Right.
I got on Ace, clipped my jacket to the roundign I use as a handle on the saddle, and got after Ace. He didn't want to trot, set his back, backed off the contact, skipped with his front legs and threatened to buck. I sent him on. He dropped back, I sent him on. He skipped, I sent him on. He cantered, I half halted back to trot and sent him on. He wouldn't stay on the track, I put him on a big circle and sent him on. Do you spot the pattern?
He settled into a strong and very even contact and did the rest of the session in a punchy trot and a decent walk. When I let him down, he stretched right out immediately into a lovely long swinging walk.
He's at an interesting stage at the moment. He seems to need what feels to me like a fairly heavy contact. Without it, he will not go forwards in rythmn. With it, he pushes forwards equally into both my hands and bends and seems much more relaxed in his back, with a strong "punch" to his trot. I need to find myself a trainer now, because I have no idea if this is normal or not and it's not my usual way of riding to take a big contact.
Wrong.
I got on Radar just as it was threatening to rain. I needed to get some exercise in before the rain came over so I put him straight into canter and let him whizz round until he stopped at whatever speed he chose. Ten full minutes later, after one of my knees had been rubbed raw on a damp knee patch on my jods, he finally chose to slow down. We tried to walk around the other way but he was a complete pain and just wanted to run again. When his breathing was slower, off we went again. Into a wall of death routine on this rein, which he finds harder to balance on. A good 5 minutes later he slowed up again.
I now wanted to do some proper schooling, becuase the rain had slid off to the south of us, but by now he was completely hyper and wanted only to run and run and run. It took another 30 minutes to return him to a rythmic and self balanced trot
After all that work I got back inside to a message that the hunt is cancelled due to poor ground conditions. Figures :-) !!
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Years ago, when I rode with Lockie Richards, we had a discussion about contact--what was heavy and what was light. The key was that regardless of how many pounds you had to hold against, if the horse was working correctly through it was right.
ReplyDeleteHe said when he trained in Germany there were times when he could hardly hold the horse because it took such strong contact.
My horses tend to be strong in the contact, but when they are correct about it, you can feel the hind end stepping up to your hand.
Now, what makes all this different from horse to horse? Is it conformation? Is it balance? I am not at all sure, but I would much rather feel the horse in my hand than have him too light with no sense of contact at all.
The eyes of a good trainer on the ground and some talking it over with a good trainer would be very useful right now. Good eyes will see if Ace is really stepping through his body to the bit, and if he is carrying himself. He may be a horse that needs to be more in your hand to work correctly OR, it just may be a phase that more training and his getting stronger will change.
As for RadaR...oh well. Somehow I suspect you were actually having some fun galloping around on him until your reasonable self decided you really needed to school seriously instead. *G*
Actually, the more that kind of nonsense happens and you learn better and better ways to overcome it, the better trained he will be. Then, it won't matter so much because you will have established ways to "get him back" when you want or need to.
Really good web article about stomach ulcers in horses and how to treat them long term...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lunatunesfreestyles.com/horse_ulcers.htm
Might be worth considering for Ace and even Radar. Either one's behavior could have another source besides just "attitude." Some really interesting feed supplements too.
I'm pretty sure that neither have any ulcer issues Jean, but I bear it in mind. They both behave completely differently out on a hack.
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