The Not-Thing

 In my last post about Quaid I was writing about how I've started to 'test' him on things.  Really, the idea is to expose him to things that are unexpected and/or worrying and showing him how to work through it.  

It started with me not following the same routine every time I ride but mixing it up. From there I moved on to adding some strange things around the ring.  I pulled don the principles I learned with the TRT Method. The idea is to introduce small things and show the horse how to be relaxed around them. It's not about throwing all the things at once (flooding). This just results in a horse that shuts down and that is not safe on any level. Because at some point there will always be something scary enough to pierce through the shell. 

I brought up an old horse blanket and threw it over the railing. The first time I put it there he was really snorty about it. I started with lunging and ground work. The idea was to get him to focus on me and to learn that the blanket is just there and, even when if flaps in the wind, we have the tools to deal.  

this is suspicious

Once he seemed okay I mounted and began my ride. My goal was to keep him focussed on my asks and for me to completely ignore the blanket. It was fine if he acknowledged it but I wasn't going to make it a thing. I learned that the hard way with Carmen. She would worry about something, then I would worry about it too because of how she'd react. Then we were both really worried about it and, surprisingly, it became even more of a thing. 

It really didn't take long for him to be fine with it. Then every so many days I'd move it. It was interesting, because the first time I moved it he went right past it without a blink but on the other side of the ring he was really worried. I simply used the 10 metre circle, nose-follows-the-toes exercises Jane taught us. In minutes he was like, okay, I'm fine. 

I love this because he has complete freedom 
to leave but chooses to stay. 

The first time I rode Carmen she looked at it and was like oh, this again. (I did this a lot with her) and totally ignored it. 

Then last week I had a lesson with Jane. We moved the blanket to hang over the cavalettis outside the ring so her dog, Dottie, could have shade. Dottie, of course, totally ignored it. But so did Quaid. It was a great lesson.  Jane really honed in on my elbows and pushing him to step under without flailing the front legs. 

Here's some of our trot work. I was really happy with how much better we're getting: 

My leaning is getting better. So, yay. He did give one spook (not at the blanket) and we just regrouped and carried on. Again it was not made to be a thing, just a blip and we carried on. We did a lot of canter. With me sitting up more I am so much more balanced at the canter even when he's not. I did struggle a bit with the sitting trot right before the canter. I tended to tighten my seat which resulted in him dropping to walk. whomp. What can I say? Riding is hard. 

trying to not burn out on the corner, but not pull, 
while sitting up and staying balanced. 

Like I said the lesson was fantastic. Good progress and some homework. 

Interestingly, the next time I rode Quaid (after a day off) he was really worried about the blanket (I had left it on the cavellettis).  He started to do the prop to a halt and try to duck away.  Instead of being disappointed, I welcomed the opportunity to work on this at home. I sat up, encouraged him to bend and go forward. 

Quaid: oh my god, it's a monster, we must flee

Me: it's fine. Hey, we lost bend, let's fix it. 

Quaid: HOW DO YOU NOT SEE THAT? 

Me: Hey buddy we need some flexion and to trot forward. 

Quaid: nope, nope, nope. 

Me: we can do it. 

Quaid: *gulp* okay, I'll try

Me: you are the bravest pony that ever was

Quaid:  I am aren't I? 

Today I rode him and it was totally not a thing. Which was funny because yesterday Carmen was pretty convinced it was a big thing and she wasn't having it. But I just did the same thing with probably higher expectations, because, come on. 

Next weekend we have our second show. Like before we have the skills we need to lay a solid test. But even more importantly, we have some new things in our tool belt. Or should I say some 'not-things'. 

Either way we'll go and deal and it will be a great learning experience. Because learning to be brave is a series of small steps and building confidence. 

Quaid, the brave little toaster

Feedback Loop: Lesson Recap

 I realise that the blog has been a bit heavy on the Quaid side of things. Not that I'm choosing favourites, it's just felt like he has a lot more going on while Carmen has been just been super steady and fun. 

I had a lesson last Sunday and it was Carmen's turn. In an ideal world I'd have a lesson on both of them each week (assuming that there's room in the day)  but, alas, the bank account is not bottomless so I alternate. 

I'm going to apologise for the media showing Carmen being really dirty. Normally I'd give her a quick wash before the lesson but we are in the middle of a bad drought and conserving water. I save the water now for the post ride rinse.  

the grass is pretty dead so I've been putting out hay

I had Carmen groomed and tacked up about 15 minutes before the lesson was to start. This gives me time for setting up my Pivo and warming her up. Carmen has been a ton of fun to ride these days. We get on, warm up, go to work and are done. There's little to no drama and when there is drama it's pretty short lived.  I've been playing with a new thing on my warm up which is to keep the reins loopy/no contact and let her walk while I work on regulating the pace and steering with my seat. It's getting better and I love that while she could take full advantage of this she chooses not to.  I'm not crazy though, if she feels really explosive I will pick up the reins. Here's a short video:  You'll see that I do pick up a rein if I need it but drop it right after. 

