Cob Jockey

My trainer's reaction to tonight's lesson: "I really think we can call this a breakthrough, he looks fantastic, he's so between your aids and listening to you.  This is how you get a horse on the bit the right way."

My reaction to tonight's lesson:"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He started out pulling my arms off with explosive forwardness after he got spooked by the assistant trainer riding up behind us, and as my biceps started aching ten minutes in, I thought that there was no way we were going to get anything productive done today. 

 So, my trainer had me break it down to the walk.  Ride a square, ride each corner as a turn on the forehand around the corner, asking the outside shoulder to remain straight as the inside hind steps under.  It was awful at first.  This is a timing and feel exercise, and my timing and feel were all off.  I was also exhausted after getting up at 5:30am for a women's leadership breakfast in Indianapolis, and I actually got to a point where I was so mentally fatigued, I couldn't remember whether we were cuing for turn on the forehand or turn on the haunches, steered him into the wrong movement, and almost came to tears.  We were fighting each other, he was hauling on me, and it was not good.

After that coming to Jesus moment, though, and my trainer explaining that I needed to half-halt when the outside fore was hitting the ground, I suddenly developed magical timing and was able to do the exercise properly.  When I was able to do the exercise properly, with my outside rein and inside leg working in sync, Connor came on the bit.  When Connor came on the bit, we stopped fighting each other.  When all of the above happened, he smoothly performed a perfect partial turn on the forehand at every corner like a champ, and best of all, respected me enough to stop bullying and do what I wanted.

That wasn't even the best part of the lesson.  The best part occurred after that, as a result of that, when we absolutely floated through a trot exercise, and got the best upward transitions I've ever gotten.  She had me continue to think turn on the forehand on a square at the trot to encourage me to use my aids properly.  I cried out and giggled when I felt him lift his back a good 3-4 inches upward during the trot transition. He wasn't hauling on my arms, but he was properly in the bridle, working the bit and seeking it actively.  He wasn't upside down, he was round and really, really lifting his back.  Best of all, it was consistent, even though he really doesn't have the proper muscles to work like that for a long period of time.  It was a true breakthrough. 

I have never wished I had video more than I do right now.

On the way to the barn tonight, I questioned whether the gas money, the time, and the effort were worth it, and I wondered if I was crazy to spend this much money on a hobby when we've got so many student loans.

On the way home from the barn tonight, I had tears of joy in my eyes, because yes, it is all worth it in the end.

We finally put it all together.  But let me start with Saturday and Sunday.  I rode both days, and had these thoughts in my head the whole time:
- More outside rein half-halts
- Ride the shoulders
- Bring the shoulders around on the circle
- Outside rein tells him where not to go

I realized that I had been pulling his nose to the inside when I played with the bit, and didn't have the outside rein there to keep him together while doing it, which made his shoulder pop.  The Chronicle thread I mentioned helped me immensely, and by the end, I was bringing his shoulders around so thoroughly, I could have progressed that into a turn on the haunches if I wanted.

Those two rides made all the difference in my lesson, and finally I had him through and connected for the entire lesson, even from the warmup.  It wasn't 100% consistent, and there was a lot of "Here?" "Yes." "Okay." "No, there." "Okay" between the two of us, but he knows where I want him to be.  As my trainer said, I'm telling him exactly how much of him I will "carry" and I'm refusing to carry an ounce more, and he's responding so well to that!  She coached us the entire lesson, but it was a lot of little things instead of a lot of major things.  A lot of it was impulsion - he gets flat, I ask him for more impulsion, but then (and here is where I've had a major mental breakthrough) I'm catching that energy between my hips and my hands, and putting him into a smaller space.

He was light, he was forward, he was pushing from the hindquarters even from my warmup, and that left shoulder was greatly improved, even to the point that I had him a bit counterbent at times and had to correct it.  He was swinging more than I've ever felt him, but better than all of that was the fact that it was consistent.  It wasn't a fluke, or a momentary glimpse, it was the real deal, actual progress, I-have-taught-this-horse-something-and-he-retained-it.

It was so good, I didn't even mind when we did some canter transitions for the first time since the Nancy clinic a month ago and they were absolutely terrible.  The walk and trot were once totally awful too, and we got there.  But now, we'll get there with less of a struggle because we've laid the lines of communication already.

The other thing I'd like to note is that he's getting more desensitized to things, and even when he loses focus for something like a girl coming through the arena door, or a horse whinnying, or he spooks at something, he comes back very quickly and immediately lowers his head, raises his neck and back and goes back to work.  That's a huge difference from the beginning, when he'd lose focus and just be completely done.

Sorry for the walls of text lately, photos coming this weekend!