She's Back

Lucy, that is.  The stifle injections were exactly what she needed.

We have had a couple of "different" Pessoa sessions since we got back to work, following her latest injections.

For the first session, I brought a shiny new lunge whip with me up to the dressage court.  She looked at it while we were walking up, but didn't seem concerned.  I'm not a big fan of lunging, in general, since all those circles put stress on the horse's joints (and its boring, sometime dizzyingly boring, for both horse and person).  Besides, Lucy doesn't typically need to be lunged; she's never pulled an exuberant bucking episode on me.  And, with the Pessoa work, it isn't hard to keep her going.  Lucy is a forward equine citizen so all I need to keep her going is my voice.  But, she was cutting her circles too small (especially on the side of the arena she doesn't trust) and I wanted to push her back out; to keep the circles as large as possible, so the strain was reduced on her joints.  I wanted to use the lunge whip like an extension of my arm, pushing her back out.

I learned that Lucy hates lunge whips.  Who knew?  I got her all clipped into the Pessoa and asked her to walk on.  I picked up the lunge whip and she exploded.  She didn't settle until I dropped the whip on the ground.  Every time I held it, or even bent over to pick it up, she erupted -- bucking, kicking and racing around me so fast that she was almost laying sideways.  She never fully relaxed; and she was a sweaty lathered mess when we finished.  It was not our best session.

I hung the lunge whip on the whip rack in the tack room.  I won't use it again with her.

I worked her again a few days later.  I didn't bring the lunge whip.  I can swing the end of the lunge line at her, or walk towards her, or both, and that works to push her out.  Not as easy, but still effective.

This time, she was relaxed.  During her warm-up jog, there was some very slight toe-dragging.  But, when we started our work on canter and canter-trot-canter transitions, all toe-dragging disappeared.  Before the injections, she could not canter for 30 seconds so we were stuck at that level for weeks. This level of work (30 seconds of canter, 30 seconds of trot, repeat for five minutes, each direction) falls about half way through the conditioning program we were given by her vet.  This time, she cantered easily and wasn't always ready to come back to trot at 30 seconds.  She looked comfortable.  There was a lovely, cadenced jump to her stride and she even gave me a lovely rounded frame for a few strides here and there.  When she did trot, it was full of push and lift, her hind legs reaching forward and landing well in front of her front hoof prints.

I think my mouth was hanging open.

I didn't get a chance to ride her on the weekend, although that had been my plan.  We were busy working on ranch projects from dawn to dusk on Saturday -- and on Sunday I could hardly move.  I didn't think aggravating my back further was a good idea.  Lucy requires core muscle to ride effectively, and mine were not available.

Next weekend, for sure, I will ride.  In the meantime, we are moving it up a notch with the Pessoa.

Lucy and the Arena of Death

Weather permitting, I am working with Lucy in the Pessoa during the week and riding her on the weekends.  We've been using the small fenced arena behind the barn because the dressage court was frozen, then soggy, and then nicely damp but full of gorges carved by the water coursing down the middle during the last storms.  While using the small arena is useful, it isn't ideal.  The sand is really thin; almost non-existent.  Also, it is currently where Lucy and Pistol are living since the oak trunk is still laying across the fence -- or what is left of it -- in their usual pasture.  If I want to work with Lucy, Brett has to move Pistol somewhere else (usually hand grazing).  It works but it isn't the most convenient, if Brett is busy on one of his projects when I'm ready to work with Lucy.

Wednesday, Brett spent hours working on the dressage court.  He pulled sand away from the bottom of the court, where it had piled up, and tried to level things out with the tractor.  After three hours of work, the sand was nice and fluffy and the gorges were gone.  It wasn't perfectly even; it will take more time and work to get it perfect, but it was very inviting nonetheless.  When I got home from work, I got Lucy ready to go and headed up to the court.


Meanwhile, a neighbor was blasting his radio so loudly that we could hear every word of the soap opera he was playing.  It was disruptive and annoying and I was happy to be walking toward the other end of our property.  Did I mention that it was early evening? Feeding time.  ...the time of day that parents with small children refer to as the "witching hour."  Everyone is grumpy, and tired, and hungry.  Its prime time for drama.


Lucy doesn't like the dressage court.  She's a funny horse.  Unlike our other horses who love wide, open spaces, she prefers defined boundaries.  She loves her stall and is very relaxed working in a small arena.  In the dressage court, she is more often than not, on edge.  And that was the case Wednesday evening.  Her head was high as she trotted around me and she wasn't stretching at all. 


A gunshot rang out.  Lucy bucked and bolted forward.  Fortunately for me, she never pulls on the lunge line.  Another shot.  And another. And another.  I stopped counting.  Our gun crazy neighbor must have been engaged in target practice.  It finally got quiet, but I had a wild-eyed mare careening around me so fast that I was getting dizzy, turning in the middle to keep up.  I stayed calm and projected an air of "no worries" and she eventually settled.  At that point, my goal became getting a relaxed and stretching trot.  That's it. 


Thank you Mr. NRA nut. 


When we stopped, Lucy was wet with sweat and her chin was covered in lather and spit.  But, she had relaxed.  As I leaned against her shoulder and reached under to unclip the Pessoa, the gunshots started up again.  Lucy jumped and quivered -- but she didn't buck or bolt.  She spooked in place. 


One of the things I love about Lucy is that she takes care of me.  Even if she is on edge, she doesn't explode if I am on her back -- or, in this case, leaning under her belly.  She really is an awesome mare.

Pessoa 1.0

For most of this week, the forecast for this weekend was sunshine.  Unfortunately, that didn't stick.  This morning we were up early so I could work with Lucy before the next storm arrived sometime today.  I wanted to start her on Pessoa conditioning program and maybe ride her a bit afterward.

It was overcast and cold when I gave her a quick going-over with the curry comb and brush.  I put on her surcingle, grabbed the Pessoa, and headed to the small arena.  The mares have been using it as their paddock until their pasture fence is repaired so Brett put Pistol in her stall.

I watched a YouTube video on how to set up the Pessoa and it was very helpful.  Don't you love how you can Google anything and learn?  So handy.  Lucy is almost 15 and has been trained well.  I was sure that she was familiar with side reins so I wasn't worried about the front part of the apparatus -- but the butt bar was new and the video said some horses object to it at first.  Lucy didn't mind it at all.

Today we started with walk, for five minutes, in both directions.  Lucy wasn't sure at first.  She fell in a bit and looked confused.  Then a light bulb went on and she started marching forward with her hind feet tracking up nicely.

Next, our instructions were to jog in each direction for five minutes.  She started out very forward but quickly settled into a nice easy trot.  I was happy to see her stepping under evenly on both sides and swinging in her back.  Before her injections, her trot stride was very short and choppy in the back -- stabbing at the ground like a jack hammer instead of reaching and pushing forward.  This morning, she wasn't over-tracking, but she was meeting her front print.

By the time we changed direction, after five minutes, she was starting to get tired.  At one point she spooked and then got mad at the Pessoa.  She kicked sideways at it a few times and then settled back into a trot.  She was very tired when we finished.  It was only 20 minutes of work but it was hard, muscle building work.  I took off her tack and let her roll before putting her in the barn with Pistol.

The Pessoa puts a horse into a frame that works their core the way Pilate's works ours.  It strengthens their back, their belly and their hind end.  And it does this while encouraging them to work in a relaxed frame.  Lucy had a beautiful stretchy trot and looked comfortable.

I've decided to work on my core as well.  Its only fair -- we both need to get back our working muscles.  I did a bit of yoga last night -- and was really sore today -- so Lucy had my complete sympathy when she got tired today.

Tonight, all the horses are tucked in the barn waiting for the snow that is expected to start during the night, continue tomorrow and last into Monday.  Ugh.