Lesson Re-cap

Let's just preface this with the biggest thing that I learned last night: Have more confidence in myself to communicate what my horse needs. The H/J gals at the barn had a big fancy H/J trainer down from Chicago. They have lessoned with her before and really enjoy her "attention to detail". They all had good things to say about her both before and after their lessons. So it's entirely probable that I had a bit of a dud lesson and it's not the trainer's normal. She was nice and did have correct things to say about a lot of things. I want to say that I'm sure she's extremely knowledgeable and clearly is good at her job according to a lot of people. It could have been a fluke or a difference in H/J versus dressage or something else entirely, but I definitely had a disappointing lesson last night. Mort and I did a couple laps of long rein walk, then we stopped to talk about where we were and what I was working on. I told her we were somewhere between first and second and we work on through-ness, and connection, and crookedness, and all of the regular things. She wanted to know if we had any lateral work (that was a red flag since you should definitely have at least some lateral work if you've already shown first as it's vital in training a horse to use its body). I told her we had leg yield and shoulder-in and that we had haunches-in and half-pass at the walk. She sent us back out to do our warm-up. This is where I should have warned her that we had a bit of a long warm-up. I almost did, but for some reason I stopped myself. I think I was worried about coming across bratty. I was paying for her expertise so she should see what we needed and perhaps have a few pointers on the warm-up itself. I'm really bad about doing what an instructor says during a lesson and not having a conversation about it because I don't want to come off as too big for my britches. Anyway, I didn't say anything and we went off to our warm-up. I did another couple laps of long rein walk with a couple halts from my seat. I started in on our long rein trot and big changes of direction. I did one trot/walk/trot transition. I barely started to gather him up for connection and she called us over and asked me to circle and we got to work. Mort was still behind my leg. He wasn't using his hind-end or reaching for contact yet. We hadn't cantered, which is vital in our warm-up because it helps get him going. Overall, I was about five minutes into what is regularly a fifteen minute warm-up. Again, I should have interjected here and asked for those additional 5-10 minutes. If Mort isn't in front of my leg we have nothing. We have the Mort I had this winter who is sticky and grumpy rather than the Mort that I like who is fun and game. Instead, I got on the circle with my barely training level horse who was pokey. I wasn't having to kick him to stay in the trot, but he was underpowered. She talked about my position and that I sat crookedly and tilted my head a bit to the right. Those things are true and things that I work on fixing. She was the first instructor who told me to look at the left shoulder instead of the right rather than just to look up. It did help, but I'm not sure looking down is the right answer. It may help me mentally to fix the right head tilt though, as it at least gets me thinking about it. I tried to throw in some figure eights like I would in our regular warm-up. I tried to do my systems check of yielding him off my legs. She had us stop and explained that his haunches were supposed to follow his front end rather than yield out. It was good that she didn't see me asking for exactly that and she wasn't wrong that we wouldn't want to do that on a regular circle. But again, not ideal that I didn't stand up for myself and tell her that I had asked for it. At this point, I figured out that she wasn't sure I knew a whole lot. This is fair, since I never told her my personal experience. I'm always scared to tell new instructors that I've ridden through fourth level in case I come off as "braggy" or it doesn't look like I ride like someone who has ridden at those levels. We then stuck to the circle which is something Mort isn't a fan of at the beginning of a lesson. He needs those long sides to rev his engine, mixed in with some smaller circles to challenge his balance. Needless to say, I never got the powerful