A quick post today on what happens when your schooling plan is shot to pieces. On Saturday I had planned to work on Chirma’s turn on the forehand, serpentines and spiraling circles. However just fifteen minutes in, as were were starting to get warmed up, disaster struck in the form of a large tractor carrying a bale of haylage overhead. Chirma spooked, and as tends to be the case when she thinks she has an opportunity, legs started leaving the ground.
Now, in my book there are acceptable responses to being scared, and there are the ones that are just plain silly. Broncing across the school in response to a tractor is the latter, so I told her off by slapping her down the shoulder, quickly followed by praising her with a pat and a “good girl” when she turned her attention back to me. Never forget with a young horse that any telling off is only effective if you just as quickly praise the opposite behaviour. But now I had an uptight and fretful horse to deal with. Time to change the schooling plan. Here’s my advice for dealing with such a situation:
1) Take a deep breath and roll your shoulders. There’s no point you both being tense.
2) Come back to walk. If things have got a bit fast and hairy, there’s no shame in slowing down again until everyone’s relaxed.
3) Think about your bend. If your horse has been spooking, he is probably looking all over the place, meaning you have lost control of the shoulders. Open your outside hand and keep your inside one close to his neck until he flexes and becomes banana-shaped (as my instructor puts it) through his whole body.
4) Work on smaller circles. In walk, ride 10m figure of eights to switch the bend from left to right and back again. This will help your horse soften through his neck, and as his body relaxes his brain will too.
5) Introduce serpentines off the wall. This is a good final test if whether your horse is listening to you. Make sure the middles are straight and the turns correctly bent. After a fright, the discipline of being ridden by a kind owner with a set plan will reassure him.
Incidentally, I did all this work in the top end of the school, away from where the spook happened. By taking this decision into my own hands I took back control of the situation, Chirma switched back on to me and we did some of our best work so far. So there – turning a drama into a success!
Enter At A: Diary of a Dressage Adventurer 