Walkies

I decided recently, that as well as increasing the undemanding time I spend with the horses, they all need more trail riding. Except, since I'm not riding most of them yet, that means lots of Zone 3 Driving. This has turned out to be really interesting for me. I am learning a lot about their confidence levels and typical reactions to things, and a lot about myself, too. I already wrote about my last session with Dove. On Saturday, I took Hunter along the east side loop, accompanied by Denise with Ranger. They did pretty well. Both wanted to eat grass quite a bit. Hunter had a few thresholds, but they did really well. A few days later I took Ranger out by himself, though, and he was much less confident. He feels like such a big horse to me. I guess he's around 16hh, but after years of just Bruce and Iona, that's a monster. I didn't really have trouble managing him, but even the thought of riding him while he was a bit high was making me nervous. I really need to (a) work on myself and (b) cut myself some slack until the confidence increases. I suspect that all this in hand walking is going to be a big part of the puzzle. It's a better simulation for riding out than I realized.

Yesterday, I spent some time with Journey. After a long grooming session in which she learned about spray bottles "Is that it? What else have you got?" I took her for a walk. Honestly, I knew exactly how it would go. She would find it very interesting and take it all in her stride. Yep! She had no problem going away from familiar areas and the herd, and really listened to my requests. There was one area where she got a bit stuck and had quite a few thresholds. I gave her a lot of time with them. I imagine that I could have asked her to try a bit harder. but especially since it was our first outing, I let her set the time line. On the way back we got to see a neighbor collecting kindling in pails, and then ventured a few yards outside the front gates to check the mail. By the time we were headed up the drive, she was turning right and left off just my focus! I was suitably impressed! 

Bruce

I also spent some time with Bruce yesterday, just brushing him, sitting with him and giving him some TLC. Something is bothering him - or bothering me where he is concerned. I can't put my finger on it. He is spending a lot of time by himself. Very close to the herd, but somehow not really with them. He is a little quiet. I don't know whether it's emotional, physical....it almost seems existential. So I tried to be quiet and listen, and feel for him and of him. I had some interesting impressions.

One thing that kept occurring to me was to do with his sheath area. I went on a little fact finding mission, and it needs cleaning, and might be a little sore. Okay. I will deal with that. I often wonder whether he is sorry he was gelded. (Well, let's face it, he probably is!) But I had this odd thought that he thinks that this is why his "friends" don't stick with him. By "friends" I mean Hazel, Denise, Livia. I think he really misses having someone to play with more. I can't say whether the rest of that thought is my own invention or is a true insight. I also got the feeling that he has a mild tummy ache. I offered him a little bit of peppermint leaf. He liked it. It sure won't do him any harm, so I will put some in his feed for a few days, maybe longer if I manage to replenish my supply.

Hunter

Today I played with Hunter. We started off by the trailer. My goal is to play games with him at Liberty using the trailer as an obstacle. Until recently, he wasn't ready to play at Liberty, but Mark has been introducing it into their sessions lately, so I thought I'd give it a try. Hunter and I have done nothing with the trailer for a very long time, and it showed. He wasn't happy with the unfamiliar environment, and the trailer itself worried him, too. So we stayed On Line. I wished that I'd had the 22' line, and I could have been more successful at trying to keep the belly of the rope on the ground, but as it turned out, we had to keep things pretty basic, and it didn't make a lot of difference. 

We did a little Touch It and other Friendly things, and then I played with trying to Porcupine him into putting his body against the side of the trailer. That was not easy, and in the end I settled for a slight touch, but not before I got him really listening to what I wanted. I also tried some Driving Game, asking him to back up to the trailer. Also very difficult. (Plenty to work on, then!) I stood in the doorway and played Yo-yo with him. He was pretty worried for a moment that I was going to make him come in. I didn't, of course. He didn't even like Circling past the opening, but we got there. After this, though, Sideways and Squeeze along the side were very easy. We then did a little Touch It at Liberty successfully, so I was pleased. We just need to spend more time with this.

In the arena I asked him to back on to a large piece of plywood that I recently put in there. He is pretty worried about those hind feet, and we made a lot of progress. I noticed that I didn't have much control of his hindquarters when we were at the trailer, so I thought this might help.

We then played with some forehand yields. Hunter naturally pivots on his haunches when he is just moving around. In fact, so much so, that it wears his hind hooves at a bit of an angle. Yet, when I ask him for this, I usually get a couple of excellent steps, followed by a whole lot of excess hind foot movement and stuff I didn't ask for. As far as I know! This time, I stumbled on something that helped. It was simply that I faced forward and moved with him, instead of looking at him (his shoulder or head) and trying to just drive him. The results were pretty consistent, so I hope I've hit on something. Perhaps he felt the need to disengage because I was looking at him. I will need to isolate and clarify that for him. I wonder whether this technique will transfer to other horses.

