Lordano with Jody

I’ve been back riding for about a month. I am soo happy just to be riding period. However I still see that I have the same problem I have had over the last year….for some reason my Lordi and I werent’ communicating when I asked for canter and he is the wiggliest animal I have ever seen. For almost a year we have been dealing with this. Other professionals can USUALLY get the canter and straighten through forward, but for me…it was definitely sporadic.

Enter Jody…here for the summer, preparing to compete in WEG 2010…we happened to meet, she mentioned her training methodologies, largely focused on Operant Learning, (Australian Equestrian Behavioral Center, led by Andrew McLean). Alas, today I worked with her for the 3rd time, and voila, her theory worked. I can get canter pretty reliably off a cluck. We taught him to canter off a completely different aid, step by step, in 3 sessions. I will gradually re-introduce a more classic aid. I am sooooo excited, were not confirmed for sure, but for the first time, in a long time, I left the barn elated. My horse and I really communicated, I taught him something from scratch and it WORKED! All I can say is, Jody Hartstone rocks!! One step at a time…we are relearning together, some completely different things. I will keep updating, but I was at the place, where I was feeling defeat and ready to accept it. But I love this horse…he has such a personality, very sweet, he has fantastic gaits, admittedly complicated, but fantastic, he is sensitive yet forgiving, quite interesting. I am hoping so much that this leads us to total communication and harmony like I used to dare to think about.

Some of the major learning’s that are quite different than what I have always been taught are that I ONLY use my leg to ask for forward and yield laterally. I use my rein to control the front legs and everything in front of that. Yup, my reins. I have learned that it is scientifically proven that the brain primarily talks to the front legs and to control the horse you must control the front legs. It is really pretty simple. Broken down into a few key things, everything else stems from there. I’m not saying I’m going to completely throw away everything I have learned, I am saying I am willing to research other avenues that can effectively get me to where I want to go.

What I believe is that every living being is unique and individual and what typically works with most animals may not work with some and therefore sometimes you have to be willing to step out of the box and try something new. You never know….it just might work.

Back on board

Well the leg is almost all healed, heck of a lot stronger! Therefore I started riding one of sweet schoolmasters at our barn, she is small, small gaits, and I can actually shut my eyes and she will just go on autopilot around the ring. Now…,this is very useful for someone in my recovery situation. First I rebuild my mental confidence on her, second my body can get the movement, rhythm and Feel back. She is a real blessing Today….Im thinking I might just try a little short ride on  my own horse )))