Getting Better.....Probably

Monday brought another bareback ride with a little better results than Sunday. He was a bit calmer but we still definitely had sticky moments. Getting him to stretch down into the rein while tracking right was super hard. He was either up in the neck or full stretch down bombing around with his whole front end in the sand. But a better ride is still better so I did the same stuff we've been doing and when he was more consistent I quit.

The saddle fitter had to cancel last night (her poor pup had to have surgery, so a totally legit excuse). So that left Mort and I alone at the barn (plus Emma of course). I threw on the cross country saddle with the goal of riding him in a training/first level frame. Started off on an awesome, swinging, loose-rein walk. I played with neck bend on a super long rein. I started to pick him up and he was OK, but still definitely stuck. So I tried some more easy walk things. Not super successful, so we trotted.

He started off upside-down and behind the leg--as per usual. Instead of trying to fix it with my normal methods (half-halts, transitions, pushing him into my hand, etc.) I just held a very light and following contact. I just rode him on the rail. I let him have as much of the rein as he wanted when he would stretch down. I'd push him forward if he got unbalanced, but with only a following hand. After he had some moments of stretching down, I threw in some large and easy figure eights. Overall we were still pretty upside-down and lazy with maybe a moment or two of him using his topline. Gross.

So I decided to go back to more of my "regular" routine. He got tense a time or two when I made him move off of my legs and into my hands, but after the initial tenseness we were doing OK. I often think about the old saying "Ask, Tell, Demand". I always start off by asking Mort to use his body the way that I want, but that doesn't always work, so we move up the scale. Once I demand him to do something once or twice he gets loose, supple, and a lot more willing to listen to the "ask". I'm certain this means I'm doing something wrong training-wise. I shouldn't have to start out most rides with a reminder that he does actually have to listen to me.

Sometimes he'll listen to the ask or tell but lately I've had to demand. It seems that the demanding is getting less and less over the last several rides, so that's positive I guess? After I got after him yesterday he gave me a pleasant ride where we were able to work in the lower frame that I wanted. We did a lot of changes of direction as well as transitions within and between gaits. He was lovely, relaxed, and supple. He had a nice forward and steady trot. When we walked I played with mini-serpentines and he did really well changing direction and maintaining nice contact and rhythm. He certainly wasn't foot-perfect but I was happy with his honest efforts.

I'm going to try to focus on more and more rides like that until we can (hopefully) get over some of these issues. Maybe in my excitement to be back to work after our time off lead me to push him more than I should have and he's a little sour or sore. We just did walk/trot yesterday and I ended with two laps of the trail in the woods. He'll get some time off in the coming days so if it's muscle soreness that will help. We're also due for a walk-only ride that I'm planning for this Sunday. Maybe in the next few weeks I can fit in a lesson so that she can see all the things that I'm doing wrong.

The one good thing about all of this is that I do seem to be learning how to ride him through his bad moments and hopefully this will transfer into the future and showing.