Finally, it's starting to feel like I'm getting consistent throughness in the lead changes with Nikita. I've been after this feeling for months, and it's been elusive since the mare ain't givin' it up until I ask the right way. Oh sure, they've looked fine from the ground in the past, but the feeling hasn't been right to me. Maybe other people don't care about this stuff, but the feeling is what's most important to me. I've spent the past month or so just working on throughness and collection at the canter, imprinting the correct feeling into my muscle memory, first on the circle, then down the longside, then in movements.
It seems this effort is paying off, as evidenced in Nikita's pinned ears. Someone's not happy I'm gaining the upperhand. I still laugh at the memory of Nicole pinning her ears the first time I started to keep her through at the canter, and the marrish quality of the moment. There's a sort of Kübler-Ross model involved, I've found, when a rider starts to find the way to get more submission out of their mount (which is what dressage is about in the first place, right?)
First comes bargaining (Oh, ok, I'll give you some but that's all you're getting), then the pinned ears expressing the anger at actually having to work (WHAT?! You're asking for MORE?!), then comes that confused, depressed look (How the hell did she sort this one out?), then comes denial (This has to be an accident, let's spook to test it out) then finally, acceptance (Crap, spooking didn't work. Oh, all right, fine, sigh.) and the forward ears which show she's happy to be working.
Horses don't like control (who does?), and a big question in my mind lately has been, "how do you know what each horse needs to improve?" Nikita has different needs than Nicole, and it's not just because of the disparity in their training - each is a different animal, with different personalities. They play different under saddle, have different evasions, so clearly all horses aren't alike, and you can't ride or train each one the same way. So how do you know what to do to bring out the best in each horse and make them the best they can be?
On another note, Nicole can now start in hand work for piaffe & passage. I think that's pretty cool.
