Christine wrote about her training issue: "I have an eight year old gelding who I bought from my friend who moved away. I have been riding him for three years, usually twice a week for 30 to 60 minutes a time. I am not a trainer but I have been doing pretty good with him but now we are not making any progress and it's frustrating. And in some ways he's getting worse. Maybe dull is a better word. There is a local trainer about 45 miles away which is always an option but another friend of mine sent her horse there and the horse came back with a pretty severe skin fungus. I'll take any suggestions. v/r Christine."
I'm not being a smart mouth, but,....join the club. Just the other day I was riding and my horse seemingly forgot everything we've been working on....least it seemed that way. I know enough now not to get into a fight with him, and even though I know horses have bad days like we do, it was still pretty disappointing. In fact in ruined an otherwise good day. Once I got back to the corral before unsaddling him I did a couple things that he's always been good about, loading himself into the trailer and siding up to me on a fence rail so I can mount, just so I could salvage something out of the day and end on a good note.
I was thinking about that ride and what I did and could have did different, so it became pretty clear that I should have just slowed up.
Two days later, I saddled him just with the thought of going someplace. So we went out into the desert for a few hours, not doing anything but riding and had a great ride. We didn't do anything other than some walk to jog to canter transitions, following coyotes tracks and even found an old brass D ring that came off some unlucky cowboy's saddle probably years ago.
So I'm saying this because sometimes you gotta accept that you're not going to always make progress each day. I have to remember this as well.
Another thing you may do is to break the lesson down in as small of increments as you can. Say for instance you are working on turns on the forehand and your horse is getting smoother and responds to lighter cues. Then all of a sudden he is stiffer and needs more definitive cues,...maybe he's bracing on you as well. Think about starting over like you are teaching him turns on the forehand from the beginning. Ask him as subtle as you can for the slightest movement of his hip, once he gives you that, stop and pet him, let him think on it, then do it again. This isn't really starting over, it's just asking him in a different way and lets him be successful.
You did not elaborate on what things your horse is not progressing through or even regressing in, but riding twice a week on what is still a pretty young horse probably ain't working in your favor. Riding a little bit more often may help solidify those lessons and also give you some room just to ride and enjoy your horse. It can't be all work for him and you know the saying about a lot of wet saddle blankets making a good horse.
One more thing you might try is on those bad days where you think you're not making any progress, be sure to finish with something your horse does well. Somebody said words to the effect 'its not how you start, it's how you finish that counts".
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