Stability

 How did I get so far behind? Let me see if I can summarise what's going on. 

Let's start with Quaid. On May 17th I took both horses to my friend's , Krista, place.  I wanted to take Quaid off property before we head to a show and it allowed me to have a lesson on both horses.   You may recall that last year Quaid and I fell apart when we tried to work in new places. For example, the clinic at Krista's and the shows.  It really knocked my confidence. 

And then he was really good at the ground work clinic a few weeks ago so I had some positive feelings about it. Both horses loaded easily and we headed out. Fun fact, we ran into a car that was clearly out for a Sunday stroll making the drive there waaaay longer then it should have been. But I had lots of time so it didn't really matter. 

I rode Quaid first and it was a really good lesson. In that he was better than last year and not as good as I had hoped. He was clearly worried and tense. And his go-to when tense is to not want to go forward and object if I make him. 

tight pony is tight

And because he's behind the leg I put on more leg to get him to go forward and he objects even harder.  Jane was having me back off the leg and use my seat for transitions. Do you know how hard it is to not put a leg on a horse that won't go forward? The answer is 'really hard'.  

But Jane didn't care that it was hard, lol and kept getting me to work on it.  She didn't want me to give him an excuse to escalate. Our trot was good by times and horrible by other times. 

Rather than pick it all apart, I was fairly happy with my riding. I wasn't leaning forward and I honestly wasn't nervous. I was not relaxed either, to be honest. I felt a lot more confident in my riding. What I realised with Quaid is that when he gets tense and trots his rhythm falls all apart and he wants to speed up and then jam on the brakes. It feels like stepping on the gas and the brake at the same time. When I try to give him a steady rhythm, he gets pissed off about that and starts to throw his shoulders around and yank the reins. 

At one point I stopped and said to Jane: so when he gets tight and his rhythm goes he starts throwing his shoulders and then I start to lose my balance and flop around and it all goes to shit. 

Jane: 'yes' 

Me: so my question is: what do I fix first? 

Jane: good question, I would fix the rhythm and go from there. 

me talking to Jane as above. Quaid, 'stop holding
my face!' Me: literally not touching the reins buddy

Jane had me do a lot of sitting trot because I could be more stable in the saddle. I was going with him too much and not being the stable centre for him to come to. I had to stabilise my core and my hands no matter what he was doing. 

a good moment

a not-so-good moment but not horrible

It was a hot day and by the end we were both sweaty. But I took that lesson and started doing it at home. I think I've been avoiding letting him get upset at home. Which is not helpful because then we can't practice dealing with it. 

While I have not been deliberately stressing him, I've not been avoiding things that are stressful either. I had what felt like a break through ride where he got upset at something when we were cantering (birds/trees). He fell out of canter and began to do his unrthymical thing. In the past I'd bring him to walk to settle. But this time I kept the trot and just asked him to come to me. He was not happy about that but I just kept riding a steady trot and not letting him speed off or slam on the brakes. And it worked. He came back to me. Then we returned to the canter work.

Since that time we've been working on it. Some rides have zero issues but most have at least one moment where he asks how serious I am. In many ways it reminds me of how Carmen would spook and we'd end up really far away from the original ask. I learned to deal with the spook and then go right back to what I had been asking right before the spook. And it really works.  Quaid's resistances are different but were resulting in the same things- not following up on the original ask.  I've been working on staying steady and stable in the saddle even when it seems that he hates it. Because in the end he does come back to me and feels more confident. 

Things are feeling good in that we're dealing with any issues and going back to work. If that makes any sense to anyone but me.  I am feeling a lot more confident and not worried about my safety, which is key for me to ride with purpose.  And while I sometimes miss the 'every ride is perfect' days, this seems to be more real and providing a better foundation that will stand us well.