Adventures in Trail Riding

     Yesterday afternoon Mort and I headed out of the confines of the arena.  I wanted a fun, relaxing ride that was mentally easy but still had some purpose physically.  Luckily I board at a barn that has a really great system of trails.  Mort and I spent a good hour exploring some of those.  I love dressage and the challenges it brings, but there is something really freeing about riding a game horse in the woods.

     Mort has gotten better and better about being a trail horse.  Yesterday we explored new trails alone for the first time--places he and I had both never been.  He spent about 95% of the time boldly marching forward while on the buckle.  His ears were pricked the whole time and he listened to my voice and seat to help him navigate some of the steeper stuff.  Overall I think we both had a really good time and I was really proud of him.

     Now, you may be wondering about the 5% of the time when he wasn't being a perfect pony.  Even if you aren't, I'm gonna tell you about it.  Mort thinks that the water in the woods is made of acid.  There is a small stream that we cross on our regular trail that he usually doesn't worry about too much.  We walked by a couple puddles on the way into the woods that he went by with minimal issues--usually as long as I don't try to make him walk through the water he'll go around easily.  On our way out of the woods (the same way we took in so we had passed these puddles already) he had a little melt-down.  I'm not sure if they just surprised him as we turned the corner or if he didn't notice the path around them, but he shot backwards up the hill several steps before I got a handle on him.  Then came the project of getting him around the puddles.

     Once Mr. Mort gets into his spooked frame of mind it can take a minute to bring him back down to reality (reality being that the puddles aren't made of acid).  The approach that works best with him (and most horses--I realize I didn't come up with this method) is to put on pressure, but as soon as he takes even a half step let it off.  It breaks down what I want into two very simple options--forward gets release and backwards gets legs on.  Now, since he's a Mort, sometimes his mind takes a few seconds to catch up.  We had a few more backward runs up the hill and two rear-and-spin-away situations.  Eventually, I got him pointed to the path around the puddle and he leaped over it.  I let him know that forward was good, but I didn't want that to be the final answer.  We walked back into the woods and he only rushed by it.  Finally, our fourth time by it, he walked politely, albeit tensely.

     This whole process probably only took about ten minutes.  Instead of putting a damper on the otherwise successful and easy trail ride, I actually look at it with pride and affection.  Obviously we ended with him walking by it so that's a 'win'.  More importantly, this showed how we're learning to trust each other.  When I first got him his spooks were dramatic, and I didn't trust him enough to work through the issues.  I spent more than one attempted trail ride walking him from the ground.  I'm willing to stay on him and he's willing to come back from the brink of terror (acid water and all that).
     He's got a while to go before I stamp him beginner friendly, but he's a horse that I trust and that's not always a list that he's been on.  It's not that he's ever been truly awful, but I don't trust horses until I've known them a while (if they prove trustworthy).  I guess the moral of the story is that I'm glad our partnership is doing well.  He often comes up to me when I go out to catch him.  He always greets me with pricked ears when I say 'hello' in his stall.  And now he is learning to trust me to get us through the scary stuff instead of choosing to cut and run.  This got a little gushy--deal with it.

Working on Our Issues

I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog front lately.  Mort and I have been working hard on being more even laterally.  He, like most horses favors a side and it is really hard for us to find ‘inside leg to outside hand’ while tracking left.  This is made even worse by that direction being my worse direction—with a left hand that doesn’t like letting go and a seat bone that prefers to hover.  As much as Mort and I have progressed in our training, I know that without getting better at this half-pass and flying changes (and everything) are going to be near impossible.  So we’ve been in boot camp for working on this issue. 

                We were getting to the point where he was relaxed in most of our work—to the point of being lazy (Mort is not a hot weather horse).  While this is great, when he’s relaxed I tend to let him be duller off of my aids.  Pretty much all of his transitions have slowed and happen a stride or two after I ask.  So while we’re working on being more even and through I’m also trying to work on him really jumping off of my aids.  I’ve got to find a balance of relaxing enough that we can enjoy each other when we’re not dressage-ing (trail rides and hacking with friends), but still alert enough that I’m not having to nag him all of the time.  Ask, tell, demand and a ton of different types of transitions. 

                With all of this going on Mort and I hadn’t had a really nice ride since the show.  We’d had good moments of course, but no ride where we were in sync and really understanding each other.  Thankfully yesterday that finally happened.  He still had some issues with pushing into the right rein and I still had issues sitting evenly on my seat, but overall it was a great ride.  He felt mainly uphill, his trot work was swinging, and I could turn him from his shoulders!  I also finally at least kept my hands really even which he clearly appreciated.  I’m sure we’re not done with the issues, but it was good to finally really see the light-bulbs going on. 

                Today the plan is to play in the field and on the trails.  We’ve been working so hard in the arena that I think we both need a break.  I’ll probably start him in the arena just enough to make him straight in the contact then go out and relax.  It’s supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny so the shade of the trails will feel great!

Enjoy some media from the show!  

Courtesy of Leah Strid Photography (http://www.dressagebarbie.com/)

Horse Show Re-cap

So, Mort and I showed this past weekend.  It was filled with both good and bad things but not a lot in between. 

The Good:

This was Mort’s first show alone.  He’s been to two clinics alone, but we got stalls for those.  Saturday he tied quietly to the trailer and was 100% trustworthy munching hay. 

He warmed-up lovely.  He had some energy, but still had half-halts and was very attentive to me.  The warm-up was outside and it was both hot and very windy; in spite of these conditions he came to play. 

He’s really starting to understand lengthenings.  He’s still uneven in the trot and they can’t be considered a medium yet, but he is understanding the task. 

He was not dumpy and on the forehand in the canter lengthens like he was last show. 

Our second test was better than our first. 

I actually had to really ride him.  This is good for me, because sometimes I forget to be proactive while I’m riding tests. 

The Bad:

Tension and looking were very prevalent in both of our tests.  For some reason Mort decided that he didn’t like the indoor.  He was very hard to focus, especially near any of the open doors or near the judge. 

Much of our trot work was very tight over the topline and his stride was about two inches long. 

He was against my hands a lot (because I was rudely asking him to not gawk at everything). 

I definitely ‘lost’ him a few times.  He spooked a few times at the judge’s table.  He spooked at a poop pile along the rail (he always complains about having to step in poop). 

Inconsistent was our middle name.  We did have good moments in with the bad, but they were all mixed in every few strides. 

The Reality:

I have a horse who I can throw in a trailer and hop on with no lunging.  In spite of a lot of tension, we still pulled a 64% and a 65% our second time showing first level.  I should have planned to get there over the lunch break and walked him in the show arena (I thought we’d be fine because we didn’t have any problems here last year).  He’s a horse, and even though we walked up to the judge with loose reins and talked to her after the first test the judge was still terrifying every time we passed in the second test. 

These disappointments are frustrating.  It’s embarrassing to show up and not look like I’ve put in the time and effort that showing requires.  It’s no fun to get someplace new and look like you’re asking too much of your horse.  But in the end of the day horses are horses.  Mort is a good boy and this was only our fourth show together over the last 1.75 years.  He gave me solid work outside and stayed with me as best as his brain would allow inside.  That’s all I can ask and I’ll continue to work on building our trust and focus slowly at home.  

Plugging Away

     I haven't had much to say for a minute.  It's not to mean that I haven't been playing with my favorite four-legged guy, I just haven't felt that we've had anything spectacular (or awful) to write about.

     It was rainy for a good two weeks--Mort got stuck inside a lot.  Only the indoor was available which meant a lot of arena-sharing (and I'm a selfish dressage human who wants to do more than ride along the rail).  Mort kept his sanity and I held in my frustrations.  We worked on the things that we always work on plus a few newer items.

     I want him more "inside leg to outside hand" especially tracking left.  I want less tension in the canter transitions.  We've played with some poles--something he really is getting good with.  We've started walk to canter transitions.  I've ridden bareback a few times.  Now that the rain has stopped we've hit the trails a couple times.  He lost a shoe; we found the shoe.

     Every ride I work hard to push him in some way but maintain a happy, relaxed horse who continues to improve and expand his comfort zone.  Mort is really getting to be a fun, adjustable horse and I'm enjoying our journey together, but that's not always exciting blog fodder.

     We have another schooling show this weekend.  I'm signed up for First 1 and First 2.  I'd potentially like to push for a bit more flash in his gaits.  I need to ask for more stretch in the stretchy trot and more angle in the leg yields.  It is a facility that we have only been to one other time (the same schooling show last year), but it was a nice organization with a fun show.  Hopefully Mort brings some of his firecracker personality, but only enough to get pretty gaits and not enough to get too expressive in those canter transitions.