Week 20
New challenges with an old exercise this week, as Prince continues the evolution into true self-carriage. For the first time in some weeks, I free longed him over two poles set to have two trot strides and one canter stride in between. He had a really hard time the first day, reverting to a past tendency to just fling himself at the poles as if to clear both at once, or to just get out from between them as quickly as possible. It wasn't a pretty sight!

We went back over his carriage in hand and on a short line over first one pole and then two, and then he was able to sort out how to release and lift his front end and push from behind to execute the exercise properly.

Then, wow! He reached a whole new level of carriage and impulsion. This really is one spectacular horse. I am so pleased to see the months of basics, basics, basics pay off as Prince begins to make postural choices on his own that show his amazing athleticism. I am seeing the building blocks of at least a mid-level dressage horse and a talented jumper or cross-country horse here. As he perfects lifting his back and freeing himself up to move with ease and comfort, he just offers beautiful impulsion that is at once light and powerful. Along with that, he also is starting to offer to come into my hand at the walk instead of leaning racehorse-style on me. At the trot, he's still most comfortable on loose rein, but I know he'll start to look for the bit there, as well.

Cantering over poles, he instinctively rates himself to find the stride and distance that bring him in and out smoothly, and he learns from every mistake. He doesn't freak out if he hits the pole or stumbles or slips when he's trying to go too fast on a small circle. He's proving to be a good, sensible guy who can get escalated, but then come back to earth and focus very quickly.

One thing I wanted to be sure to mention is that all this building of self-carriage has been accomplished without a single gadget. The use of bitting rigs and martingales has come up for me a few times the past weeks, as clients see other folks using all kinds of things on horses (it's horse show time here in Arizona, and you sure see all kinds of "hardware" in the schooling rings). I have used all kinds of gadgets over the years, but as my knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics grew, I realized that most of them actually develop exactly the opposite muscles we need to work to accomplish the carriage we're shortcutting to. I just don't think there is any substitute for thoughtfully helping each horse find his way to his own optimum movement. It may take months instead of weeks, but it lasts forever. And the horse surely has a much better chance of lasting soundness.

Week 21

I always find it interesting how a horse's early training and rehab progresses; often it's a "one step forward, three steps backward" sort of process, with an especially good day inexplicably followed by an awful session or two and with the worst days so often followed by amazing breakthroughs. That's the most fascinating and frustrating part of the work for me, and I know from years of experience with all kinds of individual horses that time and patience spent in the early days lays the groundwork for later successes.

Prince is getting to the stage beyond this, starting to be solid at the basic work he's asked to do and focused enough to keep learning and progressing without the ups and downs. I believe a lot of the improved focus comes from improved balance. Horses who know how to make good postural choices in a number of situations gain confidence in their ability to perform new tasks. They learn that they are allowed to experiment and even fail without getting in trouble and they develop the ability to figure out for themselves, with less and less outside help, how to find they way through increasingly technical challenges.

Drawing on the months of work we've done, Prince was able to progress in two weeks from having trouble finding his balance over a pair of poles set for two trot strides or one canter stride to a variety of other exercises. He has worked over one and two poles on the longe line, has longed at the trot over a line of four caveletti, and has worked across trot poles from various angles with and without canter before and after. Free longing, he is able to listen well enough to walk, trot and canter into, between and after a pair of canter poles.

Now that he really listens and is reliably controllable with voice commands, I can use transitions to help him when he needs to rebalance. In the photos at right, the difference between the top and bottom postures is two simple walk transitions added to the circle. Without the rebalancing action of the transitions, Prince was getting a bit ahead of himself and falling more and more on the forehand. By asking him to sort himself out enough to walk, trot, walk, trot, I was able to help him find the lovely carriage in the second photo.

Week 22

Something new for Prince this week, focusing on his work when he's with another horse. I know that some horses off the track never lose their desire to be in front or their instinct to run with the field. That leads to all kinds of fun when the ex-racehorses have track flashbacks in the schooling ring at a horse show or in a group on the trail. I wanted to see how much of this might be an issue for Prince. The best information I have is that he was still on the track at age 7 or 8, so he is certainly a veteran of that life.

To find out whether he could focus on my commands and retain his ability to make good balance choices, I put him in a free-longe situation with one of his turnout buddies, Sport. I have been longing my horses together for years, starting when Sport was a scared youngster too intimidated by being enclosed in a small space with a human to hear any commands or pay any attention to the finer points of posture. My older horse provided security and helped him learn how to make gait changes smoothly, without a spooky spurt. Now Sport is teacher, very quickly asserting his dominance in this setting and requiring that Prince only pass him with permission.

At first, both Prince and Sport ran around a bit like they do in the arena during turnout. I just stayed quiet in the center, sometimes suggesting they go a bit easier in the small circle. Then, Sport started to react every time his much faster friend tried to blow by him.  Sport had to fire several times with both hind legs (never coming near to making contact, but unmistakable just the same) before Prince was paying attention. After that, all Sport had to do was cock an inside ear and Prince would back off in whatever gait they were traveling in. Part of the time Sport let Prince go ahead, but he had to "ask" politely first. Nice to see Prince showing such respect and a good exercise in modulating his energy. All that lengthening and shortening of gait is great balance practice, and just the kind of thing a rider might ask him to do as a gymnastic exercise.