Restarting a Rescue with R+
Luna is here with me for training after being recently adopted from a rescue.
She has been ridden before, but we’re treating her like she hasn’t for a variety of reasons…
she was super unconfident with me on her back
she braced against pressure/traditional cues and would quickly get tense and inverted
she felt extremely weak and unbalanced which was a safety concern for both of us
So we started from the ground up with our training and gave her some time to build physical strength on the track and through groundwork exercises.
We progressed to short rides where the ground person was fully in control and she just had to balance the weight of the rider while doing activities she already knew from her groundwork.
Today we were able to layer in some leg and rein cues and start fading out our ground person.
She’s feeling stronger and more confident every ride!
Our training is slow and “boring” - but we like it that way
she’s more confident
she’s stronger and more balanced through turns
she’s responding to cues without bracing or tensing up
she’s moving in a healtheir posture for her long-term soundness
It can be soft and quiet and peaceful and fun for everyone involved with some hay pellets, a clicker, and a goofy little target stick.
Watch a short excerpt from today’s training session here:
Using a helper on the ground to begin retraining a horse under saddle with R+