An Odd Juxtaposition

So I’m away again, off to LA for vacation with R this time, but I used my one full day home to spend the afternoon with Finn. S picked me up and we headed over to Washoe Lake State Park for the late afternoon and evening, and it turned out to be an interesting experience which gave me lots to mull over on the long drive down to LA today.

We started our afternoon with some Liberty in the public arena at the park, and I was so super impressed with Finn. His connection to me was even a little better than the day before playing the Find Your Herd game, and we moved on to playing with some yields and thoughts about the Friendly Game. S generously shared some info she’s learned from Aimee Brimhall (one super talented horsewoman, especially at Liberty!) whose insights I’ve been hoping to incorporate into my Liberty going forward.

There were two things that REALLY impressed me. First, even when Finn got a little confused about the Friendly Game and thought he should leave when I meant for him to stay, his version of “leaving” was to go out on a circle about 40’ in diameter at a trot. So even through his confusion he was doing his darndest to maintain the connection and stay with “the herd.” The other was that even when S decided to take her mare back to the trailer and tie her, Finn stayed with me! I thought he might get worried about his buddy going out of sight, but he seemed perfectly okay with it.

All in all, this experience at Liberty on top of the one the day before and all the others I’ve ever had with Finn add up to this “conclusion”: this horse has SUCH a strong desire to connect and be part of the herd. I mean, honestly, it’s really an exceptional quality… something I’ve always known about him, but maybe haven’t fully appreciated before. The “double-edge” to this is probably that it also increases his draw to other horses, which can be a challenge, but I still see it as more of a gift than a problem.

After our Liberty session, we took a break in the shade and then headed out for a ride. This time, though, we decided to experiment with heading out separately, because our last few rides at Washoe Finn has wanted to leave the parking area like his tail is on fire and I was wondering if it might be because he was anxious about “the herd” leaving. So I left ahead of Sally. Finn was still wanting to book it out of there, so I decided to experiment and let him… no faster than a trot, but I let him trot as fast as he wanted.

And trot we did, for a LONG while. I had to repeatedly remind him that the canter was off limits, and he eventually settled into a HUGE trot. I would have gone further, but I was conscious of Riley following along behind in the 90-some degree heat and his furry black coat, so I eventually decided it was necessary to prioritize getting the dog to water over following through on what I was hoping to accomplish with Finn.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the rest of our ride wasn’t terrible, by any means, but I rarely felt like Finn and I were really connected. We passed some other horses on the beach, and as usual he got pretty fixated on that, even though we were trotting small circles and turns the whole time they were nearby. We stopped in a few places to practice our weightless trotting and other exercises, but the feeling of constant ‘druthers was nigh impossible to overcome. Everywhere we stopped to work, Finn was drawing towards where we’d come from, and trying to get him to feel really under me was not working out that well.

If I’d had more time, I’d have used it, but the sun was going down fast so I eventually just decided to appreciate a little improvement and head back to the trailer. I guess the bottom line is, it wasn’t a terrible ride, but it was still somewhat disappointing to me. Not that I’m disappointed in Finn, but just that I didn’t really feel like that ride moved us any closer to our ultimate goals.

Today, I’ve been reflecting on the juxtaposition of the two experiences on the same afternoon. How can I have a horse who has SO much desire to connect, and yet have SUCH a hard time keeping him connected under saddle? I guess it’s not really a huge mystery, because the connection I’m getting from him in the arena at Liberty isn’t really under much stress… yet.

So I’ve been thinking about how I might begin to carry more of that connection with us, and I’m not sure what the answer is. It’s harder for me, mentally and emotionally, to be a good leader from the saddle, and also harder for me to wrap my mind around what the idea of “find your herd” and being a “we” looks and feels like under saddle. It’s definitely harder to be unattached to the outcome when I’m sitting on his back!

I don’t know… I admit, I’m a little discouraged. Probably more than I have a right to be. Honestly, maybe it just wasn’t the smartest move to try to get rides in at Washoe these last two weeks on the ONE day I had home to ride. For whatever reason, Washoe seems to really challenge Finn. It seems like we always have trouble leaving the parking area!

S will be gone for most of July, so Finn and I will have several weeks to focus on working and riding out by ourselves, once I get back from the trip to LA. As I’ve got plenty of time for him between braiding jobs, I’ll definitely invest some serious time in our Liberty, and I might also think about riding him twice a day when I can. When working means being gone for two and three weeks at a time, I feel I’ve gotta pack as much progress as I can into the days I have at home!

Anyway, these are the thoughts I’ll be turning over in my head throughout my time here in LA. I’m really looking to this vacation, but also really looking forward to getting home and back to trying to sort some things out between Finn and I.