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!