Madison exposed some serious weaknesses in Maddie's foundation. Although she could handle new things one at a time, when several elements were thrown at her at once, she forgot who I was and reverted. So I need to get her foundation more solid.
Yesterday I rode Maddie and did not get very far from the stable. She wanted to run out, so I found a fenceline and did lots of stops, backing up, and changes of direction. We eventually rode out on a trail, but I kept up with lots of walk-trot-walk transitions. We got to a field with a scary burn pile and a scary dump truck, and here I just walked her and waited for trouble. When she reacted, I took her away and did trot circles around dandelions. I worked her hard, but calmly, and did not let up until she showed some improvement. In the woods I did more tree bending, backing, and changes of direction. Overall, my attitude was one of low tolerance. She needs to pay attention to me, and look to me when she spooks at something. Maddie can spook, but immediately afterwards, she needs to go back to listening to me.
Today it was wet and I just lunged her in the mud lot, asking for a soft trot on a small circle. I insisted that she keep a regular loop in the lunge line and a nice arc in her body. I held the lunge line against my thigh and did not move from my spot, making her work around me. I did some rope work in her hindquarters and found some trouble spots. I picked up each hind leg with the rope, and also looped it around her barrel and worked it back to her loins. Several times she went to bite me when the rope bothered her. I backed her up and worked through it. She also kicked out hard several times. I've done these exercises before, of course, but apparently I didn't do it well enough, or she forgot some of it. I feel stupid for letting this situation go as long as it has, but I'm happy that I'm seeing this. She needs to learn more respect, simple as that. I know what to work on.
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