Addressing the capriole

Three days since I stopped giving Garbo the Fibre Ezy which is a supposedly non heating chaff in the form of a chopped haylage I suppose.



Garbo trying to put on Maraschino's bridle too.

We warmed up online and there was nothing untoward. I got on in the arena and there was a horse there being tormented by a girl - the horse was terrified  - goodness knows how they got it in the trailer to get the horse there but it took her a good 30 minutes to be able to get on - and Maraschino (not Garbo unusually) got quite upset about the fact that the lady was using her whip to make the horse stand still  - without success I might add. Then she proceeded to attempt to risk life and limb and ride this terrified tip toeing horse around the track.

Anyway - Garbo didn't seem phased and we managed to trot with no drama so after 15 minutes or so we rode in the track - again with no drama. I checked in with him alot to see what he was thinking but I was worrying over nothing he was as good as gold.


Maraschino's slightly worried look.

The scared horse finally got back to the float but of course it took a long while to load him - in the end they backed the float up to the stable door and loaded him from there somehow. He was trying to kick his way out of the float as they drove away. Maraschino was very pleased to see the end of that lady with all the angry energy. He was still really good and although he spooked a couple of times in the track he only jumped slightly and then went forward and stopped.

2nd ride in a bridle - pretty impressed of calm he was.
Garbo was my Garbo again rather than the caprioling stunt horse from last week. Phew.

Lesson with Tori

Luckily I dodged the rain today for my two lessons with Tori at Crescent.

I started out talking about my goals for 2014. Level 4!
I just talked out loud really and what came out was that I didn't think garbo was the horse to be able to bridles riding on. Tori disagreed. Sure he has his own opinion - but she said she saw no reason why he can't do it.

So - we started doing some. I used my carrot stick savvy string as a neck strap but it was a bit short which meant I had to lean forward. So I'm going to check my other savvy string which is hopefully longer. So I had to walk and trot and only use my body and the neck strap to turn, and stop.

Well - it wasn't perfect but I learnt something very important. My focus is not strong enough. Garbo actually is very responsive to what I do - and what I don't do. As soon as I had a really strong focus we got a circle on trot. And it felt amazing..

Tori had a big talk to be about how I can now trust Garbo  he's a different horse now, he's not the same horse anymore - and he won't hurt me. So my mantra for this year has just been formulated.

We then did a little Game of Contact and I was so happy that Garbo is feeling better again. Those abscesses were a real pain - it's been going on since October. Felt good to have my horse back that's for sure.

Then came Maraschino's turn. Same thing - focus and a little bit of leadership on direction but avoiding a brace. We also worked alot on mounting, on both sides, until he stood still, then until he didn't put his head up. Worked a treat.