26th May

He is still a bit unsettled by the presence of Enigma and Enzo, but walked straight away from the field without planting. It was easier to work him in the end of the school from which he can't see his field. So I did that to avoid adding to our problems.

Our walk at the start was fantastic!!! Only a couple of circles on each rein and he was soft and even in both hands. Woohoo!!!

Trot was not so good initially. I wish I knew what I do to make him block his right side against me and refuse to take a contact in the left rein. I'm so sure it's me. Anyway. After lots circles we weren't getting very far. I ended up doing a figure of eight which did help.

He'll do a couple of lovely even strides and then starts to set his right hand side of his neck and jaw and drop the left contact and eventually tilts his nose to the left.  He focuses very quickly on this and I lose his attention. I ask him to circle right, with an open right rein and strong inside leg, trying to push him into my left hand. He seems genuinely surprised every time I do this.  Once he's softened and I have a contact in my left rein I start to go straighter again. At which point he rushes off, so I try to slow the rhythm with my rising. If I manage to stop the rushing I get a few good steps then we go back to the beginning off the paragraph again. It is most frustrating for both of us.  I'm sure that as he relaxes for a few strides I do too and probably drop the left rein a bit, but there must be more to it than that. (This happens on both the left and right rein, but its always the near side rein I loose contact in).

I can return to walk and get him even again and after a couple of circles in walk his stride lengthens and I have an even contact.

Anyway, after driving each other mad like this for a while I had an idea. I would only expect a couple of good strides and then ask for a transition or change of rein. This works. I can manage a few nice strides of trot and before we lose it I distract him (and possibly me?) by changing something. I imagine that through doing this I will be able to extend the periods of time before making a change.  It just seems a bit depressing that we can't do better than this.

I also find it easier to keep an even contact if I raise my right hand.

We finished our session in relative peace with each other.


I sent part of this as a message to Bento and this was his reply:


About your question: I got passioned about the KISS rule: keep It Simple and Stupid!!!!
Training scale says: Rhythm, Looseness and Contact as the 3 first items. This order is also important!
You need a consistent rhythm (not getting faster, nor slower), the horse getting relaxed through his body and reaching the contact.
Horses tend to be different on one of their sides just to get you distracted.
At a certain moment you say you changed rein and Xaile got better. This means you are getting "maniac" about perfection before moving on to something else! This system makes the horse tense and bored!
Try to get small improvements on very basic things (rythm), then change rein, another small improvement, changing again. Moving on to looseness: a bit on the left, a bit on the right.
If you this well, the contact has to get better!!!
I hope this helps!
Please let me know!