It makes me feel closer to my dream of riding with just a neck rope. And, even if I never get there, it's way better than the feeling that I had to have total control otherwise everything dissolved into chaos. 

We had a nice flow going when Jane showed up to begin the lesson. It was one of those nit-picky, detail oriented lessons that I love. Jane has been working on me learning to push the hind legs under but not allow the pace to speed up. Honestly, it's hard. Carmen's response to go faster makes total sense and I don't want to fall into the crank and spank error. That will piss her off in a hurry (and rightly so). 

The lesson was awesome. Carmen was right there trying her heart out and any errors were because of miscommunication or her doing what worked in the past. At the walk we worked on rhythm and alignment. Carmen really wants to look outside the ring and I've been guilty of not being insistent enough for the inside flexion. 

We worked on some halt-walk-halt transitions without letting her change the flexion and throw her head up. It required a half-halt in the transition, not a hold nor a giving away the rein. 

Then we went to some trot work. 

warming up, not quite tracking up but I'm really
happy with my alignment and hers. 

I've been working on a soft seat and it's really starting to pay off. I am noticing sooner when I tighten through my pelvis/thigh/knee but I'm not yet solid to prevent it. 

Carmen: trit-trot

I do like this moment, she's stepping under, her nose
is in front of the vertical, her forehand looks light
and I'm looking where we're going

Jane pointed out that she's going really well and I'm riding so much better. I agree and it's become a total feedback loop. The better I ride, the better she goes and the better she goes the better I ride. It's such a cool feeling to find my seat solid in the saddle and not flopping. Her rhythm is so much better.  Whenever Jane would remind me to soften my groin, she would immediately soften too. It was neat to see/feel. 

We finished up with some canter work. Unfortunately, my phone ran out of storage so the Pivo quit videoing. It's so annoying to not have video of it because it was really good. We started on the right lead, which has been our nemesis in the past. But it's so much more balanced now. I've been doing a lot of canter in our schooling, playing with transitions along the long side and it's really paying off. As is her responding to my seat to lengthen and shorten her stride.  Jane was super impressed with the improvement in her canter.  

She pointed out that she did not have to get after me to let go of the inside rein (yay!).  We did some counter canter serpentines (right lead canter circle at one end, ride the middle loop in counter canter (a left circle) and back to right circle. Then I had to a full circle of counter canter. It was hard. A few times she dropped out of canter and switched leads. But it was because I wasn't cuing her. Instead, I became passive and Carmen was 'okay, this is wrong, I'm just gonna fix it, 'kay? There, that's better'.  But when I kept my outside leg on she was able to do it.  We finished with some left lead canter and counter canter and it was exactly the same issues (me), but honestly it was such good work. 

The whole lesson was fantastic. 

Jane  'it was the best I've seen you ride' 

Me 'but that was last week' 

Jane: "I know. And you're better again'. 

I mean I know I'm riding better. I can feel it and my horses are going better. My homework is to continue to work on flexion and lateral suppleness, riding with my seat and balancing her. I'm going to end this post with a cute video from our trot work. I love how rhythmical it's become. Near the end Jane tells me to soften my seat and when I do Carmen completely half-halts and then stops. Jane laughs and says now we know what was tight! and I call Carmen a snitch (but laughing). See how pleased with herself she looks. 

Operation Pop Quiz Begins

 If you read my last post I realised that I needed to be more consistent in my contact, ride less defensively and create opportunities for Quaid to be tested.  And by that, Jane meant that he needed to learn how to deal with different things and maintain his emotional equilibrium. 

In the past I'd have been tempted to throw all but the kitchen sink (well maybe also the kitchen sink) at him and probably  definitely overwhelm him. But that just results in either a wreck or a shut down horse. Quaid is quite sensitive. He also really wants to please but sometimes it all gets a bit much. And I'm guilty of babying him through that and not helping him find his own balance. Then I take him off property and expect him to be fine.  Like I always say 'hope is not a strategy'. 

That look you get when your had 3 intense
days and they see you come out with a halter. 
Also, it's so dry here. We're having some serious
drought conditions. It's awful. 

I gave us all Monday off after the clinic but Tuesday I was excited to get back at it. Since it's been so hot I've just been riding one horse a day in the morning. This is working so far. I decided that it was Quaid's turn. Normally I have a set routine that I follow every time I ride him. I tack him up, we do groundwork, I put on his bridle and we ride. And there's nothing wrong with that routine. But it's not one I can follow when I'm away. So this time I put on his bridle, walked him around the ring and hopped on. I had his halter and lunge line if I needed. But I didn't need it.  So I've been doing that in our rides since. 

