I just love that name for a barn. LOL. Anyway, I took Dude out to Miss Dee's and took a lesson.
First of all: Quads: "Yer doin it wrong." I was criss-crossing between the poles instead of 2 right turns and 2 left turns, so that, in and of itself, was worth the lesson. Perhaps Dude had been aggravated with me because I was making him do it wrong? He seemed to kind of recognize the work when I started doing it right. The best part is he got to see-n-sniff poles and barrels and get more accustomed to them. He wouldn't pick up a canter for anything, though. Just plain wouldn't do it and threw his head down and bucked when I made him. I didn't have time to really school him while also trying to learn the patterns, so he got away with it. Miss Dee's husband, Mr. Tutti (I kid you not) said Dude has my number. He's right. Dude keeps trying me and keeps getting away with it. I'm getting pretty discouraged about my ability to correct him. I'm going to give it one more try down at the sand arena on Saturday, though. If I fall there the sand is really deep and I'll wear my helmet. Maybe he knows when its a show he's not going to get schooled and corrected? I don't know. My back up plan is to send him to a trainer, Miss Dee's grandson, who seems nice and gentle with his horses at shows and stuff. It wouldn't take much, from a good rider, to correct Dude. Its just I'm not that rider, yet. I better start saving my money up for the trainer!
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2 days ago
1 comment:
4H&H said: My first thought from your post is *why* did the lesson instructor not focus on the behavior problems instead of the patterns? I'd wonder about the qualifications of the instructor (regardless of how cool her barn name is). You can not introduce patterns to a horse who is "not in control" at speed. The instructor should know that. Maybe you need to take some more basic lessons on him before you start introducing any type of speed pattern.
Also, what do you do to prevent the bucking? My mare was a terrific () bucker. She almost always tried at 'to canter' transitions. I had to make sure that I collected her up with good rein contact (to keep her head up) before I'd ask for a canter. It got to be habit for me, and the bucking pretty much stopped, but a few times over the years, if I didn't have her collected up, she would still try to buck. Don't be reactive - be proactive.
Does he still try to buck on trails when you go into a canter?
Do you expect him to buck? Are you focusing more on 'staying on when he bucks' or not letting him buck in the first place? What you are thinking will be communicated to him - and he will try to give you what you are "asking" for.... even if you don't think you are asking for it. There were very few times that my mare caught me by surprise with bucking.... I almost ALWAYS knew it was coming. (except for that memorable time at a team penning, when I forgot I was wearing spurs and in the excitement nailed her in the sides..... I'd also been riding another horse that night, he needed spurs and I forgot to take them off.)
You said "Maybe he knows when its a show he's not going to get schooled and corrected?" - maybe he does. So, what you need to do is forget everything else and correct him. You may get DQ'd for your round, you may have to start the pattern over - they may be saying "Thank you, you can leave the arena now" - but you need to forget everything and correct him. Even if all you do is get a nice canter depart and/or ride around the pattern at a trot. (or don't ride the pattern, just make him listen to YOU.) Just school & correct him for a short amount of time.... even 30 seconds of good is better than letting him get away with being bad. If you are worried about annoying people, enter in the exhibition or schooling classes. (Although, I really feel like you shouldn't introduce speed work until he's better behaved.)
If you want to take lessons to learn the pattern, see if you can ride a different horse. I started my mare on barrels, and neither of us knew what we were doing. She ended up being fairly successful, despite me, but mainly because she was blindingly FAST - our patterns were never perfect. We ran for over a year and a half before I decided to stop worrying about winning and start worrying about getting her better trained. Then she really started to kick ass. Then I bred her and stopped running for a few years. Anyway, at some point I rode a horse who'd been trained (properly) on the barrel pattern. It was amazing. (That's actually when I decided to focus on training her better, rather than just running.
It wouldn't take much, from a good rider, to correct Dude. Its just I'm not that rider, yet. I better start saving my money up for the trainer!
What would it take? Seriously, what do you think a 'good' rider would do? And why don't you think you could do it?
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