I noticed he kept his years pretty much pointed away from me the entire time. Then I did Merc over them too, and I did not need the no-run-away poles AND his floppy ol' ears stayed looking at me most of the time. Hmmm. So clearly there is something missing in my communication with Willig.
Second day of NWEC/Adult Riders Derby
This is a very belated blog entry, since this was April 5th, so I'll be concise (for me).
I had fun.
For the first time in a long time, and maybe the first time riding Willig, I had a good time. The weather was great, and Willig was pretty good and relaxed.
Plus, I hooked up the truck and trailer perfectly. One try.
We got third place, at Intro. 1st place was 35.3, 2nd 42.7, and we were another slight improvement to 43.2.
No refusals on the course, and dressage could have been a bit better, but the ground was frosty and I was worried about him slipping, so I didn't do as vigorous a warm up as I would have liked. (Our dressage ride was 7:56 am!)
Then, after the terrible trailer incident the day before, I coaxed him in with carrots. It took about half an hour, but there was no pulling or fighting (he got a carrot each time he came a step farther in, so he could back out and stand and stare (but not eat), but he didn't get a new carrot until he came in farther).
The next day, Janis suggested, sagely, the stud chain, which was just a few feet away from me.
But then on the roundabout (like the 5th one) on the way home, I almost hit a truck going through, and I had to slam on the brakes, and poor Willig came out of the trailer sweaty and scared. (Sigh).
Anyway, Adult Riders did a great job and I had a great time and even got a bit of a tan on my face. Oh yeah, and third place was jackpot. I scored my first bucks ever - $15!!
I had fun.
For the first time in a long time, and maybe the first time riding Willig, I had a good time. The weather was great, and Willig was pretty good and relaxed.
Plus, I hooked up the truck and trailer perfectly. One try.
We got third place, at Intro. 1st place was 35.3, 2nd 42.7, and we were another slight improvement to 43.2.
No refusals on the course, and dressage could have been a bit better, but the ground was frosty and I was worried about him slipping, so I didn't do as vigorous a warm up as I would have liked. (Our dressage ride was 7:56 am!)
Then, after the terrible trailer incident the day before, I coaxed him in with carrots. It took about half an hour, but there was no pulling or fighting (he got a carrot each time he came a step farther in, so he could back out and stand and stare (but not eat), but he didn't get a new carrot until he came in farther).
The next day, Janis suggested, sagely, the stud chain, which was just a few feet away from me.
But then on the roundabout (like the 5th one) on the way home, I almost hit a truck going through, and I had to slam on the brakes, and poor Willig came out of the trailer sweaty and scared. (Sigh).
Anyway, Adult Riders did a great job and I had a great time and even got a bit of a tan on my face. Oh yeah, and third place was jackpot. I scored my first bucks ever - $15!!
Monday, April 06, 2009
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Rough start to a nice day
Today was the first day of our portion of the Adult Eventing Derby. Today was the play day. (We didn't go to the clinic portion.)
We had a terrible start. I couldn't sleep last night and thought I was getting sick - last night Willig was a loony tune on the lunge line, kicked at me, got it wrapped around his leg (I should be ashamed how frequently this happens - he won't make a round circle, and he tends to kick on the flat side, so the lunge line is more often loose on that side), then when I let go so as not to break his sweet little leg - he went ripping off and ran around and around for 10 minutes not letting me catch him, like a total jerk-face.
After a solo-hitching at 5:45 am (one that the neighbors AND me want to avoid happening again), I went to get Willig. He was all sweet and quiet in his stall, apparently a sleepy Willig is a docile Willig.
I noticed a little piece had snapped on his halter (oddly, since it was ok last night when I put him away), and I made a mental note to fix it after I put on his bridle at the show. That's called foreshadowing, readers.
So we went out to the trailer, and I was using the light my dad got me to light up the inside since it was still pretty dark out, and that ding dong would not go in. And he was pulling, pulling, pulling, and SNAP - the rest of the halter broke - it flew off his head, and he ... thanks to last night, possibly? ... ran away again. With his shipping boots and his tail wrap, he ran all over Forest Park's trailer parking lot. This gave me time to get his back-up halter and move the broken one, and then he let me catch him, but had gotten himself quite worked up.
So then I put him in, but with the lunge line through the tie, so that I could stand next to him but pull him in at the same time. Well, the lesson he learned was "if I pull hard enough, I can get loose and not go in the trailer" - he was rearing and thrashing and sparks flew from his hooves like he was the devil hisself. By this point, unlike last night, I didn't care if he killed himself.
Eventually, he got so worked up he started shaking, and then, for reasons unknown to me, he just walked in. I was just about ready to quit. He gave me rope burns on my hands.
So I was upset - I was like "I can't even load this horse into the trailer, what the hell am I doing going to a show?" and I thought I'd just drive him around the block (so he didn't get away with being so terrible then going right back in his stall), but we went to the show anyway, because I reasoned that once I start chickening out, there's no going back.
We got there late because of the trailer incident. I registered, ran out and half ass walked the course, rubbed him briefly with a brush, lunged him about 5 minutes, rode him about 3 minutes (once over each fence), then made it to my start time with 30 seconds to spare - and no breakfast for Willig.
So given that, he did pretty well, though given what he should be able to do, it was pitiful. We were clobbered by 6 year olds.
He had a refusal at fence 3 (an odd shaped log). We stopped in front of it, he looked at it, then he jumped it kind of funny but jumped it. Then I pulled him off of 8 (another log) because he was so busy looking at the scary ditch to the right of it that I thought he was going to slam right into it. The rest of the fences were fine. It wasn't timed, so we trotted and were calm. (Interestingly, I just read in Practical Horseman, while sitting in the sun later in the day, that it is harder to trot a fence than canter it.)
This resulted in either a:
- 3rd place finish (two refusals were the third worst ride)
- 10th place finish (out of 17) (there were 8 or so ties for 1st place since it wasn't timed and they didn't refuse)
- Last place finish (everyone below us was eliminated; no one had three refusals)
But - with a bunch of horses screaming in their stalls - and at least three loose horses (which made me feel a LOT better), Willig was actually really, really good in his stall.
I went and walked BN, what we had planned to ride. It looked bigger. It had a ditch.
Just before I was going to get him ready for dressage, he got bored, so I got him ready early and we just rode around all over the show grounds. That was really good for him I think - to just see a bunch of stuff happening and it not be a big deal.
Then, our dressage test was with Francis O'Reilly, and Adult Riders set it up so you got to talk to the judge after. This was genius (thank you Adult Riders!). She came out and explained HOW to ride him with contact, and how to do down transitions. It feels TOTALLY different than how I've been riding, and I am so excited because she told me, it took me a few minutes to get it, and then I got it, and I felt it!! And of course, he fought it. So it's: steady contact on the outside rein - and by contact - really solid contact. And then when he tries to lift his head or act out, squeeze with your legs, but counter it with your hand so he doesn't go faster, but you push him into the contact on your hand.
For down transitions, it is pushing him down into it - not letting his head pop up. She said to work at home on a lot of transitions to help him with this, and I think this is the same as my prior Conrad Schumacher post about the young horses and poles and turns-on-the-forehand.
It felt GREAT - and totally different. I can't wait to practice.
And our dressage test was a 44.5.
Then I let him graze about an hour (which rocked to him - I think the ding dong might not really "get" grass, and maybe that's why he doesn't appreciate the turnout at FPEC), and we watched some of the training and prelim riders.
I left him with his dinner and some extra local hay, and I'm getting up again at 5 tomorrow for our 7:56 am dressage ride. I'm a little worried about him overnight, but he's got horses around and lots of people are there in their campers, and I've got his stall sign (thanks, mom) up with my phone number and the vet's number on it.
I am so excited about the judge showing me how to properly ride. I hope that is the missing link.
Though I watched the jumpers - I just can't see us ever doing prelim. And I heard people talking "oh, he's a project - he's JUST prelim potential".
Also, the sun was awesome today. Yay sun and warmth.
A future post is going to discuss me being stubborn and plodding away at him, vs. him one day turning into a good horse, vs. the need for me to learn how to ride him for my personal growth with horses, and once again, whether I should keep him. I think we've made progress, and I think he's going to turn into a nice horse, but I don't know when you know that for sure and when you're just wasting time with a horse that's too much. And I'm not sure he's ever going to be confident enough to be an eventer. Those training/prelim horses WANTED to do it.
