I was really hoping to follow-up the success of bareback riding last night with a great lesson. I have to say I was not disappointed! It was super hot, even though we waited until 7pm, and Secret was feeling super lazy. But we started with (surprise, surprise) more circles!
First we were doing them in the corners... trotting the long side, walking, and circling in the corner. This was to work on trying to get her to do a nice, deep, 90o corner. After a few of these we started working on the bigger circles again trying to get her to bend around the inside leg. She is still having difficulty doing it perfectly, but I could feel that she was getting more responsive with less effort from me... my trainer commented on it as well! So we are definitely making good progress there.
We ended, as usual, with some canter work. This took awhile because it was so hot that Secret got tired pretty quickly. So, we cantered a few laps to the left. Then had to stop and rest before going to the right. I've known for awhile that I ride heavy on the left. To compensate for it, I tend to drop my right shoulder and lean my upper body slightly to the right. It's not so obvious when we're cantering to the left, but that is Secret's bad side (she doesn't like picking up that lead). So tonight, when we started going to the right, my trainer stopped me and started giving me tips on how to be more even. Of all the things she told me I found that the most effective was to really try to turn not just my upper body but my hips as well when I was looking through the turn. A few of the other tips that she gave me were: stretch the right heel way down, lengthen from the waist to the top of the rib cage on the right. I found that when I was focusing on looking through my turns, turning my upper body AND hips, and bending my horse with my legs I had NO time to focus on being scared of panicked of actually cantering! What a difference that made! Here's another shocker: when I wasn't panicking, my horse didn't get fast!
It's also very comforting to know that if I sit really deep and say "whoa", my horse will immediately transition down. I find that knowing that relaxes me and encourages me to sit down in the saddle rather than get tense.
We didn't have any "perfect" canters tonight, but we did have several really good ones. We started to Secret's bad side (the left), then went to the right, then back to the left. On the last few passes to the left, Secret was getting really tired and was having a hard time picking up the correct lead. So I kept cueing in, breaking to the trot, and cueing in again until she got the correct lead and then let her stop and walked her out.
So, to summarize the progress we made this lesson:
(1) More responsive to leg and bending better.
(2) Responding nicely to seat for downward transitions. Not so much from walk to stop, but definitely from canter to trot and trot to walk.
(3) My seat at the canter is getting much better.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Small Victories
I've been bad :-( I haven't ridden since my last lesson. My excuses are (1) I've been super busy at work and (2) It's been ungodly hot outside! Even for Georgia the heat and humidity have been awful and it came on awfully fast.
I was supposed to have a lesson this morning, but was asked to reschedule until tomorrow evening -- fine by me! So, I went out around 7pm tonight to get some riding in. It was way too hot to deal with a saddle so I just put the bareback pad on and hopped on. After two laps of a warm-up walk, I started trotting her. She's back to doing her cowboy jog that I love so much, VERY easy to sit. I started asking her to stop with my seat and she wasn't listening very well so I did the tight circles that I described in my previous post. After three of those each way she was listening to my seat and the voice command "whoa". So, I trotted her straight down the rail, sat back, said "whoa" and she immediately dropped to a walk. We repeated that a few times until I was satisfied.
Then I started trying to practice the bending circles. This is HARD without a saddle (at least for me)! But it was VERY good practice for improving my seat and my balance. I only did a few of these because I was distracted... my friend who was riding with me was cantering her horse around the outside of the arena while I was working on my circles.
Watching her I SO BADLY wanted to canter too. I trotted a few more times just to make sure that I felt super comfortable with my seat at that gait, then I told my friend, "I'm gonna canter a few strides... don't laugh when I fall." So I came around past the gate and gave the canter cue. It was SO cute, Secret flicked her ears back at me and I felt her hesitate as though she was asking, "Are you SURE?" So I gave the cue again and off we went! I got three GREAT strides before I panicked, looked down at the rail and thought, "I'll break several bones if I fall and hit that!" At which point I grabbed mane and said, "whoa!" Secret immediately transitioned down to a walk (I knew she loved me!).
Given my fears surrounding the canter, this was more than a small victory for me. I feel ecstatic, like I'm really making progress again. I remember this time last year when I did the same thing with the trot; trot four steps and stop, trot another four steps and stop, repeat. So, I feel like if I keep being brave and cantering bareback, if only just for 3-4 strides at a time, then I'll soon feel as comfortable at the canter as I do at the trot. In the meantime, Secret will be coming along and learning new things as well. For the first time in a long time, after several months of dejection, I feel like we are closer to our goals than ever!
I was supposed to have a lesson this morning, but was asked to reschedule until tomorrow evening -- fine by me! So, I went out around 7pm tonight to get some riding in. It was way too hot to deal with a saddle so I just put the bareback pad on and hopped on. After two laps of a warm-up walk, I started trotting her. She's back to doing her cowboy jog that I love so much, VERY easy to sit. I started asking her to stop with my seat and she wasn't listening very well so I did the tight circles that I described in my previous post. After three of those each way she was listening to my seat and the voice command "whoa". So, I trotted her straight down the rail, sat back, said "whoa" and she immediately dropped to a walk. We repeated that a few times until I was satisfied.
Then I started trying to practice the bending circles. This is HARD without a saddle (at least for me)! But it was VERY good practice for improving my seat and my balance. I only did a few of these because I was distracted... my friend who was riding with me was cantering her horse around the outside of the arena while I was working on my circles.
Watching her I SO BADLY wanted to canter too. I trotted a few more times just to make sure that I felt super comfortable with my seat at that gait, then I told my friend, "I'm gonna canter a few strides... don't laugh when I fall." So I came around past the gate and gave the canter cue. It was SO cute, Secret flicked her ears back at me and I felt her hesitate as though she was asking, "Are you SURE?" So I gave the cue again and off we went! I got three GREAT strides before I panicked, looked down at the rail and thought, "I'll break several bones if I fall and hit that!" At which point I grabbed mane and said, "whoa!" Secret immediately transitioned down to a walk (I knew she loved me!).
Given my fears surrounding the canter, this was more than a small victory for me. I feel ecstatic, like I'm really making progress again. I remember this time last year when I did the same thing with the trot; trot four steps and stop, trot another four steps and stop, repeat. So, I feel like if I keep being brave and cantering bareback, if only just for 3-4 strides at a time, then I'll soon feel as comfortable at the canter as I do at the trot. In the meantime, Secret will be coming along and learning new things as well. For the first time in a long time, after several months of dejection, I feel like we are closer to our goals than ever!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Back to Lessons
This was my second lesson in the hackmore and since the chiropractors visit. I had told my trainer that I had decided I just didn't have the time to devote to making Secret into any kind of show horse and I wanted to spend all of the time that I do have just enjoying riding. So, we've been working on riding on a loose rein nice and relaxed, teaching her to neck-rein, bending, and balancing.
First thing we worked on was an exercise to help with getting her to stop off of seat and voice as opposed to pulling back on her face. Basically we turned a tight circle until I felt like she was wanting to stop, then I relaxed my legs and seat and said "whoa". Again, this might sound crazy-rita, but its working. At the very end of the lesson I cantered her a few laps and when I wanted to stop I just relaxed and said "whoa"... didn't even have to move my hands, she just stopped. Awesome! Homework is ten of these circles in each direction.
The next thing was working on actually getting her to bend. We did bigger (10-15meter) circles trying to get her to bend around my inside leg. So, I had to keep weight on my inside leg, move my outside leg back, turn my upper body pretty much all the way around without dropping either shoulder, and then micro-manage her -- moving her off first one leg then the other -- all the way around the turn. We did this for probably 30minutes and my legs were killing me!!! But, by the end she was actually bending really nicely, so that's homework too!
