The only birthdays I can remember besides my own and my husband's are one of the dogs' birthdays and Speedy's. The other dog and Izzy get forgotten every time. Frankly, the only reason I remember the birthdays that I do is because Tobi's is the day before mine, and Speedy's is on tax day, April 15th.

The thing is, I like celebrating my four-legged family members' birthdays. I don't go all wild and crazy about them, and in fact, I don't really do anything extra special, but I still enjoy the day. For me, there's a weird sense of accomplishment in having an animal for its entire life, and I love checking off yet another year. Izzy's special day was last Monday, May 14th.

Izzy came to me as a six-year-old, nearly an adult. In reality he was still a baby with a lot of growing up to do. Those first few years with him were tough ones. First, I had to deal with the leg that suffered that terrible laceration, and then I had to cope with all the I don't wanna attitude.

This birthday, his tenth, has revealed a more mature and confident horse. Speedy did the same thing except I had to wait a lot longer before I had a horse I enjoyed. I bought Speedy as a three-year-old, so it took nearly seven years before I really liked him enough to pull down the for sale sign.

While Izzy is probably not completely finished with the temper tantrums and sassy attitude, they're definitely becoming few and far between. Even at fourteen Speedy still likes to flip me the bird.

I've said many times that I hope to never purchase another three-year-old, four-year-old, or even an 8-year-old. Make mine a ten-year-old, and you've got yourself a deal!

Speedy and I are still chipping away at the elements of Second Level which most recently have included collection. While schooling the simple change through walk on Wednesday, I had the most distinct AHA.

Our walk to canter has gotten pretty show worthy. I am not going to say it's 10-worthy, but it is consistent. He still wants to pop his head occasionally, but he's starting to figure out how to really push off from his hind end when I insist on it.

The canter to walk, the other part of the simple change, is where we've had more trouble. I just can't get a true walk unless I haul back on the reins, and then it's a rather ugly transition. 

One of the exercises I've been doing is cantering three strides by counting down: three, two, one. On the one, I ask for the walk. I then change the bend and pick up the other canter lead, again counting down to the walk. Sometimes he does a great downward transition, and other times not so much.

While I ride, I have a running dialogue in my head. Usually it's with Chemaine Hurtado, owner and trainer at Symphony Dressage Stables, but occasionally I just talk myself through what I am trying to accomplish. 

​On Wednesday, I am not sure whose voice I was hearing, but I heard Speedy can't walk while he's leaning on your hands. Get him soft before you ask. That must have been Chemaine as that sounds like something she'd say. So for the next canter to walk transition, I counted down, but as I did so, I also asked for him to get soft. To my amazement, he stepped softly into a walk. I actually whooped out loud. 

To make sure it wasn't simply a lucky moment, I told Speedy we were going to do a few more just to see. Sure enough, when I got him soft before I asked for the walk, the downward transition was lovely.

​Each piece of Second Level is getting closer to being confirmed. Now we just need to start connecting those pieces together so that it all looks "easy." I'll let you know when that happens.

I keep saying this, but man is Izzy really starting to figure things out. I know it's more interesting to read about train wrecks and disasters, but we just aren't having any. That doesn't mean that we don't have stuff to work on because we do, but it's all starting to be fun rather than just holding on for dear life.

Chemaine Hurtado, owner and trainer at Symphony Dressage Stables, says lots of things during a lesson, but sometimes I don't really get it until later. A few weeks ago, I heard her say outside leg and rein ask for the canter. In the moment, I did what she directed, and sure enough, the canter departure was much smoother. I was riding Izzy.

A few days later, I was trying to get a decent trot to canter transition and those words came back to me. I bent Izzy to the inside to put him on the outside rein (another thing she says to me over and over that I finally understand) and then I put my outside leg back, used my outside rein to get a half halt, and scooped a bit with my seat. And there was our canter.

Holy smokes. How can something so simple make such a big impact? I've been riding the canter transition as though it comes only from my inside leg while essentially ignoring my outside aids.

​It's amazing what can happen when your aids get better. 

I've written about Izzy's hair color a few times, but I can't find the posts I wanted to share about how much his coat fades in the summer. Suffice it to say that since we left our last barn a year and a half ago, his chocolatey coat filled with dapples is long gone.

I have lots of photos like the one above. And the shine is just good health as I am not much of a groomer. At our old barn, Izzy had a large, two-sided covered space in which to hang out. His water and feed were positioned there, so he spent a lot of time inside.

Izzy now lives in a huge dry "pasture" that has trees for shelter, but no actual roof. He loves it and doesn't seem to mind standing outside during the occasional rainy day.

While I love being able to let my boys be real horses, our 350 days of sunshine are hard on hair. Last summer, Izzy turned into a buckskin.

He won't wear a flysheet for longer than eight minutes, and he refuses to stand in the shade even though I've begged. So this year, I am trying something different.

