Lately I have found my self being so wrapped up in my competing I forget to take time out and have a bit of fun time with Ceaser. I try to hack him out at least once a week and jump every other week to keep his mind fresh from schooling and going through dressage moves several times.
Although, just lately I have let it slip and just focused on perfecting Ceasers leg-yield, shoulder in or collected canter. When I was younger on our old livery yard I remember watching the yard owners daughter flying over a jump that got bigger and bigger every time she cleared it. She used to be my idol and one day I told myself I would be like her. Everyone asked her ride their naughty ponies and everyone loved her. She was brave and had a huge dedication for getting to the very top of her sport.
Sadly, a few years after we left I went back to the yard to find work had gotten in the way and left her unable to compete. Its such a shame as she was a fantastic rider. I remember being at that yard and just riding all day having fun with my friends. We didn't care we had a local riding club competition coming up the following weekend and our ponies weren't the neatest on the yard but that didn't bother us.
It seems such a million years ago I was once a rider that rode just for "fun" and my pony rarely saw the end of a hose ready for bath time. Now I'm usually found wanting to perfect my collected canter or shoulder in dressage move and my horses are all pristine. Don't get me wrong, I'm the first at the yard to be up for a hack to the pub for fun or join in with the pony games the children on the yard are playing but I also want to get to the top in my sport and I believe I have the drive and dedication to get there.
As I said though, lately I feel I've forgotten how to have fun and I shouldn't.
My reminder of time, patience, fun and love came in the form of Frosty. If you saw my blog post last week I introduced Frosty as our latest addition. He's a 14.1hh 5 year old New Forest cross Cob. He was described as backed but never done anything further. Frosty came to me a nervous little soul. You can tell he's friendly, means well and doesn't have a vicious bone in his body but for some reason he's nervous and every time I have gone to lean over his back he has tensed up and I've lost several hours of sleep wondering why.
I've spent the past two weeks working with Frosty on the ground. I've left him tied up for an hour with a haynet in the barn so he has had to watch people coming and going past him. Weekends are relatively busy at the yard and a lot goes on so I thought it would be good for Frosty just to stand and take it in.
So far he has been nothing but a perfect gentleman on the ground and his manners are excellent. Somewhere down the line he has been started off well and it is evident someone has spent a lot of time with him.
When we got Frosty I had a summer project in mind and Dad told me he wanted him for the riding school. I thought it would be my perfect opportunity to prove to Dad I was capable and bring this pony on myself but as with everything I began to have my doubts after last weekend we seemed to be going backwards rather than forwards. A lot of the liveries were watching me work Frosty in the arena and he became very tense. Eventually I had to ask them to leave as he suddenly developed a problem of trotting past the gate where every body was lined up. I wondered then if I was even capable of doing this and whether or not just to tell Dad I didn't have time.
This weekend I thought about taking a completely different approach with both Ceaser and Frosty. I have been told I am a busy rider and make life difficult for myself so when I rode Ceaser this weekend I stayed quiet, didn't rush myself and didn't get wound up if Ceaser wouldn't work correctly. After 10 minutes it all came together and both rides I had over Saturday and Sunday I believe are the best I have had in a long time. Ceaser worked perfectly and produced some fantastic moves.With Frosty I reminded myself I had been given six weeks to re-break and school him ready for the riding school so I didn't need to rush like I had initially wanted to. Saturday I took him in the arena, popped some trotting poles up and eventually made them in to a cross pole which he jumped like he had been a show jumper all his life. I noticed he has became very attached to me and everywhere I move his head follows. He is constantly looking for me and when I am lunging him he almost seeks acceptance from me to go forward and then he will. My Partner, Mark commented that he seems too watch my every move.
Conscious of the fact Frosty is not mine to keep but in fact for the riding school I asked Mark to take him for his first walk up the road. I walked next to him on the other side but didn't hold him so he had to seek reassurance from someone else. As soon as I stopped, Frosty stopped and when I walked slower to hold back a little he looked round for me. I have only spent a total of 6 days with this pony so far due to being at university but it is already evident he is attached to me and each day I find myself growing more attached to him.Sunday I decided to test his trust and asked a girl at the yard to place some cones in the arena dotted around and a banner on the floor with a cone either side that he could walk over. Frosty also has a fear of mounting blocks so we put a plastic mounting block in the arena with a cone either side. After just ten minutes I had him trotting over every obstacle in there and trotting past a group of people at the gate.
Frosty's trust in an individual person is so evident. It is clear he is a one-to-one pony that seeks reassurance from his leader before accepting he has to do it.
Monday the yard was quiet as every one was either at work or school so I tacked Ceaser up and decided we would hack out. Usually I cannot hack Ceaser out alone as he is scared or gets so far up our lane then refuses to move forward. I just went for it, trotted him up the lane and repetitively told him what a "good boy" he was and patting him. The reassurance from me seemed to work as we got as far as the bridle path and managed to go for a good gallop. The feeling of just being there, you and your horse is amazing. I had honestly forgotten what it was like and promise myself I will do it more often. Ceaser was brilliant and had his ears pricked the whole way after our gallop.
With the yard still being quiet when I got back I decided to put a saddle on Frosty and just see what happened. I lunged him as usual but with the stirrups down so they flapped around on him. This was a fantastic achievement as he has never even been lunged in a saddle and eventually dropped his head in to a lovely outline almost as if he was finally accepting what was happening. I then took the lunge line off, let him go and stood staring at him. As I walked forward, he did. As I turned, he did. Just then I saw a livery coming down the hill towards us so I asked her to hold him for me.
The day before when I had tried just to lean over him he had tensed and suddenly moved away from me, however quiet I was. Today I slowly put my foot in the stirrup and just pulled my self up to sit on him. I honestly couldn't believe it and could have cried as he turned his head to look at me.That's when it hit me. I spent too much time worrying about looking perfect for other people, worrying about what others were whispering about me when I was riding and worrying how long I have before my next competition that I stress too much. Here I was just a week later after telling myself I couldn't do it, sat on a pony that was just last week too nervous to let me lean over him.
Frosty had put all his patience and trust in me to look after him that when it came to wanting something back he just gave it me. From what I have heard about Frosty's past, the last time someone got on him he had them off so I feel so happy that he allowed me to get on.
For non-horse owners the feeling of achieving something like this is something they cannot even begin to think about experiencing but I am sure every equine owner reading this is reliving that moment they sat upon their horse for the first time.
I am sure so many of us spend too much time worrying what we look like or what we have to prove to others.
From now on I will be taking a step back after realising that time, patience, love and trust are things that really make a good equine relationship. How many trophies or rosettes you've won doesn't account to anything once you've gained the trust from a horse once wary of you.
Just have a little patience......
0 comments:
Post a Comment