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.