So, in my lessons to learn more about ground work, I have come to learn a lot. I have to admit that lately I have been experiencing some problems, or having a difficult time and struggling with Eli.
This is due to my inexperience. I have had Eli for 7 months now and have been learning about horse ownership when I really want to learn about horseback riding. I haven't admitted this to myself, or focused on the riding (not entirely by choice) as things have been popping up along the way that require my attention. I then realized, looking back, I could have anticipated or expected this had a known a bit more about the ownership part. This is combined with my lack of ground work knowledge. In my case, when you get a horse you are excited about them and the potential of riding ~ you day dream about becoming a really good rider and all the trails in your near future. What I didn't realize is there is a
TON of work to do before becoming a good rider on my horse. The responsibility part of ownership is before horsemanship when it comes to riding. If I don't establish ground work and knowledge and if I don't take good care of the horse, meeting all of it's nutritional needs and farrier appointments etc, then it can be expected issues will arise.
It's the passage of rights, you can't skip ahead ~
that steps important and serves a purpose, or whatever you're skipping wouldn't be part of the passage in the first place!
Not only is not skipping steps important, it's equally important to put as much thought, attention and effort into each step and understand why you're doing what it is you are doing. You would do this when riding which is important to
YOU, so you should do this with ground work which is important to your
HORSE!
The reason ground work is important is because this is where you learn to communicate with your horse. Communicating well will develop
TRUST (as you demonstrate you care about the horse and each time you pleasantly interact and the horse doesn't get hurt more bonding is built) and when you have developed trust you can then move on to
RESPECT. Knowing why you are doing what you are doing is important because it
SHOULD BE A TWO SIDED CONVERSATION in my opinion. Not only should you be able to clearly communicate to your horse what you want, BUT you should also be able to listen to your horse when your horse says NO and know what to do accordingly. This is where things become a bit complicated and if you aren't listening, don't hear or are unsure of what to do ~ things can get a bit messy and difficult. I recently had a fight with Eli, but what I thought at the time was a fight due to him not listening, I look back and think now was him progressing from a 2 to a 10 in his attempt to communicate to me, in which case I wasn't hearing him ~ so he yelled to get my attention (pressure of 10). His yell at a level 10 was him biting my leg as I tightened up the girth. I had been having trouble with him being 'girthy' the last 3 or 4 times tacking him up. This was new to me, I've taked him up and tightened his girth before with no problem. Some people adviced that this could be due to someone yanking on the girth fast and hard when doing it up and therefore he is a bit sensitive or worried. That makes sense, except that his last owner didn't do that and myself or the training are he only ones riding him and I know we don't do that - so, why has this developed?!? I kept thinking it's dominance and he's not wanting to listen to me until one day....
I go to the barn, he does his warning, moves his head in towards my leg in the arena and I ignore him, then he does it again and I don't correct him but ignore him and continue tightening the girth (I'm doing this very slowly) and then chomp, he bites me or nips my leg - pretty hard. Hard enough that rather then discipline him immediately (a lot of importance is on timing and the timing has now passed) I grabbed my leg wondering if he broke the skin. He didn't, but it will surely bruise. As this is unusual I decide lunging him would be a better idea then to get up on his back. While lunging him I ask him to increase from a walk to a trot and he does so but with some attitude, at a trot I ask him to canter - then he explodes, charging forward (not necessarily me) snorting, a bit of bucking at one point I'm not sure he isn't going to charge me so I point the whip at him to move him out of my space - he is going so fast and I am getting dizzy and think I will faint that I forget to move my whip away so he's running, I'm trying to apply tension on the lunge line, but there's slack and I'm telling him to whoa but I have the whip pointed at him. FINALLY it occurs to me to drop the whip and just trust him, be patient and ask him to stop. So I do and he stops, but is sweaty, upset and snorting. I wouldn't say it was traumatizing but it was a real eye-opener. I am not communicating with my horse and we hare getting into arguments but nothing is going to be resolved unless we learn to hear each other out and LISTEN.
I had some time to think about things and whether or not we are the right fit, am I up to the challenge of work, is it too much for me or am I out of my league. The only 'gut feeling' that kept consistent was rather than what I thought, how did I 'feel' - they were two entirely different things.
What I THOUGHT was - this is too much, I'm not prepared I can't handle this horse, I don't know who he is and what he's capable of doing and he doesn't trust me.
What I FELT was - what am I not hearing, what is he trying to tell me, I trust him but feel he's frustrated trying to tell me something I'm not understanding. I can't communicate, I'm not listening it isn't fair to him, we need to work on trust and I have to stop stressing about riding - focus on communicating. This isn't fun if it's always so serious and I can't enjoy it and neither can he.
So, I decided to try a new girth. A thicker, fleece lined girth with elastic straps at each end. I incorporated stretching in with the change in girth. So after putting the girth on I stretch out each front leg in the barn, then again in the arena - this also pulls any hair under his leg that might be caught in the girth so it's not tugging while he's in a walk/trot/canter.
Since he's not attempted to bite me, he hasn't exploded on the lunge line and he's been overall a lot better. The next lesson I decided I didn't want to ride, but work on my energy and communication in a RELAXED state not taking it soo seriously (they can feel that energy) and he did much better. I DID MUCH BETTER! I'll ride him when i want to ride him, won't when I don't want to but will start treating this as a hobby and enjoyable rather than a job and a task. I am the dominant one who is in charge so why can't I be relaxed and take things easy? I can be a calm and still gain respect.
I look forward to our future relationship, good communication and understanding being the foundation. Watching the dynamics of a herd is good way to understand how body language is important to them.
Just worrying about riding is kind of like putting the cart before the horse....
