adult riding club
argh. long & eventful day and i am pretty knackered.
yesterday, hooked the float up to my car & loaded beejay up for a drive around the block. went in quiet as a lamb.
unloaded. loaded - bolted out at a million miles an hour & had a complete tantrum about the float.
i really think he's claustrophobic? karen's float is awesome because it has a door on his (drivers) side & he can poke his head out to have a look around (we close it when travelling, obviously).
anyway. we had a discussion about it, then he loaded & i closed it up.
then this morning he was WIRED. it was windy & he KNEW shit was up - when i went to put his halter on, he wandered off. he NEVER does this & is usually panting to get his gear on to go play games. meh.
and he just would NOT tune in. i did a little bit of round yard work before we left & his energy was WHITE FUCKING HOT and out there. he is super sensitive to me at the moment as well & seems the slightest thing i do he has a 10000% response to, so it's like i have to desensitise him to ME.
anyway, after MUCH sideways, driving, circling, yoyo etc, he eventually tuned in.
had a bit of a discussion about going on the float again, but eventually did. took maybe 5mins? vast improvement on those times with stacey. i know the whip on the shoulder works, but i think it's just about him getting confident in the float? idk.
anyway. he was pretty anxious & worried once we were at pony club. did quite a lot of ground work to keep him in tune. he also got very concerned when separated from benny, so was whinnying out quite loudly.
had a complete fucking meltdown once we'd saddled up & were waiting around for our lesson. he was UP and very fidgety and i just had 0 confidence. i practically talked myself into a complete panic attack. there were four of us in our lesson & the instructor already knew 2 of them from last year. so she had a talk to the other newie, whilst the rest of us were walking on the ring. then she turned to me & said something like, "so tell me about your horse" and i just had a complete meltdown & started crying.
i'm crying now about it too & it's OVER i got home 3 hours ago???? idk what the fuck is wrong with me.
anyways, the instructor was completely lovely and kind & came over and chatted to me. we all came in & she talked about the importance of correctly fitting gear (which mine was not - cavesson too low & thus making the flash ineffective). then we did lots of walking & trying to establish some long/low, which beej eventually was happy to do. every time he got UP we would have to stop & wait then move off. we didn't cover anything ground breaking & certainly didn't do very much for an hours lesson, but it was good. went to have a bit of a trot but he was way too hyped to do much besides crabwalk. he also started the head tossing bullshit he was doing at the end of last year with stacey - i think that's an anxiety thing and has nothing at all to do with teeth or back pain or anything else.
i have GOT to keep my cool. i was wired & talked myself into selling him for $1500 pretty much 5 minutes after i'd gotton on. any fidget from him sent me into paroxyms of frustration & fear. my brain completely stopped functioning in any sort of useful way.
as we all know i am MUCH better at home & am doing my darndest to be a strong & capable leader for him. so now we have to work on this out and about. the instructor also cracked jokes & focused on making me BREATHE and stop to pat him & talk to him all the time because i just become like this rigid fear mongering statue, which obviously he feeds off. she made me try to walk him with the reins as close to the buckle as i could. what a difference. the second i start getting stressed, i crank in the reins & this of course results in cranked in, uptight beejay.
anyway, i was significantly more relaxed at the end of the session. feet were out of stirrups & i was laughing. omg.
i tied him up to a tree with some hay & water and had lunch. kelli had to go to work at 1.30 so she left early and returned my car (and float) whilst i was doing the afternoon session. afternoon was good. i was unmounted & we did a Show Preparation workshop. learnt how to do quartermarks (and the art of choosing where & how & why on which horses to help cover/illude bad conformation faults in the hind end) & the ever elusive sharks teeth. also how to apply make up (chalk to the face & raven's oil to the legs). so that was all good. apart from a few whinny's, beej was fine.
he loaded in the float ALMOST like a pro too, so i'm pretty stoked with that effort.
next rally, i'm going to request the same instructor cos she was pretty awesome. with regular rallies & outings hopefully this stupidhead of mine will be able to be there for my silly red_head.
