Post Gallop.

Klein was off today since she had a long workout with some gallops in there yesterday. I wanted her to do a little active recovery today because I am willing to bet money she had some DOMS going on. (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). I mean there's no way she can't. I ran 6.2 miles last night in under an hour and I feel fine today but if I had run sprints at the track last night I guarantee I'd be sore today. I run anywhere from 3-7 miles a couple times a week but no matter what, when I do sprints once a week my legs are always sore the next day. Anaerobic Threshold :) Gotta love it.

Anyway, back to this evening. I went out to put Klein mare on the longe line for just some trotting so she could stretch out. Remember last week's little blow up on the longe line? Today was no tack of course, just a halter, AND for an added bonus I longed her in her OWN pasture. She never likes to work in her own house. That's like her sanctuary. So since last week she wanted to throw a fit today was some reinforcement of some ground manners. She was not a happy mare. 1. She just doesn't seem to take work serious on the longe line unless she is in her work uniform (her tack, saddle or surcingle), 2. She doesn't like to work in her own house. I let her throw her little hissy fit and toss her head and squeal at me, but whatever, she was still doing what I asked her to. She made pissy faces at me, here's one of them:

Pouty Ponyface.

Here's another pic of her just making sure I know that even though she's doing what I told her to, she's not liking it.


God Klein, life is so hard when you're THE Princess Perch, isn't it? Being spoiled is soooo rough, especially when your mom wants you to just trot on the longe with no tack in your own pasture.

After she did 5 mins in each direction I groomed her, stretched her, and gave her the pony carrot cake I made for her. I wanted to give it to her yesterday but for obvious reasons I wasn't about to do that. Yeah, I know, she gave me attitude but she still did what I said and there were no explosions so...she can have a treat.

Complete 180 with her attitude after she was done.

Looking out over the west side of the island from the mare pasture after sunset this evening.

25 mph.

First, I wanna show you guys something...remember The Grand Canyon??? Well check it out now:


That is all that is left of it. A couple weeks ago a piece of it had peeled back and looked like some sort of hang nail and I gasped when I got off and saw it after our ride that day but then the more I looked at it, that looked like a GOOD thing. That's why there's a kind of big chip looking mark right there. That's where the last piece came off. Now there's nothing else to get caught either. I'm so happy it's FINALLY GONE.

Since Klein has been so full of herself the past 3 rides I decided to grant her wish and do some gallop work today. Since she behaved and got dialed in on our last ride with the walk/canters and canter/halts she earned it. I didn't want her to think just because she wants to be a handful that I'll just throw our ride plans out and say "Ok, let's go get this out of your system." Plus she was do for a speed workout anyway.

We warmed up with two 5 min trot sets with a 3 min walk between them. Then we did a 10 min set of trotting with some slow canters. I really had to stand up in the irons and put my weight down to get her to take it slow. After that we we took a 7 min walk break then found our way to where we were going to do two half mile acceleration sprints. Only two because they are a half mile each and I was gonna let her out a little more than last time. What I had her do was trot for about a minute then come up to a canter and just increase slowly to a gallop. I let her gallop for a good 30 seconds then I'd start to pull her up and bring her back down slowly until we were back at a trot and then a walk. I let her walk for about 5 mins to recover. Her HR actually dropped significantly (back down around 100bpm) within 30 secs of being back at a walk. The second sprint we did the same, trot to get her HR back up then come up to a canter then push it up from there. She hit 25mph today and her HR topped out just over 200. After that we walked for 15 mins then did another slow trot of 10 mins to help flush out the lactic acid that I know she accumulated from those two sprints. After that last trot we walked for the last 20 mins to make sure she cooled all the way out. We ended up doing 8.1 miles today. Then she got a long bath with liniment. I couldn't take the red dirt in her mane anymore. It's been a little rainy lately and she's done a good job rolling in the red mud! That and it's been laying on both sides lately so I wanted to band it. I need to thin it and clean it up soon too. BTW, anyone who wants to get a light colored mane clean...OxyClean is where it's at. Just add some in a bucket to whatever shampoo you're using. That always works really well on Klein's silver mane.

Thanks OxyClean :)

Klein mare all cleaned up.

Oh and look what I finally got in the mail the other day:


w00t! My certificate :) Hawaii's first and only right here!

LOL I guess I should add this too, I put this on my Facebook and people are getting a kick out of it.

