After two weeks of riding Tonto's horse at a walk and a trot my instructor said we were ready to work at a lope. I was excited to begin this part of the training because honestly, the walk and trot are pretty boring. As a new equestrian I know it is essential to know how to control a horse at the slower gaits, but once you feel you've mastered the basic commands (this never really happens because you never totally master commanding an animal that thinks in two dimensions while you think in three), it is time for something more challenging.
In the practice arena, with my instructor standing in the center, she tells me to move my outside leg back about 4 inches, apply a little pressure with my outside calf, keep my inside leg at the same position and don't apply any pressure, keep my shoulders square, lift my reins slightly while keeping my right elbow bent, keep my head up, sit deep in the saddle and kiss. I kid you not, this is what she said. Now if I had all of the skills to do these things simultaneously, while seated on a horse that was moving, in my first attempt at a lope, I wouldn't have needed an instructor! So in my mind I tried to break it down one step at a time. I moved my leg back 4 inches, hoping I was using my outside leg and not the inside; I often got confused which was outside and which was inside. I thought it would be easier for me to think of the inside as the drivers side and the outside as the passenger side and this worked until we turned around! I tried to keep my shoulders square, I lifted my reins slightly and I think I kept my elbow bent, I kept my head up, I wasn't really sure what she meant by sitting deep in my saddle, but I convinced myself I was doing it, and then I kissed. To me this seemed an absurd command. Who thought of this? Could you imagine Tonto kissing to his horse Scout or Roy Rogers kissing to Trigger; I couldn't. When after doing all of these things the horse lifted his head up, and instead of loping, he began trotting at what seemed to me to be a blistering pace. Not only that but any hope my instructor had of me "sitting deep in the saddle" went out the window as my rear end bounced up and down on the seat like a basketball.
The instructor yelled whoa! Shockingly, for me, Tonto's horse actually stopped. I did not. I now am laying across the top of the horse's neck and hanging on to his mane so that I won't fall off. The instructor is laughing quietly and I could hear her say to herself, "wait until he spooks". She instructs me to sit up straight and start over. This time she adds the new dimension of trotting along the wall, following all of the other instructions and then as we round the corner into a turn, kissing off. Yes I said kissing off. Well I collected myself, tried to follow all of the commands, trotted down the wall and as we turned I kissed off Tonto's horse. He loped! He actually loped. I felt like we were running in the Kentucky Derby we were going so fast, but we were actually moving at a pretty leisurely pace. The instructor said to me, thank God she was talking to me this time, go half way down the rail and ask the horse to stop. Why, I thought, but I was in no position yet to question her so I said "Whoa," and low and behold, Tonto's horse stopped.
We repeated this process until I could make one entire lap around the arena at a lope. After a few tries we succeeded and the lesson was over. The instructor told me to practice that for a week on my own and then we would have our next lesson. This process repeated itself for several weeks, a lesson improving my technique, followed by a week of practice. After three weeks or so I felt pretty confident I could maneuver the horse in any direction, at any gait, and then get him to stop. Which lead to my understanding of the term "Spook".
A little explanation of the training facility is needed here. This farm was in the country, on a dirt road. The arena was outside and was originally used to train trotters for the track. The arena extended to a point on the property such that the far end was about 100 feet from the back of the house next door. It was usually quiet except for the cackling of pheasants. They are beautiful birds and the horse was used to the birds making noise. On this particular day I was loping around the arena without any particular care. It was warm, so the windows on the house next door were open, screens were not on the windows even though flies were plentiful 100 feet from a horse farm. As I practiced, lap after lap, I became more and more excited about the relationship that I was now developing with Tonto's horse. He and I were able to communicate better than I ever thought possible. On one of the laps, as we approached the far end of the arena, I noticed the neighbor sticking his head out the window. What I did not know was this was the first day of pheasant season. Now, to any farm near a home occupied by someone similar to this neighbor, I would suggest a third barn sign. The sign should list the first and last day of all of the various hunting seasons in the area.
The horse and I rounded the back turn and headed away from the neighbor's house. As I think back on it now, it's pretty funny, but at the time I was terrified. The neighbor fired his small gauge shot gun at phaesant, while he was leaning out of his bedroom window. Tonto's horse demonstrated to me what spooking meant without any doubt. It meant he was going to jump, 15 feet to his left, and if I didn't stay on his back, he didn't care. I barely stayed on with only one leg in the outside stirrup (now I remembered what the difference was between inside and outside). My heart was up around my adams apple, my chest was pounding, and I shouted out an exaltation to God. Okay, maybe it wasn't an exaltation, but I know God's name was involved. The neighbor, being the kind of guy that shoots at pheasants out of his bedroom window, was laughing his fanny off. I hadn't been this mad in a while, but I hopped off Tonto's horse, ran over to the edge of the arena, and started yelling at the laughing man leaning out the window with a bird gun. If he'd have been closer, and unarmed, we would have taken this issue up outside. Well, I'd have been outside, he'd probably have stayed in his bedroom window!
At my next lesson I explained in great detail everything that happened and my instructor said, "So he spooked." That is how I learned what the equine term spook meant.
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