In the past, I've stuck with Pyranha Fly Spray as it was the most effective on our fly population. Since it's oil-based though, I think it contributed to the burned hair that Izzy gets. So for this year's fly season (all nine months of it), I've switched to Equiderma Neem and Aloe Fly Spray. I can't say yet whether it works as well as Pyranha, but it does smell good and since it's water based, I am hoping it will be kinder to his hair. I ordered two new bottles over the weekend to take advantage of Riding Warehouse's gift card promotion.

Another product I am trying is Knotty Horse Apricot Reconstructing Conditioner. I've been using it for nearly a month. First of all, it smells really, really good. At $28.95 though, it has to do more than just smell good. So far, I am spraying it pretty liberally all over Izzy's body each time I groom or ride.

According to the directions, you can even use it under the saddle which is great because that's the part of Izzy's coat that suffers the most from sweat and sun. Even though I hose him off, the salt in his sweat is still pretty harsh. The product claims that it repairs damaged ends and softens the hair.

It's too early to tell how effective my new protocol will be. I like the Knotty Horse Conditioner though. It leaves Izzy's coat looking pretty shiny and feeling smooth. It's too soon to say how long the effect lasts though. Just in case it is working, I ordered a second bottle to have as soon as the first one runs out.

​I'll keep you posted.

I have to first say that my feelings toward Second Level have changed completely. My initial frustration with the level has turned into anticipation. No, I am not joking, and no, you're not being punked. Once I figured out that the purpose of Second Level is not actually to torture lower level riders and discourage them from ever entering another dressage show, I realized that it's actually, sort of, kind of, almost ... fun(?).

There are a lot of neat pieces to Second Level, and I know it sounds like I speak from long time experience, but I don't. If you're looking for that kind of experience, you'll have to read someone else's blog. If you want to know what to expect when you get to Second Level, I am happy to share what I am learning. Riders hate Second Level for a reason. It's not easy because it's loaded with all kinds of bricks to build a solid foundation for the upper levels. But, if you stick it out, Third Level should be MUCH easier. I'll let you know when I get there.

When Chemaine Hurtado, owner and trainer at Symphony Dressage Stables, was here last Tuesday, we spent most of the lesson on this deceptively (not so) easy movement. She helped me finally see that the haunches in is a precursor to the half-pass. Understanding the purpose of the movement and seeing what it leads to gave me a whole new appreciation for why it needs to be right.

While I could get Speedy's haunches to move off the track, what I wasn't able to do was keep an inside bend at the same time. And even now, a week later, we're still struggling with the suppleness needed to move that way. Speedy doesn't think he can bend that way, and he's positive that he can't do it at the trot. Just wait until I tell him he has to eventually do it at the canter!

What Chemaine had me do was to bring it all down to the walk to start. She had me get the inside bend (more than I think I need) and then ask for the haunches in with my outside leg and outside rein. If I could also get good forward, that was great, but keeping Speedy soft in the bridle was more important than the forward. 

Once I understood the aids, we moved on to a slow trot which we did like this: bend, haunches, GO ... adjust ... Go ... adjust ... Go. In fact, she wanted me to surprise Speedy in the GO so that he learned that being soft also means that he has to be in front of my leg. There was a lot more adjusting than going.

Besides leading to the half-pass, travers is also an excellent way to supple your horse for the collected canter and the simple change though walk. And now that I am maintaining the inside bend (better anyway), everything else is improving at the same time.

Our next CDS show is in two weeks. I feel like it should go better, but we might still be in the ugly part of it takes a lot of ugly before it gets better thing. We'll see what happens at today's lesson.

In case you haven't seen it yet on social media, Riding Warehouse is offering two different kinds of gift cards if you buy fly stuff. The website doesn't say how long the sale is going to last, so I placed my order over the weekend.

I took advantage of this offer before, and if I remember correctly, they sent the gift card as long as you bought something fly related. This year, you have to actually purchase a full $50 or $100 worth of fly stuff. I know because I checked. I had a fly mask and fly spray in my cart along with one or two other items that brought my total to just over $50. No gift card was listed. Hmmm ...

Knowing that I go through fly spray like it's water, I updated my cart to include a second bottle of fly spray. That bumped my total of fly products to $52. Suddenly a $10 gift card was applied to my cart.

You can't blame a girl for trying!

Oh, how quickly they forget, and when I say "they" I mean me. Endurance riders learn early on that all tack and gear must serve a very real purpose. Nothing is worn simply because it looks good. The distances traveled - 50 to 100 miles in a single day, are just too long to have unnecessary tack or gear weighing you down.

Last weekend, I did an hour and a half trail ride with a group of friends. As I was packing my gear into the trailer, I grabbed everything that I normally use: saddle, pad, girth, bridle, helmet, gloves, and leg boots. And that's where I made my mistake.

