Pacha - October 16, 2008

Pacha was not too enthusiastic for getting out of his box stall. I had to drag him out till the arena. We had the whole arena for us. Needed somebody to hold him while I mounted. Pacha was on his toes, afraid and nervous. He particularly disliked a corner of the arena where poles where piled up, and the noise of a clipper in a nearby corridor. I walked him during 10', trying to get him closer and closer to the spots he disliked. Besides, we did several stops at various places, and he was able to stand still much better than before. Then posting trot during 10': it took more time than in the previous session to unroll him and to stretch his stride. I focused on capturing his attention to avoid him shying away from his 'scaring spots'. Back to walk for 10': nice beginning of shoulder-in, both hands with a little lovely lipstick. This 'aspirine de l'equitation' as Nuno Oliveira said seems to work fine with him! He got more focussed and less distracted after it. We then did an attempt of sitting trot on the circle: good progress here, with progressive calming down and yielding leading to a more relaxed, less bumpy gait.This was the best moment of today's session. To end up, we did 10' canter both hands. First starts a bit disorderly, but the canter was round at the hand, although the tendency to rush did not disappear completely. We went back to the stables. I realised that he was fairly wet, which I do not like to see. I have to keep in mind that he is young, very warm and easily excited.
There is a specific challenge here: the fact that Pacha is being used in group lessons with riders not necessarily skilled enough for him. I was told that he is often difficult during these group lessons, and very unsettled by the hand mistakes (unwanted oppositions with legs) of some students - which make him 'cantering in place', and moving his head, hindquarters etc in disorder...We will have to put up with this, and I will have to keep in mind that his disposition may vary depending on what might have happened during the previous group lessons.I will also try to convince the instructors not to give him to riders without sufficient experience.