Video of Station Fire

Here's an interesting video of the Station Fire taken from the perspective of one camera located in a canyon that was in the path of the fire. I definitely would not have wanted to actually been there...

Angeles Requiem from Tocho on Vimeo.

And Yet More Anza Pictures...

As the pictures have trickled in from the last Napoleonic event Max adn I attended at Anza, I've been posting them to my blog. Here are a couple of nice portrait shots although the background isn't the greatest:

Working My Way Through The Barn

Today I decided to give Max the day off and to work with some of the other horses in my life. :-)

I first worked Max for about two hours, doing various dressage moves for the first hour and then doing sword work (talk about having a sore arm and shoulder after I was done!). I also practiced various dressage moves while working the sword- the goal is to be able side-pass, leg yield, transition, half-pass, etc. while not really having to think too much about it. Overall, it worked out well although I need to work on keeping my hand more quiet on the reins. Max's back was also fine after having been ridden for two hours and it appears that some of the hair coming back.

Next there was Lenny...talk about a horse with a "spring in his step"! It's been strange riding him- he's got such a springy step that I find it hard to maintain a decent seat while at the trot. The walk is no problem (it should be!) and the canter isn't so bad too but the with the trot, it feels like I'm going to get launched out of the saddle. I've taken measures to reinforce proper placement of the legs and ensure that my body remains in the vertical. At this point, I think the key is to also use my calves to keep a firm, constant contact- bascially a light grip.

I worked Lenny at the walk, trot, and canter and did a lot of transitions (the transitions were more for me than for Lenny). I found that as time went on, he became more responsive to my aids and especially my half-halts. I even tried some collection. At the canter, he fell into it once I figured out how to ask him and it took very little to get him to frame up. At the trot was another matter...it seems that the slow trot is not his strong point and with the springy step, it's more difficult to set him up and maintain it. Perhaps this will improve with time. :-)

After about an hour or so, I simply walked Lenny around on a loose rein. What's very interesting is that outside of the arena, he tends to fix on various things and stare at them until I remind him to pay attention to me- no doubt this is due to his being a show horse and I seriously doubt that he ever got out much except to work or show and this belief was confirmed when I decided to walk him down to the wash and have him check out the stream.

WIth a little urging, I managed to walk Lenny down into the wash but he was definately on high alert and uneasy. I decided not to rush things and simply walked him up to the stream as close as I could. Lenny was definately not up for this so I wound up circling him many times, driving him closer to the water's edge. I didnt' really push him too hard and while we didn't make into the water, we ended on a good note and I figured that there was no rush- we can work up to it gradually.

After unsaddling Lenny and putting him back in his stall, I then rode Kisses. Talk about a contrast! Kisses is a Standardbred Pacer who started life as a harness racing horse. In more recent years, she's been primarily used for trail riding and some driving and she hasn't really been ridden or worked in about six months. She's got a nice trot but her pacing is simply horrible (talk about being thrown from side to side). I mostly worked her at the trot with an emphasis on her keeping the trot- Kisses' tendency is to speed up (no doubt from her racing days) into the pace (while occassionally you can get her to canter, it's never for very long). At the trot, she actually has a nice carriage. I mostly worked her at the walk/trot.

I finished by walking Kisses in the wash. She's normally OK on the trail but sometimes she can get excited by other horses (but not all the time) and starts spinning. Hopefully I can take the edge off of this over time.

By the time I was through riding, I was pretty beat and it was definately time for a beer. :-)

Back to Work...A Little Bit At A Time

Because Max is recovering from some sort of a raw spot on his back. The skin has now healed and it appears that there's a little hair coming in. I've severely limited my riding time and so far, it doesn't appear that the saddle and/or saddle pad have been rubbing the area (which leads me to believe that something else was the cause, especially since I hadn't ridden in a week when I first discovered the area). At any rate, it's been close to three weeks but I'm still keeping things light.

Saturday morning found me at drill practice with the Warhorse Foundation and throughout the practice, Max acted perfectly and gave no indication of being in pain or uncortable. We did the usual variety of drills at both the walk and the trot and even tried some new manuevers. What's unnerving is that Max knows a lot of the manuevers and he'll usually do a lot of them without much urging on my part. The only things I have to really control are the speed and position- my theory is taht what seems "right" to Max is not necessarily what I want. What's amazing is that Max even knows when to turn on some manuevers and he gets a little annoyed when the other horses don't execute things at the right time- most of this was while Max was on the outside of the line.

We concluded the drill session by cantering the horses in line, in two groups of three riders each. Max was on the inside (not by design) and he was pretty good on the canter departs- often he gets excited and then loses all thoughts of cantering or listening to my aids- he just dances around. However, I've begun to counter this by applying the aids a lot more quickly and keeping my seat more behind the vertical- I don't fall out of position as easily plus I can drive Max forward a lot easier. Today, though, I didn't have to worry and he was pretty good.

While we only spent about two hours, it was a good work out for Max and he definately earned his bucket today. :-)

One More from Anza 2010

Here's one of the few pictures of me from the recent Anza event. Not too inspirational but he it is...Viva Espania!

Lenny the Ex-Show Horse

With the raw spot on Max's back, I've been riding a lot of other horses at the barn. One of these horses is Lenny who is a warmblood. He used to be a show horse in hunter/jumpers and his show career ended when he developed problems with his stifle joints. Nevertheless, he's still a great horse with a lot of good moves.

The one interesting thing about Lenny is that he has an incredibly springy step (than I'm used to anyway) and I really have to work hard to keep a good seat (as opposed to simply staying on the horse). He's very well trained but I'm still learning where all his "buttons" are. We worked for about an hour today, mostly working at a combination of walk/trot/canter and all the transitions. I also did some leg-yields and side passes. Most of the time he's getting it although sometimes it can be a bit choppy transitioning from the canter to the trot.

Also, I even took him into the wash to check things out. He's mostly been an arena horse all his life so the wide open spaces made him a bit nervous. He was also very unsure about the stream running down the wash- I didn't push him to cross it but I did a number of circles to try and make him more comfortable with it. It will take some time but I think we can get there.

A very interesting and challenging horse. :-)

Volcanos and Horses

With the recent volcanic activity in Iceland, here's a chance to combine horses and volcanos...the ash has been playing havic with the respiratory systems for both animal and man. I know the feeling...

Horses graze in a field near the Eyjafjallajokull volcano as it continues to billow dark smoke and ash during an eruption late on April 17, 2010. (HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP/Getty Images)

Ingi Sveinbjoernsso leads his horses on a road covered volcanic ash back to his barn in Yzta-baeli, Iceland on April 18, 2010. They come galloping out of the volcanic storm, hooves muffled in the ash, manes flying. 24 hours earlier he had lost the shaggy Icelandic horses in an ash cloud that turned day into night, blanketing the landscape in sticky gray mud. (HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP/Getty Images)

Bye Phil!

With the semester winding down, the Pierce College herd will be going back to the pack station in the Eastern Sierras. Last night was the last night in my Intermediate Riding Class that we would be riding so I made the best of it and even managed to get Phil into an extended trot. :-)

I have been either riding Phil for my riding classes or using him for my training classes and I've gotten to know him over the course of school year. Phil may not seem to be the most impressive horse but he taught me some valuable lessons. Basically, Phil is like a lot of school horses and has been ridden by a variety of people with varying degrees of riding skill. When I first was assigned Phil, I discovered that his mouth is very hard to the bit, he's a bit forward in his gaits and he really doesn't like to listen to the rider. He tolerates them but that's it. To add to it, Phil has also picked up a lot of weight since over the year and his feet are not in the best condition.

With all of that, I had to adapt my riding style to a horse that's considerably larger than Max and who is very dull to the aids. Worse, when you do press with your legs or kick, he immediately interprets that as a cue to speed up and/or go into the trot. When I first got him, side-passing and leg-yielding were an impossibility.

