Sora is the most incredible horse I've ever been around. It's like having some combination of the Black Stallion, Pegasus, a unicorn, etc. etc. Literally she is my dream horse. The horse I would dream about when I was a little girl and didn't have a horse and even later when I had my big, scary buckskin terror. She is everything I wanted and more that I could have imagined. I bought her looking for specific things but discovered that she has qualities that I hadn't even thought to look for.
I would never claim that it has much to do with my training. I am a fair trainer and I have a bit of experience but the best I can say about myself is that I have been trying exceedingly hard to forget all about the training methods I was taught when I was thirteen-fifteen and practiced until a few months before I got Sora. I'd do anything to make her happy and make sure she is a comfortable, healthy, horse. To make sure that happens I've been doing research on different training methods and ideas for the past few years. I've combined them and done what's worked best for Sora and I think I've been doing fairly well.
I went out today and both Sora and I were a little off. I don't know what was going on with Sora. I think she was just testing me. I was wired because I'd just had a huge diet coke to drink and the caffeine was getting to me.
Despite this I decided to take Sora out by herself. If you remember I'd been taking her gelding buddy out with her the past few times so she'd stay calm but I decided that today I'd see how she did without.
She was great in the barn, nice and calm in the crossties and didn't fuss when I girthed up her saddle. It was on the longe that she decided to test me. Normally I make her behave on the longe. I don't let her buck or gallop around. I expect her to walk when I ask her to and trot when I ask her to and certainly to stop when I ask. All of that went out the window today. She even tried graze which I thought I had cured her of :X
Once again I thought about not riding her but figured I'd at least climb on and see how she did.
Long story short she was more than wonderful. What shocked me first was that she was calm and collected in the arena even though she couldn't even see other horses. Really?!!! My sister's teenage gelding that is ridden out regularly without other horses is nervous in the arena by himself :X and this was only the ninth time I sat on her back and only about the seventh time I've really ridden her. But the biggest shocker was still to come.
She's been a little sticky about turning so today, for a break, I decided to try turning her more with my seat and weight. Once again I figured this would take some work but the first time I tried it she did perfectly!!! I do mean perfectly. She turned nicely in a small circle. After that I started using the reins and seat/leg cues together and she did better at walking all the way around the arena than she ever had before!!! She even halted perfectly when I stopped her with my seat and that worked better than using reins also. I probably shouldn't be surprised but I've never had a horse that took to it that easily. I've had well trained horses that absolutly refuse to learn anything about seat aids no matter how hard I try so I was shocked that Sora took to it so easily. I still feel like I'm walking on air and so happy I can't get the grin off my face :D :D :D :D :D
If there is anyone reading this you may notice that I gave up the quotations around our arena. I did it for a reason. I've decided I can hardly complain about our barn, our arena, our lack of nearby trails, or even our lack of a trailer because Sora makes up for all of that. I've got the best horse I could have in my back yard and that is really all I need :)
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