Romeo rewards his mom

I know you're thinking...new horse, what? NOPE! I've been chatting some more with the lady from Texas who knew Pro as a baby - turns out his name used to be Romeo! Which I think is absolutely adorable. Don't worry, I'm not changing his name, I just thought it was cute. She was glad that Pro's doing so well, and said other horses who stayed in "training" longer ended up with badly torn nuchal ligaments and leg problems...several retired before age 7.

So yesterday when I tacked up, brought Pro to the mounting block, and mounted up...I paused for a moment as Pro just stood there, patiently and calmly, waiting for me to get my stirrups/girth adjusted. I just took a minute to pause and reflect on how lucky I am that he's SO forgiving of people. He would have every right to never trust anyone again after the way he was (literally) broken as a baby, and yet he's shown incredible progress in his dressage re-training. Makes me such a proud mom!

He was REALLY good last night. No poles, so we just worked from "scratch". He softened up pretty quickly and we worked on spiraling in and out at the walk, with lots of focus on getting him to turn off my outside aids. I also worked down by the bunny tree but we didn't have any spooks, just some tenseness. I REALLY tried to focus on losing my dependence on the inside rein...instead of giving in to the temptation to pull his head with my inside rein, I gave it forward and kicked him on with my inside leg. And (I can almost hear Gayle saying "I told you so!") it worked!! He's so good to where now it's relaxing him.

From there I focused on really paying attention to details about his relaxation/unkinking status. If he was "faking" by giving me half-way relaxation and not chewing, I used some inside rein "come here" movements to get him to flex a bit at the poll. He would chew, I gave with my inside rein, and then I felt his neck lengthen. Then, rinse & repeat at the trot! He was surprisingly good. I think part of the key to his faking is when he stops chewing and just meets the end of the rein rather than actively chases it. A gentle "come here" with the inside rein and some active encouragement from my inside leg got him to sort of say "oh yeah! I'm supposed to be stretching here!" and stretch, chew, and unkink. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone with giving up my inside rein and using my outside aids to turn him. And...Pro rewarded me with softness and enthusiasm! He was just such a joy to ride last night. :)