Long and Low

So, our lesson on Sunday really focused on long and low and maintaining a supple Mort.

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.

Letting Go

We had our first lesson in ages last night. It was someone who I have known for several years who just moved back to the area. She's very practical and down-to-earth while also being knowledgeable. She's a slow and steady trainer who doesn't resort to harsh methods, but also admits that training isn't always the prettiest picture. I was excited when she said she was coming back to the area and was happy to finally have scheduled a lesson with her.

It was her first time meeting Mort, so we did what she calls a "systems check" lesson. She wanted to assess where we were and what we needed to work on. I filled her in with our struggles in inconsistency and tension.

Let's go over the "systems" that we checked:

Walk on loose rein: check

Bend while maintaining walking forward: check

Move sideways off leg: check

Maintain bend on a circle with the hind leg crossing under: check

Trot on a loose rein: check

Bend while maintaining trotting forward: check inconsistently

Maintain bend on a circle with the hind leg crossing under: check inconsistently

So, we started there. I can maintain all of these things on a regular ride, but she wasn't letting me hold him together for it. She wanted him to maintain his suppleness and bend and forward without me micromanaging every stride. Rough.

It was probably a pretty ugly lesson to watch, and it certainly wasn't too physically hard. But it was really, really hard for me to let go like that. I know that he'll get fast or crooked or upside-down. I apparently don't trust my training of him listening to my legs and seat. I know he's not going to run off or get dangerous, but it's hard for me to deal with the mistakes when if I micromanage I know that I can prevent them.

But it's probably my micromanaging that causes a lot of our other issues. If I don't let him make mistakes and learn how to take care of his own body he'll never learn how to take care of himself--you know--for self-carriage. If I don't quit shutting him down when he gets off balance and/or doesn't listen to my leg he'll get less and less forward on his own. It all makes sense and I totally agree, but goodness gracious that was hard for me to actually execute. When Mort would rush or get crooked or tense it took almost all of my strength (and the instructor in my ear) to not gather him up and fix everything.

We had decent moments. We worked on slowly gathering him up while maintaining the suppleness and him asking to stretch down. Anytime he'd lose the suppleness we'd abandon everything but that. I was allowed to half-halt and direct with my seat but the only thing I was allowed to do with my hands was soften his jaw and ask for bend.

At the end of the lesson I actually did let go. I sat up, looked up, and let him be directed with strong, but loose legs and seat. Holy crap if he actually listened and moved forward in a lovely and balanced stretchy trot. He stayed on the track better than he had the whole time when I was trying to make him. Instead of falling in, he went softly between my legs. Apparently I have trained him to listen but now I'm stuck micromanaging him because I have no confidence in my training or in his ability to take care of himself (because I've never given him the chance to learn how to).

No crazy new exercises. Nothing fancy. I just need to let go and trust the foundation that I've given him. I need to let go and let us make mistakes and get ugly. I need to not rely so much on the outside rein to balance him. So for the next week or two or three or however long it takes, that is all that I will be working on. He needs to be forward on his own. He gets to get unbalanced and figure out his own body. I have to let go and just focus on me riding correctly and getting out of his way.

My plan is a lot of loose rein work. Big figure eights. Slowly picking him up and letting him back down, but only actually following through with the picking up if he can maintain his suppleness through it. I need to stop "fixing" the suppleness via more complicated exercises that force him to be supple and make sure that the suppleness is a part of everything. I know it's going to be really hard for me and my OCD nature but I will do my best and hopefully we can struggle through it. I also want to focus a bit more on forward; when I ask for trot or canter I need to let him. Again, it's all about letting him make mistakes. Hopefully as we get more and more supple he'll be able to make less and less.

The work won't be that complicated but my little brain might explode. Wish me luck.

Saddle Fitter: Round Two

The temperatures finally dropped on Friday! Hopefully fall is here and we have a lovely, long season of cool mornings and warm afternoons. I also finally got my saddle back!

She had moved the billet point attachments and reflocked it for his confirmation. She put it on him, adjusted some flocking, then I tacked up to see how he went in the new gear. He started off a little bit pokey at the walk, but I wasn't sure if that was the saddle or just him being pokey. When we picked up trot he almost immediately was willing to stretch down over his topline--that was definitely a huge improvement. We experimented with a thicker and longer half pad and tried a few different girths.