While I was only riding him once a week, I tried to do what I could to put some feeling back in his mouth and I found myself maintaining a loose rein while trying to combine it with half-halts, the idea being to keep off his mouth as much as possible while trying to communicate with him. This was especially important in that he does not have a good stop and often he takes his time- you have to tighten and release the bit. While at first he didn't seem to respond to this, by the Spring semester he was actually beginning to respond and I found that a half-halt combined with a quick tightening/release on the bit usually got results. The key is to RELEASE the pressure once Phil begins to comply but not to do it too soon (i.e. make sure he comes to a complete halt). It's really a matter of timing and sometimes I got it and sometimes not.

I also believe that the training class also helped because I was also doing ground work with him- primarily Pat Parelli's seven games and for the most part these have helped, especially in getting him to yield to pressure without speeding up. I believe that gradually he's developed the distinction between pressure to speed up his gait and pressure for him to yeld off of.

I'm no expert or anything but it definately taught me the value of patience and made me realize that Max lies for me quite a bit- I can get away with things that Phil would just look at me and go "what?". In short, I found that I really had to figure out how to communicate with Phil and sometimes it wasn't easy. By the end of the training class, I even managed to get Phil to jump over a barrel using the squeeze game (albiet, in a somewhat clumsy manner)- the instructor was amazed.

Anyway, I completely believe in the adage that all horses have something to teach you and that's certainly been the case with Phil.

Below is a somewhat poor cell phone picture of Phil and I at the end of our ride last night. I'll miss that boy! :-)

And Yet More Anza...

Although I’ve been reenacting various periods, this one was a new one for Max and I and unlike the others; this involved the use of the sword and lance rather than pistols. Basically, the setting is during Napoleonic Wars in Spain and the landscape is very similar to many parts of Southern California. The event itself was help on a friend of mine’s place located close to the town of Anza, east of Temecula.

This was the second time Max and I have attended this event so I had a pretty good idea of what we would encounter but I still opted to trailer Max out the day before so I could work him before the event actually started. Set up for this event was pretty easy and we had a separate horse camp where we parked and tied the horses off the trailers. The weather was warm and sunny during the day but at night the temperature dropped into the 20s so horse blankets were definitely in order, especially since Max had already shed his winter coat.
Working Max was pretty straight-forward and I spent most of my time simply walking around the property and checking out the footing. The one thing that definitely struck me was that the winter storms had washed down a high volume of sand and footing in most of the low areas and the creek beds was very soft, almost on the order of a beach and this in turn meant that I was going to have to avoid fast trotting and cantering in these areas so as to reduce the possibility of bowed tendons. Most of the battle area was open with some scrub brush, trees, and some dug fortifications and presented few issues except the deep footing mentioned earlier.

After a cold night, the next day, dawned sunny and clear with temperatures in the mid-70s. Since the battles wouldn’t start until about 11 am, I took my time grooming and tacking up Max. By the time I finishing tacking, some of the infantry units were falling in for drill and firing practice volleys. Soon the cannon joined in, and soon the air was filled with black powder smoke.

Our group formed up next to the infantry to watch them practice their shooting and strangely enough, Max was somewhat upset by the shooting even though he’s been exposed to it before at exactly the same distances. At this point I was forced take Max off by himself and do a quick desensitization session and after about 15 minutes, Max seemed OK again.

We then began the battle. Unlike the prior Civil War reenactment that I went to, the battle was mostly unstructured and it continued for about two hours with the two sides constantly shooting at one another, advancing, and retreating. For the cavalry, we divided up into two sides and although I was playing a Spanish Guerilla, I became “French” in order to even out the numbers (in practice, it made little difference). The cavalry would either clash with the other cavalry or we’d harass the infantry by riding up close and retreating. The weapons consisted of rubber swords and bamboo lances and the combatants would attempt to tap each other on the arm or the shoulder, which counts as a “hit”. Anyone taking a hit would retreat from the immediate battle, wait a minute or two and then recycle back in. For me, I spent the time giving Max water (we had stock tanks filled with water scattered about the property).

The battle proceeded pretty smoothly for Max and I although on occasion Max wouldn’t turn into the opposing horse while I was in clashing with my opponent- I found myself having to use a lot of spur and pull hard on the reins. Not sure if it’s fright, excitement or something else- it’s a real pain while holding a lance in one hand and neck reining with the other. We’re going to have to put in some more practice and get him to focus more on me than what’s around him.

