June 2, 2006: Simon Says

Since beginning work with Fabian last week, my lessons on Quila have been building on each other in rapid-fire sequence. Never one to allows us to rest on our laurels, even for a brief moment, Jürgen wasted no time in putting our newfound communication skills to work: if Quila and I could perform transitions between gaits without her suckering me into pulling, then it was high time that I learned to do the same within gaits.

I learned that my half halts have been TOO LONG. With Quila, they can last only a micro-second. A fraction of a second is too long--she sees that as a window of opportunity for bearing down on the bit, and beginning a pulling war. I KNOW that Jürgen has been trying to make me understand this for ages, but somehow it has not registered... until now. (Poor Jürgen--he’d have hair if I wasn’t so dense!) But now, with hips that I REFUSE to allow to tighten, and with a determination not to pull, EVER, we began to work on our contact and getting Quila light and responsive in the bridle--and LISTENING--evening when she is exuberantly performing her favorite work: lengthenings.

It took HARD half halts, rough even, to get her to listen, but after a few sharp ones, she began to realize that YES, INDEED, we CAN collect in the middle of a diagonal. By the end of Wednesday’s lesson, I was able to collect at X with a light touch (the rest from my seat) for 3 or 4 strides, and then ask her to extend again. WOW! This from the mare who was certain that once I aimed and asked, she was to shoot like a ball from a cannon, never stopping until we reached the other side, and that the only purpose I could possibly have for half halts would be to remind her to stay off her forehand.

We began work on canter, and did a few simple changes (we’d never ridden any before), and that was great--but they were on serpentines. I still could not get her to listen the way I’d like when I rode her on the long side, and after one or two lengthenings, she wanted to lengthen EVERY TIME. That was, until today.

Today, we worked harder and longer on the canter, and I wouldn’t let her lengthen for more than a few strides before bringing her back, and we did the simple changes earlier. Jürgen was out of town, so I worked with Fabian again, and we also worked on simple changes... a few strides of canter, simple change, a few strides of canter, simple change, etc., etc., once I had her on the aids, all around the ring. Then I rode lengthenings and went back to the simple change. Back and forth between lengthenings and simple changes. She got it... and I did, too. The common theme that kept repeating itself for the entire week was this: There is no control for the lengthenings if you don’t bring the horse back between them. The key is in the collection both before and afterward. Ride the collection well, and the lengthening will be good, clear and controlled.

So, collection will be my ongoing task in the coming weeks. I’m really pleased with how the work is going and with how hard Quila is trying. The new challenges are fun for both of us.