Saturday, June 18, 2011

day eight of wet blankets and long miles

So yesterday, I was able to get in a quick ride... dodging rain drops the whole time.  Took Stevie out again to work outside the arena (which will be the goal the rest of the season).  Spent around ten minutes on ground work, just getting her to move forward on a circle, yielding the hips, and drawing the shoulders in.  The draw is still a little sticky, needs a bit more energy to really make it work. 

Working on HQ disengagement

Now for the other side


driving the hips from the ground


Circling on the hill is great for developing muscle and balance
We then hit the road.  This time, we were able to stay out twice as long, and go down a new route.  Stevie handled herself very well; a few small jumps at a squirrel and some snorting at the trash cans, but over all very nice.  Each time we head home, I make a point of not going directly into the drive way; our drive is about midway up the street, so I'll ride all the way to the end, trot back up, go PAST the drive, then let her head back in by means of a make shift 'footing mound' (a stone retaining wall).  I don't want her to get in the habit of rushing back home; its the same thing in the arena with gate sour horses.  Ride them in and out of that gate, never get off there, back them out once your done, and most often the gate issue goes away!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Day seven of wet blankets and long miles

So, today is looking like another wash out- woke up to rain and thunder.  Forecast says we might get a few decent hours around 11, so we'll have to see what happens!

Yesterday, I worked Stevie out on some hills in a new area before going for a ride up the road.  She was considerably more spooky than I had planned, so a bit more time was spent on ground work.  We started off with our standard circling and yielding of the hindquarters.  I'm making more of an effort to not always change direction after each yield;  I don't want her anticipating as much as she does.  I'd rather her disengage the hip, wait, then move off crisply.  Stevie caught on well, but was clearly upset at first by the change in routine.  She over-reacted a few times when she discovered she had circled off the wrong direction. 

Once she had quieted some, we worked on drawing her in and making some figure eights.  Her feet are still pretty sticky through the turn- she'll turn in and face up, then the forward motion dies down, returning when you ask her to change direction.  I'm hoping that by simply being persistent, we'll work this problem through.  With my 7 year old gelding, I got after him to keep him moving.  While he won't break gait through his figure eights, he doesn't really draw into me as much as I like; he'd much rather just rock back over his hocks and rollback.  While this is fine, it's not what I'm after in this case.  So, the plan is to establish a bit more forward BEFORE getting her to come in, and hopefully it will carry through in a nice flow. 

We did ground work for only eight minutes or so, then it was time to tack up and hop on.  I spent a minute or so, just letting her move around with the saddle on before stepping in the stirrup.  Once on, I continued to work her on her circle.  We focused on moving the hips in response to pressure.  I'd put her on the circle, look at her hip, press with my leg, then lift my rein until her hips had made two or so steps away.  Then we'd continue off in the other direction.  I noticed, especially this ride, that Stevie attempts to 'bottle spin', that is, her front end and hind end are moving.  When she offered that type of behavior, I simply waited it out, got one good step with JUST the hips, then did a one rein stop to reinforce the concept of not moving the shoulders.  I tried not to do too many stops, as I don't want to kill the forward. 

We ended by a nice ride up the street.  Stevie kept her cool with the five o'clock traffic (three cars) driving past.  She was particularly interested in the storm drains; unlike most horses, who try to side step the drains, she tries to go up to each and every one and sniff at it.  At this stage, I encourage that curiosity - it's far better than her side stepping away!  We ended the ride with a nice trot up a long hill, then jumping up and over the stone wall to come home. 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Day six of wet blankets and long miles

 Summer weather was apparently very fleeting here; we went from winter the summer, and now its back to rainy spring weather.  Day four, in a row, of rainy showery days.  This makes for quite a bit of mud. 

Stevie and I have been out working up and down the roads in between rain drops.  I try to do less and less work in the arena before setting out- I don't like the idea of having to get my horse tired before she will behave herself!  So, our arena sessions consist of some flexion, moving the hips, picking me up from the fence, desensitizing, and maintaining gait in the trot (no speeding up, slowing down, breaking, etc - I don't want to have to keep my leg on all the time, or continually half-halt to keep her in check.  Horses can and should be responsible for staying in the gait they are placed!). 


I will do a little bit of ground work once we are outside of the ring.  It's more just for piece of mind, to make sure she is still listening and paying attention.  Overall, it's going very well.  We are able to walk and jog up and down the road, past scary things like lawnmowers and trash cans.  When on the road, I spend as much time as she needs doing our mock-serpentine exercise to keep her focused.  As soon as she is soft and relaxed, its right back to loose reins and a forward walk. 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

day five of wet blankets and long miles

Day five:

Today we ventured out of the arena and out into the world.  Before we left, however, we did some basic schooling.

Desensitizing is a big part of my program; I don't want a dull horse, but I do want one that isn't jumping out of her skin every time a plastic bag blows by.  Today, we worked with the big ball.  Not only is the ball something that looks out of place, but it also moves and makes noise... its the trifecta of scary objects! 

With any desensitization process, I start just outside of the horse's comfort zone.  If the horse seems particularly nervous of the object, I will walk away from the horse, with the object, and have the horse follow me.  By having the horse 'chase' the scary thing, he builds confidence - he'll likely start getting closer and closer as curiosity takes over.  Once some degree of confidence is established, I start working my way in closer to the horse.  Eventually, you get to the point where you can touch the horse with the object, do bigger and scarier things with it.   I don't want an unresponsive horse,  I want a horse that will relax.









 A quick ride around the arena followed.  Just working on the basics; walk trot transitions, quiet halts and back ups, and turns on the forehand. 




 Then, it was time to venture out:  Out the gate, and up the hill.



Once out, I hit the road (trails still far too muddy).  At the top of this little hill, we first double check our lateral flexion.  Making sure everything is still in working order, we go for a quiet walk. 
This isn't Stevie, but my four year old, Nick.  Didn't have the camera out for her ride, but here we are, just checking some lateral flexion before his ride out.  

Out on the ride, I like to do some sort of exercise to help Stevie focus.  Just riding in a straight line is an invitation for wandering minds.  Basically, I ride back and forth from the shoulder of the road to the center line, in a sort of a serpentine (a very rudimentary serpentine!).  I use all the same aids that we did in the arena-
  • look where I want the horse to go
  • Turn my torso so my belly button faces where I want to go
  • Apply leg pressure (light calf, increasing pressure, heel pressure...)
  • Rein
When Stevie relaxes and lets down, I allow her to walk in a straight line for a while.  When I feel her mind start to wander, her back tense up, then its right back to the serpentines.  Putting the loops closer together is good for times when she is really jumpy, spreading them out when she starts to relax.  She did very well for her first real ride out; still a bit tense with cars passing by, but only time and miles will fix that!

Day four of wet blankets and long miles

It's been a few days since the last post... apologies for that!  Time constraints made it necessary to choose between working horses and posting... riding won! 

Day four: 
Today, we worked a bit at refining our turn on the forehand.  The key here is when you release your leg pressure.  The release of pressure should happen just before the hind leg goes to move.  It takes a while to be able to feel the exact moment that its happening, but if you put that effort in, your horse will progress much faster. 

There's a great video clip by Les Vogt (http://www.lesvogt.com/cowhorseu/Lesvogt_les_vogt_training_intro_2.html  ...it's the third video down on the page) that talks about 'loading' vs 'unloading'.  Basically, what happens is you allow the movement you are looking for to become a reward in and of itself.  I like to keep that in mind, as it makes the horse much happier to perform. 

The other keys to this exercise are:
1.  lateral flexion.  If you have to expend a lot of effort getting your horse's nose to come around and STAY around, you need to go back a few steps.  Odds are, the fact that you are hauling away on the mouth is going to affect the forward movement of the horse... which brings us to:

2.  Forward movement.  Well, not so much forward, but definitively movement.  There needs to be some impulsion in this maneuver.

3.  Consistency in position:  Do the same thing each and every time, and you will speed up the learning process.  Be conscience of WHERE you are putting your leg, WHERE you are putting your hand, WHERE your body position is.  Be consistent in the order of your cues.  Personally, I like to
  • Look at the hip (this automatically positions my body correctly)
  • Bring my leg back and apply pressure (light calf pressure, moderate pressure, firm pressure, heel pressure, turn my heel up....)
  • Tip the nose around with my rein as much as necessary to get the movement
  • Release as the back leg is about to come off the ground
4.  Exaggerate your cues:  To facilitate your horse's learning, exaggerate.  Put your leg as far back as you can to make it crystal clear what part of the body you want him to move. Turn clear around in your saddle and look at that hip.  Leave no question as to what you want him to do. 

5.  Refinement is a gradual process:  Don't be in a rush to make it pretty.  Get it good and solid first.  Gradually refine your cues, just a degree at a time.  It will happen, just don't rush it.