"There's an app for that."

Kipapa Trail and Pig Hunters.

Looking across a canyon.

Friday afternoon Klein and I went for a trail ride on the Kipapa Summit trail. We were back on the trail quite a bit looking out over this cliff when I heard yelling. Klein heard it too. That is how I was certain I did hear it. Klein pricked her ears up immediately. I thought they had to be below us and their voices must be echoing in the canyon. We kept an ear open for them again and didn't hear them for a few mins so we continued on. Then we started up a small hill and I heard yelling, whistling and what sounded like chains. Uh oh. Pig hunters. Damn it. We did a 180 and got out of there quick before they got a glimpse of us because I'm sure the dogs would go nuts if they saw Klein. Those dogs are packs mean, dirty, flea ridden, neglected mutts. Where we were we had to go back across a good patch of big tree roots sticking up out of the ground so if they saw us and we tried to make a break for it, that would probably result in a slip or fall and it'd just be dangerous. So I had Klein hurry through the parts she could to get us a good distance away. There was no one at the pig hunter camp when we passed by it earlier. It actually was all cleaned up and organized and you could tell it hadn't been touched that day. That is why we thought they weren't on the trail.

After we hurried out of there we rode on the grass arena and worked on our walk/canter and canter/halt. Klein mare was AGAIN, for the 3rd ride in a row, a stack of dynamite. That is why I decided to school walk/canter and canter/halt. She needed to slow down and concentrate on something. It took a while but finally she started to respond and the delay between doing what I asked when I asked for it got much shorter. I got some nice canter/halts toward the end. I could feel her disengage immediately when I asked her to halt. I think part of it is my fault. I think we might need to work on this kind of stuff more often because it seems like she's trying to learn where the e brake is on a locomotive. Like she knows I want her to halt but she needs to learn to stop that quick and she doesn't have it quite figured out yet. Does that make sense?

We also worked on our turn on the hindquarters. That is a work in progress. She gets it but we just need practice. I know she can do it but we need to work on our communication a little more. She did take a couple nice steps and I was proud of her for trying so hard to understand exactly what I wanted. We ended there for the afternoon.

The info from the Polar:

Data Value Unit
Duration 1:25:15
Sampling Rate 5 s

Number of Heart Beats 8362 beats
Recovery -21 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 37 bpm
Average Heart Rate 98 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 172 bpm
Standard Deviation 20.4 bpm

Minimum Pace 100:00 min/mile
Average Pace 15:47 min/mile
Maximum Pace 4:50 min/mile
Distance 4.2 miles

Where IS That TNT Label???

Somewhere on Klein I have yet to find the explosives label, but I know it's on her somewhere. Maybe I should check her lip like an OTTB, maybe they tattooed it on? So her feet are good to go so I set up a couple fences the other day.


She was SUCH a handful!!!!! While we were warming up if we cantered by a jump she would try to pull me toward it. I didn't let her jump a fence until she settled down after her warm up. When she did we did a couple 2'6" fences then we did a 2'9" a couple times. She felt like she was over jumping and she was rushing, which she usually doesn't have a habit of. She was just one happy mare that day. I wish I could explain the power you feel when she wants to rush a fence. It's like the launch sequence has been initiated. It's crazy. Her HR was looking good through the whole thing, even with her being so excited her HR would recover immediately after a fence while we were cantering around. I had to really have a hold of her the whole time though. My arms were actually sore the next day. She was SO hard to hold on to. I have no idea what her deal was, she's not on grain of any kind right now I don't know why she's so hot. The funny part is as SOON as we walked through the gate into the pasture where the jumps are she was eye balling them. After we were done I didn't call it a day until I made sure she was listening and calmed down a little. Next time we school fences it will be some gymnastics out of the Wofford book.
It was a little windy that day and some mist was in the air 'cause it was raining on the ridge behind us but wind doesn't really bother Klein. It was a beautiful afternoon with rainbows everywhere! They were surrounding us and we were even looking down on them in the canyons. Pretty sweet.

Ponies grazing under one of the many rainbows.

Data Value Unit
Duration 1:06:55
Sampling Rate 5 s
Running Index 60

Number of Heart Beats 7102 beats
Recovery 33 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 52 bpm
Average Heart Rate 106 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 184 bpm
Standard Deviation 28.9 bpm

Minimum Pace 100:00 min/mile
Average Pace 15:47 min/mile
Maximum Pace 4:28 min/mile
Distance 3.5 miles

She HAS lost a little weight.

