Working on Our Bridleless Goals

The other day, I worked on creating our 2017 Goals. One of those goals for me is to get Charmer to be a nice horse, while bridleless, at the walk, trot and canter.

Good ol' bridleless fun with Pancho

I am a firm believer that you always need to find something fun to do with your horse in order to break up the monotony of consistently practicing for your sport, or you and your horse will both get burned out or bored. For a lot of people, that takes the shape of trail riding.

That one time I took Charmer on a trail ride

For me, trail rides are definitely not my idea of fun. Too much space, and I overthink the things that could go wrong. I am not one of the people that can calmly drop the buckle and let my horse wander around on a loose rein on a trail ride. I have done it before with certain horses, but on Charmer. They are no fun.

Do not be fooled by the smile

Especially because Charmer also does not enjoy trail rides. He gets overwhelmed by the amount of space, and usually by the end of it, we are both just very grateful to see the trailer and untack and go home.

Flying

So for me, my version of fun is bridleless work. Pancho was a rockstar at it (and enjoyed it more than anything else), so we took regular days without a bridle to just have some fun. 

Happy horse and rider

I am looking to get Charmer to carry himself like this and me to be able to ride like this, just minus the bridle! One problem. When Charmer feels the contact drop (especially in the canter), or if we don't have any contact to begin with, he kind of...spazzes out.

Usually ends up looking like this

He is well versed in the concept of grabbing the bit and leaning on it to go faster. That was a defense mechanism he came built-in with. But we have spent a lot of time on the fact that contact is good, and does not mean he needs to run. Now contact is almost like a security blanket for him it seems.

He does not run as through he is taking advantage of the situation or simply ignoring my cues. He actually does a little bit of a "bolt". He sucks his butt under him and gets nervous and just goes. The lack of contact scares him. That is hard to work with. At this point, it is a lot of slow work, teaching him that no contact does not equal faster, and freedom is not scary, but is actually pretty fun. I love bridleless, and I think when he gets over his fear of the lack of contact, he will enjoy it too. 

Wish Charmer went this nice bridleless

After about 30 minutes of work last night, I finally got Charmer to a point of being relaxed and quiet but forward in the walk, trot and canter both directions relying solely on a tack rein (mine is simlar to the one in the picture, but less harsh). Long and frustrating ride, but I have a lot of hope for him!

No media, since it was late and in a dark indoor, but hopefully I can get a little proof soon. 

Next bridleless horse - here I come!