30 Rides on Willow

Willow hasn't been ridden much this winter due to different things, but the main reason is she doesn't like going out alone and my partner and I have different days off. With inconsistent riding comes spooky behavior. This spooky behavior has caused both of my last falls (no I wasn't riding her at the time) Okay so her behavior didn't exactly cause my falls, I could have prevented the falls had I been paying better attention. But her spooky behavior has led to lost confidence in my partner. She gets nervous waiting for the next spook there for Willow gets nervous and spooks more. It is a vicious cycle.

So I came up with a game plan. For one my partner has to get her confidence back so they are going to be doing ground work and riding in the arenas only for now until they find their groove again. And I am going to put 30 rides on Willow over the next two months. Some will be out alone and some will be with others.

Yesterday we had our 1st ride out alone. Before we tacked up though I spent a lot of time doing ground work and just hanging out with her. She was already nervous so I needed to have her calm before riding. After ground work we rode in the outdoor arena. She gave me some really nice walk/gait transitions and then we threw in a little canter work. She was great for that too! After that we headed out to ride the roads around the barn. Not far, but just to bring her to the edge of her comfort zone and then back. I need her to realize I am not going to push her past her comfort zone before she is ready. We ended back by the arena just sitting and taking it all in. She did great despite the wind.