In my rides I've been focusing on maintaining a consistent contact no matter where his head is. It takes a lot of awareness. I was also paying a lot of attention to sitting on my seat and not leaning forward. I basically was scrolling through a repeating checklist while I rode: body aligned, elbows following and keeping contact, horse walking forward. 

As the week progressed I became much more aware of when I tipped forward. In the past I might have thought '''yeah but that's not the most important thing right now" . Now I know it is.  I made up this little rhyme for myself: head and shoulders, nose and toes. Which for me meant: am I aligned (head and shoulders over pelvis) and is Quaid aligned (is his toes following his nose)? One thing I noticed on my lesson video at home was that he began to say no at the 30 minute mark. In my rides at home when he first began to say no I looked at my watch and saw it was 31 minutes. Same for the next ride. Interesting.... Instead of stopping like I normally would with the thought that he'd had enough, I asked him to keep going forward. When he was forward and soft, then I stopped. 

I rode Quaid on Saturday and it was quite windy. He was feeling a lot more 'up'. It was breezy and Carmen was in heat. I do notice that he's much more attached to her when she's in heat (not that I've seen any shenanigans thank god).  Anyway he was being spooky at the blowing trees and reluctant to go forward. After a couple big spooks I began to feel quite vulnerable and my frustration was rising. then I stopped and took a breath. I reminded myself that wasn't being like this to get me. He was feeling more frazzled and he needed me to show him how to go and not just get irritated. So I went back to what we've been doing. Riding forward, being aligned, soft but there with my hands. And I felt it working. He began to tune to me. Not usually I wouldn't canter on these sort of rides. But he felt better so I put us on a 20 m circle and we worked on canter-trot-canter transitions. And do you know what ? they were fine. 

It felt like things were coming together. Jane was coming on Sunday to the area to teach and I signed myself up for a lesson. Paulina needed an early morning ride so decided to haul to my place (I'm usually one of the early stops). Then Tanya asked if she could come too. This is great I thought. I was planning to ride Quaid anyway and have Jane help me to do various tests with him so I can make sure I'm not just letting him set the tone. I also know that Carmen, who normally does not care when I take him out, cares very much when there are other horses around. I figured the ruckus of having horses coming and going and Carmen being Carmen would be a perfect test. 

And I was right. Paulina came and rode first. While she was riding Tanya came and unloaded. Neither of them really reacted to the horses coming. I brought in Quaid to tack up because we were after Paulina and before Tanya. I did exactly what I'd been doing all week: saddle, bridle, walk up and get organised. Carmen was pitching her fit. Paulina took her horse away while I was getting organised. I led him up to the mounting block and got on.  

And do you know what? He kept his focus with me. A few times he'd look to Carmen or at something else. But he came right back when asked. 

head, shoulders, nose and toes

Do you know what was even better? Jane never once had to tell me to sit up. I mean she had to tell me lots of other things but not that. So it's win for me. I'm still letting my elbows move too much. I honestly couldn't tell when she was after me about it. But when I watched the video I could see it. It's subtle, not a huge amount but enough to bug his mouth. Sigh. Riding is hard. 

I also need to figure out how to ask him to step under more without letting him get faster. But it's coming. I overheard Jane say at one point 'my god he's a nice horse'.  

he really is nice. Unfortunately his breeder isn't 
selling any of her young horses right now. Otherwise 
I'd send everyone there. 

We did some canter work and it wasn't bad. I really have to focus on sitting up and following with my seat instead of getting all grabby with my thighs and hands. But it's so much better. And he's responding to it too.  Here's a short video from our ride. I'll apologise ahead of time because my pivo was getting confused and stopped following me for a bit. But it comes back. 

Not every moment was great. Or even good. Case in point, here's when I asked for a transition to trot: 

lol, at least I'm not falling on his neck....

But right after he came back and went into a lovely trot.  

We did about 45 minutes and Jane said that was enough. I was talking to her and asking some questions when Tanya came in. Instead of dismounting, I decided to see if I could get him to work and focus back on me so I asked him to walk some 10 metre circles, switch directions etc. And he would look, get distracted and then go 'oh right, sorry. ' which is so much better then before when he'd say 'stop bugging me. I can't possibly listen to you in these conditions'.  

Jane was super impressed. So was I. I was texting Jane later to thank her and she said 'I was just about to say how great you both were. I'm starting to push you guys more....it's hard not to push when it's sitting right there'.   (she was referring to me, Paulina and Tanya who also had amazing lessons). Then I had to laugh because she texted 'notice how he was no flail Quail today'. 

Indeed. It's coming. I'm not so foolish as to think that I've solved all our issues in 4 rides. But it's a good start. I want to haul back to Krista's and ride him again so work on it. 

no flail just flair.