Oct 2 | Ride Report
In August, I switched jobs in search of increased flexibility – for my family, and of course, for more riding time. While my job now offers exactly what I was looking for, I’ve struggled a bit with actually taking the time to get to the barn. I’ve been managing 1 to 2 times a week, but decided to make an effort this week for some extra time.
Sunday Barn Time
Sunday’s are my longer barn days. I still go in the morning, but I take my time. Typically, we’ll go on a trail ride around our barn property and then Elf gets a bath. When I ride during the work week, I often don’t have time to do the kind fine-tooth comb grooming that I like to do. Sunday offers that opportunity.
This week wasn’t quite as relaxing as normal. Elf, who is well on his way to a full winter coat, was incredibly itchy. I couldn’t find any bug bites (which he is known to react to) or hives (also a relatively frequent occurrence) so I went ahead with my plan and tacked up.
As soon as I sat down in the saddle, I could tell we were not going to have our usual, relaxing Sunday. He was wound tight – both physically and mentally. I general refer to this as his brain-hamster falling off the hamster wheel.
It became clear immediately that he was NOT okay with our normal trail ride – he was on alert, staring down the trail towards our creek and very adamant that I didn’t want to go down there. I opted to redirect, first stopping to chat with a friend familiar with his antics (she was prepared for him to spook and spin).
I learned years ago that it’s never successful to fight with Elf. He is a big, strong horse who tends towards reactivity. He needs to be set up for success and we’ve done a lot of work to build his confidence.
For this ride, we made our way to the arena and worked just on forward and relaxed.
Our first 10 minutes or so were definitely not relaxed, and not consistently forward. He didn’t particularly want to bend and kept spinning towards the direction of the creek. He was distracted and reluctant.
So, I opted to stick with things that are very comfortable for him. Big, sweeping serpentines with a particular emphasis on bending his barrel out in the corners while I gave him a very following contact. Elf tends to pop above the contact in moments like this so I kept my hands as light as possible to reduce any pressure he felt in front.
Once he was walking and trotting with his normal rhythm, I asked for just a little bit of transition within the trot on a 20m circle. I would ask for a few strides of a bigger trot with more sit and a bit more push into the bridle. We had a bit of a slide there when he felt pressure but he settled much quicker.
At 30 minutes, with Elf working in his normal way, I called it good and tried the trail again. He was still a bit spooky, especially at the entrance to our trail (a downhill gravel driveway lined with trees between two turnouts). I let him stop, look and take a deep breath – then just asked him to walk on.
We had calm walk around and then returned to the barn for the pampering he definitely deserved.
Applying Lessons Learned
There is a time where I probably would have handled this ride differently. When I was younger (and bounced with less damage), I might have tried to insist on the trail ride from the beginning.
Right after having my son and getting back in the saddle, I would have sat on my 1300+ lb live wire and promptly gotten off. Grooming days are completely acceptable.
When I was feeling like I needed to “make progress” with every ride, I might have gone to arena and drilled – aiming for a “sweaty saddle pad” to counter the refusal to go down the trail.
Now, though?
Elf is a prey animal. One who was bred to react quickly and athletically to his environment – specifically, for show jumping.
Asking him to respond to his environment in a completely different way just because it’s more comfortable for me doesn’t make much sense. Instead, I simply expect him to be a bit less explosive in his reactions – to stop and wait for me to make a decision. That requires patience for me. More than I really have, to be truthful, it’s a work in progress.
But, today?
Today we worked together.
