It started off well enough; though he was still a bit too up-and-down on the right lead. I asked him to stride out some and he did willingly enough. But in doing that, I think we dropped a bit of his brain someplace. He was still listening to the basics of which gait I wanted but he no longer knew what yielding to leg pressure was. Dammit. I'd pick up his reins to ask for trot or canter and he just got bouncy and short and tight and crooked. So I'd ask him to fix the crooked and he'd just get worse and push into my leg. Double dammit.
So instead of ignoring that and just having fun in the field I decided to go back to the arena and get him to move off leg some and then call it quits. But instead of being able to move off leg he got bouncy and short and tight and crooked and then stopped forward movement. All the arena did was make things worse. So now Mort and I are frustrated which is never a recipe for success, but I don't want to end the ride with him refusing to go forward. (Looking back I probably could have just gone back out to the field to fix this but hindsight is 20/20)
I hop off. First, it let me take a few deep breaths and focus back on not getting frustrated. Second, it let me go grab my dressage whip. By the time we got back to the arena I had a better frame of mind and a tool to help me with a sticky TB. I hopped back on and Mort was immediately stuck, so I gave him a quick tap and he begrudgingly walked forward. Good start, but we were far from fixed. I wanted him to move forward off my leg without flinging his head in the air and getting tight on his topline. It was a tough process. Eventually, with a ton of quick changes of direction and several loud whip smacks to my boot, Mort was thinking again. We ended the trot work with some lovely, quiet transitions and relaxing stretchy trot where he would willingly move off my leg and change bend. Then we ended the walk work with me picking him up and moving off my leg or bending then letting him down to repeat the process. He was pretty good.
Sometimes I don't understand my horse. He's so smart that he thinks he knows what I want before I ask and he gets worked up anticipating. He also gets worked up about it if he thinks that he knows but then I ask for something different. But he's also kinda lazy and doesn't always listen to the half-halt before I change directions then we find ourselves off-balance, and he gets worked up about that. It takes so many quick changes of direction to convince him that I need him between my legs and on the aids. I have to knock him off balance occasionally to get him to realize that I'm trying to help balance him and make life easier.
Once he's actually listening he's really good and he's really fun and soft and pretty. But it's sometimes such a struggle to get there. Maybe this means that I need to be introducing more things to him to keep him guessing. But on the flip side all of the tension that comes with rides like this makes me wonder if I'm not over-facing him. Is there something physical that he has to work out of before he's ready to be soft and supple? Is it just that the years of racing still have a hold on him sometimes and he just reverts back to tight and bouncy and only having to marginally listen?
I really want to find a few rides where he starts off a little more relaxed and soft so that I can show him how awesome those are. When he comes out soft and ready to play that usually means a shorter and easier ride. I want him to realize that soft and supple feels good and should be easier than the alternative. I've been really trying to remember to ride softly when things are going well. It's all a process and hopefully my horse doesn't hate me by the end of it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment