Can you teach an old pony new tricks?

.....and am I referring to an actual pony?
or maybe just me ;)

There's not much about myself I'm proud of,no really, there isn't *sigh*....
HOWEVER...
One thing I do think is something to pat myself on the back about is my willingness to try things another way, to not get buried under the tombstone that is "THIS IS HOW ITS BEEN DONE FOR YEARS AND HOW WE SHALL ALWAYS DO IT!!!!

So, maybe I should start at  the beginning.

I've been quietly getting back into riding regularly.
I lost some more weight, I'm feeling positive, I really wanted to get back to enjoying riding like I used to.    

You see, I lost my confidence quite badly after having children.
I went from a "sit on any wild beastie/ bomb around the x-country course" rider to one who was frightened to ride alone.

What happened?
Lots of little things really. My body changed after having Ollie and suddenly I didn't have the "stickability" to sit a nasty buck or sneaky whip round anymore.
Then we moved, I had two more kids, the riding where we live is awful. The road work is just dangerous and slowly I just ........ Stopped.

But anyway.
I started getting interested in western riding again.
Its something I've dabbled in from time to time over the last 15 years. I'm amazed at how the English style riding people consistently say how "cruel" the western style is, but I can only conclude that most of them have never actually watched any and think that western riding is synonymous with rodeo.... which it most certainly is not. Just because the riders in rodeo use western tack doesn't mean that's how you should ride/train a western horse.

I digress though.

Youtube is an amazing resource, so I decided to set up a list and find some instructional videos to save and use as home lesson plans.
While on there I came across Warwick Schiller and boy.... someone flipped the switch!

I watched him riding and handling horses, young horses, problem horses, horses people were days away from throwing in the towel with, and I saw everyone of them become a dream horse.
Happy and  confident.

And it was so simple.
Well it wasn't, you have to be on the ball and consistent and committed but it was simple.

Making the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy.          
..... and that's all it is.

Its all about taking the pressure away, of not harrying the horse, letting him work things out and then do the job without you fussing constantly.

Well I was impressed, more so than the whole Monty Roberts cult we all had in the 90's.

So I decided to put some of it to the test with Badger.

Now Badger isn't a horse anyone would say needed "fixing".

He's the horse you can put the kids on, he's fairly sensible, laid back, but..... if he was so good, why was I still worried about riding him alone?

As I worked through some minor niggles with him, I realised he wasn't quite as laid back as we always assume he is.
The joke has always been that he's "passive aggressive", but it wasn't really funny.

Over the last three days I've come to realise that my nervousness was about things like, not being sure I'd be able to get back on him if I had to get off (and because he wears hoof boots there's always the chance that will happen if one came off on a ride)... He's funny to get on sometimes, won't stand still, doesn't like bikes or motor bikes, pulls like a train...... and all these things I've nearly ironed out in THREE DAYS!!

I'm being clear, consistent, I'm making the right behavior easy for him.

He's listening to me rather than fighting me, he's learning to try.
We're having fun again.

So for the first time in a long time I'm getting my confidence back.
Fingers x'd!      

This video is very clever and shows the tiny things this girl (come on.. we've ALL done) does to make her situation worse.