If you have been following my blogs you know I am riding ruined horses, horses who had lost faith in humans, horses who never really learned to trust the bit or the rider’s hands, horses with deep resistances, just basically horses who have been subjected to bad training, bad riding, and who then were sold to people who did not ride as well as the trainer.  You also know that I have this deep faith in the ability of Forward Riding (Forward Seat, Forward Control, and Forward Schooling) to overcome many problems with horses.  However the past few years I have run into horses that I can help just some with my riding instead of transforming them totally.  While my riding has improved these horses there have recently been many deep seated tensions in the horses’ bodies that I can’t seem to do much about with just one 30 minute ride a week.  It isn’t always been that bad, the TB mare Maggie,  the Arab gelding Glow (both from years ago before I blogged) and the Arab mare Mia responded to my Forward Seat riding just like I expected a horse to respond, going from high-headed inverted nervous wrecks to free striding relaxed riding horses.  At first Bobby, Cider, and Merlin responded positively to my riding but they are also ridden by people who do not ride at my level, and they reverted back to their old problems during the months that I do not ride them.  But my biggest frustration has been Mick, the wonderful Arab gelding who always does his best to please his rider.  Every ride I feel like I am starting at the beginning as far as getting his body to work properly.

When I hit the used bookstores on my trip to my lesson at North Fork in September I picked up a book, “Know Your Horse Inside Out” by Sarah Fisher.  Two weeks ago I finally started reading it.  It is mostly about using Linda Tellington-Jones Ttouch methods on horses.  As I wrote last week I started using one of the Ttouches (Clouded Leopard) across his loin, and for two weeks in a row Mick STARTED OFF the lesson with a “swinging” back at the walk, something that had taken me at least 5 to 10 minutes of careful riding to achieve all the other times I rode him.  I did not do these touches absolutely correctly, but I still got the positive response.  So I dug down into my books for over the years I had accumulated several by Linda Tellington-Jones.  Somehow the “Know Your Horse Inside Out” book made me understand what those Ttouches are supposed to do and this time I understood the other books much better.

When I first started riding seriously 42 years ago dressage was only for the very few that had the time (and money for lessons) to learn and do dressage correctly.  Lots and lots of horses got ruined by bad riding back then, but it was the type of ruining that responded quite well to the Forward Riding method, it took time to reclaim these horses but eventually the horses would settle down, start moving correctly, and start enjoying being ridden.  But today the problems that the horses have seem to be much deeper.  I think part of the reason is that people see the dressage horses, and since two of the Olympic equine competitions have dressage (dressage and the dressage portion of the 3-Day Event) so every hunt seat rider decided they would have to learn dressage.  I saw the problems this caused the horses decades ago and I successfully resisted all temptation to do improper dressage with my horses.  This is NOT an anti-dressage rant, dressage properly ridden and properly trained can help horses, but this half-baked “get your horse in frame” dressage by beginners to dressage is simply horrible on the horses and it can cause lasting problems.

Take Mick (ex-eventer, muscle spasms in his back), Bobby (bad riding/dressage in 3-Day), and Merlin (also bad riding/dressage in 3-Day).  I have been working on these horses for a while and they have not responded as well to my riding and schooling as the other ruined horses I had ridden.  Their problems go much deeper than the horses I’ve ridden who were ruined by bad Western or Hunt Seat riding and training.  Since my simple Forward Riding was obviously not enough to get the horses where I wanted them I decided that I NEED an added edge, a method that does not trigger painful memories or old resistances.

Encouraged by my success with Mick’s super-tense loin area I’ve decided that now is the time for me explore the Ttouch methods further.  Today, when I rode Bobby, I just did some of the Clouded Leopard Ttouches (properly this time) down one side of his neck while Shannon was grooming him.  I was not expecting much, how could 4 light circles and a quarter on just one side of his neck make any difference?  I also had changed his bit to a stainless steel Kimberwick, the last time I rode Bobby he “told” me that it was time.  Before, each time we put a bit in his mouth he immediately chewed it between his molars HARD (leaving marks on stainless steel) and he kept on gnawing on the bit most of my ride.  The Pee Wee bit helped some, he would only try to chew it into two pieces at the halt.  Today Bobby did not chew on the bit when bridled, he did not chew on the bit while we were moving, and at the halt he just did one or two light chews before he stopped.  PROGRESS!!!!!  When we started our ride Bobby was moving around the ring like a regular horse, loose rein, contact, back and forth it made no difference, Bobby was behaving himself.  I relaxed and stopped my usual total concentration on this pony.  After his first 10 minutes of his current best behavior his evasions and resistances started showing up and Bobby and I had one (instead of three or four) serious DISCUSSION of “Bobby you are going there” and Bobby saying “NO, NO, NO!”, but the rest of the ride his evasions were much easier to correct.  He was not going perfectly, for a few minutes he would go forward while having his head turned completely toward Shannon, but even then he responded eventually to my very gentle requests for straightness.  My final ride around the ring was quite good, vocal reprimands and light rein, leg and seat aids kept him on track, he was so good that I brought him in a few minutes early.

On Wednesday when I was talking to Debbie about why I had never tried these Ttouches when I had horses, I told her that reading the “Know Your Horse Inside Out” book made it clear to me that since I had trained my horses properly I did not have all these resistances, painful muscle spasms, and impaired movements in my horses.  I also told Debbie that she also obviously trained her horses properly, at least before Mick I hadn’t ridden a horse at her place that did not eventually respond to correct riding by moving properly. 

I never felt the need to do much more for other people's horses besides riding them well until I started riding ex-eventers, not the top eventers by any means, just horses whose people had decided to play at 3-Day events.  Horses who had been taught to go in a pretty frame, horses who had been forced into collection instead of being brought to collection gradually, horses who had been taught to perform even though their riders were not good enough to do true dressage.  This type of training spread its bad effects over the horse’s entire repertoire of  movement.  I would get mixed responses from these horses, the ones who managed to escape to Shannon’s (very good imported horses who were ruined by leasing out to beginning eventers) responded well to my riding at first, but as I cycled through the horses at Shannon’s, riding for 30 minutes once a week, I noticed that when I rode these horses again after several months that my earlier training had not taken, something happened when they were ridden by other people, people who do not even try to put a horse in a frame, people who ride bitless in Nurtural bitless bridles.  All the resistances to the bit would come back.  Then I started riding another low level ex-eventer, and while Mick has responded well to my riding and schooling I have not been able to improve his back just by riding him correctly (and yes, Mick has vet care (tested sound), regular chiropractic visits, is on a supplement, his saddles are fitted to him and we use Corrector pads.)   Plus Mick has a few bad habits in the cross-ties, nothing violent, but he does not particularly like being girthed up. 

I finally had to face reality.  I am running into horses that I can’t help by just riding Forward Seat correctly or by schooling correctly for only 30 minutes each week.  So I started to look for things that I could do to help the horse feel more comfortable physically and mentally.  I am a very weak person without any extra energy so some of the therapies and techniques that looked promising are completely beyond my physical capabilities.  I think I may have found an answer with Linda Tellington-Jones method, at least I can do some of the Ttouches before I ride even if I can’t do the rest of her method.  Besides, at both places I ride, the ladies have access to people who can help them do the ground work.  Today I talked to Shannon’s mother, Nancy.  Nancy has been trying to work within the Natural Horsemanship system but seems to have come to a standstill.  I showed Nancy “The Ultimate Horse Behavior and Training Book” by Linda Tellington-Jones and told her that this looked like the next best step for her to take, and that she would be able to help the horses as well as train them.  Since she has Shannon and several grandkids that are interested in horses I hope she gets into it!  Debbie has scads of students, and runs a 4-H program,and I hope that Mick’s improvement will get her interest in learning more about this method.

I am starting to feel less frustrated with my riding.  MAYBE I will be able to show progress with these horses!

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran