Now that both ends of the day are lighter I have been spending as much time as I can steal with Syringas training. Typically it takes 2+ hours to accomplish going through our training routine. Some days the progress is incremental and some days we take big forward steps. Then there are the days when we go back to square one and I cogitate on how to get her to understand and accept the thing we are working on.
The current sticky point is the durned saddling. It seems like we've been messing around with it for months, although in reality I only introduced it in the fall and have just recently picked it back up.
I'm using an old western saddle that's fairly light and won't matter if it hits the ground, which it has a few times.
We were doing well, I was swinging it up and settling it on her back from both sides, then wiggling it around so the stirrups jostled her a little. While she wasn't relaxed doing this, she was at least staying still and I would reward that with taking it off and letting her take a breath and a lick and chew relax. Then I thought it was time to add the cinch. I made a mistake in the execution of that, I had the cinch up over the seat of the saddle and standing on her left I let it fall down against her right side and she leapt like a cat and the saddle went flying.
That seemed to convince her that the saddle was not worth tolerating and I have now gone back to square one and am taking each step slowly and thoroughly and not moving ahead until she is mentally relaxed and ready for the next step.
But it's hard sometimes to look at the calendar and calculate the days I have before winter slows training down to a crawl. I have to remember who she is, and who I am.
She is sensitive, smart and very reactive and takes quite a bit of convincing that what I'm asking her to accept is really ok.
I'm 62 and not so quick and nimble as I once was.
So we go slow and thorough and take whatever time it takes.
Meanwhile the winter coats have been shed and the grass is growing long and the sun is warm. A little hand grazing after a strenuous lesson is a great way to let down.
A little free time kicking up her heels at the neighbors is also a mind reliever.
Notice how the camera has captured her at that moment of suspension at the trot when all four feet are off the ground?
I took this one late winter. It's almost the same image and her legs are in the same position. I think I'm in a photographic rut.
