Riding the Rein Back?

Rein back is the kind of skill I really feel like I should have mastered by now, but I really suck at it.

I've been working hard to strengthen Tristan's stifles in particular and hind end in general, and rein back can be a great way to do that. In particular, a few steps uphill can be great.

We always fight about it, though. He tries to squirt out to either side, yank the bit away, or simply swing his hind end left or right instead of going straight back.

If I do get a few steps, it's usually with a very tense jaw and he'll do one or two dramatic strides back and then refuse to go further, and the whole process starts again.

I'm asking by: sitting deep, holding the bit steady (not pulling back just creating a barrier against going forward), keeping my thighs open/loose, and giving a light leg cue at the girth with both legs. I almost always also give the verbal cue "back!" which is a carryover from on the ground.

I could do this in hand - and I probably should - but it irks me that I can't do a good job of it under saddle.

So, blogosphere, what am I doing wrong? How do you cue & train the reinback?

Current Schedule

I seem to have - somewhat by accident - fallen into a riding schedule.

This is not a bad thing! Though I do occasionally wonder if it will get stale. So far, so good.

Sunday: hack (20 minutes or so, usually bareback, focused on mental health)
Monday: dressage intensive (40+ minutes, drilling down on one specific thing)
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: longeing (20-30 minutes, side reins)
Thursday: light dressage (20+ minutes, focused on getting in & getting out to nail an overall feel)
Friday: fitness (40+ minutes, hill work, trot sets, long canters, whatever needs tweaking)
Saturday: OFF

last week's dressage intensive

Tristan has always been a harder horse to manage mentally than physically. He just does not love to work, and he really does think things over and benefit from that during time off. At the same time, he's 22 years old, and he is healthiest when kept in regular work.

I am constantly playing catch-22 with his work ethic. His first answer to everything is NO. It has been for over a decade now. That's never going to change. However, his confidence in the work that follows my YES is a really tricky thing to manage. The better his work is going, the more confident he is, and after a warmup he can be downright pleasant if we're on a good streak. The opposite is true: if we're on a bad streak, the ride is just a slog from beginning to end.

springs!

The only way to fix that is to get good work back again, but then you're fighting an uphill battle. How do you get back to good with a horse who is in a grumpy spiral? Time off. Lots of finesse. Backing off intensity - but not too much, because muscle melts off his Cushings body like butter. Lack of muscle means he's less confident in the work, which puts us back at square one. In that same vein, getting too excited about good work means I push too hard, which leads to a backlash.

It suits me, in a way. I would not do well with a horse that has to be ridden every day. My life is too unpredictable. Similarly, the careful constant management teaches me so much as a rider and a horseperson. I'm a really practical person and that sometimes leads to a lack of empathy on my part. Tristan teaches me every day that each small action and decision I take has bigger ripples.

House Post: Man Cave, FINISHED

SUPER EXCITING, YOU GUYS.

When last we left it, the weird bonus room was well on its way...and there it sat, for lo, many months.

Last weekend? The in-laws came to visit again (I love them so much) and we finished it!

But before I show you final pictures, I would like to revisit once again our before picture: what this room looked like when we moved in.

Oh, boy.

What does it look like now, you ask?

SO GOOD.

So, this past weekend, we finished the trim and put in the floor. By "we" I mean my husband and his parents; I had to work, and then my "help" consisted of snuggling the dog (who clearly needed it, I mean, look at her) and then working on the dining room some more, which is almost done.

Progress photos, you say? Happy to oblige.

Now I'm pushing hard on the dining room and the garage, with both to be done in 2017, hopefully.

Weekly Blog Roundup

Really great assortment of reading this week!

I'm considering doing a blog highlight each week; if you reach out to me and describe your blog and share your 3 favorite posts, I'll put it up top in this post. Does that sound like it would be appealing, both to read and to submit your own info? Let me know!

Canyon Fire 2 Horse Evacuation Story from Saddle Seeks Horse
There are so many awful things going on right now, and reading this made them hit particularly close to home. I teared up a few times reading it. I'm so glad everyone was ok.

The Lone Survivor from Not So Speedy Dressage
If you want to learn more about barns that haven't been as fortunate in the California fires, and how you can help, read this.

The Biggest Change in My Riding from The Roaming Rider
I looooooove this. It's something I struggle with more or less constantly. I am too reactive in the saddle.

Lauren Billys Collecting Supplies for Puerto Rico’s Horses from Eventing Nation
Puerto Rico is another of those horrible ongoing disasters. Here's how you can help the horses there.

Yep, I'm Crazy from Cob Jockey
I...kind of love this trailer? I would never have thought I would, but! It looks awesome!

Horse Trailer Insurance from Cob Jockey
I learned things reading this, and I thought I was as obsessive as it's possible to be about horse trailers.

Well that dream died a quick death from The Roaming Rider
As you can guess from the title this isn't exactly a happy post - but it is informative and good to think about what happens when plans fall through.

Figuring out a Gym Schedule from A Enter Spooking
Ugh. Linking this for my own personal motivation. I'm still eating well but my exercising has been shit lately.

Printable Pony Rebrand from The Printable Pony
I've long admired this small business; go check out their new website!

Blog Hop: Truck and Trailer Set Up from Hand Gallop
This is so freaking cool I am speechless.

The Hexagon Leg Yield from Dotstream
Whooooooa I love this.

When it rains, it pours: back in front shoes

So Tristan had chiropractic work on Friday, after much angsting on my part and carving room in the budget for it. He felt much more free through his neck on Sunday, so I was glad I did it.

Then on Monday afternoon, the barn manager called. The farrier was there, and wanted to talk through Tristan's right front foot.

Yes, that right front. The problem child. It's been over five years since it first started causing problems. If you're new to that saga, start reading the abscess tag. Here's the foot progression collage. Short version: he had a stress fracture of the coffin bone that separated, got infected, abscessed, and had surgery, and that foot has never been quite right since.

It's always grown slightly wonky, thanks to the scar tissue from the original injury and the abscess insult to the coronet band. Well, the farrier was telling me over the phone that over the last few months it's been resulting in a mechanical instability at the toe - not due to bad balance, but rather to the way the foot itself was growing. That had now resulted in some separation at the white line, a bacterial infection, and a growing crack.

I knew the crack was there, and had already planned on talking it through with him, but I also thought it could be dug out with a normal trim. Joke's on me, nothing about that foot is normal.

Verdict: he needed to get it totally dug out back to healthy foot, stuffed with artimud, and then...back in front shoes for stability and protection.

Whooosh goes the money out the window. See, my budget is pretty tight, and it's built around him being barefoot, which, 95% of the time, has been a realistic projection!

Alas, not for the next few months.

So here's the foot all dug out.

It's tough to really tell, but that's a decently deep hole. The good news there is that the farrier really thought it was better than his worst fears.

Tris also got hot shod for the first time, this farrier's preference. New farrier from the last farrier who did shoes on him - anyone remember when Tristan had to get sedated for shoeing? Yeah. Good times. Thankfully, I distracted him with peppermints and he did not put a foot wrong the entire time. GOOD PONY.

Next step, artimud and dental putty.

Farrier said "if you want bragging rights, your horse's foot is so round that I have to use the draft horse pad."

Then, the shoe. Sigh.

GOOD PONY. So well-behaved.

I was grumpy but resigned (also freezing cold, it was 40 degrees and I am not yet acclimated to winter) but then I got on...and we had our best ride in WEEKS. He was forward, he was cooperative, he was loose.

Fine, pony. Fine. Have all the money.