Skittles bucks, but Gypsy canters on line!

For the first time in AGES, I actually rode two of my horses today: Skittles and Gypsy. Mind you, after Skittles, I wasn't sure I was going to attempt another horse.

Again, I just went to the field to see who wanted to come play. Skittles came up to me first, so I brought her out. I started doing tons of on-line work first, including lots of friendly game with the big green Parelli ball, which I just got. I've done stuff with my own smaller exercise ball with her and she did OK. Again, she eventually came around and I was soon rolling it up on to her back and dropping it off and bouncing it off her sides. Then we did some figure-8 and weave patterns... she's getting really good at these although she had trouble focusing on me when all the other horses headed to the back of the pasture. Then we did some more sideways and squeeze. Sideways is still kind of right-brained/reactive, but once I got a few good steps I stopped and she did tons of licking and chewing. Then we did some squeeze over the jumps, including the barrels which she hasn't done before. She jumped about twice as high as she needed to (impressive!), but not really any problem. A couple times she stopped and stuttered a bit. I backed her and let her approach again until she could make it. She was better going to the right than the left today.

Then I put the saddle on her. No issue with that. Then, because it's been a couple months since I've been on her back, I did more playing on the ground with her with the saddle on. On her first time back over the barrels with the saddle on, the stirrups slapped against the saddle which made her buck a couple times on the other side. A few more times back and forth and it was no problem.

So then I got on. She groaned and grunted (flattering!). She moved off my leg amazingly well today. I guess that porcupine game really does do the trick! I didn't go more than a walk as I just wanted to refresh her memory about moving off my leg and disengaging, etc. Plus I haven't trotted her outside the round pen, so wanted to see how she'd handle just walking around in the bigger paddock(yes, plus I'm a 'fraidy-cat too). I did some figure-8's on her back as well as some weaving and point to point between barrels. She was going pretty well, but was still somewhat distracted with trying to see where her field-mates were in the other field. Then out of the blue (yes, I know, it wasn't really out of the blue, there were probably signs, but obviously I didn't see them), she reared up and jumped sideways at the same time and I was on the ground. Really rang my bell. In hindsight, I think I may have startled her with bumping my heel on her side when her attention was in the opposite direction and not remotely on me. But I'm not completely sure. Anyway, it took me a moment to clear my head. I fell on my backside, but really jarred my spine. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow! Skittles didn't go anywhere or seem remotely upset once I came off. In fact, as I was gathering myself up and getting to my knees, she came over and nuzzled me as if to apologize.

Eventually I got back on and resumed walking her around. We did a few more figure-8's and point to point with the barrels at the walk and I left it alone soon after that.

I was going to go inside, but thought, no... I should spend a bit of time with Gypsy and work on her on-line transitions. I didn't think I'd ride, given that my back was pretty sore, but I figured I should still do some on-line stuff with her.

However, I did put the saddle on because I wanted to see if that made any difference to her behaviour on line. It did... way more "go" with the saddle on (just like when I'm riding her). At first I just let her trot around at the end of the 22' line until she started to settle into more of a rhythm (relax). She eventually did (her head came down a bit), but stayed at the trot. So we worked A LOT on her down transitions. I spent most of the time trying to get her to walk. She'd walk a few steps, then pick up the trot, I'd wiggle the rope and she'd slow, but then pick up speed again. After what seemed like an eternity of transitioning to the walk (probably about 15-20 minutes), she managed to walk one whole circle and I disengaged her. I gave her a fair bit of thinking time for that since it took her so long, then we did the same thing in the other direction. Not quite as long the second time, but almost!

Once she was finally maintaining a walk OK (i.e. managing a full circle without breaking into the trot), I asked for the up transition, which was pretty much instantaneous, like she was bursting to trot. I let her trot a couple circles, then I asked for the canter. Her trot got faster and faster, but lo and behold, she CANTERED!! Sure, she was pulling a fair bit on the line, but it wasn't a right-brained canter like it was in the round pen; she was just cantering and trying to stay on the circle. After one circle I disengaged her and gave her a great big hug. This is a FIRST! I was so thrilled!! We've been working on that for quite a while. We still need to work on it until she can do it without pulling to the outside as much, but wow, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

We did the same in the other direction, and I transitioned her down and up a couple more times. The down transitions are still pretty fleeting, but she's trying!

Then we did go for a ride. I probably shouldn't have, and I'll probably regret it tomorrow, but I wanted to see if her simple changes were getting better. She's really starting to pick up the canter well now and gets the right lead almost all the time. If she doesn't, I know it's my fault for not setting her up right. The simple change is definitely there, but pretty rough (again, the down transition is difficult for her). REALLY pleased with her though. She's got so much try in her. We even jumped over the barrels a few times in both directions. Every time I've tried that in the past, she veers around them, but today I pointed her at them and she didn't veer!

So even though my experience with Skittles was less than perfect, Gypsy more than made up for it. I'm really glad I didn't pack it in after Skittles. Gypsy really turned my confidence around after being dumped by Skittles, which is what I needed.