I rode |Ace up to my friend's yesterday and he was an 'electric shock' horse - lots of mini-spooks but never anything serious. He did turn for home twice, using a patch of road that was a different colour as an excuse. That's one of his favourite choices, but he did it where he was used to turning for home, so it was just an evasion. He accepted being sent on up the hill pretty easiliy, so I wasn't fussed about it.
Today I schooled him. It was hot and humid and he wasn't thrilled about being asked to go forward. For the first time since he blew up and dumped me in the dirt, I had spurs on and was carrying a whip. Towards the end of our seesion I was asking him to trot a 10m bend without losing his shape, forwardness or rhythm. He lost his temper and bucked and spun in a pretty reasonable attempt to get me off. It didn't work.
So there I was, having brought him safely to a halt and I thought, what do I do now? Quickly running through the options, I came to the conclusion that I should give him a hefty boot in the ribs. I realised that he might explode if I did that, but I felt it was justified for the behaviour he was giving me, and I concluded that if he took it badly that he is probably the wrong horse for me to be riding in any case.
This only took as microsecond, so he could still connect the action with the behaviour that resulted in it, and I gave him a sharp kick and waited for the result. What happened? Nothing. He went forwards with the best elevation and most consistent contact that he had in the whole session. We were able to finish on some fairly good quality medium trot and I felt as though I had made quite a big breakthrough.
We are 'competing' tomorrow, unaffiliated. I'm looking for a big increase in rideability from last time, which was a disaster. I'm not looking for anything near perfection, but if he continues to be unsafe away from home, we will stop going away from home and enjoy what he can do in a safe environment.
C
I always admire your willingness to take Ace out and about, despite the potential for a blowup. Frankly, I never quite have the nerve to boot Tucker when he misbehaves, even though that would probably settle matters--did for my trainer. Ace is in good hands with you.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to a good show report.
He's a lot easier than Jazz Jean, I guess after Jazz I just don't really worry about Ace, most of the time all he does is a big body-twitch.
ReplyDeleteDon't expect too much from the show report, he may still find it too overwhelming, we'll see.
C