Bitchy Teenager
I was complaining about how I had nothing to write about this week after a solid thirty minutes of whining about how my horse has suddenly developed opinions that don't align 100% with mine. It seems Runkle vacillates between scared and needing a comforting, confident ride and annoyed that he's being asked to do more than graze and torture his field mates.
I believe we've crossed over into the teenage years.
How many of you have dealt with this? It's a new phenomenon with me. Where he used to say "yes ma'am" when he got in trouble he's now saying yes ma'am, going into his room for time out but tying his bedsheets together into a ladder to escape out the window in the middle of the night to go drinking and defacing school property with his friends.
It's a little exhausting.
His biggest issue is he's not SUPER interested in going forward which, newsflash, I know since he failed out of racehorse school.
I ask him to move forward into trot and he blobs like goo into a shuffle and oh my gaaaah woman you're so terrible and annoying I don't want to do this you're the WORST.
Last week I had the pleasure of scoring a flat and jump lesson with Jill Henneberg and she kicked both of our asses. Before my jump lesson she kicked my butt for 20 minutes on the flat. It resulted in a fantastic jump lesson. He was in front of my leg, easy to turn and adjust and he was strong in the bridle which I like for jumping.
I promptly forgot about that and did a way too relaxed 15 minute warm up before my jump lesson on Monday. It's totally my fault, he can't remind me I need to warm up. And even if he could, I think he wouldn't. The ensuing lesson reflected this.
She also kicked our hineys on the flat as well, with 40 minutes of Work. Note the capital W. I was panting and sweating everywhere at the end (so was he!) but god damn if we didn't have three nice, forward, elastic, supple gaits at the end.
It's just so much work to make him work. He's not offering everything to me for funsies out of the goodness of his heart and ... maybe I am going through a whiny, petulant teenager phase because I can be lazy too.
It's not enough to go through the motions and make it out to the barn every day. I can't just tack up and do a hack around the property and be just pleased with the fact that he didn't spook and run off. Gone are the days where I'm happy with a ride because he turned left every single time I asked him to.
He's trained. He's not done but he's trained and it's time to start upping the ante. Expecting more not just from him but also from me.
Urgh.
I believe we've crossed over into the teenage years.
How many of you have dealt with this? It's a new phenomenon with me. Where he used to say "yes ma'am" when he got in trouble he's now saying yes ma'am, going into his room for time out but tying his bedsheets together into a ladder to escape out the window in the middle of the night to go drinking and defacing school property with his friends.
It's a little exhausting.
His biggest issue is he's not SUPER interested in going forward which, newsflash, I know since he failed out of racehorse school.
I ask him to move forward into trot and he blobs like goo into a shuffle and oh my gaaaah woman you're so terrible and annoying I don't want to do this you're the WORST.
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| This happens in real life. |
I promptly forgot about that and did a way too relaxed 15 minute warm up before my jump lesson on Monday. It's totally my fault, he can't remind me I need to warm up. And even if he could, I think he wouldn't. The ensuing lesson reflected this.
She also kicked our hineys on the flat as well, with 40 minutes of Work. Note the capital W. I was panting and sweating everywhere at the end (so was he!) but god damn if we didn't have three nice, forward, elastic, supple gaits at the end.
It's just so much work to make him work. He's not offering everything to me for funsies out of the goodness of his heart and ... maybe I am going through a whiny, petulant teenager phase because I can be lazy too.
It's not enough to go through the motions and make it out to the barn every day. I can't just tack up and do a hack around the property and be just pleased with the fact that he didn't spook and run off. Gone are the days where I'm happy with a ride because he turned left every single time I asked him to.
He's trained. He's not done but he's trained and it's time to start upping the ante. Expecting more not just from him but also from me.
Urgh.
c'mon Runkle! the beatings will continue until morale improves!!
ReplyDeleteMy girl went through a similar phase. It does get better, slowly ;)
ReplyDeleteRamone went through this at 5/6 and it was super annoying and thankfully was over by the time he was 7 and I sold him!
ReplyDelete