Thanksgiving has so far been very educational, but extremely frustrating. After my big night with Alice and the lunge line, I got some things, but other, bigger, more obvious things (like getting him to trot) escaped me.
So my first lesson, Friday, we started out with Bob watching me lunge. I learned two huge things (in addition to everything Alice taught me). First, today when I lunged, I drew a circle in the center of the arena where Bob's feet were yesterday when he lunged Willig. Then I stayed inside the circle when I lunged Willig, which helped so much because it was one less thing I had to think about. (I mean, I still had to watch and stay in the circle, but I didn't have to think about where I was in the arena in relation to Willig). That helped a huge amount. Second, when he is bad - I step outside the magic circle and pop him on the butt with the whip. That usually puts him back in an obeying frame of mind for several minutes. I was able to do walk, trot, and canter successfully both directions. Then, when I warmed up Mercury for Dave's lesson, I was able to lunge Mercury very well. So that felt tremendous.
But yesterday, after struggling around, I asked Bob to ride. Today, 5 minutes in, I started crying and refused to ride the rest of the lesson. So Bob rode and made Willig look amazingly fabulous. I've been all weird and easy to set off all week, but it was irritating to me (and probably Bob too).
What set me off is that Bob said that Willig is not "maintaining" at his current level. In the two weeks I've had him (most of which has been walking or lunging), he has started to develop an awful lot of bad habits. Bob is worried that he is going to be hard to fix if we use him as my "learning" horse, and he thinks he has the potential to go Intermediate or maybe even Advanced. He said he's my horse and I get to choose what to do with him, but I don't know what's best, and I have a pretty limited budget until Mercury sells.
Mercury, by the way, had a beginner lesson for Dave, and both Bob and I were very impressed with how patient he was during it.
Anyway, to help me think about it, here are the options I can see:
A. Sell Willig now. Buy a horse that is more "in between" Willig's potential and Mercury. (i.e. not so much potential but already trained)
B. Pay for a couple months of training with Bob working Willig only (or me riding lessons on Willig), and then if Bob feels he is more consistent, start riding again in the spring. Practice on Mercury.
I think this was Bob's choice, but I could ride other times if he or Alice was watching me. He also suggested that I take him to some dressage shows in the spring to get him used to show grounds. He said he's not ready to jump without learning bad habits because he's scared to be off the rail and doesn't know how to balance himself in the canter, so he'll get scared of the fences. He already said he'll need studs for the xc because our ground is clay.
C. Pay for a couple months of 1/2 time training with Bob working Willig, and me lunging and working my way up in lessons. I don't mind lunging and walking a couple more weeks while Bob gets him tuned up.
What I am afraid of is that with either B or C, I'll have to learn that I can't ride. Maybe I am good enough on Mercury, but just not going to cut it on a "real" horse. I know that the road is steep, and it's even harder to work with a youngster instead of a school master, but in the long run, if I can do it without ruining him, I'll be a lot better rider.
But Bob seemed to think there's a chance my bad habits will ruin him - will turn him into another Mercury, or keep him at the Novice level. Then again, Mercury has come a long way from where I got him, but he never had the potential Willig does.
So I'm not sure what to do. I'm leaning towards C, but remaining open to adjusting. I think if things haven't improved for me after a few months, I'll have to sell him, but if I quit riding or try to find a more suitable horse, I don't know.
So it's another week where Bob kept me humble, I learned a lot, but I didn't learn what I wanted to (i.e. that I'm a natural and totally fabulous).
Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
2 comments:
Willig is a very handsome horse. It's hard getting used to a new horse especially if he is losing his training.
If I were you I would go option A, there are lots of lovely horses who will scale down for a rider. I had one and she was equally happy to potter round the beginner or fly round the prelim. Thats just my opinion though. I'm sure it would be hard to sell a horse as handsome as willig.
Willig is beautiful...and I agree, it is difficult to get used to a new horse. I had a similar situation last Spring. I was nearly in tears every time I tried to ride because my horse and I just weren't "getting it"...mostly it was me! I had a trainer ride him for a month...and I was there so I could see what she was doing and how she was getting him to understand what we wanted. It was a lot of work and time, but we are having a ball now. Still taking lessons from the same trainer so we can work thru any problems, but I am feeling much more confident...like I am his rider and he understands his job. Best of luck with your decisions...don't let all of it get you down, it does always work out!
Post a Comment