I attempted cantering him and it really helped that the first time I asked him to canter I didn't fall off. I did notice that he was swishing his tail and it almost looked like he was bucking. He looked like a teeter totter. After that I just got him more riled everytime I asked him to canter. Probably because I'm riled about it. Terry thinks that the reason Santana swishes his tail at me all the time is because he doesn't like all the bouncing I do. I can see that.
I did have a very nice canter with Santana at the end though. It was beautiful and surprising. He even made a turn and I didn't fall off!
One thing was a little nerve wracking though. I decided that I didn't feel like driving the fillies today and so in order to get out of the monotiny of it I would do something different. Like ride! I saddled up Toffy and got on. I wanted to teach her that thing I saw on Mugwump.
Aleythia led Toffy to the gate while I was on and when she got to the gate she felt that Toffy was too close. She wanted her to back up, but she wouldn't, so she applied more pressure. And then Toffy freaked. She was bucking and rearing and hoppin around. Her bucking was not that hard to stay onto. Then my saddle started slipping... So I was bucked off and I landed right beside her in a snowdrift. I paused for a second and then out of the corner of my eye I saw Toffy rearing almost right above me. I scrambled out as quick as I could. I paused again and looked back at her and she was still way to close for comfort. I scrambled out to a safer distance, got up and watched her until she quit bucking. Aleythia had just let go of the lead rope and we just watched. She quit and the saddle ended up being shoved up past her withers. Other than that she was fine, and lucky for me so was I... Thankyou Lord... I led Toffy into the paddock and did a little bit of luneging I even had her canter. Nothing. She trotted and cantered beautifully. So Aleythia and I were just like what's her problem then? We didn't know and I got ready to get back on but before I did that I figured I should flap her stirrups. She jumped away from that really quick. It only took a little more time to get her to not freak out over the stirrups and then I got on. I had a whip in my hand and the halter and lead rope in the other. It was kinda a challenge to get her to go in the direction I wanted. She did walk when I kissed to her (my second que, the first being a squeeze with the legs), and she carried me extremely easily. She even trotted though I was not okay with that. The problem I had with trying to get her to go the direction I wanted is that she wanted to go to the gate where she could get out. I ended up having Aleythia go get another lead rope so that I could at least be able to put her in the right direction. I think what I'll do next time is ride in the little pen behind the barn. I won't have so many obsticals to work around then and I can just work on getting her to turn without worrying about her running off.
Thinking about her bucking fit it could have been prevented. I didn't prepare her enough. It's been a while sense she's worn a saddle. There were also a couple warning signs. The first was when Aleythia put the saddle blanket on. Toffy jumped at that. The second was when I got on. She didn't feel relaxed. The third was how she wasn't listening to Aleythia. How could I have prevented her bucking episode? Well, I could have desensitized before I got on. And do a little bit of ground work. It would have been so easy. It would have probably taken a grand total of five minutes and she never would have bucked.
The lessons we remember the most are the ones where we got it wrong the first time.
But here are some really nice pictures of beautiful little Toffy.
and others...
santana was laying down when we came
poor Ana
No comments:
Post a Comment