We ended the lesson with some canter work. We had done our trot work outside in the big arena, but I'm still too scared to canter out there. I had asked my trainer to get on and canter her outside, which she did, and we concurred that she is still too bouncy and pulls a little too much near the gate for me to go for it out there yet. So,we moved back into the smaller indoor arena for canter work. It was actually really nice! She is picking up on the transition cues right away now, instead of 8-10 strides away. She's still bouncy, but getting better I think. My trainer had recommended sitting a "half-seat", which is basically just forward in the saddle with ~70% of your weight in your stirrups... it's like half-way between full seat and two-point. I felt like I moved and bounced more, but since most of my weight was in the stirrup I wasn't really slamming down on her back. It was actually alot more secure for me and I wasn't as scared. We only worked in the counter-clockwise direction, Secret's good direction, but the last canter was "perfect" (a direct quote from my trainer!) right down to the "whoa". So we decided to end on a really good note!
First thing we worked on was an exercise to help with getting her to stop off of seat and voice as opposed to pulling back on her face. Basically we turned a tight circle until I felt like she was wanting to stop, then I relaxed my legs and seat and said "whoa". Again, this might sound crazy-rita, but its working. At the very end of the lesson I cantered her a few laps and when I wanted to stop I just relaxed and said "whoa"... didn't even have to move my hands, she just stopped. Awesome! Homework is ten of these circles in each direction.
The next thing was working on actually getting her to bend. We did bigger (10-15meter) circles trying to get her to bend around my inside leg. So, I had to keep weight on my inside leg, move my outside leg back, turn my upper body pretty much all the way around without dropping either shoulder, and then micro-manage her -- moving her off first one leg then the other -- all the way around the turn. We did this for probably 30minutes and my legs were killing me!!! But, by the end she was actually bending really nicely, so that's homework too!
We ended the lesson with some canter work. We had done our trot work outside in the big arena, but I'm still too scared to canter out there. I had asked my trainer to get on and canter her outside, which she did, and we concurred that she is still too bouncy and pulls a little too much near the gate for me to go for it out there yet. So,we moved back into the smaller indoor arena for canter work. It was actually really nice! She is picking up on the transition cues right away now, instead of 8-10 strides away. She's still bouncy, but getting better I think. My trainer had recommended sitting a "half-seat", which is basically just forward in the saddle with ~70% of your weight in your stirrups... it's like half-way between full seat and two-point. I felt like I moved and bounced more, but since most of my weight was in the stirrup I wasn't really slamming down on her back. It was actually alot more secure for me and I wasn't as scared. We only worked in the counter-clockwise direction, Secret's good direction, but the last canter was "perfect" (a direct quote from my trainer!) right down to the "whoa". So we decided to end on a really good note!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Improving my seat
Because Secret spent so many months working totally off her front end because of a twisted pelvis, I'm trying to really be concious of getting her back on her hind end and re-building those atrophied muscles. I saw an episode of Downunder Horsemanship on RFD-TV the other day (I DVR all of these people... I don't sit at home and wait for them. DVR is the way to go BTW, by skipping the commercials these half-hour shows are done in 10 min!). Anyway, it was showing a more intermediate "lunging-for-respect" excercise where you make the horse do roll-backs to change direction. I thought it looked like I could kill two birds with one stone -- "lunge-for-respect" and get her working on the back. So I've tried it twice now and I'm actually pretty pleased. Yesterday she got herself all worked up because she's not used to being asked to do something so abruptly. But, even though she was upset and it took me ~15min to get her to just walk again, she was doing lovely roll-backs! So I think her pelvis is feeling better! I'll continue to do this exercise.
After I let her cool off from all that, I put the bareback pad on. I figured it would be a good day to work on my seat since she'd already tired herself out some. I've always heard, and its been my experience, that bareback riding is great for developing an independent seat and balance. Well, I must have been doing something right these last few months because last time I rode in the bareback pad the forward trot was a terrifying thing! Yesterday we trotted/jogged in the indoor arena for a few laps and I felt so good about it that I was adventurous enough to go out to the big outdoor arena (the one without a gate!) and trot out there. Even when she hit the forward trot, making a B-line for the exit, and we had to argue a bit about staying inside the arena on the rail as opposed to actually exiting, I still felt pretty secure. That was really great! I see alot more bareback riding in our future. I really won't be happy until I can feel comfortable cantering bareback!
