Solidarity

I swear... every time I ride her she improves exponentially.

We did "arena" work today. She was fabulous. We were trotting and cantering loops in our arena, and she barely rushed at the trot. She rushed a bit at the canter, but she's always been strong cantering - cantering to her means gallop, so I have to remind her that cantering to me just means cantering!

Lookit those loopy reins! Oh yeah.

She was very good, though. She got her leads on both reins again - she's either a genius or has been trained for this before! - and she settled into the rhythm of my cues instead of rushing madly. Her racehorse turns are getting a bit slower and more deliberate, and less "omgIhavetoturnnowohlordIdon'tthinkI'mgonnamakeitAHHAFENCEokIturned." At first, I was trying to sit up and support her through the turn, but I don't think she understands yet, so instead I tried to just be light and let her figure it out on her own. That seemed to work better and we got some turns that didn't feel like I was racing a motorcycle!

The windblown look!

It was windy out today, and at first, Reina thought that wind meant she could jig or go faster. By the end of the session, she learned that just because the wind blew didn't mean she could up and race it! Really, though, apart from the occasional "can I trot?" she'd ask me, she maintained gait very well! Way better than she used to. It was like we were just a normal broke horse/rider pair, hacking out in an arena! It was awesome.

She remembered everything I taught her and outdid herself. She tried to cut corners at first, but I reminded her that she wasn't allowed, and she stayed on our track after that. She was only slightly scared of the far end corner, and with a few clicks she was completely over it and got down to business. I'm so proud!!

I don't know if you can see that ^, but Comanche is in the paddock next to our makeshift arena. Reina barely batted an eyelash! Comanche was calling, trotting up and down the fenceline, and generally being a nuisance. But Rei acted like she didn't even notice - she was like "riding with Mom, not now!" It was awesome. I didn't notice her new paddock was right next to our arena until we got up there, and then I just wanted to see if the distraction would effect her. Nope!

So basically, she was more than perfect. She was better today than the broke 18-year-old dressage horse I used to lease at my old barn. That horse took longer to canter and didn't always pick up the correct lead - my silly mare who's barely been trained did better than that!! Oh, I'm so proud I could just explode.

The only thing that gave her away is that sometimes, she would act like she was going to run into the fence instead of turn properly, and occasionally she's try to wander off the rail (but she only did this because she didn't want to step over a little weed-type-thing in this one place on the rail). Apart from that, she acted like she'd been doing this forever!

I really think that just having me work with her consistently has made all the difference. I try very hard to keep my cues and body language consistent so she can learn what I'm asking of her, and it seems like I've been doing a good job so far! Either that or she was dead broke sometime earlier in her life, but with her lack of steering and turning and knowing what an arena is, (not to mention her old habit of bucking at the canter and barely trotting...ever) I can't really see that as the case. Either way, we've made sooo much progress!!

So naturally, I'm a very proud mom. We trotted probably 3-5 times around the ring both ways, and cantered 2-3 times around both ways as well. I clicked her for outstanding moments of relaxation, head down, medium-speed gait. Her right side is still her worst side, I think; she was considerably more balanced starting off on her left lead than on her right. But that's okay! That'll come in time. In any case, I kept our workout pretty short as we're both rather out of shape, unfortunately. So after that we walked around a few times and went back to the barn.

I opened the gate from her back again - she was still confused, but slightly less so once I opened the gate. We're getting better! Then she walked right past the giant group of horses staring at her while munching hay. She didn't even get them a second glance. I could almost feel her saying, "what? Hang out with you losers when I'm being ridden? Pfft."

I tired her out!

It was hot and we actually did a good amount of work today (considering we usually barely do anything but walking and a little trotting occasionally), so she was a little sweaty. This means she got to drink out of the hose again! She definitely enjoyed that.

Chewing up a treat I just gave her!

Then I got to feed her in her stall. She was very polite and didn't try to run over me (much)! Although she did start cribbing, so I put her cribbing collar back on and tightened it until she couldn't anymore. I don't like having it that tight, but I also can't have her cribbing! What a horrid habit.

She let me know that she felt very betrayed once I got the collar working properly. I got lots of "how could you!?" and "but but but.." looks from her when she realized that the stall wall had betrayed her and she couldn't crib. Somehow, she knew this was my fault. Maybe it was the smugness I was radiating when I watched her try only to find out she couldn't.

Overall, a very good day! She impressed me immensely (as is her habit) and I couldn't ask for a better horse. She's getting more and more relaxed and has really started stretching down into her little riding halter and actually wants contact sometimes! It's amazing! And today, I felt like I was riding an actual horse, not the wind. She felt so there and with me and even if I had galloped her wildly around that paddock, I knew that she had no intention of surprising me ever again. That's why the title of this post is "solidarity." Because, even though we've always gotten along and she's always tried her hardest for me, today I felt her become much less flighty and worried under saddle. It was like she was saying, "oh, yes, okay - you are my partner up there, and I do feel safe with you. So just like how you try to warn me of changes, I'll warn you, too!"

Yay!