As Andrea put it (as her horse Antheny rides very similarly to Miss Ellie Mae) - "It's like crack. I've never done crack, but if I had, I can imagine that's what it would be like. You get spoiled by that trot." And boy is she ever right.
I mentioned at the end of my post last night that the goal for today was to trot Ellie on the lunge line in the round pen. We achieved that and more besides. I. Am. So. Freaking. Proud. And excited. And anxious to do it again. And terrified I'm going to screw it all up. That's healthy, right?
Ellie and I have discussed her tension on the lunge line before. In fact, this was one of the first things she and I worked on, relaxing and being calm on the lunge line, specifically so that when we got to the step we took today, it would be less traumatic. Well, what I didn't think of was that she had done all that work with me, and not Andrea. Duh. Earth to Wannabe-Horse-Trainer, you need to think of these things!!!
Learn from every small mistake. That's the point of this journal-blog, right? Moving on.
Ellie was a bit tense, because Andrea was at the end of the lunge line and not me. I was hoping the few days of lead lining would help her to trust Andrea a bit more, but... not so much. A reminder of what I mentioned a few weeks ago - Andrea has never, ever, done ANYTHING to this mare that could be construed as negative. They just... don't click. Mares are funny that way. She seemed a bit touchy today to begin with (she flinched when I pulled down my stirrups for the first time in over a week), so I took everything very very slow today. It was only around 60 (chilly compared to the 75 it's been all week) so I attributed some of her "flichies" to the weather, because beyond that, she was her normal self.
I started the ride today with a recap of what we did yesterday - walking, turning, and stopping on a long loose rein. She stayed nice and relaxed, and is starting to understand leg and seat aids! Hooray! Baby steps lead to the big picture. Andrea joined us in the round pen, attached the lunge, and after a few steps, I asked for a trot.
Holy. Crap.
To say Ellie's trot is like riding a springboard would be an understatement. It's more like riding a trampoline on steroids. And it's AWESOME. To go back to the aforementioned crack metaphor, when I was riding Tiger later, the thought came to mind that it was like going from crack to pixy stix. Still sweet, but not nearly as fun.
We only got a few steps of trot in before Ellie got all confused and halted square, snorting like a fire-breathing dragon. My poor mare. I can just see the thought process. "Holy crap, there's something moving on my back while I'm trying to trot, holycrapholycrapholycrap," then we stop, and I croon to her an pet her. "Oh... it's Mom... well ok," and away we walk. We tried this twice, and decided I was probably safer off the lunge line, where Ellie wasn't worried about Andrea in the middle of the round pen. She retreated, and I again asked Ellie for the trot. She trotted a few steps, then once again stopped dead in her tracks, spooked. We walked... and repeated this once more before trying the same in the opposite direction, which ended in pretty much the same result.
Since getting home, and having some time to think about it while working on some concept art for the farm sign, I've speculated that today's results may have been a product of a couple of things.
1. She may have genuinely been spooked by my being up on top of her and that's why she did not want to go forward more than a few steps at a time. I would not blame her, and this would be a totally normal and expected reaction.
2. Starting on the lunge line was probably not the greatest idea (though necessary for safety's sake), and Ellie's reaction may have been partly, or even entirely, due to her worries about that. Going back over mental reruns of her past performances on the lunge line, she was doing today the same thing she always does when unsure on the line - stop and turn to the inside looking for reassurance. The only problem being that this time I was the one making things scary by being up on her back and not in the middle of the pen where she could see me.
So, that's the report for today. Plan for tomorrow is to try walk-trotting in the pen with no one in the center, just the two of us. We'll see how it goes.
We only got a few steps of trot in before Ellie got all confused and halted square, snorting like a fire-breathing dragon. My poor mare. I can just see the thought process. "Holy crap, there's something moving on my back while I'm trying to trot, holycrapholycrapholycrap," then we stop, and I croon to her an pet her. "Oh... it's Mom... well ok," and away we walk. We tried this twice, and decided I was probably safer off the lunge line, where Ellie wasn't worried about Andrea in the middle of the round pen. She retreated, and I again asked Ellie for the trot. She trotted a few steps, then once again stopped dead in her tracks, spooked. We walked... and repeated this once more before trying the same in the opposite direction, which ended in pretty much the same result.
Since getting home, and having some time to think about it while working on some concept art for the farm sign, I've speculated that today's results may have been a product of a couple of things.
1. She may have genuinely been spooked by my being up on top of her and that's why she did not want to go forward more than a few steps at a time. I would not blame her, and this would be a totally normal and expected reaction.
2. Starting on the lunge line was probably not the greatest idea (though necessary for safety's sake), and Ellie's reaction may have been partly, or even entirely, due to her worries about that. Going back over mental reruns of her past performances on the lunge line, she was doing today the same thing she always does when unsure on the line - stop and turn to the inside looking for reassurance. The only problem being that this time I was the one making things scary by being up on her back and not in the middle of the pen where she could see me.
So, that's the report for today. Plan for tomorrow is to try walk-trotting in the pen with no one in the center, just the two of us. We'll see how it goes.
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