I weighed Klein the other day and the verdict is she has lost about 75lbs since she's been back to work. 75lbs in 3 months...I told her girls everywhere would kill for that.

The next day we went on a bareback ride and again she was uhhh, motivated. Which, is fine. Even riding bareback with just a halter she WILL listen to me sometimes there might be a minor delay in her transitions but she never refuses to do anything I ask. I actually just unclipped my reins and put them around her neck again and rode with a neck rope for a while and even with just that she WILL listen.

No reins, no problem.

We just walked and trotted with the neck rope then we ran into a couple other people out riding so we hooked up with them for a while.

Looking out over a canyon on the way back. Excuse the crappy iPhone pics.

I have to add this last photo because I had an idea...so we just got these parachutes in at work. They create resistence for sprinting. I took them with me to the PT I led today. Here is me running with one this afternoon:


Are you thinking what I'm thinking? It's not gonna happen but it'd be funny. Princess Perch wants to play race horse?? Maybe she should try a parachute LOLOLOLOL. It's a dumb idea, I know. I'm sure she'd think something was trying to attack her. I would never actually do it. But it's a funny thought. And I might take one with me to the barn JUST to show her because it's kind of a scary thing and it'd be a good 'new monster' to introduce her to.

OTTP.

OTT...P?!?!?!

About That Time.

Not even a Domo Kun spooks the Klein mare.

Today I cleaned up Klein's feet a little more to where I did feel more comfortable. Then I wrapped her and put her on the longe line in just a halter. I forgot my longe whip today. The thought had crossed my mind that I'd better get ready to really push her since I had forgotten the whip. See, she really respects the longe whip and I have no idea where this unfounded respect comes from. I've never touched her with it and before I bought her she was a 2 year old out roaming on hundreds of acres so I'm 98% sure she'd never even seen one before I first introduced it to her. I don't know if it's the sound, the look, a combination of both. Who knows. She was the same way with crops though and used to throw baby fits if I even went to mount with a crop in my hand. So anyway...what I'm getting at is because of the lack of the longe whip she becomes a little lazy and has more attitude about some things.

I warmed her up and true to form, she was a little lazy and I had to get after her to really move out for me. Once she kicked out at me when I told her to canter. That is her way of protesting when she gets lazy. She used to be REALLY bad at that when she was younger. She'd stop, stomp, and kick at me when she felt like she'd worked enough. She'd get defiant and face up with me and try to intimidate me, but it never worked out for her :) Time and consistency broke that habit. The reason she did it today, I guarantee, was because there was no whip in my hand. That combined with the fact she had no tack on so I think she wasn't taking anything too serious. She KNOWS when she's tacked up it's work time.

I saw this little tree with a nice long branch so I snagged it and used it as a stand in longe whip. It worked great. I had set up some trot poles and then added a little cross rail after them and she was going through that just fine. I had set my pretend longe whip down because she was going nicely. After one of the trips over the poles and cross rail she started to get sloppy with her trot so I told her to pick it up and she fired back at me and...SHE GOT ME!!!!!!!! Yeah...Klein 1, Stacey 0. Damn it. She nailed me right in the upper leg and knocked me down. I got right back up immediately. I didn't let go of that longe line either so she didn't get the satisfaction of being able to run off like a wild thing thinking she won a prize. Luckily, I was just far enough back that the kick didn't hurt too bad. But it could have been bad. REALLY BAD. If one close range kick from a light horse could break your leg, I don't want to imagine the damage Klein could do. Anyway, I grabbed my branch and I put her right to work. She needs to know that will NOT get her out of anything and she doesn't scare me. Let me clarify that a little bit. You have the people that have no fear factor and can't realize dangerous situations when they're about to occur and then you have the people that are just intimidated by any sudden movement a horse makes. I am neither of those people. I RESPECT the power she has. I know it's there and I'm always aware of what she is capable of. Today was kind of a rookie mistake on my part and it won't happen again. I think she realized she messed up because of the look she had on her face when I got up. It was like the bottom dropped out from under her. She's never connected before so maybe that caught her off guard too.

