05/18/2023
Day 96
T-10 days until the show.
I had a wonderful trainer, whom I respected very much tell me once, “I don’t care if you ever impress the people, if you impress the horses, that’s what’s important.” I thought a lot about Sam’s resistance to the new bit yesterday. And I started to realize (dumb human-style) that the bit is the symptom. Sam has been trying to tell me, in the only way he can, that I’m applying too much pressure in general. I remembered (again) that my very human goals are not necessarily his very equine goals. He wants grass and scratches and his friends and pears. He really doesn’t care if his leg yield is super straight or his canter is balanced enough for a pirouette.
Now, I think he enjoys those things when they’re done well, but he doesn’t worry about it, he just enjoys how his body feels when it’s balanced and we’re connected. It is absolutely not his goal in life.
So, today (after changing his bit back to the one he prefers) I asked him what he wanted to do. I dropped the reins and let him wander. He went right over to the big, open door (usually scary!) and stared out. He nudged it and sighed.
So I got off and opened it and took him out. I got back on him and we went for a walk. Just the two of us. Waaayyyyy out to the far, back field. And we did some work, trotted and cantered, extended and shortened and leg yielded and looped. We even got close to a 1/4 pirouette. And he had his head up and his ears perked and he felt free and happy. Another line came to mind from a different trainer, “make me think he’s a complete pleasure to ride.” Today he was. And I hope he felt the same about me.
