Training the Not-Hot Horse: Part the Second

As a person who's spent all of my time around horses with animals that were 50% or more thoroughbred, I had a lot of illusions about draft crosses. I think the biggest one for me was that because they weren't super reactive, they also weren't very intelligent.

And as a reasonably intelligent person, I didn't want to deal with a "dumb" animal.

Enter Zoe.

SMOOSH

Training her is fascinating for me. Remember when she started putting on the (literal) brakes out of the blue?

Well except it wasn't out of the blue. What preempted that was me realizing that my goofy brain was going U GONE GIT RUNNED OFF WIT BECAUSE U GOT NO BRAKES, which is clearly ridiculous on a horse that stops when you stop kicking. But brains will do what brains will do, so I taught Zoe a one-rein stop to appease my brain. We literally did it three times one day.

Annnnnnd the next time she was ridden, she started doing the STOP AND FREEZE response.

Huh.

So she not only learned it, but was also willing to show it off to me to prove that she understood.

That's actually pretty smart.

Another thing we've been working diligently on are our turn on the forehand/haunches. We do them on the ground, pre-ride, and then at the end of each ride. Except the other day I mixed it up and did them in the saddle at the beginning on the ride. Zoe was a champ, like usual, but then every time I asked her to halt (normally, not one rein haha), then put my legs on to ask her to go again...

...she started going sideways.

Like I'd asked her to earlier.

smartie. pants.

When I finally started to put it all together, I laughed. Here I was concerned that somehow the little lady wouldn't be "smart enough" for me and instead she's the smartest horse with the most try that I've probably ever worked with.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: Show Recap!

First off: I apologize for the complete and utter lack of pictures. It was indoors and at night, so you can imagine why there was absolutely zero point in even trying.

The Good:

1) Izzy unloaded like a pro and came out pretty calm. She looked around and walked around with me, but had no major issues with anything, including heavy equipment buzzing around, two herds of donkeys braying, and ponies galloping by willy nilly.

2) I achieved all my goals for the show. I was calm and relaxed (mostly), I remembered my course, and I had a great time.

3) I stayed balanced on kept Izzy between myself and the ground. Win!

The Bad:

1) When we went into the show arena, Izzy reverted into total brain melt mode. The sensory input was so much that we stopped at every single jump.

2) Most of them more than once.

3) Some we never even got over.

The Ugly:

1) Stephanie got on at that point. Izzy decided she'd had enough for one day, and tried to park at the first jump.

2) Stephanie backed her up about three steps and made her jump from there.

3) The rest of the course was in kind--Izzy said no, and Steph made her go. I have never been happier to watch someone ride my horse than I was then.

They ended up going in for a second round, which was much smoother and better to watch.

Overall, I'd say it was a good experience. I felt incredibly comfortable on Izzy--I expected to get on and feel precariously perched again, but no. I was riding. I was in balance. I felt fine. Even with all the stopping and awkward leapings that was our attempt at a course, I felt ok. I stayed in the middle and didn't get off balance or flustered. I expected to be tossed out of the tack at every fence, and I wasn't.

Also, for those of you who wonder why I boot Izzy perennially, here it is.

Green and freaking out mare at show ripped a massive chuck of her boots. It tore through the strikepad, neoprene, fabric, everything, but there isn't a mark on her leg. If she'd left a hunk of leg on the fence, I'd have a vet bill (most likely) and and a horse who didn't want to jump because the jumps will eat her.

Don't forget to VOTE FOR ZYMON AND STEPHANIE!!!

Return of the Sticky Spot

After a pretty crappy day for me yesterday (which Izzy had off), we went back to work today. I'm trying to keep that freely forward that we developed while "hacking", but ask her to work again.

So far, I've had mixed success. She's doing really well to the right--walk, trot, canter--and I'm happy with that. The left is another story. She'll walk/trot ok, but if I ask for the canter, she gets very tense and just goes out whichever shoulder is more convenient at the moment. I'm thinking that it's more a psychological issue than a physical issue for her. I also think that it doesn't help that my left side is weaker and so I don't use my left leg as effectively.

So... I'm unsure as to whether I need to just not even try to canter on that side for a while and try to develop her (and my) muscling, or if I should just keep the reins loose and ride her forward to a messy-but-there canter. Fortunately, our lesson is tomorrow, so I should have a new opinion there. Then again, our lessons are so infrequent that we rarely get all the way to what I'm currently working on. There's always something that I glossed over that needs work instead. Thankfully, everything seems to be related, so it works out.

Anyways. Once again, as soon as she felt the pressure, Izzy returned to her "sticky spot" mentality. She didn't actually stop there today, but she sure wanted to. I found that I could ride her best through that area if I just clucked to her but didn't push with my seat or legs or anything. Throw in a random assortment of lessoners and boarders and a cold, windy day, and I'm pretty pleased overall with how things went.

Now I want to go home and make cookies. Stupid school, getting in the way of my dreams. ;-)

Did I mention that I lunged her this morning and she was a total doll who paid perfect attention to my voice commends? I love this pony.

Second Lesson

As usually happens, Izzy pretended she had no idea how to trot in our lesson. It was really a little humorous. When I ride by myself, she's pretty responsive. Introduce and instructor, though, and the training goes out the window.

In her defense, we were making her think a bit harder than normal and she was pretty good. She tried to turn in again on the lunge line, but we just kept our circle small and worked through it. I tried not to make and issue of it, and just led her back to the center and started again. I guess that worked ok... so long as she understands that she does have to keep working.

In the lesson itself, we worked on keeping a steady contact with both reins, but especially the outside, as well as getting her to listen to my seat instead of just leaning on my hands and bracing against them. In addition, Cathy wants us to start riding to points in the arena, instead of just wandering around. It will make us more focused and teach her to listen. Oh, and I need to look up. I get nervous, so I stare at her ears and watch that they don't fix on to anything that might cause her to spook. It's silly of me, really. I know that I can ride her when she spooks now. She even spooked once in the lesson, and I stayed on with no trouble. I didn't even grab the neckstrap.

All in all, I'd say we're making progress. After we were done riding, I washed Izzy's tail and braided it. I don't like dirty, matted tails. Also, I want to get her gussied up and do pictures again. I'm going to try to submit a photo to a magazine for a conformation analysis, just to see if we get in... I'm bad at trying to figure that out on my own.