I continue to mull over the lesson I had with Katie. Seeing Tumbleweed through that prism, an experienced, gentle hand, just completely changed the way I think of supporting him on the trail.
We talked a lot as she was riding him on the circle after the trail work, and I recorded a little bit of that conversation. A new horse had entered the arena on the far side, and Tweed wanted to look at it, but she was demonstrating how easy it was to keep him tuned into the work, despite that, and also talking about what worked on the trail.
I transcribed a portion of it to remind myself:
“I rode pretty loose the whole time so he knew he was being good when he was being good and then as soon as he would bring it up I would just tiny little ask to bring it back down and he stayed pretty nice level ears the whole time.
I do a lot with my legs, too. He kind of wanted to stop and I’d just put a little inside leg, ‘get back on that circle,’ a little inside rein and kinda say, ‘hey, pay attention. Keep it nice and chill.’
He’s very smart. I can tell he knows a lot just from the way he responds to the things I ask him. It’s more like that little reminder and maybe he just needs a little reminder.
I find, too, that if sometimes I make too big of a deal of their mistakes, it flusters them and they’re like, ‘oh my gosh I’m in trouble,’ and then their brain scatters and then you have to bring them back. With this, he just barely knows he’s in trouble. It’s more like a little reminder, like ‘okay, you know what you’re supposed to be doing, let’s keep doing that’. And he’s like, ‘okay, I’ll do it.’”
She also told me that her check-ins were constant, like every 15 seconds. She was actively supporting him the whole time so that when they got to the super steep hills it wasn’t anything new.
We had planned to ride together on Sunday, the only sunny day in the forecast, but I remembered that I need to babysit my grandson. We are looking for another day to do it, but have to work around her schedule and the worsening weather.
The reality of fall is setting in. We are entering the time of year where I wish I had an indoor arena.
But the slow down also opens up more opportunities for family time.
And barn time.
And music. (Our city comes alive with music and theater during the cold months.) I will also start back up on my flute lessons.
We didn’t sit at tables for the musical soirée pictured. We sat in chairs on the second level looking down. We kind of like our privacy, even in the midst of crowded spaces.