Mort that I know is in there. She worked us bending inside and making sure his haunches didn't swing out. She asked for more connection and a higher connection with my inside rein and a lower and more allowing connection with my outside rein. These aren't bad tips as long as I don't get too uneven. But, I knew that so much of our struggle to even maintain a connection came from Mort just puttering along, so I was frustrated. We did this both directions. We did go over some cavaletti which was fun. Mort has gotten a lot better in the last three years of me not doing them which was a pleasant surprise. I'm guessing it stems from me making him more responsible for taking care of himself the last year. We took a walk break and then finally cantered. She wanted a more forward canter but we were still stuck on a large circle. I did get him a bit more forward in the canter than I could in the trot because he thinks it's more fun. At this point, I could tell that I wasn't riding up to my potential. My hips weren't as open as they should have been, nor were my shoulders back. Unfortunately, neither of those things were commented on. She just wanted me to work on my hands and connection. We went across the diagonal and did a couple of simple changes through trot in the corners. The long sides let me start to finally rev him up. She did call me on not riding the trot strides in the simple changes which was good. Right when we finally started to get a decent canter, she asked us to walk. She made a comment that he was sweaty and could hear him breathing in the canter, so she knew that this work was harder than his regular work. This frustrated me even more because it was so, so much lazier than our regular work. He is a naturally very sweaty horse and is always snorty in the canter. She didn't know either of those things, but bleh. At this point, I had gone on way too long in the lesson to correct her. We had been so lazy for so long that if I called it out I would have sounded like I was just making excuses. We ended the ride with some walk work on contact. She had made a comment earlier in the ride that I was riding against the walk which is something that no one had ever told me before as I usually am good about swinging my elbows with his mouth. So I asked for some clarification on that. We worked on it, and as soon as I stopped thinking about my hands and just focused on getting a good walk she said that I had it right. I'm guessing that we were a bit off because he had been so behind my leg earlier in the lesson and now that he was moving a bit better it worked itself out. So, Mort never really got in front of my leg or moving into contact until the last walk work. I was really frustrated because he hasn't felt like that for a whole ride since our dreaded lesson in March. We're capable of a whole lot more and I hated feeling like he was getting sticky again. There are a lot of emotions attached to that feeling for me. It was frustrating that she never called us out for not being forward. Not once did she say he needed to use his hind-end more. She talked about lowering it, but wanted me to do it via lifting my hands and having good connection. That's part of it, but definitely not the first step. This is where I think there is just a difference in H/J versus dressage. Every dressage instructor I've had gets on us right away for Mort being underpowered. It was embarrassing that I said we were trying to move up to second level and Mort never got past training level work. I don't care that we didn't work on specific lateral work or "tricks" but he never had the connection and thrust and carry that a second level horse should have. It made me look like I didn't know what I was talking about. I almost warned about a longer warm-up at the very beginning, but I didn't. I almost asked for a longer warm-up before getting on the circle, but I didn't. I almost asked to canter earlier while we were on the circle, but I didn't. I almost asked to do some long sides, but I didn't. A lot of this comes back on me. If I had set us up for success, I probably would have been able to get more out of the lesson. But unfortunately, I get to stew about Mort getting almost a whole ride being behind my leg and I get to stew about looking like an idiot who thinks her training level-looking horse is almost ready for second.

