Chapter Twelve - Lunging 101

Jane has begun lunging Harley to help him eventually accept contact through side reins.  In his former life, lunging was used to wear him down and tire him out so a child could ride him.  I'm fairly certain that side reins were used to force his nose down, and he has frightening memories of that time.

Jane begins by walking Harley in a small circle, widening out gradually and encouraging him to move away and independently from her.

At the beginning of each lunge session, Harley sticks his nose in the air, as though he needs to reassure himself that his head is not strapped to his chest.  Jane never starts the lunging with side reins, they are only put on when he is relaxed and ready for them.

The first 2 or 3 lunge sessions, Harley did gallop around and buck at first, as though he did not know it's okay to walk on a lunge line and thought he had to tear around like crazy, but each time he galloped less, and at his third session, he did not buck at all, and trotted much sooner.  By his 5th session, he barely cantered and there was no bucking at all.  Notice in the photo below, Harley is very relaxed and stretching down on his own.

Harley was finally ready for side reins.  His first session with the side reins went very well.  I was concerned that he might panic, as side reins were badly misused on him in the past, but he barely reacted at all.  Notice how much slack there is in them; they are never to be used to force a horse's head down, only to keep it straight.

Jane has the side reins very loose, so Harley feels the weight of them on the bit, but no restriction.  He does raise his head a bit, and then lowers it almost to the ground, I think to make sure there is nothing that is going to restrict or trap him.  Once he has been reassured that, as Jane says, "It's his head and he can do whatever he wants with it," he relaxes and trots nicely.  After three successive good transitions, Jane changes direction, and then after three more good transitions, Jane ends the lunge session, and invites Harley to come to her.  Sometimes he walks right to her....other times, he makes her wait :)

Then I ride him, and his back is very loose and he is very relaxed. We walk a few patterns, circles and loops, and then trot, and the last 3 lessons we have cantered.  Each canter session is more relaxed and quiet, but we still have a long way to go.

All of the above photos were taken during the same lunging session.  They demonstrate the difference you can make in your horse by lunging him properly, using the right equipment, and allowing the horse to feel safe on the lunge line.  I highly recommend Jane's Lunging for Longevity video.  It will change your horse's life, and yours.

We will be lunging Harley 2-3 times a week, as consistency is the key to success.  I think lunging is going to be a great tool to help Harley break through all the bad memories, and realize that no one is going to fight him or hurt him, because lunging is on his terms and he can make his own decisions.  Empowering him that way is just what he needs to help him feel totally safe and comfortable when he is lunged or ridden.

Chapter Eleven - Almost Healthy Again

Well, Harley's shoulder healed, and then he got bit on the corner of his mouth.  It was split and swollen, right where the snaffle ring would hit it, of course.  Because he had not been ridden much when his shoulder was sore, I really wanted to give him some exercise.  A friend at the barn suggested riding him with just a halter.  Given his past, I was a bit hesitant, but he has always been really good just hacking out around the farm, so I thought I'd give it a try.  If he got nutty on me, I could just jump off and lead him back.

I saddled him, and then used his lead rope as a rein, snapped on one side of the halter and knotted on the other.  Harley seemed a bit confused, but took this in stride.  I mounted him and off we went.  He walked along like an old trail horse, very relaxed, and seemed so happy that I took him into the big dressage ring, and asked him to trot.  At first, he raised his head and tensed up as usual, but then suddenly his head dropped, his stride lengthened, and he trotted like he has never trotted before, relaxed, round, and strong.  I was stunned.  I had not asked for contact, had almost no contact with his head, and he offered it.

No one was around to see this, so I took him up to the main ring.  Just as the gate closed and we began walking, my trainer drove up.  She called to me to come over, and looked amazed, telling me "he looks so relaxed!"  I asked her how she liked his new bridle, and at her puzzled expression, I showed her the cut on his face.  She could not believe how happy and loose he was.  I walked him off and we picked up the trot, and her jaw dropped. 

What a good boy!

Chapter Ten - My horse is a klutz

The third week of May, Harley injured his shoulder galloping around the ring in turnout.  He made a sudden stop at the fence and pulled a muscle.  It has been 3 weeks and he is starting to look like his old self again.  We have been doing only hand-walking, and will start this week on short rides just at the walk, and gradually move up to trot when he is completely sound at the walk.  Then and only then will we begin trotting.  Too many people rush their horses through recovery, and end up with more serious injuries and a horse laid up for even longer.

Here is a picture that shows Harley doing something similar to what caused his injury.  Obviously, letting him gallop madly around the ring is no longer an option.  I will probably either turn him loose in a smaller ring, or simply lunge him on a long lunge line to "get the kinks out."  I'll be retiring at the end of the year, and riding him quite a bit more, so turnouts will no longer be needed.  If we can just keep him sound until Thanksgiving.....

Chapter Nine - Back to Work

Well, it's mid April 2010 and I have had Harley for 11 months now.  He is a different horse from when I first got him.  I think there will always be ghosts in the shadows for Harley, after so many years of mistreatment, but they rarely raise their ugly heads any more, and he copes much, much better now.  Instead of panicking and trying to run back to the barn, he looks to me for reassurance.  He literally turns his head around and looks at me, and I only have to pat him on the shoulder and tell him he's okay, and he is. 

