Gwenyth Cantering and the Clean Socks

Gwenyth the Clydesdale is coming along well!  We've had several rides both in the round pen and in the arena, as well as hacking out in the front pasture around the barn and house.  She is a truly kind soul who desperately wants to do the right thing.  If she doesn't understand what I'm asking, her first reaction is to carefully come to a stop.  Then she looks at me as if to say, "I'm sorry, Kim, I didn't catch that.  Could you clarify for me what I'm supposed to be doing?"

As an 11 year old who has had extensive ground work she has wonderful ground manners and a very solid foundation in ground driving.  At this point in her training with me she is mostly figuring out balance while carrying a rider.  Because of her size and weight, it's tricky for her to shift her balance around, and my weight on top of her is just enough to make it challenging for her to canter under saddle.  She can do it loose in the round pen, but when I have been on her and asked for a canter she trots faster, loses her balance, and spirals into the center of the ring.  Then she stops, looks at me over her shoulder and explains that there's not enough room to canter in there.

So next we went to the big arena.  It's 100'x200', with half of it covered.  Gwenyth has been remarkably brave with riding from light into dark, the pigeons periodically dive bombing us, and the dogs cavorting around barking instructions while we ride.  Cantering is still sticky for her, though.  She really wants to do what I'm asking, but she genuinely believes there's not enough room to canter in there before she has to make a turn and then she'll lose her balance. 

Today I had a friend riding with me who offered to hold the noisiest dog (who was barking instructions at Gwenyth and confusing her).  I put Gwenyth on the lunge line since she seems to be able to canter in a circle without a rider, and I'm dealing with the Draft Horse Brain.  This is very normal for cold-blooded horses like Clydesdales to need extra time to process new things.  They tend to be one-at-a-time thinkers, and anything new needs to be introduced gradually, with only one new thing introduced at a time.  Too many new things will really stress out a draft brain, and once a draft horse is stressed it's nearly impossible to teach them anything that they will retain.  If they are calm and thinking, once they get the idea you almost never need to repeat the lesson.  I need to simplify what I'm asking of Gwenyth so she can think all the way through what I want without getting nervous.  This also means we take frequent breaks for her to ponder each thing we do accomplish.

Gwenyth was worried because I'd introduced too many things at once:  the arena, riding with another horse, trotting and steering at the same time, barking dogs, and she still is getting used to carrying me as a rider.  I pared down the list of new stimuli by having the dog restrained, the other horse halted, I got off, and I asked Gwenyth to canter on the lunge line.  She was able to do it, though did lose her balance a few times causing her to lean out on the circle and lose her lead in her hind end.  The great thing about the draft brain and Gwenyth in particular, is when she gets nervous or doesn't understand something her default is to stop and ask me for help.  When she lost her balance on the lunge line she simply stopped and turned to look at me.  When I reassured her by telling her she was doing it right and to just try again, she would take a deep breath and go out on the circle once more for a fresh attempt. 

Bless her heart, she finally figured out what I was after and when we went the other direction she got a nice canter on the first try.  Because she did it so well I immediately ended the lesson for the day and we just stood in the center of the arena snuggling for a few minutes.  She likes her shoulder rubbed and her ears stroked, and she likes to stand with her forehead close to me.  This posture is really comforting to her so we spent some time that way while my friend finished her ride on her horse.  Gwenyth watched carefully, especially when the horse was cantering.  I swear Gwenyth was studying how it was done.

After we untacked I took some time to do a little beauty treatment on Gwenyth, or the bearded lady as her owner had affectionately called her.  Gwenyth now has her billy goat's gruff trimmed so that the bridle straps don't snag her beard, she has a nice bridlepath behind her ears, her tail has been washed and detangled, and her feathers are sparkly white.  It was a big day for the big girl.

Walsh was a little jealous of the photo session, so he stood in front of the camera encouraging me to document his four matching socks as well.  A shorter horse, and a little less hair, though.