Ride no 34 - I fell off again! In the school

Thurs 20th May 2010

Oh dear. I fell off again! Actually, I'm not bothered about falling off but I was very disappointed when I saw how nervous Duncs was afterwards and again found myself wishing he was more straight forward and a bit daunted at the work ahead! However, through this blog, I am starting to recognise a pattern in my own behaviour (aha - Light Bulb moment!)
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1. I hit a seemingly HUGE problem and start "Stinkin Thinkin (as Fly Lady says!). Today it was "D needs to do this every day, he needs more extreme Friendly Game, he's always going to be unreliable, I'm never going to have the time and resources to do this!"
2. I feel a bit crap and sorry for myself, maybe even for a few days. Think about giving up.
3. I think through the problem and start to think of ways to tackle it, call on past experience
4. I get determined that I'm not going to be beaten/give up!

The positive thing that I'm recognising is that I'm getting through these phases faster! Phew!

I'll start from the beginning. I went over to use J's school (marvellous!) and did quite a bit online. touch it, circling, weave. Lots of ponies about for D to look at which eh coped with very well. I felt very confident when I got on and Duncs went round taking things in his stride. We did PTP to start with then follow the rail (predictably fell in on the right rein). Lots of halt, back-up, flexing, disengaging. All Good.

Then, I trotted. Now, this may have been the turning point in D's confidence levels. I didn't notice!! We then went over to two bottles on a pedestal and D sniffed them as he had a number of times already.

As we walked away, D brushed a bottle with his tail or back end and it fell. He leapt forward in a way I'm starting to recognise. It's like a fighting bull or a bronc coming out of the stalls. They put their heads down and, with a huge push from behind, leap forwards with their heads down. There was a moment when I thought I was staying on but D put in another leap and I knew I was a goner! Rightly or not, I held on tight as I fell and as he shied at my falling body, he would have got a sock in the teeth. I did then let go before being dragged but i think that was enough to stop him farting off round the school. He took another jump sideways and stood looking at me!

Now, I actually felt fine. I hurt my left ring finger where my rings had squashed it and my right arm had been tugged but it was a lovely soft landing. What's more, I'm pleased to say I didn't feel nervous about getting back on. However, Duncs was not in the same frame of mind!!

As has been reported about his past behaviour, the rider falling off really rattles him and he didn't want to stand at the block for me to get back on. He was fidgeting about, wouldn't come alongside and, even when I put the block next to him, he moved away. I ran my stirrups up and trotted him up and down to get him moving. Ideally I would have put him back on-line but I didn't have time and I really wanted to get back on.

I got back on, no worries and D was "OK" but he was now hypersensitive and nervous. He spooked at a few things where he hadn't before and when I made a sucking noise (on my sore finger) he shuddered. I actually stopped then and rubbed madly while giving him a bit of a ticking off! I went round and about doing circles and keeping it all low-key but unfortunately, he didn't relax properly before I had to leave the school - although he was fine when I got off!! Ideally, I would have ridden round until he got pretty bored. Next time I need to ride earlier so I have spare time to work through issues.

I spoke to S soon after and was rather frustrated at how nervous D still is. She pointed out that I may never change that which, although true, was not what I wanted to hear! Actually, I think it can be changed but maybe not by me!!! We'll see.

Anyway, I've now got my thinking cap on and am wondering if I actually need to ride D forward a lot harder when he's nervous. I haven't as it's not what I would do with an unfit horse but I think tootling about is not a good thing for Duncs when he's in that frame of mind. What I would have done with Ollie was get into sitting trot and trot, bend, trot, bend, half halt, forward, back until he was dizzy with all my commands and, by then, forgotten about the spooky thing!

There's only one way to find out! I had a chat with J afterwards who was sympathetic and hopefully will let me use the school more frequently. I'm likely to have to slow down on my dressage dreams but I will see how we go in the next week.