With Familiarity Comes Naughtiness

A long time ago we lived close to our trainer, now two hours away, and it was easy to go back and forth with her as we fine tuned our horses. As we were riding, if we hit a roadblock, she’d put on a ride or two and fix them. It was like good cop, bad cop, and they seemed much more appreciative of us, and the easy work we asked of them, when we rode them after her.

Yesterday was Katie’s second time riding Mr. Tumbleweed. I had to babysit my grandson, and T’s shoes come off Wednesday, so I figured a last ride with Katie would be good for him. Tweed wasn’t sure he agreed.

In fact, he pulled out all his tricks for her which he had hidden so well only a couple of weeks ago. They’re nothing big, just trying to get out of the hard work stuff.

The kind of moves that upset your seat and make the rider work a lot harder.

We talked about him a little when she was done in the arena and she said it’s often the case they do more naughty stuff on the second ride when they feel more comfortable with you. 

The difference is, she’s used to it. She just kept collecting him up and asking again, and again, and again. It was good for me to see her patience and consistency and realize there are no shortcuts or magic beans, just hard work. 

After their warmup, she rode him to the river and down some steep hills with drop offs. She said he hugged the drop off side a little too close for comfort (been there) and he looked around a lot. She used her leg to get him center on the trail and when they made their return back he kept to center better. 

She took a video at the river when she got him to go in. 

She said as they returned he wanted to pick up the trot, but she was able to check his speed with no problem. It also started to rain, and the rain agitated him. He is a bit of a dandy man. 

When she got back to the equestrian area there was a new horse cantering around the arena and Tweed wanted to look at it. Katie rode him over and asked him to stand sideways against the rail and relax. He kept trying to get his head up and look at the horse. She would ask for him to relax with vertical flexion. At one point he tried to yank the reins away, as he has done with me before. He was DONE and he wanted to be left alone. But she was unfazed and asked again, and that was that. He gave up and cocked a leg. 

I’m sad that our time with trail riding (and with Katie) will now be put on hold until spring, but it is what it is.  

We’ve done a lot together and learned a lot together this year. There have been trail rides, weekly lessons, a clinic, and many epiphanies that will guide us further towards partnership. 

Way back, when I was going through this same journey with Leah, Gray Horse Matters sent me this book by Bill Dorrance, True Horsemanship Through Feel. I’m going to read it again now. 

That feeling of “getting with your horse” is quite magical. It’s what keeps us saddling up and striving for connection. It’s what keeps us going after the inevitable hard days. And the better we fine tune our feel, the happier our horses are, too. 

I have a horse who comes to me when he sees me approach with a halter. He leaves his mare herd, even when he sees the truck running and the trailer doors open. He jumps in and scoots his butt over to close the divider, even without me asking. He pours his heart out on the trails. 

That’s what I’m taking with me into winter, and it fills my heart with love for him, and longing for more.