I had the opportunity recently to take Tarma to a riding clinic with a new to me trainer, Carol McArdle. I’ve been chewing on what I learned for a bit, and practicing a few things. With our endurance season over, it’s time to downshift and focus on the mental and more precise physical work that can get lost in the “seize the summer adventures” fever I gave myself full permission to indulge in this year.

I always think deeply about how to introduce myself to a new trainer, and this time I think I finally managed to find a solid “Jame as a rider” elevator speech. I’ve done so many equine activities over the years, from dabbling in Pony Club to driving working draft horses in the woods, my education is wide rather than deep. I’m a strictly functional rider, my body has adapted to move with any random horse I’m on and I do whatever keeps us safe and happy that day. This worked for years, *knock on an entire forest of wood* I’ve never had a serious fall or injury from a horse, and I mostly stayed out of the horses way.

Case in point: my regular dressage trainer hopped on Tarma a few weeks ago, to introduce herself and feel (instead of just watching) what I’m dealing with. This is when she realized every time she put or kept her leg on Tarma…she spooked. Like, “Wow, you have legs!” I ride with such quiet legs as to be invisible to Tarma, but when I ask for speed naturally my legs grip a bit more, which Tarma interprets as “OMG moar speed!” which is not when I’m asking for in the arena. So for the past several rides, I’ve spent time rubbing my legs and feet all over, wrapping them around her barrel, keeping my leg on, and just generally bothering her with my legs but not asking for movement or speed changes, and she’s starting to get better but she still startles most every time.

Now I have my own horse for the long haul, one that came with very few buttons, so it’s up to me to instill that knowledge into her. We’re not quite green on green, but close. It’s a little weird and humbling to say “We’ve completed four 50 mile rides but can’t manage a nice 20 meter circle at the trot!” Tarma’s first and middle response to most things is speed, which is opposite what you want in the arena. We’ve been working all year to slow her down, and we’ve got a much improved walk, but things still get haywire when we trot.

One thing Carol pointed out that might help is to lift the bit. When Tarma gets speedy I naturally pull backwards and down, which makes her mad when the bit hits her jaw. What I need to do is lift my hands so the bit moves up and doesn’t jerk against her jaw (among other reasons). Also, circles. So many circles and bends and serpentines, as soon as she starts to speed past what I asked for. She also showed how to constantly be shortening and lengthening the reins without holding them in one hand for a minute, super helpful as Tarma is constantly bouncing her head up and down, which causes me to bounce between “no contact” and “too much contact”. She also mentioned pulses on the reins, instead of a steady pull.

Another thing we found was Tarma does have some tension to the right side of her neck, behind her right ear, possibly lingering from her hi-tie tangle this summer. This could be part of why we can put together a decent bend to the left, but the right bend is always a struggle. I will say I was so proud of Tarma, every time we took a break she was able to relax and chew, thinking and not escalating her tension.

Carol started every rider with a quick introduction to the ingredients for a good ride, beyond my engrained “lead two laps” habit. Is the horse checked into you? Responsive to your aids (your seat, your eyes, your legs and hands?) Can they bend, even a little, or do they have stiff or sore spots? She also mentioned that your head weighs 12 pounds, so moving that around to where you want to go does affect them, even if they ignore it. Specific to me is to hold my seat to the speed I want her to go, something my trainer has been trying to get me to do as well.

There’s always more of course, but that’s most of what I remember. Well, that and everyone complimenting how pretty Tarma is, which never hurts. I’m happy she did so well, even though the clinician asked if I felt we got value out of it, considering we “just” walked. I learned a solid amount and have plenty of homework, what more could we ask of an hour?