The Rein of Duchess

So, to continue where I left off last night: I arrived at Duchess & Lucky's house at around 19:00 last night with the intent of putting Sonata through her paces. As Duchess' mom and I were tacking up, Sonata was doing her usual "wake me when it's time to ride", but something seemed different about her. I can't quite put my finger on what it was, she didn't seem to be in any distress, she just seemed to be tired. Duchess' mom informed me that she had been to see the vet that day, and had her teeth floated, so that may have been it. At any rate, Duchess' mom suggested that we take it real easy on her and just walk her around the arena. It was funny she said that, because when she mentioned it, I was just about to suggest the same thing. I don't know why, but something in Sonata's demeanor made it clear to me that she needed to get a pass for the night, and if there's one thing I have learned about horses, it's that you should always trust your instincts. I've only ignored mine twice, and wouldn't you know it, both of those times resulted in a trip to the ER.



But anyway, back to last night. We finished tacking up, and just before we walked down into the arena, I reminded Duchess' mom that she wanted to work with me on longing. So we slipped Sonata's halter over her bridle, and tied her to a pole while I worked with Duchess. Longing went pretty well, except for some reason, I can't make my voice have a rising intonation when I give the trot command. Walk and Canter are no problem, though. The most difficult part of the whole process was managing taking in and letting out slack in the longe line in the same hand I hold the whip in. Cash, the first horse I learned how to longe, didn't need a whip to longe, so I was used to having two hands to manage the longe line. The intent behind this exercise is to get me able to longe Ziggy, but Ziggy's going to be a bit more of a challenge as he really doesn't respond to voice cues, and has a habit of walking around for half a circle, stopping and turning in, which I hate. If I'm longing a horse, the last thing I want is them in the habit of turning in to face me. I know that a lot of people see that as a sign of respect, but if the horse gets a wild hair, and decides to take off, they're pointed right at you! Duchess' mom gave me a few things to work on with Zigs at home, so I'll be trying to set aside at least one day a week to only work on Longing. The longe line I have now isn't exactly ideal, its one of the ones that has a length of chain attached to the clip. I know, I know. I bought it when I didn't know any better. I'll replace it as soon as I have moneys. I promise. I really want to be able to longe Ziggy so that on the days he's feeling fat and sassy, I can get it out of him on the longe line before I get in the saddle, which is quite appealing. It's also another method I can use to condition him on days when I don't feel up to riding, or don't have the time to ride, but still want to work him. Plus, I kind of like being able to stand on the ground and watch a horse move. All of these are wonderful goals, and I will work towards them in the ensuing days, but for now, I'd like to return to last night's narrative.



After "flying the wild mare", Duchess' mom asked me if I would like to ride Duchess, since I did the work of longing, and she'd just walk Sonata around for a while. I believe my answer was something between "Hell yes," and "I'd love to!". I hopped up on her, and immediately the first thing I noticed is that she has a lot of head action when she walks. I also found her to be a bit resistant to bending and flexing, but I largely chalk that up to the fact that I'd never ridden her before, and she was testing me out. She was very comfortable to ride at the walk, and while I was tooling around getting used to her, Duchess' mom teased me, "Isn't it your mission to ride all of our friends' horses?" I informed her that yes, yes it is. Every horse will teach you something different, and plus, I just plain like riding horses. I'll hop up on just about any mount offered me as long as I believe it's within my skill level. Up until that point, I'd ridden Cash, Lucky, Red, Taran, Sonata and Saga, so Duchess completed the set, at least until Zhizhu gets a horse, or the Baron gets a new one. ;) When I went to trot Duchess, I was reminded to give her a steady outside rein so that she wouldn't rush. I took what I thought was a steady outside rein, asked for a trot, and wouldn't you know it, she rushed. It was then that I realized she requires more contact than Zigs does. It took a couple of laps around the arena, but I eventually got a nice sane trot, which was quite good, but would have been lovely if I could have gotten her to put her head down. As a test, I sat back down and asked for a walk, and if I'm honest, it took a bit of doing. I was rather happy about that, because one of the other reasons I like riding other people's horses whenever I can is that I make sure to try out things that I have trouble with on my own horse to see if I have the same amount trouble on the new horse, and see if I can fix it. Or at the very least, get better about whatever my problem is. Obviously downward transitions are something I need a lot of work on, so I worked on those, and made some improvements. Once we sorted out walk/trot and trot/walk, I was asked if I'd like to try to canter her.



It may shock and amaze you, but again the answer was yes. I knew from watching Duchess in action that she has a really nice canter, so I was eager to try it for myself. I was also eager to see if the work I've been doing on my canter transitions has paid off, as it is another area where I am currently struggling. The first trot/canter was a bit rough, but after dropping back down to trot and trying it again a few more times, I was able to pretty much get canter on demand. By that point, the sun was going down, so I walked Duchess out and we untacked. I really like Duchess, and I think if I was 5 years ahead in my riding skill, I would be a lot better with her. I don't think I did that bad, but there were points where I was calling over my shoulder to Duchess' mom, "I can ride, I promise!". On the flip side, there were also fleeting moments of brilliance. Of course, that pretty accurately describes my state of riding now on any horse I ride. Fleeting moments of brilliance punctuated by long stretches of, "I can ride, I promise! ". Some days it's more "I can ride, I promise!", but horsemanship is a journey, not a destination.