In the past 3 years a bit has changed. My 4 year old who was "on his way to being broke" is now coming 7 and still "on his way." I'm riding him outside in a little jointed mouth curb and he's become quite a good mountain and trail horse, although he still lacks a lot of the arena time that he needs to get really broke. When we do get arena time, we're still in a snaffle.
We have done some of the Mountain Trail clinics at the Oregon Horse Center and competed in the Mountain Trail Championships last November. We did okay, but I was sure surprised to have a terrible case of nerves. When I quit showing, ages ago, I was pretty comfortable and managed my nerves pretty well. Last fall I felt like a kid at my first 4-H show.
Here's a pic of me not tossing my cookies while my gelding enters a water obstacle:
We also participated in a Basics to Bridle clinic given by Mitch and JoLinn Hoover of MJ Rising H Ranch last summer. Boy is it eye opening to start figuring out what you don't know! Mitch is probably the best ground work person I've ever seen, and that includes the TV clinicians. We had a pretty intense session on getting my gelding to give his shoulders. He was great at swinging his hip out, but was always pushing with his shoulders. Getting that respect made a huge difference in his attitude. Mitch also helped me with my turn-arounds. I seem to always be able to teach a horse to pivot on the outside foot. Mitch pointed out that I was correcting backwards with my inside rein too much and letting my outside rein cross over the withers, pushing the horse's balance to the outside of the turn (as Al Dunning says, "Horses are Bi-Lateral!). Balancing back with the outside rein to set the inside foot, leading just enough with the inside rein and keeping my outside rein where it should be is fixing the problem. More riding. More practice.
As always, Dad and I have been talking horses and horsemanship almost every time we get together. It has set me to thinking about some things, like how your horse is a reflection of you and your attitudes, how emotionally difficult it can be to give a horse the kind of fair leadership it deserves and how the more you know, the harder it gets. Sometimes I miss the days when I was a kid and had a "packer." Some days, you don't want your horse really in tune with you, you just want to mentally check out and look at scenery while you get your head and heart back together. Lots of thoughts rumbling around, which I hope to turn into posts.
Well, it looks like the weather is breaking for a bit, so I better get out and saddle up. Happy trails!
