S's visit, part 2

Some people can observe someone riding a horse quietly. Others observe and cannot resist playing the role of riding instructor, whether or not you've asked for tips. S is one of the latter. As soon as you mount your horse you are told what you're doing wrong for the duration of the ride. I would be thrilled to get a free equitation lesson if I had actually asked.

Why do some people feel they can take on that role even if they're not asked? If someone asked me to come observe a ride, I would not assume they want my opinions on how they're doing it, in fact, I'd probably offer to videotape them or take photos so they can self-observe later. I recall riding at the fancy arena in our neighborhood and the owner was willing to help me, but she never took on the role of instructor, she kept quiet. She's kind of crazy, but I appreciated that about her.

To repeat, I had asked S to come visit to see the place and she offered to show me how she does some ground work with her cavesson. I was happy to have her work with Mag and see how much he already knows. Then I thought, since someone is here, it's the perfect chance to get on and ride. But she assumed I wanted a riding lesson from her.

And it wasn't a bad thing, because she was correct in some of her observations, but I wasn't as receptive as I would have been if I'd asked for equitation instruction.

Cuz I think you all know how important equitation is to me at the moment.

"Your feet are in the wrong place. Move them forward, at the girth, and keep them there."

"Your hands are uneven, why?" "I'm turning." "Then shorten the rein, don't move your hand position."

Whether my hands are in alignment does not register on my give-a-scheiss meter.

She told me to ride the ganze bahn - the entire arena - on the rail. I try to avoid that. That is where the bad things happen. I'd rather work in the middle or over poles or cones or any obstacles even if on the rail. I had tried to set up 3 poles here, and 2 raised poles there, but she told me it would overwhelm my horse, that you should never have that many obstacles set up. Whaat? I think toys help keep the horse interested and focused, and they're good for him, but again she said I'm expecting too much of my horse.

S kept sending me commands to ride A to K and trot the diagonal and stop there and lower his head and trot off again with Mag's head lowered. (I was riding in her cavesson because I didn't want to take the time to put the bridle on.) I don't feel I need a bit in the arena.

"Change directions." I turned Mag into the corner in an outside turn.

"Why did you change directions like that?"

"Like what, immediately?"

"You should do it elegantly, using the whole arena - ride an S pattern between B and E"

"I'm not going to a horse show tomorrow!"

"What are you doing with your legs? You are pumping him to walk! You'll create a dead-sided horse!"

Um yah, she's right. I had been giving too much leg. She said to take the whip. I flashed back to my sister's accident on a young gray Arabian where she reinforced her leg with the whip and he dumped her, sending her to the hospital. I was afraid to touch Mag with a whip from his back. Also, Mara reacted very badly to a whip reinforcing a leg. But recall that when we rented horses in America last visit,  I fixed the laziest horse (for the day anyway) by reinforcing my leg by whacking him. So again I find myself hesitant to do things that I'm capable of on mature horses.

But Mag was OK. Of course, I never whacked him, I just tapped him but we'll work on that. I'm really glad she caught that because she's right - I was making him insensitive to leg cues.

Then she wanted me to trot. Well, I haven't done much of that but OK. Mag felt my reluctance and was lethargic. We got him going though and it was fine. She even had me do that change direction S pattern at the trot. The thought went through my mind, "Ride him as if he's a finished horse and he'll act more like a finished horse."

Afterwards she was thrilled, saying how awesome Mag is, how calm, and how her horse, at this age, wouldn't have been so cooperative.

Mag turns 6 in 2 days. I know in 2 days I cannot call him a baby anymore, but I predict he'll be a "tween" for the next few years : )

***

Today I didn't have time and I wanted Mag to have a day off of work to think, and so I just put him in the trailer to eat for 10 minutes and when I put him back in his paddock he stared at me, nodding his head, "What about MEEEEEEEE?" And I said "Enjoy your day off. See you tomorrow."

Regarding the food thing, the last two days I've found haylage in the paddock for him, so maybe I was heard. He's not enthusiastic about it, he walked over to it and nudged it today without taking a bite. I think he prefers hay and may be a little spoiled by the good hay I pick out for him by hand every day for the night. Willy returns in 10 days and counting.

I'm happy---dare I say excited?--- to have some under saddle tasks to work on, and I took a big step in my trust of my horse.

I am still working on a book review of Riding Fear Free, but I certainly didn't follow the book's principles when S was there!!!

To be fully honest I did give S a correction. As she was doing ground work, I noticed that she repeatedly and almost constantly was taking steps backwards to create space between her and the horse. That is the cardinal no-no in ground work, and since she's so advanced, how can she not know that? I didn't say anything until she was done, and then I said, "You are much more an expert than I in ground work, you've spent years going to clinics and doing it but there is one important thing you are doing that is not optimal - you're backing up instead of moving the horse's shoulder out and away from you." She said Mell (dum dum DUM - remember her?) told her to do that. I said, ""How awful!" so I hope she knows how serious it is, it kind of defeats the purpose of ground work when the horse sees you continually deferring out of his space. The horse should always be supplanted by the person, not the opposite. Ya know? So although she didn't ask my opinion, I had to say it. And it took me a long while to get the nerve up to say it. In case you missed it in my blog, here is a great explanation of the topic.


Here is S riding her lovely Russian Arabian. She's wearing an airbag vest for maximum safety. It's connected to the saddle so if she falls, it inflates. I'd be scared to ride in one of those, fearing a malfunction and accidental surprise inflation!



I looked her horse up on Allbreedpedigrees and found he's 12 years old this year and she said it took years to be able to get him listening to her, and this year for the first time she's riding him in the Winter months. Normally he's too wound up, but this year she's at a place with Winter pasture so he's actually rideable.