Adding Wind, Not Just Strength

I don't always claim to be the quickest off the mark. Case in point: last week, I was hacking out bareback with one of the barn working students, and M., the assistant trainer, joined us by trotting up the hill. She was riding one of the really talented upper level dressage horses, an Andalusian, and commented at the top of the hill that "I can feel his heart going pitter-patter!"

That started a slow burn thought in the back of my head. This is a horse that's schooling all the Grand Prix movements, and is right now gaining strength to refine his piaffe and passage. He is in superb shape. But his wind - his aerobic capacity - needed work, hence why she was out with me in the field.

I've been doing so much work on building strength with Tristan; 90% of the work we've done for the last 3 weeks has been at the walk. He's responding to it well. His walk is more energetic, and he's building some muscle. But I've been totally neglecting his wind.

So last night we incorporated some quick sprints, too. We started out with a walk around the field, with some short trots up hilly areas. Then we went into the outside ring and worked for about 10 minutes on trot and canter, getting him supple and keeping him forward and even. He can be tricky in the outdoor ring, and he showed that last night when a horse down in the barn kicked its stall and he tried to bolt for the barn. I got him back in a few strides and he settled in to some nice work.

Note to self: remember to stay deep in the saddle! Far too easy to prop out of the saddle and leave the re-gathering to my hands alone when he gets strong like that.

Then we walked around the field again, and from the bottom trotted and then cantered up the hill. Aha! He felt strong and capable, and even pulling away a bit, but he was breathing so hard he was almost roaring. His muscles were more than capable of the work; his lungs were behind the ball. Interesting!

Harewood Horse Trials, 1955

WOW. Check out the jump combination that begins at 2:42.

 

Admin Post: Review Pages Updated

I've done some housekeeping and updated the review pages at the top of the blog.

So, the product reviews, movie reviews, and book reviews are now all thoroughly linked.

Movie Review: Dark Victory (1939)

Dark Victory (1939)
(available on Amazon Instant)

The gist: Bette Davis plays heiress and playgirl Judith Traherne, who is diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. She falls in love with her brain surgeon, played by George Brent. Geraldine Fitzgerald plays her best friend and secretary Ann, Humphrey Bogart plays her Irish horse trainer, and a very babyish Ronald Reagan plays her drinking buddy Alec.

On the surface, this movie is a melodramatic schlockfest in which Bette Davis reaches hysterical heights on a regular basis. It's considered a classic of its type.

Look deeper, and you see a darn good horse movie. Judith's life is consumed by her horses, though the movie can never quite decide what she does with them - steeplechases? hunters? jumpers? saddleseat? She breeds and has a personal trainer and rides herself. Some of the key scenes in the film are set in stables, with really wonderful set dressing.

Judith's horse Challenger is a central character in the movie, and a metaphor for Judith throughout. Trainer Michael (and oh, I could write an entire essay on Humphrey Bogart's terrible Irish accent) doesn't think the horse will ever amount to anything. Judith is convinced he's a champion. It's while taking him over fences at the beginning of the movie that she falls and is first diagnosed with her brain tumor. Michael brings Challenger to her bedroom while she's recovering, and his eventual admission that Challenger is a champion after all is another metaphor for Judith's acceptance of her diagnosis toward the end of the movie.

Throughout, Bette Davis wears fabulous 1930s riding clothes, and the horses are just gorgeous. It's not your typical "rich people ride horses" movie; horses and horse sport are clearly central to Judith's character. When she imagines a long life it includes a big house, a farm, and generations of horses in the fields.

Incidentally, Bette Davis herself was something of a horse person, though perhaps not as deeply involved with the sport as her co-star in this film, Ronald Reagan, or other stars like Carole Lombard and Clark Gable. She renovated a home in New Hampshire named Butternut, and kept a horse there for her time off from moviemaking. I've also found mentions of horses she kept for her daughter as well.

Definitely recommended if you like classic film, and classic horse scenes.

Sleeping in on a Saturday Morning; Or, Here, Have a Guilt Trip!

I left work last night with a splitting headache and decided on the way that if I got there before they had grained, I would longe Tris. If not, I would groom and go home.

Well, I got there just after he'd been tossed his grain, so I fussed over him, picked out his stall, added more shavings, tidied up the tack trunk, and headed home. Before I left, I put a note on the board to ask that his grain be held in the morning. I had plans to get to the barn around 7am and take him out for a few miles of hacking.

Then I woke up this morning at 8:30 am with barely enough time to shower, eat breakfast, and get to work. Then I swore a LOT. Then I texted the working student to tell her to just feed my poor horse his breakfast and apologize to him.

Then I got to work and couldn't shake the niggling feelings of guilt and self-loathing, so I called the barn juuuuuust to make sure. Turned out that WS hadn't gotten my text message, and they'd held his grain but turned him out. He'll get his grain when he comes in at lunch.

I am the WORST horse mom EVER. Poor Tris. :( Now I get not only heaps of guilt for making him hungry at breakfast, I get the worry that he did not get his pergolide or his antihistamines before turnout. UGH.