Damn it, Zorro!

[glenatron]

So today wasn't so good- rode out solo after work, which we haven't done for quite some time ( riding out solo, I mean, the after work bit is kind of secondary ) which went about as expected- reasonably well and then Zorro got upset when I made the decision that we weren't going to go the way he believed was the shortest route home and I had to sit through another tantrum. Now there is a thing about Zorro's tantrums and it's that they keep on happening and I handle them and we get along but the pattern isn't changing, which means that as the one setting up this situation, I am not changing it.

The good news is that Zorro is a reasonably well trained horse- his work in the school shows that he understands what is being asked for and he is increasingly forward-going and soft in that work. I don't feel at all as though I am confusing him with what I ask.

The problem is that when we go out, particularly when we go out alone, but also in company which is one reason we're going to be practicing going out alone for a while, he feels that he needs to take over the moment things get anxious. In the past I would perhaps have thought this was a case of not having shown him that I can be trusted or be consistent or stay calm when he is concerned, but we've been working together for a long time now and I have been consistent and calm at least to a good enough degree that I feel like I should have seen some change.

The way it seems to me now is that he doesn't know how to look to anyone else when he gets concerned. The way he sees it, he's got to sort that out himself and if he can get shot of me in the process then all to the good.

So how do I fix it? The best idea I have so far is to practice, specifically by going out to the wide, comfortable bridleway at the bottom of the lane which is long and level and sandy, and just spending a long time standing there. And every time Zorro decides he's going to go home, or have a fit, or run after passing horses I'll stop him, put him back and we'll continue waiting. Depending on the results we may go and wait in some different places or even do some gentle ambling along the track, a bit like we might in the school. The important point here is that I need him to start to think that maybe he doesn't need to make all the decisions all the time.

It will be a while before I can work on this as somewhere during a particularly hectic moment on a steep hillside I seem to have strained an adductor muscle and I think it may come between me and riding for a while.
sigh
It's just getting tiresome is all. I know he's a pretty difficult horse, but sometimes I wonder whether I'm even remotely up to the job.

Comments

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I need to be doing, the problem being that I need to find a job that one can do in the potentially limited space of a trail and ideally doesn't involve pointing ourselves back home, which is a recipe for trouble.

Starting out really working and experimenting with it on a wide open trail is probably a useful beginning. I guess a bit of shoulder-in or similar might be something to build on.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Shoulder-in is a good one, especially if part of his trick involves popping or dropping a shoulder. I also have a lot of luck with bending one way for a few steps, straightening for a step, then bending the other way for a few steps, etc., and with a leg-yield zig zag from one side of the trail to the other.

If the space was really narrow, I might try a few steps of moving turn on the forehand and then a few steps back the other way and evolve that into the on-trail equivalent of some nose- or tail-to-the-wall leg yield.

Do you typically work in the school and then hack afterwards, or do you generally go right out?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

We generally go right out and maybe spend a little time in the school when we get back if I feel like he needs it.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Might try working a bit beforehand and then going out, if you have enough light in the evenings at this point. I find it sometimes helps to make sure all the buttons are working properly and horse is in a working frame of mind before moving into the less comfortable/controlled situation. Not something one should have to do forever, but it can make a difference in the working-through-whatever stage.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I used to do this in the past and you're probably right, it would be useful to go back to it. I mostly stopped because I didn't want Small to have to keep waiting for us but of course that's not such an issue when we're riding out alone...

[allezbleu.livejournal.com]

this!