The Journey Continues...

 The Journey Continues...

Ellen's journey into deeper horsemanship this winter was very interesting to watch.  When she used to ride Ranger in the arena, he just did what he was going to do.  That isn't saying that he was a bad horse--not at all.  It just means that you were the passenger.  The rider could tell him where to go and at what gait, but he did it the way he wanted--at the speed he wanted.  He always looked lovely, but riding a horse like Ranger meant that the rider never had a chance to learn very much.

I was able to learn a lot with my horses, and they improved both my riding skills and my training skills.  When Ellen broke her ankle, and I had to take care of her horses for 6 weeks, I rode Ranger in the arena a few times.  When I did, I was just the passenger, too.  That was the sort of horse that he was.  

We miss him so much.

Fast forward a few years, and Ellen is riding Dante in the arena.  Dante is such a good horse that he likes to take care of Ellen.  He never wants her to be scared.  He learned to stop for her when he hears a noise that might spook her.  This worked out great, since Ellen wouldn't spook.  Ellen allowed it because she felt safer.

The problem is that Dante is also a smart horse who learns to twist things all around to his benefit.  Soon, he decided he had to stop for all distractions--and that standing still is the easiest thing to do.  This only happens in the indoor arena.  Out on the trail, he will stop on his own for some things, but not for everything like he does inside.

A few years back, Dante devolved into a horse that would barely walk in the arena.  Ellen had ridden him into the deep pit of frustration.  She worked hard to get him out.  Eventually, she could walk him all around, but trotting is a different story.  There was a time when she could only get a couple steps of trotting.  He is better, now, but he still stops way too much--and he is reluctant to start back up--though not even close to the way he used to be.

Dante is such a smart horse, that he learned to do this only with Ellen.  If I ride him, we can trot all about.  Even Kevin can ride him and keep him trotting.  This was something she had to work on all by herself.  I was just there to give her suggestions and encouragement--but not too much because he sometimes stops when he hears my voice.

One morning, Dante was particularly bad about stopping, but he was also acting odd.  He always gives you a warning that he is going to stop by lifting his head up.  Sometimes Ellen could give him some gas to keep him going, but this morning he was determined to stop.  Also, he was very tense and wouldn't go along the wall.  Something really seemed wrong.

The first thing that came to my mind was a tack problem, but Ellen assured me that he was tacked up correctly.  Then, we both wondered if he was hurting somehow.  I carefully watched him trotting--when she could get him trotting, and he appeared to be moving fine.

We wondered if there was something making him uneasy that we didn't know about, so we observed his behavior to see if there was some clue, but there wasn't.

Ellen kept him working, and in the end he started to get a little better.  By then, she was exhausted.  I told her that I would ride him to see if the problem was rider or horse related.  If it was horse related, I would have the same difficulties.

I started by riding him along the wall for a couple laps to get him focused on me.  He resisted in the beginning, but quickly gave up.  When I asked for a trot, he was a little slow in picking it up, and he did stall out a few times, but I just asked him to trot, again, and he did.  The problem was the rider.  (It usually is.)

As we went to the corner where he was most consistently stalling out on Ellen, I was on alert to see if there was something external that was disturbing him.  On the corner, he raised his head.  Now, Ellen gets worried when he raises his head because it might mean that he is afraid of something.  She tends to lean a little forward when he does.  When she leans forward, he stops because he thinks (or hopes) that she is scared.  

I wasn't concerned that he was afraid of anything.  I rode Cruiser for too many years.  The hardest thing with him was getting him to pay attention to me.  He was always lifting his head to look this way or that.  Sometimes he lifted his head up just to evade the bit, too.  He was half Arabian--and a high head was a very natural thing for him.  

When his head went up, I knew I had to hold my seat steady with my legs and core muscles.  If I didn't, I would slip down his back which became concave when his lifted his head.  I had to hold my position and then he would lower his head and lift his back up to me.

When we got it right, riding him was like a dream.  In fact, I still dream at night about riding him.  After a lot of work, he decided he liked it, too.  That is when he would try to get me into the proper position instead of the other way around.  I learned so much from him.

So when Dante's head went up, I did what I used to do with Cruiser--and his head went down--and he kept trotting.  Eureka!  We found it!

I showed Ellen what was happening, and she saw it with her own eyes.  The more I did this when his head went up, the less he tried.  Thank you Cruiser.

We quit for the day.

The next day that Ellen rode Dante, she had a plan.  She needed to teach her body to stay in position--not lean forward when his head went up.  Not only did she have to keep her back straight, but she needed to hold her body from slipping back.  It took her a bit to get the coordination.  When her back was straight, she felt like she was leaning way back.  It is funny how the body thinks that little changes are huge changes.

In about 15 minutes of working, Dante was barely trying to lift his head.  When he did, it wasn't hard for Ellen to maintain he seat and his head came right back down.  Ellen was trotting full laps and stopping when she got tired.  

They are on the brink of beginning trail riding season.  The nice thing about what she learned is that it is something that she can practice in on the trail for miles.  By next winter, she won't feel like she is leaning back when she is really riding straight.  Riding straight and keeping that position when Dante tries to knock her out of it will feel like normal to her.

Thank you Cruiser, once again.