A Horse of a Different Color

On Tuesday I returned from a relaxing vacation in the Florida Keys and was looking forward to getting back to work on my horsemanship. So I hurried out to the barn only to discover that Sonny was limping. The timing could not have been any worse since we are scheduled to attend a clinic with Parelli 6 Star Master Instructor Carol Coppinger during the second week in April and I had been in Florida for the past month. Hoping that the problem was nothing more serious than Sonny having toes that were a little too long (the blacksmith was scheduled for Friday), I called Jane Bartsch, my regular Parelli instructor and asked if I could take my next scheduled lesson on one of her horses.
Switching horses for a lesson might not seem like much of a challenge to most people but for me it is kind of a big deal. I’ve been riding for more than three decades but during that time have not ridden more than a handful of horses. I didn’t start riding until I was almost 30 and have never been a particularly bold rider. When I finally was ready to buy my first horse, I found Max, a 9 year old appaloosa gelding, with smooth gaits and the personality of a puppy. Max lived to be 32 and while he was alive, he was my only mount.
Sonny arrived about a year after Max died. I struggled along for a few years with Sonny before discovering Parelli, but now we have a good partnership and although I still have some confidence issues at the canter, we are making progress toward our level three requirements with the help of weekly lessons with 2 Star Instructor Jane Bartsch.
When I talked to Jane on the phone about the lesson arrangement, she was quick to agree and suggested I ride her levels horse, Lynn, an appaloosa mare. She asked if I wanted to bring my own saddle since I ride in an English saddle but I had wanted to try Jane’s western Parelli saddle and I thought Lynn would be more comfortable with her own saddle. So Thursday morning I arrived at Jane’s farm, riding hat in hand, for my lesson with Lynn.
I was happy that Lynn was an LBI because I thought it would be easier for me to work with a horse that had the same horsenality as Sonny but I’ve never owned a mare and the first thing I noticed about Lynn was that she didn't seem particularly pleased to see me. Jane slipped me a couple of horse cookies and I spent a few minutes trying to establish a relationship with Lynn by finding her special scratchy places and slipping her a couple of treats. Jane is always telling me what a lovely expression Sonny has and after working with Lynn for a few minutes I began to understand how easy he was to please.
After doing some preliminary ground work, where Lynn and I were feeling each other out, I felt confident enough to climb aboard. Lynn is several inches shorter than Sonny so I was able to step up on Jane’s pedestal and swing up in the saddle. Because I have a bad left knee, I mount on the right side and that didn’t seem to bother her at all. I asked Jane to hand me my carrot stick, looped the reins around the saddle horn and asked Lynn to step off at a walk.
I have been putting a lot of effort in during the past year on my carrot stick riding. Like many people who came from the hunt seat school of riding, I had learned to be over dependent on using the reins and wasn’t confident in my seat connection to my horse. As a result, I tended to brace in my stirrups and that would cause Sonny to brace. Because he is such an easy going horse I interpreted his calm manner for relaxation and then complained about his choppy gaits. When I finally figured out that he wasn’t relaxed because I wasn’t relaxed, I made a concerted effort to reduce both my dependence on using the reins and the brace in my riding. Getting on Lynn was going to be a test of my progress.
Things were great at the walk. Jane has really developed Lynn and she is very responsive. When I asked her to yield her hindquarters and then her forehand, she went so briskly it almost felt like a spin. I could stop her just by sitting back and sighing and she would back up with only the slightest movement of my legs. She side passed over a log when I asked and I could get her to change direction by using only my leg and the slightest pressure of my hand on her neck. After 15 or so minutes at the walk, during which I never touched the reins, I was thinking that we really had it going and I was feeling pretty good about the fact that I was on this strange horse, riding in a different saddle and was feeling pretty confident. We were the picture of harmony. Then I asked Lynn to trot.
I guess I had expected her to step off it a little jog trot but as soon as I squeezed with my legs she scooted off in a fast, bouncy trot and after quarter of a lap broke into a canter. Feeling a bit of panic, I grabbed the reins, braced in the stirrups, pulled her to a stop, and then turned in my saddle to apologize to Jane. It was at that point, I realized that Lynn was telling me that perhaps I wasn’t as relaxed I had thought I was.
From that point it became very clear to me that Lynn was telling me a story about bracing. Despite the fact that I was trying very hard not to pressure her with my legs, I clearly was. To make matters worse, Jane’s arena is not completely level so on one long side we were traveling slightly downhill and the other slightly up hill. Every time Lynn started downhill, it felt like she was speeding up and my anxiety increased. Rather than just going along with her pace or sighing and using my body to slow her down, I would snatch up the reins and insist that she stop.
Despite the fact that I was getting a little bit rattled, Jane was maintaining her usual calm and reminding me to breath. In an attempt to manage my anxiety by using approach and retreat, I started playing the corner’s game, walking Lynn halfway down the long side of the arena before asking her to trot to the fence. That yielded a little bit of improvement but I was still bouncing around to Lynn’s choppy trot. Then Jane suggested that I pick a corner of the arena and have Lynn circle at the trot. This allowed both of us to relax a bit more and took some of the speed out of Lynn’s pace.
It was while we were circling the tree in Jane’s arena that it occurred to me while I felt like I was really bouncing along to Lynn’s quick trot, my butt wasn’t actually coming out of the saddle at all and Lynn wasn’t trying to run off with me so I didn’t really need to be snatching her in the mouth. What I needed to be doing at that point was to just go along with her pace. So I eased up on the reins, sat deep in the saddle and tried my best to relax my shoulders, legs and back. Almost immediately Lynn’s trot slowed into a more rhythmic pace. It wasn’t perfect, but it was an improvement.
Lynn and I kept working at improving our harmony at the trot. Each time I glanced at my watch (I was worried about going over my allotted hour) Jane told me not to worry about the time. She understood, perhaps even better than I, how important this was for me. As I recognized and tried to release my brace, I began seeing changes that indicated Lynn was also releasing tension. As I relaxed, she yawned repeatedly, something that Jane told me she seldom did.
I’m not sure how long we worked but eventually, Lynn and I were maintaining a steady, mostly relaxed pace while trotting serpentines in the arena. At that point, rather than move on to the canter, I chose to end the session. I felt pretty good at what I had accomplished. Riding a new horse in a new saddle, I had worked through my anxiety and reached a good stopping point. I was so encouraged with my progress that I asked Jane if I could ride my next lesson on Lynn.
Pat Parelli says that people teach horses and horses teach people. Riding Lynn helped me to recognize that although I have eliminated some of the brace in my riding, I have a long way to go before I am brace free. This fact was really brought home to me this morning when I woke to discover sore muscles in my neck, shoulders and core! In reflecting on my experience riding Lynn, I realized that many of the riding issues which I have attributed to Sonny are actually more issues of my confidence than of his gaits. But I also realized after riding Lynn, how important it is for my development as a horseman to broaden my experience by riding different horses.
So I want to say “Thank you Lynn”. You’ve given me the courage to search out other partners and from now on, I am going to look forward to more opportunities to ride a horse of a different color!