Fall is definitely here. The cool air is a welcome change from the scorching heat of summer. Mid day temperatures are quite pleasant and are ideal for saddling up. My riding schedule though, has been and still remains, late afternoon to early evenings. It has become somewhat of a race to perform barn chores, give a lesson, eat and ride after a full day working elsewhere. Darkness falls quickly as the sun sinks down over the distant mountains. I typically still have time to ride at least one horse while retaining quality in my approach.

This last week I found myself pressed for time with regards to riding on one particular evening. I had no idea of the surprise I was in for.

I caught my young mare late and felt that squeezing in a riding session would be pushing it. I still wanted to work my little horse so we headed for the round pen. Throughout the summer I had done a fair amount of ground work on the end of a lead rope. This particular mare had become quite responsive and balanced through most all of the movements that I would ask for. With that in mind I decided to see where we stood in regards to movements at liberty.

Upon entering the round pen I immediately removed her halter and observed her expression towards me. She remained content and interested. After spending several minutes rubbing her down and loving on her I began asking her to walk away from and proceed around me. It was at this point that she decided walking was a bit slow and that her buddies needed to take precedence over me. I mainly observed her as she proceeded to rip around the arena. After several laps at a lope she began to look me up and slow down. With that acknowledgment I decided it was time to begin seeing what we could accomplish in regards to engaged movement.

I started asking for her to collect herself as she trotted a medium sized circle. I would reward her every attempt to collect by decreasing my energy and allowing her to slow down. On occasion her collection would be so deep and balanced that I would let her stop completely. In those moments I would allow her time to soak mentally while I approached and loved on her.

I was pleased with the way things were going and felt that our work together was pretty solid. So far all of her movement had been to the left of the arena so I now felt it time to work on her right side. That was where things got interesting.

Things started pretty well as I sent my mare out away from me to the right. She walked off and proceeded to trot when asked. As soon as I rewarded her movement by allowing her to slow down and face up to me she immediately would put me onto her left side. At first I made no big deal of it. As we continued on and it became a pattern I began to work at not letting it continue. This proved to be quite a challenge. Something inside of her did not want me on her right side. Surely this was the side she preferred to keep open for escape from perceived danger. No big deal. Most horses will have that. The thing that concerned me was WHY she felt the need to protect herself in this moment.

From this point on I began to carefully approach the moment when I would allow her to slow down and face up while going right. I would slowly allow her to begin facing up and send her back out as she began to show that she was positioning herself to put me back onto the left side. At the moment just prior to her changing eyes I quickly increased my energy and sent her back onto a circle. This kept up for quite some time. Darkness began to fall and we still had yet to make progress with this. There were times she would slow and show signs of allowing me to remain on her right eye but it would only happen when she was near the exit gate. A key component to be aware of. This was her way of still attempting to escape from our time together.

We worked at this a while longer. I would stay with her through any gait that she felt was necessary. I could slow her at any point but felt it best to stay with her and slow when she felt ready. As darkness crept in I could see a brace remaining in her body. From the center of the arena I kept up with her pace. She felt me staying with her and sped up to what appeared to be her top speed. As Sapphire is my biggest horse this was quite a sight. She proceeded to circle along the outside of the pen at a dead run. After about her third lap she slowed slightly and gave two huge snorts. As I kept my position and allowed her to slow this proved to be her last effort before giving in.

After such a grand display we both slowed to a stop. Sapphire faced up to me and proceeded to position her head and body to the balance point between keeping me on the right eye or swapping to the left. I remained still and focused as we both hung in that moment together on the edge of a breakthrough. After several minutes of our shared moment I moved ever so slightly to her right. This proved to be the moment she decided to stay with me as she moved her hind end signaling her choice to accept me.

Our round pen session proved to be exactly what we needed. All summer I had struggled slightly to obtain engagement from Sapphire while circling right. I am excited to set this up again in the round pen and see how it carries over to our mounted work. Proving to me once again the benefits of getting things really good from the ground. I thought Sapphire to be past the point of needing such round pen work. This was a good reminder to me to occasionally return to the basics and check on foundational elements.

I hope you too will go back and check things out. You may find that a key piece has been lost or was never really there.

Eric

Easton Horsemanship