Finding a way

Ken Mcnabb likes to say that you should find a way for your horse to feel like he has won.  I thought about this idea during my session with Maddie today, although at times it was easier said than done.

We walked and trotted over for another session in the indoor.  It's about 1.5 miles or so on the trails, but I stretched it out with a canter around a hayfield.  Once again we were alone in this indoor arena, which was filled with jumps.  Maddie calmed down much faster this time, and I was able to do more lateral work and more transitions.  But I still did not canter.  Her spooks in the corners, around jump standards, and from throwing up sand into the walls and doors kind of unnerved me.  I worked her over one jump, which took longer than I thought it would.  I started by putting all the poles on the ground, then raising them up to a tiny cross rail jump.  For the first 6 or so times, Maddie would come to a halt and then walk over the cross rails after some encouragement.  After that, she could stay in the trot and go over.  But it was a big effort for her to get this far, so I quit at this point and took her home.

I trotted and cantered her around some fields, and the wind was making the vinyl fencing flap a bit.  She has not figured this one out yet and it was unnerving her.  But we made some progress in building her confidence, I think.

In the woods she was fussier than I hoped.  I tried to walk her home on a loose rein, but she would duck down for bites of grass and we would get into a fight--exactly what I had hoped to avoid.  I ended up doing a lot of lateral practice to keep her mind occupied.  She is now able to transition quite nicely from shoulder in to haunches in, in any way I ask for.  With all the concern about her left bend, I noticed that the right shoulder in had gotten rusty.  But overall I'm very pleased with Maddie, and with my feel and timing.

Back at the stable I tested her by throwing her in the cross ties and taking my time un-tacking before turning her out.  She took the opportunity to get real fussy.  But I think I need to do this to increase her attention span, and her patience.