I had taken Stevie over to Cheryl’s farm one week ago when I went over to ride Fellow. On that occasion I grazed him, put him in a stall, with a great view – thanks to Cheryl’s generosity. Stevie had a wonderful, positive experience to build on for this the following visit. I want to disclose that although I did not have a lesson scheduled for Stevie, Linda (Zang) stayed and guided me through the ride. This is the entire ride from beginning to end. (except for the Corgi cameo).

Stevie was very uptight. I’m fairly certain he had never been in an indoor before, especially one with mirrors! I hand walked him around the arena for about ten minutes before I got on. I couldn’t get video of mounting him because my helper was my videographer. I positioned the mounting block about 6 feet from the wall on the short side of the arena and about 12 feed from the corner so that Stevie would be discouraged from walking on as I got on. I didn’t have it so close that he might feel trapped though causing him to back up. I want to stress here that Stevie is perfect to mount at home, but we are not at home now.

Stevie is understandably up tight. I will be riding him in a new place and until I ride him, he will not be sure why he is there. The most important piece of advice I can give about riding a tight horse is to completely relax your body the entire time you are in contact with the horse. I was relaxed while walking him, mounting him and riding him. You cannot relax the horse unless you relax your body. It's as simple and difficult as that. If you are tight, the horse will be tight.

After I get on, the first thing I do is allow Stevie to look around. I don’t restrict his head in any way. He wants to see where he is, and I want him to do this. Once I feel he is ready I begin to ask him to supple, knowing that if he begins to supple, he will begin to relax. As Stevie walks to the left on a circle, I slowly take his head to the right, and pat him with my left hand. Then slowly to the left and pat him with my right hand. I repeat this sequence while going around a circle so he learns to follow my rein. It’s not sawing his head down, it’s asking him to follow one rein after the other. I keep my body relaxed and moving with him. This is all he needs. I am not pulling him down with both reins. I take him from one rein to the other until Stevie can allow me to connect my two reins. I must take my time and wait until Stevie comes to my hands. It’s not pulling back, it's opening each rein. I wait until Stevie is ready to let go. This exercise works because Stevie wants to take and lock behind his ears because he is defensive and needs to feel he has the liberty of his head. Once Stevie is able to relax on the circle, I venture out into the rest of the arena where he vacillates between being concerned and letting go. When I feel he’s able to contain himself, I try the trot. I want to inject here that I did not start trotting right away to try to relax him because I know that would wind him up, not down. This is a mistake I see people make a lot. If he had not been able to relax while I was astride, I would have gotten off and hand walked him until he was able to relax and try again.

Once I begin to trot, I don’t restrict him with the reins or tighten by body. I allow him to reach for my rein. He is still moving tight, but as he works, he lets go of his body. As he relaxes he opens up his trot and lets go of his body. Stevie offers more trot to show he has more length and time in his stride. I don’t want him to go faster, so I carefully slow him. At the end, I take him to the walk by having him follow my inside rein onto a circle. I give with my outside rein and make him follow my inside rein so he goes out through the shoulder. Then I leg yield with my right hand out to the wall. Then I give with my right hand and Stevie follows down to my left hand. I must keep him following the rein so he keeps moving through his shoulders. We are working up to the perfect canter departure where he will be out through the right (outside rein) and I have the left (inside rein).

go to https://goodhorse.org/category/goodho... to find out more