Late June marked the one year anniversary of the Poetess's arrival in Michigan and the beginning of our partnership. I had wanted to write a long post in honor of that in July, but *sigh* it didn't get done.
On the outside, since I'm not cantering her around yet, and not showing her in even Intro Dressage classes, it might look like she and I haven't made much progress since the day of her arrival. But au contraire!
Looking back, we've actually made quite a bit of progress. Especially if you factor in that we've never had an indoor arena to work in, so we're pretty weather dependent. Add to that the fact that we haven't had a fenced outdoor arena either and at this little place here I don't --so far-- even have a real arena with good footing, just a mowed patch of clay dirt.
There's also the health issues I was having last summer (could barely walk 50 feet without coughing, muscle weakness, etc., etc.) that slowly started to resolve themselves over the winter and are much better now (cough free and can lift 50 pound bags of feed again, YAY!) but was whammied in May with a knee issue that took away a lot of physical ability in it's own way. All to say, it's not like we've had five days a week every week since her arrival to work on training. . .
Here is our notable progress, starting with on the ground:
She stands still in the cross ties.
It's been months and months since she nervous pooped either in the cross ties or on the longe line (and she actually has never done this under saddle).
Speaking of manure, it is of normal consistency all the time, compared to being loose when she first arrived and then varying between normal and cowpie-ish for many months.
In turnout, she not only is willing to be caught, but 9 times out of 10 she comes to me if she sees me approach the gate to the pasture she's in.
She figured out what treats are. 😁
She picks up all four feet and patiently holds them up for me to clean (compared to jerking them up and back down; and also compared to only picking them up if I stood on her left side as was the norm at the track). She also stands quietly for the farrier.
This mare, who had no idea what hand grazing was all about, now hand grazes like nobody's business! I think she'd almost rather graze with me holding the lead rope than she would loose in the pasture.
She stands like a statue for having her legs wrapped as well as for saddling and unsaddling.
While she still doesn't like her ears messed with much, she will let me brush them with a soft brush, and sometimes even lets me put the roll on fly repellent in them without yanking her head up and down in avoidance. Interestingly enough, bending them forward for haltering and bridling has never been an issue
Not only does she lead from either the left or right side quietly, she also walks, trots and canters calmly on both sides while longeing. It took months, but she finally figured out that going to the right is just no big deal and the same rules and expectations apply as when she's going to the left. There are still some days where the longe session begins a bit up and tight, but most days (and even the ones that start tight) she is looser in her body and stretching forward and even sometimes downward over her back.
Under saddle she is figuring out her new role too.
She stands still to be mounted and, while she still thinks she's supposed to move off once I'm up, she has begun to occasionally continue to stand until I have both feet in the irons and tell her to walk!
She halts quietly under saddle. And stands calmly to be dismounted!
She's caught on to steering with seat and weight aids quite well although there's still a day now and then when she still doesn't want to bend right very willingly.
We haven't ridden outside the greater fenced in area yet, but we are riding at a walk around the majority to the inside of it!
We do trot work about 50% of each ride now, and she especially loves going over a series of ground poles. Bending lines are another favorite.
Her balance is getting better and she's figured out trot is a gait in itself, not a precursor to going into a gallop (occasionally she pops into a canter over the last ground pole but comes back to a trot pretty quickly when asked).
Over the course of the year, and especially in the nine and a half months that she's been living at this little place here, we've become a team. She nickers at me in the mornings when she sees me walking from the house to the barn for breakfast. Sometimes she comes to the fence and nickers at me when I'm out in the yard doing various tasks.
She is insanely jealous when I ride the Little Black Mare instead of her, especially on days when I'm giving the Poetess the day off and I just work the LBM. Apparently I belong to her just as much as she belongs to me.
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