Dahli's Time: Part 2

She was bound and determined to get rid of me, but it was clear that just plain bucking like crazy wasn’t getting her anywhere. So somewhere around buck 6 she added a twist, and when I landed square, she wasn’t square underneath me anymore!  It was all over but the singing. I lasted 2 more bucks, each time landed more off center and hanging off her side, and then – cussing the entire way – hit the ground hard. She seemed to be smiling as she ran toward the barn and turned to take a spin around the pasture.

This was definitely NOT how I wanted to end the riding season. However, a strained muscle and bruised thigh needed a week to heal. And then we needed another week or so for the first rains to dry up a bit. Fortunately, the weather broke for a week. I gathered my courage and rode her lightly for a couple days, mostly walking with a few brief trots. The weather broke for good, and she spent the winter thinking about her new skills.

Years 2 and 3

 

Each spring, I start Dahli's training right at the beginning, as if everything is new to her. But we follow a foreshortened schedule. What initially we repeated for days, we repeat several times in one day; what we repeated daily for weeks, we do for days; what we practiced for months, we practice for a week or two. I even repeated a little ace for the first couple rides, until I felt confident that she was back in the routine. Within her first couple weeks of being under saddle, some time in May, she offered to canter. Everything was perfect except the footing – it was still a little wet and rocks were still popping out the ground, so I declined the offer.

 

One thing I learned about her that second year – and the same thing her third year – is that during her “down” times, she is still learning, making connections between all she has learned. So her understanding of and response to the aids becomes increasingly sophisticated without me having to do anything. She progressed on her own from “direct reining” that is, an inside leading rein that points her nose in the direction I want her to go, to “indirect reining” where she turns in response the combined aids of leg with a restraining outside rein against her neck. For western riders, the indirect rein is just a short step to “neck reining.” Actually, they are essentially the same, but in western riding, the effect of the rein prevails whereas in dressage the leg takes precedence. For lateral bend exercises, we added in spirals, leg yield , turns on forehand, turns on haunches, and shoulder-in at the walk and trot.

 

To increase her longitudinal flexibility, I started her on “rubber banding” where I ask for a bigger and smaller trot. And lots and lots of transitions from halt to walk to trot to walk to halt. A little rein back, although I’m cautious due to her history of wanting to rear (which she hasn’t done since the day she bent the steel roof with her eye). The footing remained iffy through year 2.

 

In year 3 I started spreading manure in earnest to build up compost for a softer footing. I asked for a canter a couple times, but she responded by becoming very nervous, hollowing out and throwing her head up. And then my work schedule got crazy while I trained at the urgent care center, and we started getting rain every single day I had off. As a result, last summer my riding season ended very early. My sincere hope is that this year, I will have enough compost added, combined with a light enough work schedule. In the meantime, Arabians never forget and Dahli seems to really miss the interaction and excitement.

Dahli's TIme

In the days immediately following Algiers’ death, Dahli continued to call for him, looking for him each morning and at night panicking when I closed her in the barn alone. And then she came to realize he wasn’t coming back, but that her routine continued the same. And her calls faded with her memories, while she began to realize there were benefits to being alone. All the hay was now hers, as was the pasture. I brushed her with Algiers’ brushes to comfort her with his aroma, and spent as much time with her as I could. This was Dahli’s time. We picked up her ground work in the spring, and added in ground driving so she would learn steering and brakes. After experimenting with reins run through surcingle rings versus through stirrups, I gave up and decided to keep it simple. Just the long lines straight from her bit to my hands, as I walked along behind and slightly to one side or the other seemed to work best.

 

July: backing

By July, she seemed reliable and ready for the next big step. I assessed the risks of starting a timid, sensitive and very reactive, quick and athletic mare. Because I am alone here, and don’t have anything like an ideal setup, I decided to err on the side of caution and start her lightly tranquilized with ace promazine. I decided to work directly behind the barn where it is fairly level and we could be close to the barn – an area of safety. I kept the barn door closed so she wouldn’t be tempted to make a run for it. I roughly allowed July for initial backing, August for riding around the property at a walk, September for trotting and October to introduce canter. Each day, I positioned her next to a hay bale and climbed onto that. From there, I could lean across the saddle and let her get accustomed to the feel of my weight. Several times, I leaned across the saddle, and then shifted my weight back to my feet. Then dropped the stirrup down and this time hoisted myself gently up with a foot in the stirrup still just leaning across the saddle. The next day, I halved the ace and repeated leaning across the saddle with a stick in my right hand. This time, lying across the saddle I tapped her with the stick and asked her to “walk.” We walked along a few steps and then I let myself slip to the ground. We repeated this exercise a few times per day, for two days running. And then I gathered my courage and slipped into the saddle, still leaning down low on her neck with my seat in the saddle and scratching and encouraging her from there. I introduced her to leg aids supported by my voice and a light tap of the stick. And then I began sitting up straight in the saddle. We practiced steering, starting with circles and progressing to figures of eight and then serpentines in the small area behind the barn. Everything interspersed with very brief halts and immediately moving off forward, before she could become impatient or anxious. I stopped the ace altogether within 3 or 4 days.

 

August and September: walking and trotting

By the first of August, I moved the training area to the arena, and we repeated everything. By the end of August, we were calmly walking around the entire arena and each subdivided pasture area, past the barn, behind the barn and would end the ride next to the shed. In September, I introduced trotting and by the end of that month, she was doing circles, figures of eight and serpentines up and down the arena, and trotting circles in the pastures as well. We had a couple spooks, which my body handled easily. Our mutual confidence and trust grew.

 

October: Cantering and WHOA NELLIE!

In early October, the time seemed right and I asked her for canter. It took several attempts of asking from a strong trot before she responded with a canter. I was blown away by the quality of her canter – a beautiful, clear 3 beats and so powerful and yet easy. After a couple strides I eased her back to a trot and then repeated the pattern I’d used to strike off and repeated the short canter. She rounded herself beautifully cantering, although a little deeper than I wanted, it held through her trot. I noted that it was a good thing that from day one she hadn’t shown any sign of wanting to buck, as her slightly deep position while cantering lent itself perfectly to serious bucking.

 

Our riding time was limited, and every day I considered could be the last before the fall rains came. Even so, I decided to quit while we were ahead and pick up the next day. A decision I have regretted ever since. The next day we repeated our usual warm up, work-in and training pattern. I use patterns to allow their repetition build confidence and routine in timid horses, introducing new exercises when they start to anticipate or get silly which indicates they are ready for the next step. So we followed our usual pattern until I reached the point of starting the new exercise: cantering. I repeated the pattern I’d used to set her up for her first canters yesterday. She’d been thinking about it overnight, and responded immediately – by breaking into a world class, rodeo-quality, bucking bronco fest! I was totally unprepared, sitting in a 2-point to keep her back free and with my reins a little longer than I now wish they’d been. For 6 bucks, she shot me straight up out of the saddle. I kept myself square above her and landed right back where I’d started, but before I could scramble to pick up the reins and do anything, I was already shooting back into the air. Meantime, her mental wheels were turning.