Moving the Goal Posts

When I started making moves toward riding again, my goal was to one day ride a dressage test.

My main obstacle in this regard, or so I thought, was my own fitness. I just needed to be fit enough to make it through a warm-up and then six to eight minutes at a walk, trot and canter.

Over the past year I have been doing a lot of reading and listening to podcasts about horsemanship and horse wellbeing. Not the rope-twirling guru crap of 15 years ago, but a new approach that works with the nature of the horse and sets about creating an environment where the horse can learn and do his best without undue stress and discomfort and in harmony with humans.

So when I was handed an essentially ready-made dressage pony who could have headed off to Adult Riding Club and progressed quickly to basic dressage competition, what did I do?

I put him in a treeless saddle, took away his bit and set about rebuilding him, physically and mentally, from the ground up. Because that's who I am now.

I had seen videos of him under saddle, jumping in a curb bit and bopping along in a dressage arena, his front end tucked up in a frame and his hind end trailing almost as an afterthought. And then I saw him in front of me, unable to canter without bracing his neck and shoulders, and I knew I would not be happy riding him until he was happy in his movement.

So now our goals are different. First step is to get him to relax his top and use his back properly. This will bring his hindquarter back into the equation. When both ends of the pony work together, the bit that holds the rider up is strengthened. When the back end is taking up it's share of the effort, the front doesn't have to work as hard.

It didn't take long to achieve this at a walk, and taking his bit away was a key part of this. There is nothing stopping him from reaching forward. Halts come from my whole body and thus are expressed in his whole body. Turns are the same. The swing is impressive and he feels like a much bigger pony.

Currently at a trot his head comes up and his movement shortens. The big overtrack he is capable of at a walk completely disappears. I lot of this is due to the weakness in his back and that he reverts to the familiar brace in order to cope with the physical effort, which sets off a tension cycle in his brain and body. On the lunge line he will stretch down and move forward in trot, but under saddle he is not there yet.

Working through all of this could take months or years, and Ambrose is already 18 years old with a lot of miles in his legs. We may never make it to Adult Riding Club, let alone a dressage test. But the horse gods send you the horse you need at the time that you need them. This low-key slow work is well within my current physical capabilities. And if I get five years out of this world-weary yet still remarkably genial pony, that will give me a good grounding in building a foundation and prepare me for my next pony.

Which brings me to my next point.

So my plan was to start my 7yo mare Ava under saddle once her foal is weaned. That plan involved breeding my other mare, Sticky, to frozen AI and selling Sticky's colt foal Kirby at some point in the future when the right home came along.

Except Ava is doing so well as a broodmare. She is untroubled by laminitis and her coat is absolutely glowing. It was an easy decision to sub her into the AI plans when Sticky didn't ovulate properly and we needed a plan b.

But also, with Ambrose arriving I no longer need a mature pony to move onto in the short term. I've got time to grow one. And Kirby not only looks like he'll mature to a decent size, he has his mother's humour and modest intelligence with an agreeable nature and clean slate. He will have every chance to grow into a well-adjusted pony with no history of trauma. He's a fun kid who seems to enjoy his training and doesn't overthink or overreact.

I've always got a plan, but that plan is always subject to change. Horses are very good at ruining your plans, but the ability to switch tracks and try something else is part of having horses.