Straighten Up, Mister

Boy howdy. I think Chemaine opened up a big ol' can of worms when we addressed Izzy's lack of throughness at our last lesson. The last three rides have tested my sticky butt and my patience. At several points during each ride, I gave an exasperated, DUDE!

Rather than just TRY, he has decided to refuse to go forward, bolt forward, rear, kick out at my leg, balk, squeal, or whirl and bolt toward the gate. It took me all the way until last night to figure out where the resistance might be coming from.

Sleek and opinionated - what more could a girl want?

Since the naughtiness was so sudden, I chalked it up to nervousness since we did our last two rides in the neighbor's arena. He gets turned out there several times a week, but it was the first time I've ridden him there. I really didn't think it was that big of a deal though.

The refusing to go forward unless it was in a rear got so bad that I got off and grabbed a discarded riding crop. Miraculously, the rearing disappeared completely. But when I next rode in my own arena and he threatened to rear as soon as I asked for a trot, I realized we had a problem.

Before I continue, I should mention that when I first started asking Izzy to do more than just walk or trot on a loose rein, meaning I started increasing the contact, he went through all of this same stuff. Last summer, the balking got so bad I had to really get after him with the whip. When that worked, he tried rearing to get me to quit. More use of the whip and he gave up on that as well. He's just kind of an opinionated jerk who is not afraid to let me know what he thinks.

So when all of the rearing and kicking and balking happened in my own arena, a place where he has been happily working for many months, I knew something had changed. At my last lesson, Chemaine had me address his lack of throughness by straightening Izzy's shoulders to put him on the outside rein. To achieve this, she had me compress his stride with the outside rein, put my inside leg on, and keep his shoulders from popping out with my outside leg. As soon as he softened to the outside rein, I could give a little and ask for more stride.

That sounds fantastically easy, but Izzy has decided that it's hard and different, and he doesn't do hard ... or different. Rather than soften to the outside rein, he's figured that it would be a brilliant idea to just get away from it. Balking would do it. If you don't go forward, you don't have to hold the bit. If you rear, the same thing - no bit. and even better, you might dislodge your rider and then you're home free. Kicking out should cure the whole inside leg on his girth thing, and bolting is an easy go-to when things aren't going your way.

At least he still likes me!

While Izzy doesn't scare me, rearing and bolting, especially when done together, are rather unnerving. Even so, the best solution with this horse is first LOTS of praise for a good try or a correct decision. But when he makes a naughty choice, a solid thwack with the whip on his flank or shoulder or a smack with my hand on his cheek/neck send a clear message.

We finally got to canter last night after 20 minutes of Straighten up, Mister! He never got nice and round over his back at the trot, but he did finally agree to just go forward. Our pace was a snail's crawl, but at least he tolerated the outside rein and agreed to soften to it as long as we just poked along.

But really, that's all I wanted in the fist place. He just figured I wanted the whole shebang on Day 1. Dork. Today is just a turn out day and Thursday we'll try again. I have tentatively scheduled another lesson down in Simi Valley on Saturday, so hopefully Chemaine can convince him that he can do this.