I haven't had as much time as I've wanted to spend with Matilda the last couple of weeks. I'm always running late or find myself engrossed in barn conversation and fitting in a ride. My focus has been on making sure that I spend more time working her, riding for more than an hour at a time in preparation for an increased work load, which has meant quick grooming sessions and no hanging out.
Today I made it to the barn on time and was able to give Matilda the entire 3 hours that I had designated as 'Matilda time.'
There were no lessons going on, so I took her in the ring and tied her lead rope around her neck so that I wouldn't have to hold it and it wouldn't drag on the ground. We played. We walked side by side together. We walked over poles and crossrails, well I jumped and she plodded over them. She trotted next to me as I jogged. I don't remember her doing that before today. When I've tried it in the past, we wound up looking like this:
We (almost) fearlessly investigated a black snake crossing one corner of the ring. I was more nervous than she was. (She really was quite curious but I couldn't see a happy ending to that scenario.) And as we jogged/trotted around the arena, a bunny raced full speed past us across that same end of the ring but it did not phase my girl. I'm not sure she even noticed it.
I started working with her on grazing politely. I never,ever graze her, you know, because she is so bad about pulling people around for food. Today, we would walk up to the grass and when she stopped attempting to yank her head down out of my hands, I would reach down, pull some grass up and offer it to her to eat out of my hand. After that she was permitted to gently lower her head and eat a little. It was a start.
The best part was when I did some yoga poses "with" her. I wasn't really practicing yoga, I just wanted to see how she would respond to me moving through a few poses in front of her. It was hilarious. She was so confused! I could see her trying to figure out what I was asking her to do and fitting some of the things she knew into what she saw me doing.
When I did a Forward Fold (bending over to touch my toes, basically), she bent her head down to the ground just how I taught her to stretch her neck. When I did a side lunge into Warrior 2 at her, she backed up and side stepped. She would check my hands for treats but when I aimed a Warrior 2 at her with a treat in my hand, she just kept backing up! Eventually, I had to break the pose and walk up to her and put the treat into her mouth in order for her to take it because every time I inched a little closer and said, "c'mon, just take it" in the pose, she backed up :) Good girl!
The best was a yoga pose called 'triangle' which involves sticking one hand in the air. She sort of took in the pose for a bit then picked up one foot! We haven't done that one in a long time. Cracked me up and I couldn't resist rewarding her. I can hardly wait to try it again! :D
And the ride...
I had to give her a couple of correctional taps on the shoulder for disobedience. Collapsing in with that right shoulder even though my right leg and left hand (remember them from a couple of posts ago?) were doing their jobs. It took me more than one correctional tap before I realized I was holding just as much (if not more) with the right rein as I was with the left. It got me to thinking about how I treat people outside of the ring: over-criticizing or correcting others for faults that are my own. Will I ever learn these lessons?
In any event, after our transition work and some long breaks to watch tiny girls in their lessons, we got down to business. Not long ago I asked Matilda for a left lead canter, a canter on our good side. We cantered around the entire ring once. It got a little rushy about half way through but it was never completely out of control and I was able to bring her down to the trot easily. I was not comfortable asking for another canter that day, however.
Today, again after a lot of preliminary transition and balancing work, I asked for my problematic (emphasis on MY) right lead canter. With those aids that I've been focusing on in place, she picked it up beautifully! There are a few things in particular that I would like to note, for myself as much as for anyone left reading this thing:
1. Head shakes. There were none. Matilda's upward canter transitions often include her pulling her head down and shaking it. To me, this indicates a sense of leaning into the chest and front legs, being out of balance, sort of frolicking with me along for the ride. Today the head dropped as she stretched into the canter but not a sense of yanking and no shakes.
2. Control. As we cantered around the ring I felt in control. I could add leg or half halts to adjust speed and make adjustments in my rein aids for steering and balance support. It was the same feel I had on that left rein canter that I asked for not too long ago. It's a change from the "along for the ride" feeling that I've had in the past.
3. Faster pick-up. I used to ask her to canter 2-4 times before she would actually do it. Today (as well as a few days ago) the canter was there the first time I asked for it, within a few steps of asking.
4. Shorter runs. Her canter, when it feels right, makes me so happy I tend to push her through it until it just sort of falls apart. Right now that happens after one lap around the ring. I need to discipline myself to half ring runs so that I am in control of the upward transition, downward transition and every step in between. I need to start teaching her to wait until I ask her to down shift into the trot. I can build slowly from there. The transitions will teach us both so much.
I ended our work with figure eights that included 4-6 steps of canter on both ends. All beautiful!
Our cool down period consisted of some bareback riding, admittedly not my favorite thing. It is something of a novelty but it does require serious balance. It's a nice way to relax and connect with the horse. (Talk about feeling the movement!)
Back into the barn we went, where I sponged her off with cool water before putting her into a stall to finish cooling down before giving her lunch. I love to put her in a stall where I can sit on a bench right next to the door. I offered her dill pickle potato chips (which she does not like, fyi) and she pulled a halter and lead rope off it's peg and tossed it on my head. All mixed in with nuzzles, conversation and laughter (on my part at least).
As I took her back out to her paddock, down the grass lined path, I stopped to see if she retained any of the polite grazing lessons that we had gone over earlier. She stopped and tilted her head toward me, not bending to the grass at all. I leaned over and pulled some up to give to her before we continued on our way.
If I have any complaint about today it is that there was still not enough time. There is something quite profound about the horse/human relationship. I end a day like today feeling full to overflowing. It's a feeling I wish I could convey to my students and countless others but it is not quite expressible. I don't understand why riders settle for walk, trot, canter, jump when there is so much more of a connection with life to experience.
