Less is More

Monday I was on the phone with L as I got TC out, wandered around the ranch, and started working in the round pen. TC was a sport and I'll throw that onto the list of things I couldn't do before but can do now- ignoring him in favor of talking to friends. Only once did L have to hear me say SHIT when TC spooked and we laughed that at least I didn't fall off, so she didn't have to make the decision to call 911 from 500+ miles away (boooooo).

My trainer came over and told me that my one lesson this week needed to turn into two since the training ride he was going to do Saturday wasn't going to happen because he's unexpectedly out of town. No problem since I'll actually be back in town on Sunday in time to longe. And yay, extra lesson!

It was an awesome lesson too! Trainer rode with a trainer this weekend and threw some new stuff at TC and I, which was exceedingly helpful. It was the first lesson where I felt like 90% of it was devoted to riding a real live horse, while only 10% was dedicated to baby horse management, because we did crash through the court again. Woops. Power steering fail.

This guy wants to destroy dressage arenas

The theme of the lesson was less is more. This is so true on this horse. He's not been the most accessible animal. Reading back through posts in the beginning of riding him, it's quite apparent that this has been our major struggle. It took SO long to get a turn on the forehand on him, numerous wall-facing leg yields to get any semblance of lateral work on him, and let's not talk about the canter.

This is the most accessible he's been in a long time, and it's still so hard for us. Not helping is me, who wants to override him all the time. The biggest example of this is at the canter- he struggles to move his shoulders over, so I take both reins and half halt big to turn his shoulders, which turns into pony wrestling. The problem with that is that I'm totally going to lose, I mean he weighs nearly 10x my weight!

Trainer had me keep my outside hand down and connected, and just touch the inside rein to direct him, but I had to reduce muscle tone after a step. I didn't release like he initially wanted, since I'm not a fan of the big give and take hand movements (and neither is TC), but my issue is rigidity. So aid, then soft and steady connection, then aid again if necessary. It's that whole "the opposite of a problem is not always the solution to the problem," you know. So annoying, why isn't throwing my left hand forward and dangling the rein the answer to my left hand issue?

So yah, that made a huge difference. Other than our leap out of the arena, he was quite rideable at the canter, even to the left!

Hey look, a canter to the left that isn't the worst thing ever.
PC: Austen and I'll explain that in tomorrow's post.

The other major thing we touched on that I haven't worked on too much was the collected trot. Or basically catching the hind end up to the front end both literally and training-wise. Tracey mentioned recently that TC was a PSG horse up front and a training horse behind. Typical of his type, and I'm cool with that because I bought it and am stuck with it. I've worked hard to get him to be the sort of horse that goes into the bridle and over his back, since it's easy to ride a horse like that dropped in the back and behind the contact. But at some point he also has to learn to stay up and come under behind. So we played with that.

Guys. This horse. We got a few steps of what I would consider show trot (since at the upper levels you have a warm up trot and a show trot) and damn, it felt great! I want to get a little passage on him probably next winter to get the trot to spectacular levels but this is definitely on the right track for that. It was super hard for him though, but a year and a half's (erm, plus a 7 month break for, you know) hard work on getting him to lift his back and lower his neck meant that he never dropped his back or got behind the bit. Phew! We didn't hold it for too long, don't want to get him fatigued up there since that's the first step to encouraging him to do those things.

Sometimes not as pretty, thanks Austen for the pictures!

We then worked a bit on getting TC to give me more access in his shoulder. This is the main issue that makes me feel like he's unrideable. This is also what contributes to the bolting. When he is soft in his shoulder, the change that comes right before the bolt is more apparent and I can direct it easier. The problem is that I don't strive for as much accessibility in the shoulder, very likely because he was not the most accessible horse in the first place and in comparison to when we started, he feels supremely rideable most of the time. So I need to ask myself if counter bending is a possibility at all times.

I was surprised (lol) to find out that pulling on the left rein and leaning off my right seat bone did not a supple horse make. Once again, less was more, and by the end of this little bit of trot, trainer had my hands close together and not doing anything, just pure connection. It was amazing. He was so steady and soft, so rideable off the seat and leg. I just need to remember that he can be like that and make him do it!

He's so fun

The last exercise (that I had been considering working on but haven't done yet) was the trot changes. Trainer had me do them on a figure-8 (like two 20m circles rather than diagonals), which was super helpful. I've sort of done a few on diagonals, but TC isn't ready to pick up the canter on a straight line. I would ride a circle at B, then coming back to B I would trot, cross the centerline, change bend, and canter before C.

He struggled a bit to understand, but eventually he figured it out and wasn't offering me the wrong lead anymore. The downward felt super balanced most of the time, and the upward is still recovering from the week of bucking. The only nice thing about the bucking is that it seems to have improved the quality of the canter. So, uh, bring on the bucking??

I was so happy at the end. I love this horse! His work ethic is so refreshing, the horse always steps up to the plate and more pressure on him (not physically, but mentally) always means better work. I'm so glad I ended up with this horse, even if some/most/almost all days he's exhausting in one way or another.