Wrong Answer

The temperatures dropped and it was the perfect excuse to not have to get on my horse. I can count on one hand the number of rides I've done in the past two weeks. 

I touched base with the changes and completely lost control of Opie. The draw reins fixed the head in the air issue--even without them, that evasion was nixed. Instead he moved on to putting his head down and bolting. As in, leaving the starting gate and GONE bolting. No matter what exercise I tried, it devolved into not being able to touch him without him leaving--leg, hand, seat, circle, come off the rail an inch--peace, bitch. 

So that was great. 

I tried doing some ground work with him after his PEMF appointment. We started with a little longe where he kept wanting to quit, but while he was quitting he'd snark me. That being not at all productive, I switched to in-hand work. Some SI, TOH and turn on the forehand, and flexing each way all well and good. Once he got over the attitude. His default answer to anything I asked was an automatic, "No." No, I don't want to try. No, I'm not going to listen to what you're asking. No, I'm going to do it this way. 

This is exactly the vibe he has with the changes. "No, I don't want to let you explain the ask or manipulate me in any way that will make these easier. The answer is going to be no either way and FUCK YOU for suggesting otherwise.

will at least always say yes to gallops in the snow

BM and I did set up a riding date which held me accountable to get back on after the previous week's sole cluster fuck of a ride. We jumped around a course set between 2'3" - 2'6". Lots of lines and fun turns with a couple singles. Opie was perfect. He did literally nothing wrong. 

That inspired me to get back on the next day. I set two of the jumps on diagonals down to maybe 12". Good bois like jumping? Great! Let's casually get the changes over jumps so I can reward him for them!

It worked one time each direction. Asked for the change over the jump, he landed on the new correct lead, and got ALLLLLLL the praise and candies. Asked a second time and he was on to the game. The game he hates, that is. Middle fingers went up, the resounding NO came out. Pretty much immediately I couldn't ask for anything without the drama. 

So I went and got the double bridle to try to regain an ounce of control. 

sometimes needs a double, sometimes needs nothing at all

After I put it on we walked and walked and walked and walked until he'd taken a breath and softened his crazy brain. A little trot to make sure we had an honest connection and then my latest plan of attack: We're not even going to leave the rail. 

Into true canter, walk, counter canter, walk, true canter, walk, etc....

At first there was a tantrum over this. We've tried asking out of the counter canter in several different configurations so he knew something was still up. The first time I asked for it we went shooting backwards. The second time, sideways. The third time, there were about ten changes in the space of three strides. It finally started to settle down after that. I just kept asking the same thing. True canter. Walk. Counter Canter. Walk. Rinse and repeat. I don't care if it's ugly as long as it's happening when I ask. The routine quieted his angry brain and as we reached one corner where I'd been asking for the walk, I barely breathed the cue for a change and he popped right over cleanly with no fuss. 

And then got mad at me for tricking him into it and while I was scratching the shit out of his neck and telling him he was the smartest asshole in the whole entire universe he was wagging his tongue around and shaking his head. 

Like, good grief, sir. Do you want to say yes? EVER?

That was where we left it. It got down to single digits again for a couple days, but yesterday we went out with two friends to rip around the back field in the snow. He was perfect for that, too. And now maybe I think we should stick to changes in the field? Put it on the list, we're running out of things to try.

left lead

quiet, clean, no drama involved flying change

right lead

Birthday Ride

Today is Opie's ninth birthday!

He got a fresh Uncle Jimmy's hanging ball and Likit, a bag of his favorite treat in the entire universe (GHM), and a new heavyweight turnout blanket that doesn't hang weird AF and leave giant gaps at the neck. 

birthday lunch!

We've been light on the riding lately. We haven't touched changes in a couple of weeks at this point because I can't bring myself to work up the energy I know I'll need to attack them. Plus it's been single digit cold off and on and nobody wants any part of that--especially me after doing three hours of barn chores. 

I brought Hubby along on Sunday for some fresh riding media, but K and BM were there and K had some jumps set so we did a little bit of boring flat work and then jumped a couple things. Not the best for media, but more fun that a ride that required brain power.

The January/winter riding burnout is real right now. Even once I'm in the saddle it takes all my energy to just convince myself to keep riding and to find something to work on. Yesterday we didn't even canter. I tackled getting the trot collected instead. I've been really bad about asking for more especially when it comes to collection because it's hard work and the easy work is so nice and...easy lol. It ended up quality-ish. He wanted to ping back and forth between my legs every time they moved even a centimeter and there was some mouth noshing because hard, but the collection got done and the connection was soft. 

The "you can stretchy trot instead of walk" thing came back to bite me in the ass. Now he thinks he doesn't have to walk ever which is false, so we did a million transitions within walk until the point got across. 

forever working on the TOH

For his birthday ride I set a couple of jumps...and then decided to get on bareback instead and go for a trail ride. Too bad so sad though because despite the second day of 40* none of the ice out back had melted enough for Opie to break through so back to the ring we went. 

We did some trotting where I FINALLY made a mental breakthrough about the outside rein. 

Like, use it. 

Instead of pulling on the inside rein.

And then your circles are not just neck bent circles. 

Straightness EVEN ON A CIRCLE is a magical thing. 

Mind. Blown. 

Tools in the Tool Box

Things have been up and down with Opie lately. When I take the emotion out of my recent rides and look at everything objectively, it's easier for me to break down what's going on.

• He's inherently lazy. This isn't a new thing, this is just who he is. When the going gets tough he'd really rather not. As we've gone up the levels, his baseline has of course expanded. But each time we add on to the difficulty, we have to go through the struggle of making the baseline expand even more. 
• He's an anxious horse. When I got him, he weaved and stall walked--traits of a horse that has a lot going on in his little racehorse brain. Through training, routine, nutrition, and supplementation he's a million times better than he used to be, but again, that's just who he is. 
• Combine those two and you don't exactly have the recipe for an upper of the lower levels dressage/anything horse. If he put forth half the effort into doing what I'm asking as he does the evasions to get out of them, he'd be a shoo-in for Grand Prix. 

The past two rides we didn't work on flying changes so they were really good. I can tell I've put the correct basics on this horse. His self carriage is lovely. He collects off the seat, he responds to leg aids almost too quickly, he's light in the bridle without giving up the contact. I've been getting him settled and soft and forward even in the dreaded lateral work. 

He wants to jig between canter breaks because of anticipation, but I've been redirecting that into stretchy trot. You don't have to walk because that's clearly a lot for your busy ass brain, so your feet get to move faster, but it's productive work that's good for your body. And it's paid off because his PEMF worked said he's definitely not as sore as he has been. (Still perpetually sore in his shoulders from weaving all the time, but I ordered a massage gun for us to share so I'm excited to get to use that on a regular basis.)

The bad, however, the fucking elephant in the room is the flying changes.

I have tried every which way to make them click in his head in a sane manner. Eighteen months in and we're still getting the same result: sometimes he'll just give me a clean one, but there's no rhyme or reason as to why over why not. 

For sure the one thing that's kept me alive when I ask for them has been draw reins. Even BM, who is very much anti draw reins, said that draw reins are probably the best route for him in this particular movement for now. He throws his head up without them as he goes to bolt and/or leap which disconnects his back which then makes it almost physically impossible for him to change cleanly back to front. They haven't been an instant fix or something that makes the changes appear when he's wearing them, but they significantly cut down on the drama with the ask which speeds the process up.

So that's the final piece in the puzzle that has to happen before show season. I'm committed to Third. I'd like to not be too embarrassing.