Again, I know this sounds crazy-rita, but I really feel alot closer to my horse after the whole animal communicator thing. Yesterday I really felt like she was taking care of me... I don't know if I've ever felt that before. It was awesome. Now, this could all be psychosomatic... all in my head... but the reality is that, even if it is all in my head, it's improved my confidence (which is shaky at best) and made me love riding again. So, whether its real or imagined, its made all the difference and that's well worth $40 to me!
After I let her cool off from all that, I put the bareback pad on. I figured it would be a good day to work on my seat since she'd already tired herself out some. I've always heard, and its been my experience, that bareback riding is great for developing an independent seat and balance. Well, I must have been doing something right these last few months because last time I rode in the bareback pad the forward trot was a terrifying thing! Yesterday we trotted/jogged in the indoor arena for a few laps and I felt so good about it that I was adventurous enough to go out to the big outdoor arena (the one without a gate!) and trot out there. Even when she hit the forward trot, making a B-line for the exit, and we had to argue a bit about staying inside the arena on the rail as opposed to actually exiting, I still felt pretty secure. That was really great! I see alot more bareback riding in our future. I really won't be happy until I can feel comfortable cantering bareback!
Again, I know this sounds crazy-rita, but I really feel alot closer to my horse after the whole animal communicator thing. Yesterday I really felt like she was taking care of me... I don't know if I've ever felt that before. It was awesome. Now, this could all be psychosomatic... all in my head... but the reality is that, even if it is all in my head, it's improved my confidence (which is shaky at best) and made me love riding again. So, whether its real or imagined, its made all the difference and that's well worth $40 to me!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Gonna be some changes made!
There have been HUGE changes in my life since my last visit.
(1) I cut ALL of the narcissists out of my life. It's amazing how much time that has created for me to just be me!
(2) I'm switching trainers and methods and all kinds of things.
(3) I had an animal communicator talk to Secret and found out what was wrong.
(4) Got Secret FIXED!!!
So, the animal communicator... sounds crazy right? I found this woman totally by accident, reading a bunch of articles on a puppy in NJ who had been starved then thrown 22 stories down a garbage chute and survived. They had had an animal communicator call and "talk" to him. I thought it was fascinating so I started reading up and came across Colleen Nicholson who has some great reviews on horse forums. She charges $40 for 20min and I figured it was worth that much just for the story... I was obviously skeptical. Anyway, I set up the appointment and she calls. She was DEAD ON about alot of things! I said to her, "I really want to know what's wrong with her leg." I intentionally didn't say which one. She replies, "Oh! Is this the right hind?" NO WAY!!! Thats a 25% chance if she's guessing. She told me that Secret said that she had fallen and twisted her pelvis so now the right side is higher than the left side and that's why she's lame. I thought, OK, we'll see about that. I went online and found an equine chiropractor in my area who had GREAT recommendations and references (Dr. Heidi Bockhold, if anyone is interested). She came out last Thursday and worked on Secret. I didn't tell her what the animal communicator had said, instead I just told her that I thought something was up because her canter had been super bouncy and forward lately. That's when she said, "Oh, well its probably because her pelvis is so twisted. The right side is higher thant he left so she really can't work off her back end." NO WAY! It was all I could to keep my mouth from falling open. I'm not saying I believe it, I'm not saying I don't believe it, I'm just saying.
Secret is still a little sore from her adjustment, probably because she was twisted so badly. But she is doing SO much better! Even her trot is better and her attitude is GREATLY improved... probably because she's not in pain anymore!
The animal communicator also said, "Secret wants me to tell you, and she knows you're not going to like it, but she really likes pink." I HATE PINK "But, she says that she looks really good in Burgandy." That's true. "So she feels like that's a good compromise." Ok, fine, I went out and bought a burgandy headstall and saddle pad and told her that she damn well better like it! Maybe that's part of the reason her attitude has improved too???