I feel like I could write heaps more, but why? You get the gist of the day, of our time, and I have to get up early in the morning. I was tremendously blessed today. I hope for more days like it and pray for patience to get through all the others. The End.
Today I made it to the barn on time and was able to give Matilda the entire 3 hours that I had designated as 'Matilda time.'
There were no lessons going on, so I took her in the ring and tied her lead rope around her neck so that I wouldn't have to hold it and it wouldn't drag on the ground. We played. We walked side by side together. We walked over poles and crossrails, well I jumped and she plodded over them. She trotted next to me as I jogged. I don't remember her doing that before today. When I've tried it in the past, we wound up looking like this:
We (almost) fearlessly investigated a black snake crossing one corner of the ring. I was more nervous than she was. (She really was quite curious but I couldn't see a happy ending to that scenario.) And as we jogged/trotted around the arena, a bunny raced full speed past us across that same end of the ring but it did not phase my girl. I'm not sure she even noticed it.
I started working with her on grazing politely. I never,ever graze her, you know, because she is so bad about pulling people around for food. Today, we would walk up to the grass and when she stopped attempting to yank her head down out of my hands, I would reach down, pull some grass up and offer it to her to eat out of my hand. After that she was permitted to gently lower her head and eat a little. It was a start.
The best part was when I did some yoga poses "with" her. I wasn't really practicing yoga, I just wanted to see how she would respond to me moving through a few poses in front of her. It was hilarious. She was so confused! I could see her trying to figure out what I was asking her to do and fitting some of the things she knew into what she saw me doing.
When I did a Forward Fold (bending over to touch my toes, basically), she bent her head down to the ground just how I taught her to stretch her neck. When I did a side lunge into Warrior 2 at her, she backed up and side stepped. She would check my hands for treats but when I aimed a Warrior 2 at her with a treat in my hand, she just kept backing up! Eventually, I had to break the pose and walk up to her and put the treat into her mouth in order for her to take it because every time I inched a little closer and said, "c'mon, just take it" in the pose, she backed up :) Good girl!
The best was a yoga pose called 'triangle' which involves sticking one hand in the air. She sort of took in the pose for a bit then picked up one foot! We haven't done that one in a long time. Cracked me up and I couldn't resist rewarding her. I can hardly wait to try it again! :D
And the ride...
I had to give her a couple of correctional taps on the shoulder for disobedience. Collapsing in with that right shoulder even though my right leg and left hand (remember them from a couple of posts ago?) were doing their jobs. It took me more than one correctional tap before I realized I was holding just as much (if not more) with the right rein as I was with the left. It got me to thinking about how I treat people outside of the ring: over-criticizing or correcting others for faults that are my own. Will I ever learn these lessons?
In any event, after our transition work and some long breaks to watch tiny girls in their lessons, we got down to business. Not long ago I asked Matilda for a left lead canter, a canter on our good side. We cantered around the entire ring once. It got a little rushy about half way through but it was never completely out of control and I was able to bring her down to the trot easily. I was not comfortable asking for another canter that day, however.
Today, again after a lot of preliminary transition and balancing work, I asked for my problematic (emphasis on MY) right lead canter. With those aids that I've been focusing on in place, she picked it up beautifully! There are a few things in particular that I would like to note, for myself as much as for anyone left reading this thing:
1. Head shakes. There were none. Matilda's upward canter transitions often include her pulling her head down and shaking it. To me, this indicates a sense of leaning into the chest and front legs, being out of balance, sort of frolicking with me along for the ride. Today the head dropped as she stretched into the canter but not a sense of yanking and no shakes.
2. Control. As we cantered around the ring I felt in control. I could add leg or half halts to adjust speed and make adjustments in my rein aids for steering and balance support. It was the same feel I had on that left rein canter that I asked for not too long ago. It's a change from the "along for the ride" feeling that I've had in the past.
3. Faster pick-up. I used to ask her to canter 2-4 times before she would actually do it. Today (as well as a few days ago) the canter was there the first time I asked for it, within a few steps of asking.
4. Shorter runs. Her canter, when it feels right, makes me so happy I tend to push her through it until it just sort of falls apart. Right now that happens after one lap around the ring. I need to discipline myself to half ring runs so that I am in control of the upward transition, downward transition and every step in between. I need to start teaching her to wait until I ask her to down shift into the trot. I can build slowly from there. The transitions will teach us both so much.
I ended our work with figure eights that included 4-6 steps of canter on both ends. All beautiful!
Our cool down period consisted of some bareback riding, admittedly not my favorite thing. It is something of a novelty but it does require serious balance. It's a nice way to relax and connect with the horse. (Talk about feeling the movement!)
Back into the barn we went, where I sponged her off with cool water before putting her into a stall to finish cooling down before giving her lunch. I love to put her in a stall where I can sit on a bench right next to the door. I offered her dill pickle potato chips (which she does not like, fyi) and she pulled a halter and lead rope off it's peg and tossed it on my head. All mixed in with nuzzles, conversation and laughter (on my part at least).
As I took her back out to her paddock, down the grass lined path, I stopped to see if she retained any of the polite grazing lessons that we had gone over earlier. She stopped and tilted her head toward me, not bending to the grass at all. I leaned over and pulled some up to give to her before we continued on our way.
If I have any complaint about today it is that there was still not enough time. There is something quite profound about the horse/human relationship. I end a day like today feeling full to overflowing. It's a feeling I wish I could convey to my students and countless others but it is not quite expressible. I don't understand why riders settle for walk, trot, canter, jump when there is so much more of a connection with life to experience.
I feel like I could write heaps more, but why? You get the gist of the day, of our time, and I have to get up early in the morning. I was tremendously blessed today. I hope for more days like it and pray for patience to get through all the others. The End.
