A Little Loping

December 11, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Very little loping, actually. I said a few rides ago that I wanted to get Bear moving out a little more. It is easy to come up with excuses for not doing it. Mine are that he got sore last time, and then I got a new saddle and didn’t want to push things too fast. Not sure if they are good excuses, but there they are.

So today we loped, and he was not into picking it up at all. He has gotten used to not loping, and he has a huge gut on top of that. But after thoroughly warming him up I pushed him into the lope, and he just shook his head at me and trotted faster. We did that for quite a few turns around the arena. Finally he let out some gas and poop and gave me a decent lope. I didn’t make him run for long, but I did move him in and out of it four times, I believe. It is a start.

Moving out a little better in October. Hopefully we can get back to that, and some nice soft feels, too.

Hopefully now I can get back to loping him regularly. He is starting to look a teeny bit more fit. They did get new bales the other day, though. That didn’t help anything. But at least his shoulders and haunches are looking more muscled. I still can’t believe how fat and and out of shape he got in just 10 days. It’s not like we weren’t riding leading up to the break. True, we weren’t running around, but we were spending hour long rides in the hilly pasture and doing more than a little trotting.

Anyways, he is coming around. That is all I can ask. The other things we did today went well, too. Actually, better than the loping. The arena was crowded when we arrived, but I just took my time grooming and tacking and by the time I went into the arena it was just Robin and I.

I worked on moving Bear out at the walk, and he was very responsive to my open and rhythmic hips. Before long I could tell he was interested in trotting, so I asked him for it and he again gave me a beautiful, relaxed trot. I was consistently getting the soft feel, too. I think I only had to hold the feel for more than a few steps once or twice. Most of the time it I got a very quick tuck. I think he was feeling good.

And it was this thought that led me to push him into the lope. Didn’t really work, though. It required a ton of effort. Perhaps more on his part, but I’m not certain. Anyways, we got it eventually. Then I went back to trotting just to keep him moving and working, and he was super energetic. A few times he started hopping like he wanted to lope again. I didn’t let him. Instead I would just ask for the soft feel. At this point in the ride he was giving it to me instantly. I could feel his body collect and simultaneously relax and flex. I wouldn’t hold it for long, and then he would go back to a fast trot. But again, I’d just pick up the reins and he was with me.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was having a tough time getting him to respond to a feel at the walk. Now I can get him to hold it at the walk and continually give it to me at the trot. I’ve also been paying more attention to his poll, and he is keeping it just above his withers when he gives me the soft feel. This is really exciting stuff. But I think it will be quite a few more rides ’til we’ve even started getting it at the lope. It should be fun working on it.

Still Good

Brian

December 10, 2011

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The first ride in the saddle was not some kind of one-time experience. If anything, Bear was moving and feeling even better today. And he was equally as stiff coming out of the pasture today as he was yesterday..

Robin and I got to the barn early so we could beat any other potential weekend riders. It worked, as we had the place to ourselves. It was cold, but nothing that we couldn’t handle. Adding my fleece neck warmer to my riding outfit worked perfectly.

Bear was quiet and content again. I groomed and tacked quickly and then took a few minutes to snap some photos of Robin and Steen. They had beat us by a lot since Robin was going bareback. Steen was feeling exceptionally energetic today, so Robin was going through some groundwork before she got on.

Steen’s been filling up on hay AND getting fit. He never used to look this big.

We joined them and started by walking on the rail to warm up. When Bear gets stiff I like to make sure he has adequate time to loosen up. I would ask for the soft feel at least twice per loop (later on we were getting it more than that), and he was responding much better than yesterday. We moved up into the trot and Robin said she didn’t think she had ever seen him look so relaxed trotting in the indoor arena. It might have been true, he did feel good.

Again we spent most of the ride trotting. I added a teeny bit more pressure when asking for the soft feel, and I believe it helped. We started getting it with some regularity. Every once in a while it would take us a half a lap or more to get it, but we did always get it. We went in each direction, spending more time towards the right, and after Bear gave me a series of very quick soft feels I let him rest. He was looking particularly proud of himself after that.

I let him rest for a minute and then we moved to the middle to walk in some spiraling circles. Robin used to have us do this last spring when she was giving me lessons. I was not very good at it. Now I’m using the exercise with just one hand on the reins and Bear is making significantly better circles than he was back in February. It felt good. I really am thinking he can feel my seat better with this new saddle. Robin would always talk about the connection she would feel with Steen through her sit bones and I never really had that. I thought I just wasn’t riding good enough, but maybe it turns out my seat was just too far off Bear’s back for either of us to feel one another.

