When I rode him on Monday I tried to focus on the same things that we did in our lesson. I honestly probably had about the same results where the majority of the ride I struggled but in the end I finally had a few nice circles where he was forward but relaxed and stretching. I admit to being really frustrated by how long it took and I was wondering how much fun the next couple weeks were going to be. I felt bad that I was confusing Mort since he (and I) no longer had the outside rein as a crutch. He really didn't seem too bad by the end but I was discouraged by it all.
Last night I was even more worried about how the ride was going to go. The main arena at the barn is being re-done so it's in the torn apart and super scary stage right now. (Definitely not complaining about arena updates; btw!) My plan was to hop on Mort at the barn and hack along the road to get to the field and warm-up arena. Mort, however; had other plans. He was up and nervous about everything. It was probably a combination of the temperature drop, having Tuesday off, and the arena. I didn't feel great about hacking along the road with him spooking at everything so I decided that we were just going to walk around the barn.
I was trying to get his head and neck down with the same bend and release exercise that I'd been doing over the last couple rides. It took several laps but he did finally start to relax a bit. After about ten minutes of bending and asking for him to stretch he finally took a nice deep breath and was a little more consistent about stretching down. I decided that it was safe to tackle walking along the road (something we've done dozens of times). He definitely got up along the way and I let him stop and stare at the equipment and the rock piles around the arena. He was snorty and tense but I was able to get moments of him kinda stretching down.
I was able to make it to the field and he was a lot more relaxed there. I even let him grab a few mouthfuls of grass. After I felt fairly confident there we ventured to the warm-up arena. This is right at the end of the main arena so it was definitely pretty scary with equipment nearby and a pile of fence boards and a pile of rock. Lots of things to look at. I let him stare and have a good look then went into our work bending and asking for stretch. As he got more and more confident that nothing had killed him yet the stretch got more and more consistent so I decided that it was safe to trot.
I noticed a lot more improvement in the stretch in the trot as compared to Sunday and Monday. He was asking to stretch down much quicker in the trot. Our best results are in a figure eight. It keeps him a bit more focused on me and with that he allows me to steer with my seat and legs a lot better. We certainly weren't perfect and he still had some ugly moments of getting off balance, but it was a clear improvement for both of us. He gave me transitions where he would raise his head to shoulder-height instead of all of the way up. He let me gather up the reins a small amount to keep the contact on the stretch without popping his head up and tensing his back. He finally let me maintain a decent circle going the same direction instead of having to switch to keep him focused.
Last night's ride was sorely needed for my motivation. I'm glad I got to see some of the puzzle pieces falling into place. I think after a week or so of this I'll have a much more supple and relaxed horse who really listens to my seat and legs for direction. Hopefully I can keep it up and not get impatient. It will be nice to have a more self-reliant and confident horse.
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