I began this year with the goal of traveling more with Stanley. Many short fun local trips to help him become more comfortable with going places.
As it happens my trailer is home and stripped for some deep renovations.
Luckily the farm has a trailer available to rent.
Towards the end of May our local group ENYDCTA (Eastern New York Dressage and Combined Training Association) held their first schooling show of the season.
I meant it when I said we were going slow. I signed Stanley up as a non-compete so we could simply get him out. You might remember earlier in May (A Busy May) I took him to a local show to walk around. I didn’t ride. The goal this time around was to get up on his back and ride in the warmup area.
Stanley rose to the occasion. We tacked him up and walked around. He was able to look at anything, and he took it all in stride. He was pretty calm so I hopped on and walked around. He enjoyed watching the jump rounds. I took him to the field where people were taking some warmup jumps. He trotted around and softened. Not fully, but more relaxed than he’s ever been away from home. It was a win.
The big challenge is to have him value my leadership when Tiger is also traveling with us. The following two days we were both signed up for the Tik Maynard/Sinead Halpin clinic. We booked day stalls so that they could sit and chill while we watched other groups. As soon as they were in stalls Stanley was offended and upset. He was just short of frantic, calling, crying. It was pitiful but he needed to learn his coping skills.
On Monday I was scheduled to ride flat with Sinead. We rode in the morning and he was everything I needed to get the help I needed from her. The outdoor arena is about a half mile walk away and we were a private lesson. For the whole ride Sinead had me do circles. We went left. We went right. When he wanted to speed up and trot I made it my idea and encouraged it. If he wanted to offer a walk, I made it my idea and encouraged it. When we softened and lowered his head, I gave him a scratch.
It was all basics, but it was structured and effective…precisely what I needed. Sinead drove in the point that I become more interesting when I want to do what he wants to do. The structure of this took the emotion out of it for myself because I could be confident the system will work, and it was up to Stanley to sort out his own emotions.
Of all clinics, this is where I wanted him to require the most help. And he delivered, and we got the help we needed. I am now more confident in our future overcoming his travel/separation anxiety.
That afternoon Suzanne rode Tiger on the flat with Tik. I was thrilled to watch Tik climb aboard! Tik rode my horse!!!!
Tik and Suzanne worked with Tiger on helping him approach the scary corner in an effective manner. They also worked on his laziness. He tends to be very conservative of energy and sucks back. They worked on getting him to respond to aids more quickly to bring the energy level up and down. Finally, they worked on energy within the gaits.
Tuesday was a different day.
Stanley must have expended most of his energy Monday because he arrived to the host farm calm and walked into the stall like he knew the routine. This time Tiger had the morning lesson, so we got him ready and brought him to the outdoor for a clinic with Sinead. They worked on 2’7″ courses and developing the cadence and confidence on approaching the jump.
In the afternoon I brought Stanley to the indoor for our groundwork session with Tik. I told Tik I wanted to develop my leadership skills so that Stanley views me more as his leader instead of calling to his brother. As it happened Stanley was not worried this afternoon and was cool as a cucumber. I also told Tik that when Stanley gets concerned, he gets closer to me, wanted to push his shoulder into me and I’d like to establish better boundaries.
We worked first on backing up with our body language. We then “sent” the horses inside a ring to retrieve cookies on barrels placed in the center of the circle. Stanley mastered the Liverpool, he’s normally pretty brave about these types of things.
We worked on getting them to yield the haunches and the shoulders, and we ended it on yielding them along the wall, crossing front legs and hind legs.
One major takeaway from this was boundaries and maintaining them. Tik made sure to talk to us about being present and mindful when your near and around your horse’s face. Whenever talking to others or watching the horse show, he wants the horse either 6 feet away or he stands near the barrel or hind legs. Standing by the face and not staying mindful he equates to pulling out your phone in the middle of dinner. It’s rude.
Since then I’ve been working on maintaining this concept. Whenever I remember I have Stanley stay a comfortable distance from me. When he relaxes and when I can give him 100% of me I either invite him back or I go to him.
In all it was a very successful three days. Stanley worked through a lot of emotional stress and I learned tools to help him continue that work. My goal this year is to be able to go places with or without Tiger and Stanley stay the same horse regardless. My goal is to help Stanley view me as his #1, so I have a lot of work to do to earn that type of respect. Above all, it comes down to listening to his needs and never push him too far over the threshold.
In July we’re looking forward to some other small outings to further advance our relationship.
The Green Horseman 
Congrats on a successful ‘away from home’ adventure!
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