Well it's been a little while since I've posted an update, and quite a bit has happened in the meantime! Trouble had started to be more and more spooky and sensitive to external things, from the tractor starting, to people patting their horses' necks, to horses cantering in the arena at the same time as him! Needless to say, this was unnerving because his reaction included getting inverted and scooting/spooking away. It kept getting worse, to the point that I couldn't ride him in the indoor by himself, as he would constantly be looking for something to spook at. We had one of our worst lessons with Cathy ever, and we could barely canter 1 circle without him taking off with me. I finally said enough is enough and did some research. I kept thinking, what have we changed with him? He is obviously more fit now than when I got him, and I also remembered that we got new hay about a week after the Wayne Derby, which is when he started to go downhill with his behavior. The hay is very rich and green, and in my research I found that when horses' magnesium:calcium ratio gets out of balance, it can make them overly reactive and spooky. I picked up Quiessence (a magnesium/chromium supplement), as well as some earplugs to see if that would help him from getting so distracted. Within a few days of being on the supplement, I felt like he was getting back to his old self more and was much quieter. The earplugs seemed to help also. This hasn't been foolproof, as he still has days where everything is scary, but I think that's a lot about being a young horse. In that situation, I find it's best to longe him quietly and not be reactive when he spooks. He does best on a longer rein so he doesn't feel claustrophobic, since he just goes faster when I pull :)
Most recently we did the FRVPC mini event at BN...with mixed results. It was a one-day event, so we got there late on Saturday, and I was able to ride him earlier in the day with good results also. After I set up the stall and unloaded, I promptly lunged him and started riding. We had the earplugs in, and I worked him for a good hour until he was settled down and we actually did some really good work. The biggest thing I noticed is that he will stay round even if he's "up", but he has a hard time listening to my leg when I ask him to move away from it or bend. Overall I was proud of him for settling down and working. I got him braided and called it a night. The next morning, our ride time was 8:15, so I quickly cleaned him up and tucked up the braids. No time to lunge, so I hopped on at 7:30 and hoped for the best! He was looking around a bit more since there were a lot more horses warming up than the night before, but his walk and trot work was pretty good. The canter on the other hand, not so much. He felt like he wanted to lose his balance and run a bit, so I tried to keep him on a smaller circle. Then as we went closer to the woods he started spooking/scooting a bit, so I just played it cool and let him have the reins so he didn't feel boxed in. Finally it was our turn to do the test, and he actually settled down a lot once we were in the arena. I definitely don't feel like he was as rideable as he was in our last test, but we managed to get all the movements done in the right spots, and his free walk and halt were MUCH better than the prior test. I was thinking we'd score about a 35, but when I went to the scoreboard, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we got a 25.5, good for 1st! It's nice to know that he looked better than he felt :)
The SJ and XC courses were not ideal, with lots of hills and turn on the grass in the SJ and strange course design for XC...that's unrecognized events for you! He warmed up pretty wild for SJ, and in hindsight I should have put the snaffle rein on the elevator to help stabilize him. He kept drifting left and wanting to canter sideways towards the barn on the approach to the oxer. He jumped well but was just generally distracted. We did a strong trot, breaking into canter approacing the first fence, which was a biggish oxer with a plank and no groundline going towards the crowd. I felt like he was locked on and going to jump, however he decided to slam on the brakes at the last second and squarely stop. I circled back around in trot quietly and re-presented, and he jumped big but went. After that I felt like he was forward, yet really sticky and holding to every fence...not a very smooth round but we made it happen, minus a rail at the 3rd fence. I went straight back to my stall and put the other rein on the bit, went to XC warmup and gave him a few good smacks behind my leg on the way to the oxer. It surprised him and he jumped huge, so I cantered the oxer a few more times until he settled but felt keen to jump. The first XC fence was coming off of a turn out of the start box, and jumping into the woods/shadows with the jump judges sitting off to the side on the front side of the jump. Not the best first fence for a BN horse, but we gave it a shot...he trotted strongly up to it, but was staring hard and came to a stop. I smacked him hard behind my leg again, circled back quietly, and he jumped it well. He hesitated for a split second at the 2nd fence, but i just closed my leg and he went well. Same thing at the 3rd and 4th, which I thought were the scariest jumps on course. He really felt like he was locking onto the jumps after that and just looking for the next one. It was a great feeling! I was able to slow him down and trot in a few places, so I didn't feel like we were out of control.
I have to say that I'm happy with the outcome, although I'm not happy that we had a couple refusals. I have always been very paranoid about horses learning that they can stop at shows, so this weekend was trying, but I feel like he learned a lot about XC and he understood that I wasn't kidding around about him going.
I think we will have to figure out a balance of having him in front of my leg without running, and maybe bigger spurs are in order as well. I feel like using my whip behind my leg was effective, but I need to learn when to use it and when not to as I get to know him better.
On to Indiana in 2 weeks, our first recognized BN together :)
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