MICHELLE’S JOURNEY SO FAR
In February
2006 I was at my wits end - I have a beautiful horse that I can’t connect with.
Every avenue that I tried and turned to would be okay for a short period of
time and then my horse would become aggressive in his behaviour.
Trisha’s
background appealed to me; the fact that she has ridden and competed in both
English and Western and that she has spent two years working/training with Mark
Rashid in the USA.
Our first
meeting together was more of a getting to know each other and for me to be
introduced to what Connected Riding is all about.
Our next
meeting was when things really started to happen. Having a horse that
braces / sets his neck and body and just switches off mentally can be a
frightening thing. Trisha showed me some exercises to assist in
bringing my horse’s attention back to me both on the ground and when I am
riding.
And of course
it was even more interesting once I was back home doing my normal
routine. Instead of my horse being on guard with his head up and body
tense, I was now being greeted with a horse whose head was held lower, a softer
eye and was often licking and yawning.
So here I was
thinking I was making some wonderful progress and looking forward to my next
lesson, whoa betide did I know what was in store! Trisha arrived and as
my horse does, he decided to throw in a little curve ball in that there
was absolutely no way that he would allow me to get on, let alone ride.
Trisha was probably thinking, ‘yeah right – she’s put in lots of time with this
horse – she can’t even get on!’ Horses can be oh so humbling! So
instead of having a riding lesson my lesson was about getting on.
Trisha was fantastic in that even when my horse was resisting she
was calm and fair with the way she asked him to stand and behave; he was
rewarded for trying and in a relatively short period of time you could see him
asking her, ‘what would you like me to do now?’ Since this day I have
never had an issue about getting on. I can now put him alongside virtually
anything – gate, drum, mounting block, whatever – and he will stand beside
it, if anything he now tries so hard to please that I have to be careful that
he doesn’t climb on or put a foot up on whatever I am standing on.
Every time that
I meet up with Trisha she gives me more ground exercises to work with. With the
resistance that my horse has, these exercises have certainly assisted me.
He is becoming so much softer through the neck/shoulders/body and when he is
asked to stop, he is standing square and underneath himself.
Having a horse
with so much resistance on the ground of course also means I have this
resistance in the ridden work. Our ridden work is definitely starting to
come on. I know that it is probably not always pretty to look at but at
times we are starting to get a few strides where it feels unbelievable; he
lifts up, is engaged, light to the hand, traveling forward and feels like he is
just floating in his movement.
Over the months
I have also been noticing small but significant changes in my horse; his
general behaviour/attitude and even his physical appearance. Even the
farrier has commented on his change and improvement in his behaviour.
If these are
all signs of things to come, bring it on – can’t wait until I have my next
lesson.
Michelle
Auckland