Good Time Charlie

Tuesday 19 April 2016

Lesson Recap 4: Part One - On the Trails

Lesson Recap 4 is, once again, a bit of a summary of all of our learnings from last week, not just in our lesson on Sunday. All of last week was one big lesson for Charlie and me. Our rides were mostly spent on the trails, for a number of reasons, rather than in the arena, and this provided a few different learning opportunities. On Sunday, we turned it down a notch in our lesson and worked on a less-exciting, however just as, if not more, important aspect of our riding.

This blog is long, so I have separated it into two parts: Part One - On the Trails, and Part Two - On the Bit.

On the Trails: Troubleshooting

I mentioned in my blog post Lesson Recap 3 that, following our lesson last Sunday, Charlie decided to ad-lib a little on our trail ride last week. Even though he misbehaved on the trail, I managed to work him nicely in the outdoor ring when we got back, ending our ride on a positive note. The next time I went to ride him outside, though, he tried his bolting maneuvers in the ring, as well, and - spring fever or no - this is simply not acceptable. So, seeing as our show was, at that point, in a little over 3 weeks (eek!), I realized we had some work to do before he became too comfortable with this pattern.

Following these incidents, I mentioned Charlie's behaviour to the coaches at my barn; although I have done all the physical work to train Charlie myself, I am not a horse trainer, and I know when to ask for extra help. The spin-and-bolt is Charlie's signature bad behaviour, so it is something I am familiar with, but it is clearly not an issue that I had successfully resolved in prior attempts to do so. Both coaches suggested that the next time I take him on a trail, I swap my simple double-jointed loose ring snaffle for a leverage bit. While I am not one to condone the use of tools, including stronger bits, as a crutch, I can appreciate that there is a time and place to use them as a training aid to get past a particularly difficult bump in the road. This is not unlike last summer, when we were still in Edmonton, and Charlie went through a phase of spinning-and-bolting while I was leading him to/from his paddock; to correct this behaviour, one of the coaches at my barn, an experienced trainer, suggested I use a chifney bit to correct this behaviour. She showed me how to use it properly and safely, and sure enough, after only a handful of uses - I think it was 3? - he has not repeated this behaviour on the ground, and my chifney is lost somewhere in the black hole that is the bottom of my tack locker.

Trail One (AKA The World's Scariest Trail Ride)

Keeping this instant in Charlie's training in mind, I changed Charlie to a ported-mouth Pelham before our next trail ride the following day. I admit, I was very uncomfortable with it at first; I don't want to be the person that can only take their horse out on a strong bit, but I knew that the resurrection of the spin-and-bolt had to be corrected in a time-sensitive manner. On the trail, we were accompanied by 4 others: one of the coaches on an excitable yet brave thoroughbred, an 8 year old girl on a steady-Eddy school horse, and two fellow boarders, one on his own brave gelding and the other on her reactive mare. As per the coach's instructions, I placed myself between/behind her horse and the other brave gelding up front, with the reactive mare behind me and the school horse taking up the end.

It was within a minute or two of being off the property that I appreciated having the bit that I did. On the neighbouring property, someone had a large fire going, and directly across the street, someone else was using a power drill, out of sight behind some thick bushes. Charlie immediately tried the spin-and-bolt, but realized just as quickly that that was no longer an option - he managed to spin, but thought twice before bolting. With the encouragement from two horses coming forward from behind, and the two ahead of him continuing on down the road, I was able to correct his behaviour and, after the better part of a minute of having a discussion with him, we continued forward. The manner in which I corrected his behaviour was simple: whenever he spun, instead of stopping him mid-spin, I just completed the spin 360 degrees, kept my legs on, and - and this is key - my hands low, calm, and gentle. Following this incident, Charlie became a little reactive to the first passing car, trying briefly to spin-and-bolt once again, but this time stopping himself before he committed to the spin.

Each "scary" we passed following that, Charlie's decision to look to me for guidance, rather than panicking, became a quicker and more natural reaction - and he had plenty of opportunities to hone this skill on that ride. All in all, on that ride we encountered 2 explosions from the nearby quarry, 1 fire, 1 power drill, 3 cars, 1 truck, 1 dirt bike, 1 grader resurfacing the road (which passed us twice), 2 school busses, and 1 nail gun from a house being reshingled. And, keep in mind that this was only Charlie's 3rd trail ride, period.
The end of the World's Scariest Trail Ride, as indicated by the freshly-graded road.

Trail Two

This time we went a little farther, down a big hill to an old mine site, accompanied by the coach and two others. There is not much of significance to be said about our trail ride the following day, other than this: Charlie was excellent. Previously-terrifying vehicles were barely worth an ear flick and we had 0 spin-and-bolt attempts.
Looking out over the Mines de Capelton.

Trail Three

On our third trail ride, accompanied by just the coach, we upped the anti a little: since Charlie had been so excellent the previous day, and even, really, the day before that, we decided to try him on his first gallop. We went down another big hill - near the mine, but a different location - and walked all the way down, then asked for a canter on the way up. And it was incredible. Charlie absolutely loved it - I don't think he has ever enjoyed something quite so much - and it was so liberating for me. I have wanted to "open Charlie up" since the day I got him, but, as I'm sure you have gathered, he was simply not ready. And, once again, on the trails, Charlie was great, his reaction to scaries being to look to me for guidance rather than to simply panic.
A happy me and even happier Charlie at the barn following our very first gallop.

Interval Training

The next day, Charlie and I stayed off the trails, and instead worked on trot and canter sets in the outdoor ring. Not wanting to spend too long in the bit he was in, I switched out the ported Pelham for a jointed Pelham and used a rein converter. He was excitable on the lunge that day, that's for sure - but under saddle, he gave me no indication of misbehaviour, whatsoever, and we schooled very nicely. We even went for a little hack down the bridle path - alone - along the back of the property following our ride, and he was looky, but attentive to me, first and foremost.
On our hack following our interval training.

Continued in Lesson Recap 4: Part Two - On the Bit

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