Ace is due a hack but because of what happened yesterday I felt that both of us needed to work on our joint fear of being on the arena, and that wasn't going to happen on the road. On the other hand it was raining (which also meant the cat was indoors!) which Ace is guaranteed to object to.
I weighed everything up and decided it was time to address this head on. I put his comfort blanket on, and my air jacket newly refilled with a £17 CO2 cannister, and took him out onto the arena where thankfully the rain had just about stopped.
I went to get up and he did a little hump when I put my foot in the stirrup. I gave him one kick with my toe, and a growl and he apologised and stood still. I got up and he walked off forwards instead of the backwards that he normally does.
I walked for a long time on a really long rein, doing circuits and serpentines. It came on to rain harder and he told me that he wanted to go in and I told him that was not going to happen.
I put him into trot and did some big trot circles and some walk/trot transitions. It then came on to rain a lot harder, so I kept him out there for a little while longer until he was clear that it was my choice to come in, and that the cold and rain had not hurt him.
His last free walk on a long rein (and a long rain) was fantastic.
We are making huge progress, I know. We have walk trot and canter transitions with no fear. The remaining fear is of unusual things, like the cat yesterday, and of being brought into a more upright frame.
I just need to keep going exactly as I am now, and sneaking in some more advanced frame work when he doesn't realise I'm doing it.
Then I just have to accept, hopefully only for the time being, that his background has created a horse who bucks first and thinks later. I really do hope that will fade in time, because I can't tell you how fed up I am of landing on the floor this year!!!
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I hate the feeling of that humped back. Tucker did that to me the other day and all I was doing was asking him to walk off. He balked, I gave him a kick, and he humped. I immediately made a big deal about it, shoved him forward after a good "heads up" yank, and off he went into a forward walk.
ReplyDeleteThe big thing is whether or not Ace accepts the correction graciously. So far, when you catch him threatening, that seems to be his reaction. It's those moments of "scare" when it's too fast for you to react and he gets the buck in. I rather suspect that when he's working again in the more upper level frame that much of that will go away. Right now, long and low already has his head down, so he's prepped and ready to take the bucking option.
I think too, Ace has a much better temperament than Tucker, so you are tons ahead on that count. I expect his good temperament will win out in the end and you will not have to be as worried about the bad reactions to things.
He is sweet, just frightened. Time will sort it, I hope.
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