One of the lessons Ace taught me back in the fall when we were starting under saddle is that he doesn’t like to feel pressured. I was asking too much at first, go forward, be energetic, stay straight, bend on the turns. And it was just too much for my horse who had been standing in a pasture for two years. He taught me that I needed to just focus on one thing at a time. And when I did, everything else started falling into place, too.

When we finally started back post abscess and Christmas, he shut down under saddle. Planting his front legs and refusing to move.

So I went back to ground work.

We started honing the fundamentals; pressure and release, moving different parts of his body, getting forward and back. We got up to circling, which has typically been a problem area for us. (He stops whenever he wants and goes backwards when I try to send him around again). But we’ve had some breakthroughs with that, and I’ve been gradually adding more trot work for my out of shape boy. He’s circling around me no problem. When I’ve sent him backwards, he comes forward to me at my first request. We’ve seen a lot of improvement in our “forward” on the ground.

Now I want to transfer that success to under saddle, but without any major battles.

So, I decided to hop on him bareback and just sit there for awhile. No asking for anything. Just letting him relax and feel like I wasn’t always going to be asking for something every time I’m on him. Undemanding time.

As soon as I swung up, he tensed. He picked his head up, and kinda sorta pinned his ears. Definitely not my normal, happy, playful, interested horse that he is on the ground.

And I just sat there.

I rubbed his neck, played with his mane, laid my chest on his withers.

Every once in a while he’d let out a bit breath, chew the bit, or put his head down a fraction of an inch. And still I just sat there.

After a few minutes, he took one halting step, and then another, and walked across the arena to the gate. And scratched his head on the gate.

I let him.

I rubbed on him some more. And then I just laid on his neck.

He let out a few more big breaths. Chewed the bit some. Rubbed his head some more.

And then he let out a huge sigh, relaxed his head down to his kness, and started licking and chewing.

I got off.

I want to do this for the next few days until he is obviously relaxed when I’m on him, not wondering what I’m going to do next. I want him to see that I can be up there without constantly pressuring him. I don’t know if it will work. But I’m hoping that it will be a useful step for curing our resistance problems.

I finished with the game we’ve been playing for the last two weeks: I turn him loose in the arena, grab a handful of cookies, and get him to chase me. He’s starting to like this game. (Really, he just likes the cookies). He’ll follow me everywhere I go at a leisurely walk. Across the arena, in little circles, big circles, and backing up. He’s got his ears up watches me the whole time. I’ll run from side to side, trying to get him to move his front end like a cutting horse. And he plays along. He’s typically laid back about it.

Last night, I grabbed the cookies and bolted to the other end of the arena. To my surprise, Ace jumped into a trot and ran after me …. nickering the whole way. Yeah, he got a cookie right away for the one.

We played some of our other games, running in circles, backing up. Cookie.

I ran in front of him, changing directions every time he moved his shoulders. And boy did my thoroughbred put his head down, changing direction and crossing his front legs like a cutting Quarter Horse. Cookie.

I had one left, and wanted to see if I could get him to trot after me again. I left him at the far end of the arena and took off running as fast as I could toward his stall. I heard this funny sound behind me, and looked back to see Ace take a little crowhop, jump into a high stepping trot, shake his head, and come after me.

Nickering the whole way.