Wednesday fourteenth
Wowsers! What an awesome day!
Wednesday, i came home from RDA, and mucked around at home doing absolutely nothing. At about five thirty i had had enough of doing nothing and i got my butt into gear and decided to ride Prince. I did some of my normal groundwork with high expectations, and got my goal in front of my relationship with Prince and completely messed everything up. After about half an hour i had had enough of fighting him, i just stopped what i was doing and gave him pats until we had both calmed down.
Once we had calmed down and starting thinking properly i asked him to do a game i had be trying to get him to do all this time. Only this time i slowed myself down and watched my self. I then realised i had been 'shouting' at him with my body language. To fix that i slowed everything down and lowered my body language to soft and i 'whispered'. To people who aren't sure what this is, 'shouting' at your horse is using big aids when he responds to small ones, and 'whispering' is making them so small you even think you wouldn't be able to feel or see them if you were the horse.
Well, you wouldn't believe the difference! He calmed even more down and we completed everything i wanted. Well almost. I taught him pole bending, squeezing (sending him between two obstacles, and therefore squeezing him) him by backing him between the fence and a barrel. Also i jumped him over a barrel, and sideways (side passed) him down the fence at a canter.
Thus completed my groundwork. I had saddled him before i started, so i led him over to my 'mounting block' which was a sliced off bit of branch off a tree, and i stood on the mounting block and he side passed to me, until he was close enough for me to mount. I helped to teach him this trick earlier, and he still loves it. Another trick he loves is the pedestal. I have a picture of him on it, but it was taken the first few times he learnt it. The pedestal is small, about the size of the seat of a dining room chair. When you get your horse to get up on it, they normally only want to put two feet, but three is great, and four is awesome! I hate to show off but Prince put all four on the moment i asked him.... he must be a Kaimanawa!
Anyway back to riding. I mounted him and he started the riding by standing still until i was ready. Which he normally starts walking before I'm sitting in the saddle completely comfortable. I started off by doing the pole bending at a walk, just doing it until he was completely sure and comfortable with what he was doing.
Next i squeezed him, and discovered he hated my stirrups banging on the barrel. OK great! So i walked him back over and banged my stirrup on it until he gave up -trying to run away- and sighed. Next we starting trotting. At one point i forgot to steer him around all my obstacles, so he fixed that problem by his self and at a very fast trot weaved in and out through the poles like a western cutting champion. Whoa! That was some serious spunk. I stayed on to my surprise and decided i wanted to canter him at that split moment.
I couldn't start to canter him with these standards in the paddock (my bending poles) so i walked Prince over and lined him up to the pole and leaned over and pulled it out. I think there was about eight of them. By the last three, he was lining himself up and waiting for me to pull them out, then he would take me over to my dump spot and stop there until i dumped it, then he would go back to the next one and etc.
Then the next stage was to get him to do transitions but doing a very fast walk to trot transition, he learnt that fast, and then i asked him to canter. I think i did this about four times before he finally did. He cantered only two stride before the fence appeared right in front of his face. But instead of dumping me off or spinning as he does so well, he stopped by gently dropping his hindquarters and he absorbed the shock of the stop. I didn't feel a thing.
I got off him and gave him the biggest pat and hug he had ever had. I think i was in shock. But i didn't feel nervous at all when i was trotting him or anything. I just felt well, safe, confidant and i completely trusted him. I when i calmed down i only noticed then he was sweating all under his neck, saddle, girth, chest and under his hindquarters, between his legs.
I stripped him off and brushed him down, and checked my clock, it was seven o'clock. Oh shoot was my first thought- I'm not supposed to get him hot after four. So i hoped like heck he wouldn't get a cold, and i walked him back to his paddock where he promptly had a roll (he was fine the next day, just a bit sore from been ridden so had.).
What i don't mention and I'm sorry, is how much hard work groundwork is, he did a lot of fast cantering and trotting, so he was reasonably warm when i started to ride him.
Prince isn't an unfit pony, the way i make it sound but he did do a lot of work, more then what he is used to normally, that was why he was hot.
Anyway, after i cantered him (his first time cantering with a rider on and my first riding him) i walked around with this massive smile on for hours afterwards. I told people i had cantered and i don't think many of them realised what a big thing it was. Its been three years since i last cantered, and four since i got Prince. I can't believe how long its taken me to recover and get some of my confidence and trust back in horses. I still can't ride other peoples horses and feel confident because i lost my confidence riding somebody else's horse.
So like all horsie people i have goals, and my next one is to jump again. Only on Prince this time.
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