Birb for a spin after work...

[which_chick]

I took Birb for a spin after work yesterday, which was pretty entertaining because the hay is tall (so much snack opportunity) and because the boys had moved/rearranged the vehicles along the edge of the field in which we work. This obviously causes new locations of horse reflections (Birb is nominally "white" so he's kind of high-vis) against tinted windows and dark vehicle bodies and so forth. He does not like catching a glimpse of himself out of the corner of his eye behind him.

In preparation for the upcoming Dressage Schooling Show outing on June 7, we rode Training 1 and Training 3 a couple of times plus some additional canter work. There was a lot of spooking in the 20 meter canter circles. Like, half the circle (away from the relocated vehicles) was OK and then half of the circle (next to the vehicles) was a shitshow of spooking bullshit with skittery sideways, head in air, not a lotta brakes, sudden accelleration. Repetition did not improve things much. *sigh*



The trot work had no such spooking because of course it didn't. Neither did the walk work. So... was he just "being a brat?" Lolnope. He doesn't have that nuanced an understanding of things. He's a horse. I think this was one of those cup runneth over issues.

As a general rule, I think of my horse as having a cup. When things go... less than ideally, it's because his emotions or instincts are slopping over the edge of his cup. Here, the spooking bullshit in canter circles is a cup (stack, if you're a computer nerd) overflow problem. Let me explain.

Canter circles are harder for him than trot circles, so he is automatically slightly more fraught about that. If everything else is OK, he is 100% fine in canter, but he has less space in his cup for additional stuff because canter already occupies a fair amount of the cup. If there are other things going on, he might not be ok anymore... and he'll fail quicker in canter than in trot because his cup is a little fuller at the canter than at the trot. In our work area, the ground isn't level (it has a slight hump in it, which means that the canter circles are very slightly "uphill" and then "downhill") and this terrain issue affects his balance... and adds some more liquid to the cup. And it's been a couple of days of rain and his paddock is slick and muddy, which adds liquid to his cup. And now the vehicles have been moved so that the reflections are in different places than he is used to, which adds enough to the cup to make it very full, full enough that there can be some slopping over the edge. And thus there is shitshow, which is how he expresses having A Lotta Feelings when his emotions are slopping over the edge of his cup. His cup runneth over.

Our next outing will likely be better. It takes him a couple of tries to adjust to a new arrangement of his work area. I was brave and didn't give up or quit trying for canter circles even though they were somewhat fraught. He didn't buck. He didn't bolt for reals (this was more of a watermelon-seed squirt). He just had a very full cup for this outing and it do be like that sometimes.

There's not a lot to do about it except ride through, redirect, reassemble, and try again. It's not a... whup up on him affair, that will 100% NOT HELP AT ALL. He does not need escalation, he needs an "Oops, no, sorry my guy, get yourself back together, okay, let's try again" approach. Rider gets to work on patience and being a helpful, steady partner to support horse when he has big feelings. Was it an ideal ride? Nope. But it was OK.

Comments

[heavenscalyx]

Ahhh, so horses, like cats, are a lot like neurospicy humans!

[mistressofmuses]

I know that the "ah yes, this thing is Now Scary" thing is always a delight. One of the last horses Alex got to ride regularly had similar issues with minor changes around the environment. Though the "cup overflow" makes sense as to why only some activities prompt the reaction.