I also got rid of the bit and the indian bosal. The bit had zero stopping power when she really gets upset. The bosal had no release when she was being good. So, I went to the tack store and spent an hour asking a whole bunch of stupid questions. I finally left with a Jim Warner Hackamore. Its a mechanical hackamore and so has the potential to be very harsh. But, I really want to see her riding on a loose rein and starting to neck rein. Not very English I know, but I'm kinda over the pretentiousness and just want to have fun with my horse. I may be converting to western (GASP!!!!), we'll see. So, I've ridden her in it twice now and I think she goes really well in it. I'm hardly ever touching her face, but when she does something stupid (like spins and bolts because a mini-horse scared her!) the hack has plenty of force to stop her. I'm trying to teach her neck reining and stopping off my seat. Its slow progress, but she's coming along.
I'm thinking about going to see a Ranch Versatility Horse trainer for some lessons or just to see what it's like. I think Secret might like it better as it is more mental stimulation doing different things. I also think it just looks fun... and it doesn't require leaving the ground, which becomes more important to me the older I get. We'll see.
Either way I am back to having fun with my OWN horse. You have no idea how much of a relief that has been!
(1) I cut ALL of the narcissists out of my life. It's amazing how much time that has created for me to just be me!
(2) I'm switching trainers and methods and all kinds of things.
(3) I had an animal communicator talk to Secret and found out what was wrong.
(4) Got Secret FIXED!!!
So, the animal communicator... sounds crazy right? I found this woman totally by accident, reading a bunch of articles on a puppy in NJ who had been starved then thrown 22 stories down a garbage chute and survived. They had had an animal communicator call and "talk" to him. I thought it was fascinating so I started reading up and came across Colleen Nicholson who has some great reviews on horse forums. She charges $40 for 20min and I figured it was worth that much just for the story... I was obviously skeptical. Anyway, I set up the appointment and she calls. She was DEAD ON about alot of things! I said to her, "I really want to know what's wrong with her leg." I intentionally didn't say which one. She replies, "Oh! Is this the right hind?" NO WAY!!! Thats a 25% chance if she's guessing. She told me that Secret said that she had fallen and twisted her pelvis so now the right side is higher than the left side and that's why she's lame. I thought, OK, we'll see about that. I went online and found an equine chiropractor in my area who had GREAT recommendations and references (Dr. Heidi Bockhold, if anyone is interested). She came out last Thursday and worked on Secret. I didn't tell her what the animal communicator had said, instead I just told her that I thought something was up because her canter had been super bouncy and forward lately. That's when she said, "Oh, well its probably because her pelvis is so twisted. The right side is higher thant he left so she really can't work off her back end." NO WAY! It was all I could to keep my mouth from falling open. I'm not saying I believe it, I'm not saying I don't believe it, I'm just saying.
Secret is still a little sore from her adjustment, probably because she was twisted so badly. But she is doing SO much better! Even her trot is better and her attitude is GREATLY improved... probably because she's not in pain anymore!
The animal communicator also said, "Secret wants me to tell you, and she knows you're not going to like it, but she really likes pink." I HATE PINK "But, she says that she looks really good in Burgandy." That's true. "So she feels like that's a good compromise." Ok, fine, I went out and bought a burgandy headstall and saddle pad and told her that she damn well better like it! Maybe that's part of the reason her attitude has improved too???
I also got rid of the bit and the indian bosal. The bit had zero stopping power when she really gets upset. The bosal had no release when she was being good. So, I went to the tack store and spent an hour asking a whole bunch of stupid questions. I finally left with a Jim Warner Hackamore. Its a mechanical hackamore and so has the potential to be very harsh. But, I really want to see her riding on a loose rein and starting to neck rein. Not very English I know, but I'm kinda over the pretentiousness and just want to have fun with my horse. I may be converting to western (GASP!!!!), we'll see. So, I've ridden her in it twice now and I think she goes really well in it. I'm hardly ever touching her face, but when she does something stupid (like spins and bolts because a mini-horse scared her!) the hack has plenty of force to stop her. I'm trying to teach her neck reining and stopping off my seat. Its slow progress, but she's coming along.
I'm thinking about going to see a Ranch Versatility Horse trainer for some lessons or just to see what it's like. I think Secret might like it better as it is more mental stimulation doing different things. I also think it just looks fun... and it doesn't require leaving the ground, which becomes more important to me the older I get. We'll see.