We ended the ride with continuing to work on the trot and getting a soft feel. Things were going so well that I started holding the feel and bringing him back into a walk. I asked for this a few times yesterday to horrible results. The first few today were better, but not great. Then all of a sudden he started nailing them going both from the trot to the walk and the walk to the trot.

It didn’t last. But that is OK. I made sure we ended on a good note with the transitions and then went back to just concentrating on the feel. Robin ended her ride before me (she started before me, too) and snapped a few nice pictures of us. This one is a little blurry, but you can really see the excellent collection we were getting at the trot, even with a pretty loose rein.

I’m still feeling the saddle out. At times I was a teeny bit uncomfortable, but mostly it felt good. Better than yesterday. Bear was so good today that he didn’t even mind when I paid more attention to the saddle than him. If I had to rearrange myself in the seat or check on my clanking stirrups, he just kept on trotting in a nice, semi-collected state.

This was also the ride where I hit my 2011 ride goals. 100 hours in the saddle. I set the goal sometime back in May when I realized I just needed to average 10 hours a month for the rest of the year. I thought it would be tough, but doable. It ended up being a little easier than I thought, and that included some unexpected hiccups in the year. I didn’t expect July and August to have such low numbers. But it didn’t matter, the fall was gorgeous, and I was really motivated to ride after going to the clinic in September. I went into December needing only 4 hours to reach the goal.

I’m not sure what my 2012 goal will be. Maybe 125 hours. If I actually ride in January and February that would be quite doable. I think I’ll wait until the end of the year before I make any decisions, though.

Another Saddle

Brian

December 10, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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As I mentioned a little bit ago, I’ve been worrying about the fit of Bear’s saddle for quite some time now. So I decided to just get a new one and see how it goes. I found a great deal on a used McCall wade. It felt like a good move to make, because if it doesn’t work out I should be able to turn around and sell it for the same price I paid for it.

Obligatory staircase/saddle rack shot.

We headed out to the barn this afternoon and it was cold. Not quite super cold winter temps yet, but they are coming. The lot had new bales, but both of our guys were tucked up into the windblock staying out of the wind and getting a little bit of sun, too. Leading Bear out of the lot and into the barn was slow. He was super stiff. It is a shame that we had a bunch of rain right before the ground froze, so the winter lot is a series of treacherous, frozen bumps. So that means he doesn’t move much right now. Hopefully this weekend it will warm just enough to thaw a little.

Inside he was content to doze while I played around with the saddle and groomed him. It appeared to be a good fit on his back. The tree is a little narrower than his other one, and I was initially worried that it was too tight. But I think it hugs him quite nicely.

In the arena I did a little more groundwork and kept it rather undemanding so that he could loosen up. His legs were still so tight. I figured it would be a slow ride, and I just hoped the new saddle wouldn’t bother him any more than he already seemed bothered (physically, that is, mentally he was happy as a clam).

I climbed on, and he was his normal, quiet Bear self. We walked around and he loosened up in time. After quite a few minutes of just walking along the rail it was Bear who decided he wanted to trot. I don’t always let him do that, but in some situations I figure if he wants to cruise around a little more, then we can.

So we trotted. Last ride was really pretty bad. His trots were fast and stiff and he was even a little anxious. Today was completely different. He carried his head in a level, relaxed manner and gave me a very consistent and nicely paced trot. At times he would still stiffen up or give me a few fast steps, but it was nothing like some of our past trots, and he always stayed loose somewhere in his body. Outside he doesn’t brace much, but inside has been completely different these past few rides. Today it was great to feel him moving freely again.

Turning some easy circles in the sun beam. Also, you can see my awesome new birthday barn jacket.

That was most of our ride. Only forty minutes but we spent most of it trotting around. I worked on reminding him about the soft feel at the walk and also started asking for it more consistently at the trot. We could get it, but it would take awhile. I kind of feel like I’m asking too softly. Maybe a little more firm the first few times would help him realize what I want.

For me, the saddle was interesting. Definitely different than my other one. It is much closer to Bear, which means I feel like my legs are spread further apart (Bear’s big right now), and it also felt like there was some more leather in between me and my horse. Perhaps partially due to the twisted stirrup leathers. The seat is hard and firm, which I think I like, but I really just need to spend more time in it.

