First lesson with Mell

What am I doing paying to ride in circles again?


Well after all these clinics, and all Mara's panic issues, I've decided that it can't hurt to do some arena work to establish a working relationship with this horse, where fear does not enter our time together and strain our relationship. This past month I visited arenas 3 times weekly. If that arena is her happy place,  we may as well work there together. And also...

I finally found a trainer who fits my 7 criteria (1. Compentence 2. Teaching ability 3. Positive 4. Passionate - talks to the student or horse the entire time 5. Does not check Facebook or talk to other people 6. Will get on horse and ride, and do hands-on work 7. Has fun, laughs, doesn't make you cry regularly although Dressage is a crying sport)

You all know the trouble I've had with incompetent, clueless, or angry Nazi trainers here in Germany. A few weeks ago I was invited to come watch my friend have a lesson on Bintu*, and that was when I realized she had the only good trainer I've encountered (who is local and affordable). Sadly, I'd just lost my job. Ausgerechnet jetzt!
* - I have some catching up to do on my blog where I tell you guys about my new friend, SS, and her Arabian Bintu.

I began being much more careful with the grocery bill and promised I'd only ask to go to my favorite restaurant once a month. This is gonna be hard! But my man agreed that every other week I can take a lesson.

9:20 AM, Mell arrives, late, complaining how hard it was to find. I said, "Sorry, but you could have called me." I checked to make sure house numbers were easy to spot from the street, so I didn't think it would be a problem, but it's true the streets themselves are tricky. I also figured if she didn't know this area, she would have said something.

Mara was so warmed up we were both bored. I started lunging her at 8:40. I had gotten on and ridden a bit on the crispy-with-ice sand arena but Mara was feeling kind of lazy so we just stood still a lot, watching the geldings roll on frozen mud. Mara has her favorites now and came into heat yesterday morning while letting Nevio, the Paintabian, give her mouth massages with his lips. I like how Mara does not squeal when being flirted with.

Anyway, Mell asked what our weakpoints are and I thought that was a funny question, because basically we're at zero and need to learn everything. I said, "This horse knows very little." I took a printout of the German training scale from my pocket and said this would be a good way to go. I was also curious if the German training scale (pyramid) is actually used in Germany. I guess so.

Mell asked if Mara knows how to chew the bit and did that Phillipe Karl exercise from the ground. She explained the two types of chewing: the frustration chomping with open mouth, and the gentle thinking chewing with closed mouth.

I suggesed Mell just get on Mara and see where she's at. Thankfully, she met that criteria as well and jumped on her. I liked how she asked for a mounting block for a 14 hand horse. She said for young horses it's especially important to always use a mounting block. It felt good to have her say that especially cuz I have one of the smallest horses in this entire country. Also, I'd read that on Karen Chaton's blog the other day too!

Mell got on and started walking around with Mara and asking her for little gives to the reins. She said "Wow this horses is sensitive, and she keeps asking me, constantly, what I want from her."

Funnily, that was the first impression I had when I first sat on Mara in Hanover. That she was constantly saying, "What? This? What now? This?" like every stride had a question in it.

She made me feel good when she said, "You've done very good work with her. You've done nothing wrong so far!" I said, "Well, not everything wrong...: )"

Then I got on and had a complicated lesson trying to establish rhythm and connection, acceptance of contact, and giving to my requests on the reins. She mentioned something I'd never heard of before, the pattern your seatbones make when you ride the walk. She calls it a figure 8. What? I always thought of it as two Cs or something, I don't know. But she said I need to concentrate on "the 8" and ride it with energy, or with less energy, to control her speed without causing tension in her body, which I was doing with my attemps to get a super slow walk before, basically by bracing.

That wasn't too hard, but how she wants me to use my legs is harder. She wants me to keep my leg at the girth, and not behind the girth where I like to use it. She also worked on my timing of when to give the leg cue with the inside hind.

My communication with Mara through the reins needs to be more consistent, more clear, and it will take 8-10 weeks for her to develop a muscle memory of how to automatically respond to a request to stretch down and forward with her neck. I am writing that on my calendar cuz I'm quite busy and have other things I want to do. Just kidding.

The difficult part was the language barrier. For example, I didn't know the word for "supporting outside rein" so our lesson was often confounded with lapses in understanding/communication. *sigh* It won't take too long for me to learn her particular nomenclature, but it was frustrating.

I asked her to help me with teaching Mara to back while under saddle. I said she can do it fine from the ground, but she simply cannot when I'm on her. Mell told me to go into a two-point and get off her back entirely, because her back is so underdeveloped, she cannot do it. Then she helped me from the ground and we got little half-steps back, and she said to just reward every little step. She said eventually I won't have to unburden her back to do it.

We did a little turn on the haunches from the ground, rewarding each step. That is something I'll be able to have fun working on.

She explained that Mara will fight if treated forcefully. I said the thing I'm learning is to never get into a fight with her, to find other ways to accomplish things, or simply ignore her until she decides for herself "Oh, there's nothing to resist, so maybe I'll just do that thing the human wants."

I am a little frustrated that we spent the entire lesson at the walk, I guess I wanted to make a lot more progress, but like she said, 8-10 weeks to start building automatic responses to pressure/contact.

One little detail surprised me. Mell said, "Does your horse normally have this nice foam on her lips after riding?" I said, "When I give her treats, which I often do while riding, yes." Then Mell said, "This?" and she wiped her finger on Mara's mouth and showed me a white foam that looked like steamed milk foam. I said, "Well, that's new!"

We have two whole weeks to work on ...very little, so I'd better get it right.

(Here's a pic of Mell teaching SS on Bintu.)