Sunday’s rides started rather inauspiciously - one physical, one mental. Chambord was fine on straight lines, but as soon as I asked him to bend on a 20 m circle he started cantering and crow-hopping. Clearly not a happy camper, especially to the right. Chambord had his second part of spring shots last Thursday (right side of the neck) and as Galeon had a reaction to his shots we are wondering if that is also the case for Chambord. Sandy texted the vet and she recommended giving Chambord Banamine. We’ll see how he is today, I am also trying to get an appointment with the Chiropractor to have his neck checked.
Saumur had no ill effects from the shots, but was startled by the changes in and around the arena. On Friday the footing got reworked and the wet spots in the corners and on the wall from the calcium chloride brine startled him. Then the other arena doors were open, so he could see his friends having fun in the fields. Oh, and there were chairs in the aisle, light under the door, and JP hammering in the observation room to put pictures up. Plenty of distractions for both of us …
Sandy has a great way of getting us through the tension. We always start with an ‘underpowered’ trot in order to ‘get in the zone’ of relaxation. The key is to realize that I can’t prevent him from spooking, but I can prevent his feet from taking over. This mainly means having him on the outside rein and inside leg. Oh yes, and I get plenty of reminders to “sit wide across the saddle” and to “let go of my weapons”, which are my back and my seat. It’s a tough battle against my tendency to brace my back as soon as things get dicey. Another thing we work on (as part of our very looong list) is facing the demons. Sandy had a great analogy, she said I should imagine firefighters, they rush in when others run out. Saumur and I, of course, would rather rush out (going away from the scary objects) instead of facing them head on and thus conquering whatever is lurking and out to get us. Gimme the hose!
Once we had successfully fought the major fires we moved on the bending lines and 10 m trot circles. From there we went to half-pass. We had the best half-passes ever, they were just effortless. It took hardly anything to make him float across the arena. Big smile!! By then, I felt pretty invincible and we toyed with some half steps which was fun. Our canter work also was really nice, although this ‘taking a risk thing’ is still difficult. Taking a risk to slow the canter down without breaking into trot, that is. I absolutely HATE making mistakes, and beat myself up if I do – which led to another reminder from Sandy that one MUST make mistakes in order to learn. Good advice, for sure, somebody please get it into my brain!
After our lesson I hosed a sweaty Saumur down. When I took him back out to the pasture I thought I had a kite at the end of the lead rope. Usually Saumur is very well behaved but yesterday he was ready to fly off. After a hurried roll (can’t skip that, of course, the shower!) he jumped to his feet and galloped in a dead run to his buddies. Probably off to fight another blaze!
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