The plus about being closer to my horse is that we don’t seem to have as many communication errors when we are backing in circles or working on a series of tight turns focusing on my legs and seat. This was a little funny since I didn’t quite feel like I was using my legs as effectively as I usually do, but if my pelvis and seat bones are more involved, then it might not matter.

So I’m hopeful that this turns out to be a good move for us. It might not be the perfect saddle for either of us, but if Bear is moving better and staying loose and relaxed, then I think it could be a winner. Hopefully it wasn’t just a fluke ride.

Another Birthday Ride

Brian

December 8, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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This time mine. Yesterday I turned 31. Things are now slowing down at work and I was able to sneak away early in the afternoon. It was a little cold and damp out, so we had some tea before heading out to the barn. And we also got our first video from Giddy Up Flix. It is basically like Netflix, but with all horse videos. As far as I can tell, they have pretty much every horse related DVD out there.

The first one we got was the beginning of Buck’s Making of a Bridle Horse series. We watched a few minutes of that before heading out. It was definitely interesting to see examples of some of the stuff we’ve been working on. Mostly things with collection, transitions, and getting a visual on what a horse looks like when he tries some of these new things. Buck rides a few different horses in the video, but he spends most of the time on a young mare that has 10 rides on her. She is interesting to watch.

Out at the barn my goal was to keep working on the soft feel and holding it through the transitions up to the trot and from trot to walk and trot to stop. I think I remembered to do it almost every time.

I think. I was distracted by one of my birthday gifts. Robin got me a nice set of spurs with some plain leather spur straps. I’ll have to get some pictures, soon. Bear can be a rather sluggish horse at times. We have rides where he is really with me and thinking all the time, and then there are lots of rides where he just isn’t paying attention. I always wonder about his past. He is a quiet and gentle horse, and someone has put a lot of time on him, but it might not have always been quality time as he does look for release in places other than me.

So yesday I tried the spurs. And I must say, I was a little gun shy with them. Lately I’ve been getting better at using my legs for everything I do, but with some metal sticking out from my heels I didn’t feel so confident. We worked through some things slowly so we could both get used to them. I think Bear was better with them than I was. He was great at disengaging his hind end, and he really only gave me a couple of surprised responses when I gently used the spurs. But I never totally settled in, so I only used them for the first half of the ride. I will keep practicing, though. As being effective with them will definitely require practice.

The second half of the ride was possibly worse, though. I’m sure Bear was responding to my little insecurities and adding that to the fact that he seems to hate the indoor arena. Oh, and just to play with fit and make sure things were OK, Robin and I changed saddles. She has a really nice saddle, but it isn’t MY saddle. As a result, I probably wasn’t as smooth and relaxed in the seat department either.

A little blurry. I’m sure that didn’t help with my balance, either.

So by the time we started trotting around I had a very energetic, yet stiff, horse. It was really hard for me to get him to stay on the rail and relax. We worked on it for a really long time, alternating trotting along the rail and in small circles to encourage some lateral bending. Eventually we made some progress, but not much.

It wasn’t the best ride for my birthday, but it wasn’t bad either. And it was the kind of ride that has left me thinking about all the little things I was doing. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the next one better.

Back Inside

Brian

December 5, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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I can’t even remember when our last indoor ride was. I know we had a brief indoor ride just before one of the ferrier visits, but I think that was back in the early summer.

This is definitely a good thing. I enjoy the fact that we have an indoor arena, but I also like to ride outside as much as possible. This morning, though, it was cold and damp. Yesterday it rained off and on all day long, so the ground was soaked. But it was very comfortable in the indoor.

While tacking up I did notice that Bear was a little tight in his back. I spent some extra time rubbing him down and he seemed to relax into it nicely. But then when I put the saddle on and went to do up the cinch he was really moving around a lot. That is unlike him. He does like to fidget, but never when I’m actually doing stuff with him.

Still, he was in good spirits, and I figured we would just have an easy ride. We started things off slowly by just walking around, then walking the same amount of steps forward then back. We moved into some serpentines and brief neck reining work and he was good with all of it. Robin and Steen were loping circles around us, and we weren’t bothered in the slightest.

When we moved out into a trot along the rail we both felt good. He was moving in a nice, relaxed manner and I was feeling great in the saddle. I have long had an overly tight right hip, and for the past week I’ve been working on it pretty hard. I think I’m making some progress, because I never remember my hips and legs feeling so relaxed in the saddle. I also noticed all this going to the right (our least favorite direction, which is why I started with it).