We continue to work on getting him more flexible on his left side, and me not leaning to the left when tracking left.  By doing counter-bending to the right, it is correcting both of our issues (thank you, Jane).  Harley is also beginning to stretch out into contact instead of tucking back or down, and that is a big accomplishment.  Contact is extremely difficult for both the horse, and the novice rider.  As Jane tells me frequently, "you're holding his hand, just holding his hand" and that's so true.  You don't let go, but you don't squeeze too hard either, it's all about support and partnership, being equals.  I give him what he needs, and he gives me what I ask for.  Here is a photo of Harley happy and relaxed on contact.

Chapter Eight - Rain storms, sharp objects, and that irritating dry cough

What happened to March? What with so much rain last month, and then Harley came down with a bit of a cough, and then managed to find the only sharp thing in his stall and cut his face open, to the tune of 7 bright pink stitches, March was a bit of a wash.  However, he is still doing very very well with his contact, stretching more into the bit now, and we are working very hard on taking contact at the walk.

Harley is stiff on his left side, so Jane has us doing counter bends while tracking left, and circling to the right and spiraling out with a leg yield.  He's doing well and seems to enjoy changing things up a bit.  He also really likes lateral work, and sometimes does leg yields without being asked :)

Harley is turning into the "big babysitter" at the barn, the go-to horse to calm and guide other horses who are nervous or new to the barn.  Harley took a new boarder for a nice walk last weekend, and yesterday, he took another new tenant for a trail ride and a little workout in the dressage arena. Harley seems to know when a horse is unsure, and acts as a calm, reassuring guide.

Here is a shot of Harley's boo-boo.  The location of the cut meant I could not ride him for a week, and that was after not riding the previous week because he was coughing (that went away last week, thank goodness).

Anyways, after 2 weeks off, he was wonderful when I finally rode him, and the only things that bothered him were the pretty purple asters that had bloomed while he was confined to quarters.  Once he realized they were not carnivorous, he was fine.  I took his stitches out last Thursday and he was really good about it.

Chapter Seven - The Learning Curve

I don't have photos of Harley and I when we first began taking lessons from Jane in September 2009, but I have a couple I want to share with you from December 2009.  We had been working on contact for only a few weeks.  The first is Harley resisting contact, and the second is him accepting contact.  They are from the same lesson, and at that time, he could only stay on contact for short periods of time, perhaps five or six strides, and then his head would come up again.  So he was a bit of a yo-yo, but he tried really hard.  I was also still learning to relax my arms and move with him instead of being rigid from my shoulders to my hands, and you can see what Harley does when I relax - he takes the contact.

It is now February 2010, and we are doing serpentines, circles, loops, and changes of rein and working on staying on two tracks and not losing his shoulder or allowing his hind end to swing in or out.  He gets better every time I ride him.

Chapter Six - Origins

In January 2010, I decided to try to locate Harley's previous owners to learn more about his life and training.  I had purchased him through a broker, and had no information on the owners.  I managed to find his former trainer, who put me in contact with his last owner who lives in Georgia.  She emailed me the story of Harley's life from about three years of age.

When he was 3 years old, Harley was bought by a teenage girl who took him to a jumper barn.  Sadly, it was one of those barns where ground work and flat work are unheard of.  At age 4, they began jumping him.  Or rather, forcing him to jump, with no regard for training, balance, conditioning...you get the picture.  For the next 2 years, he was mistreated and abused by so-called trainers, but being a fighter, Harley found a way to get even.  He became a "dirty stopper", stopping right before a jump and dropping his head, sending his rider over the fence alone.  After several attempts to break him of this habit, without actually addressing the true problem of lack of training, etc., Harley was stuck in a pasture and neglected.  In 2007, his owner, realizing he would soon starve, unable to feed or sell him, and wanting to avoid animal neglect charges, gave him to a trainer at a local barn.


Harley arrived at the new barn in horrendous condition, skin and bones and barely able to walk.  His hooves crumbled in their hands and all of his joints were swollen and sore.  After months of rehab, weight gain and joint supplements, and frequent visits by the farrier, Harley pulled through and his re-training began.  The trainer gave Harley to one of her students, a 15 year old girl who set to work on his re-education. 



Skinny and out of shape, but having fun!

When she began, Harley did not even know how to walk on the rail.  A year later, he was excelling as a Children's Hunter, jumping up to 2'6" for a high school equestrian team.  His goofy personality was always there, and he became the barn clown, with a reputation for destroying, playing with, or trying to eat anything he could reach. He also loved the attention of the kids at the barn, and even allowed them to turn him into a "Painted Pony!"

In the summer of 2008, Harley's teen owner badly broke her arm while riding a friend's horse and could not ride for six months.  She also wanted to jump higher than Harley was able, as 2'9" was about his limit.  Coincidentally, a dressage trainer from California who had been doing clinics at the Georgia barn had noticed Harley's progress and ability and offered to sell him in California.  Harley was shipped to California in the fall of 2008.  Unfortunately for Harley, history was about to repeat itself.

