New old hobby

This week Little Love and I rediscovered long reining.  A year ago, when she was still living at the big barn in Switzerland, we used to do long lining on a weekly basis.  It was the perfect activity for a horse who could not stand riding in the indoor but who was too scared to go out on the trails in the wind and rain.  It also worked wonders when the intense "bise"-wind (pronounced beez) came in and nearly blew the tin roof off the arena.  The wind slamming on the walls and howling in the corners made all the horses nervous, which in turn made Little Love practically unrideable.  Through target training with a clicker we found some peace and once we found peace, we could do other things, like work on long lining lateral movements at the walk.  This worked so well that even Little Love's ex owner learned how to long rein her horse.  It was a win-win situation; she was able to exercise her horse safely and Little Love didn't have to endure dressage riding in the indoor arena.  Soon she was so good at the long reining she actually helped me teach a few beginners how to do it!

So, last week when the barn owner joined Lilo and me on a walk with Kira decked out in a longing surcingle and long reins, I had an epiphany.  This was what we, too, could do.  It would be a change in the routine of walking side by side.  The osteopath had recommended lateral work and what better way to do it than while longlining! My only concern was the fact that there was no arena to do all this in.   The idea of being behind Little Love on the road seemed sort of scary.  What if she became scared?  What if she took off?  Would she even want to go with me behind her or would she just stop?

The only way to find out was to try.

The first time we long reined, I went off with Kira and the barn owner.  She wanted to longe Kira at the "grazing spot" between the two hills, where there is a gravel parking lot big enough for longing (our makeshift arena is a muddy pond at the moment due to lots of rain).  Kira and her owner walked ahead while I was behind them longreining Little Love who had a surcingle and her bitless bridle.  The reins were fairly short, and I was walking mostly on either side of Little Love's back end.  She seemed very content and immediately collected herself into a shorter frame with the lightest contact.  I tried leg yielding across the road and she crossed her legs beautifully, as if she had just been waiting to do so.  Her ears were forward and she was licking and chewing like this was the best idea I had had in ages! 

While Kira was on the circle in the parking lot Little Love and I moved back and forth on the road working on lateral movements.  Then we moved onto trotting.  I was amazed how easily Little Love collected and wished I could have seen what it looked like from the side because from where I was standing (or rather, running) it looked pretty darn elastic.  By the time we got back to the barn half an hour later, I was pretty excited.  I could tell Little Love was very pleased with herself as well. 

Encouraged by this experience, I tried long reining again today, but this time alone, without a horse helping us leave the barn..  The weather was not exactly perfect for this activity; we were experiencing the aftermath of a hurricane that had broken up over the Atlantic and the winds were quite forceful.  I was, however, determined to at least try the long reining.  I guess I was just curious to see if Little Love would even leave the yard with me behind her, instead of ahead of her.

She did.  The wind was blowing around us, leaves were flying everywhere, but Little Love was as focused as she has ever been.  We walked to the mailboxes and back, leg yielding every so often.  Her lateral movements were even better than the time before, and I could already see the benefits of this exercise.  When we got back to the barn I turned Little Love around and she performed a walk pirouette to the right as if she had been doing it all her life.  Wow.  We trotted back to the mailboxes and turned around again.  Back and forth we went, slowing down, speeding up, moving sideways, backing up: you name it.  I don't think Little Love has ever been this sensitive while working the "human agenda".  Under saddle she used to hate all this stuff, shutting down the moment you asked for a leg yield or taking off with her head in the air when you tried to collect her.  But now... who is this horse?  Why is it all so easy?  Has enough time passed?  Or is it really the fact that I have not ridden her that has changed her?  Or maybe this is alright when we are not in an arena?  I could have sworn she ENJOYED the work we did today.  It was a mere twenty minutes and then we had to stop because of the branches that were starting to fall into the road from the trees!  (Yes, a bit unsafe, yet another proof, however, of how much Little Love has changed; she wasn't even freaked out!)
 