So I was surprised when we started going to the left that he got a little pissy. I got a few head tosses from him, and at one point I thought I felt him limping. I asked Robin to watch us trot and walk and she agreed, it looked like there was a slight limp.

His attitude was good, and as we walked things did improve and I couldn’t feel anymore limping. I didn’t do anymore trotting, we just walked along the rail, and I worked on keeping him there with my legs. We made some good progress there. Since we’ve been doing almost all of our rides out in open spaces, following the rail is not really a strong point of Bear’s.

After the ride I gave him some more massages and stretched out his legs. He definitely has an inclination to get tight on the right side of his back, and for a while I’ve worried that it is related to his saddle. When we first got this saddle back in March it helped quite a bit as it was a pretty big improvement over the other saddle we were using. But in reality, it is not a great saddle. For the past few months my long term plan has been to get a really nice saddle with a rawhide covered wood tree from a maker that has a reputation of fitting their saddles to a lot of different horses. Bear is a very standard type of Quarter Horse, so this shouldn’t be too difficult. Now I’m just wondering if I should act a little sooner and get him a nicer saddle for the winter. He certainly isn’t getting any younger.

Out of Shape

Brian

December 3, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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Since I fell off Bear almost eight weeks ago neither one of us has been in great shape. I have been able to keep my riding up pretty well, so Bear still got out for some nice walk/trot rides, but we haven’t been doing much more than that. I’ve also been feeling somewhat stale from not being able to lift weights or ride my bike.

But in the last couple weeks I’ve been getting back to things and feeling much better. Unfortunately that coincided with a vacation in Tucson and Bear had almost ten days off of riding, which also meant ten solid days of eating. Judging by the look of Bear’s belly, I’m pretty sure he treated each of those days like they were all Thanksgiving.

On our Wednesday ride he was so happy to be out and about he was continually giving me the trot without my asking for it. And it wasn’t the kind of leap into the trot that horses do when they are defiant or pissy, he was just saying, ‘you know, we could go a little faster at this really nice trot pace if you like.’ So I indulged him. Things were going so well that he started doing these floaty little hops with his front end that felt oh so close to a lope. If he was up for smoothly transitioning into the lope I was going to let him, but things didn’t get that far.

So today I was thinking we might get back to loping. We did a long warmup with mixed trots and walks and backs and neck reining and Bear was very quiet and willing. Then Robin and I played a mirroring game where one person chose a gait, when to stop, turn, go, etc, and the other person had to follow. It was fun. Bear was good in the beginning and then his turnarounds got a little worse. Steen was good in the beginning and then he got a little better. Go figure.

After that game we did a little loping. We had a nice trot going and I just pushed Bear into a lope with my legs. He picked it up easily, but I’m not sure we went any faster. We were certainly more vertical, but the gait was so slow I had a hard time getting into rhythm. We only kept it up for a very short amount of time. Robin was laughing at how lazy he looked.

When we tried to do a little more, he was very resistant to picking it up. He felt stiff and just, well, out of shape. Really out of shape. I did get a couple more lopes out of him, but I didn’t want to push it. So we went back to other things. I’m hoping to get back to working on the lope in almost every ride. Bear has such a wonderful lope, so it will be fun. But I know we need to work on the soft feel and smoother transitions.

The highlight of the ride was definitely trotting around with me steering on a loose rein with one hand. I do this at the walk quite a bit, and we’re getting better at it. Occasionally I’ll try it at the trot, but it has not gone well until today. At one point I gave him a strong leg cue to get with me on a turn and he moved into the trot. So I followed that through. He neck reined very nicely and I only had to correct him with my other hand once or twice. Then, after trotting for many minutes I pulled my hand back slightly and sat deep in my seat and he stopped on a dime. I had no pressure on the bit because my reins were so long, but it didn’t matter.

These are some of the great things we’ve been experiencing together lately. We’re also getting better at starting from a stop, moving up into the trot, and turning off leg cues. It is really cool. Months ago I thought we were getting along much better, but when I compare that to now, well, it just doesn’t compare. Now if only we could both be in shape at the same time . . . .

The Comfort Zone

Brian

December 1, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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We got back into town over the weekend and I had a busy few days with work, so I couldn’t get out to the barn. I was also a little tired from all the travel, so I didn’t really mind.

