March 28, 2014

Wednesday night, my friend, Beth, came out and rode with me again. I wanted to show her a few more races, and since there was still snow on part of the riding area, and the ground was rather slick, I picked out three straight races. 2 Flag, Joust and Balloon. I also wanted to get in some speed work with Poe, where there was no turning involved. So this worked out well.

We jousted back and forth, and Poe was very happy to light up and fly down the lane. I required a short walk after each run, where he had time to adjust and be calm. This is a technique I used when I trained Simon, in the hopes it would prevent the pony from getting too wound up, and stressed out. Of course Simon is a very unique pony, so I am not sure how effective the training tactic was. Generally the point is to require a calm period between each race run, where the pony can come completely back to a relaxed walk. This is in contrast from my training styles that involve diving right to the next run through the race, keeping the pony hyped and moving on more of a continual basis. Having trained many games ponies, most without a calming break between runs, and generally riding hot ponies that stay wound between races, I am curious to see how well this holds true. I do not think it would work on a pony that is already trained in the sport.

I did try this with a former pony, Maya, when I first trained her for the sport. She had come to me as a very hot barrel pony. And although games is a different sport, it involves some of the same skills and a lot of the same adrenaline. It did seem to work quite well and coupled with some other training work and equipment changes she did settle down quite a bit. Although I do not feel like I started her games training from scratch.

With Poe this seems to be working quite well so far. And I am curious to see how it continues as he gains more speed and confidence at the sport.

So while I trained Poe to push out in a forward gallop through the race, handing off to Beth (who is surprisingly adept at taking my handoffs at speed), and then pulling up quickly, Beth rides through the race on Simon. Her ability to take to the games has been pretty smooth. She easily picks up the obstacle of the race, and is mostly successful at a canter. She seems to be enjoying herself as well. I like to say “sure beats riding in circles”, which she seems to agree with. Simon also seems to be wholly enjoying himself and enjoys working with Beth. They make a good pair.

We whipped through 2 flag and joust, and I was very happy with Poe through both of them. I went to set up Balloon, but realized the balloons I had handy, had been sitting out all winter, and only one would blow up. I gave it to Beth to try, and she did keep hitting it, but the sucker was so weathered the nail just slid over it. She had to stab at it from a stand still a few times to get it to pop. I’ll be sure to get out some fresh balloons for my next practice.  I also brought down Sword Race, but the bending pole area was super slick and partially snowy, so we opted to hold off on that one.  But Beth still enjoyed galloping around with the sword for fun.

We finished our practice with a very happy Poe. Which is his general attitude after a games event of any kind. I am being careful not to overdo the games so he becomes bored with it as well.

After the ride, I decided to try “Couch to 5K”, which is a free training app my friend, Rachel told me about. Wish me luck. I am hoping it gets me in better shape for riding! I included a “before” picture at the end of this blog post.

March 26, 2014

Monday I did a mini solo schooling practice with Poe.  I concentrated on a few races I need to build some speed, skill and or confidence in.

I started with ball and cone and there was some improvement.  Nothing special, but Poe and I rolled like it was no big deal.  We moved onto speed weavers.  This is a race I do not usually spend much time on or really push through, and because of this, I don’t think Poe has really taken it as a serious race.  So I pushed through it and Poe lit up.  The second time through I hardly did a thing.  He flew up through the poles, sat back and spun around the end pole, and flew back up through them.  We pulled up and he was licking his lips, had his head up, his ears forward and was ready to roll again.  Which we did, even faster.

Our last race for the day was three mug.  This is a race that we have made significant improvement in over the past few days and apparently, It has clicked for Poe.  He rolled through it with tight turns, rolling into his turns and digging out of them.  We ran through it in both directions several times and Poe was on fire.  It felt so smooth and clockwork and he couldn’t have looked happier.

It was a quick session, but it ended on a perfect note.  Poe was glowing happy, and I felt like we rocked it.  After I untacked and put him up, Poe followed me around, nuzzling and being generally affectionate.  He seemed so proud of himself.  And I was certainly proud of him.

There’s nothing quite like a good ride to set you on the moon.

March 25, 2014

On Saturday, Carol Ann and I drove up to Maryland and took part in the Taylormade Stables Individuals competition.  It was a fantastic opportunity to school in a competition format.  For me this meant I got to get a better feel for what Poe and I need to work on.  I also pushed a little more than I would have in a team setting, although I should have done that a lot more than I did.

Our speed weavers race was pretty crap.  I really had to work through the whole race.  In reflection, I usually warm up through bending and move on, never really pushing through it like it’s a real race.  I also found I need to put some more work into my ball and cone / high low, ball skills.  Poe was completely cooperative in those races, but unsure of what I was doing and my confidence was not where it should have been.  Another race I was pretty crap in was bottle.  My end pick up specifically sucked. Again, I blame it on my personal confidence in Poe.  I need to lean more, holding my outside rein lightly to keep him straight, and trust that he will do his part.  I got my pick but it was a weak pick.

I was particularly happy with my mug and flag races, which are generally strong races for me.  3 mug was a bit sloppy at my last practice so I was exceptionally happy to roll through it with that mechanical flowing feel, for the most part.  We lost it just a little on the last turn, and we need to put on some more speed, but the improvement was significant.

Another skill Poe really has going for him, that I need to push him to improve even more, is his amazing breaks.  On most races we were hanging tight with the pack until just shy of the end of the lane, when I checked him up for his turn.  Part of this was because he was often on the wrong lead, and I didn’t trust him to pull through the turn on his own.   Linda correctly told me that he is ready for me to push him through it anyway, and I need to listen to her.  Toward the end of the session he switched his lead on his own just before the turn and was setting himself up like a pro.  This is where I was loosing ground.  I can fix this.

The other place I can gain some ground is when I come up on an obstacle mid lane, and need to check up to complete a skill.  Poe can fly up and stop.  He does not need me to check him up in advance like a pony in training.  So I need to work on trusting him to do his job efficiently.

The pony is smart, and he loves this job.  He really wants to do excel.  So bottom line, I need to trust him.  And really practice bending, like its a real race.

**photo credit to Genevieve of EquiStar Photography**
you can find a link to her work on the right hand side of the page. She is wonderful enough to allow me to use her work in this blog.