Here's a typical scenario. I have a
bunch of 13 year old girls just dying to canter. They've developed
some pretty good skills at the walk trot so they come for a one on
one canter lesson with me. I have them work one on one because it
lets me know if they are as good as they think or if their horse has
simple been on auto pilot following his buddy.
Before I let them canter I run them
thought their paces at a walk and trot. Inevitably I find one or two
who's skills start to fall apart. Most commonly they can't steer
their horse at a trot. The horse is weaving around the arena like a
dunk driver and the kid just desperately wants to canter and hopes I
don't notice that their horse is no longer on the rail as I
requested.
The rider is very disappointed that I
insist that they perfect their steering before they try the canter.
In the meantime I put on a kind face and don't say what I'm thinking
“ Why on earth would I let you canter when you can't steer your
horse at a trot, Yah, that's a great idea!”
Most of us are pretty quick to stop or
take it down a notch if we loose major control, like steering. But
how about if we loose our horses attention or cooperation?
Hmmmmm....................
Here's a little tale from last winter.
One that served as a good reminder to me.
Bunny and I set out on a training ride
on a cold day. Since I have 101 things going on in my life at once
here was my plan, I'm going to ride 10 ½ miles in 1 hour and 20
minutes or less, GO.
Now my horse was uncharacteristically
full of it. She is normally wants nothing more than to please me. At
that point of should have taken a few more minutes to warm up and
done whatever it took to get her in the right frame of mind, most
likely some good dressage work would have done the trick. But I
didn't have time for that.
I was riding on the graveled shoulder
of a country road, where I do most of my riding since that's what I
have access too. I had picked up a trot and noticed that when I
asked Bunny for a nice easy 8mph trot she wanted to give me a 15mph
freight train trot. Should have kept working till I had her attention
but, well I had a schedule to keep and miles to go.
A couple minutes later a car passed us
and Bunny tried to race the car (normally she has perfect manners
around traffic). Now that should have been the wake up call I needed
but after all I was able to HAUL her back to a somewhat reasonable
pace so on we went.
This scene repeated itself again and on
the third time she bucked and hit the ground trying to take off as
fast as she could. This time it took me about five strides to stop
her, five VERY BIG STRIDES.
First I was really indignant that my
normally nice people pleasing horse would behave so badly. I finally
realized that if I wanted to survive this ride I needed to slow down
and do whatever it took to get her in the right frame of mind. I
don't want to settle for being able to physically haul her back, I
want her to say, “No problem” like she normally does and respond
willingly.
I realized later that it would have
never gotten to the bucking stage if I would have dealt with the
attitude right off. Bunny tested the waters, got away with it so
tested a little more. I let her because I desperately wanted to keep
going. I know if you are honest with yourself you will admit that
you've fallen into this trap at times too.
Why do I care so much that my horse is
willing and responsive? For a lot of reasons. First off it's not much
fun to ride a horse that's not willing and responsive. I think the
most important reason, however, is that if you ride long enough you
will eventually find yourself in a tough spot. You will need your
horse to do what you ask, quickly and quietly and if you haven't
established that before... well good luck.
When we have those tough days or
moments we are far better off taking a minute or an hour to deal with
it then and there and not let it escalate to crazy.
I had a couple times this ride season
where Bunny was a little full of herself and not wanting to listen to
me about what speed we were going to go. Once I fought her for miles,
not the best plan. The next ride I took a few minutes on the trail to
get her attention, when she pulled out the must pass everything in
site attitude, and we had a much more enjoyable time. She still
questioned me a few times but it was nothing like before.
Don't let your goals blind you to the
bigger picture. Your horses training is important. If you loose their
attention and cooperation, take the time to do what you need to get
it back. You'll be much better off for it.
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