Recap of January -June 2009

Back in December and January, Paloma started spooking all the time. In late January, she had a major melt down and blow up - tried to buck me off. That really scared me, and for a while I didn't want to deal with her at all. But with help from Dave Hillman, Ellen, and Susan, and a lot of acupuncture and time off, she seems to be back to a rideable state. I think she had some pain in her neck and back, which had probably been there all along, since before we got her. It must have gotten to the point that she couldn't take it any more. But she was never lame - just got crazier and crazier. She probably had some chronic pain from some old injuty, and that may be part of why she was so difficult for so many owners before I got her. But also, as Dave said, she's Not Innocent. She has a habit of stirring things up, making chaos, and getting herself into a frenzy. As her rider, I have to stay out of her stuff, and sometimes I let her work it out (on the lunge or in the round pen), but mostly when riding her I have to stop it before it begins. As Dave says, stop her in the first quarter of a stride. That's pretty much no time to react - instead, I have to be balanced and ahead of her, and when I feel her starting to even think about getting wound up about something, I have to firm up and stop her before she starts. It's taken a while to learn what that means in practice, but now I think I have it pretty well down. Back in May I had a fascinating (and scary) lesson with Dave on how to ride through the rearing, and how to prevent it from happening. I'd never learned about that before - just threw away the reins and hung on. But instead, I have to shorten the reins and firm up, and turn her if she feels like she's going to throw herself up or sideways. It's amazing how well that works to stop her from doing whatever she had in mind. And has given me a lot more confidence in my riding - I'm no longer worried that she's "going to do something." instead, I'm riding every stride and thinking about how she feels and where I want her to go, and we are having less and less bad behavior.

I have learned a lot about horsemanship with Paloma - one of the biggest lessons is that I have to ride the horse that I have on that particular day. Some days, she's not a rideable horse, but those days are getting fewer. Some days we only walk, but we get a really good reaching relaxed walk. As I think back on the last 6 months, I realize it's been an opportunity to start Paloma over again - but it's harder with an 8-year old that has developed some bad habits than it would be with a young horse. Or than it was to train Kona, who was a challenge and was naughty sometimes, but was never dangerous.

Double Black Diamond Horse

In September, Paloma started bucking and rearing. Without warning, she would just go off. It didn't seem the same as last winter, when she'd spook and shy and then take off. This time it just seemed casual, as if she was testing the waters to see what would happen. I got through it without getting dumped, but I decided I didn't want to ride her. So I've been doing a lot of groundwork and put her on Regumate to see if that would help. She also started her crazy spooking in the arena, and worrying about the eurocizer.
Before Thanksgiving we had 3 sessions with Dave Hillman. In the first, he worked her in the round pen and then rode her. It was clear Paloma was trying to start something, trying to get Dave off. In the 2nd session, we worked her off Kona, and taught her how to be ponied. In the 3rd session, I rode her in the round pen, and we treated her like a colt being started. She had to go forwards and turn. That was all; nothing fancy, no shoulders in, just go. And she did ok, but she started trying to get out of it and get me off balance.
I'm attaching some pictures of Dave and me and Kona working with Paloma. The best thing was Kona - she has turned out to be the greatest useful all around horse! and she likes bossing the young horses around, particularly Paloma.

Since Dave's visit I've been thinking about what to do. Paloma has many tricks up her sleeves, and she seems determined to use all of them and "whatever it takes" to get out of the work, to get away from the pressure, even if it's not much pressure at all. I don't know what's going on in her head, but I don't think I have the timing or the reactions to get her through this.
After a long talk with Susan, I've decided I need to send her away to someone who can ride her through this. I hope she can learn that being ridden is nice, it's good, and it's not going to put her into a scary situation. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'll do with her.
Dave has referred me to Steve Bauhr, and tonight I talked to Steve about Paloma. I hope I didn't scare him off with my description of her antics! He said he could take her in January, and we're going to set up a date for him to come all the way to Winters to meet us. He sounds a lot like Dave.