Quzqo Learns A Lesson

Fri Jan 6, 2006

Poor Quzqo.

It's bad enough that all week SOMEbody has been literally CHEWING on him out in the pasture (he now has a HUGE patch of fur missing from his chest, and a smaller chunk missing from his shoulder (shaved right down to the black skin, so he's got black spots!), dozens of chunks from his butt, two pieces missing from his FACE, and even part of his bridlepath is missing!!), but last night was one of the Weekly Women's Riding Lessons given by the resident trainer, Deb!

Yep, Quzqo and I had a Riding Lesson! a REAL one with a TRAINER! Eh, I figured it wouldn't hurt, and would be good to get an opinion on whether I'm wrecking the horse or not. And it was a group lesson, so there was the fun angle as well.

I'm just glad I waited to do this, because a year ago we couldn't have done a lot of the stuff...like CANTERING and BACKING. We had to do a very small horsemanship pattern, which was laughable, and SO small that even my farrier's daughter on her uber-trained High Point Paint mare couldn't maneuver, so I didn't feel too bad when we screwed it up every time. But at least every time we tried, there was SOME improvement...walk to first cone, jog trot a serpentine (yeah, right, TRY to get Quzqo to TROT, period!), stop at last cone, back four steps, canter 10 meter circle to the left, stop. But by the final time (after about 6 goes), I did get him to trot the last serpentine, and at least he cantered a whole circle (granted it was twice as big as it was supposed to be, but that's about the smallest circle I've been able to get him TO canter!!)

What was THE most valuable was the bit of individual attention I got from Deb (which is what I was hoping for). She gave me some GOOD pointers on how to work with him so he CAN do a jog trot (right now he has two speeds at the trot: long-strided floaty trot, and standing still), how to work with him on his backing, but amazingly, she shortened my stirrup leathers by ONE notch, and DAMN, what an improvement for both me and the horse!!! WOW! That was worth the $20 right there, LOL! No more flopping feet, great leg contact, better posture in the saddle, and good contact with the stirrup and the ball of my foot! It felt strange, but secure and balanced!

Quzqo was tired and cranky and figured I'd been riding him long enough (nearly 2 hours!), so when I asked him to back, he'd start grabbing the bit in his mouth and marching FORWARD with his nose in the air, LOL! So, Deb got on him for me...Uh OH! He should count himself blessed, she charges $500/mo to work with people's horses! She showed me how to treat him when he starts doing that, basically applying bit pressure until he gives...he was backing and backing, but had his nose in the air, until FINALLY he relented and dropped his nose, and of course she instantly released the pressure. Was kind of painful for ME to watch from the ground...he had his mouth WAY open and eyes bugging out and rolling in the sockets, and I had a clear view of the snaffle squishing his tongue, but wasn't anybody making him hold his head up in the air...*sigh*, gonna be a long winter.

She did get him to drop his head a few times, so I got the idea. I'd been worried about doing that, thinking people might think I was being "mean", but if Deb can do it...nobody can glare at me, LOL.

Kinda nice though, she gave me a very nice complement on how well I HAVE done with him...she certainly was there when I first got him, so she saw him "before" and "after". Coming from her, that means a lot.

At least now I have focus and some ideas on what I'm doing (and those shortened stirrups making SUCH a difference!). Goes to show, you're never too old to learn.

(One of the other ladies asked me how old my "pony" was, *sigh*)