Bali: inside and out (of the ring)

This past weekend brought a LOT of time with Bali. I've ridden Isabel a couple times since graduating from the walking boot to a brace... but quite frankly I haven't felt a huge rush to get her going again. My few rides proved that she's still GOT IT, but that I most definitely do not.

I'm also not cleared for full capacity yet, and am not really pushing myself or riding super long. So the circumstances aren't ideal for truly legging her up again - instead it kinda just looks like muddling around (but yet I still have all these high expectations of her, so I become unhappy with the muddling). Rather than end up picking fights with her, I'm leaving her more or less in vacation-mode while I get *myself* back in shape with Bali.

not exactly the beautiful silhouette shot i was going for, bali. lol

I see the advantages here as two-fold: 1 - Bali's already more or less in shape and ready to go, but is way less schooled than Isabel. So a 20min ride of just pushing all the buttons has a highly positive impact on him in a way it does not on Izzy.

And 2 - I'm feeling pessimistic about Bali's job security, like he might be on borrowed time, and am therefore motivated to put as much work into him as possible to give him the best chances of either staying with us, or landing softly into a new home.

but work is sooo hard :(

So anyway, Bali and I have been getting a lot of ring time together. Including a couple schools last week, when he was fabulous on Monday (as written about here) and maybe sliiiiiiiightly more quarrelsome on Friday. Nothing terrible, but he needed more correction than he had on Monday.

I had planned to ride him Thursday too, but his lease rider was there, a better solution anyway, and I got to watch them go for a little bit and share some hints that work for me. She's doing a really nice job with him, particularly in getting him going forward off her leg. The next steps for her will be to expect more from him, particularly with regard to inside bend.

so relaxed and quiet out of the ring

Then when I arrived on Saturday morning, I learned that he had just been a total turd in a lesson with an advanced young rider who used to lease him. Complete with kicking out and bucking. Not cool, bro. Tho it was a windy cold day and actually another horse in the arena was misbehaving way worse, so at least he wasn't #1 on the shit list haha.

tentative but happy

And actually it was kinda funny - when the barn moms (we have pretty much the coolest barn moms ever, btw) saw me going to bring him in not very long after he had been turned out they very strongly recommended against me riding him bc he had been so bad. Lol.

Meanwhile I'm thinking - "These are exactly the circumstances in which I want to ride him, when he's being naughty and I can correct it." It also told me something important in how I've been approaching his schooling. Bali never gets as far into his histrionics with me as he does with the students bc I feel it happening sooner and can correct it early.

homeward bound!

My corrections also tend to be scaled to the level of his disobedience. Meaning, in most cases, they're not very strong corrections bc he never gets very far. The idea here is to not dwell, to not make a big deal out of anything, and to not distract from the fact that I'm asking for something and would like him to get to it promptly, thankyouverymuch.

But now I'm thinking this is actually doing him a disservice in the long run. My new idea is to scale my correction to the naughty-level that he would reach with a student who might not feel the early stages of his tantrum. So that I can shut down that tantrum in a BIGGER way - and make it abundantly clear that even that brief moment of sucking back and saying 'no' is not acceptable.

wick and bali #bffs4eva

And theoretically, he'll stop even going there. Maybe. Hopefully. Idk. Anyway, that ride went perfectly fine. I shut him down a couple times for lesser offenses than I would have even the night before, and he acquiesced nicely. The biggest tool in preventing his shenanigans in the first place is inside bend (even if it's not as correct through his body as it should be).

So we focused a lot on that, with many changes of direction and serpentines. He had some straight up LOVELY moments at trot where he actually connected on the bit for a few steps and yielded his shoulders when I asked. Good boy. We finished with a quick solo trail ride around the fence lines and through the jump trail (where I trotted one of the tinier jumps bc how can you resist?).

bali is soooo much slower than wick, who is himself so much slower than isabel haha

Sunday brought more of the same. A quick school in the arena focusing on the same ideas. I think I swatted him with the dressage whip once, maybe, but really he was quite good. We worked again on figures with as correct of a bend as I can get from him. Circles, changes of rein on the diagonal and through half turns, and also lots of simple changes of lead, again and again and again.

Bali was very good - he's definitely trying hard, and appreciates leadership and having a clear understanding of what behavior is rewarded. Plus he's such a physical ride, in that he responds really well to my thigh and knee and core that it's really forcing me to be as correct as possible myself, and therefore get into shape faster.

over hill and dale (and electrical field lol)

Then Brita and I hit the trails. And it was LOVELY. A beautiful sunny day, the most mildest of breezes, with two happy friendly OTTBs putzing along through the woods. Bali is sooooo quiet on the trails. It's such a change from Isabel's lively and electric marching pace haha. Usually Izzy and I are miles ahead of everyone else, but Bali prefers to lag behind.

We tried to put him in front a couple times but he wasn't very happy there - way more tentative and wanting to nap back and get Wick in front of him again. Eh, that's an issue I might press at a later date, but for this ride I just wanted him happy.

And he was so good. Up and down hills, through all the streams (from which he drank deeply each time, good boy), out through the open fields... and even over all the jumps on the jump trail bc jumping in the woods on a 5yr old in a dressage saddle with a recovering broken leg is highly advisable lol.

the woods are so pretty in winter!

If nothing else, maybe we can find Bali a happy home as a quiet trail horse? Unless one of you out there wants to spot me the cash for his board and keep so I can have him all to myself ;)