two ponies, two lessons...

[quietann]

Lesson with Tina this morning, and the always charming (ha!) Mr. Bearito. He was nippy and obnoxious on the ground; I tend to snap at him but am now wondering if I just need to speak soothing words to him more, *until* he tries to nip at which point I'd still bop him on the nose...

We had a brief, successful warm-up on the flat, and then went to try a few "basic jumping moves" which in Tina's opinion means starting with learning how to rate a horse over poles on the ground and very small jumps. And oh, Bearito *takes hold* and pulls like mad; he loves to jump. He is very strong, and I could steer him, but stopping him or slowing him down isn't easy.

So I got yelled at for letting the little guy pick his own speed, which was "too fast"; Tina made me pull up and try again, with an emphasis on *control*. And we did OK. I am still a little afraid she'll kick me down to the beginning jumping class, though.

(One other minor complaint about Tina, she keeps reminding me that Bearito is "dead broke and knows how to do this stuff" as if I am really just a passenger. Well, yes, I am the weakest rider in the class. I know that. *Of course* it makes sense to put me on a well-trained horse for a class that's a little bit advanced for me. I don't need to be reminded of it or to have the other students wonder what the hell am I doing there. Just let me figure stuff out already!)

After that I went up to The Hill for a ride on Trumpie; goddessfarmer gave me a nice lesson. After Bearito, I chose to focus on rating and steering over jumps. goddessfarmer is very different than Tina; she's more confident of my abilities and more willing to let me learn by doing. Tina would probably be horrified if she knew that goddessfarmer will let me jump 2'6" or more.

And Trumpie is, well, the opposite of Bearito. He's slowwwwwww. He likes to jump, but puts on a big show about how it's soooooo much effort. He is much more of a gentleman than Bearito is!

I would say that for much of the session on Trumpie, we were not pretty, but we were getting over the jumps, I was steering him effectively, and I was able to keep him from stopping in front of a jump, even when he was seriously considering it. I wasn't chucking him on the mouth, or getting left behind (except for once or twice), and goddessfarmer says we're really improving.

So, two lessons, and two very contrasting experiences.

After lunch with goddessfarmer and her helper, I went and groomed Minnie, who seemed to appreciate the attention. She is still waiting for her hock injection, and she's bored and lonely. She has reached an arrangement with the pigs; as long as they don't try to eat her food, she won't try to kick or bite them. goddessfarmer has seen all the pigs asleep in Minnie's stall while she's outside eating her hay.

It's funny how I treat Minnie compared to the boys; I talk to her constantly, tell her she's being good, and just love on her more. I'll still yell at her if she's bad, but in between I just keep talking to her... and she is rarely bad, just a little fussy. She really wanted to be out of her stall and little pen; I need to ask goddessfarmer if it's OK to take her out to graze on the lawn.

**Everyone keep their fingers crossed for goddessfarmer. She has found the horse she wants, a TB/Connemara cross gelding (barn name Skippy) who's eventing at Training level and can definitely go higher. A trainer she has worked with in the past offered the horse to her, even though he's not officially for sale, because she thinks goddessfarmer and this guy are a perfect match. There's still a bit of negotiation to get through, but as long as he can pass the vet, this is the right horse. goddessfarmer was having a very bad day today, but her face lit up and she became much happier when she was talking about him. I would like to see more of that from her :)

Comments

[unclebooboo.livejournal.com]

Bearito has figured out what's expected of him and most of his riders are content (or just don't know that it's going on) to let him have his way. In the long run this isn't really good for his riders and is actually somewhat unsafe (what if he does the usual thing in an emergency situation where something different is called for?) I think that your instructor is asking you to take more control, both to improve your riding and improve his training.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Oh, I completely agree that I deserved to get yelled at! Unlike a lot of the kids who ride him, I am actually strong enough (in hands and seat) to get the little bugger slowed down, and there is *no reason* for me not to do so. I got a little carried away because we were having too much fun :) goddessfarmer has seen me grin from ear to ear when jumping Trumpie.

Part of my "job" also is being Bearito's first rider of the week (9 a.m. Monday morning after usually not being ridden since Friday morning) to get him in a better mindset for therapeutic lessons. He has a one hour break after my lesson and then has two therapeutic lessons.

He's a good pony, but he's strong and he knows it. Part of our problem yesterday was that he has an "elevator" bit and I had the reins on the snaffle setting, which is the mildest and the one where it's easiest for him to get behind the bit and go haring around like a mad thing. I'll go down a ring next week, not that I approve of harsh bitting, but if control is what I need, it's going to be required...

[unclebooboo.livejournal.com]

Under the circumstances I'd expect that your instructor would want you to keep working him in a snaffle, focusing on "give and take" with the bit. No one is strong enough to outpull a horse (especially a pony with a neck like his!), and using a curb is just subtituting brute force for good training. Instead, you should teach him that if he responds to your queues you'll immediately relax the reins a bit. Once he figures that out, he'll be a much more responsive horse. This is the kind of thing that an experienced student can work on with a lesson horse that will help to keep the horse well trained and reverse some of the effects of being ridden by beginners.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

you have a point. I don't like dragging on anyone's mouth. And I actually *can* get some semblance of control in the snaffle by using a lot of half-halts just to get his attention.

[unclebooboo.livejournal.com]

Now try for something more subtle than the half halt. This takes really soft hands.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

oh, by half halt I don't mean actually half-halting him, just squeezing the reins over and over so he realizes that I am there, and he can't just gallop around like a crazy pony! And he does listen.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

So I got yelled at for letting the little guy pick his own speed, which was "too fast"; Tina made me pull up and try again, with an emphasis on *control*. [...]

(One other minor complaint about Tina, she keeps reminding me that Bearito is "dead broke and knows how to do this stuff" as if I am really just a passenger.)

These appear contradictory. Are you supposed to be in control of Bearito or are you supposed to let him do his well-trained thing?

[quietann.livejournal.com]

It's complicated. Bearito has fairly high level dressage training and he's actually very responsive. So he's dead broke, yes. He doesn't rear or buck or spook or anything like that. But he's also a strong little guy who'll take advantage of a rider who lets him get speedy. With his build, it's easy for him to get behind the bit and just run. And, well, I'll admit I was having too much fun to be much paying attention to making him behave, until Tina yelled at me!

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I am more enlightened but these two instructions still look contradictory. If he knows how to do this stuff why is he going too fast? What constitutes too fast and why?

PS - have I mentioned my envy at your riding? Right now I haven't the free time but I'm sure enjoying reading about yours. Maybe when (if!) I start I'll have a clue what I'm aiming for.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

He's a pony who'll rise or fall to the level of whoever rides him :) He can do little jumps with no problem whether he's running flat out or collected and controlled, but the latter is *much* harder to achieve.

I figured you like my riding posts, because you respond to almost every one! Until Minnie is back in work, I'm riding on Mondays and Thursdays, with two lessons (the official one and the one on Trumpie) on Mondays and another on Trumpie on Thursdays. When/if goddessfarmer gets her new horse, she'll move Trumpie from The Hill (a small boarding facility which she owns but no longer manages) back down to her house where Minnie is living, and we'll just hack out on them over the winter, once or twice a week.