*headdesk*?

Yeah.

It actually hasn't been an awful week. Ernie has been terribly unproductive in terms of any real work, but I've learned quite a few things.

Basically, I've upped the ante in a major way on him. He's not used to being asked to REALLY go correctly. This is largely my fault (well, yeah, it's my fault); I'm not an experienced enough rider to know what to do in a lot of situations, such as the catastrophe that was last Friday's ride. But I've been able to go a lot on my own, and it's mostly worked, but now I'm learning there's a lot more I could be doing right. Basically, I really need to learn to ask the right questions, and then praise ENORMOUSLY (I look a little crazy when I praise now). Ernie gets really stuffed up when he gets confused, and so my focus for the past few weeks has been to ask ONE question, praise when he makes an attempt, and move quickly on to something he knows. Then, come back and ask again, this time for a little more. He's been slowly building confidence this way, so I've been asking harder and harder questions. However...

Last Friday I have every intention of doing just a conditioning workout. I had an epiphany a few weeks ago: if I want a nice, fluid, suspensed canter, I need to ask for a lot of canter (particularly crappy canter) before I can ask for him to use that kind of strength. So, I've been adding increasing canter intervals, starting with just 2 minutes per half hour ride. I didn't get to that last Friday. I got on and as soon as I hit the saddle I felt how tense he was. He didn't want to relax, he didn't want to stretch, and he had no interest in listening to what I had to say. After a few tight circles, I asked for the walk and began some bending and flexing and asking for lots of changing in bend. One particular movement I ask for involves flexing him in one direction, guiding him with an open outside rein and asking for a sidepass. That was a no-go. All he wanted to do was back up. It's his way of avoiding what I'm asking, so all I can do when he begins to back is push him forward and praise him when he goes forward, even if he bucks and canters off. It's still forward movement.

Well, that didn't happen either. I spent an entire 45 minutes trying not to fight with this horse. He didn't want anything to do with me or that arena. Every request was met with resistance; he'd back up, I'd sit, maintain contact and he'd get a whip to the butt until he went forward (which was usually a bolt into the gallop) at which time I'd tell him how good he was. But half the time, the gallop/canter was sideways, backways, upways, all over the place. He'd literally be doing a canter half-pass into the wall, banging and dragging my legs down the side of the indoor, almost flipping me over the tractor in the corner...it was a nightmare. When I did get him down to a slower gate, it was always a jig, never a walk.

Finally, upon the insistence of my trainer, who was riding at the same time Ernie was flipping out, I got a halt, jumped off, grabbed a lunge line and spent ten happy minutes on the ground in the hopes of creating a tired horse. Whatever was going on in his head, he could work it out on the ground. I got back on, intending to ask for one sidepass. Nope. Same thing. More backing up, more spinning into walls. More almost flipping over. I got a walk, got a halt, and I was done. I was as sweaty as he was, and not about to get pummeled by a horse that did not want me on his back.

So, here's my analysis of the situation: given the fact that I've upped the ante, I think Ernie decided to as well. It's not unusual for horses who have been going for a really, really well for a while to all of the sudden turn into a complete and utter nightmare for a few days. Because he's learned what he cant get away with, now that I've said "Uh, nuhuh, not anymore", his response is, "OK, lady, two can play at that game." I honestly think he's pushing to see if I'll give, since I have before. I just have to ride it out to show him that bad behavior isn't going to land him anywhere except tired.

HOWEVER, I also scheduled a chiropractic appointment for him. It's been a couple months since he was last adjusted, and he's held exceptionally well. I did a little eval of his back the other day, though, and it was not happy. He was okay muscularly, but really, really unhappy when I tried to manipulate his spine, so my guess is he's got something going on there that's hurting under saddle (he's been FAR worse to the left than to the right).

So, did we learn? Yes, we did. It wasn't the week of riding I'd have really wanted, but it was a good learning experience, and at least I know what to do if/when it happens again.

YAY LEARNING! :D