Okay, not really but I feel like whining a little.
Had some super lovely rides with Arwen this week. Trainer was back at the barn (show season is winding down) so it was nice to have her back as my eyes (or yelling in my ears, more like it) on the ground. Anyway, tried a new bit/bridle set up that actually worked really really well. Arwen seemed to be a little confused by it, and got a little head high during our warm up/flat work, but by the jumping she was just trucking along like a little hunter. Didn't do anything super complicated, just focused on soft elbows and LEG ON. Next lesson, rode her in her usual running gag set up, and she was great again. Quiet and relaxed, we didn't have any "slow the eff down!" moments. Did have some "Katie forgot her leg" moments though, and Arwen totally tattled on me by stopping in front of a fence. Doesn't count as a refusal though, as again, it was more of a petering out to the base kind of deal. Kicked her over it from a standstill though, and she was good to go for the rest of the lesson. Also, amazingly did some pretty decent downward transitions after a fence, and had her respond relatively quickly (for her). Took a lot of leg, and my timing was a little off (too much hand, not enough leg, then too much leg, not enough hand) but by the third time, she was good.
So, going into my hack day on Sunday I was feeling pretty darn happy with my ponyface. I guess you could say I was feeling a little cocky about how quiet she has been. So I decided to put the curb rein back on my bridle, and basically ride her in a snaffle. Wrong. Flatted great, as usual. I could probably flat her in a halter now, if I wanted to so thats a win. Trotted over some poles one way. Nice and relaxed through them. Did a bunch of canter poles the same way. Lovely, although we did get one wonky lead change. I just took her over it again and half halted with more leg, and she did the change. But then, things somehow fell apart. I think mistake number one was: after cantering the pole, I asked her to trot over the trot poles going the other way. A NORMAL horse should listen. But...Arwen is special. I think she feels there is definitely a progression of how our rides should go, and that is walk, trot, canter, exercises at the canter, jumping, then done. When I mix up the gaits, she tends to get a little tense/frustrated/fast. Or maybe its me, getting tense/frustrated, or a combination of both. Either way...when she started power trotting through the poles I should have known it would only go downhill from there. Half halted her hard before them a couple times, got her going through them relatively well, but nothing like the soft relaxed feel we had the other way. Then, mistake number two. We started doing the canter pole her stiff way, which is too the left. She tends to get a little bracey and lean going this direction, and if she's rushing around, it gets even worse. Did it pretty good once, I wanted to do it one more time to make sure it wasn't a fluke (mistake number three). She started racing around, leaning on my hand, and just being a general pill. I was putting a TON of leg on and trying to stay out of her face, but I think it wasn't working, mainly because she was getting tired and fed up, and so was I (and thus probably not as relaxed with my arms and body as I should have been). So I just made her canter a few times around the arena until she was relaxed and light again, then I brought her down to a walk and made her walk over that stupid canter pole. We ended on that note.
So I was a little peeved at myself after that ride. First, for letting it get to that point and second because I know I was reverting back to my old habits, which just feeds the rushing cycle. Granted, it takes a long time to build muscle memory doing something new but still. I just wish I could be more consistent sometimes!
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