Either I'm Getting Stronger...

... or my feed store is lying to me about the weight of my hay bales. But since they're still 3-string bales and HUGE, I'll go with the former.

I just stacked almost a million 125lb hay bales. All by myself. In the heat of the afternoon, with energy to spare! Well, maybe it wasn't "almost a million" but it sure felt like it! And I can lift them higher too. I will not credit this to anything other than the fact that it's summer and have been stacking more hay than usual. I don't work my arms out at the gym, although I really should.

My current horsey-project is getting my OTTB mare to actually relax her jaw, give at her poll, and flex softly. I want her to learn that the bit is NOT something to clamp down on and lean on. I've heard that it's a racehorse thing. Apparently in Racehorse Land, pulling on a horse's face actually makes them go faster. Huh, who knew?

I got her teeth floated before doing anything- I always try to rule out any and all physical issues before trying to work out a somewhat difficult problem in horse training. Now, her teeth are in tip-top shape, and she got a massage from Uncle Jason the horse masseuse. She is set to go.

So far, I've been proceeding as follows: I start off by longeing her in a nice large circle at the walk and trot until she's warmed-up, loose, relaxed and forward. Then I start slowly shortening my longe line and spiraling her closer into the circle until it starts to look like she's struggling a little, then I let her spiral back out. This little extra bit of stress from the smaller circle makes her stronger. Then I reverse her and do the same on the other side.

(A WORD OF CAUTION: Only do this is you are VERY comfortable reading your horse and can see when they start to get stiff or struggle. You have to know enough to not force them into a circle so small that it will actually damage their joints or muscles. Right now, my mare can spiral in from a 20m circle to a 12-15m circle, so my circles are NEVER teeny tiny, only a little more challenging. When she gets stronger we'll go for 10m, but, like weight training, you have to build up to it slowly.)

After a few spirals and she's good and warmed up, I put her bridle on (over her halter) and let her eat apple pieces with her bit in her mouth while I put on her surcingle. I am trying to get her to chew on the bit. I am teaching her that it's okay to play with the bit, and that she doesn't need jaws of steel. I also use apple, specifically, because it promotes salivation.

After she's done with her apple piece, I do flexions in-hand on the ground. The idea is really too long to describe here, but just Google it. I am particularly fond of Jane Savoie's descriptions, as well as Dr. Thomas Ritter's descriptions of how to do flexions. In essence, it releases the tension in the jaw/poll area of the horse. I'm mostly just trying to her her more supple in that area.

Then I attach Vienna reins. I tried plain side reins, which I prefer, but she is a smart cookie and very quickly learned to evade them by going above the bit and travelling hollow and ignoring me when I tell her to go forward. The Vienna reins don't let her do that.

So far, we've only had 2 longeing sessions with the Vienna reins. At first, Miss Priss was convinced she could not move forward when there was any kind of contact on her mouth. I mostly lead her around while she got used to them. Yesterday, we mostly longed at the walk and did a little tiny bit of trot. I let her take it easy, since this idea of being on the bit tends to be earth-shattering for some horses. We literally change their whole world when we ask them to move a certain way. So I don't ever ask too much of it at first. My plan is to continue adding longer and longer trot sets in the Vienna reins for the next week or so (every other day- muscles need a day to recover), to build muscle along her topline, and then back to riding, and working on introducing the same idea under saddle.

Katie took pictures of Missy Magoo in her pen last week, and I keep meaning to ask her to email them to me. They will be my "before" pictures of The Princess with her scrawny neck and weak topline. Hopefully in a few months I will have nice "after" pictures of a more athletic-looking horse. Stay Tuned!

By the way, my mare's name is Footloose. Don't be confused by the various nicknames I have for her. I'm pretty sure that all of my horses have an identity crisis by now.