We had a terrible start. I couldn't sleep last night and thought I was getting sick - last night Willig was a loony tune on the lunge line, kicked at me, got it wrapped around his leg (I should be ashamed how frequently this happens - he won't make a round circle, and he tends to kick on the flat side, so the lunge line is more often loose on that side), then when I let go so as not to break his sweet little leg - he went ripping off and ran around and around for 10 minutes not letting me catch him, like a total jerk-face.
After a solo-hitching at 5:45 am (one that the neighbors AND me want to avoid happening again), I went to get Willig. He was all sweet and quiet in his stall, apparently a sleepy Willig is a docile Willig.
I noticed a little piece had snapped on his halter (oddly, since it was ok last night when I put him away), and I made a mental note to fix it after I put on his bridle at the show. That's called foreshadowing, readers.
So we went out to the trailer, and I was using the light my dad got me to light up the inside since it was still pretty dark out, and that ding dong would not go in. And he was pulling, pulling, pulling, and SNAP - the rest of the halter broke - it flew off his head, and he ... thanks to last night, possibly? ... ran away again. With his shipping boots and his tail wrap, he ran all over Forest Park's trailer parking lot. This gave me time to get his back-up halter and move the broken one, and then he let me catch him, but had gotten himself quite worked up.
So then I put him in, but with the lunge line through the tie, so that I could stand next to him but pull him in at the same time. Well, the lesson he learned was "if I pull hard enough, I can get loose and not go in the trailer" - he was rearing and thrashing and sparks flew from his hooves like he was the devil hisself. By this point, unlike last night, I didn't care if he killed himself.
Eventually, he got so worked up he started shaking, and then, for reasons unknown to me, he just walked in. I was just about ready to quit. He gave me rope burns on my hands.
So I was upset - I was like "I can't even load this horse into the trailer, what the hell am I doing going to a show?" and I thought I'd just drive him around the block (so he didn't get away with being so terrible then going right back in his stall), but we went to the show anyway, because I reasoned that once I start chickening out, there's no going back.
We got there late because of the trailer incident. I registered, ran out and half ass walked the course, rubbed him briefly with a brush, lunged him about 5 minutes, rode him about 3 minutes (once over each fence), then made it to my start time with 30 seconds to spare - and no breakfast for Willig.
So given that, he did pretty well, though given what he should be able to do, it was pitiful. We were clobbered by 6 year olds.
He had a refusal at fence 3 (an odd shaped log). We stopped in front of it, he looked at it, then he jumped it kind of funny but jumped it. Then I pulled him off of 8 (another log) because he was so busy looking at the scary ditch to the right of it that I thought he was going to slam right into it. The rest of the fences were fine. It wasn't timed, so we trotted and were calm. (Interestingly, I just read in Practical Horseman, while sitting in the sun later in the day, that it is harder to trot a fence than canter it.)
This resulted in either a:
- 3rd place finish (two refusals were the third worst ride)
- 10th place finish (out of 17) (there were 8 or so ties for 1st place since it wasn't timed and they didn't refuse)
- Last place finish (everyone below us was eliminated; no one had three refusals)
But - with a bunch of horses screaming in their stalls - and at least three loose horses (which made me feel a LOT better), Willig was actually really, really good in his stall.
I went and walked BN, what we had planned to ride. It looked bigger. It had a ditch.
Just before I was going to get him ready for dressage, he got bored, so I got him ready early and we just rode around all over the show grounds. That was really good for him I think - to just see a bunch of stuff happening and it not be a big deal.
Then, our dressage test was with Francis O'Reilly, and Adult Riders set it up so you got to talk to the judge after. This was genius (thank you Adult Riders!). She came out and explained HOW to ride him with contact, and how to do down transitions. It feels TOTALLY different than how I've been riding, and I am so excited because she told me, it took me a few minutes to get it, and then I got it, and I felt it!! And of course, he fought it. So it's: steady contact on the outside rein - and by contact - really solid contact. And then when he tries to lift his head or act out, squeeze with your legs, but counter it with your hand so he doesn't go faster, but you push him into the contact on your hand.
For down transitions, it is pushing him down into it - not letting his head pop up. She said to work at home on a lot of transitions to help him with this, and I think this is the same as my prior Conrad Schumacher post about the young horses and poles and turns-on-the-forehand.
It felt GREAT - and totally different. I can't wait to practice.
And our dressage test was a 44.5.
