Rebuilding

I mentioned a post or two ago that it was going to take a full year for TC to get back to schooling Third level under this new framework and I am counting on it (or trying to). Some days a year sounds like so much time given how amazing he feels, and other days are like the ride I had on Friday. 

Friday he felt so good in the canter. It's like he woke up a week ago and decided that cantering was great again and that we could do it forever. This from a horse who balked, especially to the left, felt like a massive win. 

Look at this fancy guy

Aaaand predictably, I got greedy. His canter just felt so damn rideable and soft and supple and forward that I put him across the diagonal and asked for a change. He gave it to me and it was straight and soft and probably the best quality change he'd ever done. 

I shouldn't have asked him to do it in the first place, and I certainly shouldn't have asked for several more after that, which slowly got worse and worse as I got more desperate to do the change instead of focusing on the quality of the gaits and realizing that what had made the first change so good was gone. Soon, we were back to our old habits and he balked in the canter once. That was a huge wakeup call and I backed way off and we ended on a great note getting the quality of canter back. But that day, which had started out so amazing, ended up... maybe not setting us back, but certainly not moving us forward. 

He's so coiled under himself

It got me thinking... what does rebuilding look like. Without a plan in place, I know that I will have more days like this and will end up delaying our rebuilding phase and no one wants that. 

I think rebuilding looks like always ending well before I think I should movement-wise. If I'd just taken that first change, been like OMG WOW and stopped asking after that, I think it would have been a much more positive experience. But a switch flipped in my head. That switch needs to be addressed. TC can't revert to old habits, but I can't either for this to work. And I think he's way more on board with the program than I am at this point. Human brains are the worrrrrst. 

It'll also take lots of days where I don't push forward at all. Being conservative in this department means that TC can let me know when he's ready for more instead of me always making that decision and risking a horse who gets sour and stops trusting me. Take the fancy gaits I got the other day, TC was the one who wanted to do those, not me, I was just along for the ride. I think I need to realize that TC wants to do the fun stuff too, it's not just me who wants to do changes and extensions and lateral work. He finds that stuff fun! If he isn't offering, it's probably because he can't do it in the posture he's in. At least, that's probably a good framework for me to focus on for now. 

I still can't believe this is my horse

I think I need to get it out of my head that TC is anything but a Training level horse right now. I keep thinking of him as a Third level horse, or as a future FEI horse (given those gaits he gave me, if I can develop those, the FEI levels won't be an issue for this horse), but I need to rebuild his strength in all the levels. That means not messing around with flying changes or extensions when he feels good, but instead nailing our simple changes through the trot and our lengthenings. It'll be a pain but it's honestly going to result in us getting where I want us to be faster than if I approach it as him being a Third level horse. 

So it's a bummer to ignore the fact that just year and a half ago, he was debuting at Third level with a 70%, but that's what needs to be done for the sake of this horse. To be able to not only go back to Third with scores like that, but to (hopefully) score better and be able to move beyond that level. And maybe to be able to watch the video without cringing. 

Such a good boy

I'm away right now but will be back to riding on Thursday (and then stopping again for a few days to start my new job, why is life in the way of me riding this amazing horse?!). I think if I make these mental changes, I'll be able to stay the course pretty easily. And on days I get impatient, I'll just go on a trail ride and try to remember that slow is smooth and smooth is fast.