Tuesday, March 15, 2016

On Point

I had THE GREATEST ride on Q last night. I cannot remember the last time I had a ride of that caliber with her. It's been a solid 2 years or so at least.

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Not too shabby at all.
The climbing was good, the pace was solid and doable, and while the distance wasn't quite what I'd wanted to achieve, this was the ride we needed to build confidence. She did not spook at all (whereby the definition of spook means one of Q's infamous whirly bird spooks that unseats or nearly unseats me over something completely trivial like a broad leaved forb, a small rock among large rocks, a small stick among large sticks, a purple flower among yellow flowers, etc.). She balked at a few things, and shuddered a time or two, but beyond that? She kept it together.

Her head was cocked slightly to the side constantly if we were moving along a curve in the trail - which is pretty continuous for a lot of our riding because these trails are old logging roads that hug the side of the mountain. She was focused on the trail ahead, ears pricked, looking to and fro a bit, but not in the manic looking-for-monsters manner she has exhibited in the past. I could practically see the cogs whirring in her head as she worked through things.

I slowed Q down a little more than I usually do. Looking at the data on endomondo (the app I use to log our rides...and to log all of my outdoor pursuits of multiple miles), it shows 7 significant walk periods throughout the ride. Slowing Q down to let her look at things and settle for a few minutes really did the trick, I think. ...and somewhere in my stubborn head, I knew that would be a valuable tool to utilize. I just didn't do it enough before.

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Pre ride. So happy to be clipped finally! Both horses fell asleep during their clips last week.

Any time I can get this horse to lower her head and neck, I'm thrilled. She's always so on-edge about potential monsters. She lets her stress build up and build up and won't find a release from it...until she spooks. I've always heard that a horse who lowers its head triggers the release of hormones/chemicals/what-have-you that help with relaxation. A horse who won't (or physically can't due to needing an accu. / chiro appt. (true story, happened to your most recent Old Dominion 100 trophy winning horse)), can't relax as much or as easily. Slowing down for periods of time on our ride allowed Q to settle out of any anxiety she was building. She even lowered her head to sniff at the trail here and there when she wasn't moseying along with a low western-esque headset.

Other than having a non-spooking, confidence building ride at a respectable distance and pace with some solid climbing (this seems like a lot, but let's keep in mind that I've been working with this horse for going on 5 endurance seasons now; expecting respectable distance and pace with climbing in our workouts is not completely out of this world), I wanted to work on switching my diagonals consistently throughout our trot work. Q loves me to be on her right diagonal. If I try to get onto the left, she will do one of three things to get me out of it: go into the canter, stutter step such that my rhythm is altered to back to the right diagonal, or spook so that I'm forced to the other diagonal. If she's ever going to move beyond 50 miles, we've got to be solid at both diagonals. No more excuses for either of us. And, I can honestly say, night one was a success and a step in the right (or rather the left) direction. ☺

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Looking great post-ride. She pulsed down quickly, was alert, and had an appetite.
This type of ride aligns perfectly with my training goals for this horse and myself. Not only did we build confidence and have a solid ride, we kept our pace within my goal range (6 mph or greater) and climbed a fair amount for the distance. If you extrapolate our climbing from the 9 miles we did into 50, it would be just shy of 9,000' of vertical. Into a 100, it would be just beyond 17,750'. Conveniently for me, the rides I'm working toward have elevation profiles nearly identical to those extrapolated numbers! And they're on similar terrain to boot.

I hope our subsequent rides continue to align with the theme of last night's ride. That's the horse I knew was hiding behind Q's various insecurities. That's the horse I know can be a viable distance partner through 100 miles. ...even if I have to sing "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music to her over and over and over again as we move down the trail.

13 comments:

  1. Awe :) She looks great and that elevation gain is impressive to a flat lander like me. Gem is the same but prefers her left diagonal and will pull the same three stunts to get me back onto the left. I have to pay really close attention to what I am on or I will end up being on the left the entire ride. Luckily the trails around me are all pretty twisty, so I use that as a way to change my diagonal kind of like I was in an arena. Long straight stretches are harder to remember. I know a lot of people say to change every 10 strides, but I am too focused on the trail to spend it counting strides.

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  2. It's nice to hear another person with the same woes re: diagonals. And yeah, I've heard 10, 20, 30 strides and every significant turn in a trail, too. I'm mixing it up right now just trying to stay conscious of switching...she swapped me back over 5 times in less than 300 yards near the end of the ride last night! lol. I looked down and watched, too, and I'm convinced it's witchcraft. I'll get better with time..I hope. :-P

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  3. omg she is just so stinkin cute!! that's so funny about the diagonals too.... coming from hunter land i've never really heard of a horse that actively tries to put you on one or the other, but i can totally get it.

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    1. Funny thing is...she won't do it in a ring/arena setting!

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  4. Good girl, Q! Wonderful to see you two coming together more and more as a team. Mimi does the "preferred diagonal" thing -- she too prefers the right diagonal, to the point where, over the years, it's developed as my stronger diagonal, no matter what horse I ride, and is the first one I'll automatically pick up when posting. I hadn't realized until recently just how strong of a preference that had turned into, so now I'm actively working on correcting that. For me, I use the "significant turns/curves in the trail" for switching and that works pretty well for keeping me constantly changing, since we don't have a ton of long straightaways for endless trotting around here. :)

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    1. I feel you on the stronger diagonal thing! Me, too! THANKS Q. -_-

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  5. Aw, she looks great! Always fun to see a sleek pony reemerge from under all the hair.

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    1. Gah, I despise winter coats. Grateful for their functionality, but drgh.

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  6. I wish my horses fell asleep when I clip them. Keep up the hard work!

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    1. I think after being tormented with a shop vac to blow dust off, they feel like the clippers are the least of their worries haha

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  7. For me the easiest way to track diagonals is this -- I glance at my GPS and I post on the right diagonal on even mileage, post left on the odd mileage. So if I forget where I am, I glance at my GPS and switch accordingly. If I know I haven't trotted in a mile, then I just switch the odd/even. I don't understand the recommendations I've seen to switch every 30 steps or so -- I think that would be highly annoying to the horse. I think every mile is good enough!

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    1. That's a great idea! Simple and straight-forward.

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  8. That's so interesting about the diagonals! I've never heard of a horse switching you on purpose. I know it's probably annoying, but it's fascinating too hehe. I don't pay any attention to what diagonal I'm on while trail riding... I'll have to pay attention next time. We don't do much trotting yet though (paved roads and no trails makes that hard), but I'll try to keep it in mind for later. Thank you for sharing this! I'm glad Q is doing so great! You've done an amazing job with her!

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