Pandora, The Dirty Rotten Brat Pony

I've gotten so caught up in this blog hop that I haven't done any real entries in quite some time. That's partly because it's winter and there's not much to talk about. Lessons are hit or miss with the weather. I don't have my own horses to ride. The riding that I do get around to is either indoors or in the half darkness, so there are no real photos to share. I have a lot of backlogged topics to talk about, but I never seem to get around to actually writing about any of them.

This week, Pandora took it upon herself to give me something to blog about.

Aside from posting her photo a little while back, I don't think I've even mentioned Pandora on here. I guess she got jealous and wants me to do a proper post!

The details of Panda's story are a little fuzzy around the edges. She showed up at Wink's barn some time at the end of 2013. The BO had gone up to look at some horses and Pandora was one of them. The young mare (I think she's five this year) had very little training and a very bad attitude. The BO was able to get on her and coax her to walk, trot, and canter around, and Pandora's owners at the time pretty much begged her to buy the filly.

I remember when Pandora showed up at the barn because I was sitting in my car watching her relentlessly bully the other horses in her paddock, all of whom were bigger than her. All around the farm I heard whispers of, "She's a piece of work, that little paint mare."

I didn't think much of it at the time. It's not my barn. It wasn't my horse. She wasn't turned out with Wink. Not my problem.

Almost a year later, Pandora hadn't done much of anything. I saw her being ridden by some of the kids at the barn from time to time. They were doing typical kid things. Galloping around, jumping stuff bareback, standing on the horses, etc. Pandora seemed to hold up ok. She seemed ornery, but harmless. She often had her ears pinned with a wicked stink eye. Sometimes she bucked. She obviously knew nothing of suppleness, balance, or bending. She did seem to love jumping.

Somewhere in there, Pandora went on lease with a fourteen year old girl named Patty. I had seen Patty around the barn too, and she was always cheery and polite. For a while, Patty took lessons at the big dressage barn around the corner, where my friend, Kim, keeps her percheron cross, Gali. It's a long and complicated story, but Patty eventually quit lessons at the other barn, spending all her horse time at Wink's barn with Pandora instead.

Eventually, Patty approached me about lessons. Her bus would drop her at the barn after school on Fridays, and I was already there for Wink and a few other clients (who I also haven't bothered to blog about). She was hoping to lesson with Pandora so the mare could progress in her training, and so that Patty could learn how to work through her many quirks. I willingly agreed to add her to my schedule, and I haven't regretted a moment of it.

Patty started her lessons with me at the beginning of September. Our evaluation ride was uneventful. Patty has a good feel for horses, asks good questions, and has nice natural posture and balance. She has a sticky seat and that youthful fearlessness that I don't seem to have so much of anymore. Patty wants to learn more than how to ride a finished school horse or execute dressage moves. She wants to learn about training and problem solving and the whole process. She wants to really communicate with the horses she rides, and especially with Pandora.

As for Panda. Well, she was pretty much what I expected. She was stiff as a board with no concept of bending or softening or willingness. She was a little hard mouthed and I could see a little bad attitude bubbling under the surface, but she didn't do anything outright nasty. She rushed around like a bit of a freight train at the trot, and her canter was choppy and fast. Bending to the left was impossible, and as far as the mare was concerned, stupid. We had our work cut out for us.

Pandora doesn't make anything easy, but Patty has persisted week in and week out. Initially, just standing still at the mounting block was a challenge. I was very proud when Patty didn't ask me to fix the problem, but asked what tools she needed to fix it herself.  Nowadays, Panda stands perfectly still while Patty gets on board.

We started from the ground up, installing brakes, steering, and softness at the walk, and gradually moving up to the trot. To the right, things fell into place pretty quickly, but to the left, the mare struggled and protested. She would dip her shoulder, spiral into the center of the ring, and burst into the canter in an attempt to ignore Patty's requests. Slowly, but surely, they started to come together. Patty's feel and timing improved, and her inside leg grew stronger and stronger. She was starting to ride with soft, but firm confidence, and the mare was starting to show respect.

