Fall #4 - Speed adds pressure

Yesterday was my fourth fall off Q, and probably my 200th fall since I started riding. My first three falls happened on my very first ride at the age of 6. I had been begging my parents to let me ride (or buy me a pony) ever since we spent the summer of the Montreal Olympics camping at the equestrian park. I was enamored at first site. Of course my parents did not buy me a real pony, but I then began the long process of receiving toy horses, horse books, and of course riding lessons and eventually summer riding camp for many years.

I finally succumbed to my passion at the age of 19 and bought my first horse (a quarter horse named Rocky) with my own money. Life was never the same after that. And of course at that point in my life, through University and grad school, I had no money.

But when I was 6 years old my mom took me to a trailriding barn and we went out with a group. I was at the back of the pack on a fat lazy pony that would always stop and eat grass. When the group got far enough away, he would trot to catch up. By the third stride, and hanging sideways off the saddle, I would fall to the ground. The guide would stop the group, dust  me off, plunk me back in the saddle, and the routine would start all over again.

I lasted three falls, and then my mom got off her horse and came back to get me. She told the guide to deal with the horses himself and we walked back. My next horsey adventure was at a proper riding school where I began formal pony club lessons. The memories are quite vivid and visual and I have more memories of my falls than of my accomplishments.

All that to say, I have fallen a lot! Most of my falls were related to jumping (refusing) fences. I stopped jumping once I got my own horses.

So this week we had a bit of an awakening as I realized my riding had gotten sloppy and Q had started taking advantage of his good fortune by becoming a bossy bully that did not want to listen on trail. I started adding trail obstacles to our arena time with some great success. So much success in fact that I decided I was going to add speed and pressure to the obstacles.

I thought speed would only add complexity by increasing the requirement for precision of the aids. I was wrong. Here is an example of a mountain trail class with obstacles and speed ridden by my favorite clinician: Mark Bolender.

Anyways, I was wrong. Turns out that speed also increases the horse and rider heartrate, and in sensitive horses like my Q that ends up distorting the signals of calm and trust. So when we jumped on the teeter totter (not his best mastered obstacle) he panicked in the center piece (where there is the most instability) and then he leaped off to the right and left me mid-air to eventually land in a big pile of deep sand. Im hurting today, but otherwise it is a pretty benign fall.

After this fall, and redoing all the obstacles again but at a walk ... I then proceeded to do a solo trail ride and it was our best trail ride in weeks!!! I got a beautiful trot right out of the barn, a gorgeous uphill and forward canter at  a steady pace, and then we jogged the rest of the way home. I took some beautiful video with me chattering away (albeit a bit breathlessly) to show how lovely it was. 

The poor rider in the second video was calling out to me to please walk as she was taking her horse on the trail for the first time in months after a long convalescence and although she had given him tranquilizers, she didn't want me jogging up to her. So I turned off the video, passed her at a walk, and then kept jogging this beautiful pace almost all the way home.

So now I have a worthy challenge of tackling obstacles AND speed, at least until the winter hits us with snow and covers all the obstacles. And I know my lovely Q is hiding inside that dragon body and happy to do his thing. And I have been contaminating the rest of the boarders and resident trainers with my obstacle enthusiasm. I spent 1.5 hours yesterday coaching our resident Hunter/Jumper trainer on approaching the waterbox with her young 2 year old Hanoverian.

Good times! Now where is the alleve and heating pad?