Lesson Re-cap

Well folks, since I last posted: The clinic was rescheduled for June due to the clinician being flooded in out in Kansas Mort spent that weekend running around like a fool, throwing a shoe and earning a few days off But we've been back to our regularly scheduled programming for the last week, so I opted for a lesson Monday night with my regular instructor. Mort and I have been working more on our canter. I've been throwing in shoulder-in and lengthenings as well as our regular circling and figure-eights and leg yields. I've been trying hard to maintain a good connection through it all without over facing him. We're slowly starting to step back up into dressage land. The good news is that Mort and I were much more prepared for this lesson than the last one. We're both in better shape mentally and physically. We went back to the beginning and I believe that our connection and forward are even better than they were before. We were actually able to work on things and she was able to push us without anything breaking down. The lesson was fun and challenging and gave us some homework--all things that I look for in a lesson. We started off on a loose rein where I filled her in with what we'd been doing and where we'd been struggling. We did the "systems check" and Mort was good for moving forward/stopping, moving off either leg, and suppling to the rein. Even in that loose rein walk she wanted me to throw in transitions, so I halted him from my seat a few times. He wasn't 100% sharp, but he responded decently. Working on halting from my seat with no hand for back-up is on the homework list. Since all systems were go, we moved on to a loose rein trot. He was forward and would yield from my legs. I played with turning him from my legs and seat. She again asked for more transitions than we're used to doing, so there were walk/trot transitions in there as well. Since we had forward and sideways and supple, it was time to start picking up contact and asking the hind-end to do more work. We started doing smaller circles and figure-eights, all while still doing transitions. My homework with this part of the warm-up is a million more transitions and to start asking for more sooner in the ride. She kept repeating to let the smaller circles and figure eights challenge him while I stayed steady and was there for support when he asked for it. Once he was starting to be more reliable in the contact we threw in some canter transitions. The point of these wasn't to work a lot in the canter, but to keep him thinking about me and what we were going to do next while challenging his balance and hind-end. We'd canter for a little bit, getting him over the topline then go back to trot, only to re-balance and ask for canter again. We did this a handful of times each direction. Tracking right was a lot easier to rebalance and go than tracking left. Homework here is to do more transitions (again) and to make sure that he stays off my inside leg in the transitions. I need to get comfortable with getting him a bit uncomfortable so that he starts looking to me more for guidance and balance. After our warm-up, he got a long rein walk break. I re-checked our systems and he was good. We've really improved tracking right, but still can get a bit sticky tracking left. It may be time for another spur ride to get him a bit sharper off that leg. I also have homework to almost constantly think about sitting harder on my left seat bone when tracking left because I have a tendency to let his crookedness make me crooked. Part-Two of this issue is my uneven hands. My left hand is too timid to take enough contact with the left side of his mouth and my right hand tends to be too high. This creates a lovely little head tilt. These homeworks aren't anything new, but they're definitely still homework. We then got into the meat of the lesson. She had an exercise where we'd start down the centerline and leg yield off the right leg, when I got to the end I'd keep the feeling of leg yield but I'd do a small circle by changing my outside aids to turning aids. We worked on me maintaining even hands while weighting the proper seat bone then making sure that I used my outside leg to do the turn. For him, it made sure that he was listening to my sideways aids and my turning aids. Eventually this exercise can transition into leg yield to: shoulder-in, lengthen, or canter. It gets his hind-end stepping underneath and preps us for whatever I want to do next. Once I start introducing the other items, whenever we feel a loss of balance or through-ness we just go back to the magical circle. Mort did better than I expected. Leg yields have never historically been our strong suit. I know that I tend to lean to the outside and he'll get crooked (obviously) and lose power. The first attempt was a bit crooked but once I started using my outside aids correctly we got some good work. He felt powerful but focused to the right. The left wasn't as steep and we did need the circles at the end to rebalance, but they were still pretty successful. He actually does listen almost too well to the outside turning aids there, just need to work on me maintaining the bend through proper riding. My homework here is to start to start playing with more complicated items after the leg yield like I mentioned above. I'll be looking for the feel he's ready and waiting for me to ask for whatever and he'll be game. The canter was a ton of fun. I expected it to be better than the trot and it didn't disappoint. We started off on the right lead canter. The leg yield was good, though the shoulder led a bit. I haven't done a ton of leg yield in the canter, so I was just glad that it was working so well. We did some smaller circles at the end and he kept cantering and coming under himself though I could tell it was hard. The right lead was fun and successful--the left lead was even better. Again, our steepness wasn't there as much and he struggled a bit more with the small circles but it is such a better canter when I get it where I want it. On our last attempt she told me to get my shoulders above my seat more and I moved them right a fraction of an inch. Immediately Mort lifted more and felt straighter. It's amazing what a small difference can make. Our homework in the canter is to focus more on my upper body position; I need open hips but with a tight core and more even shoulders. We need to do more small circles to build his hind end strength. We'll also use the exercise to transition into lengthen canter or counter-bend and leg yield the other direction. In doing the counter-bend, I need to always have a feel that we could go back into a circle of true bend at any time. We ended with a little stretchy trot after Mort's final canter circle. We were both so happy with what he gave me that it was the perfect place to stop. We, of course, walked on a loose rein to let him mull it all over and relax before hopping off and giving him his well-earned treat.

