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We Are Flying Solo

February 5, 2012

The David Intervention: Pt. II

I had a lot to think about as I drove....around the corner.  As I mentioned, Ryan had graciously offered Encore and I berth at the little farm where she works, conveniently located 3 miles from David's.  Ok, so it happens to be Charlie Plumb's (quite the family legacy) farm, so this is what you see when you come to the stop sign:

How do you get grass that green in the sandhills in January? 
It's a nice enough place, as you pull into the drive...


They have a little arena with a few jumps scattered here and there...


They even let me park my rig where it would be shaded by trees!

What?  I haven't shown you my traveling rig before?
I tucked Encore into the barn.  I guess it was ok....

Ha, it was, naturally, a lovely place.  I only saw Charlie for about four seconds, as he was busy with a clinic, but he offered a friendly hello (and escaped smurf picture recruitment, dangit).  As dusk settled, Encore devoured his well-earned supper and settled in.

I sought to digest some of what I had learned that day and fought to retain David's advice and instructions (although I still giggle every time in the video where he yells, "Work it!  Keeping working it!"):

-The Duo bit we are dressaging in now is great to introduce babies to contact and great for a finished horse who is light.  But we might want to try something a step up for the sake of my jello arms, which will encourage Encore to soften faster and more readily.  As he gets stronger and is able to be lighter, then perhaps we can go back to rubber finger bit.

-Keep the pace slow and NO RUSHING ALLOWED.  In order for Encore to stay balanced at the stage he is in, he must stay slow and resist the urge to run off his feet and get tense.  As he feels more comfortable in his balance, you can gradually ask for more trot.  But you have to have that balance before you can have forward.

So...hard...
The journey with Solo and now this new endeavour with Encore has, I think, taught me, more than anything, about what real contact is.  We are always told, "Don't pull on his mouth, stay out of his face."  That is, to an extent, true.  But real, working contact is not a feathery light touch until your horse actually has the balance, muscle, and training to carry himself completely.  That doesn't happen at the beginning.  Unless you have a freak horse that I just don't want to hear about. 

When you see me riding in those videos, none of that is easy.  My upper arms are screaming and when David asks us to reverse direction for the last time time, after I comment that I have noodle arms, my brain cries, "Dear cod, NOOOO!"  Contact is CONTACT -- you are asking your horse to push power from his hind legs through his body into the bridle and until he learns how to do that on his own, he needs your help at times and the reminders are constant.

As I said before, it's not locked, it's not a pull, it's just a steady, almost a resting feeling against the bit.  But it's alive and I am asking half halt with the outside rein, just little bit rounder with the inside rein, just a little bit straighter with that outside rein again.  And when he complies, I do not "release" as we normally think of it, not in a physics sort of way.  Rather, I go passive -- my resting contact is still there, but my forearm muscles soften and my hands are quiet, saying thank you, proceed as you are.  The horse's mouth can feel this subtle difference in energy.  The hard part is for the rider to regulate exactly the right amount at the exact right time.  I figure I'll have that worked out in about 60 years.

But for now, it was time for both horse and rider to sprawl out and rest for the day to come.   

Charlie might have escaped, but his lawn jockey didn't....

6 comments:

  1. Such a great post! This is almost exactly what I've been learning on my lesson horse the past few lessons. Learning how to keep that contact, reward without giving it away and stay elastic. It is H.A.R.D.! The line is so fine I'm not sure a microscopic organism could walk it! (At least that is how it feels right now.) As always, thanks for sharing!

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  2. This whole blog had me giggling, especially the lawn jock picture. Mind if I swipe the pictures of the farm for our FB page? They are gorgeous!! :) I am so excited to have made the blog!!

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  3. Sure, Ryan, it's the least I can do for you and Charlie letting me stay there.

    Amanda, you are so right, it does feel like a microscopic line! It's a subtle as the tension in forearm muscles and it's so difficult to train yourself to have that much body control.

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  4. Oh PS, Ryan, I have a few measures in place to keep people from stealing pictures without permission. It's still possible in a few ways, but I try to keep honest people honest -- let me know if you need me to email them to you.

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  5. Excellent lesson. I'm learning all about contact right now... I can tell, because Steph gives me that look and says, "to do this, you have to actually TAKE A CONNECTION".

    Right there with ya on the "my horse wasn't born with it" thing.

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  6. I am wondering if Encore was flirting with one of his old girl pals, Mazzey! She lives at Charlie's place :)

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