Ride in the wind

It was a really windy day today.  Gusty, gale force at times.  I expected that Lil might be agitated.  I mean, in theory, she shouldn't be.  After all, horses live in that wind all of the time.  But, I guess it's one thing to hang out with your mates in the paddock, where their calmness settles you down.  And another thing to go into the arena where the hay-to-be is combed by the wind, then swing in the tree sways, and the bunnies dash in and out from under the logs.

Even as I was leading Lil from the paddock to the hitching rail, she was calm and settled.  That in turn, settled me.  Probably a good thing.  Then, when I hopped on, and started walking her around, she was as calm as a quarter horse on a pleasure ride.  Bliss.

I smiled and patted myself on the back.  Because this is not the thoroughbred that I started off with.  This is my training.  Yay!  Some success at long last.

I did some walk, some trot, and then I went into canter.  That's where it all went pear shaped.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  The canters were good, and Lil did well, and no one fell off, and by many adult riding club standards it was a really good workout.  But ... but, she lost that quarter horse quality calmness.

That, is my next challenge.

Pony Club

Today at Pony Club Sabina is being tested for her D certificate.  We've been going over the things she needs to know many times, and I am confident she will pass with flying colours.

A lady is assigned to examine Sabina, while I am assigned to examine someone else's child.  So I don't get the opportunity to see how the test is going.

When the test is over, Sabina's examiner secretly gives me the thumbs up, and says she did really well.  But, the real proof is in the pudding.

Up until now, mainly I've been saddling the ponies for Sabina.  This afternoon, we need to get Tornado saddled for another ride.  Sabina shows me the palm of her hand, and says "Mama, go away.  I will do it".  (Talk about "speak to the hand").

Sure enough, she saddles and bridles Tornado, including doing the girth up ... fully!  That takes some strength!  You go girl!

Hazelwood Clinic

Today I am at Hazelwood Lodge again for a clinic.  It's actually a two day clinic, but, because of Pony Club tomorrow, I am only here for one day.  Such a pity.  I'd love to stay for two.

The weather leaves a lot to be desired.  Sheets of rain have been coming down all night and morning.  It's not inspiring.  However, we seem to get a slight break just as my lesson starts.

Within minutes, Catherine has my horse going much better than I have her going at home.  It's all about using the correct aids, at the right time.  It's also all about balance.  Apparently, we need to help the horse to balance themselves.  We need to teach them to find the right balance.  Really?!!  I've always thought that horses will find their own balance.  Apparently, not so.

Towards the end of the lesson, the rain starts coming down again.  I briefly consider getting my rain coat.  But my horse is now going so well, and I am so engaged in the lesson, that I just do not care if I get saturated.  We work a bit on canter transitions, and just a couple of brief words from Catherine help me to improve out of sight.  It's just awesome.

Lunch is delicious, as always.  Then time for my jumping lesson.

I warm up my horse.  She seems somewhat distracted initially, what with the pinto grazing on one side, the cows on the other, and the foal frolicking carelessly in the paddock.  But even while distracted, her work is much improved.

We go over some trot poles, then Catherine sets up a cross rail.  It's not a big cross rail, but I'm having kittens all the same.  Why?  Because Lil will either go left, or go right, or do a huge leap over it, and I just don't know which one it will be.  It's the huge leap, and I jab her in the mouth.  So of course, next time around she tries to go right.  I get her over it, this time I don't jab her in the mouth, and from then on we just gain confidence.

The grid increases in difficulty, and Lil just grows more confident, more balanced, and more focussed with every jump.  The progress is fantastic.  Catherine's advice is invaluable - she is so clear about just how much I need to do as a rider, and how much the horse needs to work out for themselves.

I've now got lots to work on at home, before I return here in December.

I just wanted to add, that during the breaks I watch other lessons intently.  What amazes me every time, is how much the horses improve for each rider, within each lesson.

Horse going sideways - fixing the problem - part 2

One of the ground exercises that I do with Lil is making her do a couple of circles around me, and going over a little cross rail while she's out on the circle.  Now I am very strict with going over the cross rail - there is to be no running out, no shying, no stopping.  Just a nice clean pop.  I don't mind (at this stage), whether she goes over it on the left rein or right rein, but she must go over it.

Has it all been going smoothly?  No, of course not.  We've had times when she's hesitated before jumping the rail, when she's tried to run out, and when she's tried to avoid it by changing direction.

Today I have set up the cross rails so that there are plenty of them - around our lunging area.  I stand in the middle and ask Lil to go out on the circle.  I don't ask her to do the cross rails, and there is plenty of space for her to circle.

I notice that she glances at the cross rail.  Well, if she's that keen to do them, then why not?  I build enough slack in the lungeing rein.  Lil feels the slack, lines up the double and jumps the two cross rails perfectly.  On the surface I remain calm, although perhaps my jaw has dropped, but deep down inside I let out a huge "YES!".

So how is this related to "horse going sideways"?  Well, she used to get very nervous when I used to ask her to jump those cross rails.  Yet now she has learnt to do it, and does it by choice.  Which means, I should  be able to use the same methods to teach her to go forwards, and not sideways.

Horse going sideways - friend's advice

I spoke to a friend today about our "going sideways" problem.  Now this friend is a bit of a mentor.  He is someone who has been out there, owned various horses, competed in horse trials, and lived to tell the tale.

Well, the minute I said the words "nervous" and "going sideways" in the one sentence, he straightened up, looked me straight in the eye, and gently, but wisely, said "I had a horse like that once.  Tried to event him.  I used to finish the dressage test and people would run up to me saying it looked beautiful.  But it felt like sitting on a time bomb.  The horse would get all hot and excited at events.  And when it mattered, it would always let you down."

My friend later did some research into his horse's past, and found out, that during his racing days, the horse managed to put two jockeys into the rails.  A few more bad experiences and the said horse was retired from his eventing career.

Now, my friend didn't tell me that Lilly was exactly the same.  He just told me not to waste too much time, if it most obviously wasn't working out.  "A good horse, with a good temperament, should be able to take you from where you are right now, right to where you want to go", he said.

Food for thought.

Horse going sideways - fixing the problem - part 1

So, horse seriously going sideways out in the state forest - where to from here?

Well, I think you can go in two directions.  You can get the whip out, and get forceful until they do what you want.  Or, you can try to gain their trust, get them to realise that they are safe with you, and do things for you because they know they are safe.  I'm of the latter elk.

Yesterday, I did a lot of calming work in the arena, and it worked well.  Today, it was time to challenge ourselves.  Maybe going back out on the trail was a bit too much of a challenge, so I headed down into the amphetheatre.  To the other arena.  (Hmm ... more about that some other time.)

I walked Lilly down in hand, and already on the way down she was showing me serious insecurities.  Not helped by her friends neighing from up above.  She would try to rush past me, and head up the hill, back to her friends.  I stopped her, by jiggling the lead rope (a move we practice a lot around the hitching rail, and in the arena, and everywhere really) and asked her to back up.

Once down in the arena I did some ground work.  I concentrated on two things - 1) that she does exactly what I ask (no anticipating!) and 2) that she does not invade my space.  Her reward was being allowed in my space, and a pat.  This worked extremely well.  She became very obedient, stopped anticipating, and calmed down a lot.

Then I mounted.  Initially I worked just on a 20m circle - in walk.  In fact, most of the hour was in walk.  We did maybe four circles in trot.  I focused on getting her head down, and keeping her relaxed.  The minute she did a slightly faster stride, I was there with a half halt, and I kept half halting until I felt her relax.  Towards the end it felt wonderful!

On the left rein, of course she tried going sideways.  So I had to be a little bit stronger with my half halts, do them earlier (in preparation), and be firmer with my outside leg and rein.  And every now and then, we challenged ourselves with a bigger circle.  Each time the circle got bigger, Lilly got more excited and was more likely to go sideways.

Finally, we walked up the middle ridge, towards the gate.  Just before the gate, I asked her to turn left and halt.  All good.  Then I opened the gate from atop Lilly, walked her through the gate, and closed it again.  Magic.

Now, the problem is not fixed yet.  But we're on the right track, I think.  I just have to be consistent now, and change the "reaction" (going sideways), into a "response" (trust, calmness, and going forwards).

Horse seriously going sideways

I got up early this morning, hoping to avoid the motorbikes, and get out onto the trail for a serene ride in the state forest.

Lilly seemed a bit fresh, but otherwise everything was going according to plan.

Then we got to the top of the hill, where the state forest track starts.  It just so happens that the next door neighbour had chosen this exact same beautiful morning to send his cows off to market.  His quad bike was going up and down the hill like a growling monster, the family was standing around the cattle yards, the cattle, in the cattle yards, were knocking about, with the cattle trailer and ute on hand.  Oh, and the dogs in the back of the ute were sniffing and whining.

By the time I got Lilly past the show, she was having kittens.  It took me a little while to hop on, and then she considered backing into a tree and leaving me there.  I resorted to just sitting atop my steed quietly for a while, never taking my eye off that tree behind me.  Then some sanity overcame my horse as she proceeded down the track.

She was a bit nervous, but it was pleasant enough until we got to a fork in the road.  Lilly stopped and no amount of encouragement could get her to walk forward.  In fact, she just started going sideways - back towards home.  I tried to stop her from going sideways, of course, but she had stopped listening to me.