I don't ever want to force Little Love into "working"; she has had enough of that in her lifetime.  Perhaps this is why I have been so careful about starting any activity that even remotely resembles what she did in her old life.  Yes, she needs to exercise for the sake of her health (and especially hoof health), but that can be done in a way that she enjoys it as well.  We have no goals other than feeling good. I know she likes our walks, but I do know that sometimes she gets bored.  I can't blame her, I feel that way, too.  So perhaps longreining can be something we do together, something different to change things up a bit.  We will have to see. I sure enjoyed it today, though, despite the wind!    

Day 117 On riding

Last week when we were out for a walk, Becky asked me when I was going to start riding Little Love again.  I told her I didn't know.  Which is true.  At the moment the other possible answer would be "never", but I guess I'm not ready to say that out loud - yet.  But her question made me think.  When was I going to ride Little Love again?  Was I going to ride her? 

I don't know.   I guess that depends on her, more than anything else. 

I have been working her in hand in the arena  a few times a week.  We work on alignment (straightness would be another word) stretching down, collection, lateral movements and transitions.  I am not a certain "method" to achieve all this, but rather a system the two of us have worked out over time.  We only do about 10 minutes at a time, sometimes 15 min if Little Love is highly motivated (and sometimes 1 minute if she isn't :-)  Why do I do this?  The main reason would be to keep her body correctly aligned and to build up muscle, so she can be healthier and live a longer life.  Also, it is interesting, for both her and for me.  And it is a change in the routine.  I figure we will do it as long as she seems to enjoy it.  But, in addition, it builds her up for riding - if I were to ever ride. 

Out of curiosity, I put the bitless bridle on today and walked to the arena with Little Love.  Then, I climbed onto her bare back and rode her for a whole 4 minutes at the walk and a bit at the trot.  I have not ridden her for weeks (or has it been months?) and I have not ridden her at all in the arena since I bought her.  Riding her on the trails is one thing, but the arena... she does not have good memories of that place, I am sure (indoor arena's are even worse, and if I never take her to one for the rest of her life, so be it).  It felt strange to sit on her.   

The first thing I noticed was that once I was on her back, Little Love started to look around and listen to every little noise.  She even spooked a few times, yielding away from a little crackle in the bushes.  This is her way of mentally and emotionally escaping an unpleasant situation (the rider) by focusing her attention to something else.  Sort of like when you are trying to talk to someone and they turn the volume up on the radio and yell "I don't hear you!".  Another word for this is dissociation.  In any case, it was enough for me to want to get off.  So I did.  We continued working in hand and Little Love changed back to her focused self, showing me some brilliant canter departures from the walk. 

I think we won't be riding in the arena again.  And what comes to riding altogether?  Only time will tell.

Day 49

I give up trying to figure out the logic of all this... yesterday Little Love was so sore and walking so slowly that she looked about 25 years old.  Then today she is completely sound and actually offering trot in the arena (I was walking, she was trotting next to me).  How can it be so different from one day to another?  Of course, she did have the boots on for the past 24 hours, but still...  I guess it's sort of like any kind of heeling; you have good days and bad days; it's just amazing how big the difference can be between the two. 
It was amazing to see her so alive today; after walking for 20 minutes, I let her loose in the arena.  When she heard Col coming back up the drive, she whinnied and tossed her head and trotted down the long side and I swear she looked almost sound. 

On a completely different note: I gave Becky a riding lesson today.  I don't teach a lot anymore (maybe because I don't ride much either?), but sometimes there are moments when it works out.  Becky isn't a very experienced rider and she hopes to learn how to jump, so doing some seat lessons with me seems like a good start.  She was very receptive to my style of teaching.  I talked a lot about learning theory and how it applies to training horses (negative reinforcement).  We also went through the basics of the biomechanics of the riders seat and how that would affect the horse (both in good and in bad).  It was a lot of information, so it will be interesting to see how it soaks in.  Col definitely was starting to show a whole different kind of shape.  Tomorrow, if the weather is alright, I'm going to try the bitless bridle on him.  Becky travels a lot and she's asked me to ride him sometimes when she's gone, but I don't feel comfortable riding with the bit so we have agreed to try the bitless.  I think Becky is fairly sceptical about it (i.e. she thinks I'm a bit nuts :-)  We'll see...