New barn, new trainer, new results!

It's been forever since I posted anything (not that anybody is actually reading this), but so much has changed that it's hard to wrap my mind around it all. I've moved Oliver to Gina Fiore's place, further in town, and I've been thrilled with the changes.

Gina is wonderful. She's no nonsense, straightforward, and is very quiet withe ponies - I think Oliver loves her. Here are some of the things that we're working on:

GAP: straightness, not coming through
STRATEGIES: Oliver seems to be one of the squiggliest horses I've ever ridden. He's by Oskar, out of a mostly Trak mare who was successful at Intermediate. He's got his daddy's long, long legs and mother's compact body, so that makes him feel like Bambi on ice. He doesn't have one consistent trick to get out of work - he has many, and they all involve various body parts popping all over the place. I get one shoved in, and another falls out, and that results in him not coming through and over the back. My former trainer blamed a lot of this on some old injury that he must have sustained while a baby (falling in the pasture with his back legs out behind him is the best guess), but we also tried to solve it by really pushing him forward to get him to engage his hindquarters. All that seemed to do was to worry him, and make the body parts fly faster out of line. I had come to the acceptance that he just wasn't as good a mover as his daddy and probably would never be all that great a jumper as well.

SOLUTION: Gina has me changing quite a few things. Keep the shoulders straight by keeping a feel of both reins, especially the outside rein. My hands are apparently TOO quiet and "dead" and that just let Oliver hover on the bit, faking it, which he can do very well as he has a lovely neck and it's set high on his withers. I need to keep the rein moving slightly so that he's constantly searching for the bit and not allowed to curl his chin in. The legs are also apparently doing too much, and not enough - I'm holding him up too much, especially in the canter, so that he's learned to rely on the constant leg, leg, leg, which makes me exhausted and makes him dull. Gina tells me to just keep the leg lightly there and just SIT there, enjoying the ride. Once he breaks, ask him to canter on again. You'd think that this would mean a lot of breaking and a lot of fixing at first, but no,it has the opposite effect. Because I'm quietly fixing the break and asking him to canter on, he doesn't get upset (as opposed to whacking him or booting him as before), so he stays rounder. Now he can canter quietly and when he feels like breaking, a subtle reminder with the leg keeps him on, and I get to enjoy it and just concentrate on keeping him straight in the reins, so I no longer feel like I'm juggling too many balls in the air.

GAP: no balance in his gaits
STRATEGIES: previously, they involved a lot of pushing him with the leg and whip to get him to come into the reins, with a slightly higher hand to elevate his balance. This resulted in a slightly frantic, unbalanced horse (see above) that would not be straight and not be truly pushing through from behind.

SOLUTION: sloooooow things down so that he can balance. Keep him straight while he's slower, so he can relax through the rhythm of the gait. Keeping him straight, even in the slower pace, helped him come through from behind so that his gaits have actually improved, and he's quite a cute mover now. Also, Gina has me keep my hands lower and wider to get him to come into the rein. Once he's stronger through his back, we can elevate the hands to match the elevated carriage. Keeping them higher before just resulted in a horse that faked it. Also, she has me ride the neck down to a fence, at the trot, so that he jumps up and around instead of jumping with a high head land reaching front legs. SUCH a difference in the jump, now, which makes me quieter as I feel like I can be pushed into place, instead of trying to make things happen.

So, I think I might have the horse I've been looking for all this time! Oliver has always been a total sweetheart, so it's wonderful to see more talent and ability there than I thought there was. It's very exciting to see the progression in the short time I've been with Gina (since late December of 2009), and to see what's to come! Probably going to go to MacNair's CT in March, since I can't afford to go to Southern Pines HT, but definitely Longleaf is going to be our recognized debut.