Today I got to ride a horse I’ve never been up on before in my life.  Finally, a different horse!

Magic is a teenaged Tennessee Walking Horse mare, black (really brown) with a star on her face.  Still furry with her winter coat she looks sort of thin and rangy.  She stood peacefully for grooming and then I got to see if the saddle I picked fit at all.  I spent around two hours this weekend cleaning, larding and putting stirrups on my old dressage saddle.  The stirrup leathers were hard to put on, the stirrup bar is VERY tight against the tree, the stirrup leathers wouldn’t slip on, and I had to thread the stirrup leather through a small gap under the stirrup bar.  Because the stirrup bars are soooo tight I have to use safety stirrups, so I am trying my Bow Flex stirrups again but there was no way I could easily get my RS-tor on also.  My saddle fit well enough with the Corrector pad with all the shims in, though I will probably get creative with the shimming soon if I don’t switch to another saddle.  Magic has good withers and a flat back and her barrel is not very wide, which of course made my stirrups, measured for riding the wide barreled Bobby, feel way too long at first. I used my Spirit bitless bridle, and I also changed my spurs from the smooth rowel spurs to the Spursuader spurs since I had no idea if she had ever been ridden in spurs.

Magic had been broken to saddle as a two year old probably in Kentucky or Tennessee, and ever since she had been ridden in a Western saddle.  From what Shannon said it seems that Magic found the perfect response to riders, a response that made her owners throw her out in the pasture and then sell her on to  the next owner, and her perfect response seems to have been to FREEZE in confusion.  Her last owner had just led his grandson around on her back for maybe 3 times the last few years.  Shannon had ridden her some without much success though she got Magic used to a cross-under bitless bridle.  Shannon reported to me (in the middle of my ride) that Magic had mostly backed up under her, and when she did get Magic to move forward the mare would stop whenever Shannon tried to give a directional signal. 

So when I got up on Magic Shannon told me to try to get her to move, and if Magic did not move she would lead the mare into the ring.  I gave my leg aid--absolutely no response.  I touched her lightly with my spurs--no response.  I asked Shannon to lead me into the ring.  As Magic followed her I noticed that her back moved a lot more at the walk than the other horses I ride.  I got Magic to walk off a little away from Shannon, but when Magic decided to go off in a different direction than I wanted she stopped when I used one rein to guide her.  Once stopped Magic stayed stopped, so we stood there a minute, I tried my legs again with no response, and I decided I would do the escalation of the aids for movement.  First I said WALK firmly, waited for 4 seconds, gave my leg aid, waited another 4 seconds, then I gently touched Magic with my spurs, waited another 4 seconds, hit my leg with my crop & waited another 4 seconds, hit Magic lightly with the crop behind my leg & waited another 4 seconds, then I tapped Magic on the croup with my crop and Magic finally moved!!!!  Unfortunately we had another instant when Magic wanted to go one way and I wanted to go the other way and she stopped when I used my leading rein.  

After doing the aid escalation three times with sporadic success (Magic seemed to get the idea that WALK actually meant something though I had to go through all six steps of my escalation to get her moving) I stopped Magic and she started pawing with her front feet obviously starting to feel overwhelmed by it all.  I told her to go into Shannon and we got there after a few more minor discussions.  I told Shannon that I thought that the mare had never really been taught how to respond to the aids and that her behavior came from CONFUSION (unlike Merlin who balked because he’s an educated horse who was ridden badly.)  So we were going to have to start teaching Magic her ABCs.  Shannon and I set it up that she would stand by Magic’s left shoulder and when I said WALK Shannon would start walking and when I said WHOA Shannon would stop.  So the first time I said WALK, Shannon started walking, Magic stayed stopped, I used my legs lightly and Magic started walking.  By following Shannon I got a chance to teach Magic that I wanted her to continue walking when I used a leading rein to steer her (Magic wanted to go to the other horses, or right up next to Shannon.)  Then I got to teach Magic that when I told her to WHOA she was supposed to stop even if she wanted to go on moving, and then I got to practice making Magic stand still when Shannon walked off, this was obviously a completely new idea for Magic!  When we finally got Magic to walk all the way around the ring staying around 5 feet away from Shannon I decided to end the lesson, success must always be rewarded! 

Magic may be broke to carry a rider on her back but she seems to know NOTHING beyond that.  I felt no response that told me that Magic understood what I meant with my leg aids, my voice aids (including clucking and “kissing“), or any of my rein aids.  When I used my leading rein to turn her she would resist if moving or if at a halt she would immediately curl her head and neck to the side until her muzzle touched my toes (with the rein sagging), and if she did not want to stop she seemed to have no idea what my rein aids meant.  Right before I got off I looked at Shannon and said “three months”, and Shannon nodded and said that I was probably right, that it would take me three months (riding only 30 minutes a week) to get Magic to understand and obey my aids.  Magic is not dumb, but she does not seem to know that it is possible to learn something new, she seems never to have been taught HOW to learn something new, and Magic seems to have only a vague idea how to use her body when she starts learning something new so she can obey me.  The answer to Magic’s problems is education, of course.  If I weren’t handicapped I would start Magic on the longe line to teach her the voice commands,  do some ground driving, introduce her to the rein and leg aids, then start riding her to put it all together (not all at once, of course.)  However since I can’t do any ground work any more, so I asked Shannon to get together with her mother, Nancy, and do some of the Ttouch groundwork between poles.  Linda Tellington-Jones says that some horses to not seem to know where their bodies are and they lack confidence because of this, and by being guided through the ground work exercises going through a “labyrinth” the horse learns how to keep track of all of its body.  I think this will help Magic greatly, not only on how to move but also as a gentle introduction to how to learn something new.

There is a big difference between a horse that balks through a well thought out defiance (Merlin) and one that balks because it has NO IDEA what their rider means by the aids.  If  I am patient enough to take the necessary time until Magic learns what I mean with my aids I think Magic will end up as a pleasant ride for a competent rider, and since she is not a hot-blooded horse she may even end up suitable for riders who are learning to become competent riders.  Patience, logical progressions, more patience, clarity, consistency, lots and lots of praise, and never hurting the mare, that is probably all that Magic needs.  Too bad she never has run into this before.

And what did Magic think about our ride?  I’m not sure, but when I was going up to say good-bye she came up to me with her ears forward and an interested look in her eyes.  I don’t think I distressed the lady too much.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran