Life really seems to have gotten in the way recently. I keep having extended time off for Mort and he doesn't really do well with that. Of course, by extended time, I mean more than 1-2 days. He's still been getting a few rides/week, but compared to our normal 5-6 rides/week it's a noticeable difference for both of us. Last week I had a lot of family things and then he threw his shoe. I lunged him Monday but he's pretty much been a pasture puff.
While Mort doesn't become unreasonable or wild after time off he does revert back pretty far in our training. His back gets tense. He jigs. Our transitions are abrupt in the bad way. He still moves off of my leg, but in an erratic way either flying sideways or forward. He leans hard on my hands. Of course, with all of this I feed into it and get tense myself because I'm the worst.
So yesterday when I hopped on I knew what to expect. We started with a walk around the property. He was good, but I could definitely feel the tension over his topline. There was a lot going on yesterday (farrier, new horse, fence building, stray dogs, and just a ton of people at the barn) and he really didn't seem bothered much by any of it. His tension just came from inside, so good boy for not being worried about all of the commotion.
When we got back to the riding area I tried to start off with some simple bend/counter-bend, leg yield type work at the walk. It was just OK. I have been noticing that getting his left shoulder and bend have been getting easier and that direction is just getting more and more adjustable. But with those improvements tracking right has gone down the tubes. I'm not sure if I'm just noticing it more with the left getting better or I've been working so hard on the left that I've accidentally neglected the right. Either way, I was on the struggle bus getting his right shoulder; he just wanted to collapse or head tilt.
Obviously troubles at the walk meant that I was ready to trot! Ignore the problems and they'll probably go away on their own, right? At the trot I mainly just tried to do some changes of direction in a big serpentine. Changing direction is a problem when there is no half-halt. We went onto the circle. I struggled to find his right shoulder and he threw in a couple canter transitions in response to me trying to keep his butt from fishtailing everywhere. Things were really going well! (Those who don't get internet sarcasm need not apply)
I finally got a few strides where he actually wanted to stretch down so I let him and we walked a few laps while I tried to figure out my next game plan. I did a few of our favorite exercises on the circle. He's been killing it at bend/counter-bend every quarter, so I tried that but switched to every half circle instead. His trot quality suffered a bit and I let him get away with taking smaller steps, but we had some overall success with this. I then tried some trot/walk/trot transitions. He was attentive but still gave me a really jiggy walk for the first couple strides before settling into a better one.
With all of this loveliness we were ready for cantering (on purpose this time). Sometimes a good canter can help him relax and give me better work; sometimes canter can amp him up and give me worse work. Thankfully yesterday he was pretty good. I actually kept the canter itself short and sweet and only did a few transitions until I got some that I liked enough to leave it alone. We did a touch more trot that I found alright and that was the end. We wandered around and touched a bit on lateral work at the walk but nothing with too much pressure.
As much as I complain about giving him time off I know he doesn't really care about a few days just spent dozing and grazing. I have also noticed that it's taking less effort to get him back from racehorse to dressage horse after time off. These rides used to be long and a real struggle but yesterday wasn't really strenuous at all--probably shorter than a regular ride since I was just looking to end on some good notes. He doesn't get disobedient so much as he just falls back into old habits. I'm sure someday it won't be an issue after time off, but until then it's just something I need to keep in mind and plan those rides accordingly. I'm pretty proud of myself yesterday for not getting frustrated with him at all. Knowing what's coming makes it a lot easier for me mentally. Not being frustrated makes getting him back to dressage land easier. It's a win-win.
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