The Hazard of Versatility

[posted to Morganlist, 30 June 1997, not long after making the switch to reining from dressage/eventing/hunters]

...is the occasional cross-training bobble. To wit: I was doing some fast, extended lope work in the jumping ring: it has far and away the best footing on the property for reining work. Since Corey was wanting to hold back a bit on the extensions, to encourage him I had lifted my rear end out of the saddle in more or less an approximation of my usual eventing seat. (Heels down, legs relaxed and loose at the horse's side, backside just slightly out of the saddle, weight balanced and carried on thighs, rolling with the horse's motion.) Worked great -- he really zoomed out on the extensions and zipped right back into collection as soon as my seatbones were back in contact with the saddle, asking for a slower cadence.

The trouble came when I turned on a circle in such a fashion that for a brief instant we were lined up on one of the jumps in the ring. Those foxy little ears snapped forward in target acquisition mode, his hindquarters sucked up underneath, forehand lightened, and every fiber in the little horse's body was fairly giggling "FENCE! ohmyohmyyesyesFENCE!" In the normal course of things a 2'3" jump is no big deal, but I am still less than rock-solid in a western saddle, and the thought of going over anything other than tiny X's in one makes my blood run cold. To forestall what looked like a real disaster in the making, I gave a half-halt, sat down on the horse and and made my seat very slow. Unfortunately, what I got back translated to "Wheeeeee! BIG fence!" and a powerfully collected and forward moving horse. At this point we are four strides out and in Do or Die mode. A slightly stiff outside rein and a goodly shove with the outside knee managed to snap him off the line to the jump... thank the Powers That Be. We continued on a long diagonal and did a couple of jog laps until Corey no longer seemed, by some perverse gravity, to be sucked into a line on every fence we passed.

The burning question that remains in my mind is have any of you experienced similar, unexpected training cross-overs with your multi-discipline horses, or is this merely my Guardian Idiot in action?