Stiffness - diary of a stubborn pony !

[KateWooten]

Well, you folks who ride older 'broke' horses.. the ones that someone else got paid for 'starting' .. so that you don't have the 'difficult' task of first saddling etc etc .. especially you all who ride these heavier cobs - the ones who set their neck against you, grab the bit and run .. yes, yes, you know who I'm talking about ... well you all have my utmost respect :bows down smily: ... It's a much tougher job than starting them right in the first place :eek: :eek: :eek: ... If I ever get out of this with Summer, the very cute but stiff as a board 9 yr old, I will have something useful to say, until then I'd better shut the heck up :rolleyes:

Here's the story so far .. she arrived Wednesday night and I thought I'd geive a good few days to settle in before asking anything much of her. However, she settled right in with the other 2, with no fuss whatsoever. She took the role of boss hoss and was perfectly calm about the whole deal. Everybody had 2 days off for settling in time, then we went back to our normal routine of everyone in at breakfast, and everyone does 'something' .. either ground training, or a ride, or a lesson, or schooling, or just grooming-time for the morning and then out again as it gets too hot.

Well, she seemed fine to fit right in with that routine. So I took her out to the roundpen in just a piece of string and worked on lateral flexion, move your butt, and move your shoulders .. all from the ground. Now this little mare has hunted out in the field for years, and jumps fine .. but was sold to me for very little because her owner is just frustrated with her constant pulling and flinging her head about ... basically - she has never been taught to 'give to pressure'.

So, she takes to this groundwork ok, and I hop on her bareback and do teh flexing from the saddle. Fine no problem. The DH, absolute novice, hops on her and does the same. He's very alert for a novice, and is very keen to become a good horseman, and very aware of how novicey he is - he's also in no hurry, loves the horse, and is prepared to take the time it takes ... so all good there, and they did fine together.

So today, I try her out in the lower paddock - a much bigger, grassy area, and just out of sight of the barn. :eek: :eek: :eek: - possibly not a good idea !!!! We don't have a saddle wide enough for her yet, so she's bareback, and just in a rope halter. She does all the groundwork tests just fine, so I hop on her. OMG - have you ever tried balancing on a totally round slippy barrel while asking for softness from a brick ? Not good. Also, she has found this very 'cute' trick lol! When she finally does concede defeat, and flexes her cute face to touch my toe with her nose, she has found that she can nudge me under my boot upwards, and how she laughs as I get flipped right off the other side :p <-- that's what Summer is telling me !!

Well, I didn't actually get flipped off, but there were a number of times there I had to grab a whole thick bunch of mane as that little mare went through what was, I swear a whole complete reining spin rather than just flex her darn thick neck !!

I found a good note to quit and got off before I went flying.

Kate (<-- stomps off humiliated, to go and force that darn wintec saddle wide enough for a tabletop.....)

[palmerlover52]

Haha lovely account!!!!

What exactly do you plan to do to make her a little morre supple??

I lvoe the little trick she has lol

[KateWooten]

I plan to velcro my butt to a saddle !!!!

Here's why I'm doing this project .... I'm forever going on about lateral flexion and the one rein stop. It's a western thing. My 'hunch' is that by doing a lot of lateral flexibility with the young horse, by always from the word go, having an 'emergency brake' .. that you can have a horse that stays soft and supple, is much easier to work with, and takes to the english disciplines - dressage, showjumping etc easily - and that we avoid having all these runaways who always need stronger bits. That's the theory, but for most people, they are not starting with a young horse .. they're dealing with an older horse who already knows how to stiffen up, grab the bit, evade, resist balk and tear off at any excuse.... so I got me one of them to see if the same techniques that work to keep a youngster soft and responsive will also work to get an older horse soft after years of bad habits.

Here's the plan .. I need to go back into the round pen for a LOT longer than that ! I wouldn't think of taking my youngster out of the roundpen and into an open area bareback on his second day's training, so no suprise if the older mare doesn't respond great when I rush her either. I need to do lots and lots of lateral flexion - it's not even just about developing her flexibility in head and neck - it's about settling the contract between her and me. I need her to know that she can fight and resist all she likes BUT all good things happen when you simply give to pressure. I need to get her to the stage where if I simply reach to pick up one rein, she softens and bends without really thinking ... before I bring her out of the round pen.

I'd also like to get her to the stage where I can easily bend her to a halt, from a walk before we go anywhere more open ... but I'm not real sure how to approach this because she stops very easily from seat alone ... it would be like I'd have to deliberately not apply a seat aid, and then bend her to a stop. That doesn't 'feel right'. Perhaps I should ignore the one-rein-stop from a walk, and just use it as a 'back up' for if she wants to ignore the seat aid. But then the first time I tried a one-rein-stop owuld be from a trot ... and we know she likes to grab the bit and tank from a trot.

So ... rough plan is looking like a week in the round pen in just a rope halter at a halt and walk doing flexing. Then out into the arena but still just at halt and walk, bending, bending, bending and more bending. I'll keep sessions real short and sweet - she's very used to being dragged out of the pasture and trailered out for a full day's work with no conditioning to speak of ... she needs to re-learn that we work until she tries real hard for me, then we stop. that should encourage her to 'try' more and fight less.