Day 6

6 February 2012
Today was a challenge.  While the pony's awesome, he can do a great impression of a bulldog when he wants to.  He bears down, and charges through anything in his way.  I know this from personal experience- that's his favourite trick out on the trails when he wants to run.  After a few rides he quit doing that with me, but apparently it makes an appearance every now and again with others.

This bulldozer technique made an appearance again when I asked him to halt in front of the mounting block.  He halted, then walked a few steps forward.  I corrected him and asked him to back up and yield to my reins.
We eventually moved a step back, then he charged again dragging me halfway across the ring.  I naturally corrected him, but I felt awful as his eyes were rolling & his nostrils were flared like he feared for his life.  I tried to reassure him, then we walked back to the mounting block and hopped on without incident.
I'm not a fan of controlling horses through fear, power, and aggression.  Just like when you control people that way, eventually you'll get an uprising.  This does NOT mean that you should never correct a horse; when a horse does something wrong they need to know that its wrong.  It's all in how you communicate the message.

With Arty, his past experiences make it difficult.  He always fears pain.  To this day, he shies if you lift a saddle pad too high, if you wave things, etc.  So how do you correct a horse who is running right through you without frightening him?  If anyone knows the answer, I'd love to hear it because I sure don't.

Anyhow, the rest of our ride didn't improve much.  We had decent bending going on in the walk, though the left bend still requires a fair bit of inside leg to prevent him from falling through that shoulder.  His straightness was good too, and we could walk straight down the long side of the arena with only a few corrections.  The trot however, was a bit of a disaster.

It started out alright- we trotted around and managed to not fall in through the corners left and right.  He was rushy, but not awful.  From there I popped him into a left lead canter... which was passable, then took a quick break.  When I popped him back into the trot, calm was no longer a part of our vocabulary.  First I tried to attains some softness in his jaw with the hopes that from there, rhythm would come.  No such luck.  Then I tried to slow his trot (which was semi-successful) and worked on bending from there.

My main goal was to get him to give and soften.  I'm never fussed about frame as I don't really see the point in having your horse's neck all tucked up just for the sake of making the horse look pretty.  If a horse is bends, is soft, and is balanced all without ever tucking their nose then wonderful- let it hold its head however it likes.  The fact is, most horses do come into a frame and carry themselves like that when their neck, jaw, and body is soft and yielding.  So my sole goal for the pony was to get some give.  I couldn't tell you how long we spent just trotting with me asking him to yield to my inside rein and leg.   Instead he threw his head, tried to rush, threw his head some more, impersonated a giraffe, and tried to walk.  I had to drop my stirrups to gain full control of my leg and seat, so I could use them effectively and give some really strong half-halts.

I have a half halt strong enough to stop a 17hh percheron cross in his tracks, but it is rarely used.  Arty did get some pretty good strength half-halts though... anything less and he just rushed through it.  Eventually, he gave. We switched directions, and he was much easier to the left.  I think the fight had just gone out of him.  We cooled out, did some carrott stretches, and I showered him in treats.  Hopefully next time will be easier.