Mental-Down's & New Trainers

Recyling pics of old due to phone upload malfunction...

Trainer Trials; Take 101…

To start the post off I won’t even try to explain my lack of visitation to the blog-o-sphere. It is shared with my lack of replying to texting or calls, whoops. Sorry y’all, it is not personal I swear… I am just beginning to learn the word r-e-l-a-x. With relaxation follows ‘lack of care where thy cell phone is’

(It is likely stuffed in my purse, which is also stuffed away in the closet because my spending has been nipped, humph).

Recapping on the past week’s events.

06/24 – Mich and I had booked a lesson with, a more or less local, brand name trainer to work on some jumping since we already have access to an in house dressage trainer, (who is fab btw!). We opted for a longer semi-private lesson and chose to stay home rather than trailer out to make the day a bit easier.

After the two of us luged out the remainder of the jump gear and giving it a good ole’ hose off from the layers of arena dust, we drug everything out to the middle of the grass ring in preparation then headed to groom our loyal steeds.  

I was planning on giving Pal a bath first but time was of the essence so a quick groom was all time could afford. Thankfully, I had ridden the day before so she was virtually clean. Or as clean as a white-ish equine can remain.

Trainer showed up about a half hour early but we were nearly done tacking. While we finished up we all had a chat about what we had been working on and Mich and I gave a general summary of our horses and ourselves.

Now, I had ridden with this trainer before but that was back when P was 4 y/o. So needless to say, both of us have changed a bit.

After doing a quick w/t/c warm up on our own, trainer had us both get out of the saddle and go for a jumping gallop to rev up our engines and so he could see how we ride. He then had us come to the middle and we had a roughly 25-minute chat about positions, horse confo, how he wants us to ride the two ponies etc.

We were then sent out to the rail to practice being ever so light with our aids and still getting the reaction we are looking for. No issue, P and I have been working on this for a while now. After a couple reminder taps, she remembered our past ‘conversations’ too.

We then took a quick break, were told to shorten up our reins so our elbows are a true 80-90 degree angle rather than the 35 that we both display, oops. Trainer recognized that we are just trying to be soft and following but without the proper elbow angle we do not truly have an effective connection to the front end, thus, we do not have the back end. He called this the ‘fish on a hook’, (you don’t drop your rod when you hook a fish, lol).  Makes sense. Both horses responded with tension initially but P settled into the new connection and after ‘pointing my body arrow’ appropriately I really felt a difference. I could feel what the hind end was doing in my hips rather than my hands. Hallelujah, this little trick taught P that she can lift her front and push behind at the same time without leaning on me. My fault, but I never really thought about it to be honest.

Moving on, we then were looking for more engagement and flexibility in the hocks and stifle areas so trainer had us work on turn on the forehand. Which P totally rocks at. Usually. But after the already hour and a quarter riding and the 35*c squelching sun, P and Thunder had had enough!

Thunder was a gentlemen, mostly and just acted like he had no idea what was being asked. P on the other hand, had a meltdown. P does not do meltdowns, so this was news to me.

Do not be alarmed though, P’s meltdown wasn’t a true equine meltdown. A meltdown for her is just a mental-down. Ie. The reverse gear got jammed and no amount of pleading or booting would disrupt the function. Until we hit the fence and lurched forward. If only all repairs were as simple as a swift kick in the ***.

Trainer though, thought I was doing it on purpose and quickly tried harping me for using rein back to punish.

After our episode, trainer said we needed to continue to repeat what I am asking for until we got the right answer, attempting to ignore mental-downs. I flatly but politely said ‘no, that is enough for today, I know this horse, she is getting too tired’.

Trainer understood but still wanted us to get some semblance of what the goal/homework would be so we trotted off on a circle in sitting trot, (trainer wants us to sit trot before rising to engage the drive in the haunches), then we took a note off the TOF and asked for TOF from inside leg, just one step! From the haunches, then when I feel it, trot on! Keep the contact- don’t drop it!

This was tough. P already being irritable thought I meant leg yield. Until I realized where my ‘body arrow’ was pointed, which in turn corrected my slacking outside rein, whoops. We got in a few good moments but both of us were hot and parched so we called it a day.

Overall, it was an interesting lesson and I did learn a few things but it wasn’t ‘fun’ and we didn’t get to jump which was our intention for the lesson and trainer did not think we had enough equipment in order to jump anything… :I hmm..

In the end, as they say, any knowledge gained is priceless.

Am I right to be extremely picky and critical about my trainers? I have met a mere one, 1!, trainer in the last 8 years that I like enough to pay for their services… humph.

On goes the battle… I mean search. Although, there may be a light on the horizon. This month Mich and I have elected to lesson with another local person we already know and respect. Her riders appear kind to their horses and look to bring out the best of both horse and rider without pushing the limit.

Let’s hope for a happy ending!