The driveway dilemma

Heading off down the long drive

Fiona Cameron came over today for another lesson with Garbo and I. We started by tackling the dreaded driveway. We have a great driveway for hacking down - it's a nice 20 minutes hack with farms either side. But unless Garbo has another more confident horse with him he is a bit of a chicken and spooks and naps and tries to turn for home. This in turn makes me nervous - and therefore a no longer enjoyable hack down the driveway.

So Garbo and I had been practising - all of once - on our own since Fiona's last lesson - with me leading him - it went pretty well - we got all the way down - had a graze as a reward, and then we were 3/4 of the way up when a large truck with a large load of sawdust snuck up on us. Garbo tried to put me between the truck and him, while he faced it (facing away from the direction we were leading). It took me a while to calm him down enough to get him up the rest of the drive without charging off but we did it. I used the time while the truck was dumping the sawdust to graze Garbo nearby and get used to the noise and sight.

So anyway - back to today.

We dealt with the nappiness in a variety of ways. Fiona said you can't keep doing the same thing too much in a row with Garbo - he's too clever - he has 100 tricks up his sleeve. So we used a tap on the hind to move forward then I could go from a tap to just holding the stick beside me. If he got really stuck I would rock him off balance by making him make a sharp turn, thus making him make a step. So once past the initial nappy area (just where the driveway from the farm meets the private road, which is shared with one neighbour) - he went nice and forward all the way down the drive. Fiona was interested to see how he would be with all the quad bikes and plants and kids who were having a planting day alongside the drive but it didn't worry him at all. He's nosey!

So - the challenge for the 'going home' is for him not to rush - no worries about lack of impulsion heading home. So everytime he sped up we would made S shapes so he had to make more steps to cover the same amount of ground. He soon figured out it was actually easier not to rush.

So - back at the stables in one piece - the big challenge - now to get on and try the same principles riding down the drive alone.

So he tried napping again and I would rock him off balance by holding the inside rein out and adding the outside leg (or visa versa) so he would have to kind of leg yeild. It worked really well - he was lovely and forward and the most relaxed he had ever been - as was I.!

He stopped a couple of times and glared at something but Fiona had already taught me not to look at what he was looking at - as tempting as it was! This would purely back up his theory that the thing was worthy of stopping and being glared at, so with me ignoring what ever it was - we just carried on. Fiona taught me to really focus on the next spot - ie the next gate or tree - and don't lose focus until we arrived there - then find another spot - quite large distances away. This helped with me not just letting Garbo walk where ever he felt like - therefore making me the one who was making the decisions. That worked really well. Of course on the way home we were focussing on much nearer targets - otherwise the opposite of what we were trying to achieve would happen.

We made it to the end and then the scary bit - heading home. This was as far as I had gone by myself (I know I still have to do it without Fiona on the ground but good things come to those who practice and think positive)! I had a big grin on my face at this point - but turning for home kind of made me a little worried.

Fiona reminded me to do our S turns if he rushed and I focused on small distances ahead. He didn't stop and glare at anything (of course - somehow coming home isn't quite so startling for some reason) and after a few S walks up he actually relaxed and lowered his head and slowed down - all the way - even at the top of the drive where he can see the foal and the stables (home sweet home) - and past the place where I fell off last time I rode down part of the way.

YAY.

We also worked on his recent habit of veering left as we are about to board the float. What Fiona figured out was that the area just before the ramp had become the battle zone. I must admit we have had a couple of arguments in that spot before. So she showed me how to circle him (and to rock him off balance if his feet get stuck) slowly towards the bottom of the ramp - stopping (at the top of the last circle at the ramp). Then he sniffed the ramp and got on fine. Stood there and ate hay for a bit - I got him off again and we did it one more time. The third time I was stopped at the ramp ready to lead him on and he just got on all by himself - with me standing at the bottom of the ramp!!! Cool huh!