Chaos to Calm

 Today was a big day for Lyric! We had lots of victories.

 

We started off with lunch in the trailer. She got right on and was doing well. She was letting me touch her butt and went in with the butt bar up on the right side. So, today... I got greedy and put her butt bar up. Sigh. It was a little scary. She sat back and was leaning hard into it. She's soooo leggy and tall I was afraid she was going to slip and flip over it, but... she didn't. It was probably only 25 seconds but it felt like forever before I could get her to step forward and take her weight off the bar. I managed to drop it and she came flying out. I let her have a minute and then I tried to get her back on. It took a bit, but she did manage to get on and eat. As soon as I touched her butt, she came off. And then she got so upset that she wouldn't even get on. I did acquiesce and drop the other butt bar and slide over the divider. Then she went on and ate the last two bites and then got off. So we quit with that. Hopefully tomorrow we can try again. I figure that I will have to do the butt bar about 7 times before she accepts that as the next step that is acceptable. We shall see. 

I let her back out while I worked Dan and Funny. And then Jacel showed up to ride Jean's three horses and her kids were running around. It was great! Please... let them. Lyric needs to see that. I left her up there while I got an extra helmet for Jacel but then I had to get her tacked up, so she came back down with me. Luckily Fleck came with us. But about the time I got her into the cross tied Dan came galloping down to the barn. She got all jumpy and fussy and kept swinging her butt over towards me. Not aggressively, just... I don't know or care that you are there and might get squished! Um.. .nope! Not allowed. I finally had to spank her and she looked at me like "oh.. you're there"!? Yes. But then she stood calmly. I told her I was sorry I spanked her but I had to spank the stupid out of her. ha ha. So we groomed and then tacked up. I walked her up to the arena and we tried to do our pillar walk, but she knew something was up. It didn't help that as we got near the arena two black helicopters flew overhead. She was a little alarmed at Jean's 3 horses in the arena and Jacels kids, so... we stood at the gate and looked and watched for a long time. Then we went in the arena and stood in the corner watching for a bit. Then Jacel said she was almost done so I walked her to the mounting block and got on. Eventually. We had to circle the mounting block a few times. And at this point there was all sorts of sirens going off. There must have been a bad wreck or something! 

But I got on. And she was squirrely! She was tight and tense and broke into the trot and was running away with me at the trot. She even tried bucking me off a few times. Jacel saw and was telling me what to do. And the interns kind of scattered to the far corner. Whoops! But basically... Jacel was telling me to turn her nose and make her follow her nose. So... using an opening rein... guide her nose to the inside and circle. Then just as she does that, turn her nose the other way and circle the other way. She called it "Riddling" as in.. it's a riddle as to which way I'm asking you to go. But the biggest point to it is that when you teach them to follow their nose, you can turn them. But more importantly, they soften! When they follow their nose, you break up their braced tension and get them to soften their topline and necks and backs. And when they do that, you can influence them. And it worked! Yes, it took about 15 minutes for her to entirely settle to where she would walk. And there was some bucking attempts and some scooting attempts, but... the more I did it, the better she got. It balanced her, and that helps with the tension. An unbalanced horse is a tense horse. She's definitely stiffer bending to the left. That tight right side of her body. So we raced around a bit, circling right... letting her settle... then she'd get squirty again, so we'd go the other way.. let her settle. It was so cool how it worked! And eventually she walked... and then eventually she stood! Jacel wanted to do a few more things with Charmin so she warned me but.. .Lyric was good. We had to walk again and "riddle" but she didn't panic when Charmin was jumping and cantering. Ah.... I like this. 

So then Jacel was done and the interns took the horses away. And Lyric immediately settled even more. Although, she was already soooo much better! So Jacel was showing me how it worked. She said that before every ride I need to ask her to give to the bit and bend. Using my hands at the girth... teach her the aids. Which... is what I was doing, but... not with bit pressure necessarily. Well, kind of. So we'll do that more. Then she sent me back out at the trot and we worked on finessing it. We discussed that in the dressage training scale... rhythm was first. So I had to slow Lyric down, using my seat and core, and half halts if necessary. She explained that a slower rhythm made Lyric use herself more effectively and gave her time to think and settle, rather than just run off her feet. YES! Okay... some validation that I was doing things right. We also discussed that keeping light rein aids was ideal too as we don't want her leaning on the bit. Which is the other thing good about the slower tempo. She can't lean onto her forehand when she's not "on the bit" and going nice and slow. It gives her time to shift her weight back and carry herself. And... interestingly enough.. once she was breathing and settled and we had figured out how to do the riddle and follow your nose.. she actually started reaching down and out, and even almost looking for contact! I could shorten my reins and she wasn't immediately going faster or leaning! It was lovely! I had to make sure that I stayed up and balanced over the outside hind. I had to keep my shoulders up and square - no Cymbal Monkey pose!! And I had to turn my shoulders, use my outside leg, and my inside thigh. Basically... ride like Jess told me in the biomechanics clinic, but... the difference was adding in the "follow the nose" opening rein part. We discussed that when she goes to the left, she's harder. She leans more. So the answer is inside leg. Jacel walked up to me and did the "opening both reins to the outside" and... the mare tipped more. Then she put her inside leg on.... and the mare bent around it. Aha. okay... okay! But she did say that I could do the taking both hands to the right without crossing the neck, but I had to do it carefully and correctly. Because it does work. She lifted her inside shoulder up and moved over. But she wasn't really moving her rib cage. Oh, and we also talked about nagging. Stop nagging the mare. If she's not bending off my leg or getting off my leg.. or trotting. Bump her! Kick her! Don't just keep nagging. 

So yeah.. it was awesome!!! It was nice to be validated in how I had gone about it, but I definitely needed a lesson because I needed that missing piece of following the nose! And Lyric loved Jacel. And she was going so nicely! Especially considering how we started! Like.. much more reaching forward, down and out! She even let her nose down and out at the halt and was just chilling while we talked. YAY!

So then Jacel wanted to see her canter. We started right, which... took a bit. She sort of ran into it. Don't NAG HOLLY!!! Oh yeah. She was a bit fast, but we did the same thing.. follow the nose, and it helped. As did sitting up and down in a dressage seat vs perched and forward encouragin the gallop. Ha ha! She also told me to keep her off the rail because she was using the rail as a crutch and throwing her shoulder out into it. Which makes circling hard and balancing hard. So then we went the other way. And she picked up the correct lead (because I sat on the outside hind). And this way is tougher because she leans in. So again, keep her OFF THE RAIL and it was so much better! And use my outside leg to guide her around. Kind of like "ride to the soft side, release the heavy side". In my brain anyways. So we did and we got a quite lovely canter! 

And she was much quieter in the trot after too! 

Oh happy day. How I've missed Jacel! She's amazing. It was exactly what we needed and broken down into simple steps that I can keep working on. She said that if we do this for 2 weeks I'll have a completely different horse. One that's "on the bit" and soft and forward but balanced. YAY!!! 

And good girl Lyric! Thank you for coming back down after the chaotic start and thank you for not launching me!