K.I.T.T.

[lantairvlea]

Konstantly In Terrible Trouble. That is what we joke Kitt's name stands for. She is also affectionately known as "The Kitt-Monster." We bought her at 3 1/2 and we've had her five years now. She's grown up out of many of her quirks (like rubbing students into the fence). She has what I describe to students as a "strong sense of self" and a "refined sense of fairness." She is quite tolerant, but she doesn't listen to poor leadership. If you keep asking after she has given an answer she tends to plow through the subsequent aids, which means she teaches how to find a response really well and she becomes more fun to ride as the student becomes more responsive (I.e. stops asking) to Kitt's compliance.

The reason for this rambling is because Kitt lost another student Wednesday also in the roundpen. Actually it was pretty much in the same exact spot. Granted, this time I don't think there was any attitude behind it. The roundpen sits near the road about 40' in and less than 100' from the fourway stop sign. There is a good stream of traffic that passes, dump trucks, motorcycles, people riding on the road, bikes, everything. Dakota and Hershey also have their pen there, next to the roundpen, running parallel to the road North. We were working on walk-trot transitions before changing directions through the trot when a motorcycle approached from the North and popped as it neared the stop sign. Kitt jumped into a really big trot for a couple strides, student got left behind as her arms shot up and her legs slung forward, Kitt was caught in the mouth, slammed on the breaks, and student went forward and down over her left shoulder.

The student was fine, though I think she whacked her hand on the horn on her way down. I lunged Kitt and got absolutely zero attitude from her. I think it was an honest spook. When the girl came off Kitt got out of her way and pretty much just stood as Hershey and Dakota proceeded to have a royal fit. When I lunged Kitt the pair of them continued their stupid acrobatics and running around like idiots. Seriously mares? You're both 21! So I don't know if the motorcycle set off Kitt or if Hershey and Dakota used it as an excuse to explode and Kitt was reacting to that. I don't know as my back was to them.

So part of me is throwing her hands in the air going "What the heck, Kitt!" Since that is twice in a little over two weeks. The other part says "that's horses" and I'm actually doing pretty good with my current track record. And yet another part wonders if I had been able to put some regular rides on Kitt myself would this have hapoened? Maybe yes, maybe no, but I am pretty sure it would have been less likely, especially in the first instance where I believe attitude played a part.

So after I feel up to it Kitt and Z will be my projects this year. I just need to start riding a horse during lessons so I can keep up on them better and they can experience more good rides and not reach a frustration point. By giving them regular "good" rides their tolerance and patience with the students figuring things out can be expanded.

Ah, Kitt!

Comments

[suraineko.livejournal.com]

Falling off just happens when you're learning to ride. Frankly the more often I fall off the less afraid I am of it and thus the better I ride and the less hurt I am if I do take a tumble. As long as it's a legitimate cause to lose a rider I don't think a horse should be faulted for it. Spooks happen even in school horses and it doesn't sound like Kitt was intentionally trying to ditch her rider so I wouldn't worry if I were you.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is. I think when I pick up my lessons after this break I will be refreshing everyone on the emergency dismount. It's a good skill to revisit and times like this remind me how important of a skill it is.