When I untacked Speedy at the end of the ride, I groaned. His fleece boots were completely covered with embedded foxtails. That's when I remembered that endurance riders don't use fleece below the belly; no fleece on bell boots and no fleece on leg boots.

I spent a solid 30 minutes picking those little boogers out muttering under my breath the entire time.

​And since I am so out of practice, I'll probably make the same rookie mistake next year!

Early summer has arrived here in Central California which means our temperatures are solidly in the upper 80s and low 90s. When you're not yet acclimated to it, 90 is hot.

Because I was busy doing a few other things - the Summerlane Farm trail ride, shopping for Mother's Day, and a lesson on Speedy, Izzy had a few days off. At first, he seemed happy to come out and play. He was a bit tense about something in the yard (long story), but he kept his marbles locked up tight.

His walk was mostly fine, but he wasn't really willing to stretch over his back. I tried a variety of exercises including the shoulder in/haunches in on a circle, but he he just wouldn't quite let the tension go.

Sometimes I find that the canter will do what a trotting exercise won't. Izzy disagreed. He refused to pick up a left lead canter. I kicked and asked and kicked some more, but he emphatically said NO, it's too hot. I finally hopped off and got the whip.

From then on, his motor was revved, but he was even more tense because he knew he'd done something wrong, and he hates to be wrong. I didn't even have to use the whip. He finally agreed to pick up the canter but it was not soft nor was it relaxed. 

I focused on relaxing my seat and upper body. I insisted that he could only pick up the canter if it wasn't against my hand. As soon as he softened, we walked. We repeated this several times to the left. By the time I asked for a right lead canter, he was listening but was still tight across his back.

The right lead canter is the one that can be the most difficult when he's tense. He doesn't want to give me an inside bend because he falls in on his inside shoulder. He also loses the rhythm of the canter in his hind legs. He'll swap leads back and forth or sort of stutter with his hind legs. All of a sudden I could hear my trainer's voice in my head. Half halt. Where's your inside bend? Half halt! More!!!! 

I bent him to the inside to put him on my outside rein, and then I half halted. And all of a sudden I knew why I needed a half halt and what feeling I was trying to achieve.

He had lost the rhythm of the canter, and I could feel that he needed to slow down his front end so that his hind legs could reorganize. It was the clearest sense of understanding that I've had in a while. While maybe not perfectly executed, I could feel that my half halts were making perfect sense to Izzy. 

We schooled the canter for a few more minutes. Every time he relaxed and felt balanced, we took a walk break. He was still tight and worried, but he was completely focused on me and was doing his best to do what I was asking. I finally felt like my aids were very specific, and I was actually helping him.

Little by little Izzy and I are becoming a team, and his level of trust in me is growing. He's still not an easy horse to ride, but he's getting less and less complicated. I was thrilled with what we were able to work through yesterday. My diamond in the rough is really starting to shine.

Speedy doesn't get to do much trail work anymore, neither does Izzy for that matter, so I was particularly glad to hear that Summerlane Farm was hosting their annual trail ride and potluck lunch this past Sunday.

Summerlane Farm is about a 35 minute drive from the ranch. It's situated in the middle of rolling hills covered with citrus groves, blueberry bushes, pistachio orchards, and more. There isn't a paved road for miles. It's a great place for trail riding, especially for groups.  

Summerlane Farm's trail ride has been known to have as many as 20 riders or more, but this year's event was more cosy than crowded. There were seven of us on Sunday. Summerlane Farm used to breed Arabians, but they now breed and show Borzoi dogs. Even so, six of us were still on Arabs.

Speedy was his regular good boy self for most of the ride. He stood patiently at the trailer and ate and drank with gusto. About halfway through the ride he kind of lost his marbles though; his trailer buddy was ahead of us, and he didn't want to get left behind. I think he was worried that we'd have to walk home!

​We had a few come to Jesus moments, but for the most part, I took advantage of his willingness to be in front of my leg. We cantered in place, did some passage, schooled our canter to walk transitions, and leg yielded back and forth down the road.

While he was a bit of a stinker the last 20 minutes or so, it was fun to be out in the open with friends. I know he enjoyed himself. 

I've lamented my lack of a nearby dressage trainer since ... forever. For a number of years I've been making the long trek to Simi Valley, a 5 hour round trip, to ride with Chemaine Hurtado (owner and trainer at Symphony Dressage Stables).

For the past six months, I've been able to round up enough interested riders that I was able to put on twice monthly clinics here in Bakersfield with Chemaine teaching. Having a lesson twice a month gave Speedy, Izzy, and me a big upward boost in our training. Then, Chemaine bought a house in Bear Valley Springs, an equestrian community just an hour east of us.

Today I am hoping we can do some work on travers (haunches in) - Speedy's a little braced and definitely heavier than I think is right. And like the shoulder in, I am probably going to find out that I've been doing it wrong anyway.

​I'll let you know!