And as with all group equestrian activities, the one factor that always needs to be considered is the power of the “herd mentality”- Max was eager to join the other horses in battle (he knew most of the horses and some live with him at the same stable). This can be good when trying to close with the opposition or chase someone but it can also work against you if you’re trying to separate or stand still in position. It wasn’t a major issue but I constantly had to remind Max to pay attention to what I want versus everything else. I think this will reduce itself as we do more battles on a frequent basis, supplemented by more practice (to include some one-on-one sword fights with a friend).

After about two hours, we paused for a long lunch break. Naturally, I made sure that Max was drinking water and eating; there were no worries on that point and in fact his appetite was pretty fierce (I was amazed by the amount of alfalfa he put away).
The rest of the afternoon battle went pretty well and the only real issue was Max shying away from a cannon (it wasn’t in use at the time) while I galloped past it. I managed to stay on but my left leg muscles were cramped severely from the strain of pressing against him to keep on. It certainly demonstrated the value of having a good seat and my companions were amazed that I stayed on and even kept my lance. It also goes to show that sometimes, objects that you don’t think will cause an issue can and it happens suddenly. Naturally, afterwards I had Max sniff the cannon and soon we were running past it many times over with no issues.

Overall, it was a good weekend but it also pointed out some gaps in our training and we’re going to have to take some time to do further work on our seat, moving off the haunches and generally focusing Max’s attention on me so he’ll be more responsive to my aids. Also, I noticed that his appetite was greatly increased, most likely due to the cold nights and the exertion during the day; he ate far more alfalfa than normal (I always bring extra anyway so food supply wasn’t an issue) and his water intake was increased. Both of us arrived back at the stables exhausted and we’re both taking the week off.

More Anza...

Here's another picture from Anza, taken during a battle. It was pretty neat charging through the gaps in the fortification walls- Max actually leaped through those. :-)

Phil- My Training Horse at Pierce College

Here are a couple of pictures of Phil, the school horse I'm using for both my Advanced Training and Intermediate Riding classes. Phil, along with the rest of the school herd, will be heading up to a pack station in the Sierras in May to begin their summer jobs as riding horses for pack trips. Phil gained a lot of weight over the Winter and no doubt he'll be losing a lot of it during the Summer.

Phil can be a pretty stubborn horse and his mough is pretty hard due to all the various students and others pulling on his mouth. In the year that I've been riding him, I've managed to get a little bit of his mouth back and he now knows that when I apply leg pressure for a leg yield or sidepass, it doesn't mean speed up...most of the time. :-) Compared to Max, Phil is HUGE and his training is not as extensive but he does have a good personality and he tries- he could easily be Max's bigger brother.

Max & I Return to Anza!

Last weekend, Max and I returned to Anza for another Napoleonic battle reenactment. Although I had plans to have a more proper Napoleonic uniform by this years' event, it didn't happen (life got in the way) so once again I donned my generic Spanish Guerilla outfit, which in reality is a modified Southwestern outfit that could pass for anywhere between 1840-1900 (depending on the guns and other equipments).

I trailered Max out early Friday morning so I would have time to set up my camp and be able to saddle up and work Max some. The trip out wasn't too bad except for the usual traffic around the 71/91 Freeways around Corona and we made it down in about three hours. Unlike last year, the weather was clear and sunny with a cool breeze. Apparently, it had snowed the previous week and the weather was unseasonably cold- at night it got down into the 20s and the water in the horses' water buckets actually froze. During the day, it was heavenly!

Here's a couple of pictures from the event:

Here I am guarding the flank of my compadres. We were a mis-mash of uniforms and because of the imbalance between the British and French forces, I acted as one of the French (Spanish Contra-Guerillas).

Group shot after one of the battles. Here we're moving back towards our camp area so we can water the horses. As you can see from the sand, the footing in the wash and many other areas was a lot softer than last year and we had to exercise some caution in riding- bowed tendons are not good! More to follow!