Weekend Updates

Friday was misty and cool, but instead of hauling out we all decided to wait out the rain. I was both relieved and disappointed. I was nervous to haul Mort someplace new both because he hasn’t travelled a lot lately and I was worried he wouldn't get back on the trailer to come home. But I also knew that it would be good for us and get us to the facility where the clinic is to help him get used to it. Oh well--we may have a chance this week as there is even more rain in the forecast. Ugh. Mort was awesome on Friday. He stood well for grooming and tacking and I didn't have to tackle any of the standing issues that I did on Thursday. I did throw him in his stall after I had groomed him and wrapped his legs because the rain was taking forever to go away and I didn't feel like making him stand ground-tied for an hour. All four of us were riding together, but Mort did a good job keeping his focus on me instead of wanting to hang with his friends. This is a noticeable improvement from our time here and riding with others regularly. He was nicely forward and we warmed-up on a loose rein in the walk and trot. I started to pick him up and he stayed with me. I played with the shoulder-in on a circle that we had worked on the day before at the walk. I can tell that it's difficult for him, but he came around to it a lot faster and with much less of a struggle in both the walk and trot. I cantered him and he was really "there" for me. Of course, when he's on I ride better too. I felt my hips open and I was sitting up and able to use myself more efficiently. I touched on some counter canter, but not a lot. I was mostly just reveling in how he felt. I did test the collection with some smaller circles. I also touched on lengthening and shortening. I think he came back to me better than he ever has. He is always happy to slow down, but he usually wants to fall on the forehand. Friday he came back and kept his hind-end underneath himself. Good pony. I played with trot a little more, but mostly I was just having a good time an encouraging him to reach into the contact. He happily did so I didn't work all that long. I asked for a lot and he stepped up to the plate. Last weekend I noticed that he's filling out again along his topline and his haunches. Friday I got to feel the results of him getting back into shape. I'm glad that I have a trainer that made me go back and start from scratch again. He couldn't physically hold himself up, so when I was asking him to he was getting (rightfully) pissy and tense. That added with the fact that I didn't trust him to go too forward for the last several months at our old barn made for a really sticky Mort. Now I feel like we're heading back to a place that is even better than where we were before. I think his connection is more true and I know that I'm more aware of my seat and legs. After our clinic this weekend, I'll try to put another lesson in the books with my regular person and get some new homework. I'm excited to see what she thinks of our progress and to see what she thinks our next steps should be. Mort got Saturday off because of my laziness, but I did ride him Sunday. I planned on keeping it easy both mentally and physically since he was such a champ on Friday. Sometimes keeping things simple is hard for me because I tend to want to pick and fix and drill, but I was good and we never got above a training level frame. I did a lot of loose rein trot and just played a bit with him working into a low and steady contact. We didn't canter and I only barely touched on lateral work at the walk. He got a quick grooming and tossed back outside to eat grass in the sun.

Dressage-ing

For the last couple of weeks, I have been starting to feel hints of where Mort and I were before all of our time off this winter. He's pushing from behind and getting more and more consistent about connecting up front and looking for me. I can feel him getting stronger and settling back into our training. (Yay!) So, on Sunday and Monday I decided to ask him for more and see how he handled everything. We touched on lifting and some collection. We did bend/counter-bend in canter (and trot). I asked for walk/trot and trot/halt/trot transitions on a figure eight. We worked on rapid walk/trot transitions every four or five strides. I played with some shoulder-in both within trot and within the transitions. For most of it, he was mediocre on the first try but rapidly improved with the following tries. I only did each of these things a handful of times before I was satisfied and moved on. I didn't want to fry his brain, nor did I want to fry his body. I would touch on something and move on as soon as I felt it connect. I'm so glad that he's coming back to where we were. I'm glad that I've got an instructor that makes me go back to basics when things fall apart instead of trying to put a band-aid on our issues. I'm glad that Mort can take a joke.* And I'm glad that everything that we had is still in there somewhere. Mort is the perfect horse for me to learn how to train. He's forgiving and willing to try. But he's also lazy and won't fake it for me if I'm not doing what I'm supposed to. Since he had two harder days in a row, yesterday was much lower key. He was on the buckle until well into our trot work. He's so happy to stretch down and do our big loopy figure eights just listening to my legs and seat to turn. We spent a lot of time taking breaks at the walk. I did eventually pick up some light contact but didn't ask him for anything more than a training level frame. I touched on leg yields at the walk just to keep him even between my legs. And I did take time to pick him up and let him down at the walk as I always do. But the ride was short, easy, and pretty fun. It's amazing how much I'm learning with Mort. He's so sensitive to how I'm holding my body that he's training me to be a much better rider. I'm getting more zen and patient about my riding, which is a huge feat considering my need to control and plan everything. Retraining Mort is probably one of the most challenging things that I've ever done, but most days I'm just out there having a blast and soaking in how awesome my horse is. *I am the joke

