Riding through the buck, part 3

Sunday afternoon.  Had lunch w/my horsey friends and made our way to the arena w/our horses. My old guy was out to pasture playing with his buddy Luke and Beauty was whinnying for attention.  We all started out either on-line or at liberty, working on our specific issues.  Beauy was on her 45ft line and we worked on circles, transitions in the circle game, change of direction and yoyo. She was so connected that I dropped the line and  continued play. All was well.  More liberty circles and change of direction (w/other horses/owners in the same arena mind you!!!!).  I thought  I'd try our squeeze game and made the mistake of squeezing too close to the wall - pipe paneling.  She would send thru - but after the turn and face when I asked her to come back thru, she would swerve off in the opposite direction, telling me my squeeze was too tight. Of course, it took me 3 tries at liberty with her turning her butt to me before what she was telling me registered!  Anyway - as usual, we went back on line, I stepped back several feet, and she got her confidence back - did the squeeze flawlessly.

We all tacked up (except for Kimberly where tacking up means tying her savvy string around Rosie's neck - heavy sigh on my part for wanting to be there!)  Beauty and I worked on ride the rail at a walk. I was trying out Kimberly's endurance trail saddle which is a combo of an Aussie and English saddle. Very cool. It's a wide tree (Rosie, bless her heart is a porker) and seems to fit Beauty well. I had decided for my lesson w/Dave, I'd like to try it rather than my synthetic western saddle that I've been using.  After a few adjustments to stirrup length, we were off and trotting.  Beauty was connected to my requests - changing gait at request, direction at request - going over obstacles, with her happy, willing personality.  I set her up for the canter, going down the long stretch, then sat back and started cantering in my body.  Good girl - she gave me about 5-6 nice canter strides - then the shit hit the fan.  We were approaching the turn, about 20 feet from the corner of the arena and she went into a big bucking fit.  About 3 bucks put me out of the saddle and onto her neck  about 10 feet from the wall (pipe paneling) - and still at a fast pace, more like trot than canter.  From her neck, I quickly went through my options:  1) careen into the paneling and break my neck and hers; 2) jump off over her head and land like an acrobat on my feet in front of her before hitting the paneling (yeah, right); and luckily chose option 3) - get your butt back in that saddle - NOW!  I heaved backwards, landed soundly in the saddle, lifted my inside rein and made the turn, before coming to a weak and shaky halt.  I let out a huge "Whew! I'm alive!" and started to laugh.  Kimberly let out a sigh too and joined in the laugh.  Flo said, "Crap - I missed it, what happened?"  I declared that I was done for the day, and dismounted.  "You can't stop on that note!" - Kimberly.  "I know, but I also can't do that again. I'm throwing in the towel for the day."  me.

So, we switched horses and Kimberly got on the devil (I mean my sweet little Beauty) and I got to get my confidence back on sweet Rosie.  Beaut & Kimberly made a few laps around at a trot, and stood and calmed down for a while to end on a good note.  And I - I got to get all the confidence back that I thougth was gone for good.  I was bareback on Rosie with only a halter.  We gaited around - following the rail, around obstacles, over jumps (little ones), over cavelleti, in and out of barrels and cones.  Kimberly called out - try the canter - you are almost there and you don't even realise it!  Sure enough, I did the exact same set up that I had tried with Beauty - asked for a nice fast (gait, not trot), then sat back and started cantering in my body - and off she went!  Wow - my childhood flashed before my eyes and I was a kid again, cantering through the woods with my friend Anne on our horses, playing hide & seek and cowboys and Indians!  What a feeling. Rosie and I were one - my butt part of her back! Unbelievable.  what I had just failed at so miserably on a saddle with Beauty - was happening, and so sweet with Rosie. I'm still on cloud 9!  It helped me to realise that my mechanics are right - it's just the presentation that is off.  I'm really "green on green" trying to canter this lovely, lively little girl.  We just have to get our cues figured out. Beauty is as light and sensitive as Rosie is, but with much more movement in all that she does. We just need to get it figured out.

And I'm soooo happy to have friends that now allow me to step outside of my comfort zone and make these leaps in learning.  I'm no longer just "walking down the lane" - I'm challenging myself, and getting more physically and mentally fit with each day.  And #1 on Matt's list when I get Beauty back to Porterville will be to get the transitions from trot to canter smoothed out!  I plan on a few lessons while she is down there so they can help me with my body mechanics.  I remember thinking a couple years ago - I can't wait until I can sit on Beauty's back.  I'm now riding her out on the trail, jeeping up and down hills, trotting and cantering all over - feeling like a kid.  It will just be a matter of time before we're cantering with confidence in the arena too.  I love this Parelli program.  We're taking the time it takes and stepping out of our comfort zone to increase learning.  Whew - Can't wait for the weekend!