Ol' Ironmouth

Pangea and Gogo could not possibly be two more different animals when it comes to riding. Gogo, with her long and flowing slow stride, blessed with exceptional natural balance and an extreme tendency to be light in the forehand (and often times a little TOO light...), found it very hard after her stint with the abusive lady to take a contact. Too much too early on, and she would bolt or rear. To her dying day, if you took too strong of a restricting contact on her, she'd panic. Putting her on the bit involved a lot of just giving her a certain length of rein and doing simple exercises, mostly at the trot (for up to an hour!) until her back softened and she took the contact herself. You could not make her go out to it, you could not force her into a frame, you couldn't set one for her..... she had to decide it of her own accord, and that was the way it worked. But when she would finally take a contact by herself, she was golden, and everything about the connection in the reins was alive and vibrant. It was heavenly, and won the dressage nearly every time we went out, anywhere. Our best score at an event was a 22.0!! She was also hopelessly ewe-necked, but you wouldn't know from looking at her when she was working.

Pangea is the complete opposite of Gogo. Instead of long, flowing and slow, she likes to zoom along very quick and short. She has every ability to trot along smooth and slow, but she holds all her tension in her back and neck and zooms along to avoid engaging her hindquarters. And she HANGS on the bridle. Absolutely HANGS. Far from Gogo's ewe-neck, Pangea borders on having a swan-neck, ones that makes it a little too easy for her to break at the third vertebra (which, as you know, is exceptionally incorrect). I wouldn't say for sure that she is swan-necked, not in the way that her father was, but it's just a bit too easy for her to curl and evade. And hang. HANG.

Part of this (actually, probably most of this) issue is due to the fact that she has been spoiled from being ridden by beginners. Her last owner was an adult ammy, and up until even last summer she was being used in a dressage lesson program, being ridden by people who I'm sure hung on her face, pulled on the reins, and clutched at her until she grew dead to it all and decided that just hanging on the reins would provide them with what they assumed was a correct contact. She could also completely tune them out and run along at her freight train speed, all her weight on her forehand, letting them hold up her big gigantor head for her. Obviously all of this is incorrect in every way, so it is now my job to reminder her (nonstop) that she has to carry her OWN head, thanks very much. The more muscle she builds, the better she does in her dressage work, and I am achieving some wonderful (if not yet long-lasting) lightness in her, particularly in her canterwork. But it takes a hard ride - and a LOT of transitions and half-halts - to get there. The second you stop paying attention to what you are doing, she is back to pulling your shoulders out of your sockets. I know this will get better with time, correct work, and proper muscling, so I'm not too worried about it. She has just been beginner spoiled, and has figured out an easy way to get away with less work. However, as she discovered last night, this doesn't always work to her advantage.

Yesterday was the first day that I put my jump tack on her so I could get up out of the saddle and do a little conditioning on her. I contacted our local hunt yesterday to see when they start roading hounds for the off-season, and was delighted to learn that they road not only on Tuesdays but also on Saturdays, and that Pangea and I were both welcome to come. I'd like to spend the summer roading regularly with the hunt so I can see if a) get an idea for whether or not she'd be suitable as a hunt horse and b) see if I like this hunt enough to join in the fall! I have to say, Pangea sure does look good in jump tack. Unfortunately ALL my tack is black.... hopefully the hunt will look past that because you could not pry that Prestige out of my cold dead fingers if you wanted to. Texas hunt country is not exactly Virginia hunt country so hopefully a few informalities can be overlooked if everything else is appropriate.

Anyway, I digress. Once we got to working, and in particular cantering, Pangea reached out to her contact and took it hard, and leaned on it. And leaned. And leaned. And leaned. At this point I was up in a half seat attempting to just let her cruise, but was about to sit my butt back down and give her some sharp wake-up transitions. Before I could do this, however, Pangea's hanging-low-nose-to-the-dirt demeanor completely backfired on her when she tripped over a small ditch, one that she could have easily dealt with if 98% of her weight wasn't in the bridle at that moment in time. She stumbled and smashed her nose on the ground, and because she was so heavy in the bridle, I got dragged out of the saddle and almost completely off her back. Thankfully I have a strong core and fast reflexes, and somehow managed to stop myself from tumbling over her neck by putting a hand out on her mane to stop myself. This almost didn't work, seeing as her nose was still on the ground and I literally had nothing in front of me! A tumble like this would surely have gotten any number of people to fall off, so it was by only some sort of miracle that I managed to backpedal back into the tack. She was extremely miffed by the entire ordeal, and after that we spent some time talking about having her carry her own gigantic head so that could actually see where she was going and not trip and almost kill us both. A number of sharp transitions later, and she was cruising around on a light rein without excess speed or fuss. That's my girl!

