Free Again

With Thunder at school and some of my time free for both greys, I was hoping that Lancey would make comparable progress to Arwen this winter and finally break through this connection issue we've had forever and ever. Instead, we've had kind of a rocky winter.

It started when K and I boxed Lancey and Faith out to Caesarsvlei to ride with EM and Anke on 16 June, which is a public holiday. Anke, who has had very little hacking and travelling experience, was absolutely amazing. For the first time ever, Lancey was not. 

He started the ride on the wrong foot by spooking hugely at a dog popping out of the bushes - a legit spook, but the first time he's ever actually turned and run. It rattled me and things got worse when he started to nap and I could have handled it more kindly, but instead insisted he go forward, which only made him nap harder. He was pretty solid for the next while and then halfway up a mountain he lost his mind completely and gave four or five BIG rears. Totally out of character for him; I bailed out when he landed from the last one, and he stopped and stood there snorting for a moment, then relaxed. I brushed my hands over him to make sure there was nothing on him and didn't find anything, but when I got back on, he was back to plodding on a loose rein with no issues. He hasn't done it in the two months since so I'm pretty sure something stung him or poked him or pinched him or something, but it rattled me half to death.

the snow ride (July 10) was joggy but so worth it

Not coincidentally, he pulled, fussed and jogged toward the end of the ride, and we had several joggy, pulling hacks in July. I'd just tweaked his diet to put some weight on him so I'm sure that had something to do with it and my nerves certainly weren't helping.

yes it does snow here... every 10 years or so

Things kind of went down the toilet toward the end of July. Our dressage rides were downright horrid. We'd make okay progress, then go back to being unable to trot a serpentine without throwing his nose in the air. He kicked at my leg. He bucked through the changes so hard that I stopped trying them and went back to basics, again. His body didn't feel great, although the bodywork fixed that. Things were just kind of crappy and we weren't getting along.

Two things happened to change that. Firstly, DRASA - our national competitive trail riding organisation - launched a virtual competitive trail ride which looked really fun. You could pick a distance and had three weeks to track and submit your miles, which could include arena miles, as well as a short horsemanship test. I entered the 20km division to challenge me to get him onto the trails and rebuild our confidence a bit.

rebuilding courage with E2 and Leia

I started out straight away by doing very slow, short solo hacks like I'd done when I'd just gotten him, and they made a magical difference. Lancey instantly reverted to his perfect self (honestly I don't think perfect Lancey ever left - it was me who needed to remove my head from my posterior) and we had some really good times together.

Secondly, I made a decision to back off on the dressage with him. Is he good for me to learn on? Absolutely. Will I continue to improve his schooling? Yes. Do I really have the time to keep three horses in competitive dressage shape AND enjoy trail riding with friends, playing with liberty, and attending breed shows? There is absolutely no chance. 

Arwen and Thunder are both farther along in their schooling, more enjoyable to ride, and actively enjoy dressage more while needing less bodywork and maintenance. We have a two-berth horsebox so usually only show two at a time. It was an obvious decision to focus my time and resources on them in terms of dressage work... and free up a frustrated Lanceycorn to be what he really wants to be: a cherished pet, trail horse, and show pony.

Maybe we'll make a return to the dressage ring sometime, but right now it feels good to take the pressure off and prioritise our relationship over show ring goals that I'm already privileged to be achieving with my other two amazing partners. I feel like it's time to celebrate Lancey for being Lancey.

In that spirit, outrides with friends have been the name of our game lately. We've done a lot of short, quiet hacks at home, solo and in pairs, on trails that we know and are comfortable on, and they went a long way toward rebuilding our trust in one another.

A good test came on Friday, when we headed out with Anke and EM to check out a venue for a mountain biking event where we were thinking of using the mounted unit. Lanceycorn was, of course, impeccable to travel - even when we dropped Anke off at her yard and then took him home on his own - and even pretty impeccable at the very spooky venue itself. There were a lot of random things to snort at, like signs and rocks and piles of wood and (most memorably) a stick that nearly murdered both of us, but he was doing his trademarked spook-in-place which doesn't worry either of us. He was a little nappy at a few points, but didn't mind if Anke left us. Almost back to his perfect self.

he was bathed for the occasion and I had to record an actually white Lancey for posterity

Even when a bunch of enormous trucks, tractors and things went past, and a whirlwind caught the copious danger tape being used to mark out the parking, Lancey didn't really care. We ended up not going to the event because of a HUGE loose dog that chased us (luckily not coming within biting range - I have no faith in Lancey's ability to fight off angry dogs; he'd happily offer up his legs as chew toys) but it was a confidence-building outing all round.

Anke as voluptuous as ever

That did leave us without the long, long ride that I'd anticipated to finish up our 20km for the online CTR, so on Monday morning, I dragged E2 along on Toy Town and we had a long ride around the farm instead. This was the first time that Lancey and I felt entirely like our old selves again. From the moment we left the gate on a loose rein, we were happy and chill to be out together, two friends doing our thing. He spooked at the same water trough he always spooks at (obviously) and we just carried on happily. I even volunteered for a nice long canter, and though he was a little wriggly and wanted to pop out a tiny buck as we went into it, we had a great time. He chugged along in his perfect little dressage canter while Toy Town bucked, snorted, ran away with E2, disappeared over the horizon, etc.

We even had all three doggos with us and their various popping out of the bushes did nothing to phase Lancey. Instead we enjoyed a gorgeous stroll through the harvested soya fields, getting pursued by the cows. I hopped off to grab a snare off the south boundary fence and he stood quietly while I wrestled with it. (Poaching is sadly alive and well around here, even if it's porcupines and aardvarke instead of rhinos in our particular corner of Africa).

We went home with another nice easy canter up the hill, and I couldn't be happier. Sure, I took a confidence knock, but we fixed it. We're back to ourselves again and maybe stronger than ever.

All thanks to my little white knight, a horse named Lancelot.

God is so good.