Confidence

We ride out into the state forest again. Gally is still spooky. So I start riding like I mean it. Then we come to the puddle. The same one as yesterday. Except that it rained overnight, and the puddle is bigger. Not deeper. Just wider.

Gally skirts around the edges of it for a while. I turn him away, and try to back him into it. No go. I turn him around, and drive him forwards. All of a sudden he finds himself half in the puddle. I drop the reins, and let him stand there. He seems mistified.

We go out of the puddle and come back in again several times. Every time, I allow him time to just stand and relax in the puddle.

Finally we go on. We take a track into the valley, and then we canter up the hill. Gally breaks into trot when he sees a big log. I spur him on, back into canter. Half way up (the hill is about 2km long) I allow him to trot, then we canter on.

At the top, we relax in a loose rein walk. He is no longer spooking, but the walk is lazy. I spur him on into a more active walk, and even a loose rein trot. Every now and then I pat him with the crop.

When we come to a ditch full of water, I make him step across it. He hesitates briefly, then goes forward. We practice this about 5 times, until the tentative step turns into a cruisy little leap.

Then Gally thinks it's time to head home. He doesn't play up, he just faces in the direction of home, and refuses to budge. I spur him on, and give him a serious talking to. Yes, with my voice. I am so loud that I can probably be heard a mile around. And like a typical woman, I go on a bit too. The effect is great! Not only is Gally not spooking any more, he is actually walking forwards really well.

On the way home, we see some sheep. I ride on with confidence, with an attitude that we are "above sheep". Gally steps proudly forwards, and barely blinks an eyelid at the little creatures, as they scuttle away from the fence.

About that spook

We ride out into the state forest, and Gally is spooky once again. He stops and stares at logs and bushes. More so than he did two weeks ago.

Just recently, my dad mentioned that perhaps I am too aware what Gally might spook at, and so he spooks because I expect him to. I think he is half right. Most of the spooking Gally does is at stuff I could never predict would be spooky. So, he doesn't exactly spook because I expect him to. However, I don't think I ride him with enough "we can conquer all" confidence. I don't ride with enough arrogance (maybe because my mother has spent most of her efforts trying to erradicate it from me). I don't ride with enough "we're above it all". I don't ride like I'm going to win the battle.

It's not a physical problem. Physically, I have the skills to ride like that. It's a psychological problem. Poor attitude. Poor focus. It's the little voice talking it up - Gally might take off, or might do one of his "twist left, twist right" tricks. Or he might pig root.

He might do one of those. Or all three. So?

So I start riding like I mean it. And Gally doesn't do a thing. He just gets on with it and goes forward. And I gain confidence. And on the way home we even play around at the edge of a big, but shallow, puddle.

Seville Pony Club Horse Trials

We're off to a competition today, and Gally will not get on the float. Luckily, Pete is happy to help, and we're on our way. (Where is the magic patting trick? Clearly, not working.)

We arrive at Wandin and settle in. I tack up for dressage and report to gear check.

"Oh, I am sorry, but you can't ride with spurs or with that whip", says the gear checker. "But you can ride with a crop. Oh, and you must have a medical arm band."

I zip back to the float, make the necessary adjustments and return to the gear check.

"Oh, I am sorry, but you must take your earings out." Now, is there any reason they couldn't tell me that the first time around?

I do as told, get a cute little dot on my arm band, and proceed to warm up. Bang! We find ourselves on the opposite side of the warm up area, in an unseated, uncontrollable rush. I end up on the ground, still holding onto the reins.

A lady runs up to me. "I am so sorry, my daughter's horse tripped." "So?", I think to myself. "Now according to the new pony club rules, you can't get back on until you've been cleared by the medical team", she goes on. I roll my eyes. "But I am a doctor, and I think you're fine to get back on."

Another woman runs up. "Oh you just dismounted, didn't you?", she asks. Yeah. Like I dismount at almost flat chat gallop on the off side all the time. It's a little trick I do at competitions.

I mount up and continue my warm up. A horse snorts, and Gally rushes off again, but this time I stay on. Someone sneezes, rush. A horse comes up behind, rush. On the one hand, I have a horse that's not going forward, on the other hand I get mad rushes and leaps every now and then.

Then a friend arrives, and I allow Gally to stand while we chat. I've given up on the dressage warm up.

Finally it's my turn. I ride up to the judge, introduce myself, and commence the test. It's two points short of brilliant. Gally doesn't shy once, and while he's a bit wobbly on the left rein, the right rein is just perfect. Excellent trot. Brilliant canter. Sure it could all do with some spurs. But, as my friend puts it, it's 200% better than 3 months ago.

I put Gally away and walk the cross country course. It looks Gally friendly.

During the warm up for XC, Gally is jumping well, but his behaviour between jumps is rediculous. He does this thing where he twists left, then right, then rushes off. Or he puts his head down after the jumps and starts humping. By this stage, my brain seems to have kicked in, and I manage to catch him with the rein on his first twist. Or on his first or second hump. It all happens so fast though, that it's never a conscious reaction.

Finally we're on the course, and Gally thinks it's time to race back to the float. I slow him down. "Oh me gott, there's a jump in front of us", freaks Gally. "Oh, and there's person to the left", he veers a metre off course. I refocus him on the jump and we get over number one. "Now it's time to go back to the float", Gally tries to gallop off.

We approach nubmer 2 at trot, with Gally trying to go left and right. "Oh mee, there's a person", he freaks at the judge. Those judges on course, they sit really still, but I am starting to wish they'd wave.

Number 3 is a boxy little tractor, and he just can't do it from a standstill. We circle and he jumps it on the second approach. At the ditch he still gawks at the judge. At number 5 he nods at the judge. Then he freaks out at the fallen log in the middle of the paddock. It's not part of the course, but Gally just cannot believe we can just cruise past it and not get eaten.

Then we get our groove. Six is a breeze, and we're half way over 7, when "click" goes the camera. Gally freezes mid-stride. I laugh at the camera man, and on we go. A few more jumps, then ... water. Like last time, we don't actually have to do the water, but we have to do a jump on the other side of the water. It's not "flowing", it's not fast, but we succeed. And the rest of the course is put away without another hiccup. I am very proud of my little horse.

The showjumping is running very late, and the line up is absolute chaos. People are pushing in under the pretext of work and funerals. Finally, we get our turn, and Gally jumps a very calm round. Albeit so slow, that we get 4 time penalties.

The results read something like this: after the dressage we were equal fourth! Then we got two refusals and time penalties in cross country, and time penalties in showjumping. Which leaves us second last. But ... but ... not eliminated. Yay!

More spook

Today we ride into the state forest. Gally is going well, but he appears to be more spooked by everything than normally. We can ride past everything, but it's like he has lost confidence.

On the other hand, when we trot I get a beautiful trot, on the aids, nice and relaxed with rhythm and swing in his stride. In the past most trots were like running.

So now I am confused as to what is causing the change. Is it the fact that the "patting" has somehow made him rely on me more, because I am now the boss. Or has our little run and bail episode yesterday changed the nature of riding?