The dressage trainer in California doubled the asking price for Harley from what he had told the owner.  Unable to sell Harley as a hunter at such a high price, he decided to try to make him into a dressage horse in 3 months.  Having already been through "bully training" at the jumper barn, Harley did not take kindly to the cruel and painful tactics used by this new trainer, and fought back.  Angry at not being able to cheat some innocent person by selling Harley at a ridiculously high price, the trainer stopped feeding him.  Fortunately, a few kind people at the barn snuck food to him, until Harley was moved to another trainer's barn about an hour away.  The new trainer fed him properly and calmed him down a bit, and then put him up for sale....at a reasonable price.

I had found another horse, an off track Thoroughbred, that I had put a deposit on, but he did not pass the pre-sale vet check.  I went to DreamHorse.com a day after Harley's ad had been posted.  I went to see him a week later, had him vet checked a week after that, and he became mine 2 weeks later.

Chapter Five - A New Horse

I have a new horse, and his name is Harley! Here is a photo of Jane training Harley in late December 2009. Compared to the picture in Chapter One, it's hard to believe it's the same guy.

For the first time since I got him, I have to ask for more pace at the trot (he actually trots too slowly at times) because he is so relaxed now.  He is learning to use his body properly and realizing that it's more comfortable and less strenuous to do things correctly, rather than incorrectly.  It's hard work, but Harley is a fighter, not a quitter. 

Why is there a photo of Jane riding Harley, and not me?  30+ years of riding western, 10+ years of barrel racing, and a year at a hunter/jumper riding school created a position of hunching forward, gripping tightly with my knees, and leaning around invisible barrels...all completely incorrect for classical dressage.  When I can publish a photo that will not send correctly trained riders screaming from the room, I will.  In the meantime, here is my favorite photo of Jane and Harley...

Chapter Four - Progress

Harley and I continued training with Jane once a week. Her methods of not fighting him, letting him find his safe place, and being patient, reassuring and encouraging worked. We taught him that he had nothing to fear, and that there was nothing to fight against. He responded a great deal to vocal encouragement and tried his hardest at every lesson. He no longer tried to run back to the gate, began to slow his trot, and was much happier and more relaxed.  Jane had us climb hills regularly to build up his physique.  His condition improved and he began to put on muscle. His squishy hindquarters turned into a big solid jet engine and the muscles in his neck began developing nicely. His back and legs were also becoming stronger and more muscular. Here is Harley in early December 2009. 

Chapter Three - Finding Jane

About a month after we moved to CastleRock, a new trainer arrived at the barn: Jane Armour, a three-day eventing trainer from Scotland who had come to the U.S. on a "Trainer of Trainers" visa. Jane was offering conformation evaluations, so I made an appointment for her to check out Harley, and for us to check out Jane. Five minutes into the evaluation, I knew I wanted to train with her. What makes Jane so great? In addition to her outstanding background in classical dressage, she just plain gets horses. And their owners.

On September 3, 2009, we had our first lesson. Calling it "not great" is putting it mildly. Harley charged ahead when walking or trotting, could not relax, threw his head in the air, swerved unexpectedly away from the rail and tried to run back to the gate. Jane was totally calm, telling me not to fight him, and then, to my amazement, she complimented Harley, telling me that she loved that he had the confidence to do that. Never in a million years would I have been able to find anything positive in that lesson, but Jane did. I went home that night feeling hopeful. But we had our work cut out for us. Harley is a strong soul who stands up for himself and resists any kind of aggressive or forced training.  Gentleness and patience were the only methods that would work with him.  Fortunately, that is how Jane works.

In the meantime, Harley's goofball personality began to shine through.  He's really a happy horse who has just had some horrible human interaction, but he is very forgiving.  He also loves to dress up, and was in fine form at Halloween and Christmas.

Chapter Two - CastleRock Farms

After less than a month at the first barn I boarded him at, I realized that neither Harley nor I were happy there, he in a tiny 12'x12' stall, and me restricted by a lot of stifling rules and regulations. I visited many boarding facilities and found CastleRock Farms, a facility for horses and riders of all disciplines. I liked the numerous amenities, and the horses there seemed very happy. I chose a 12'x24' malibu stall for Harley where he could stretch his legs, lie down and get up safely, and not feel confined. Harley moved into his new digs on June 11, 2009 and was immediately happy and at home.

However, as I rode Harley, issues from his past appeared in erratic behavior, insecurity, fear and mistrust.  He could not relax, spooked at everything, and was only really safe at a walk.

We needed help...

Chapter One - Finding Harley

This is the story of Harley, a Hanoverian/Thoroughbred cross gelding. I bought Harley in May of 2009, when he was 9. This is what he looked like when I first got him. He was advertised as a hunter who could jump up to 2'9".

When he arrived at the barn on May 11, 2009 he was underweight, had very little muscle mass at all, and a truckload of issues from neglect and mistreatment in his past, which, by the way, I would not learn about until almost a year later.

But all of that was about to change....