Be Like Maggie

Last Friday I rode Maggie. The ride was going really, really well. She's still a silly, green thing but she was listening and trying so hard. I'm eager to get her jumping so it will be easier to find someone to pick up a part lease on her but she hasn't been ready. Some things I look for in a horse or pony before I ask them to jump are the ability to hold their canter on a circle, and maintain a straight line without the rail, i.e. on the quarter line. We were cantering on the right lead and going down the quarter line relatively straight and I started thinking it might be soon that we can pop over some little jumps. Then we reversed and I asked for the left lead canter and everything fell apart. She couldn't get it. I bent her and asked again -- wrong lead. I put her on a circle to balance her and asked her again -- wrong lead. I put her on a ten-meter trot circle and asked for the canter just as we were coming back to the rail and her bend was just right and her legs were in the right place to get the correct lead -- wrong lead. I rode with both reins in one hand so I could back up my outside leg with the dressage whip just when I wanted her outside hind leg to move -- wrong lead. In desperation I let her keep her wrong lead and put her on a ten-meter circle, thinking she would switch to the correct lead to catch her balance -- nope. Through all of this Maggie stayed calm. Each time I asked and then had to bring her back to the trot and ask again she kept trying and trying and didn't get frustrated. She finally got it! I don't think I did anything different that time -- she just happened to pick it up and we cantered one time around on the left lead and we were done. Then sweaty Maggie got rinsed off and got to stand on crossties in a warm cooler.

Today I rode Oliver and was struck by the contrast between him and Maggie. Oliver has a low frustration tolerance and I drive him crazy. I wasn't even asking him to do anything that's hard for him, but I'm sure I ride him in a more active and demanding way than his young owner does. Oliver wants to be left alone to do what he pleases with his head and body. He seems to figure that as long as he is going the direction you want and at the gait you asked for, it doesn't matter what his head and shoulders are doing. If he can go deep into two corners and bend the correct way, he can do it in all four corners so this is something I am going to insist on. It's only when I'm not getting the response I want that my aids become very active, starting soft and getting rapidly increasingly annoying until I get my response. Move your body this way, I ask with my inside leg. I bring it up against his side lightly, then firmly, then press a little circle on his side with my heel, then tap tap tap my heel against him to get his attention and finally get him to move over. He grinds his teeth to register his protest but he does it.

Later, at the canter, he starts to get very strong going away from his spooky end so I put him on a twenty meter circle and do some pretty firm half-halts so he can't throw his head up and run. More grinding. Leave me alone, is what this means. I get a halfway decent canter and bring him back to the trot, doing lots of circles and trotting the poles and changing directions to get his mind off his frustration. It doesn't work. Grind, grind, grind. He's feeling good, moving huge and holding himself up, but he's just mad! Oliver will never be like Maggie so I have to. I ask Maggie something and she says, I'll try. I'll try again. Over and over. Oliver says no. I have to be able to keep asking without feeding into (or off of!) his frustration so that he can have a positive ride. When Oliver says no I have to be able to calmly say try again.

I do think that we had a positive ride today, even though he was so frustrated, because his frustration was never allowed to escalate into a fight or a temper tantrum. This is something I've had to work on with my training and riding since I tend to be a perfectionist and can get frustrated myself if something isn't going right. If I remain neutral while I ride Oliver, he will hopefully be able to relax and learn to use his body the way I am asking. If I get upset with him he will only get worked up more and we won't accomplish anything. Steamy Oliver got to finish his day with a nice, hard massage with the rubber curry. He's starting to shed -- spring is coming -- hooray!

Sometimes I'm Afraid To Say I'm A Trainer

I just finished reading FHOTD and am sad and stunned and speechless at what a "trainer" did to a mule. (If you want to read the details, click on Fugly Horse of the Day to the right. --->)

The question has been raised, however, of why the owner never went to check on her mule. Most of the horses I train are for my own students so they are at the barn on a regular basis and see how their horse is cared for and handled. I did have an owner in Alaska send me a pony to train and sell and I was in regular email contact with her and sent her photos and updates on his progress. While I may have used a stick on his roany-pony bottom to motivate his flying changes, he was certainly never in danger of any sort of abuse. I should have made sure the owner knew she was welcome to drop in unannounced at any time. Looking back on it, I am honored that she trusted me with her precious boy. (Alvesta Manroe the Giant, pictured above.)

Poor, poor mule.

:(

Some Things Are Just Not Going To Happen On Some Days

I rode Fly today. I had been thinking about his canter transitions before I rode him and was planning to work on walk to canter. I know he can do this, we've done it before, but it just wasn't happening today. I tried every which way to get him on my aids enough that he could do the transition (we backed, we did circles in the corners, and he really did feel light enough to do it) but he was growing increasingly frustrated so after several attempts, I quit. I let him trot around the arena long and low for a while, and then we did trot/canter/trot transitions on a twenty meter circle instead. He did a great job and we called it a day. Sometimes, something is just not going to happen and if it isn't a really big deal, it can be left for another day. I don't make this decision lightly because I don't want the horses to think they can get out of work whenever something is hard, but today it seemed like the right thing to do.

I can't publish this entry without saying a little bit about Midnight, the pony who arrived on Saturday. When I had been planning my day I had also decided that I wanted to take advantage of the sun and get some photos of her. I think my lesson for the day was to have flexible plans, because when I went to catch her she was completely caked in mud. It was warm enough for a bath so she got hosed off and then I clipped her face and bridle path. She is such a good pony! She stood quietly on crossties with the halter draped around her neck while I clipped so either she's the mellowest pony in the world or she's done this before. I can't wait to get a kid on her this weekend! I'll post an "after" photo of Midnight from today.