We actually had a really lovely ride. I tacked up near the pasture and was pleased to find that the 'druthers we'd been addressing in the session detailed in Rainy Day Riding were completely absent. I rode all the way to the arena on the hill, focusing on getting Finn in sync with my intent and responsive when I asked for a longer walk. I ignored the handful of things he wanted to be a bit spooky at, just encouraging him to follow my intent and praising him generously when he succeeded. After a few minutes in the arena, I decided to repeat the trip, riding back to the pasture and then up to the arena again. He did great both directions, still a little cautious, but very willing.
We had a little ride in the arena, working on our transitions, HQ/FQ turns and backing circles. I am super pleased with how our backing circles are coming along! At first, Finn was quite confused about what I was asking for, but now I feel like he gets it. I'd really like his flexion to be a little softer... namely, for him to roll his jaw softly so his head is tipped slightly to the outside when I'm asking, but I think that will develop soon now that he's starting to get the idea.
I also noticed significant improvement on the HQ/FQ turns, particularly the FQ part, where we've been struggling. I attribute the difference to the work we've been doing on the ground helping Finn figure out a more appropriate way of organizing his feet for what I'm asking. Where we'd been a little stuck was that we'd developed a pattern of only asking for a step or two of the FQ moving, so Finn was quite sure that what he was supposed to do was make those two reaches, then fall on his face a bit and hurry out of the turn. Which was not wrong, but when I started asking for more FQ steps, that pattern was not terribly helpful! Today, I felt like he was much more mentally committed to the idea that he should step the FQ across until I stopped asking, rather than thinking he knew how many steps he was supposed to take. No surprise, this resulted in a much smoother and more consistent turn!
I am really trying to be conscious of feeling what his feet are doing during the turn, and today I was able to feel his front feet quite well. The hind feet are tougher, but I guess it will come with patience.
The last big thing I incorporated into our ride was re-opening discussion about the trail that goes off behind the arena on the hill. Finn has been reluctant to go there, and last time we did the weather turned nasty quite suddenly and he really got unsettled. I wasn't able to address it very thoroughly then, because the storm was really looking troublesome, and we hadn't been up there since.
So I broke up our ride in the arena with a few rides over the crest of the hill to rest beyond Finn's comfort zone. We worked on some trot to canter transitions in the arena, so after we'd been moving for a while, I would ride him out, up the trail and stop and rest there like it was a great reward:
We did this three times, and by the third time I felt like he went much more readily and was willing to cock a leg there and accept the rest. I also felt like he'd been wonderful the rest of the ride, so I went ahead and dismounted there, unbridled, and let him enjoy a little grass:
It's a bit of a hike back to the pasture from there, but one I'm willing to make to help Finn realize the sweet spot is wherever my focus takes him. The end of a ride is a big reward for a horse, one they certainly learn to hunt... so if you always end the ride in the same place or the same way, don't be surprised if your horse is mentally leaning towards that pattern all the time! In the case of Finn and I this morning, I wanted to really reward him for following my focus to a place he wasn't confident to go. That way he learns that making the effort to sync with me pays off!
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