Today was a nice afternoon, though. Sunny and not too cold. We arrived and I saw Bear snoozing by the windblock looking large as ever. He hardly even woke up when I was getting the halter on him. Inside he was unbelievably quiet and happy to be hanging out with me. He was sniffing me all over and rubbing my back with his mouth. It was really funny; he usually doesn’t do that.

Out on the strip he was just as relaxed as inside. I spent the first four minutes just sitting on him and marveling at how solid he feels compared to Rojo. I’m not a big guy, and I think of myself as being fairly athletic, so I don’t cause too many problems getting on horses, but with Rojo, I would swiftly climb on and he would almost fall over. With Bear, nothing moves. He’s like a rock.

I spent the rest of the ride working on our usual things. Bear was quiet but very attentive. In the beginning he did exhibit some signs of wanting to get near Steen. The first time he did I gave him a moderate amount of outside leg to push him out and he jumped into a trot. I decided to let him go and he just kept on trotting. Robin said he looked thrilled to be moving around. He doesn’t give himself much exercise in the winter lot, so it is nice to know that he does enjoy moving about when I ask him to.

The second time he tried to get near Steen we were already trotting, so when I sharply moved him off my leg he gave me some pissy head tosses. They were more funny than anything else.

Those happened in the very beginning of the ride. After that he was pretty amazing. We worked on the feel at the walk and even a little bit at the trot. We backed a lot of circles and he was really happy with neck reining around the strip.

Towards the end of the ride we were working on smooth trots and getting both big stops and big, energetic starts as well. These came along quite nicely. At one point I was getting a decent soft feel at the trot and then I sat deep and asked for a stop, and he gave me the best stop I’ve had in weeks.

Robin was thrilled with what she was working on with Steen, and right then she suggested we end the ride. I totally agreed. I think Bear licked his lips for full minute after that stop and after I got off. I think we were both extremely happy to be hanging out together again.

Working with Rojo

Brian

November 28, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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Over Thanksgiving Robin and I got out to Southern Arizona for a week to visit her family. As always, it was a really good time. And we definitely spent a lot of time with the horses. For the past few visits I’ve been working on getting a little closer to Rojo, my mother-in-law’s red Missouri Fox Trotter. He can be a little shy and insecure sometimes, but lately he has been spending more time with people and I’ve been getting better with horses.

Last May was the first time I rode him. It was only for about 5 minutes, so I couldn’t really tell much from that ride. This trip, though, I rode him four times, for a total of a little over 2 hours. And I learned a lot.

I definitely learned that he likes me. He is a horse who looks to his rider for support, and if the rider can’t give it, then, well, then other things happen. We took things slow enough that I felt confident, and because of that, he felt confident.

We started by working on getting a soft feel. He responded better than Bear. Of course, when I started this with Bear I had never felt a feel, so I’m sure that was a big part of it. Or, maybe Rojo has been ridden by people who work off feel. Hard to tell. He is in his late teens, so anything is possible.

In the first ride we progressed from getting a soft feel on the ground, standing, and then at the walk. Even when I pushed him into a trot/fox trot (I often didn’t know what I had), he would tuck and respond to light pressure. He is very responsive.

But he also feels like something other than a horse. More like what I imagine a giraffe feels like. It wasn’t until our last ride that I could ask him to do some serpentines without worrying he would fall over. We did make progress with them, and all in all, it was a fantastic experience riding Rojo for four days. I had never taught another horse things I know. It was fun. I also think it could change the way I look at working with Bear.

New Territory

Brian

November 21, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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Friday was sunny and warm. I think the temps even got into the 70s. But I was exhausted. This was the first week of a busy three weeks at work. Plus we had severe wind warnings. I used that as an excuse not to go ride.

Saturday was cloudy and not quite as warm, but it was great for riding. We weren’t sure if we would be able to ride today or not, as we had a lot of things to get ready for, but we did manage to get out in the middle of the day.

Bear was on the bale and looking chunky. He saw me walking up and chose to get as many bites in as he could before I got there. But once I did get there, he moved back from the bale with the lightest touch on his chest. It was actually pretty neat.

We tacked up outside in the moderately warm south wind and then headed to the strip. I had no real goals or plans for this ride other than to just enjoy it. We worked on all our usual things and Bear was being pretty darn good. I rewarded him with lots of pats and time just sitting there resting so I could watch Robin and Steen. They were having an OK ride, for the mot part. Robin planned on using the snaffle before we got out there, but once she saw the hackamore in the tack locker she couldn’t resist. Steen was again a little stiff, but it was neat to see them work through things.

