First Canter

I have been given the go-ahead to ride again from my Physical Therapist so long as no more emergency dismounts are going to happen. Therefore, Diamonds training is back on track.
On my time off, I’ve started reading and watching Clinton Anderson (damn that’s one hot cowboy!). He is a big supporter of a firm foundation from the ground, and applying those simple ground lessons into lessons under saddle, all with the basic principal that if you can control your horses feet and movement on the ground, that translates into controlling your horses feet and movement under saddle. Sounds almost too simple, but let me tell you, it works! Diamond is picking it up and absorbing it all like a champ, and she’s retaining the lessons, so there is virtually no repeating of teaching.
A friend of mine who has been using Clinton’s methods for quite a while has been helping me with perfecting my cues and body language and he came out to the barn Sunday to watch me work with Diamond and evaluate how we are doing. 90% of our ground work is completely solid, but there was one minor issue with her yielding her forehand. Instead of stepping to the side and in front of her outside foot, she was stepping forward a tad. With my still gimpy knee, I am unable to step in front of her quick enough and far enough to cut off her forward movement, so he worked with that for a little bit, and within 10 minutes, she had that one nailed too.
He began the desensitizing exercises with her, and she was not jumpy at all – so they quickly moved to flexing to either side. This has been an issue for Diamond ever since Hubby took her on the trail ride in April. She does great from the ground - in her halter, with the bit, it doesn’t matter, but once your mounted, her head reaches for the sky. Well, my cowboy friend trains horses all day as his job, so he has worked with this type of behavior on many horses, and knows the best way to fix it, and should something happen (the horse rears) he has two good legs to emergency dismount on.
After working on the flexing from the ground, and with one foot in the stirrup, and more with weight in the stirrup, he finally throws the leg over and does it from the saddle. The first 10 times, her head went up to the sky, but no release until she flexes to the side and gives to the pressure of the bit. Finally, the light bulb went on, and she decided it wasn’t worth the fight, the only release was when she did it right, so she may as well quit fighting it.
I go on to tell him that she doesn’t really have a good “go” to her, and that she’s still figuring out the pressure on her sides means to move forward. She gets stuck sometimes and will just stand there no matter how much squeeze she gets. As I’m finishing my statement, he squeezes, and she moves off perfectly. He asks a couple more questions and we get to the fact that I’ve never trotted her under saddle. Hubby has trotted her on the beach, but that was only once, a few months ago, but that I’d love to get a walk, trot, canter out of her today. Mr. Cowboy loves a challenge so he gladly accepts and begins to squeeze her more and gets a nice trot out of her, he clucks, kisses, and squeezes but can’t get that canter, so he grabs the over/under on my new mecate reins and gives her a slap with it and by gum, she picks up the canter on the correct lead and everything. It’s a beautiful thing, her tail is flowing behind her, her mane is blowing in the wind, and her ears are not pinned!! WOOHOO!! My little girl is cantering. He does the one rein stop and she slows down and stops. She immediately begins chewing and licking.

We discuss riding her with spurs, and no, I’m not against spurs in general. I’m against spurs on riders who are unable to control their legs, and since Mr. Cowboy doesn’t have a leg control problem, I have no issue with him riding with spurs on Diamond. I have ridden her with spurs on, but have not used them on her before. I open the round pen gate and they walk up to his vehicle and he puts his spurs on, and into the arena they go. He applies very light spur pressure and she walks off. They get a W/T/C both ways when he gets down and asks me if I’d like to ride her.
I get on, and we flex both ways, just like a champ, she does not throw her head once. We begin to walk around the arena, I ask for a trot, but had to use the over/under to get her going. OMG! That little one can trot FAST! I hung onto the horn for stability just in case she took of into a canter, I did not want to pop her mouth and punish her for moving forward, which is what I asked. There is no reason for her to understand right now how to rate her speed, or which gait I’m asking for – I simply asked her for a faster forward. Mr. Cowboy gets my spurs and puts them on so I can use lighter cues with my legs while asking for turns and such – and to help keep her from pushing my leg into the arena wall. (We aren’t sure if she’s doing it to be snotty and try to rub us off, or if it’s a balance thing right now (My opinion is the balance), but regardless, we want her to know it’s not the right thing to do)
I barely touch her with my spur and she begins to walk off. I again touch her with the end of my spur and she begins to trot. We got about ½ ways around the arena when she slowed down and didn’t want to keep trotting. I asked again with a little leg, but she wasn’t going to move, so I grabbed the over under, squeezed, clucked and went to spank, and before I could spank, she was trotting. She’s getting it – just like Clinton’s horses get it quick, so is Diamond. If she moves off when I squeeze or cluck, she doesn’t get spanked.
I get one good trot around the arena without being run into the walls, and call it a day for Diamond. I brought her into the barn, un-tacked her and gave her a big scoop of grain. She earned it.

First Walk/Jog class

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and my farrier was taking Sugar to a Western Pleasure show put on by a local saddle club, so we decided it would be a great idea to get Diamond off the farm and out into the real world.
We picked Diamond up at our barn and she had to get into the trailer all by herself. She has always had Sugar in the trailer first, so she was a little unsure about it for a second, and then she just hopped right in and scooted up to be tied and have the divider closed. We got to my farrier’s barn and loaded Sugar and all his tack and headed to the show.
We get there and meet up with TX and her mare. All the horses are tied to the trailers and standing very patiently. Diamond is looking all around her taking in the sights, she really seems to love experiencing new surroundings, and takes it all in stride.
I took Diamond into a smaller covered arena and began to work her on some ground work. The entire time, all three amigos are calling to each other, and Diamond doesn’t want to focus on me and what we are doing. After a few minor reminders that I am the one she needs to be worried about, she begins to listen perfectly. After not working with her for five weeks, it was almost like starting over at the beginning, and we had some tough moments, but finally got through it all. I tied her back to the trailer, gave her a good rub between the eyes, and a drink of water.
In the mean time, TX had been working her mare, and had discovered she was off on her back leg and couldn’t be shown – so she was bummed. This was to be her mare’s first show, and they had been practicing for a while now. I jokingly said “Well you can ride Diamond” and to our surprise, she said “yeah, I can, ok” and that is how Diamond wound up in her first show being ridden.
They call the Walk/Jog beginner horse class and a ton of riders enter the ring, around 20 or so, and TX walks Diamond in and mounts. They begin walking with the rest of the class; they make the first corner when Diamond spots the spectators in the stands and freezes. She won’t move an inch. TX tries flexing her right and left, tries to get her to walk in a circle, and nothing. Diamond is rooted to that spot, ears forward, watching the other horses, soaking in the entire situation. Sugar walks by, and I thought for sure Diamond would follow her, but no dice. The judge calls for a reverse direction, and TX does manage to get her turned around when Diamond sees me and Hubby standing by the fence and she walks over to us and stands in the corner for the rest of the class.
At the end of the class, they were leaving the arena when the judge and a ton of people came up to them to tell TX that she did an awesome job – she didn’t force Diamond to go with the class, she just let her stand there quietly soaking it all in, making it a positive experience for her.

Great Job TX and Diamond!!