I think the longer half pad fit my saddle a lot better, so a new one will be purchased sometime this week. If anyone has suggestions; I'm all ears. I prefer the fleece types instead of the foam or gel.

There were two girths that he was definitely NOT a fan of. His front legs were short-strided and he was particularly bitey during the girthing process. One of the times it's good to have an expressive and sensitive horse. The first one that we tried was a shoulder-relief girth with elastic on the bottom. I'm not sure what he didn't like, but he was definitely unhappy to move forward. Next we tried a simple string girth with potentially even worse results. We finally landed on another shoulder-relief girth that was a softer, padded leather and he was much happier with it. She's actually letting me borrow it for a couple of weeks to see how he does with it.

We also played a bit with some risers in different places. We had one in the front of the saddle that really helped my legs stay locked in the correct position. We also put one under the right stirrup bar to help with the way his unevenly-muscled shoulders can twist the back of the saddle. I think that it helped and she left another one with me to try to double the thickness to see if that helps more or puts it too far over.

Hopefully over the next two weeks we can come up with a combination that he really likes.

I hopped on Saturday with the plan to get him working quietly into the bridle and over his topline. He was uphill and energetic. Our canter was much more even and straight than probably ever without a lot of work getting it there. Once he was past some of his fall morning excitement he stretched down into the bridle and kept a wonderful contact and forward trot. The ride was short, forward, and fairly nice. I'm excited to see how the saddle improvements affect our training.

My To-Do List

Mort and I had another good ride yesterday. He was fairly relaxed and pushing down into the contact. We worked some on the walk/trot transitions since they've been a struggle lately (always). I did an elongated figure eight and we did a transition in the middle. That way he was theoretically straight for the transitions but asked to bend shortly after. The transitions definitely improved with this exercise. I just need to do about a million more before they're set in stone.

We also worked on canter a little for the first time in four rides. I'm really liking how adjustable it's getting. His right lead is getting straighter and his left lead is feeling less and less like his hind end is skidding out of orbit. I'm able to soften and float my reins at him without losing everything. The transitions back to trot are usually really nice and the upward transitions are getting better (though they still need work for consistency). We're working on counter canter almost every ride. I need to throw in more lengthen and shorten because as I'm writing this post I realize it's definitely something I've neglected.

His trot is always so much better after we canter. He's forward and loose and adjustable. He'll extend into a medium and come right back to a collected trot. It's so much easier to get him even in the reins and keep him uphill in the smaller circles work. His shoulder-in improves with the added impulsion. But, he does lose some of his sideways in the leg yield. When I add the leg cue for sideways he often just kinda falls out and rushes faster. I think I'm going to try some more zig zags and shoulder-in/leg yield exercises to see what I can do about it.

I also need to talk to the farrier about his hind shoes. I think that the weirdness that I randomly feel in his gait is that he's slipping with a hind leg. It's not consistent enough to be something physical (I think). He'll be going around soft and loose and awesome then his hind end disappears for a stride and then we're back to soft and loose and awesome. It probably happens a handful of times over the ride--and more when it's drier. It very rarely happens at the walk and I have yet to have it happen at the canter. We finally have a lesson scheduled this weekend, and I'm excited to see what she sees when we're going around. The vet is still coming out next week for his dental, so if she thinks it's something concerning, I can address it then. But if it's his hind shoes like I suspect, I imagine it'll be an easy fix. We can either try a different style as his are the flatter type with very little grip. Or I can see if he can go back to being barefoot for the winter since the flare that we wanted to fix has disappeared with the shoes.

Weekend Update

Well folks, I think Mort and I are back on the same page. I'm still not sure what caused our issues, though I'm guessing it was the time off and getting back into the swing of things, but the important part is that the last three rides have been relaxed and pleasant.

Friday morning, before we left for our quick trip to Ohio, I hopped on Mort. He had one or two moments of tension but overall he was relaxed and working evenly into my hands. I never had to get to the "demand" stage and only once or twice did I touch my whip behind my leg to emphasize what I wanted. We were leg yielding zig-zags. He would do lovely, small figure eights. I threw in some shoulder-in. He would stretch down and maintain fairly consistent contact. Our walk work was relaxed and even. The only real struggles we had were in the walk/trot transitions. After I got one that was decent, if not great, I called it quits. He got to graze while he dried.

We got back too late on Sunday to go out and see him, so he got both days off this weekend. The husband and I ran the 10k in the USAF marathon this weekend. It was disgustingly hot, but a fun race. We're definitely planning on hitting it up again next year--though my goal will be something longer.

Monday I pretty much stuck to my walk-only ride. We did a lot of loose rein walk at the beginning. He was a little fresh after being off two days, but stayed with me for the most part. I then worked through some of our walk issues. Often, he's a lot more tense and stiff at the walk work in the beginning compared to the end. I usually am lazy and just work him out of it via trotting and transitions. It helps loosen him up and we don't have to deal with the tenseness. But since it was supposed to be walk-only I knew that wasn't an option.

All it really took was the same stuff that the trot work takes. Lots of bend and counter-bend. Lots of changes of direction. Lots of asking him to stretch forward and down into the contact. Lots of me trying to focus on straightness before bend. He did a lot better than I expected honestly. Just shows that a lot of our walk issues at the beginning are the fault of my laziness. He actually was so relaxed he got a little lazy, so I threw in three different trot transitions in the second half of our ride to wake him up. But after a circle he was allowed to walk again.

Side note: When you have a fresh horse who you've only really mentally exercised pay attention to him when you get off. Normally Mort is a good pony when Emma runs around after I get off; he's certainly very used to her and usually ignores her. Monday though, Mort was still feeling fresh so he yanked backwards and trotted away a few steps. I have a sore arm muscle that was entirely my fault for not paying attention. Luckily all he did was go over and sniff one of the jumps and Emma came when I called. #don'tgettoocomfortable

The Horse I Bought

Blog hopping to go back and think about how the Mort that I have today compares to the Mort I got a little over three years ago.

I met Mort on July 4, 2015 at the New Vocations facility in Lexington, KY. He wasn't a lot to look at; plain bay thoroughbred geldings are pretty common. He didn't have a ton of muscle but he went around nicely enough and seemed to have a good attitude about work. Most importantly, to me at the time, was that he was interested in interacting with people and that they could tack him loose in his stall. I thought those two items would eventually lead me to enjoying Mort as a companion as well as an athletic partner. I dropped $500 and started calling transport companies. He showed up to Missouri less than a week later.

He was on the lazy side on the lunge line. He was very unbalanced under saddle--especially at the canter. He was pretty spooky about nature and the big outdoors. He was super unhappy when his friends would go out if I was still riding him. He was still pretty sweet and paid attention to people. His balance got better. I was able to canter him in a 20-meter circle without him falling all over himself. We were trotting and changing bend. He started to understand contact.

We moved barns about six months in and he really started to settle. There were trails at this barn that we started to explore (with friends at first for confidence). The arenas were pretty small so he had to learn how to balance himself and slow down even more. We went to our first schooling show and I was amazed at how relaxed and wonderful he was. We spent the summer getting to trust each other on the trails and in the big field. He still spooked at things but I was learning that they were small and honest and something that I could ride without issues.

We started going to some clinics that winter. Our dressage really started to improve. We were working on lateral work and pushing into contact. Every time that we went someplace for a lesson he would step up his game and blow me away with his effort. We came out that spring ready to try some first level. His lengthenings weren't great, but we were on our way. More shows, clinics, and trail rides that summer lead us to our first recognized show last fall. It wasn't perfect, but he was respectable and we got better throughout the weekend.

After our show he was having issues that we finally diagnosed as ulcers. I got a new job and was finding it hard to drive out to the barn with the new schedule. So we moved. At the new barn we developed a few new issues, but most of those have worked themselves out (except for the trailer thing). He's had a pretty disrupted few years. I've moved three times, and so has he. He'll have another move next year sometime to our new property, but hopefully that will be the last one for a long time. We're working on second level, but haven't done much in the way of dressage this year.

Mort has had a few personality changes along the way, but he still tries his best. He is still a honest spooker (even if the reason is dumb). He's a reactive, sensitive, and smart horse. He has made me a better rider. He will continue to make me a better rider. He's forgiving enough that he puts up with me training him and continues to improve. He's smart enough that he won't forgive me for everything and makes me earn our improvement. He's a challenge and can be frustrating. But he's so honest and goofy that he never lets it get boring. I can't wait until he comes home to our property. I have lots of plans for future trail rides with the husband. I want to continue to go to clinics and shows. I want to watch him grow old and get fat and happy in the field when his legs give out eventually.

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.