After a solid ride on Saturday where Starbuck ended up so relaxed her muscles were like jello (first time ever, I was so very pleased!!!), on Sunday she was just absolutely crazy and spooky and by the time we did a enough groundwork to get her listening to me she was pretty tuckered out so I decided to do a lesson on Rodrigo, one of Marina's lesson geldings - it was fun fun fun!!! Cantering around the arena without a care in the world, letting go of the reins and stirrups to do some Centered Riding exercises, even trotting over some low jumps... I think a little vacation from "filly-seat" was just what I needed, and I'll get more this weekend at a two day ride in Gredos.
But it's also got me fired up about working more and more with Starbuck, since what I really want is to be able to do all of this with her! So I've found some videos which really inspire me in some of my (so far) chosen disciplines, which will give the rest of you an idea of what I eventually want to achieve with her and keep me focussed on what I need to be working on to get there.
Wednesday evening lesson report - My husband Sergio came along with me to take pictures and video, as you can see above. It was interesting afterward to hear his point of view, especially since he doesn't know (or care) much about horses. "She seemed like she was not of this world" was his strangely poetic reply when I asked him what he thought of us.
Here's the mise en scene: after a couple of weeks of summer-like temperatures and blazing sun, yesterday we had clouds, a fresh sea breeze and a slight chill in the air. All the animals (including humans) at the stable seemed to be frisky - the dogs were chasing each other around and barking at the kids, the kids were running back and forth yelling at each other and swinging plastic bags and other fun noisy objects at the horses. And of course, the horses responded accordingly. Even the old lesson horses were acting up, like a normally lazy pony who spooked and dumped his rider, then promptly started galloping around the arena with his leg stuck through one of his reins. Or the 18 year old mare whose heat cycle was apparently too much for her and decided to try to tempt one of the school geldings into some impromtu nookie. Add that to the fact that two little girls were jumping grids at the end of the arena and every so often they would lose control and one of their horses would come cantering through our lesson.
Starbuck was also a little footsore from her trim on Tuesday, I got to the stable late so I rushed tacking her up and when I finally had her ready to go every square meter of the arena was full so I had to longe her in the scrubby grassy part where she pays way more attention to trying to snatch a bite to eat than she does to my instructions.
You know how all those Natural Horsemanship folks talk about setting your young horse up for success? Well this was a perfect example of what NOT to do. But on the other hand, we're now at a point where I can't give her the day off just because I'm not absolutely sure she won't dump me. So I mounted up (from the off side and with hardly any circling at all, thank you very much) and started our warm up.
Right off the bat she was fidgety, tense and distracted - her head was swinging all over the place, up, down, left, right, back at me, ... if there was something even slightly visible she wanted to check it out, and two times out of three it turned out to be something she found scary. So we warmed up with a fair amount of contact instead of on the buckle, but we finally got her loosened up enough to join the rest of the class. We started trotting on a circle with the rest of the students, but she spooked often enough that Marina put us on the inside track to work on transitions. I still find it really challenging to stay one step ahead of her and find different things to ask her to do constantly so she stays focused on me but I guess this is just something I'll get better at as I gain more experience.
At any rate, I tried my best to keep her occupied with limited success and she spooked a few of times but for once I was relaxed, balanced and with it enough to use my one-rein stop on her and get us both settled down and back to work. As anxious a person as I am, it's so hard to focus on releasing tension and relaxing my muscles and deep breathing when I want to focus on "WHY WON'T SHE GO SLOWER!!!" but I'm slowly learning to do so.
So this is why my husband referred to her as "not of this world" - she was in a universe of her own the whole time where everything was really interesting and scary at the same time. He said he had expected her to be more focused but also understood that just like a normal ADD teenager she has good days and bad. But what was most revealing was when I asked him if he had been afraid for me when she spooked (he's always worried I'm going to fall off and break something) and he said that as a matter of fact I seemed so sure of myself and confident the whole time that he hadn't worried about it at all.
So in the end Wednesday's lesson wasn't so much about Starbuck's progress but my own. And it's about damn time! I get so wrapped up working towards shaping her into my dream horse that I tend to forget that I've got a long way to go before I'm her dream rider.
We had another farrier visit today, this one's her fourth. I think Starbuck has taken a disliking to my farrier and only barely tolerates his goings-on, which is frustrating to me since it's so completely undeserved. Xisco is soothing, laid-back yet confident and competent and never gets angry or agressive. He's just the kind of guy I'd want to do my hooves if I were a horse. So the whole time I kind of just stand there attempting to spread "Relax, this is all OK, nothing bad is happening, stand still PLEASE" vibes to her when she gets too antsy or a fly starts bothering her but inwardly I'm really dying a little of shame with every jerk of her leg.
Don't get me wrong, she's mostly good and stood still long enough for him to trim the first three hooves in about 15 minutes. But that last hind hoof... she was not at all happy and kept grabbing it away, in the end Xisco had to do a little desensitizing by rubbing her leg with a broomstick before she finally stood still long enough for him to finish. At least he was able to finish, unlike the second time where he had to leave that last hind hoof untrimmed. Not a disaster, but definitely not a blinding success for me as a trainer-owner. At least he doesn't seem to hate me and told me again how healthy and pretty her hooves are (although I'm starting to wonder if this is like the "He's got a great personality" compliment).
Anyhow recently I've been trying to get some of the more seasoned kids around the stable to pick out her hooves so she gets used to folks other than me handling her feet. And the days that she's less than enthusiastic about having her hooves picked up (and I have time), I give her a full pedicure complete with wirebrush cleaning, sponge bath and finally hoof ointment. And hoping that someday, somehow, the penny will drop and she'll just be cool with it.
One of the things that I've been realizing more fully lately is just how strong Starbuck's personality really is. She's really kind of a bitch and seriously bossy, which is funny considering how poorly I read her at first. I was convinced that she was just a sweet yet spooky little greenie who had no aspirations to lead mare status. Boy was I wrong! I guess as long as they get to do whatever they want, anyone can seem like the nicest guy in the world. Good thing I'm even more bossy and bitchy than she is. Anyhow here are the rest of the photos:
