Our First Lesson!!

 I am planning to take Flash to a USEA Future Event Horse competition this fall. These are in hand classes where the young horses (ages 1-3) are evaluated for disposition and conformation and how that equated to being an eventer in the future.  So they are shown "in hand" which means being led around at the walk and trot. Now, there is much that happens in showing a horse to his fullest potential  I have never shown a horse in hand and I thought it would be a good idea to have a lesson or two in how to do this.

So I went to a local expert on the subject, a highly talented instructor, Dressage rider and trainer who is also extremely experienced and good at showing young horses in hand.

We had a lesson set up for 5:00 this evening. I figured that would give me plenty of time to get from work to the barn, trailer hitched, Flash loaded (he's been a pro the 3 times he has ever hauled anywhere) and off to the trainer's.

Well, I did not factor in the time to work through Flash's trailer loading issues. My mistake is that I just expected him to get on. I had no reinforcement behind him and so when he figured out he did not have any pressure behind him asking him to get on, he decided he didn't have to. Then when he did get some pressure behind (thank you Erin!), he pitched a fit for awhile before he  finally decided it was easier to just get on. Oh you stinker, Flash! So we were late to leave and thus late to our lesson.
The nice thing is at least he's quite once he's on board.

So we get to the farm, and he on loads beautifully and is super quiet and calm when we walk into the barn and then down the aisle to the arena. I am not sure if he was just in shock and awe at being in a new place and didn't have time to think about being bored and feisty  or what. But I was quite thrilled with his quiet and calm nature.

So we went right to work walking and we learned about stopping with by " opening or closing the gate" with the dressage whip (or arm or lead rope or whatever is handy) while using voice to reinforce the whoa.

Flash was really good at responding to the cue, but he has already learned how to learn so it came pretty easy.  The key was keeping his eye at my shoulder  He wants to be slightly ahead of me (more like cheek to shoulder) which I need to remember to swing the gate to back up and not jiggle the lead rope.

So then we talked about turning clockwise with the same gate method (sort of an extension of the shoulders and body turning him) and he was pretty good at that too.

Then we practiced lengthening the walk by going in bigger strides counting up 1-2-3-4 then slowing down 4-3-2-1.  Pretty darn good at that too.

Then it we went over the basics of standing for conformation evaluation. So left legs need to be in straight line and perpendicular to the ground while the right side should be slightly underneath him (like a V)

He was pretty good at getting his feet where we wanted him too.  So that was it. I had one question about his mouthiness when he trots, but of course when I tried to show her what he did, he was a perfect gentleman. oh well.

If he attempts anything she suggested I blow up at him for a second or two and then go right back to work as if nothing had happened.

Then it was time to head home. We were ready for a loading issue this time, and since there was someone right behind him, he had no trouble climbing into the trailer.

So a few things to practice and next time we will work on trotting. The biggest objective was getting him to a new place and giving him a job. We succeeded in both.

In the end, a good day.