A huge step for one - and child's play for another

Trying to keep our training sessions interesting and varied I decided last night to set up a big blue tarp in the outdoor arena. I had it laid out like a water jump, with poles at each end for stabilization. Saumur notices and reacts to the slightest change in his environment, so when I longed him next to it he was jumping, snorting, and galloping before eventually settling down.


I stuffed my pockets with horse cookies, put his rope halter on, and led him up to the tarp. Sure enough, at first Saumur planted his feet and didn’t want to go near it. Chambord was the trail blazer, after a thorough inspection he decided it’s not going to eat him, so he walked right over. I patiently tried again with Saumur, and big surprise: He put his nose down and walked over it. Calm as could be, and we repeated it several times. A first in all the years we’ve been together! It truly shows how much more relaxed and confident Saumur is now.


Then comes the Four-year old: one look at the tarp, the head goes down, teeth are bared, head comes up… waving the tarp triumphantly from side to side and up and down! Clearly, this one thinks “fun and play first – worry later (if at all)”. I went a step further and put the tarp on Remy’s back, walking and then trotting him around. Imagine this big floppy sheet covering most of Remy’s body, billowing all around, and then sliding off behind him. Remy didn’t even so much as look behind him. Junior sure is pretty cool (and well, yes, pretty cocky, too).


What was child’s play for Remy took years with Saumur. It doesn’t seem like much to most people, but for us it was a HUGE step. It shows once more how important it is to embrace each horse (or human, dog, etc.) as individual and not to try to make everyone fit the same mold. I couldn’t have been happier with all three of them. And no, I didn’t wave the tarp around to celebrate – I opted to open a cold Stella Artois instead.

Searching for the right (saddle) fit - and where is his bathing suit?

Luanne, the rep for Schleese saddlery, came today to help us find a good saddle to fit Remy. Luckily we caught a break with the heat, 'only' mid 80s today. Initially I had thought I could get away with using Saumur's Wave saddle, but despite a Thinline pad with shims it's just too wide for Remy.

So, budget conscious person that I am, I asked Luanne if she could find me a used Wave that could get adjusted to Remy. Yes, she did, and she brought it today for a trial, together with a new one. Make a long story short, the saddle was in great condition, but seven years old, and the flaps were too short for my legs. Deep breath... let's try the new one. I liked it right away, but the panels didn't fit Remy. So, Luanne is off to try to find us the same saddle with different panels. If not, one has to be build -- ah, the things we do! But then... Remy's human namesake (my nephew) doesn't have the need for a saddle, but for a  drivers license, a Jaguar (!), Bang and Olufsen equipment... considering all that, I guess outfitting 'Equine Remy' is a bargain!

During all the try outs, saddle on, ride, saddle off, saddle on, ride saddle off... Remy was just awesome, polite, attentive, even when his hind leg got caught on the mounting block he didn't get rattled, just walked calmly off. Junior sure earned his treats today!

Later this afternoon we turned all the boys out in our outdoor arena, as the pastures a bare due to the extreme heat. At least around the outdoor there is still nice grass. We were having a drink on the patio, watching the boys graze, when I noticed Saumur rolling, rolling, and then just laying on his side, grunting. Oh, no, I of course started to assume the worst. JP, always seeing the glass half full, calmly said, "Saumur just enjoys the warm fluffy sand, he probably thinks he's on the beach", and to Saumur he called "Saumur, where is your bathing suit?". Well, I guess that embarrassed Saumur enough to get up, shake the sand off, and return to grazing.

Hitzefrei = No work due to heat

Last night the thermometer outside our front door showed 115F - 46C! This morning at 5 a.m. it was already 86F, with a forecast of hitting the100sF again. JP and I looked at each other over coffee, still sleepy eyed, and decided not to risk trailering the horses to our lessons. I emailed Sandy and re-scheduled to next week, in the hopes the intense heat will let up a bit.

As I was already up I decided to take Max and Jaas (our Viszlas) for a run. Yikes, aside from the heat the deer flies were trying to eat us alive. So much for the effectiveness of fly spray, except for smelling funky it did nothing to deter the beasts.

We are very fortunate, though, we have power and air conditioning. Our neighbors down the road have generators running, as the downed power lines still haven't been repaired. There is a live cable smoldering on a tree, hanging over the road, numerous calls so far only netted yellow tape "Live Wire" being strung along the road.

So, I guess it's time to tackle all the things I've been putting off, like sorting filthy horse blankets and take them to the laundry. Great, 12 stinky, heavy blankets and sheets in a car in this heat. Shows you how procrastinating for "when I have time" can backfire. What was this about hitzefrei??

See Spot run ... and catch the bright blue ball

Wake up call at 5 a.m. today, in order to beat the 100+F temps. The boys are currently spending the nights outside, it is cooler in the pastures and the open run in shed than in the barn. However, it meant that I had to get them in to feed at 5 a.m. in order to leave at 6:30 a.m. for our lessons - on my vacation day! It was all worth it, though.

I started again with Chambord, and I don't know what happened...  he was just awesome. Soft, round, on the aids, I couldn't have asked for more. And the nice thing was that he kept it for JP. It's not easy for a horse to have to adapt to two different riders. As Sandy pointed out, I keep my long legs close (sometimes too tight) to Chambord's sides, where JP's legs are at a different point of Chambord's barrel, and he is moving them more. Chambord adjusted nicely to both of us and really did a great job.

