The weather began changing, with a cool breeze coming off the Gulf and a cover of clouds scudding over the landscape. Walker's state of mind was, well, jumpy. It's difficult to reinforce anything with Walker when he is in this frame, but to be fair, I don't think I would be ready either if I felt that way.
Also, we have had an enormous amount of rain over the last 2 weeks, so the large arena is a sloppy mess. The indoor arena is good for some things, but not when Walker is on edge. When the extrovert is antsy, it's best to be in wide open spaces so he can really move out. So, it's out to the park we go. We are very fortunate to have the park to play in. It can absorb a lot of rain and still have good footing for riding.
I don't want any more life to come up in my horse, not at this moment. Some of you may have ridden a horse who feels like he has fire coming from the ends of his hair, but for those of you who haven't, it can make the human feel pretty jumpy too. It's akin to feeling like a passenger on a projectile in a slingshot that's been cocked and is ready to be launched. Exhilarating, and scary all at the same time. Since I am now 55, I make it a point to stay away from scary.
So, I figure walking a long focus on a casual rein will be good for him. We have trees in every corner of the park area, which is fabulously handy. It's as though they mark a nice 700 ft. by 225 ft. arena area. We start and he is walking big long strides using that energy he came with while looking around at our surroundings. He does a pretty good job following my focus until we actually get to the first tree, but despite my focus, he goes right by it. "Ring, ring", I lift my reins, ask for the hindquarters to go away to get him to face up on the tree. As we get there, I lower all my energy and say aloud, "Now, hurry up and relax, Walker." He can only stand there for two seconds before he has to walk away from the tree. After the third time we repeat this at this same tree, I start to count in my head how many times we have to do it. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 times! On the eighth try, he sticks his head far into the branches of the tree, as if to say, "OK, I get it!", and after ten seconds of standing still, I ask him to move off to the next tree. I repeat this going to the right until he actually stops at a tree and stands for 10 seconds without having to redirect him or ask him twice to stand still at the tree. I think we took two full trips around the park to get this.
Lather, rinse repeat to the left. This time, it only take two trees (half the park arena) for Walker to get it, and I know I now have a horse who is ready to do something. Thank you PNH! Without the tools and techniques to get my LBE into the game, we could never have progressed this far.
In an open area, I started first to ask for a shoulder in to the right, his easy side and then the left, the side that gives him difficulty at every thing. Walker has difficulty keeping himself balanced going left, however some balancing exercises first always help. Today, his shoulder in going left feels really good, so I start to ask for walk canter transitions.
He does the best ones, by far, he has ever done, so we stop and as I reach for his mane to get off, he give me a big "get off nicker". He only does those when he knows he's done something really well. This is not my imagination. He knows when he has put in good effort, and he is rewarding me with that nicker when I reward him by hopping off.
There is just no feeling like the one you get when your horse and you are so in sync.
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