Doing the impossible

For 6 years, since I trained her, I have been trying to teach Moonlight to lower her head and round. She just would never get it. I was beginning to think it was impossible, trying all different techniques and each time I rode her I would try to teach her.

She could round well at a standstill, but when I asked her to move forward, she’d throw her head in the air and walk around with a high head.

The other day when I rode her, like usual I was trying to get her to round, thinking it will be like every other day and she’ll throw her head around and have a huge tantrum (she doesn’t do much when she has her tantrums). But instead, she put her head down and rounded at a walk. I was soooo happy with her. It had taken her 6 years to finally get it.

I only practiced at a walk, occasionally stopping her and reversing (to teach her to keep it down at the transitions). And she still bobs her head a bit, still trying to find a comfortable position to keep her head. I will still be taking it slow though to continue teaching her, not rushing her into a trot or canter. I’m just so happy that I know now that she CAN do it and it’s not impossible. The one thing I haven’t tried is a new bit, so I still might get another bit with a double t to see if maybe that would help a bit more.

Thanks for reading!