Training Journal - The First Ride & A Check In
Life can get overwhelming sometimes as a horse trainer. The summer and fall of 2023 was a very intense time period for all of us at Taktur Icelandics. From national and even international competitions to clinics and numerous other training projects I struggled to find time to really focus on Limra. That said, I was also comfortable with that fact because Limra is so young. I knew that in many ways there was no rush as vacations can be important to her health and development. I did two sessions with Limra through the late spring and early summer before the clinic with Patrick and Avery. The first of those sessions actually ended up being my first ride on Limra! The second session was a liberty session where I just reviewed the liberty work from the ground and it gave me an opportunity to check in with how she was retaining her training.
Session 24 - April 19
Terral began the session by working with Limra with a focus on obtaining a more secure draw towards him and better circle size control in walk and trot. He managed to get some really focused trot circles with a good draw and then he did some following at the shoulder work with a focus on shoulder switches.
Next he saddled up Limra. This was a rather clumsy process as we are still really lacking a “stop cue” or “mark” that holds Limra in one place for the saddling. In some ways this is good because it has always allows her to move away if she pleases but this is definitely something we need to come up with a better solution for longterm. The saddle pad slid off because Limra walked off with it and as it fell she did kick at it which was not ideal although abit funny.
When working with the saddle on, Terral had her circle at the canter and worked her on both small and large circles around him in trot. In this way he really pushed Limra more than we have in the past asking for both more speed and distance. You can definitely see how she is very open for the tolt as she takes steps in it for moments at a time especially during upward and downward transitions. Terral also continued the same exercises with the neck rope and dressage whip working on walk-stop-walk, backing up, and kissing the stirrups.
Next I stepped into the round pen. I did a circle hanging over her but slipped off because I was struggling to maintain my position. I went ahead and mounted all the way up first sitting astride and then sitting side saddle for a circle. Terral implemented a change of direction and the side saddle became awkward. We decided to just go for it and I sat fully astride. Terral began with some walking circles with lots of changes of direction. Limra was totally calm and confident. Then we decided to attempt some trot/tolt. Within the first trot circle Limra kicked up and out with her butt and changed directions (not severe enough to call it a buck but headed in that direction). Terral lowered his energy and went to catch her eye again. Then we of course proceeded to have a small argument over how to handle the situation. We landed on small trot transitions on a circle with Terral running backwards in shorter bursts to help maintain the trot. This approach worked really well and she stayed connected with Terral and there were no other outbursts.
One of the things I felt was Limra was really struggling just balancing herself with me especially at the faster speed. I had the idea of working on the hind quarter yields to see if that could help her find more bend, and therefore balance, while carrying my weight. I ended coaching Terral through some of the ways I have worked on bend with her in previous sessions by playing with moments of more draw vs. drive and how I angle my whips and arms. We worked on this for a while but then of course I felt that I needed to show Terral how it is done properly. Oh the joys of training as a couple (hehehe). Then I had Terral practice again and he was able to get better moments. There was one awkward moment where Limra strayed off track and tried to come to me so I drove her away and Terral caught her again.
Overall I was super happy with this first real ride on Limra. Although there was that small moment where we lost her and she kicked out overall she was calm and handled everything really well. At the end of the day I would of course prefer Limra to feel comfortable expressing her emotions about toting me around for the first time than be emotionally repressed. I think what is also important was as soon as we broke the trot work down into smaller components she stayed willing and connected. As is so often the case in training, simply setting the horse up for success by breaking down a behavior into smaller pieces is key to progress.
That said, a part of me wanted to wait and work with Patrick & Avery the next time I rode Limra. Terral and I had many questions as to how they generally progress through this phase of starting a horse bridleless. We really value their approach and ideas and decided that it may be good to use the clinic with them as an opportunity to educate our next steps with Limra.
Session 25 - June 5
This session was a review of all the basic maneuvers at liberty that Limra is trained in. I wanted to check in and see how she was doing and determine what she remembered of our spring training. It was quite incredible how much she retained. This really speaks to the quality of this liberty approach in my opinion. After a long break from a normal young horse start you would often experience the need to spend several days reviewing and catching the horse up to where you left off. I have noticed this ability to retain the training over long breaks with my other liberty horses but it was fun to see it play out with Limra. I think that this ease with returning to training is due to the clarity with which the horse understands the core principles at liberty and the emotional regulation it teaches.
The one variation that I added this session was working more in straighter lines and bigger circles going all the way to the edge of the round pen. This maneuver appears in some of the green horse liberty classes in the International Liberty Horse Association patterns which is why it popped into my head as something to work on in this session. Ironically, it turned out that moving in straighter lines with more forward energy was something that Patrick and Avery really emphasized when I was riding her in lessons with them later in the year.