Jill did not expect the objection the bay pony expressed about the black barrel jump she'd proposed as a simple reward at the end of the lesson. E-gads.
One the scariest things I have ever had to do, Jill counseled/comforted the student, is to teach a fraidy-cat horse how to jump a ditch. First of all, I always wanted to explain to him, you are allowed to run through a ditch. If you want to put your feet right down in it, go ahead! But what this horse used to do, you see, was stand there quivering and trembling at the edge of it, while I let him stretch his neck and pushed with my seat looking ahead and pushed even kicked and whipped and clucked and sat up and all to encourage him, was randomly shoot out from underneath me, with no warning, either to the extreme left, or extreme right, or sometimes straight over straight ahead but 3 feet in the air. To clear the little shadow!
She wanted the rider to go for it! The rider could get the bay over once in a while, if she took out one barrel, but then if they tried to repeat it, the mare would just tank p a s t it, miles away, running out. It infuriated Jill.
At first she thought the student's dread and nerves were showing through the pony's behaviour. But, when she finally got on herself to address the matter once and for all she had to apologize to the rider. The pony was way freaked out and not listening to the aids at all. She said so, "This is a learning experience for me too."
She made the approach more patient, less aggressive with the mare. The moved one of the barrels out again, for the first time over. And she also had the kid put the black matt down as a conversation starter with the pony. Snd then they did get the mare over three times in a row with both scary barrels underneath and without a refusal, but it took a long time and Jill was very late for her students at the other barn.
But at least they all enjoyed the story!
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When the white stallion reared up on his hind end and actually pawed the air with a front leg, the student whispered "that's s e x y." and jill agreed ha.
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the fat, flea bitten grey mare is the 11th horse she's ridden. isn't that cute?
