Wink Photos

Christine came with me last week to take pictures of Wink in action.

After Wink's initial evaluation, his true stubborn streak started to show through. The horse isn't mean or dangerous, but he is young, clever, and opinionated. He does very well on the trail, but he finds ring work tedious and boring. As a result, he is extremely gate sour and generally resistant. Unfortunately for him, he  needs ring work to better his gaits and refine his training.

Wink's owners' main goals are to slow/improve his jog and lope and teach him how to neck rein. Down the line, they would like him to trail ride alone without getting upset about the disappearance of other horses. I pointed out that we wouldn't expect a toddler to go run around in the woods alone and that, similarly, we shouldn't expect a young horse to do the same.

So far I've pretty much been drilling the same two things into Wink's head every single time I've ridden him:
 1. Relax.
2. Forget about the gate.

It seems to me (and Christine confirmed this after she sat ring-side with the owners for an hour) that Wink's owners are pretty new to horses and are basically hobbyists who know their limitations. It seems that they got this young horse because he's quiet and will supposedly be a comfortable ride. They know they don't know enough to train him on their own. They know that the horse needs consistency and boundaries. They have no idea how to set up either one of those things.

They don't question what I say and they take my advice to heart because I'm getting visible results, but sometimes it seems like they're thinking, "But that's not what we read online..." I've been doing lots of explaining and throwing out a lot of analogies and questions, trying to gauge their response and get more information out of them, but they basically just nod and 'uh-huh' along. It's very frustrating for me because I count on client feedback to help horses progress and to satisfy owners as best I can.

I spent a lot of the last lesson explaining the different things that need to happen for Wink's trot and canter to improve. I mentioned that it's much harder for a horse to move slower than his natural stride without breaking gait. I talked about the importance of relaxation and how framing up is an important part of that. I discussed how a proper topline serves to help a horse lift his back, engage his hindquarters, and soften through the poll. When I said that it takes a year for a horse in regular work to build a proper topline, I seemed to blow the owners' minds. When I pointed out that a horse who lowers his head is experiencing lowered adrenaline and is better prepared to relax, they nodded in agreement.

After some short stretches of good trot, the husband said, "That looks more like dressage." I went on about how dressage is the basis of all riding and how suppleness and collection are important across all disciplines. The owners didn't argue, but I'm not sure they really understood.

Once I was home, I did some online research and found a handful of articles that backed up the concepts I was preaching and emailed them to the owners. I think they're very literature-oriented and it might further my cause to send them articles that back up what I'm teaching.

Shortly after we got the good trot, Wink started to get tired and the husband commented, "He should be fitter than that."
I replied, "He's not out of shape, but I'm asking him to use very different muscles in here than he does on the trail with you. It's like an athlete. Like a runner, for example, who can jog for 10 miles easily, but probably can't life 200 pounds."
"O! So it's a different type of exercise?"
"Exactly!"
"That makes sense."
Ah ha! A break through!

All in all, I feel like the horse is getting better. His ground manners are visibly improving now that he has boundaries that are reinforced on a regular basis. I think he'll come along, but it will be slow going at first. Unfortunately, I think the owners have very high expectations for this horse without really understanding what needs to happen for the goals to be met. They're not equipped to do it themselves, which they understand, but which must be frustrating for them. At this point, it wouldn't even help to give them lessons on the horse because he's not trained enough for them to learn from it.

I don't think it's a case of 'green on green makes black and blue', but I do think it's a case of 'green on green takes longer'.

But enough rambling, have photos of the fluffy pony.

I wish his mane was down in these.

Riding with one hand, gesturing with the other.

"And he should move off the leg pressure and put his shoulder over here..."

"Like so..."

My serious face.

Wink finally relaxing and looking interested.

Giraffe. 

Locking and gaping his jaw.

Finally starting to soften.

Nicer ears.

"That looks like dressage."