Another Day in Paradise

Last night was a good one. Mort stood really well for our grooming and tacking. I only had to back him once at the beginning when I went to brush around his ears. He stayed put for other horses coming in and out. He stayed put for me putting on my boots in the tack room. He's actually a lot better at standing for grooming while ground tied than he ever was cross tied.

We headed out to ride before everyone else was ready. I like the mix of riding alone and with people. I don't have to worry about traffic in our warm-up but we have to work on Mort riding with his friends and remaining focused on me. The ride itself was very similar to the rides we've been putting in lately.

We started off on a loose rein walk. After a few laps of that I started adding in some inside rein suppleness and turning from my seat. We then moved into trot with the same concepts. I can definitely tell that he's coming back. I'm getting more and more glimpses of where we were before the winter. He's starting to be able to hold connection longer and stay balanced through turns and changes of direction while keeping a forward trot. He still sometimes wants to pitter out but all it takes is a little squeeze from my calves and he'll maintain his power.

We played with canter a little. I've been doing one-loops from my seat with just a following hand--only suppling if he gets really upside-down or twisted. Most of the time I don't have to do much as he'll straighten out or bend pretty well with just my seat and legs. We can circle big and small and stay straight on the long sides with minimal interference from me. My goal with his canter is just to not mess it up too much and let the real work start after another lesson or two when we get some new homework.

After a while, the other ladies at the barn joined me in the arena. Mort got a little distracted and I had to watch out for traffic. The good thing about that is that it forces me to look up. I have always had the bad habit of looking down even though I don't really need to. When I was looking up, I still knew exactly what he was doing underneath me. I could feel if he was connected or crooked or coming above the bit. And I was getting better connection than when I was looking down. Funny how not having your upper body tipped forward will help your horse.

After some more trot work and circles and figure eights where Mort was really trying for me and looking for the contact I called it quits. Last night's ride was a bit longer and I asked for a bit more than the previous and he responded by giving me that bit more. We ended with some really lovely walk work. He was reaching into the contact and staying forward in spite of me playing with some of our lateral work. Such a good boy.

We ended the day with me finishing up pulling his mane--which he also stood for better than normal. I think he liked that I broke it up into two sessions. I think our ground work probably helped too. I know that it helped us get on the trailer last night! A gal at the barn has hooked up her trailer for us three times now and Mort has gotten more confident each session. Last night he got on four times for me. Such a good boy. This trailer is similar to mine but I'm still really happy with him for taking to the new trailer so quickly.

I'm hoping we can have several more sessions with it over the next few weeks to really cement in the fact that it's not a scary place. Mort and I have a clinic the 11-12th of May so I'll have my trailer out before that to remind him that it's not scary either. We're well on our way of getting him confident on two of the three trailers that were on my list of goals for the year.

A Matter of Trust

Mort was good for me in our training work on Friday and yesterday. I wanted to reward him by keeping the training part short but that left me wanting to still work on some fitness. Back when we had easy access to trails, I would have adventured with him on those (hopefully we can get a loop established on our property someday). But now we're near town and I'm not adventuring on a major road. So instead, I let him have a hand gallop.

We didn't go for all that long and he probably didn't gain all that much fitness. But it gets his heart rate and breathing up and it puts a pep in his step. It's fun for both of us. I do of course end the ride with lots of walking to make sure that he doesn't revert to a total racehorse.

But the point of this post isn't to talk about our training, but our trust.

For the first 6-8 months of our relationship, I didn't trust Mort. We didn't know each other and he was tense and spooky. He wasn't bad, but we were both new to each other and he was in the totally different world of being a sporthorse versus a racehorse. So we slowly worked our way toward trusting each other. We started to explore trails. He started to enjoy being on a loose rein. He got a little self-confidence and our confidence in each other grew.

Fast forward a couple years and he was a horse I'd trust with almost anyone. We'd traveled to clinics and shows where he was a champ. Steven would graze him while I cleaned stalls or hose him while I changed out of show clothes. I let my sister ride him, which was her first time on a horse in over a decade. She was nervous at first but quickly realized that he was a horse who wasn't going to do something stupid out of the blue. I could go on vacation for a week and hop on him bareback for a hack along the gravel road.

We knew each other and had confidence that we were both there to take care of each other.

Then from 2.5 years to 3.5 years Mort and I were at a barn that was close to home but eventually showed that it wasn't a good fit for us. The trust that we had slowly got chipped away.

I didn't notice it at first. I would still hop on him after a day off without trepidation. In my mind he was still the easy-going horse. All horses spook sometimes. All horses have bad days. All horses have issues. He was still my Mort.

The incidences were infrequent at first. Maybe the barn owner had a hard time with leading him outside and he got pushy. He pulled back in the cross ties and broke a halter…and then another and another. I stopped tying him in the wash rack because he'd more often than not be nervous. I stopped riding him bareback without a second thought…then I basically stopped riding bareback all together. I started getting nervous if he'd had more than one day off from riding. He stopped only being pushy with the barn owner and started being pushy with me. I would rarely start a ride on a loose rein.

It's so obvious now that we should have never gone to that barn. But in spite of all of the red flags that I've just admitted to, there were still so many good days where we'd walk the gravel roads and the pasture behind the arena with confidence. It wasn't immediate, but I did see it before I did anything about it. I didn't want to admit to myself that Mort wasn't the same. The barn was close to home and they weren't doing anything glaringly wrong to cause Mort's behavior. When I finally started to realize it wasn't the best for Mort I thought we could wait until he moved to our property. That was selfish and I deeply regret it.

It's been almost exactly two months since I've moved Mort and it feels like a lifetime. I asked Mort to hand gallop on Friday without a second thought. I not only trusted that he would take care of us, but that it would be fun. I don't find myself stressing out when he's had a day off (or a week when the weather was still horrible). I don't keep myself awake at night worrying about his mental health or whether he's being pushy to the barn owner. I've ridden him bareback again and all of our rides start on a loose rein walk.

Just like with losing our trust, I didn't fully notice it being built back up again. For some reason, the desire to go fast on him again helped click it into place. I don't think we're back to 100% from where we were; there are a few scars that will take a little longer to heal. But I do trust my horse again and in trusting him again, only now do I realize how much that I didn't trust him before. I trust him and I trust that we'll continue on the path toward where we were--and beyond.

It was hard for me to write this post. Putting it down here is the first time I'm going to admit it to anyone other than myself. I don't blame the barn, and I definitely blame myself. We live and learn and thankfully Mort is forgiving.

Working on Our Homework

I came back from my quick vacation to Wellington feeling motivated and refreshed, so I've got a bit of a game plan heading into summer. Mort and I are going to a clinic the second weekend of May. This means that we've got to be back in shape and working together by then. It also means buddy boy has to be more reliable about trailering. So most of my game plan involves those two things.

In our last lesson a couple weeks ago Mort was so behind my leg that my instructor basically told me that we should go back and start from scratch. He was out of shape and weak behind so he couldn't carry himself properly. I had been letting him be lazy the last few months because I thought it was better than an explosive alternative, so he also developed a bit of an issue about being forward. I'm glad that she has seen us on our good days because I would have been even more embarrassed if the Mort she saw was the only example she had of us.

She also worked with him in-hand a bit to see what our trailering issues were. He basically didn't respect her space or trust her as someone who could help him. He's also just plain scared of the trailer. So we got a lot of homework there as well.

