Fourth Lesson

What an emotional morning! First as I was getting Gina out of the field, we had to walk by a Haflinger having trailer loading difficulties and Gina got nervous cuz they were tapping him with a whip.


I had plenty of room between us but Gina decided to try to bolt to the barn. I yanked on her for trying to drag me and tried to get her under control but suddenly everyone was yelling at me.

"LET HER GO IN, she's scared!"

"Just let her run into the barn, go fast! Now! She's scared!"

I was in the moment, and my instinct is not to do the wrong thing and so I yanked on her again. The people just yelled at me louder, til they were basically screaming at me, "LET HER GO IN!"

Everyone who reads my blog knows the right thing to do here, I don't even have to type this:

Letting a horse drag a person on a leadline is unacceptable.

I was totally astonished that horse people would be telling me to indulge her bad manners. This must go back to what Sirjeviise said about the lack of discipline in German parents and dog owners. If a horse is worried, it gets to do whatever it wants?

I was so pissed when I got into the stall, I snubbed her (as usual so she won't eat and snark at me about it) and walked outside the stall and took several long sips of tea. I told myself that this could happen at any barn, in any place.

Why did I have to start my riding day like this?

So after tacking up I went over and talked to my instructor about it - in mostly English. "That is what we call a 'Training Opportunity' - and Gina's no baby, she should be able to listen to her handler and control herself. Heck even if she was a baby, that would be the perfect time to start the lesson." I'm not sure the lady understood me but it sure felt better to get that out in the open. I cannot abide bad manners in dogs or horses and a riding school is the place where manners should be at their best!

***



Gina was a dream as ever, to ride, though I'm having trouble slowing her canter down. She seems to just have a handgallop! Since she's so bendy I did lots of lateral work (or tried my best) and lots of figure 8s. At one point I was concentrating on collecting and extending her trot, and I looked down for only one second to see if I was on the correct diagonal, and suddenly there were three horses coming right for us at a canter on the rail. Since I was going to the right, they all had the right-of-way. They YELLED at me to move and I got her off the rail so fast, but almost had a heart attack seeing how close that was. Poor Gina is claustrophobic anyway, always afraid of collisions, and here I almost get us flattened! I don't blame her if she doesn't trust me now; I'm not used to 6 riders going every which way in an arena. Two other times I forced someone to slam on the brakes (as I did too) because we were both circling and almost crashed. That was not a right-of-way issue, that was just chance, but still embarrassing. I finally laughed and stopped in the middle and said, "I'm gonna hide here!"

It was a good lesson though, no bucking, no almost falling off, and I even got on without a mounting block! Woo! OK Gina's not so much taller than Baasha, just miles longer.

Afterwards the instructor was kind enough to take a couple pics of me and Gina. How nice!


She said she's half Fresian, hence the hair and back long enough for two saddles. I always unhook the side-reins as soon as I dismount to give her a break, that is why they are unhooked in almost all the photos. (And in this photo there is a fire extinguisher directly over the ash tray - smoking's allowed in the arenas.)

The next hour is a private lesson with Gina so I took a few photos of the lady riding her.





She's such a pretty horse.

***

I had to bring it up again in the lounge after the lesson. Will we always be riding in side-reins? Immediately 4 ladies together said, "It's for the health of the horses. They shouldn't go around inverted, that would be bad on their backs. These protect the horses from bad riding." I said, "ALL of the horses, ALL of the time?"

Then it was like debating pro-choice or pro-life - these women fervently believe that the gadgets help the horses stay healthy. They explained how well cared for the school horses are, how much turnout they get, how much medical attention, and how long they live here - the side reins make it possible that horses can give lessons - sometimes three per day - into their 20s. Other stables are not so kind.

I said, "Do other stables use them?"

"No, this is the only one, and some people are surprised to see it, but we just care about the horses."

One lady was passionately trying to get me to understand, saying when horses' heads are high, adrenaline is released and they are in panic/flight mode. I said, "Some horses do have a problem and might need help, but ALL?"

My other argument was that it's bad for the riders - how can we learn if we always "cheat"? She said, "I've been riding here 7 years but only weekly. I would have to ride more than once per week to be able to get a horse round without the side-reins."

She also said, "Our instructor is great, she sees everything and can teach 7 people at a time. But if we all had to work on getting the horses round, she would be overwhelmed."

I said, "Yes, it would certainly make her job harder if we dropped them."

I asked her what level our lesson is - beginner, intermediate, or advanced. The ladies all said, "Advanced."

But apparently not advanced enough to ride without side-reins. (I'm calling them side reins now because some of the school horses have actual lunging side-reins on, and others have those ones that go thru the front legs, but since they're still fixed and not flexible, I don't know a better English word.)

Let this not be a pride issue for me! I am a little bit insulted that my horse's mouth is tied to her saddle. But that's not the point - the point is it's bad for the students, and bad for the horses.

"But how is it bad for the horses?" she asked me curiously.

"They can never truly move from behind, their heads are tied down too low."

She disagreed.

Wow. 7 years riding in side-reins and no desire to get rid of them and really start learning?

I brought up martingales, they exert way less leverage but still help a bit. I also said it's possible to use something called draw reins that you hold in your hand, and that allows more flexibility. I said even using gadgets part of the lesson is better than the whole lesson.

It was kind of like discussing whether or not God exists.

I wish that the ladies would re-evaluate their trust in the kindness/health benefits of this tool. Don't they read forums? Books? Internet articles? Even in German forums those things are disdained.

***

Changing the subject, I mentioned we're looking for a retired companion horse. The 7-years-of-side-reins lady took me to meet an old retired horse that might be a match. As soon as I saw him walk up to us in the pasture, I said, "Uh oh, he won't fit through our doorways!"

He's 182 cm tall. That's over 18 hands. His pasturemate was a Shire, and he was actually bigger than the Shire! I can't believe such huge horses exist, and I don't even want hooves that big coming close to my delicate Baasha, one inadvertent stomp and he'd break Baasha's leg.

***

I've got one more lesson paid for already here so after that I'll quit. They've been really nice to me, it was a real learning experience as you can see. I realize I'm not afraid to ride several of the horses that intimidated me at first, and that I can manage to understand the German. There are SO many riding stables in this area - two or three that are even walkable - I just have to take my time and search. I did break my original rule: OBSERVE lessons before joining, due to the way my next-door neighbor invited me to participate last-minute, and I was feeling riding-deprived at the moment. I will have patience, and I will find my place here. Even if it's sitting on a western saddle (*gasp*)!!