November 14, 2013

Position Hack and a Dead Fox

Between our two lessons this week, I took Connor for a "position hack" yesterday.  We went for a long, walk-only hack and enjoyed the (cold) sunshine together.  No pressure on his part, since I asked him only for a long stretchy frame and a nice walk, and I was delighted that he was light in my hands and mouthing the bit anyway.

For me it was hard work though - it was working on internalizing that new leg position.  I've found that hacks in the Dressage saddle are a good place to work on internalizing position changes as long as I stick to walking - I really should be up off his back in the jump saddle for long trots and canters over terrain.

Would have been a great picture if I just got my finger out of the way.


We also saw a dead fox on our hack.  My husband thought this was weird, but I took a picture of it, because it was so tragically beautiful.  I know, the circle of life and all, but that's a really gorgeous animal to stumble upon lying dead in the path.  Connor didn't bat an eyelash at the dead animal - maybe this is so Black Beauty of me, but I've always heard horses were uncomfortable at the smell of dead things.



Hillary's contest for CoTH poster Bensmom's awesome saddle soap (It's seriously awesome, the review thread is the longest thread I've ever seen in Eventing at 54 pages!  People love this stuff!) ends soon, go check it out and get your entries in!

12 comments:

  1. Stumbling upon dead animals is weird, but then again I'm the weirdo who comes back and buries them.. lol

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    1. True! I think my BO took care of it later that afternoon.

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  2. I think dead animals are pretty in a tragic way. I've definitely been on horses who were uncomfortable by them.

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    1. I'd never been on a horse while passing one before. We also rode through smoke that same day and Connor was interested, but not scared.

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  3. Poor dead fox. I see a live one on my way to the barn a lot. There are two out there, a dark one and a red one. So pretty.

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    1. Yeah, we had one that lived by my house growing up. They are gorgeous, and remind me of Bitsy!

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  5. Positions hacks sound like a great idea. What a wonderful way to help set a position than just spending some quiet time being able to focus on yourself while still enjoying the ride. :-)

    Strangely enough my horses haven't been overly concerned about dead animals in the past but the time we rode them through a cemetery I swear they were seeing ghosts. A couple of times they stopped suddenly and their eyes were focused on something right in the path. Other times they would suddenly spook at something that we really couldn't see. We're talking extremely dull/desensitized trail horses here.

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    1. Weird! I have heard our horses have gotten out and into the cemetery across the street but never seen them do it myself. That's creepy!

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  6. I like the dead fox photo... possibly because dead foxes are pests here so my eye is trained to see a dead fox as a good fox haha

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    1. I mean alive foxes are a pest here... gosh CT, get it together

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    2. Ha! You must have more of them there than we do here. They are basically only pests for chicken farmers and you rarely see them.

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