Day 243

I rode Brie first today, since my mom wanted to try Harry again because of everything that happened with him yesterday. She changed his bit back to the one that he was wearing about a year ago to see if that would make a difference, since he really seems like he's not respecting the bit anymore. I didn't pay much attention to Harry at first, but apparently he was pretty antsy.

Meanwhile, I was trying to walk Brie around outside. I don't understand her. We've gone outside a million times, but every time is like the first time we're going out. I wasn't planning on staying out as long as I did, but I didn't want her to charge the barn. So I would make her stop every time she started to get crazy. Unfortunately, the flowers weren't saved....we were walking by the pond in back and she stepped into the flowers by accident. I tried to get her out of there with both my legs and the reins, but she wasn't having it and ended up side-stepping all the way across the flower bed.

I feel very defeated with Brie. I know she's come a long way in manners in the arena, for the most part, but she still is crazy outside and I'm pretty sure she has the same attitude about shows, but that I can't be certain of. Should I just give up? I don't know what else I could do to try and make her not as excited outside. I've tried everything I can think of and nothing works.

After I managed to get back to the barn without killing myself, I got on Harry for a bit. He's a whole other problem. I don't understand where he went wrong either. Ever since May or April, he has not been the same. He hasn't been as good and I don't know what we're doing wrong, because we're doing the same things. At one point long ago, he got over his aversion to one wall in the arena. Now, suddenly he remembered that he's scared of it and will not for the love of God walk straight on it. When I first got him, he had such a hard time flexing, and we got over that. Now, he won't flex at all easily without giving a fight or trying to rear. Part of me thinks that there's some anatomical problem going on, but I don't know how to find out what it is. Everyone else thinks it's just his attitude, but why would he change so quickly back to being horrible? No one's done anything to him.

In part to end on a good note, I got off of him and walked him outside by hand. We walked around the pond because I know he's scared of it, and he got pretty close to the water's edge by the end of our walk. Then I lengthened his line and ran over the little ditch and he followed me over and although he was hesitant, he jumped right over it. If he couldn't settle his brain inside, I hope that readjusted it outside.

Lastly, I rode Taco outside for Jane. He enjoyed it and after I got back to the barn, Jane got to talking about letting him canter, since he won't be showing for another year, if he even shows next year. Everyone says not to canter Paso Finos, because apparently it messes up their gait, but Taco has a really smooth, slow canter that Jane likes. We wanted to see if it was a 4-beat canter, since there are classes in Colombia called Trote y Galope where the horse trots and canters and they're judged on that instead of the corto, largo, or fino. I took him across the board at a canter and it was in between a 3-beat and a 4-beat, depending on how his back feet landed each stride. Jane's settled on not listening to the people who bring her down and just having fun with Taco. He's had a lifetime of showing and pressure, so now he gets to relax and have fun.

Day 133

Saturday

We rode in the outdoor arena today. It was so nice to pull into the barn and see that the horses were all outside! I hope that it doesn't go back to freezing for a long time!

I figured that, since Brie goes kind of cuckoo outside, I would give my mom a break and ride her and she could ride Harry.
Ha, yeah.
Brie was kind of antsy warming up, mostly wanting to take off screaming "I'm free! I'm free! Look birds, look grass! I can run!", but she calmed down and I actually got a superrrr nice canter out of her! It's exactly what I've been looking for! She did almost run over Taco though, who Paco was riding (haha, Paco and Taco)--while I was slowing down to pass them, she decided that she wanted to play bumper cars and smacked him with her but, then when I pulled to turn her away, she pushed her butt into Paco's leg before she finally moved over into the inside of the arena. I felt so bad and kept apologizing! So after that we had a little lesson about passing other horses nicely.

But Harry was psycho. I could plainly see that he wanted to dump my mom a couple of times, once while he was stopped on the soundboard, which would've been horrible, because it's wood and if he slipped, my mom would be under him. Even if he is only an 800lb horse as opposed to one of the thousand pounders, that would've been bad!!

After much struggling, we were pressed for time and my mom sent us in to hose off Brie and Nina while she went into the indoor to end on a good note. Then he pulled his "I won't go into the wash rack" trick, so I had to get out the carrot stick and prod him in there. I think that maybe it's time for Harry to get a refresher course in manners because he's gotten very naughty lately!

Tomorrow Colin is supposed to be out. It's also supposed to rain tomorrow. The last time it rained, it stormed, and Harry was a ball of nerves. That should be interesting to ride in. I also want to pull the trailer in and do some desensitizing with that because really, two hours before we get going to a show that's two hours away is beyond ridiculous. If Harry doesn't shape up soon, my mom wants to give him away to Colin for a few months to train. I guess I have to put my small dressage/non-suicidal trail riding dreams to the side with Brie for a while and really start working with Harry again for manners and overall safety, not to mention he's supposed to be our flashy showhorse! How will that ever happen if he's too anxious to get through a class without bolting?

Day 122

Started Harry again today. He got really annoyed that I started him off lunging the direction that he hates, but he just has to deal with it! I need to remember that, as much as I'd like to deny it, he IS an 800lb animal and that a stand-off with him will not help matters.

Paco gave me some advice: go back to basics. So it's back to lunging on the noseband for him instead of on the pisador. I have to remember not to take it as an insult, but rather take it as a challenge that I have to go back and review things with Harry. I also have to take into account that it's winter and he's not being let out because of ice and that we aren't there all week to ride him. So we're going to work on more groundwork more often with him, especially to help him pick up his feet more in the back and get everything all in sync so he doesn't look like a clumsy 2 year old! He needs to look like the polished 5 year old that he should be =]

Brie? Oh goofed around. A tiny bit of canter. All without stirrups!

Looking forward to tomorrow more. I hate that Saturdays are so short!