Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Temperament

When we bought Morgan he appeared to be a totally chilled out character.  My daughter could catch him in the paddock, bring him in and groom him.  All 16hh of him.  But it took me about 3 months of schooling at home to take him to a lesson, and even then, I don't think he was really ready.


When we arrived at my instructor's place he was suddenly rather distracted, and difficult to handle.  Where had the quiet horse gone?  There were some horses in a paddock next door and he was really keen to join them.


I lunged him in the arena first, but he kept being distracted.  I should have probably kept lungeing him until he finally paid attention, but my instructor had arrived and we needed to get on with it.  At the end of the day - I don't have all day.


He was still distracted when I saddled him up and when I mounted.  As I was mounting, the school bus was coming past, a mere 5 metres away or so.  But, if Morgan had a different temperament, he would have been happy to trust me and pay attention to me.  Instead, he bucked until I fell off, hitting the barbed wire fence on the way.  I was ok, but it wasn't pretty.


In comparison, Echo had been schooled by his previous owners for about 4 months when I bought him.  He had only been on their property, and trail riding in the bush.  He was with us for a mere 2 weeks when I decided to take him for a lesson.  Having learnt from the Morgan experience, I was savvy enough to take Echo together with my pony, Dingo.  I needn't have bothered, he would have been fine regardless.


Once again, the same paddock with horses.  Yes, Echo looked at them, he even neighed to them, but he also quite happily stayed tied to the fence.  The same road along the arena, with buses, utes with trailers, cars and even a couple of motorbikes.  It was all fine.  His biggest problem was with the Fresian cow in a paddock - a mere speck in the haze.


Echo's biggest issue was probably me paying attention to Dingo.  The minute I started paying attention to Echo he stopped his neighing and stood totally still.  Likewise when I mounted.  And momentarily ... likewise during the lesson.


I had a wonderful lesson and learnt heaps.  It definitely wasn't a matter of just staying on and hankering for control.  I can't wait to practice it all at home, and then come back for more lessons.  I can't wait to take him out to adult riding club and to competitions.  This horse will go such a long way - not because he is a super star, not because he looks magnificent, but because he has a good temperament.