I gave my mom a quick lesson on Bear since she’s never ridden him, and I wanted them both to feel safe and confident before moving on since the whole point was to have a steady reassurance for Lola to ride along with. I wanted to make sure she knew in advance exactly what was expected of her. I can’t always divide my attention between the greenie I’m riding, my very young horse next to me, and my super-worrier-but-just-trying-to-help mom riding alongside. We went over our game plan and practiced the routine a bit. I had the barrels and poles (it’s a barrel racing place!) set up in the center in sort of a triangle. All she had to do was walk to a corner and halt. Then turn and walk on. Simple, and Bear got the hang of it right away so that he knew the routine and stuck with it. Then we added trotting one of the side of the triangle and walking or stopping at the barrel. It was a great way to have her successfully trot on him without any worries of yanking on his mouth or getting to quick and unbalanced for her to stay secure. They both felt like they knew what they were doing, so they both stayed relaxed.
So then I got on Lola, and we did exactly the same thing with her following along, first next to him like she would if she were being ponied, and then behind him like following the leader, then with him standing in the middle. Easy progression, no confusion, because we had a plan. I had my dad come out to take pictures, and we got some good ones, so I can do a play by play commentary.
I mounted just like I would have if she were being ponied. I’m sure she thought she was for a while! Notice in the second picture that her feet are exactly where they were in the first picture, she didn’t move an inch.
I love this next picture of their two butts. She is quite a bit shorter than him, but she’s got those great Quarter horse haunches, and such a gorgeous tail in comparison to his little stub! She walked off like a pro.
We stayed side by side until she was trotting out when asked. Notice I had the dressage whip through most of this. The whip was not to beat her or scold her, I had it because she understands that cues from a lunge whip mean to go forward, she’s still grasping the concept that legs bumping means to go forward too, so this helps her to make the connection. I think I tickled her haunches with it once, then she got moving forward, and trotted with Bear each time after.
Also notice that in almost every picture at least one ear is cocked back to me. She was definitely paying attention to me the whole time.
She got the hang of trotting, and went forward well, stayed nice and relaxed, and then transitioned down well. It certainly helped to have Bear setting the example, but she was so responsive that I was just blown away.
I know the trainer I bought her from only remembers her being sat on and ponied once or twice. She doesn’t think she was even ponied with a rider at a trot. I can hardly believe that though, I feel like she must have gotten farther than she remembers. She reacts like a broke horse, not one that’s had two rides on her!
Eventually I went around solo, and just after the first lap the worst happened… someone in the neighborhood started setting off fire works, BIG ones! Craziest thing, and the timing couldn’t have been worse. I was in the middle of the arena, about 20 feet from Bear with the one window in the barn looking on my left. I got a clear view of two fire works going off, and had enough time to thing, “Hmm… fireworks…” then Lola shot forward! I just let her go straight forward to the gate, then used that solid wall to aks for a stop. She stopped just fine, I got off before she could think anything else, and hurried over to make Bear stand since he had turned to face the window and was now nervously watching them and dancing around while my mom kept saying over and over, “Someone come hold him so I can get off!” Really it was a great test to know how she’ll react to something scary. They were both a bit bent out of shape about it, and for a little bit afterwards. I tended to Bear first so that he could return to being the Steady Eddy and good example that he was there to be. We did in hand work making him focus on me and stop when I stop, walk out, slow down, turn, all that until he was relaxed and paying attention to me. Then he went back to standing in the middle, and I did the same work with Lola, then hopped back on. My mom, worrying as usual, kept asking if I was sure I wanted to do that. Maybe it was just better to quit with the success of the in hand work. My theory is that while they are emotional, the best thing to do is work on something simple that they can be successful at. So once she was relaxed and thinking again, why not get back on? If you let a spook be a big deal, then it becomes a big deal!
By the end we were doing some turns on the haunches, which she is so responsive to, and then ended with some bending her neck exercises. She was a good girl even after the fireworks meltdown. (I forgot to mention that all the horses in the barn spooked when it happened!) I’m really looking forward to working with her this week and it will be nice to start spending some regular time on her back!
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