Asking nicely

Sofie has been going strength from strength recently. Her behavior is worlds apart from the bardgy headstrong haflinger I was describing last summer. She is increasingly gentle, calm, sensible and sweat. She now nannies nervous horses on roads, babysits small children, and calmly accompanies Mr T on estate jaunts, gamely herding him and standing to hold gates open for him as required. She will wait on the yard without protest, and can be left untied without fear of her charging off.

I have come to realise I was very wrong on my initial assessment of Sofie. Sof is in fact very willing by nature. All of her behaviour issues seem to stem from insecurity not naughtiness. Yes she can be very excitable – but I think it is normally when she is feeling a little worried by something. Using force on her tends to have a negative response – she panics, asking gently seems to work much more effectively. Loading case in point.

She still has a few behavioral issues. The main ones for riding are still her aversion to white lines, and sometimes break failure. I’ve been trying to work out the best way to deal with these for Sofie, in particular the break failure.

When the pace increases, particularly on the way home, Sof can gather pace and does not stop when asked. Sometimes she just stays in a steady canter, but won’t trot, other times she just gets faster and faster. Pulling the reigns has no effect, if anything she just pulls more. It is not frightening, she is not blind bolting – but not helpful when you are with other nervous riders. I bought a Pelham bit thinking that a stronger bit would work – but haven’t had the heart to put it on her. My instincts are telling me this is the wrong course of action.

Sofie does not respond well to force.

Sofie does not stop when you pull harder.

More force and more pulling are perhaps not the answer.

And so I have ordered a bitless bridle to try. It is an unusual response to a strong horse – but my logic is she may well be speeding up because she is nervous in the situation and the pain from me pulling the bit is making it worse. I am a bit worried about testing out this theory – I think we will start in the school then progress to the front field so that we are nice and safe.

You never know, in a few months’ time I may well be a proper barefoot bitless treeless hippy. I’ll keep you posted.