She's been feeling so good lately that I might - MAYBE - try a jump or two with her soon. If I can find some jumps in the state of Texas.... there must be some SOMEWHERE!



((Pangea's borderline swan neck.))

Pangeatude

There was a time, not all that long ago, when I was debating whether or not to bother blogging about Pangea once she arrived. I thought that surely - surely! - she would have a truthfully boring story, and that no one would want to read about our boring, boring antics. She was an old, quiet, plog-along sweetheart who wasn't ever going to do anything remotely interesting compared to all of Gogo's old antics, right?

Uhm. I think the phrase "I was very wrong" doesn't even begin to suffice here.

Let's take our last dressage ride for example. (By dressage I mean only the most rudimentary of work, mostly at the walk.) When I pulled her out of her pen, I decided to drop her in the roundpen for a minute to let her loosen up and get her bucks out before I tacked her up to ride. She went one way just fine, and then when I went to turn her around, she made a face and kicked out in my general direction. OH NO YOU DIDN'T! I don't tolerate obnoxious bossy attitude from my beasts and made her turn, turn, turn around back and forth until she did it at the slightest notice and without any attitude. It only took a few turns before she was obediently and immediately responding, so we quit with that. Mares.

THEN, when I went to tack her up, I was currying her belly and she decided to let me know how unamused she was by this by sinking her teeth into the wheel well of my trailer where she was tied. OH NO YOU DIDN'T! x2! My immediate response to this was to give her a quick spank. You do not EVER bite anything when I am handling you. End of story. Absolutely no biting, no kicking, no sass, no nasty attitudes around the Boss Mare, which is me. You keep that to yourself or Boss Mare will knock you back down a peg. I won't discount that you don't like your belly curried - and I will curry it softer next time, and keep this in mind in case it's a physical issue that needs attending to - but don't you dare bite.

So what did she do in response to her spank?

Flailed, set back, broke her halter, and wandered nonchalantly off.

Really?

Mares.

And then we had THE best flatwork session we've had, hands down.

And I thought she was going to be boring in comparison to Gogo.






Looking pretty sexy no?

Today we had another grand adventure filled with peril, excitement, and panicked freak-outs - our first trail ride! I've been itching to get out on the trail with her ever since I got her, and I finally felt that after a month of work that we had graduated to being able to handle a short walk-only trail ride off property. I had absolutely no idea how she was going to act, seeing as the only place I've ever taken her off-property is to the pool to swim. She unloaded, looked around, and froze, eyes popping out of her head. Hmmm, I thought... this could be interesting.



When I mounted, she immediately began to jig, shake her head, and skitter sideways in her anticipation. Awesome. What did I get myself into?

Of course, the FIRST thing that happened was that the trailhead itself was absolutely flooded from all the rain we've been having in the past few weeks. In order to access the trails, you have to cross the riverbed, which normally I would assume isn't much more than a trickle, or in the summer completely bone-dry. As for today, it was almost 4' deep! I of course didn't realize quite how deep it was until I felt water flooding into my boots and looked down to see my feet disappearing into the current. Pangea only hesitated for a moment before walking right across.... that's my girl.

From there on out, however, it was all jig all the time. She jigged, she shook her head, she oogled at the fishermen on the bank, she broke out in a nervous sweat. This was compounded by the fact that there were lots of muddy patches on the trail... VERY muddy patches. I did not anticipate this or I would not have chosen the trail that I did, but once out there, it was a bit too late to turn around and drive elsewhere. She handled the muddiness with relative grace for the first 10 minutes or so... until we came to this boggy nightmare:



And once we got to the bank of it, she said no.

Loudly. NO. Mom, that is insane. Will not go.

I urged her on. Mare, you can do it, loads of other horses made it, see the hoofprints? Just go slow and we will be ok.

NO. Will not go.

We managed to get in partway before her hind end sunk a few inches into it and the mud began pulling on her hind boots. (Note to self... she hates hind boots.) Suddenly, I found myself on a flailing, thrashing, bucking, leaping nightmare animal who was hellbent on getting out of there, NOW. She shot backwards, legs flying in all directions at one time, directly backwards into a tree. I felt a stab in the flesh of my right hand near my thumb, and the moment she stopped moving I looked down to see what had happened. Oh... that's not what I was anticipating:



Fast fact about Texas: everything here either bites, stings, or pricks. In my case, I got pricked in the hand by a poisonous thorn a stabby plant. I have no idea what stabbed me, but I managed to turn around and see the remainder of the plant firmly tangled in Pangea's tail. Not about to jump off into the mud and extricate it, I decided to deal with it once we got to the other side. Fortunately, it fell out before we even made it over there.

And yes, we safely made it to the other side. After her fussing, she finally just decided of her own accord that she was going to march through the mud like it was never actually a big deal after all, and that was that. Mares!

From then on out, she was a total dream, negotiating the terrain easily on a long rein with her head low and her walk marching.







It was a glorious 85 degrees today, hot and steamy and sweet-smelling. The flowers on the trees have long since come and gone, replaced by fresh green leaves bursting with new growth, and the bluebonnets have suddenly exploded into bloom all over the place. Check out that last picture.... bluebonnets EVERYWHERE. Weirdly enough, they love to hang out in the same areas as the little ground cacti do, so you have to be careful where you ride. Pangea has yet to be stabbed with a cactus, but I've been nailed, and let me tell you those suckers HURT.

After a blissful second half of our ride, we came back across our trail entrance going the opposite way, and I felt brave enough to film her walking through the 4' deep water. The video cuts out halfway across, but we made it, I promise! ;)



What a good girl.



Back at the trailer, soaking wet. Half of that is sweat from the heat and her early-on incident at the muddy crossing (which she didn't bat an eye at going back across.... go figure), and half of that is from the river. I had already removed her hind boots by then... the moment we got back to the trailer she began to systematically kick them off, and I was only just able to jump down and pull them off before they ended up around her ankles.




It will be interesting to see if her hot attitude chills out a little bit as she becomes more accustomed to going places and doing things again. I'll be keeping an eye out for belly issues even though she is already on aloe juice... between her biting the trailer when currying her belly and starting out so spicy hot on the trails today, you never know. Mares!

AquaTreadmizzle!

The more time I spend with Pangea, the more I think that I really have found a little diamond in the rough. Despite her little stubborn streak, she is quiet, tractable, easy, and entirely too smart for her own good. Oh, and sound and fine and amazingly well trained to boot. Bonus after bonus. She has her little issues, that's for sure, but for the most part she's a total peach.

Wednesday morning, I got up very early in order to be at the barn hooking up my trailer and loading miss Pangea. Our destination: my workplace, so that Pangea could have her first AquaTread experience! I've been lucky enough in the past to have access to a dry treadmill when rehabbing Gogo, and am now lucky enough to have access to any number of therapies that I need for Pangea should she ever need them. The AquaTread is also a perfect tool for conditioning, which is what I intend to use it for in this case.


A little bit more about our AquaTread, from the HydroHorse website:

"The HydroHorse LLC Submerged Treadmill Systems are a high tech engineering combination of a treadmill, whirlpool, and swimming pool. They are designed to aid in the therapeutic healing, strengthening, conditioning, and training of all types of horses. In essence, the horse is partially buoyant in a specially designed water filled tank, which at the same time allows contact with the treadmill.

Unlike traditional swimming pool therapy, the horse can exercise in a controlled environment, using its normal gait and the same muscles as in use while exercising on the track without undue stress or trauma.
This form of exercise in temperature controlled water with the powerful therapeutic effects derived from the system’s Jacuzzi jets ensures proper and controlled conditioning for virtually every facet of the animal’s body while reducing concussion and thus rendering the equine athlete to be better equipped to withstand the rigors of performance and to remain competitive for longer periods of time. Equine treadmills are also known as Aquatreds, or Aquacisers but the function remains the same.

How Treadmills Help Horses Recover From Injuries:
Our aquatred systems may be used for treating injuries such as bowed tendons, pulled suspensory ligaments, bucked shins, and saucer fractures, quarter cracks or foot problems and generally for the rehabilitation of the animal after any injury or surgery. The lungs and heart of the animal receive maximum conditioning, which increases their capacity thus minimizing possibility of bleeding while performing. Bones become denser and more compact and the tendency of the perisoteum of the cannon bones becoming inflamed is greatly reduced and can be virtually eliminated with the aid of a treadmill.

Properly controlled exercise in the treadmill adds significant tone and conditioning to the back and stifle muscles and would make ‘tying up’ during the early stages of training less apt to occur. There are known cases, where a horse was badly injured but after treatment on a treadmill system, came back to be a winner!

Why Treadmills are Better for Horses:
HydroHorse LLC Systems are designed to relieve stress. They have been proven to be powerful tools for rehabilitation, training and conditioning of horses as the animals are less traumatized because they remain in contact with a solid surface beneath them, under controlled conditions.
Our systems allow a horse to exercise basically the same muscles, tendons, and ligaments used when working out on the track without the constant unyielding concussion of the surface track. The buoyancy of the water displaces approximately 40% to 45% of the body weight – while contact with the treadmill and thrust of working against the water still affords sufficient concussion to promote bone density and encourage muscle development, while minimizing injury. This cannot be achieved in a conventional swimming pool where movement involves "up-hill" thrusts and an unnatural ‘all-out’ type of flexation, which could be harmful and could cause ‘stress’ and ‘trauma’ for the animal.

How HydroHorse LLC Treadmill Systems Help in Conditioning:
Early conditioning on treadmill systems helps tendons, ligaments and joint capsules to tighten and increase in tensile strength and thus prepares a horse for the heavier training required to prepare the animal for the race track or equestrian shows. Additionally, this form of hydrotherapy involves a massaging action produced by air and water jets, which create a whirlpool effect smoother and more constant than can be done by hand.

Horses love this relaxing and invigorating form of training and both vets & trainers agree that this hydrotherapy system is physically and psychologically beneficial to the animal."


When Gogo went on the AquaTread for the first time, she walked right in like she couldn't care less. We NEVER see that the first time... it takes some persuasion and positive reinforcement on almost every case. We use any combination of tools - buttrope, crop, voice, chain over the nose - but we NEVER force them, drag them, hit them, drug them, or pull them in. We let them take one tiny step at a time if they need to, and for however long it takes. With this approach, and positive reinforcement, we always get the horse in within a few minutes, and we don't have one single seasoned horse who doesn't walk right in.


(Pangea says, uhhhhh what the heck??)

As for Pangea, she walked into the chute and gave it a good hard look. She had seen two "role model" horses walk in before her, so she had a basic idea that this thing was not a horse-eating monster, but she paused to think about it for a moment. With a little encouragement (me lightly pulling her lead rope, my other handler standing near her hind end clucking and twirling her crop), she hunkered down, snorted a time or two, and then walked herself right in. Seeing as we get some that launch and leap in, some that slide in on their hind legs, and some that flail and resist the entire time, this was so easy!! It didn't take her more than a minute or two to get in. Once on the treadmill, she figured her legs our pretty quickly, and we settled for a nice power walk for 15 minutes. A 15 minute session in the pool at the trot is equivalent to trotting for an hour in an arena in terms of muscle work... so there is so much less wear and tear and pounding on legs! They build the muscles they need without experiencing the same level of hard concussion that they would on solid ground. (There is undoubtedly a need for concussion in order to strengthen bones and tendon/ligs, but not so much that you risk fatiguing the muscles and, in turn, stressing these structures. It's all about walking a fine line.)

At the end of her 15 minute walk, Pangea was pooped. It's hard work, walking against the resistance of water! Her heartrate was up, and she was breathing rather heavily. Her vitals returned to normal quickly, but the fact that a simple walk caused her to be that tired shows how seriously out of shape she is. (Under saddle, she has broken a sweat every time... at a walk. So out of shape. Seriously.)






Good mare! Aside from pawing in the barn (urrrrrrrg), she was lovely. We'll be back for the AquaTread again next week!