Addressing Off Property Behavior

Yesterday I graduated from my MA program! Woohoo! It's a little less woohoo though, because I do still have my thesis to finish. But I'm taking today off. Well. Damnit. Okay I'm at least taking the time to write this post and am writing the thesis while watching Netflix so that counts as a day off, right?

Woo graduation! I fixed my crooked cap after this picture :)

I did get a chance to get little TC out this morning. The last couple of times I've ridden him (Mon/Tues this week), I've been worried about his feet. All of his feet were chipping pretty badly but his right front had two big chips which were situated next to each other so there was a bit of hoof wall sticking out. If that had chipped, he would have for sure been lame. Yikes! So we thought he may need shoes.

Today (Fri- after Wed/Thur off because I was too worried to ride him) the farrier came out and it turns out that he didn't need shoes but if he started chipping again, we'd consider it- basically on a cycle-by-cycle basis. His feet looked great when I came out this afternoon!

His topline is improving, right?!

Unamused by my picture taking

Finally relaxed and I can get something like a conformation shot

With his feet okay and me having a fair amount of time to kill at the barn, I decided to tackle the neighbor's arena again. If you remember, he's been just terrible over there (tense, retracted neck, no steering, bolting, spooking, winnying, etc) while being McDreamy (watching Gray's Anatomy, don't judge me) at home- totally relaxed, giving me the best connection ever, responsive to my seat, staying on the outside rein, and all of that good stuff.

I decided to try a few different methods in getting him to calm down and not be such a bolty piece of shit. There were two main techniques I had- keep trotting and lots of transitions. (I also tried doing groundwork which was a BAD idea oh my god I won't go into it)

Keep trotting meant that I basically just trotted him until he calmed down, lots of circles, lots of changing direction, essentially keeping his brain working and thinking about what was coming next. The idea was that transitions would just amp him up (he does tend to get too excited if he walks too long) and that I don't want to punish him for being forward because that seems to be what is going around after a few Charlotte Dujardin clinics.

TC's baby sister! About a month old now 

Lots of transitions is my go to chill-out technique. When a horse wants to charge around, I do this exercise. First, they have to walk quietly on light contact and when they don't, they have to stand still. Then I let them trot, they must trot at a reasonable pace without me having to muscle the horse around, if they charge, they walk and we go back to the walk requirements- quietly on a light rein or halt. Eventually the horse realizes that just trotting quietly is better than charging and being pulled to a walk/halt. The idea is that trotting around may amp him up and encourage him to only respond to loud aids.

I started with just trotting. He was kind of just a maniac. He stuck his head on his chest and doing harder work (smaller circles, lots of changes of direction) just made him worse.

The transitions DID work, but they did slow him down and I felt bad for having to (sometimes) yank him back to me while going forward. So yes they worked in the short term but I worry for his long term education. He was SO lazy when I started with him. In addition, I did this part second, so it could have just been order effects (thanks, education), where it didn't matter what technique I was using, he was bound to settle after 20 minutes.

And the warmblood baby!

But it was good that he quieted down, he started to relax and I was able to actually get some work done. We did a really nice few figure-8s, maybe not as good as he was at home, but certainly better than he's been off the property. And he was all by himself with only a couple of strange horses near the arena. Yay!

On our way back, we took the long way, which is a nice loop back to his barn along the road. About half way out, I heard a loud BANG (ended up being a transformer exploding!) and he bolted. Like clear down the trail, his entire body tense, head in the air, galloping quite fast! Luckily there was a large fence next to us, so I just turned him into it and he stopped. He stood there, not sure what to make of it, and stared at the pasture next to us where all the horses had taken off.

I told him how amazing and brave he was and got myself to relax a bit. It kind of surprised me too! We walked, quite forward, all the way home with no other incidents and he eventually did relax before we got back. Poor baby!

The barn kitty at one of my teaching barns, he's so fat and spoiled

Back at the barn, I started thinking about his behavior off the property (not even off the property, literally in any arena but home). I've been not wanting to take a clinic on him because of how bad he is in new places, but I started to think that maybe taking a clinic on him while he's being bad will help me understand how best to handle it. I think the transitions are a good thing, as is remaining more present on him, since I tend to want to ride him as light as I can so he takes that to mean that he's all alone. But I do want either validation or a better exercise.

So suddenly, at the very last minute, we're taking our first clinic with Tracey tomorrow morning. And I'm missing some of my own graduation party to do it (sorry mom). Fingers crossed he doesn't make a COMPLETE fool of himself or of me! Last time Tracey saw me, I was an FEI rider on a fancy FEI horse. Now let's see what the four year old has to offer her. Should be fun!