06.27.08
Horsemanship Clinic second day, unseated again
HORSEMANSHIP CLINIC DAY 2
Once again, young Glendale was nervous at the start… he was afraid of the far end of the ring where there were trees beyond and it was darker; it was windy today and a storm front was moving in, so he was looking for things to be nervous about. I didn’t try to make him go up to the rail at that end.
Glendale trying to settle down while surrounded by other horses. This is totally new experience for the almost-three-year-old.
The class began doing what we had practiced the day before, I spent a lot of time trying to keep Glen’s attention and keep him focused. Walking exercises as usual were easier for him since everyone was moving slower, and trotting worried him. About 45 minutes in, a big wind gust hit just as we were rounding the spooky end of the ring, startling at least 4 other horses, and Glen once again spun to the right and I went out of balance again and off him to the left. I was aware of the saddle slipping sideways as I was trying to hang on, then of lying sort of balled up on the ground.
Later I was told that people were yelling at me to let go of his reins, which I have a habit of hanging onto, but I didn’t hear any of that. I DID hear his hoof tap on my helmet, though obviously it was only a glancing blow. Observers said my hanging onto his reins nearly pulled him over, as he was trying to avoid stepping on me. This time Glen got free (luckily for me) and ran to the far end of the arena and stopped on the fenceline, where he waited for me to remount.
I was unhurt, having been lucky once again. I tightened his girth, which sure enough was too loose. Everyone expressed their concerns, but I felt pretty klutzy by then. The wind and thunder was rolling by that time so we all moved into the indoor arena, which is less thatn 2/3 the size of the outdoor ring. Here I spent 15-20 minutes walking him and doing maneuvers at one end of the arena while the pelting rain hitting the tin roof got worse and worse, lightning and thunder were going on, and Glen wanted to shy in succession at the rain outside seen through a dutch door, a walkway leading out of the arena, the sounds, any nearby horse, and loose horses outdoors who had come up close to the arena and could be seen through open windows along the side.
Finally he seemed OK to do cross-arena exercises, trying to 2-track by pushing the horse’s hindquarters out to the side while walking forward. Most of the class sat their horses at the ends while two riders would work across the length of the arena going in opposite directions. This worked out well, so when we were asked to try the two-track while trotting, there was a good deal of space around each rider so I tried him trotting. Sure enough, he spooked and spun at passing a horse on the sidelines and dumped me once again, the same way off his left side. I got up feeling a little more shaken than the past two times.
Soon afterwards, Tom decided Glendale needed help with his confidence (and me as well) so he set up the whole class to help us. Pairs of riders began walking around the rail side by side with space between them, and I was to walk Glendale in the opposite direction and walk between each pair of horses. They were to give me plenty of room so that Glen could learn it was safe to go between them.
I was so grateful for this exercise, which Glen started into being very squirrely but I just kept him walking on straight, and very soon he accepted that he wasn’t going to get jumped by another horse and he walked along. Then Tom had me do a little trotting between the rows of horses as well, so Glen could get over being afraid to trot. Theory was that he was becoming worried about going fast, because of the times before when he had trotted and then I fell off and that scared him.
We ended that session on a more positive note, thank goodness. I went home feeling exhausted that night, but my mind was working on analyzing what was going wrong and working out a different plan for the next day.