Even her attitude on the ground started to change. She is prone to being girthy and also tends to nip if you're not paying attention. She also hadn't had her feet handled much and would try to kick when anyone tried to pick them. She was pushy and rude and a little bit mean. With Patty setting clear boundaries and not tolerating nastiness, however, she has started to come around. She still has a long way to go, but she's not the menace she was six months ago. It has been slow steady progress, just the way I like it. Nothing eventful. Nothing blog worthy.

Two weeks ago, Patty and Pandora had an exceptionally good lesson. Their warm up was beautiful and Pandora was soft, relaxed, and rhythmic. After walking and trotting in both directions, we worked our way up to the canter. I had the girls work on 20m circles and Pandora's gait started to really come together.

We even finished the session with a little bit of jumping. Of course, the kids have already thrown Pandora over some pretty huge fences, but I had emphasized the importance of correct, quiet flat work before humoring the idea of adding jumps to our lessons. Patty did several rounds over the cross rail, working on getting Pandora to stop rushing and leaping the jump. By the end of the lesson, Pandora looked completely relaxed as she trotted in and cantered out repeatedly.

This week, I had Mike bring the camera to hopefully capture some shots of Patty jumping her leased mare. It did not pan out that way.

I didn't find out until after the lesson that the horses had been pent up in their stalls for several days due to the weather. I did hear from Patty that Pandora had been very fresh on their last trail ride, even throwing some pretty big bucks at Zippy along the way.

Still, the mare stood stock still while Patty climbed on board and warmed up beautifully. I had them trot to the right, come across the diagonal and trot to the left, and vice versa. After a few repetitions, we got ready to work on our 20m circles. To the right, everything went just fine.

See the stink eye?

To the left, Pandora started to protest. Patty is getting strong enough as a rider now that Pandora can't just duck out from under her and do her own thing. As a result, she gets pretty frustrated. Usually, that frustration results in Pandora hanging on the bit or breaking into the canter. This week, Patty took that option away.

In the corner by the gate, Pandora got aggravated and threw a great big buck. Patty stuck it and pushed the mare forward. Mike missed it, but I was pretty impressed with her riding.

At the next end of the arena, I asked Patty to circle Pandora, really working on establishing some inside bend. Panda was not having it. In an instant, she lost her mind. She broke into a canter, threw her head down between her knees, and bucked. She bucked once, twice, three times, and the bucks got bigger each time. Then, she started propping with her front feet like a rodeo horse and I knew Patty was in trouble.

Sitting back and trying to get the mare's head up.

Propping and hopping.

Point of no return.

I didn't even have time to say, "SIT UP! Get her head up!" before Pandora launched her over her head and into the arena fence. I saw Patty's leg twist around the top rail as her head hit the post. Then, Pandora stepped on her and ran off.

Ouch. 

I was rushing towards the fallen rider as Mike jumped the fence and grabbed the horse. Pandora had stepped through her reins, but Mike got her untangled and held her. She looked pretty sheepish, and I think she knew she was in trouble.

Patty, thankfully, was bruised but not seriously injured. I didn't let her get up for several minutes, and she looked pretty shaken as she rubbed sand out of her eyes. Her arm, back, and leg had taken a pretty serious beating, but her head didn't hurt and everything moved the way it was supposed to.

Eventually, Patty got up and asked, "Is there something I could have done to prevent that?"

She was thrilled to hear that Mike had gotten the whole thing on camera.

I have to give Patty credit. She climbed right back on that mean little mare, even insisting that I not hold her head. After a few laps at the walk, she was ready to go back to trotting. Pandora seemed to have a new attitude after that. I honestly don't think she believed Patty would come off. She throws things at her from time to time, and Patty always sticks it. It may sound silly, but I think she knew she'd done a bad thing.

We spent the rest of the lesson installing the one rein stop at the walk and trot in both directions. I told Patty that you can't always prevent a horse from acting up in the first place, but you can provide yourself with the tools to pull the horse out of it, and give yourself a better chance of staying on and regaining control.

We ended the lesson on a good note, and Patty did her 20m trot circle to the left without any further fireworks. I talked to her the next day and she told me she was pretty sore, but otherwise alright.

I'll tell you what... I wouldn't have picked that mare for Patty, but if she sticks with her, she'll become one hell of a rider!

End of the lesson, all smiles.

She's lucky she's cute.