On a side note - I apologize for the lack of pictures today. We didn't play much before I rode around a bit, and we were pretty focused when I was riding. I didn't want to get out of the groove to take pictures, so I only have a few. By the time I got off it was dark. :3
Anyways! So today, when Reina saw my car, she walked all the way to the front of her paddock (away from her hay bale!) to meet me. It was the cutest thing ever. She was standing there at the corner nearest me, ears pricked, awaiting my approach. So much progress! She was very pleased to see me, as I was her!
Unfortunately, Chi is sick again today. She barely did anything all day, just fed the horses, couldn't even clean the barn like usual! I felt so bad; I could tell that she was feeling icky. Poor Chi. :( So instead of going on a trail ride, I decided that Reina and I would do some "arena" work and do some trot transitions again!
I tacked up inside the barn again, and she was snorting at things occasionally still. I told her she was being silly, that we'd inspected the barn thoroughly yesterday - didn't she remember? After a little while, she settled (maybe 3-5 minutes) and was standing tied outside the same stall again. She tested her tie - once to the left.. once to the right... - and then stood still while I tacked her up. Good girl! Too smart for her own good, perhaps, but still a very good girl.
I was a bit disappointed, though - she got girthier than usual when I went to tighten her up, and I was not pleased! I'll admit, I got a bit upset with her, but I just kept fiddling until she started looking happy again and reinforced her for that. Baby steps! At least she doesn't care if I touch or brush her belly anymore; she used to get so grumpy about that!
So I suited up, clipped on her reins, and off we went! I really love bitless - it's so eeeeasy! No bridle to worry about, no bit to clean off, no switching between halter & bridle all the time.. it's lovely, really!
I picked a small paddock just behind hers, that was near the road. She's never taken issue with cars before and it's not like the little dirt road is very busy at all, so I thought she'd be fine. We also worked in that same paddock before (I think?). But... she was not fine. Nope. Not fine at all.
We got about halfway up on the side - she was not liking sticking to the edges of our "arena," reminded me that her arena experience is obviously lacking - when she just flat out stopped. She'd been wiggly and kinda funny, but this was different. She started to panic and all of our good behavior unraveled. She didn't do anything mean, bad, or dangerous - she was just stuck, in every sense of the word. She'd reverted; she wouldn't go forward, didn't want to turn, wasn't sorting through my cues properly and listening to what I meant. She'd back up, and wiggle, but that was about it. I got frustrated.
Really? I was thinking. Really? After all this, all our work on forward motion, all our trust exercises, all our flexing, bending, steering work... really? I couldn't even tell what she was scared of, but I was getting angry with her. Why wouldn't she go? Why was she being so stubborn!? Why did I have to pick this one, with all the problems? Was she always going to be this way when faced with new experiences under saddle!? I was more than a little distraught as nothing I could do would get her to behave. I even lowered my expectations a lot, just wanting some forward movement - any forward movement! - and I would click her. The good news was that she wasn't upset enough to not take her treat, although it did take a little while for her to swing her head around. The bad news was that she still wasn't understanding.
Finally, I took a deep breath. I said, self, you bought her knowing her troubles. There were bound to be some bad days. Work through it, and don't get upset at her. You have no idea what people have done to her in the past, but you know this horse, and you're 99% sure that she would never do this simply to spite you, that's ridiculous. So I took a deep breath, and I tapped her behind my leg with the slack in my reins. I'm not saying "tapped" when I really slapped; nope. They literally barely touched her; I just wanted to try to unstick her, somehow!
It worked! She took an actual step forward. Click and treat! Lots of rubs, praise, and we stood for a minute.
I asked her to walk. She does! Click and treat! Lots of praise and rubs. Rinse and repeat a few times.
Then, we work on the steering situation. I don't like fighting for direction; I want her to listen. So every time she would be forward and go where I was either looking or guiding her to, click and treat!
I basically resigned myself to the fact that the whole session would probably be me reinforcing steering and basic under saddle manners in this unfamiliar place. She never spooked, just resisted, but it was enough to be discouraging. Once we were moving and she started listening again, though, it got easier.
Five to ten minutes later, she was the Reina I remembered under me again. It was amazing. I don't know what happened, really, but somehow we were able to work through her meltdown and get to the other side. The great thing is... as frustrating as it was, as upset as I was, her meltdown consisted of stopping, wiggling, and backing up. Really? That's a meltdown? It was upsetting while I was going through it, but afterwards, I was like, well. Okay. If that's all you're going to do when you panic, I can handle this. We can work through that.
So! We were now walking around the paddock, and I was working on not letting her cut corners. After five times around one way, we switched directions and went the other way. You don't really realize it, but arena work is rather programmed. A horse won't just expect to go around the periphery of an enclosed space unless it's learned that that's how we do it; it never really occurs to them. So, I worked on "programming" Rei into understanding that we shouldn't really be fighting about the path we were taking; I wanted our path to be the outside rail unless I tell you otherwise. But if I'm not saying anything actively, you need to stick your butt to that rail! This was new to me, as I'd never really had to train a horse to arena work!