I worked her on the flat some more and had her go over the trot poles and cross rail a couple more times then we ended. She just earned herself another no tack longe line workout tomorrow too, along with one a week for the next few weeks. Ha...Klein 1, Stacey 1. She basically clearly let me know that she needs some remedial training in that department. So out comes Schooling With Ground Poles:


We'll do one exercise out of this book once a week on the longe for the next few weeks.

It was about that time for something to happen too. We haven't had a major issue for a LONG time. And you know what the experts say, fights and arguments are normal in healthy relationships ;) If you don't fight every now and then there is something wrong with your relationship.

Even after we got done and I had hosed her off and everything she was giving me the "Are you getting my granola bar now?" look. I was like Klein, you have got to be joking. Brat with a capital B.

I <3 my mare.

Equine Related Pet Peeves.

Resting her lip on the gate, your guess is as good as mine...silly mare.

This is kind of an intermission post again. The deal is that my farrier, like I said in the last post, has been unable to get to us for the past two weeks. I did clean her feet up last week but...I'm no expert and I really don't want to do real work until we get them taken care of which is now set for this Tuesday. They're not terrible but...they need to be done. Some light walk trot will be fine but as far as jumping or other hard work, I'm not comfortable with it while her feet are long. So, we're on light duty until Tuesday. I can't really call another farrier either because mine is the only good one on this island that does drafts. The other ones either don't do drafts or lame up the drafts they do and I'll be damned if they ever come near Klein.

We did go for a bareback ride Thursday afternoon. I rode with a neck rope again too. The vet was out to give her an allergy shot yesterday and give me some allergy meds and shampoo for the minor skin irritation (from her itching herself) that's shown up on her back legs. It will clear up with the allergy medication, it always does. This is a Spring and Fall issue she's had for the past two years. Maybe it will go away when we get to the mainland. Maybe it's just one of those things that comes with the title of being a Grey horse. Either way it's a minor discomfort that's easily solved with a vet call.

On to the meaning of the title. What are some of your equine related pet peeves? A big one for me that has shown its face this week is people that think horses are something you just easily get right into or out of. As in they do not comprehend even one ounce of how much work it takes to properly care for a horse. Like they seem to believe horses are some type of easily disposable hobby. Someone was asking me 3,000 questions about owning horses this week because they think maybe they'd like to get one, which is fine. But, this is someone who has never even taken a lesson and has no experience beyond that one trail ride at this one place this one time they were on vacation. You all know these people. I know you do. They are the same people that say "You have a horse?!?!?! When are you going to let me ride it?" It just seems like they think horses have an auto pilot setting for n00bs. You don't have to interact with it and it has no personality or moods or feelings. They just have absolutely no respect for what a horse is capable of if it doesn't feel like doing what you tell it to or if it knows you're a n00b and takes advantage of you.

Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with wanting to own a horse when you have no prior experience but just going and out right buying one is STUPID. You're doing both yourself and your horse a disservice. What about taking some lessons first or leasing a horse? Why would you buy one when you have no idea how much it could possibly cost you? ESPECIALLY in Hawaii. Hawaii is a whole other ballpark for horse ownership. We are so limited here, you have to know what you're doing. I don't think that is fair to a horse if you don't. These are also the people that will go buy a horse and then end up dumping it off some where because "Oh well, it just started to cost me too much..." Well what do you think it was going to do? It's not like they have social security numbers and can be working members of society to pay their way. Well I mean there are situations (carriage horses, ranch horses) that horses earn their own keep, but they are not what I am talking about.

*SIGH* I could keep going but I'll /end rant/ here.

A few other things though:

People that don't hose their horses off after a workout.

People that ask me "What? You don't have shoes on your horse????"

People that jump in Western saddles.

People that gallop the shit out of their horses and have not one clue or care about equine fitness.

People that longe their horse for an hour or have to longe it before they get on. Oh man this is near the top of the list. If you have to longe your horse before you get on you need to go get some skills and a clue. Like my friend Pris always points out about these situations, all you are doing is conditioning your horse to act up for a longer period of time. It'll be more conditioned to crank on you.

People that are cheap with vet care. Oh man I can't stand that one. If you have to shop around for vet care because you can barely afford it, you shouldn't own a horse in the first place.

People that are over weight and instead of taking care of themselves they justify it with buying a draft horse to ride because they're too heavy for most light horses. Makes my blood boil every time.

People that can't accept that pain might be a possibility of bad behavior.