Bullys

I HATE BULLYS!!!! I don't necesssarily mean human bullies, although they aren't any good. I'm thinking of the equine varietey. All our horses try to be bullies from time to time. If you ask your mount to perform a maneuver and they protest (tossing their head, balking, dropping a shoulder, etc) they are trying to intimidate you into submission. This is no different than human bullies who nit pick, yell, demand, etc.

Last night Togey was just such a bully. I will confess I was asking for a lot more than I have done. This was only his second ride without his loose ring snaffle. Now I'm making excuses for him. The bottom line is it's his job to obey even when he doesn't want to.

Togey worked on the flat well. He was far more submissive to his bridle. We worked on his side pass at both the trot and canter. I got him to give me a few steps of extended trot, although it did take half the diagonal to get him started. He gave me a perfect flying change the first time we reversed. I had been told he didn't really have them on the flat, so this was a suprise for me. We ran into problems when I asked him to rein back. Of course this conincded with the first time I had to get in his face. He was being so willing I hadn't really had need to pull on him at all.

I started asking for the rein back with my seat bones and leg only. He took a tiny bit of pull to get the first 3 steps. If I would have accepted what he gave me everything would have been perfect. But, 4 steps is customary so of course I had to ask for one more. This final step turned out to be a blow up. Togey expressed his hatred for me by hollowing out his back, elevating the bridle, and bracing against me. When that failed to elicit relief he tried pulling the reins out of my hand. From there we escelated into head tossing. His final attempt to gain submission from me was to give me a perverted version of what I was asking for. His answer to "Oh, you want me to sit down and use my hind end..." was to give me a beautiful Levade.

What's a Levade you ask? It is one of the 4 airs above the ground that make up the most advanced dressage moves. Your next question..."What's wrong with that?" When it's not done on demand/command it's also known as a rear. Togey clearly told me last night that my helmet is too big. He knocked the brim with his neck flinging it backwards off my head.

I should have been prepared for his desire to go air borne. Tara told me when she and Amy pulled up in the morning that Rebel was helping Togey practice his "airs". The boys were playing and air striking repeatedly as Tara and Amie pulled in. They got going so strong that Rebel actually flipped himself over backwards, and so stunned himself he lay there playing dead. He nearly gave Amie a heart attack. Not 5 minutes later were the two of them back at the rehersal for Togey's evening performance with me.

We continued to work on his submission to rein pressure with some super small circles and single steps backwards. After he had gone back to work on the flat we moved on to what he loves...

Jumping...my focus was to keep him quiet, find the base, maintain rein contact, keep him listening for instruction, and work on the landing side leads. We trotted a bunch of fences. He jumped like a champ and only protested with some head tossing when he got excited. He never took the bit and went without permission though. I felt like we were doing very well. I added in asking for the flying changes he had demonstrated on the flat. This resulted in more bullying. He would give me one, then he'd evade throwing his shoulder out and/or tossing his head for others. The worst protest came when he only got half a change. His protests varied between crow hops and the equivalent on his front end. I can't really say he reared as much as he popped up his front legs to make room for the change. All of this is typical green behavior for a horse learning his changes.

All in all, I LOVE this horse. If he didn't have some bully and attitude in him why would a trainer want one? I enjoy the challenge. No human bullies...You can keep your bossiness, opinions, and attitude to yourselves.