Every Day is Halloween (Oct. 4)

I wasn’t sure what Avalon was going to do when the weather turned. Most horses, especially hot-blooded horses like Arabians, are more alert and fearful as the season change. Spring and Fall are windy and different, which leaves horses more susceptible to predation. Naturally, they are spookier. It isn’t uncommon to see herd of horses trotting, cantering, or galloping around their pastures during this time of year.

At first, I was pleasantly surprised. Ava didn’t seem to notice the wind and temperature changes, but a few days later she fell into the typical behavior of horses in the fall. Halloween may be on the 31^st, but every day in October is a haunted trail for horses.

For a few months, this area has gotten a lot of rain. Remember my summer storm post? It hasn’t really stopped since then (As I edit this post, nearly twenty days later, it is still raining). Fall brought all of the rain and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I can’t help wondering if this bodes a heavy snowfall come winter…but I’ll have plenty of time to worry about that later. For now, the result of rain is mud, mud, mud, and more mud. The driveway is muddy. The pasture is muddy. The arena is muddy. 

This adds an additional challenge to training, as Avalon likes to bolt mindlessly and fall down. I have never met a horse who falls down as much as Ava does. I don’t think it is neurological, because she runs around perfectly fine in the pasture. However, when she bolts or takes off during training, she pays no attention to her feet and often falls directly on her rear end. Totally makes me want to start riding her . . . or not. 

I love her ears in this picture: one on me, one on the trees.

I played the circling game with her in the arena, the goal being to make her think instead of reacting (and stay on her feet). She has improved so much! I think she still slipped once, when I asked her to canter. She can trot and walk calmly, but as soon as she canters, she panics and bolts. I have a theory that it is claustrophobia from hitting the end of the lead rope. I’ll play around with a longer rope and see if a bigger circle helps her.

The other thing we worked on was downward transitions. She knows her upward transitions well and responds to the cue promptly. However, downward transitions are all but nonexistent. On a more positive note, our circles are circular! It seems small but it is a victory for us. 

I was asking Avalon to back up here. She thought I wanted her to flex laterally, so she flexed all the way to one side, and then the other. The whole time she looked at me like, "Isn't this what you want?"

I mentioned a while ago that I’ve been long lining Avalon! She follows the feel at the walk and the trot. I used to have trouble getting her to move out, but now she is forward and responsive. She does try to rubberneck and push through the aids. I’m not worried, we both just need to get the hang of it. I love how low she holds her head. She really reaches into the “contact” of the reins and rope halter.