Bear and I went through some serpentines, circles with stops, figure eights and lots of backing. He was good for all of it and I was actually getting a little bit bored. It was about this time that Robin and Steen’s ride started getting a little more interesting. Robin ended up switching back to the snaffle because she knows it much better and felt more sure of how to ask for things. Unfortunately, this didn’t actually help them much.

So Bear and I hung out at the far west end of the strip. Occasionally we would walk or trot down the fenceline and work on our soft feels (he was good), but mostly we just rested, did a little backing, and practiced disengaging the hind end off just my leg. We’ve always had some trouble with this. He wants to move more than just the hind end, so sometimes I get frustrated blocking all his wrong attempts. Today I kind of let him go with it just to see what would happen. I never released the cue until he did just what I was asking.

What we got was quite a bit of fidgeting. But it was good natured. He was really trying, and a few times I thought he was side passing. After some more resting and backing and disengaging, we found ourselves out in the wind. I decided to ask him to side pass over to the more desirable spot that was out of the wind. He gave me about seven or eight perfect sideways steps to the right. I had only given him a light cue with the supporting rein and my outside leg, and he moved like he had been side passing his whole life. I suppose is is a better maneuver than getting just a hind end disengage, which I can really get anytime I want to if I incorporate a cue with my reins. So for the time being we’ll keep doing some side passing.

Because Robin’s ride kept getting more and more interesting, we actually ended up riding for quite a while. Since I wasn’t sure if I would get to ride at all, it felt like a really great bonus ride. Bear was really good, and we got to explore some new territory.

The First Cold Ride of the Year

Brian

November 17, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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While the sun was out and if felt good when I was walking home, by three o’clock the sun was low on the horizon and the west winds were cooling us down very quickly. Basically, it was the kind of weather Bear thrives in. And as a result, we had a pretty darn good ride. None of yesterday’s sluggishness was present.

Yesterday we had fun getting some good photos while out at the barn. We don’t do that as often as we should, and Robin suggested she spend a few minutes getting some shots of me. So now I’ve got a whole bunch of photos of our ride.

From the beginning Bear was very soft and attentive (well, there were those moments while I was mounting where all he wanted to do was eat, but we don’t have to talk about those). Under saddle he was giving me soft feels all the time. It was one of those days where I would adjust my reins and he would give to the movement of the slobber straps. It meant we had great collection in our backing.

We spent some time early on and towards the end of the ride backing some very nice circles. We are much better backing to the right than the left, though. Kind of funny, as when we’re going forward we are better to the left. Actually, maybe it isn’t that funny, because my legs are in the same position backing to the left as they are going forward to the right.

At the trot he was very calm and responsive. Like yesterday, he was working very nicely off my legs. Today I only had the slightest hold on the reins, and I don’t think I ever had to give him a short, sharp pull to keep him from over or under-bending. And there were times I was even getting a nice soft feel at the trot.

We also worked on the same stopping exercise I wrote about over the weekend. This time it took fewer rounds to get back to the great Bear stops, so we didn’t work on it a ton (I’m trying not to get in the habit of over-drilling). Instead we would mix it up with some long walks working on the soft feel. Going away from the barn was a little distracted, but he would still give it to me willingly. Coming back he was more tuned into me, and I was using those moments to ask for multiple steps at the soft feel. Two and three steps got easy, and more than a few times I found myself counting up to seven or eight steps. Once I got beyond three steps I could really feel his hind end collect underneath me. I had only read about this feeling, but you can’t really understand such things through reading about them. I hope this new understanding will help me with other exercises, too.

At the end of the ride Robin suggested we give the hackamore a try. Just so we could both see how it feels. Bear was pretty good in letting us slip it on. He only gave a few initial head tosses. I worked with him on the ground and he backed up and flexed very nicely to it.

When I climbed on he was a little more uneasy, and he gave quite a few more head tosses. Once I started asking for the soft feel and backing he got a little better. We moved onto walking some figure eights, and he would follow my legs and then really kick in gear when the rein was on his neck. After a few minutes we were moving in and out of figure eights and soft stops with solid backs.

But at other times he would do this odd thing where his body was bending nicely in one direction but his neck was stiff and his nose was pointed out in the other direction. We would definitely have to spend some time getting used to this, and I don’t think either of us are quite ready to move beyond the snaffle right now. But I love that my horse is OK with me doing different things to him. After the ride he was great; he didn’t mind the experiment at all.