Clinics and More Cantering

This pic is from 2 years ago when I rode in a Mark Rashid clinic with Scout. I'd owned Scout for about 4 months at this point and he had just turned four. We are working on keeping a consistent trot here. It looks like he broke gait and I'm in the process of asking him to continue trotting. His front end and his hind are doing two different things. I'm sitting deep and using my seat and leg. Mark is in the background watching every step and giving me commentary when needed, giving moral support that "he'll get there", but often he is silent and watching things unfold. His teaching style works for me and I look forward to riding with him again later this month. I find it weird and helpful to see pics of myself riding. I recently went back to look at these photos from 2007 to help me remember how far this horse and I have come in 2 years. We worked a lot on steering at this clinic too. Steering and maintaining a consistent pace at the trot.

One woman who had watched our progression over the three days complimented me on my balance. (I think) "We were all amazed that you stayed with your horse so well," she said. "He was all over the place."

Uh....wow. That bad eh? I politely told her thank you, but walked away really confused. We were struggling staying on the large circle we were attempting while maintaining a trot, but I didn't feel out of balance personally. I felt like I was trying to stay with him and my steering was probably really exaggerated, but wow, it looked that ungainly? Ugh!

Mark had actually told me that I had ridden just fine, it wasn't pretty, but it was what needed to be done to keep Scout traveling where I wanted him to go.

This is the kind of stuff you open your self up to when you ride in a clinic. Thankfully Mark is very kind and patient and I knew he could help me. But it can be daunting to have your horse and riding exposed to a field of other riders and auditors. People can be critical and self important at these things. At this particular clinic my friend also rode. She was a nervous wreck for weeks prior due to her lack of confidence about riding in front of others. I had no idea. I come from the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm excited about riding with people of Mark's caliber and knowledge. I expect to make mistakes, possibly look like a fool, as long as no one gets hurt...something will be learned!

I have also met some great folks at these clinics. Most are very supportive of whatever the rider is working on. Most are genuinely interested in the process of how the pair fare over the course of the three days. Most are facing the same struggles, or have struggled with similar things with their own horses at some point. At one clinic, a woman who was auditing was kind enough to send me some photos she had taken of Joe and I during our rides. She sent a lovely note and the pics. I didn't even know her, but she thought I'd like to have the shots. She was right!!

So as I look back at where Scout and I started two years ago, I'm hopeful that Mark will help us with our current issues and probably point out a few that I've been glossing over. I'm sure there are holes somewhere to be filled in in our training, that's why I'm struggling with canter departs and some other stickiness here and there. For the most part though, I'm really happy with Scout and his abilities thus far. He's a great horse and he's only six and I haven't dealt with a six year old horse for 20 years.

Come to think of it, Joe was six when I bought him and we had canter depart troubles at first too....hmmm.

About today- We worked in the arena and it is definitely not Scout's favorite place. I tried a full cheek bit that Kate lent me. It's a 5 1/2, mine is a 5 and a bit snug on the corners of his mouth. I think the bit was fine, but we were a mess this evening. He was shying in all the corners, so we did small circles in each one until they were no big deal. We were bulging to the left, sticky turning right...sheesh! So we trotted serpentines and figure eights over a pole until he started snorting and blowing off some adrenaline and settled down. Our first canter was a diving gallop. Not pretty. I was trying very hard not to use the reins as a brake, but more of a guide. If he started powering up I turned him whichever lead he was on and circled until he came back a little and then continued straight. This happened quite a bit. I softened my cue, cus I thought maybe it's too much. It can be hard to get the canter, but I tried cueing very softly, instead of nagging, canter, canter!!! He didn't always respond to the softer cue, but when I asked more insistently, he darted off with more energy than I wanted. It took a while to find the right amount of cue.

Finally after about 30 minutes of trotting, halt, back, canter, we had a beautiful depart on a loopy rein with no "gotta go!" urgency. I rode that for about 30 seconds, halted him in the middle of the arena, facing away from the gate, got off and loosened his girth immediately and made myself useful to him by scratching his favorite spot on his chest. He let me know he liked that by stretching his neck way up in the air curling his lip and leaning into the scratching. I took off his saddle and bridle and walked away, leaving him standing in the arena to do what he pleased.

He trotted up after me and was in my hip pocket all the way to the gate. For whatever reason, he chose to come with me and that was interesting to me. I took him up on the hill to graze and cool off.