Dolly will be six in May; she competed at several events last year but ended up with a significant problem accepting contact, particularly during transitions. I bought her early in April knowing that she needed to go back to basics so currently we are doing

steady hacks on the farm to help her relax  and regain confidence in going forward into a contact
ridden poll suppling exercises  plus circles and serpentines all at the walk on grass
in-hand/free schooling in the round pen incorporating parelli handling techniques and games

Although initially Dolly was fine with tacking-up in her stable she quickly became increasingly agitated about it so for the moment I  use the round pen which is next to her field where she is turned out full-time. In a couple of weeks I shall tie her up in front of the stable to tack-up and see how we get on. When I was young I would have started a battle over it; I have more sense now.

loose rein circles

Dolly is happy working free or in-hand in the round pen but not keen on doing ridden circling in there; I quite agree with her so we just walk round a few times on each rein and then we stand in the middle doing absolutely nothing because  youngsters should learn to do nothing happily at any point during a normal ride.

I know that some people will dislike the next photo.  After the circling described and pictured above Dolly  did three or four huge yawns today  while I sat on her chatting to my daughter Jess who kindly took the photos used in this post; if I had tied her jaw tightly closed this would have been impossible. As it was I rode out of the pen on a quiet, happy young mare. In the autumn I hope to start riding Dolly in dressage competitions so I shall have to use a noseband on her but will write about this in more detail in a later post.

yawning

Most of the time, once I’m in the saddle I do not use the reins on the Parelli halter, they are there as a backup.  Dolly  has learnt to slow down or stop when she feels  pressure from the halter in-hand and when she was grumpy (wp.me/p4wbRD-1I) the other day and wanted to rush off  I used those reins with back/seat/legs to keep her in walk as it is very easy to adjust the amount of pressure and reward instantly by removing it completely the moment you get a good response.

As you can see, I also ride with a rope neckstrap;  as well as the obvious benefit of helping you keep your balance in a tricky moment this provides a lead rope in an emergency out hacking and also acts as an excellent “quick check” device if she tries to run through the reins.  A couple of tugs and “listen to me”  said quite sharply produces a refocussing effect on Dolly  prior to my reapplying the aids at the same strength as before and, in combination with the “parelli reins,” has so far completely eliminated the  head flinging which almost made the “vetting” vet diagnose her as a head-shaker.

When our schooling circles took us near the hedge Dolly decided there were monsters hiding in it. Years ago my reaction on a young horse would have been to take a firmer contact (thereby unintentionally reinforcing the presence of the monsters) but releasing her head and dropping my hands onto her withers had a much better effect.

monsters in the hedge

A few minutes later Dolly began to settle into her work and make life easier for herself by flexing and working from behind.  I was trying to ask Dolly to go out on the circle but although pressing my right seat bone into the saddle I was letting my left shoulder drop down and back and lifting my left thigh causing her to shorten on her left side.  Until I saw the photo I had not realized that I was doing this.  Dolly’s chewing increased the more I asked of her, which is exactly what I expected, but she chewed with her mouth open; however, compared with how she was going a few weeks ago even one circle  in this outline on a soft contact with no head flinging is such an improvement that I am concentrating on the positives and I’m determined to work harder on my “Pilates for riders” exercises so I can make my aids clearer for her.

we’re both trying hard

I was also pleased with her stop in spite of her complete lack of squareness as she balanced herself with one step forwards then never moved except to  turn her head and look at the photographer.

stop; halt is many hours of patient schooling away!