Temple Grandin on HBO

Only a few days ago, I heard of Temple Grandin, the HBO movie, for the first time. Then today, in honor of the movie's launch, NPR reran a January interview with Ms. Grandin.

We don't have cable, so we'll have to get on Netflix's waiting list for the movie. In the meantime, I'll read a couple of her books, which I haven't read before. I'm admittedly more interested in her books about animals than her books about autism, but maybe that will change as I learn more about her.

I'm interested to hear from my readers who have read any of Temple Grandin's books. What did you think? If you've read more than one, are there any you would recommend more than others? No spoilers please, but if you see the movie I'd love to hear your thoughts on that, too.

CAN'T-ering

Some of my readers who have been with me for a while may remember back to when I was afraid to canter. I got over it when I cantered by accident, asking for a faster trot and getting a canter instead.

That was at the old barn, though. Panama has been so goosey about the "go" button since we moved that my trainer has only cantered him a little, and I haven't at all. The last time I cantered on Panama was the time I fell after he slipped in the mud.

We started talking about cantering again during Wednesday's lesson. My trainer wants me to practice on another horse first, so that I have some recent experience (i.e., more recent than when I was 12) at the canter before trying it on Panama again. (I've only cantered on Panama a handful of times, so I'm not so sure that counts as recent experience.)

At first I was skeptical. For one thing, Panama seemed to be calming down a bit in the last week or two, which made me think maybe I'd be able to canter him again soon. Also, it has been two years since I've ridden a horse other than Panama, and I'm not sure I really want to. I ride because I love Panama, not because I particularly love riding. I guess I could say I love riding Panama, but I don't get as excited at the thought of riding another horse.

Yesterday convinced me, though. My trainer cantered Panama for a while today, pretending she was me — riding with a more uncertain seat, grabbing mane in the two-point, etc. Not only did he do his usual of getting really excited and wanting to do nothing but canter, but he was kind of freaked out by the mane-grabbing and the uncertain seat coming from my usually very competent trainer. She said she doesn't want me cantering on him until he gets a little bit more practice himself, and I (somewhat reluctantly) agreed.

So she's going to talk to one of her students about letting me try some cantering on their horse — not necessarily a full lesson every time, but just a half a dozen or so short rides, so that I become more confident at the canter. At the same time, she's going to start cantering him regularly during her training sessions with him and after my lessons, so that it stops being a Really Exciting Thing. She says as he gets used to cantering more often, he'll stop getting so revved up every time.

I'm disappointed not to be able to start out on Panama, but perhaps this will be better for the both of us in the long run. Either way, I'm looking forward to starting to canter — AGAIN!

Concerns about saddle fit

A week or so ago, after my trainer rode my horse especially hard, we noticed that he was quite sweaty over each shoulder and hardly sweaty at all underneath the rest of the saddle pad. My trainer was concerned about saddle fit, but when we laid the saddle on his back without the pad, it sat flush, with even pressure, all along his back. So instead of panicking and running out to buy a new saddle, for now I'm keeping a close eye on things.

There are two things I suspect may have had something to do with the dramatic unevenness of the sweat that day. I saddled him (rather than my trainer), and I think I might have gotten the saddle too far forward — I'd noticed that it looked too high on his withers when my trainer was riding. It was a subtle difference, but maybe it was enough to cause the uneven sweating (something I haven't noticed in the past).

I've also been using the two frontmost straps for the cinch. So now, in addition to being much more particular about where I'm placing the saddle, I'm also using the first and last straps, in an attempt to create more even pressure across the entire tree.

I've been closely monitoring the sweat marks afterward, although I haven't yet ridden him as hard or gotten him as sweaty as my trainer did that day. I've definitely noticed that he sweats more underneath the flaps than under the parts of the pad that have no pressure on them, which makes sense to me. He sweats less under the seat, but he still does sweat a little there, so I'm not positive yet that it's reason for concern. He certainly doesn't act like it bothers him.

Here is a picture I took after riding Panama yesterday. He was moderately sweaty, but it doesn't show up in the picture well, so I've created some visuals to help you out. The green line is the edge of the saddle pad (because I have a green pad), and the red lines marks the sweatiest areas (which weren't all under the pad, as you can see). The orange lines marks where he is less sweaty, and the yellow hashing shows where he was barely sweaty or not at all.

I should note that even the sweatiest parts (in red) underneath the saddle were no sweatier than his chest and in his armpits, which is where he was the sweatiest. This also leads me to believe there isn't a problem, but has anyone else found that their horses don't sweat as much under the seat as under the flaps?



If you have a hard time seeing my shading, click on the picture for a bigger version. Also, please keep in mind that it is a pretty rough estimation of what I remember from yesterday afternoon.

A riding lesson — with video!

I had a riding lesson today, and I actually remembered for once to give my trainer my camera! It's been a while since I've had someone take pictures of me and Panama, so I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

She also got a few videos of me trotting. In this first one, I'm practicing my post. It's a lot better than it used to be, but it still needs work. One thing I'm working on right now is sitting two beats to change my diagonal when I'm crossing the arena — I'm not very comfortable with a sitting trot, so I always feel out of control by the second beat. It doesn't look as dramatic on camera as it feels on his back, but I still would like to get better at it.

You can't really hear what I'm saying very well at the beginning — my trainer wanted me to ask Panama to trot without clucking, but he didn't respond at first, so I squeezed harder and then clucked, too. Which of course he responded to by overcompensating and launching into a faster trot than I wanted, so through that first turn, I'm coaxing him back down into a slower trot.



The next video is of me practicing my two-point at the trot. This is something I only started learning over the summer, and I haven't practiced it enough yet, so it is a lot sloppier than my posting is. My trainer pointed out that I was letting my butt get too far back and as a result, hanging on Panama's mouth in order to balance myself. Also, a few times I slipped into posting a little bit. I also find leg yields really challenging in the two-point, so obviously I need lots more practice in this department!

Emerging playfulness

I almost forgot earlier to post about Panama's recent playfulness!

He has never been particularly playful with objects, although I think his little trick of trying to take off my hat or giving my parka's snap-on hood a good yank is his way of trying to play with me.

Lately, though, I've seen a little bit more playfulness coming out in his personality. A week or so ago, I was watching him roll a corner-shaped tub that came out of the shed. (Not sure what it's for — maybe holding a mineral block? — but that's where it was...) He startled himself once when he tipped it up and it fell back down, but after he recovered he quite happily flipped it over onto the other side. It's in a different place every day, so I suspect this is a regular thing.

Today while I had him turned out in the arena, I took off one of my gloves and started playing with him — balancing it on his head between his ears, letting it fall to the ground, etc. He tolerated my idiocy pretty well, but when that glove hit the ground, he mouthed it a little, grabbed it with his teeth, and started shaking it around!

I've never seen Panama play like that, and in fact, I've always been a bit jealous that other people's horses (such as Bombay from Nuzzling Muzzles) can be so playful. But maybe that's just something Panama had to grow into!