Lisa's Blog post # 15

We galloped today!  It was a slow gallop – about the speed we would go during XC at BN – but it was so much fun!!  This warm weather has taken the edge off his spunk and he was acting a little lazy so we had a refreshing canter along the drive from the road to the barn to wake him up a little.  It seemed like he was thinking, “Are you sure we’re supposed to be doing this?  You actually want me to do this?”   He was very calm.  We turned around and did it toward the road on his other lead – he did great!  I can’t wait until we are cantering all over the place!

We also did very well at right lead canters! I can tell that my position is correct when he feels balanced and fluid.  During our last lesson Lesley gave me 2 new tools to help me help him stay balanced.  She had me move his shoulders over at the trot toward the outside of the circle as I asked for the right lead canter – that works like a charm.  She also had me place my whip in my right hand positioned so I can use it on his shoulder when he falls in – that also works like a charm.  Yay!

I also set up 4 trot poles to add a little variety to our lives.  I have done trot poles with him a bajillion times at his other barn and he’s never had a hard time but today he could not get the stride right!  It seems like every time I ride this horse, I encounter a new problem!!  After stumbling through them a few times a brilliant thought crossed my mind!  “Hey, this isn’t going well, maybe I should think about how I can fix this.”   Once I steadied him with my leg a little better he hit that first pole in stride and was fine.  The emotional trauma must have had an impact though because he ended up getting pretty wound up.   I eventually realized we were not getting anything done so I took him to another part of the field to just trot and try to get him to relax.  That didn’t work so I walked him on a loose rein for a while.  He soon did relax so we went back over to where we had been working, did a few more canters – which were awesome! – then called it a day.

What I learned today - don’t be dense.  

No really, I need to be a lot quicker to stop if something’s not going well and figure out how to fix it! It is stupid of me to be so focused on what I came to work on that day that I keep riding around thinking a problem I hadn’t counted on facing will magically work itself out.   I should have fixed the trot pole problem after one bad time through it.  I should have taken him for a walk as soon as he got all wound up.

One of Lesley’s quotes is “ride the horse you’re on at the moment”.  I will need a lot more tools in my toolbox before I can do that – since Cotton so creatively comes up with new things so often!  But using the ones I already have would be a step in the right direction… duh!