Keldapark N.E.T.S. Blog

Today was the first day I have ridden Mia since she shied, I fell off and knocked myself out (that happened four weeks ago)!

Starting with some Liberty work first, not because that was my plan but because it was what Mia offered me so I ran with it and the Liberty was absolutely awesome. Although Mia being an RBE tends to stick to me anyway but the truly awesome part about today was her backup; usually she will just turn her front end and follow me backwards. Today, I got particular without being critical and used my carrot stick as a barrier so she couldn’t turn and she backed up. A few more of these, being very slow and trying not to activate Mia’s ‘ah ah’ muscles, we had some lovely trot, walk, stop, backup transitions at Liberty. I don’t think we are quite ready for the canter yet (mainly because my heel is still not properly healed – ho ho ho, pardon the pun).

So, having played Mia’s game, I then asked for changes of direction on the circle at Liberty. OMG, she is just fantastic. Again, we have to take it slow and ask politely (no tagging with Mia) so as to keep those ‘ah ah’ muscles in check. Again, I did this game, not because it was my plan (aerobic fitness was my plan) but because it was Mia’s idea. I started her off going clockwise but she seems to only go about one circle before wanting to change directions, so I just took her idea, let her run with it for a moment and then asked for another change back. Obviously this is her harder side. About a dozen times we played this game until I got a break through with her and she managed two laps. Her bring back from that direction is awesome so next time we’ll play with the bring back from a anti-clockwise direction.

Then it was time to get on… (gulp!).

I took her halter off and, again, without activating any ‘ah ah’ muscles (particularly in her head this time), we got her bridled. Beautiful – well for Mia anyway. No resistance – no ‘ah ah’ muscles!

Even though Mia is only 15.1hh, I still use a mounting block. I asked her to come to me and climbed aboard. We stood for a while and then we moved off. My plan was to get some walk to trot transitions without activating those dreaded ‘ah ah’ muscles. My goal with Mia for well over 12 months now is to have ZERO BRACE and will continue to be my goal for the rest of her life – no matter what savvy we are playing in.

Initially our upward transitions (the first two or three) were slightly bracey but way better than her normal high-headed transitions. A good start. Transitions down can be bracey too so this was a great game to play today. After about six or seven upward transitions, Mia began stretching down and ‘flowing’ way better than she has done before. We did this several times in both directions and the big thing I noticed today – OUR HUGE BREAK THROUGH – was that her mouth was quiet and she wasn’t running away with me. No displaced behaviour! That was phenomenal for Mia. The ride was so good… we had a canter in both directions. Mia was so good. Her ‘ah ah’ muscles didn’t get much of a workout today at all and THAT is what my sessions with her are all about.

We had, even though it was just one session, our go was more equal to our whoa.

Not so long ago I gave someone a lesson and, little did I know it, I was teaching my RBE at the same time. This young girl couldn’t get her horse to go, stop or turn. Unfortunately, the situation was a no win for either of them.

Here we have an uneducated horse that has been off the track (a pacer) for about 3 months at the time of writing this. He has been housed with a young girl with very little experience. Oh sure, she’s had some riding school lessons but I’m finding more and more these days that these aren’t teaching a whole lot. This girl could find herself, unknowingly and unwittingly, in a very dangerous situation. Unfortunately, her parents were none the wiser and just left her alone for hours with this horse – to ride out on the roads!

So anyway, being such a young, inexperienced girl who is so used to riding educated horses, she had absolutely no idea how to begin teaching this horse even the basics of stop, go & turn. I watched her struggling to ‘go’ with kick after kick after kick with the horse getting more and more ‘dull’ and withdrawn. Turning became this ugly see-sawing action and bending the horse in half while the horse simply stood and resisted. So, for the horses sake, I stepped in.

We were just doing some very simple basics: stop, go & turn. I asked Mia (my RBE) to go (politely of course) and then asked the girl to lightly squeeze until the horse walked off. As soon as he moved, release! Remember, pressure motivates but it’s the release that teaches. The horse (dragged along by Mia) came with us and she released her legs. We did the same for the stop… Mia stopped, I asked her to use whatever signal she wanted to get her horse to stop (my preference is for body language but this girl didn’t have much of that!). As soon as the horse is stopped, release! After a dozen or so times, the horse was ‘getting it’ and so was she!

Then we started turning. Once your horse is moving, it is so much easier to turn them and if you keep your weight back and don’t ‘block’ their turn, they will do this quite easily. So I asked her to use a very exaggeratedly, high arm. Get your horse going then, keeping your weight back, your arm at shoulder height, gently direct your horses nose in the direction you want to go (a direct rein). Bingo! The horse was turning. We did this for about 30 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, Mia was learning how to stop, go and turn in a much more natural way. Being an extroverted type of horse, she has way more go than whoa so we have to work on equilising this but we’ll get there. I’d like more relaxation before I ask for too much more from her.

Anyway, a couple of days later, I was watching this kid and she’d already reverted back to her old ways and, guess what…..? They weren’t working!

It’s really sad to see such positive results being left by the by rather than asking for help. I would much rather someone come to me and ask for help than see them struggling time and again with methods and techniques that aren’t working.

They say that practice makes perfect but first you need to find something that works and then practice that! This poor girl was practicing poor techniques so in the end she will perfect them but she wont get better or different results.

Well, how long has it been since I last posted.

Recently, I attended a workshop with my NH instructor. She pulled me aside and asked me why I was still playing in L2 riding? Well, I felt like I wasn’t ‘perfecting’ things. We sat and talked and I realised I was making things worse for my LBI, Bonnie. She was BORED!! Yep, I was boring to her – can you believe it?

So, under the guidance of my instructor, we started playing in L3 and, while in our first session, she did improve, it wasn’t until after the session that I saw her really change. Bonnie and I were standing around listening to the changes everyone else saw in their horses and what they learnt when Bonnie began yawning and lick and chewing like nobodies business.

Something (or everything) in that session really meant something to her and, being an LBI, it just took ages for her to digest it (licking and chewing) and start coming down off adrenaline (yawning).

Now, its up to me to maintain her confidence and increase her motivation and stimulation. I need to continue to be provocative and progressive in her training to keep her interested.

WOW, what a great session!