Either way I am back to having fun with my OWN horse. You have no idea how much of a relief that has been!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Kahlua Update
While my horse is being stupid, Kahlua is really coming along!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXNSEQBACX8
She's trotting willingly, as you can see in the video. Not shown in the video is her donig a medium trot, a working trot, AND and extended trot all very well. She's bending, doing circles and serpentines in the trot. The change in her is unbelievable.
I feel kinda guilty though because I feel like I ride better on her than I do on my own horse. I also feel guilty because I feel like I should spend more time riding my own horse than this one (its pretty equal right now), but this one doesn't scare me as much, which is kinda strange considering THIS is the one that had a serious bucking problem not to mention her sour attitude.
Who knew that riding horses as a hobby could create such an emotional mess!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXNSEQBACX8
She's trotting willingly, as you can see in the video. Not shown in the video is her donig a medium trot, a working trot, AND and extended trot all very well. She's bending, doing circles and serpentines in the trot. The change in her is unbelievable.
I feel kinda guilty though because I feel like I ride better on her than I do on my own horse. I also feel guilty because I feel like I should spend more time riding my own horse than this one (its pretty equal right now), but this one doesn't scare me as much, which is kinda strange considering THIS is the one that had a serious bucking problem not to mention her sour attitude.
Who knew that riding horses as a hobby could create such an emotional mess!
Time will tell
So, I've been MIA for awhile. We've hit some major hurdles. I had never ridden my horse with enough consistency to be aware of all the holes in her training, which have now become painfully obvious. In three weeks, I've been dumped three times.
The first time was a trail ride with some friends who are total beginners (three lessons under their belt). They were on dead-broke horses as was their instructor and yet somehow I ended up as the lead rider. My horse is wanting to run and so we're fighting about it. At about that same moment, the dog rushes out of the bushes to our right. Secret went sideways and I didn't. Now, there was nothing strange about that as she's always had problems with dogs and a year ago would have been back at the barn by the time I got up. So, I let that one slide.
The second time we were out on the trail really close to the barn alone. I don't like riding alone because you never know what can happen. But, I also think its important for her to be willing to go out alone. We were cantering along when all of sudden she just got really bouncy and really fast. It wasn't a nice canter, it wasn't a gallop, maybe she was cross-firing, I don't know. But off I went and she ran back to the barn without me. First time ever. B!^*H!!!! So I walked back to the barn, got on her, and went back out. We just walked and trotted the second time and all was well so I thought we were ok.
The third time was at the end of a trail ride, my friend and I were cooling down in the arena and she started cantering her horse. Well, maybe Secret thought it was a race because she took off like a rocket in that same super-bouncy whatever-it-is that she's been doing and I couldn't get her stopped. I tried pulling back and saying "whoa", which had no effect and I was too off-balance to one-rein stop her. So I just grabbed mane and held on as best I could. When she slid to a stop at the gate I kinda rolled off and hit the gate on the way down.
Well at this point I'm super frustrated. So, I ask my friend, who's been riding longer and alot better than me, to get on her and canter her. She was able to go exactly two laps before she was huffing and puffing and begging to get off. Apparently my horse wants to go into QH racing because she absolutely will NOT do the nice steady canter that was part of the reason I bought her in the first place!
My biggest concerns are (1) I can't define exactly what the problem is and (2) I don't believe that my seat at the canter is secure enough to fix it. The obvious answer seems to be to pay a better rider to fix it, but I've been the only one to ride this horse and fix her issues since I got her and I really don't want any one else to ride her. So, I'm caught between my fear and my pride I guess.
I thought that maybe it was a respect issue. Maybe integrating into this new herd, she's having a moment of trying to re-evaluate who's alpha in our relationship. So, yesterday I went back to the ground work. She moved off when I asked, lunged on-line, changed direction, free-lunged... although the free-lunging is where we ran into problems. Our arena doesn't have an actual gate, just a rope where the gate should be. So, on her first pass of free-lunging at the canter/gallop/crazy run-away, she jumped the rope and ran back to her pasture. I went and got her and put the rope up higher. On the second pass, she realized she couldn't jump it so she just ran through it and ripped it down. I realized this rope thing wasn't going to work. So, a friend helped me move three jump standards and two barrels into the gate opening. On the third pass, she sized that up and decided it wasn't worth it so I finally got her to go a whole lap. Then I changed her direction a few times. By now she's breathing hard, so I squat down and say "whoa" and she finally comes over and "joins up" following me around without the lead.
