Hi everyone,
I want to thank everyone for their contributions. I have been reading them over the last week and I just haven’t had time to respond. I wanted to provide an update.
I had an “Animal Communicator” come out on Friday. It sounds crazy, but after seven years I didn’t know what else to do. My friend had it done and referred me to him and I learned more about my mare than I ever could have imagined. I did not tell him anything about her, he simply showed up and I said “This is Annabel”.
Without him even touching or looking carefully at her legs my mare told him that both her right legs can be uncomfortable at times. They don’t hurt, but they cause discomfort. She said she has good and bad days and actually requested I put something warm on her back right hock. We’ve noticed that she sometimes steps funny with her right front while doing dressage. We’ve had it blocked but weren’t able to find much. I had no idea about her back right until last weekend it felt a little warm and puffy so I ran cool water on it and it went away. I thought I was over-reacting so I didn’t tell my trainer. Someone on here mentioned that hock pain can increase when mare’s cycle. I’m going to have her legs checked out ASAP.
She said that she is a jumper and its her favorite thing. She said she was a dancer, but not that kind. I assumed she was referring to dressage. No, she doesn’t get good dressage scores because she is always pretty tense.
She said “You clipped my wings and I am unable to fly”. I have no idea what that means but she then said “Why did we have to change?”. Yes, she was a show jumper and we switched to eventing a couple years ago. I’m still trying to figure out what she means by “clipped my wings”.
She also was kept repeating “I wasn’t ready” and “why did we have to change?” I understand now and I think it’s true. I ride with a very competitive 4* eventer and I feel like we’ve always been in a bit of a rush to move up. We never really got to settle into a division and be successful. I’m not blaming her, I like her competitiveness but I don’t think i works for my mare.
I asked the man to ask her why she stops when we do everything right. Her response was “You tell me to stop. You don’t vision us making it over so I stop. When you think we will make it over I will do it. I will do anything for you but you need to think it. I will perform a lead change if you just think about it” (which is true).
Those were the main points I felt necessary to bring up. I had some very emotional moments where I broke down crying. Early on in the session she demanded an explanation about why I am upset with her. Later on, she asked why I don’t talk to her anymore.
Overall, I’m going to have her right legs checked out and I want to pursue show jumping with her but we have to take it slow. I’ve already discussed this with my trainer and she admitted that we might have moved her up too fast. I also need to make sure I’m two steps ahead of her no matter what we do. This is why trainers haven’t been able to tell what is wrong with her when she stops dirty. I look like I am doing everything right, but it’s true, I kind of prepare myself for a stop so I don’t fall off. I ride defensively but in my head I say “She’s going to stop”.
I’m so torn right now. I love eventing and it’s my passion. I don’t really like the show jumping world although I’ve been successful with it. I eiether have to sell my mare and move up through the levels with a braver horse (my lease right now), or give up my eventing goals for right now because I don’t want to sell her. I’ve also been doing dressage with her lately on my own because I love dressage and the art of it and it’s great training for jumpers. I’ve readjusted my focus on keeping her relaxed rather than schooling First Level exercises. It might just be walking for 45 minutes between a free walk and medium walk as long as she is relaxed.
The stopping has been reoccuring over the last four years. We’ve ridden under several different trainers who have never been able to figure out the cause. I think I need to trust my intuition a bit more on what I feel is best for her. The stopping usually occurs because we try to move up a division and then we end up being stuck in that division for a while. I need to stagger it more by moving up and then moving back down.
Thanks for reading. I know the Animal Communicator thing sounds crazy. I was a huge skeptic and wish I could figure out an explanation for how he knew all these things and I wish I caught the interaction on video. It was eery and gave me goosebumps but I feel it was worth every penny.