yesterday, hooked the float up to my car & loaded beejay up for a drive around the block. went in quiet as a lamb.
unloaded. loaded - bolted out at a million miles an hour & had a complete tantrum about the float.
i really think he's claustrophobic? karen's float is awesome because it has a door on his (drivers) side & he can poke his head out to have a look around (we close it when travelling, obviously).
anyway. we had a discussion about it, then he loaded & i closed it up.
then this morning he was WIRED. it was windy & he KNEW shit was up - when i went to put his halter on, he wandered off. he NEVER does this & is usually panting to get his gear on to go play games. meh.
and he just would NOT tune in. i did a little bit of round yard work before we left & his energy was WHITE FUCKING HOT and out there. he is super sensitive to me at the moment as well & seems the slightest thing i do he has a 10000% response to, so it's like i have to desensitise him to ME.
anyway, after MUCH sideways, driving, circling, yoyo etc, he eventually tuned in.
had a bit of a discussion about going on the float again, but eventually did. took maybe 5mins? vast improvement on those times with stacey. i know the whip on the shoulder works, but i think it's just about him getting confident in the float? idk.
anyway. he was pretty anxious & worried once we were at pony club. did quite a lot of ground work to keep him in tune. he also got very concerned when separated from benny, so was whinnying out quite loudly.
had a complete fucking meltdown once we'd saddled up & were waiting around for our lesson. he was UP and very fidgety and i just had 0 confidence. i practically talked myself into a complete panic attack. there were four of us in our lesson & the instructor already knew 2 of them from last year. so she had a talk to the other newie, whilst the rest of us were walking on the ring. then she turned to me & said something like, "so tell me about your horse" and i just had a complete meltdown & started crying.
i'm crying now about it too & it's OVER i got home 3 hours ago???? idk what the fuck is wrong with me.
anyways, the instructor was completely lovely and kind & came over and chatted to me. we all came in & she talked about the importance of correctly fitting gear (which mine was not - cavesson too low & thus making the flash ineffective). then we did lots of walking & trying to establish some long/low, which beej eventually was happy to do. every time he got UP we would have to stop & wait then move off. we didn't cover anything ground breaking & certainly didn't do very much for an hours lesson, but it was good. went to have a bit of a trot but he was way too hyped to do much besides crabwalk. he also started the head tossing bullshit he was doing at the end of last year with stacey - i think that's an anxiety thing and has nothing at all to do with teeth or back pain or anything else.
i have GOT to keep my cool. i was wired & talked myself into selling him for $1500 pretty much 5 minutes after i'd gotton on. any fidget from him sent me into paroxyms of frustration & fear. my brain completely stopped functioning in any sort of useful way.
as we all know i am MUCH better at home & am doing my darndest to be a strong & capable leader for him. so now we have to work on this out and about. the instructor also cracked jokes & focused on making me BREATHE and stop to pat him & talk to him all the time because i just become like this rigid fear mongering statue, which obviously he feeds off. she made me try to walk him with the reins as close to the buckle as i could. what a difference. the second i start getting stressed, i crank in the reins & this of course results in cranked in, uptight beejay.
anyway, i was significantly more relaxed at the end of the session. feet were out of stirrups & i was laughing. omg.
i tied him up to a tree with some hay & water and had lunch. kelli had to go to work at 1.30 so she left early and returned my car (and float) whilst i was doing the afternoon session. afternoon was good. i was unmounted & we did a Show Preparation workshop. learnt how to do quartermarks (and the art of choosing where & how & why on which horses to help cover/illude bad conformation faults in the hind end) & the ever elusive sharks teeth. also how to apply make up (chalk to the face & raven's oil to the legs). so that was all good. apart from a few whinny's, beej was fine.
he loaded in the float ALMOST like a pro too, so i'm pretty stoked with that effort.
next rally, i'm going to request the same instructor cos she was pretty awesome. with regular rallies & outings hopefully this stupidhead of mine will be able to be there for my silly red_head.