Debbie finally got back and I got to ride Tercel again.  It had been six weeks since I got up on his back and I was curious/anxious/excited to see how the long break would affect our relationship, especially since I was planning on introducing him to my ear bonnet and fly whisk.  Tercel is super happy to have Debbie back.  Wednesday the weather was wonderful, spring mornings are simply marvelous here in North Carolina, it was cool enough so I could wear my more secure full seat breeches, a brisk breeze was blowing, and the birds were singing, honking and quacking all around us.

It took Tercel a little while to remember that now he enjoys having his ears handled.  He ducked his head once or twice when I started using the little face brush on them, then he realized, once again, that it FEELS GOOD when I brush his ears out.  Then I tried to put on the BOT poll cap but he would not let me put his ears through the holes, so I opened the Velcro sides of the ear holes and he let me put it on.  As soon as I got it on he seemed to relax a little bit.  I then got the ear bonnet out, held it in my hand, wondering if I would have to get Debbie to put it on.  I went up to him, let him touch the ear bonnet, and slowly started to put his ear in it.  He let me put the whole thing on without any protests, I was amazed.  I also introduced him to the fly whisk with no problems; he recognized it as a horse’s tail even though there was no horse attached.  We were using Debbie’s Abetta Western saddle this lesson, I wanted to see how secure the saddle felt to me since Debbie has been using it to ride Tercel without any problems.  The saddle looked good on his back and I was greatly encouraged to see that the seat was flat, not sloping down to the cantle like a lot of Western saddles, and that the stirrups were hung correctly for me to keep my heels under my butt.

When I mounted in the ring the saddle seemed good, not ideal but definitely rideable at a walk.  Since I had not ridden him in six weeks, because the breeze was blowing, and since I could not find a “secure” place in the saddle I asked Debbie if she minded if I only walked Tercel.  My problem with finding my secure place in the saddle arose because the girth ring was under my thigh.  I spent the whole ride wishing I could adjust the Abetta saddle like I can my EZ-Fit saddle!  I rode in Debbie’s vicinity since the breeze was jazzing Tercel up a bit, he did not do anything bad but he was showing his usual difficulty in mentally handling a changing environment (things flap in the breeze.)  Since Debbie is literally his savior he is more relaxed around her than he is when she is at the other side of the ring.  The two times something grabbed his attention I halted him, slowly counted to ten out loud, and then firmly told him to walk.  The second time I did this he got BORED while I counted to ten and obviously decided it was more fun to pay attention to me.  We wound our way around the jumps, practiced passing Debbie relatively close without losing contact, halts, backing up, and various turns.  Our turns on the forehand only showed the slightest hints of being turns on the forehand.  Our turns on the hindquarter improved as I got my act together.  Tercel only had one session of slinging his head when I asked him to back up but then he quit. 

He did not give me many problems with contact but he was not especially submissive to the contact, one gradual curve he was looking to the outside while I used my inside rein just to limit how much he turned his head to the outside while I used my seat and legs to get him to turn.  Of course he got a “Good boy!” the instant he “gave” to my inside rein.  It was not the prettiest curve of my riding career, but it was good training, Tercel learned that even if he wanted to go the other way I could gently get him to go MY way without a fight.  I am trying to get Tercel into the habit of obeying me instead of doing what he wants, and the calmer I can keep him during this process the easier it is for him to make the mental connection of “obey Jackie, do what she wants, get praise” versus “trying to do what I, Tercel, want, get blocked, end up doing what Jackie wants anyway, and why am I wasting my energy?”  I am taking advantage of the fact that horses like getting praise a lot more than they like getting frustrated.  As long as I remain calm, resolute, and keep my aids humane the horses end up doing what I want them to do.  Of course it is a lot easier for me to do this at a walk than at the faster gaits, and I think that a lot of riders would have fewer problems with their horses obeying them if the riders made a point of having this quiet discussion at a walk rather than a more vehement argument going faster.

Of course it helped that Tercel did not “startle.”  I do not know exactly how much good the Dy’on blinkers are doing since the leather of my Spirit bitless bridle is so thick and the blinkers barely go up past the cheek buckle.  Debbie is starting to agree with me that it might be the quantity of bright light that sets up Tercel to “startle”, and that the blinkers are helping because they reduce the amount of light reaching his eyes more than that they are blocking his rear vision.  I think she has a point, I noticed several times during my ride that when I used my reins the cheek pieces of my Spirit bitless bridle sort of bowed out, leaving a nice large gap directly behind his eyes with only the tops of the cross-under straps blocking his rear vision some.  At least he did not use that as an excuse to “startle” during my lesson like he did during my previous lessons on him.

When I started riding Tercel weeks ago Debbie told me she had no schedule to meet, was not in a hurry, and just wanted to get Tercel to become a good riding horse.  She is letting me take my time with him, letting me work within my security zone (mostly at a walk right now), and so far she has cheerfully agreed with my “lesson plans.”  I am sure it takes a lot of patience seeing me work at ONE main thing at a time in addition to a calm, relaxed and flat footed walk, like the curve I described above.  IF I had insisted that Tercel ALSO keep good contact with both reins during the curve we would have ended up with a much more vehement discussion, with Tercel becoming ever more convinced that he could not feel safe unless he was doing what he wanted to.  Several times during my ride I found myself wishing I had a bit in his mouth instead of the bitless bridle, since with the bit I would have been able to “explain” better what I wanted Tercel to do and how I wanted him to do it, but since right now I am concentrating on simple obedience it really does not matter what is on his head.  Once I’ve got the basic obedience into his heart, mind and soul there will be plenty of time to concentrate on the more refined aspects of riding.  I much rather have the obedience discussions with the bitless bridle just so Tercel won’t teach himself new and exciting ways to evade the bit.

I’ve decided to go back to my EZ-Fit treeless saddle for riding Tercel.  While the Abetta Western saddle was acceptable, he did not move quite as freely as he does in the treeless saddle.  I got out my sheep skin Western seat saver and managed to get it onto my EZ-Fit saddle with some work, stretching out the cantle elastic a good bit and creatively using a jodhpur “pant clip” to make up for the fact that my treeless saddle does not have a horn.  At least I should get to practice riding in it tomorrow on Cider and hopefully I will feel a little more secure.  I just wish my coolest riding breeches weren’t so darn slippery.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran