The Next Good Step

You may recall that I had discovered Podcasts and was really enjoying them as a learning opportunity while I was unable to regularly school.  PiccoloPony put me onto Jane Pike and I've really enjoyed these. Jane recently had a free 21 Day 'Brave Bucket Challenge' which I signed up for. It consisted of 21 short videos on a special topic. I liked them- they were short, snappy and got me thinking.

One thing that really resonated me was the concept of the 'next good step' (disclaimer: I am not teaching you Jane's concepts. I am telling you how I applied what I learned to my riding with Carmen). The idea is to focus on the next good step and not worry about all the things.

the look I get when I take forever to get to the point.
Or when I'm dancing while doing barn chores. 

I realized that I'm getting overly dependent on having a riding buddy when I ride Carmen. It's easier- she's more relaxed with Irish in the ring and I feel like things go better. Which is all fine but I can't always have a buddy in the ring and I need to figure this out. Julia was unable to come today and I found myself creating all sorts of reasons to not ride. We had a vicious windstorm the day before and  it was  still  windy and cold.

I stayed inside and baked something new: coconut cream tarts

 I am okay with not riding if I don't feel like it but it felt more like chickening out then taking a break.  I recognize that this worry is probably my lizard brain remembering all the disastrous rides we've had in the past. But still. 

So I put on my riding pants (or big girl pants if you will) and decided to tackle this thing one step at a time. My goal was to go one step at a time and see how things were. Before I would be all worried about all the things we should be working on which made me put too much pressure on both of us. 

I headed out to the barn and Carmen nickered to me. She was likely hungry but still it warmed my little heart. She came in quietly and stood easily while I groomed her and tacked up.  

We headed up to the ring and we started with our leading exercise. I expected her to be tense and tight but she was not. We had moments of tension followed by her looking to relax. I We went through our groundwork and I kept checking for tension, holes in her attention and explosiveness.  But there was none. 

I took off her rope halter, adjusted the stirrups and headed to the mounting block. Carmen lined herself up and I mounted. She stood, waiting for me. We've been doing this - I wait for her to relax and then I pick up the reins and off we go. I keep my rein contact light and we walk off. My goal is ensure my seat is relaxed and following. When she tightens I stay calm and only shorten the rein if she feels like she will take off. 

We did a short ride and she was fine. We went down the long side and a leaf suddenly blew into the ring attacked causing her to deke left, then right back to the rail and we carried on.  And that was the most exciting thing to happen. The rest of it was just a ride. 

looking for zombie leaves

Right after I took this photo she turned her head and nickered at me. My heart kind of melted.  We did one more circle and I called it a day. I like this approach- it really helps me to stay present because I'm working on the current step, not all the things we're not doing. And I can't help but notice that the one thing we're not doing is melting down.

Present Tense

Normally I spend winter fretting about not riding and feeling bored.  This year feels different. Not that I'm not anxiously waiting to get back to regular schooling. I totally am.

Not as cold as it looks, but still winter

But I'm also using this time to work on myself and my goal of controlling/choosing my emotions.

I've been diving into videos, reading and podcasts. I'm finding them all very helpful. In the past I think I would have dismissed it as being a bit wack-a-doodle. Not completely, but it made me uncomfortable. I cannot remember who said it (I think it was Stacy Westfal's podcast but can't swear to it) that you can view riding as 'transactional' or 'relational'. And that made a lot of sense to me.

Anyway, one of the things I've been really working on is being 'present'. It's not easy. My mind tends to wander, even in the saddle. I find myself thinking about what happened during the day or what might happen tomorrow.

I have been practising and failing a lot. But I've also been succeeding.

The other thing I've been working on is choosing to be positive with the horses (and others). That is working really well. I find myself truly enjoying the time I spend doing chores. The horses are really responding.

hard to take photos when she wants to be close.
But look at that adorable nose...

The trick is, of course, is whether this translates to work under saddle. In the past I would have worried about it. Now I'm curious. After a deep freeze that left the ring treacherous with ice we had some snow and then a warmer temps. This dissolved the ice under the snow and made the ring good for riding again.

Sunday was warmer and I brought Carmen up to the ring to do some ground work and possibly ride. I stayed with her mentally and she responded really well. It then started to rain but I still mounted. We rode exactly two circles, I dismounted and leaving the reins over her neck I said 'coming?'  and walked to the gate with her ambling behind me. 

Monday was a holiday for us and the weather was even warmer. So warm I pulled the blankets off the horses and let them soak up the sun. 

clearly Carmen is wintering well. But look at Irish- he's looking great. 

Julia came out to ride as well. I started with groundwork but I didn't need long to see that she was right with me. I settled into the saddle and she marched off a bit grumpily. I brought her to a halt and dropped the reins until she settled. My goal for the ride was to have her soft and bendy and for me to stay present in the moment.

While the ride was nothing for anyone to watch, I noticed a few things. First of all, every time my mind wandered she became tense. When I brought my mind back she immediately settled. Our spooks were mere flinches and there was only two. One was her almost halting in response to something she saw in the trees. After the stutter-step, Carmen walked forward to the tree and I dropped the rein. She looked at it warily while I breathed and then she released her breath and dropped her head to relax. 

As we continued to work Carmen began to settle in and enjoy herself. In fact, after a while, when I would soften the rein she would pick up a trot (not that I was holding). Not that she was heavy in the bridle or taking over. More like she was enjoying it and wanted to go. So I let her.

At the end of our ride we were standing at the far end just relaxing on a long rein. Carmen looked towards the woods and I could feel her question.  No,  I said we can't go in the woods, there's still too much ice. She sighed and then reached around and nudged my toe with her nose. Okay then, it must be time for carrots. Feel free to hop off. 


For me those were the big things. The other pieces: leg yields, transitions, circles were the chorus not the main bits. I hope that this doesn't sound too hippy-dippy. Because that is not me.  I was also working on making my seat and hand following,  keeping my balance even and my aids clear. But go ahead and consider me out in left field. I don't care. This feels good to me and Carmen is clearly responding. 

leaving the hay to come and say 'hi'. Also, no, she's not pregnant.....