Clickety click click

Yesterday was possibly my best ride on my flashy red pony yet. I was not expecting it to be, as she hadn't been ridden in almost two weeks- in fact, I was kind of dreading the inevitable fight that would ensue. "Just get on and feel her out," I told myself. "If things start going south, you can always go back into the round pen."

Being one to fear for my life on occasion, I started out our session by longing her, to take any edge off. It was when I asked her for the canter that I discovered something: gone are the trot trot trot into the canter days. I simply said "CANTER" and off she went. Immediately. I could have stopped right there I was so happy. You see, yesterday I decided that we really needed to longe on a line more, rather than in the round pen, so that I can go to shows and a) not worry about my horse killing those around me, or b) look like an idiot chasing my horse around the arena, trying to get her to lope. I asked her for the lope with trepidation, knowing that the last time we cantered on the line was a glorious failure (aka she dragged me around and simply would NOT canter without me popping and popping the whip). So when she immediately cantered off, on both sides, I felt myself immediately relax. This horse finally understood something we had been working on for months. Was it in part due to our last ride, where we trotted, cantered, trotted, cantered, until she started picking it up at the verbal cue? Possibly. All I know is that my voice was about 10 octaves higher than normal every time I told her, "Good girl!"

After longing, I bridled her and started tightening the girth. Sienna has unfortunately become cinchy in the last few months. I'm not sure if it's something my weak arms do when tightening the girth, or if it's just her not really having ever been ridden before I got her, but something about it sets her off. A lesson horse that I used to ride wayyyy back in the day was also cinchy, and I was told to just ignore him whenever he snapped at me. It never caused him to improve, so I'm thinking that ignorance is probably not the best plan of action. Whenever Sienna pinned her ears and snaked her head back at me, I would pick up my right rein and ask her to bend her head away from me. I figured redirecting, rather than smacking her and making her even more anxious, would be a better course for her. Eventually she stopped turning her head towards me and only put her ears back a little, which was a step in the right direction, so I left it at that and got on.

And we had the most relaxed, pleasant ride ever. She walked calmly and lengthened her neck down without me having to ask her. Upon me lifting my hands, she happily tucked her nose, rather than throwing her head up and fighting me. At the trot, she meandered around, plodding along, rather than racing around in a hot and bothered fashion. We did lots of circles and maintained our speed without me having to check her. She did get distracted a few times by the other horses, but every time I reminded her I was there, she graciously said "oh yeah!" instead of "oh my gosh won't you just be DONE already??". Since she was listening and relaxed, I decided not to lope and we ended on a positive note.

Some take away notes for me were: my horse really does respond to how relaxed I am. Every time I'd feel the perfectionist in me start popping up during our ride, I'd immediately squelch her, and both Sienna and I had a much more pleasant experience because of it. Secondly, the pasture is SO much nicer to ride in after it has been mowed. I could concentrate on my horse, rather than worrying that we were about to step on some goat weed.

While Sienna and I were riding, I turned Chica out into the yard so that she could feel special as well. I noticed at one point during our ride that she was dangerously close to the lake in my backyard- I could see her falling through the deceptive plants that hide where the lake actually starts, and me having to jump in and carry her out. So I called her, and she came trotting back up to the pasture gate, probably like "I thought you'd never give me dinner!" Mind you, she is pretty lame right now, so I appreciated the effort. Once she realized that I wasn't going to feed her yet, she wondered off again, and my roommate's horse panicked and called to her. I heard her scream back, and this time, she came BOLTING back to the pasture fence. "I'M HERE WHAT DID I MISS???"

Oh, horses.