Bad Rides: Knowing When to Quit for the Day
I am so frustrated today. I think I rode for too long and got in too big of a hurry. I may be trying to ask him to do too many different exercises in one day. I may also, because of good days, sometimes think he’s farther along than he is and then expect more out of him than I should.
Today we couldn’t go straight. Same thing with him, his shoulders head for the barn. I try to correct him, he responds slowly, I release when he responds, his shoulders go right back to heading for the barn. Eventually, his left side gets duller, and he stops responding. So I have him do a reverse arc and then go back to a straight line, which seems to work….for about 5 minutes, then his shoulders head for the barn. Then I start really banging on his left side with my boot top, bang bang bang, and nothing, no response. I reverse arc him again and he’s great at yielding (maybe because of the neck bend?). I try to get him to go straight and all of a sudden his left side goes dead. I don’t get it. I don’t know if he’s being ornery, or if he just doesn’t understand that I want him to move away from my leg. If he gets the concept on the right, why not on the left?
I feel bad about the ride. I think I asked him to work for too long and because of that, he didn’t walk away from that session feeling confident. I really try to make Leo feel like he’s a world champ every time. I don’t think I did that today.
Les Vogt always says not to make a big deal out of anything that you don’t want to be a big deal. I think I made a big deal out of Leo not yielding on the left today. I guess I should look at the bright side though - I got a heck of an inner thigh workout…on my left thigh anyway.
Well, even though you had a bad ride, it seems you’ve worked it out in your head & know why or are trying to figure it out. It could have been him having an off day, it could have been you having an off day, it could have been both of you combined. I always seem to dissect my rides after I’m done, good ones & bad ones, bad ones more, though, because I’m always searching for what I did wrong & look to improve for the next ride.
4 weeks ago I started trailering my mare to an indoor arena to ride once a week. The first week she was bad, real stiff & not wanting to stay on the circles. The second week she was better, so I’m thinking ok the third week should be good too…WRONG… she was just as bad as the first week. Had to spend more time not doing what I had intended to do that night, but thats how it goes, you have to adjust to what the horse is telling you he needs at that moment.
Heres a quote I always read after having a bad ride, or some sort of bad experience with a horse…
“Life with horses will mean a life filled with incredible highs, but an equal mount of devastating lows. For every fantastic ride, is the ride where it all goes wrong. For every beautiful foal born in your arms, is the moment you hold a dying horse’s head in those same arms. For every horse that exceeds expectation, there’s a horse that does nothing but disappoint. For every horse that is remarkably sound, there is the one that has constant, nagging injuries. It’s the highs that keep you going, but if you can’t handle the lows too, the highs are never high enough.” -Heather Bailey
06 Nov 2007 at 1:15 pm
I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one that has bad days. It’s also good to know that other riders have to back up in their training schedule too. I thought maybe I was doing something all wrong.
And hey, I just got that comment and those photos that you sent. They were stuck in comment limbo and I just discovered and posted the comment. That picture of you and your horse is great. Would you mind if I posted it? I was wondering if you would tell us a little bit about the Anderson clinic. What was the main thing that you learned that you think most improved your riding/training ability? You don’t have to tell…but it you want to, here’s my email address mj@reinersblog.com.
I’m trying to get as many clinic and DVD reviews as possible. It sounds like that clinic was really good.
07 Nov 2007 at 7:18 pm
Feel free to post the pictures & I will email you about the clinic.
08 Nov 2007 at 9:02 am
You are so funny. Next time lets hope the bad ride involves the right thigh. It’s good to keep things balanced, even bad days :). Have fun in Denmark!!!
Nina.
08 Nov 2007 at 5:51 pm