The next two rides after that lesson were forward boot camp. If he even thought about getting behind my leg, I'd follow up with a tap from the whip. It didn't take long before Mort remembered how to move forward with me quietly asking. I think I smacked him twice in ride one and just had to wave the whip once in ride two.

The next couple rides addressed him ignoring the sideways portion of my leg. I put on a pair of spurs for back-up. In between the focusing on forward, I'd occasionally ask for a step sideways. I'd start by asking with my calf followed by the spur if he didn't listen. This one is harder for him mentally and physically, so it's going to be a slower process than re-installing forward. I'm just trying to be very specific when I ask so that there is no confusion. I double check how I'm sitting and where I'm placing my legs. I make sure that I'm not holding with my hands, and I just ask for a simple step off my leg.

The first ride just involved me asking him to move a few times each direction--two of those times were at the halt to really keep things simple in his head. The second ride involved checking to make sure he remembered moving a single step sideways then evolved into a few short leg yields each direction at the walk. He was doing well, so I asked for a single step sideways at the trot a time or two as well.

After the first ride after my lesson I started to quietly ask for suppleness again as well. At first I started with just one rein and it would evolve into both reins as he responded positively. I'm trying to be really consistent with keeping my hands on either side of his withers. I don't want to allow myself to do too much of an opening rein and I definitely don't want to allow myself to get sucked into the indirect rein trap. He has been giving me really nice moments of suppleness and connection, especially tracking right.

Our last ride was with the whole group at the barn. As I've discussed before, Mort is easily distracted when his friends are out there. So it was a more simple ride. He was still very forward but we didn't have much else. So, instead of worrying that everyone else was watching, I just worked with what I had. I asked for forward and I'd ask for suppleness. He didn't want to give it to me as he had been in our solo rides. That's OK. We did several short, loose rein walk breaks. I finally got some decent suppleness doing some figure eights at the trot. I stopped. I asked for a single step sideways at the walk and we just walked around on the loose rein until he was cooled off.

I'm glad that I didn't get sucked into trying to pull him back down into reality. I'm glad that I was ok with dropping the sideways back down because that's really hard for me mentally. I used the figure eights and turning to work on him wanting to counter-bend and go toward his friends. He kept his forward and we ended well.

I read a quote from Denny Emerson this past week that really resonated with me. It basically broke down that in training, you don't feel a lot of success in any particular ride. You find a good place to stop long before it becomes drilling. But eventually, all of these non-eventful rides will add up to success--months and years down the road. You don't feel it day-to-day but you see it looking back at where you've come from. I'm hoping to keep this in mind if I start to want to drill and get greedy asking for "one more time".

So this is where Mort and I are in our riding right now. It'll come back quickly since it's all in there and I can still feel it sometimes. I'm sure I could be asking for more now that I've got the forward back, but I don't want to get stuck in the same trap as we got stuck in this winter. His fitness has to be established first so that it's fair to ask him for more.

Our in-hand homework is as follows:

He needs to move off pressure

If I put a finger to his neck I want his whole body to step sideways

If I put a finger behind his girth area I want his hind end to move sideways

He needs to not get into my space

He gets backed up if he crowds me

He needs to focus on me as a "leader"

We're working on standing in the aisle for grooming and tacking without being tied

He has to focus on me all the time and gets moved back into place if he steps forward

He needs to walk forward toward me when asked

I stand in front of him at the end of the lead rope and ask him to step forward toward me

If he steps forward before I ask, he gets backed up a step

I'm being very specific about how I handle him. We spend at least 10-15 minutes every time I'm out there working on our homework by the trailer. Saturday we hooked it up and I practiced asking him to move his body toward it. We worked on getting him to step toward me while I was standing on it. He put his front feet on several times and I would ask for a step backward, then a step forward. That was fairly successful. He does get treats occasionally while we work on the ground--particularly for stepping to me when asked.

He definitely understands what I want on the ground now. He's very good at the different tasks. I don't know that he sees me as a "leader" but he's at least thinking about me a little more. I'm hoping to continue to do the forward and back commands on the trailer a lot over the next few weeks before our clinic. Hopefully him focusing on the exercise will help us get on the trailer.