planBE

Lots of things happened this week, to me and around me. Our local H/J trainer got bucked off and kicked in the face, fracturing her jaw and ribs on a young colt on his first ride. She was wearing a helmet and of course it could have been much worse. But we have all been a bit shaken by the event. She doesn’t remember what happened or how it happened but the owner was holding the horse, she put her belly on his back and boom! Next thing she knows she is sitting in an ambulance. I saw her today and she is a true warrior. Ive gotten to know her lately as Ive been helping her with her own 2 year old gorgeous Hanoverian colt in introducing the more difficult obstacles like the teeter totter and the waterbox, and helping her improve her groundwork skills to tackle the difficult obstacles. The colt is learning quickly, and she is building a new language of ask/release that is starting to work miracles. So much so, that one of her clients asked me to help her with the teeter totter. I knew thi...

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 enou...

I knew it was coming but I chose to ignore (or minimize) the signs. On Saturday, I chose to tire Q out doing canter circles in the arena before our solo trail ride. It didn’t work. I had seen the dragon appear in the last few rides with some subtlety. Q would accelerate within the gaits, would anticipate turns that take us back home, would be reluctant to slow down. All little signs. I usually achieved compliance, but with a bit more effort and time than I usually expect. Our riding had gotten sloppy. On Friday's trail ride with lovely intern C, Q showed me something completely new. He literally pulled out a fifth gait from his ass and gave me the most incredible flying trot. I wish I had a video of it, but it was impossible to sit. It felt like rockets exploded from behind, and C's horse was galloping to keep up. The first few seconds were amusing, and then I started holding the reins to keep him in check. By the 30th second I was literally hauling on him to slow down, which h...

Before we talk about the chronic mistakes, let’s discuss the occasional slips and telegraphing. I’ve had much success in focusing only on the behaviour. As training evolves, and my “box” narrows, my “ask” becomes increasingly specific. This may actually be the reason why I despise arena work these days, as Im not interested in the work and discipline required to be so specific. I believe in the philosophy of whisper, request, ask, demand with at least a beat of time in between each escalation. I believe in the release of aids while the horse is completing the ask and I believe the horse needs to maintain the ask until I provide a new instruction. Im pretty black and white. It starts at the mounting block. I spent six months teaching Q to parallel park using Tristan Tuckers turn on the forehand move. I get on, fuss with the saddle and bridle, feed Q a peppermint, wait some more, and then I move on with a specific request (either turn on the haunches or straight forward walk). Th...

There was an accident on the trail yesterday and the rider was taken away by an ambulance. The horse tripped, got caught in the reins, panicked, the rider fell, and then the horse fell on her. The ambulance was able to drive down the trail in a special AWD vehicle and retrieve the rider that has probably broken her leg. We are still waiting for confirmation. It was a freak incident. Rider and horse are well tuned trail horses and have lots of miles under their belt. But accidents happen. So what did the horse do? The mare stood stock still next to its owner until help came. Friends and family made it to the trail section of the incident and walked the mare home while the owner got loaded in the ambulance to then spend several hours at the hospital getting x-rays. Clearly this wasn't a "mistake". But I thought I would spend some time thinking about the "correct answer" before I deep dive into the land of errors, snafus, and miscommunications. Having sta...

The breeder told me many years ago that I would have to be very consistent with drawing the line on acceptable behaviour as my Q was a sneaky cheeky foal that would take advantage of me very quickly. Being smart and dominant, this could be a slippery slope. Four years later I can absolutely confirm that he is a cheeky fellow, but also adorable and charming ... so it’s easy to let the lines blur. A beautiful stretch for a canter He is also a pleaser, and he tries really hard to figure out what I want and give it to me before I ask. He has allowed me short cuts in training that I never imagined possible and he has bolstered my confidence like no other horse before him. He also makes a ton of mistakes. Most of the time he would not consider them “mistakes” (he is the benevolent king after all, and does not admit to mistakes lightly), but just testing the lines of yes/no. They are not mistakes for him, he just thought my request wasn’t serious and he wanted to offer another optio...