TC has been improving in the brakes department, which is really great, though it's obviously been pretty hard on both of us. Him because he had his world flipped upside down, me because he hasn't woken up one day and just been like "yeah brakes, sounds good" and been perfect ever since. One of us is unreasonable and it isn't the one who wants to attack bird shadows.
For the most part, he starts out great and then as he gets more and more internally pressured, he gets worse and worse. Starting Thursday last week, I decided to address the issue on the long lines before getting back on him. I've still been riding on the trails though, of course. It's not a safety thing, it's a frustration level thing (for me, mostly).
By the way, this title is a lyric. The whole lyric is "if the price of life is hell, well, no one ever had to sell me on how nice a fire smells" and I kind of love it.
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From Sunday, he had so much fun out there, I'm trying to swing
a weekday trail ride when I can too, get out there twice a week,
which I think will help break up the difficult work |
The long lining gives me a different perspective. Well, the long lining itself allows me to see him on his own, which is helpful because I don't have mirrors, sure. It's the clicker training that gives me another perspective. I think I have this issue figured out and it all goes back to the very beginning, stimulus control, and pressure aversion.
Essentially, TC has always been a very pressure averse horse whose primary response to pressure is to get away, even if it involves busting through things. This is apparent as far back as when he was being halter broke and someone cornered him in a field and he went through the fence to get away from them. It's apparent in his bolting behavior, his go-to response for spooking is to leave. It's apparent even in his weird shit with gates where he sometimes rushes through them. Pressure = GTFO. Always.
Over the years, I've addressed it with external stimuli. We've done bombproofing clinics, we've done tons of ground work, lots of traveling, I've shook more things at this horse than is probably appropriate (plastic bags, bags of cans, flags, balloons, pool noodles, etc). His go-to response remains, but it also has become muted over time. You can stop him from bolting, he spooks in place WAY more now, and we're still working on instilling curiosity rather than flight. It's been a long hard road, but he's so much better.
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There's been so much rain, but the trails aren't
so bad! |
The other thing about TC is that he's sensitive. He may look chunky and low tone because of the friesian in him, but he is what I'd consider a sensitive horse. Maybe not hot in the traditional sense (I ride him with spurs and a whip), but emotionally and physically sensitive. He's always been insanely light in the bridle and very in tune with rider biomechanics.
Knowing those two things is key in deciphering his recent behavior.
Alexis, who I plan on giving a hard time to for breaking my horse, suggested that TC need to carry more tone if he's going to do Second level and beyond. I took this upon myself and decided to pump him up a bit more. In the past, because of his zippiness, I've praised relaxation the most. But mental relaxation required physical relaxation, which turned into me underpowering him in order to keep him mentally chill. Alexis, who is not at all to blame but we're friends so I can give her shit, was right, he was underpowered for the work I wanted him to do.
When I added power, I added internal pressure. Makes sense.
We know how TC responds to external pressure: leaving. Turns out that he responds the same way to internal pressure too. He leaves. The only issue is that by leaving, he doesn't relieve the pressure like he does when he nopes out of a situation with a bird or a leaf blower. So he just keeps leaving.
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Sleepy cows under my favorite tree, one of them got up while
we walked by and TC was like "friend?" |
I'd notice this more if TC was a very dull horse in the bridle, but for weeks I didn't realize that he was trying to leave because of how light he is in the bridle because the weight in the reins was enough to hold him back. All that I could tell is that the connection felt crappy. He was taking more weight in the reins (a good thing IMO, he felt comfortable going to the bit, nice!) but he was also feeling less good in the bridle.
Eventually I realized that not only was the connection feeling like crap, I had no brakes, and thus this whole ordeal started. When really, it started years ago when TC discovered that running away = pressure release. Rather than becoming connected to the bridle when I added more pressure, I was basically holding him back from trying to relieve the pressure by running off. I can't emphasize enough that the weight in the reins of me holding him back is as light as Rico has ever been in his life. It just doesn't take much to hold him back. Until he finally busts through the barrier (bolting).
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| Enjoying the views! |
So fast forward to now. This has to be fixed. I've decided that showing doesn't matter, lessons don't matter (though I will be taking some), what matters is this and only this. And it is not going to be a quick fix. This is me asking a coming 8 year old horse to fundamentally change the way he addresses pressure. In much the same way as the bombproofing clinic, I must put him under internal pressure and then praise him for not leaving. Over and over again. This is HARD undersaddle because I sometimes literally can't stop him. So to the long lines we go.
My main goal on the long lines is to be able to say the word "whoa" and have TC halt (responding to an aid vs physical pressure on the lines). My secondary goal is to have him stay back on his hocks at all times, never letting his chest start to pull him along, which dumps him onto the forehand and gets him thinking of blowing through the bridle with his chest. I'm also looking for him to respond (not react) to the aids in a productive way.
So far, TC seems to start out pretty chill and low tone, happy to walk quietly around, halting when I ask him to halt and trotting when I ask him to trot.
Eventually, and more often to the right than left, TC becomes internally pressured and can't handle his shit. This is when he starts reacting badly to the aids. He seems to think that he can't go forward at all, so he resists and resists my go aid until he BLASTS through the invisible barrier, gets told he can't go there, runs backwards and sometimes tries to flip around the other way.
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| Back down the hill |
I've been working to get him to this place where he's more prone to panic, and then that's when I click for fucking anything that isn't refusing to go forward or blasting off. I want him to be able to carry more tone without panicking.
This fucking sucks, let me tell you. It sucks to have to bring him to a place where he finds it so unnerving to be. He gets a lot of praise, the work is easy, and I try not to do it more than two days in a row (he gets a fun hand walk day or a trail ride in between). But it is important. I want to make sure that as I bring him up the levels of dressage, I'm not having to put his mental health in such a precarious place in order to get the scores I want.
So, we'll see how it goes. He's already improving a lot. He's also moving outside this weekend, which should reduce that 0-60 panic switch when he goes from low tone to high tone. I think he'll be way happier! He's also getting chiropracted soon (already had his teeth done and his saddle fit) and I'm considering CBD pellets if those two things don't work for him. Adequan is also in the mix coming up. I just want him to be happy in his work. And then we'll go from there!
