Small victories and rain on my parade

Today I talked to Robert about what parts of the field will be left open for riding. Once the hay has been harvested it will all be open but right now just a section on the jumping area is left for us. I walked around getting my feet thoroughly soaked from the dew on the grass (I need new boots) and I found a spot that was reasonably level without any serious holes. I made a little fence out of stakes, and I tied a little rope around the end that was closest to the barn. Just in case certain herd bound horses decided to take a little excursion out of the arena.

I got Colonel out and brushed him down, still working on getting him shed out. I noticed that when I pressed too hard on his back that he hollowed it. I poked him with my fingers all over the area and he was fine. Maybe I'm just currying a little to vigorously or something. I dont know, but it made me a little nervous. So instead of hopping right on him I saddled him and took him out to the arena and lunged him. Just a few minutes each direction. He was surprisingly calm. I was not.

Still, I decided that this time I was going to ignore this feeling of foreboding and go ahead with my ride. To make myself feel better I put on my huge, goofy eventing chest protector. It looks like a lifejacket. I suffer the indignity because it makes me feel invincible. Well, close anyway. Still, as I walked back out there, I was already going into turtle mode, hunching my shoulders and tensing my abdominal muscles. I took a deep breath and focused on making myself the very image of relaxation and calm.

Pretty substantial balking about going out to the field. He really didn't want to walk on the road. He has pretty tender feet, so OK. He storted and pulled, and fussed and backed up. I followed my usual procedure for this: manage anything dangerous and keep them pointed at the culvert. So eventually he walked out there, surprisingly calmly once we finally crossed the culvert.

Again deep breath, walk around the arena once each direction, and then its time to trot. He did his usual transition to a slower-than-walking trot, then gradually amped up. Sit deep, fix the inside rein, half halts on the outside rein. As we turned away from the barn that worked fine. Headed towards the barn in was only marginally effective. We did some really nice circles around where we had been lunging, and I couldnt believe it, but he relaxed as though we were back to lunging. Interesting. Did a couple of times around at a trot with minimal fussing and I decided that this was an excellent quitting moment. Dismounted right then and there, Colonel stole a few bites of grass while I loosend the girth, and Colonel was fairly polite heading back home.

Robert had been watching from his living room and was pleased with our performance. I was too. I was also pleased that Colonel didn't pick up on my tension and pitch a fit. Maybe he likes the little arena I built, it gives him plenty to think about, what with the less even ground. Much more uneven than the dressage arena.

Put Colonel away and sat down to talk to Robert while he played with his antique cultivator. I shared with him my concerns about Star's saddle and how it was riding up on her shoulders and pinching them.
"Why dont you just use a fore girth?"
"A what?"
So I learned something new today, a fore girth is a dealie that goes in front of the saddle to keep it from slipping forward. Brilliant. Later that day I put it to use. Star was being a pill and a half, but the cool thing was that she wasn't nearly as hollow as usual, even when she got upset. Also, when she pinned her ears at Sunny and I booted her into a canter she went straight into the canter, despite being surprised. Later when I let her come back down to a walk it was a pretty smooth transition, not perfect, but it didn't involve jumping into the air and stopping on her shoulder before proceeding to whatever gait you wanted.

(The following is a rant, no more loggin of what happened follows.)

At one point pretty early in the ride I had to get off and tighten the girth. When I got near her Cari launched into this whole sermon about how I should never let Star put her head up the way she does, that this is why she was being so disobedient, she should always have her head on the vertical, etc. She proceded to take the reins and I cant remember what she did exactly but I think she was giving alternating squeezes on the reins to get Stars head down. Star has been taught this before so after backing up a little to try to get out of it she put her head down. Cari asked me to feel the pressure on the reins. I thought it was pretty extreeme pressure, but, OK, can I go now? She finished off by telling me that Star will be happier carying me if she rounds her back more, and that its not being mean to ask her to do it.

That may have irritated me most of all. I dont claim to know much, I really dont. I have my theories and my working assumptions, but I do know enough to understand that its not unfair or mean or anything to ask her to round her back. I do claim, and I said this to Cari, that she doesn't have the musculature to hold herself in frame for very long. Cari found this to be less than persuasive. I decided to not to go into my scheme of teaching Star to stretch low and then gradually having her be on the bit more and more often and for progressively more strides.

Cari coached me intermittently the rest of my ride. I will say, she did shame me into keeping Star straighter than I usually do. That was good, I needed that. Somewhere along the way though she did manage to make me feel bad that Star isn't further along than she is. Maybe thats what really bothered me the most.

Star is my first, my Guinea pig, probably my greatest teacher so far. I didn't fall off Star because her face wasn't on the vertical, I fell because Star figured out that I wasn't going to kick her butt the way I usually do, and because I hadn't really given her a good outlet for her energy even while asking her to pay attention and stay calm. Mea culpa.

I actually never had much of an idea where I was going with Star until I saw what Alyssa managed to turn Keno into. Keno is round, responsive, fit, he has impulsion, he collects, he is a pleasure to ride. So with help from Robert and Alyssa, I'm working on making Star a nice rounded, forward straight dressage horse.

We are ever so slowly working our way up the training scale. We are working on relaxation/suppleness. Mostly longitudinal relaxation. If she had any more lateral suppleness she'd be a pretzel. I want her to reach out for the bit, relax her jaw and her back (and her mind!.) Yes, I do periodically pick up the reins and ask for more contact from her back and from her mouth, when I get it for a few strides then I let it back out.

This means sometimes she's going to pop her head up and be resistant, and I'm going to do my best to help her choose to be relaxed. It will take a long time because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I really dont like being told to force rein contact on her. Not because I think its mean, I just don't think thats going to be the best way. It doesn't jive with what I have read about the training scale. Contact (which means more than just the reins!) comes after suppleness. Contact therefore is unlikely to create suppleness. At least thats my understanding.

I've watched Cari work with Xsarena when Xsarena gets upset. It involves a lot of alternating squeezing on the reins and low hands (oooh, and hillariously loud cursing.) Fine, whatever works for you. I dont claim my way is right, but its what I'm trying right now, and so far, I'm happy with it, thank you very much.

Ok, now that my rant is over, I have to say that Cari's little intervention was probably a net positive for me. It certainly galvanized me to be less laissez faire with Star. It prompted me to really think about why her advice bothered me and what my plan is. The attention was flattering, and there were times when Cari was pretty pleased with how Star was going, and they overlapped nicely with the moments when I was pleased, so that was nice re-enforcement and feedback for me to have. It was also very sweet of her to offer her expertice to help me out.

Off topic, Star's registered name: Starzmorific Sire: Kazmorafic (Dam: Freckles)