Anyways. I'd say 15 minutes into the session, she wasn't spooky anymore, she was listening 97% of the time, and most of the time (except for a few corners), I didn't have to steer her anymore; she knew where I wanted to go. Yay!!!
Surprisingly, the change came when I had resigned myself to taking the time it takes. Disappointed? Yes. But very resigned. I didn't want to rush her and risk undoing all of our work together. This was when, suddenly, things got easier.
See what I mean about her teaching me? Honestly. She learns best with positive reinforcement, and demands patience from me. How can I, wanting what's best for her, not rise to the challenge? Patience is not really one of my strong suits, but oh boy, is she making me good at it. I had to work hard at controlling my emotions at the beginning of this ride, and the more I think about it, the easier it is to see just how much she was feeding off of me. When she reacted negatively, I responded negatively, and we both spiraled. When I made a grown up decision to not be upset with her and I took a deep breath and calmed myself down, suddenly she was much more willing to work with me - even if it was just in tiny steps.
Talk about life lessons from horses, am I right?
In any case, we really did end up doing trot work! I was very proud of us. We worked through all that emotional mess and reluctance in, really, a relatively short period, and it never escalated into ugliness! I'm getting better at patience, and she's getting better at responding to me through her fear! I'm proud of us. :D
Our trot work was amazing, basically. Her transitions get better and better, and she gets more and more relaxed. There was a huge difference in her response to my leg aids this time - she was forward and moved off well, but she also didn't rush! The majority of the session, her neck was stretched out, and I could actually feel her start to engage behind sometimes! I wasn't asking for it, because goodness knows we're nowhere near that advanced, but she offered, and oh boy did she ever get a peppermint for that wondrous trot! She relaxed into work and she was very happy to have something to think about actively. I think she works best when I give her a bit of a challenge and keep expecting things of her.
We worked in both directions and then I decided to be daring and canter. I felt her having a lot of energy, and she was being so good that I thought it might be some welcome fun for both of us! I asked, and boy did she ever answer! It was a big, excited, "YES!!!" Of course, her head flew up and she got strong and forward, but she started off on the correct lead (!!!!!!) and everything. Click! Treat! Yay!!! Cantering excites her, though, and suddenly she was much more ready to go. So much for relaxation. We cantered off once more in that direction, and went around a whole time (well, I was trying to stop her, but she was having so much fun I let her go around once before I clicked her and followed through with a halt). We have a lot more work to do, but wow am I impressed! I can't wait to tap into that canter of hers and get her relaxing in it. It's so nice!
We switched reins and did some relaxation work and some soft transitions into a trot. I wanted to calm her down a bit to make sure she understood that just because we cantered, doesn't mean she can be all "OH EM GEEEE let's go FAST again HUH HUH can we!?" because that's precisely what I could feel her screaming at me! Oh, Reina. You're such a Thoroughbred.
We cantered once in the opposite direction because I wanted to be consistent; she cantered off on the correct lead this way, too!! The transition was bumpier, so the right rein is clearly her worse side (but I knew that already), but transitioned she did, correct lead and all. I was so utterly impressed that I thought we'd end our tiny amount of cantering on that note. I only let her go a few strides before rewarding her, but boy was she ready to hop back into a canter after that!
Oh, and I just would like to say... I can control my horse in a rope halter. Even with what I'm assuming to be race training, and a small amount of training at that, even with her excitement... all that, and she still listens to me in a freaking rope halter! I felt so privileged when I made that realization. I was like, "aw man, she gets so strong at the canter, I don't like that I have to actually put some pressure on her to stop..." and then I realized. But, self, she was stopping! What other horses have you ridden in your lifetime that you would hop on with just a halter and walk, trot, canter (& gallop!) without being terrified of them running away with you? I immediately stopped whining and decided to feel immensely lucky. And, besides... I wanted a project, right? We still have a lot of work to do, so I can't really expect her canter-halt transitions to come easily (do they for any horse?).
I did a few more walk-trot-walk transitions to make sure she knew the difference between her "canter!" button and her "trot!" button. Good news: she does! Such a smart, smart horse. I waited until we had a few relaxed trot transitions, and then we walked a little bit, worked on steering a tad, and called it a night.
The view of the sunset from our "arena"
I opened the gate on her back - well, it wasn't latched or anything, but still. She was understandably confused to be used as a trail horse (I could feel her saying "Mom, I'm a THOROUGHBRED, not a QH. What are you doing!?"), but hey! Trail is fun! (And by trail, I don't mean trail rides.. I mean, practical trail class skills!) Besides, I hate dismounting to get a gate. I am lazy. (And she is tall!) So she had her first trail class lesson today and walked through a gate that I opened while on top of her. She was very unsure at first ("Me? Go through that? But who's holding it for me??") but she was a good sport and we got out without any mishaps!
Corner view of our "arena"
The sunset was beautiful, and watching it from the back of my favorite horse is obviously the best way to enjoy such a sight.
I brushed her off, gave her grain, and snuggled with her while she ate.
So, everyone sees that I'm helping her, but I wonder who sees that she's helping me, too?
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