Then I let him graze about an hour (which rocked to him - I think the ding dong might not really "get" grass, and maybe that's why he doesn't appreciate the turnout at FPEC), and we watched some of the training and prelim riders.
I left him with his dinner and some extra local hay, and I'm getting up again at 5 tomorrow for our 7:56 am dressage ride. I'm a little worried about him overnight, but he's got horses around and lots of people are there in their campers, and I've got his stall sign (thanks, mom) up with my phone number and the vet's number on it.
I am so excited about the judge showing me how to properly ride. I hope that is the missing link.
Though I watched the jumpers - I just can't see us ever doing prelim. And I heard people talking "oh, he's a project - he's JUST prelim potential".
Also, the sun was awesome today. Yay sun and warmth.
A future post is going to discuss me being stubborn and plodding away at him, vs. him one day turning into a good horse, vs. the need for me to learn how to ride him for my personal growth with horses, and once again, whether I should keep him. I think we've made progress, and I think he's going to turn into a nice horse, but I don't know when you know that for sure and when you're just wasting time with a horse that's too much. And I'm not sure he's ever going to be confident enough to be an eventer. Those training/prelim horses WANTED to do it.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Conrad Schumacher Symposium - Lessons from 1/2 of 1 horse
I only got to attend the first day of the Conrad Schumacher Symposium because my sweet old dog had a rough night Saturday night. Aside from it being very, very cold, and me being surprisingly ill-prepared for the weather, it was really fabulous.
So my first take home message is: Go next year! For anyone who rides dressage, at all, in any capacity, there is tons to learn and it will be worth the money.
It was set up so that there were 15 horse/riders on Saturday, starting with young horses and working up to 4th level. There were also some young riders.
Herr Schumacher was really funny, conversational, and did just a bang-up job of describing what was going on. For each "set", he provided some exercises and explained what they do and why you should do them. Although the horses and riders were really good (way, way better than me and Willig), we could still see how the exercises improved them.
I haven't seen his DVD, but I'm guessing it's worth the money.
The Symposium was worth the cost just for the 2nd horse for me, which was a 6 year old warmblood who was nervous and also, just coincidentally, happened to look like Willig.
I'm not going to describe everything I saw and learned, just Horse #2. Maybe later, when I somehow magically am blessed with more time, I'll put the rest on, but I took 14 pages of notes just on Saturday - with a freezing cold hand!
A solid education starts first with trust. Do NOT punish young, nervous horses. They do not make mistakes on purpose - it is either an instinctual response or the rider's mistake.
This horse didn't want to go and C.S. said that warmbloods are bullies when they're young, but if you give them time, they become rideable. What a relief this was to hear!!
So this horse had a big, regular trot, but he was tense because his tail was up. His ears were listening though. C.S. said to let them move out - let the tension out, then canter 20 m circles, or bigger if your arena permits.
This was really interesting - he had the rider really ride the horse forward, and his head got softer and quieter the more she pushed him forward.
He said warmbloods are the opposite of thoroughbreds. A tb doesn't relax when you're riding him forward, he goes crazy. Warmbloods you need to ride carefully, but speed is good. It opens their bodies and helps them extend.
He said to get an active back in a wb, ride them over poles on ground, and I wrote, again, ride them FORWARD.
He described young horses going out on the racetrack, and how their necks got lighter and haunches moved under. A warmblood has to be ridden into your hands.
Then he showed us, standing on the ground, the difference in the horse's neck. It was all tense when he first came in, but C.S. wiggled the reins, and after being ridden forward, the horse's head was all soft. He said a horse is honest in the neck when he pushes away from the bit.
My notes say: "hold - strong - then give in - give in poll", and once they give in the poll, it moves to their back, then their haunches come under. I think this was they push back at first, but if you stay steady, then they give with their head.
His exercise for the young bully was to help him with sugar (to relax his poll) or poles on the ground.
Then he had the rider do leg yielding down the long side, a turn on the forehand, then leg yield back.
For horses that are strong on your hand, this makes them soft. Do it 5 minutes, and they get rounder in the neck.
Ok, that's just the first half of THAT horse only! I'll do the next half later.
My report, taking that home and riding Willig and doing those exercises is that they seem to work like magic!
Two nights ago, I did a lot of pole work, the back and forth on the long side with a turn on the forehand (which Willig totally knows how to do), and riding really forward in the warm up. Willig got longer and was reaching his head down and towards the bit and chomping on it at the end. This was despite wind, a flappy jacket, and this little pony shooting around.