We travelled like this for a kilometre, while I considered whether getting off is a good idea or not.  Then she heard the quad bike again, and promptly proceeded to travel sideways, in the opposite direction.  "Oh goody", I thought to myself.  "She's not going forwards for me, but we're going where I want to go, so this is sort of good."  When we got within sight of the fork in the road, Lilly stopped.  She tried to rear, then proceeded to go sideways towards home again.

At this point, I knew that the horse had lost it.  She was no longer listening to me.  In fact, I had sort of become her arch enemy, she just decided I wasn't pesky enough to dislodge.  She was totally lost at what to do, she felt terrified, and didn't see a way out of the situation.

The smartest thing I could think of was to just make her stand still.  This worked fairly well, and when she stood still I stroked her neck and spoke softly to her.  When I thought I had restored some good will, and we had been standing still for a sufficiently long period of time, I got off.  I picked up the shoe we'd lost along the way, and then walked her towards home.

When we got to where my next door neighbour was loading his cows, I made Lilly stop.  I stayed as relaxed and calm as I could, and I let her just observe and work it out.  When she finally put her head down to graze, I knew this was as relaxed as she was going to get, and walked on home.

At home, we walked straight into the arena, and I worked Lilly for about an hour.  Mainly we worked at the walk, concentrating on lowering the head and relaxing.

The conclusion from this ride is - every horse has a reaction when they feel panic.  Some bolt, others buck, some rear.  Lilly's thing is going sideways.  That's what made me have such a hopeless ride a week ago - Lilly was going sideways in the arena.  But only on the left rein.

Warragul PC Showjumping Day

Recently I took Sabina to the Warragul PC Showjumping Day.  She had just been graded in showjumping, so I thought the timing was perfect.

It was a lovely warm day, with a pretty early start.  The day started at 8:30, with all rings running in parallel.  The organisers did an absolutely fantastic job.

Sabina did the training F grade, where they were allowed to be led around.  As Tornado can have a bit of a mind of his own, I thought she would have far more fun if I took up the led option.  So we jogged around the course, with Tornado going faster towards the end, and me getting quite puffed out!

In the end Sabina was very happy with 6th place - especially since the ribbon colour was the same as her club colours.  They had 3 competitions in all (for each grade), which I thought was really good value.  Sabina had had enough after 2.  I was a bit disappointed, but managed to keep my smile.  Anything to make sure the little one has a "great" day!

My one comment on the day would be - can we please start after 9am!  Otherwise, it was brilliant!

Bad riding days

Everyone has them.  At least, I think everyone has them.  Bad riding days.  Not necessarily catastrophic riding days.  Not the sort of days where it's all a tragedy.  No.  Just bad riding days.  When you ride badly for no good reason.

You can feel them descending upon you.  You brush and saddle your horse, all fine.  But something niggles at you.  The world is not quite right.  Then as you put your foot in the stirrup to mount, you feel it.  You feel that you're going to ride badly.  That it's just not going to work.  That you need a different mental attitude.

So stop!  Take that foot out of the stirrup, stand next to your horse, and examine the time space continuum.  Watch the view.  Listen to the birds.  Count the bees.  But of course ... you don't.  If you did, it wouldn't be a bad riding day any more.  Much against your own better judgement, you mount up.  Because that's what you always do.  (Victim of habit).

Then sure enough, things don't all go well.  You're not happy with how your horse is travelling.  It's not responsive enough, it's too flighty, it won't do this and that.  It's hanging on the bit, it doesn't have enough impulsion.  It's falling in.  Or falling out.  Or ending up in the middle of the haying paddock (as happened in my case).

Sometimes ... sometimes you can set it right.  Sometimes ... if you're having a lesson ... the coach can set it right.  (In fact, perfect situation in which to have a lesson).  But most of the time, it's just a bad riding day, with neither you, or your horse enjoying the ride.

I hate those days!

Oh, if I could only go back to that moment where I put my foot in the stirrup.  I would take it out again, rather than mount up.  Just give myself more time to think "why do I feel like this?".  Give my horse time to stand there and just park.  Important skill "park".  Mark Jones, my trainer, and Andrew McLean both agree on this one.  Two fine horsemen can't be wrong.

But, you cannot go back in time.  You can only take with you what you've learnt, and go forwards.  And that's why we have the bad riding days.  If we pay enough attention, they teach us more than 6 months of riding.  More than 6 months of lessons.  Think about it.  Economically speaking, it's worth having a bad riding day.

(Perhaps, if I had paid "enough" attention, I would have taken my foot out of the stirrup, and stood there and still learnt the same lesson, and avoided the bad riding day.  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.)