Party Animal

Wednesday morning I didn't have time to ride because I was heading down in the evening to ride my mom's possible future unicorn. I had about thirty minutes though, so I still went to the barn and threw TC in one of the giant grass turnouts. He mostly just grazed in there, but he really thought about not being caught by me when I came to get him.

Walking out he was a little high, so I put him on the longe line in the round pen and let him canter around and play a bit.

Wandering around after our Thursday morning ride

Thursday morning I had more time to ride, so that was the plan. I had in mind a conversation I'd had with Kate a few days before about a book/article/something she was reading. Hopefully she'll post more about it because it really hit home for me.

Dressage is all about enhancing the natural movements of a horse, and these movements come out in two different situations in the wild- when a horse is playing and when a horse is scared. I've seen TC cover some serious ground in an extended canter when he is afraid, I've seen him arch his neck and strike out at butterflies when he is playing. The idea of training then, is to incite this play response from the horse, rather than the fear response. It's easy to see in the horse's eye as they are working- are they expressive because they're having fun or are they expressive because they're scared.

We can dig way into it and compare it in different horses, but I want to focus on what this meant for TC and I.

I think I took the fun out of dressage for him a bit- too much pressure and not enough fun. He really thinks that dressage is the most fun thing ever, and I think that's because I find it fun and was always babying him a bit with it- not too much pressure and lots of praise. When he started to grow up, I stopped bothering him so much with praise and put more pressure on. He still felt amazing in the bridle and over his back, but I could tell that he was a lot more focused and working rather than having fun. That's fine, life isn't always going to be fun. But I want him to mostly think his job is fun, and I certainly don't want to push him to a place where he thinks it's NOT fun, because this horse is a party animal.

Trying to get a conformation shot

I wasn't sure what to do though. He's been better every day that I ride him, but I'm still struggling with things that were very easy just a week ago (mostly the canter). We're improving rapidly enough where I think this is all mental for both of us, which is good. I'm still going to get the saddle fitter out, he has a 4 day vacation next week, and we're not hauling out until mid June.

But I don't really know what he finds fun. I rode him on Thursday morning determined to find out what made him happy about working. We did lengthenings, leg yields, transitions, everything I could think of that he wasn't resistant about. He did them just fine, but just seemed to be trucking along like normal.

Hmmm. The only thing I knew for sure that this horse loves beyond all else (well, maybe not cookies) is praise. So I started telling him how great he was every other step, stopping here and there to pet him and make a big deal about him. And wow the difference. He completely changed under me. He was much more expressive and so much rounder without me having to do anything. He was straighter- this week he had been being quite wiggly. He was a lot more tolerant of corrections if they were preceded by and followed by praise.

By the end of the ride he was FOR SURE having a blast. And I had a giant lightbulb moment as we were walking around the ranch. The horse doesn't love dressage because it's dressage, he loves dressage because I love dressage, because I was so excited to do it on him. Because every time he surprised me by being naturally good at something, I would celebrate with him. He learned to love it because of me.

That's better

And with the focus turned to intricate little details and making sure that we get things right, and as I got used to the fabulous feeling this horse gives in the bridle and over his back (on my mom's potential unicorn, I like... struggled to get him on the bit at first because you really have to PUT him there, TC is just always there) I lost some of that awe that I had of him when he was coming back into work last year in rehab and this spring after our tough winter.

He isn't back to the place he was yet, we still have some rebuilding to do, but I think I figured out how to bring the fun back to dressage for him. Easiest behavioral fix ever. Incessant praise and lots of pets.