Tonight, the wind was much stronger, and Willig's head was much stronger too. But I still got some really great steps and more offering to be on the bit from him, even though it was all mixed with some really terrible running sideways jumping around, totally evading the bit behavior. I pulled him away from his dinner though, and it really was tremendous wind.
Shannon (the owner) said Willig is too neurotic to go out on the grass. It's his loss, but what a waste. Even *I* want to live out in her turnouts on the grass; they are amazing. Maybe it's because he was raised in a CA barn? Maybe he's just never had open space before. I hope he grows out of it. Sweet, reliable Merc, of course, thinks it's no big deal.
So my first take home message is: Go next year! For anyone who rides dressage, at all, in any capacity, there is tons to learn and it will be worth the money.
It was set up so that there were 15 horse/riders on Saturday, starting with young horses and working up to 4th level. There were also some young riders.
Herr Schumacher was really funny, conversational, and did just a bang-up job of describing what was going on. For each "set", he provided some exercises and explained what they do and why you should do them. Although the horses and riders were really good (way, way better than me and Willig), we could still see how the exercises improved them.
I haven't seen his DVD, but I'm guessing it's worth the money.
The Symposium was worth the cost just for the 2nd horse for me, which was a 6 year old warmblood who was nervous and also, just coincidentally, happened to look like Willig.
I'm not going to describe everything I saw and learned, just Horse #2. Maybe later, when I somehow magically am blessed with more time, I'll put the rest on, but I took 14 pages of notes just on Saturday - with a freezing cold hand!
A solid education starts first with trust. Do NOT punish young, nervous horses. They do not make mistakes on purpose - it is either an instinctual response or the rider's mistake.
This horse didn't want to go and C.S. said that warmbloods are bullies when they're young, but if you give them time, they become rideable. What a relief this was to hear!!
So this horse had a big, regular trot, but he was tense because his tail was up. His ears were listening though. C.S. said to let them move out - let the tension out, then canter 20 m circles, or bigger if your arena permits.
This was really interesting - he had the rider really ride the horse forward, and his head got softer and quieter the more she pushed him forward.
He said warmbloods are the opposite of thoroughbreds. A tb doesn't relax when you're riding him forward, he goes crazy. Warmbloods you need to ride carefully, but speed is good. It opens their bodies and helps them extend.
He said to get an active back in a wb, ride them over poles on ground, and I wrote, again, ride them FORWARD.
He described young horses going out on the racetrack, and how their necks got lighter and haunches moved under. A warmblood has to be ridden into your hands.
Then he showed us, standing on the ground, the difference in the horse's neck. It was all tense when he first came in, but C.S. wiggled the reins, and after being ridden forward, the horse's head was all soft. He said a horse is honest in the neck when he pushes away from the bit.
My notes say: "hold - strong - then give in - give in poll", and once they give in the poll, it moves to their back, then their haunches come under. I think this was they push back at first, but if you stay steady, then they give with their head.
His exercise for the young bully was to help him with sugar (to relax his poll) or poles on the ground.
Then he had the rider do leg yielding down the long side, a turn on the forehand, then leg yield back.
For horses that are strong on your hand, this makes them soft. Do it 5 minutes, and they get rounder in the neck.
Ok, that's just the first half of THAT horse only! I'll do the next half later.
My report, taking that home and riding Willig and doing those exercises is that they seem to work like magic!
Two nights ago, I did a lot of pole work, the back and forth on the long side with a turn on the forehand (which Willig totally knows how to do), and riding really forward in the warm up. Willig got longer and was reaching his head down and towards the bit and chomping on it at the end. This was despite wind, a flappy jacket, and this little pony shooting around.
Tonight, the wind was much stronger, and Willig's head was much stronger too. But I still got some really great steps and more offering to be on the bit from him, even though it was all mixed with some really terrible running sideways jumping around, totally evading the bit behavior. I pulled him away from his dinner though, and it really was tremendous wind.
Shannon (the owner) said Willig is too neurotic to go out on the grass. It's his loss, but what a waste. Even *I* want to live out in her turnouts on the grass; they are amazing. Maybe it's because he was raised in a CA barn? Maybe he's just never had open space before. I hope he grows out of it. Sweet, reliable Merc, of course, thinks it's no big deal.
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