Cupcakes for Everyone!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 20133.7. Our destination is Planet Piaffe, a beautiful world full of flowers and unicorns. The exact coordinates of the planet are unknown, but the crew is in high spirits, and we’ve determined a proximate trajectory.

The shift started with a warm-up as usual, walking on the bit and then trotting the perimeter of the ring for 5 minutes on a loose rein. Today, Surya stretched forward for contact with the bit even with the loose reins. Good girl! And it was freezing (okay, not quite…in interest of precision, 33 degrees Fahrenheit) and we weren’t warmed up yet! She just got right to work!

We’ve been having a series of fantastic rides. This is because we both have an understanding of what we are trying to accomplish. While I visited my family over Christmas, ARF rode Surya for me twice, once dressage and once jumping. I feel like I should pay her for training, because she got something to click in Surya’s brain re bending. She also did a gymnastic with Surya, and now her jump is very improved.

With this understanding of concept, we are marching forward with implementation.

There are two ways to reward a horse. One is via the release of pressure, and the other is via praise. Like all horses, Surya learns from the release of pressure, but she loves praise. I think this is because of her exceptionally willing attitude and desire to please. During riding, I have used my voice to tell her she’s good, and have scratched her withers with my fingertips. However, I’ve been somewhat limited in my ability to take my hands off the reins and praise her more, because I did not have enough skill to keep everything else the same, and she was consistently leaning on the inside rein. My trainer said not to drop the outside rein because then I would be rewarding her for bending to the outside of the circle and traveling on the inside rein. When I tried to drop the inside rein, she used to throw her head to the outside; I also did not want to reward that.

Toward the end of our ride, Surya and I were traveling in a circle to the right, and she was bending around my inside leg, on the bit on the outside rein, and curving her neck as I indicated with the inside rein. She was so perfect, I let go of the inside rein and patted her neck and told her she was a good girl.

She stayed traveling in the same way.

Her ears got incredibly floppy. I swear the horse was grinning.

Her trot got even bouncier and happier.

My heart ached with how happy she was.

We trotted a few more circles, and then called it a day. Surya is generally very relaxed and even-tempered under saddle. She can be a little grumpy if I insist on something difficult, but typically doesn’t get upset. Yet I have never seen her so absolutely joyful outside of extended scratching on her crest and chin. So I'm going to continue on with the positive reinforcement (provided I can continue reinforcing the right things), and hope it contributes to mission success.



Looking for grain and being cute.