Keith_Beef
Novice equestrian, accomplished equichetrian
I was at my regular lesson on Sunday, for the first time in a couple of months. For a variety of reasons, including Christmas break, when the centre shuts down for two weeks I've not been able to get to lessons. The only time I've been on a horse since early November was an hour riding through Greno Woods in December.
So, yesterday, one of my instructors was in the arena from about ten minutes before the end of the previous group's lesson, on a horse that is notoriously hot, and has been I think unridded for a couple of months (I don't know why). She stayed in the arena and our lesson began. Another ten minutes, we were near the end of warm-up, and the hot gelding decided to buck her off. The instructor picked herself up while the horse proceeded to gallop around farting and refusing to be caught for another ten minutes. When she and our instructor for the lesson finally cornered him, she checked his tack and mounted up again.
A bit later, the other bloke in the group, maybe a couple of years older than me, got shaken off by his horse; turned a sharp corner, got out of balance, and the horse seemed to think "this is going to an easy one to chuck off", so he did it. The rider picked himself up, stretched his sore inner-thigh muscles, and got back on.
Then it was my turn. My bolshy, work-shy gelding had thrown me in early October. He'd tried again a couple of times in yesterday's lesson, by suddenly stopping dead from a trot... I'd stayed on and made him do loads of transitions between walk and trot, and stand and trot. But in the exercise for the day, on transitions, he refused to go to canter near the barrier around the arena, after trotting between parallel poles on the ground. He lifted his withers, made a movement as if he was going to start the canter, then dropped his front, bucked up his back and and threw me forwards over his shoulder...
I sat down heavily in the sand, still with the reins held lightly in my left hand and crop in my right hand, and span around to look at him. He looked, jerked back his head, puling the reins from me, and took off for three laps of farting gallop, stepping on his reins and breaking them in the process.
But when he calmed down, I made that little noise you make to call a cat to you, and he walked towards me with no problem, and stayed still while I pierced a new hole in the rein billet. I got back on him, and he was relatively well behaved for the rest of the lesson... Far from perfect, but OK.
I'm beginning to get a reputation for being the only person in our level of lesson who is able to get the stubborn and work-shy horses to do something to earn their keep.
So, yesterday, one of my instructors was in the arena from about ten minutes before the end of the previous group's lesson, on a horse that is notoriously hot, and has been I think unridded for a couple of months (I don't know why). She stayed in the arena and our lesson began. Another ten minutes, we were near the end of warm-up, and the hot gelding decided to buck her off. The instructor picked herself up while the horse proceeded to gallop around farting and refusing to be caught for another ten minutes. When she and our instructor for the lesson finally cornered him, she checked his tack and mounted up again.
A bit later, the other bloke in the group, maybe a couple of years older than me, got shaken off by his horse; turned a sharp corner, got out of balance, and the horse seemed to think "this is going to an easy one to chuck off", so he did it. The rider picked himself up, stretched his sore inner-thigh muscles, and got back on.
Then it was my turn. My bolshy, work-shy gelding had thrown me in early October. He'd tried again a couple of times in yesterday's lesson, by suddenly stopping dead from a trot... I'd stayed on and made him do loads of transitions between walk and trot, and stand and trot. But in the exercise for the day, on transitions, he refused to go to canter near the barrier around the arena, after trotting between parallel poles on the ground. He lifted his withers, made a movement as if he was going to start the canter, then dropped his front, bucked up his back and and threw me forwards over his shoulder...
I sat down heavily in the sand, still with the reins held lightly in my left hand and crop in my right hand, and span around to look at him. He looked, jerked back his head, puling the reins from me, and took off for three laps of farting gallop, stepping on his reins and breaking them in the process.
But when he calmed down, I made that little noise you make to call a cat to you, and he walked towards me with no problem, and stayed still while I pierced a new hole in the rein billet. I got back on him, and he was relatively well behaved for the rest of the lesson... Far from perfect, but OK.
I'm beginning to get a reputation for being the only person in our level of lesson who is able to get the stubborn and work-shy horses to do something to earn their keep.
hope you aren't too sore today.