What issues/training habits did you have to break?
Missy has natural self carriage but reefed more than I knew was possible. She reefed so badly she put my back out after a week of working her. I later found out although she was quiet to ride and had super flashy movement, she was the horse people wanted to ride the least at the track due to her inconsistent head tossing.
How did she cope when she first went out?
I started her very slowly, even though she was quiet I didn’t want to stress her. We started by just meeting friends at local pony club grounds, indoor arenas, trail rides and slowly increased the amount of horses we added. The first show she went to she was a complete nightmare, came into season as soon as she got off the float, couldn’t tie her up, couldn’t stand her still to do her make up and I didn’t even attempt her Black- It next to her white socks. Luckily Dad and my Step Mum came for a look as I definitely needed help getting on, it’s not often if ever Dad says don’t get on but he looked at me, completely stressed and said “are you sure you want to do this?”. I’ve never been phased and would rather be on board than on the ground so I literally vaulted on her and pretty much took off sideways. I knew she would never buck, bolt rear she was just hot and a fidget. So we worked and worked and worked until we could finally do some downwards transitions and in we went for our newcomers class. She worked like a dream (surprisingly) and came 2nd to a lovely big hack.
Any quirks or bad habits?
Missy is a typical mare, she has her days. Catching can take anywhere between 2 seconds and 20 minutes depending on her mood. Not many people can catch her besides me and even I have a tough time some days.
The next six months?
The next few months we spent working on our outings, going out and not even competing just riding around and around until finally we could get off the float calmly and stand tied to the float all day long without fidgeting. We found a new great coach who just clicked with us, a grand prix dressage rider Lisa Dowling. All our lessons were out and about so it was just second nature to get off the float and work well.
Presently?
We have been working on a variety of things, started laterals, flying changes, counter canter and everything is coming together nicely. We have come such a long way, from putting my back out to now holding such a consistant frame with no head movements. I honestly have never ridden such a hard green horse in my life. Never has she or would she be nasty or dangerous but working out how to push her buttons was definitely the biggest challenge so far. This has only happened recently, after finding our new coach we discovered it was too hard for Missy to work at a normal pace whilst she was working out her collection so we had to go full steam ahead. Our trot work was a lot faster but it was a lot easier for Missy to work this way, we slowly introduced smaller circles and worked on yielding in and out of the circle and getting herself to hold it without dropping out, particularly on the left side.
49 Love Thy Horse Magazine