Catching Pixie

Having just returned from San Diego, I shocked my system with a 55 degree change in temperature and spend the day at the barn.  That’s right, yesterday, as I drove to the barn the temperature on the bank sign read 15 degrees!  But it was absolutely worth it.  

Pixie and I spent some time on groundwork in the indoor arena.  I lunged her, sent her over the bridge and did the circle game with her.  And I started working with her on flexing.  I can’t remember if I’ve explained this before, but flexing is the process of bringing the horses head around to the side (this can be done on the horse or from the ground) and holding her head in the stretched position until she “gives” or relaxes, then you instantly release.  It’s kind of like yoga.  It’s an important part of ensuring that you have a soft horse and plays a huge role in the one-rein-stop.

I guess at the beginning a lot of horses don’t really dig flexing.  Pixie is definitely one of those horses.  She did pretty well on her left side, but her right side was a whole different ball o’ wax.  I’d bring her head around in a baby flex and she would twist and thrash her head, anything to get out of the flex.  Well I surprised myself by  knowing immediately what to do.  if she started to whip her head around, I would MOVE HER FEET.  I backed her up “Paulette style” as Ted called it.  I would run towards her aggressively and get her to back up about 30 feet and then walk away like nothing happened.  Then I’d start over.  It worked like a charm.  The most surprising thing is that I reacted without instruction from anyone.  I was by myself and I knew what to do!  It’s a baby step for me, kind of like a baby flex.  We’re learning so much together!