We worked quite a bit on my position again. Seems my long upper torso is 'swaying in the wind' in downward transitions. I absorb the motion upwards instead of in my hips and thighs. Sandy compared it with a long backed horse (as opposed to a short backed one). Collection for the long backed horse is usually harder. So... more collection exercises for me!

Now - what's with the "See Spot run ... and catch the bright blue ball"? Another one of Sandy's apt analogies. I still have the tendency to ride Remy like a baby, even though Sandy has been on me to "ride him like a trained horse", meaning asking for more. So today she came up with the comparison of kids in school: Children need to move on from reading "See Spot run" to more complex sentences like "See Spot run and catch the blue ball". Same with Remy, he needs to progress in his learning. Don't get me wrong, we are not skipping grades here, but we are moving up correctly and consistently with the training scale as our 'bible'.

For example, I tried using Saumur's exercise of shoulder-fore for straightness with Remy today. Initially, I got too much bend and we lost the rhythm and relaxation. After a bit more practise we succeeded it made a great difference in Remy's way of going.

Perhaps my reading should get a bit more complex, too. I've always been a ferocious reader of a great variety of books: Classics, novels, academic books, training manuals, etc. but right now I am glued to a murder mystery. Not exactly food for higher learning, but then, who knows, I might have to draw on it some day: "How to win over the handsome FBI agent". Of course, only to give advise to my single friends :-)!

Back to the scene of the accident - and Nordic people are not made for heat waves

Despite the heat I was looking forward to trailering Saumur to a lesson with Sandy today, the first time since the accident. Sandy is healing well, she has physical therapy several times a week with good results. Saumur has been going well at home so I was eager - and yes, a bit apprehensive, too - to see how he would be back in Sandy's indoor arena.

I am VERY HAPPY that everything went well, neither Sandy nor Saumur seemed to relive the trauma. Sandy fed Saumur sugar in the area where they fell, which I found quite touching. We had a very good lesson, focusing on precision. At first glance that seems pretty easy, but it is darn hard (at least for me). One exercise was having Saumur in a shoulder for at the halt, keep it in the walk, and then canter off without the haunches swinging in. Saumur is now at a stage of his training where he is very 'tuned' to the slightest aids, which of course will backfire when the rider (uh, me!) is not precise.

Saumur did not spook once, despite the side doors of the arena being open. He was supple and relaxed, and we finished on a good note.

While the heat did not seem to bother Saumur, my Nordic ancestors did not do me any favors when it comes to dealing with the sun. Very fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes allow for more sunlight to penetrate the body (and thus producing more vitamin D) which is great for living in Northern Europe, but definitely does not jive with 100F heat waves in Michigan. On the other hand, Chambord definitely does not have any vikings in his pedigree, and still gets sunburned. Pass the SPF 50 sunblock, please!

Luckily Luanne beat me to re-scheduling our saddle fitting session for Remy today. Even with the best of intentions I could not envision myself in our outdoor arena in the scorching sun, trying out saddles. Note to credit card: you have a reprieve until Sunday!

Does he need another quarter? - and more "Yes, Ma'am"

Finally - back to lessons with Sandy! We trailered Chambord and Remy today, hitting the road fairly early due to the intense heat.

I warmed up (actually that's quite an oxymoron, better to say I loosened up) Chambord for JP, as JP's knee is still healing. Chambord worked really well, but his little quirk is that he is used to get a treat for an exercise well done. When he thinks that's the case he will stop and crane his neck around, waiting for the sugar to come. Lavish praise from me after a good job obviously was not cutting it, Chambord refused to proceed without his reward. Sandy jokingly asked "Do you need another quarter in?" That's exactly how it felt!

Remy did retain the progress from our last rides well, he is much more consistent in the connection. What is lacking is the "Yes, ma'am!". He sometimes takes his sweet time to react, meaning he is behind my leg. No fun pushing him along in 90F weather. Remy is right at attention when I carry a stick (I don't have to use it), but the little bugger knows when I don't have one. Nevertheless, we managed to improve from "Hmh, maybe?...OK, then" to "OK, off I go". Not the sharp "Yes, ma'am" Sandy would like to see but a good move in the right direction. I sure could get used to more "yes, ma'am's"... anybody taking the hint??

Vacation for the humans = back to work for the Equines

JP and I are off next week - an entire week of vacation! Something most Europeans cannot understand, anything less that three weeks is not a vacation in their eyes.

The weather is not entirely cooperating, temps in the high 90s F (high 30s C), with extreme dryness. The grass in the pastures is dried to dust, and our hay man gave us the bad news that he is very doubtful about being able to harvest any second cutting hay this year.

With the extreme heat yesterday we decided to give the boys another day off, and headed first to the Ann Arbor farmers market and later to the movies and dinner. We both agreed that the film we saw was one of the best films ever "The Untouchables". A really awesome movie!

Today we got a head start on the heat, I brought the boys in at 5 a.m. for breakfast (they had spend the night outside, where it is cooler than in the barn), and we started at 8:30 a.m. with grooming and tacking up. While Chambord was sulking a bit ("work? are you sure?? I'd rather snooze!") Remy and Saumur were eager to get going. I am thrilled, because after two weeks off both of them were working really well. Remy picked up where we had left off, no problem. Saumur clearly is much more comfortable after the treatments, and he was soft and supple. For the most part, I kept it low key with him, but started practising a bit portion of 4th level, such as enter collected canter, x halt salute. At least we can enter correctly!

So... vacation... will we go back to work in a week like Chambord or like Remy and Saumur??