I hope that we are making some progress, but I guess I won't really know until next time. I also think that I just need to be more consistent with discipline. She's such a good natured horse, never ugly or mean, that I've always let her get away with alot and don't correct her until its pretty aggregious. I think she's realized that and is now taking advantage so yesterday I was really adamant about making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard EVERY TIME. There was alot of lip smacking going on so I think time will tell.
The first time was a trail ride with some friends who are total beginners (three lessons under their belt). They were on dead-broke horses as was their instructor and yet somehow I ended up as the lead rider. My horse is wanting to run and so we're fighting about it. At about that same moment, the dog rushes out of the bushes to our right. Secret went sideways and I didn't. Now, there was nothing strange about that as she's always had problems with dogs and a year ago would have been back at the barn by the time I got up. So, I let that one slide.
The second time we were out on the trail really close to the barn alone. I don't like riding alone because you never know what can happen. But, I also think its important for her to be willing to go out alone. We were cantering along when all of sudden she just got really bouncy and really fast. It wasn't a nice canter, it wasn't a gallop, maybe she was cross-firing, I don't know. But off I went and she ran back to the barn without me. First time ever. B!^*H!!!! So I walked back to the barn, got on her, and went back out. We just walked and trotted the second time and all was well so I thought we were ok.
The third time was at the end of a trail ride, my friend and I were cooling down in the arena and she started cantering her horse. Well, maybe Secret thought it was a race because she took off like a rocket in that same super-bouncy whatever-it-is that she's been doing and I couldn't get her stopped. I tried pulling back and saying "whoa", which had no effect and I was too off-balance to one-rein stop her. So I just grabbed mane and held on as best I could. When she slid to a stop at the gate I kinda rolled off and hit the gate on the way down.
Well at this point I'm super frustrated. So, I ask my friend, who's been riding longer and alot better than me, to get on her and canter her. She was able to go exactly two laps before she was huffing and puffing and begging to get off. Apparently my horse wants to go into QH racing because she absolutely will NOT do the nice steady canter that was part of the reason I bought her in the first place!
My biggest concerns are (1) I can't define exactly what the problem is and (2) I don't believe that my seat at the canter is secure enough to fix it. The obvious answer seems to be to pay a better rider to fix it, but I've been the only one to ride this horse and fix her issues since I got her and I really don't want any one else to ride her. So, I'm caught between my fear and my pride I guess.
I thought that maybe it was a respect issue. Maybe integrating into this new herd, she's having a moment of trying to re-evaluate who's alpha in our relationship. So, yesterday I went back to the ground work. She moved off when I asked, lunged on-line, changed direction, free-lunged... although the free-lunging is where we ran into problems. Our arena doesn't have an actual gate, just a rope where the gate should be. So, on her first pass of free-lunging at the canter/gallop/crazy run-away, she jumped the rope and ran back to her pasture. I went and got her and put the rope up higher. On the second pass, she realized she couldn't jump it so she just ran through it and ripped it down. I realized this rope thing wasn't going to work. So, a friend helped me move three jump standards and two barrels into the gate opening. On the third pass, she sized that up and decided it wasn't worth it so I finally got her to go a whole lap. Then I changed her direction a few times. By now she's breathing hard, so I squat down and say "whoa" and she finally comes over and "joins up" following me around without the lead.
I hope that we are making some progress, but I guess I won't really know until next time. I also think that I just need to be more consistent with discipline. She's such a good natured horse, never ugly or mean, that I've always let her get away with alot and don't correct her until its pretty aggregious. I think she's realized that and is now taking advantage so yesterday I was really adamant about making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard EVERY TIME. There was alot of lip smacking going on so I think time will tell.
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