We also played with some circles. I tried canter. We've been getting it pretty well in the roundpen. Although he picked up the canter when I asked, he then couldn't maintain the circle, and spun outward, quickly followed by me disengaging him like crazy! After a couple of those we went to the pen. I decided to use the low tape and poly post pen in the arena. I hoped it wasn't a safety risk, but I like the more open feeling so much better than the panel pen. It worked just fine, however, it was obvious that Hunter felt pressured as well as supported by the pen. I was very careful to have appropriate energy, and we got it together after awhile. This is the same kind of stuff we went through when we worked on trot on the 22', not so long ago, so I'm sure it will resolve if I am persistent and consistent.

We finished up with a Zone 3 walk. Boy, going away from the yard/herd was really tough for Hunter. Lots and lots of thresholds and needing to move his feet in the first hundred yards of so. He didn't get really wild. just had some trouble, and he really tried. Once he realized that my focus was set, he seemed to get better and better. though. The herd had now all migrated quite a ways down the track. so we ended up having quite a trip getting him to them. He was nice and calm by the time we got there. 

My feet hurt.

Fun With Hunter - and other stories

I've had a couple of nice sessions with Hunter recently. He has been joining the hard-to-catch mob some mornings, and in fact, was becoming a ringleader. We really didn't need that, so I thought a little time in the round pen might help. He didn't need a lot of Catching Game as it turned out, but it has been a good opportunity to progress his Circle Game, and we seem to have played enough with catching to improve his attitude in the mornings.

I think I have been afraid that I would put too much pressure on him in the pen, especially as it's a high sided one. However, I have more self control than I thought (LOL!) and I see that it can also be a tool to make the right thing easy. The simple fact that going in a circle becomes a given, means that neither of us has to worry about where he's going and we can focus on transitions and maintaining gait. The fact that he has now cantered some circles (not too many yet) seems to have improved his trot circles in the arena quite a bit. No doubt the work Livia and Mark have put in helped, too! I managed to teach him to do changes of direction at the walk, and immediately show him how to do it at trot successfully, the other day.

Today was cold and windy, and Hunter had spent an hour or two by himself in the yard by the time playtime arrived. We're trying to keep up a pattern of him spending a little time on his own fairly often. So it wasn't the best set up for a great session, but we had one! My goal was to work on Traveling Circles, maintaining gait, looking where he's going, and hopefully to put enough poles in his way to make him think and encourage him to use himself better. What a blast I had! He was full of go, and easy to direct most of the time. I couldn't believe this was his first session at this task! It wasn't all smooth sailing, he was bracey sometimes, worried about the tarp and certain monster poles! I don't think we have two matching poles/logs on the whole farm. What makes some scary and not others remains a mystery.

Hunter on the go with Livia in October

 

It was such a change for me play like that with a horse who has so much go. I could really get to like playing with this type of horse. I also believe that "horses teach humans" and that somehow, Hunter may teach me a "feel" that I can pass back to my slower ponies, that may get them moving. Perhaps in the form of new expectations.

Learning with Ranger 

I had the chance to play with Ranger twice this week. Before that I hadn't done much. He is a pretty nice horse, so far. I have to say though, I'm not getting barrel racer! He's mostly a big, slightly pushy "okey dokey" sort of guy. He can be pretty reactive, but that's probably because I try to move too fast for him and forget he's new to me and the environment. So far I don't see that he has tons of go, though. Having said that, he's easy so far, and we will be moving into a little L2 stuff next time, while we consolidate L1. 

I learned something interesting from Ranger during our last session, that I thought was worth mentioning. With so many horses to progress, and a lot of Level 1, more L1 and still more .... well, you get the picture, I realise that I've been a little hard on myself while playing with the newbies. Hard in the sense of thinking that I must achieve everything I try in a session. In a way, these high expectations are working for me, but somewhere in the middle of Ranger's last session I also realised that if I'm that hard on me, I'm also being exactly that hard on the horse, too. I was getting a bit "C'mon, we have to get this so I don't have to do it again on Tuesday," if you see what I mean. I'd definitely stopped playing! I will try to hang on to that!

Everybody Out!

Most of today was taken up with moving horses from A to B. I can now report that every horse we own can be haltered and led. (It's all I did all day, endlessly.) It's a start!

Our plan was to check out Journey's willingness to be haltered in a small area, and if it was possible then we would introduce both her and Ranger to the other horses with a view to turning them out. We achieved our plan! 

I had some trouble catching Dove. Hunter has latched onto her, in the same way he previously did with Dakota and Scooter. He likes to have a "friend" to herd around and doesn't want anyone to touch them, and his friend is not allowed to leave him unless he says so!  Hunter has been pretty easy to catch the past few months, and I think it's because it's just been him and the Fells. Obviously they won't play his games. But now that he has Dovey it's another story. Fortunately we managed to get them separated, and then Dove was much better. However, she'd lost her softness again. I was a little disappointed that yesterday's magic didn't last, but I'll get it working, I'm sure.

It only took Mark a minute or two to convince Journey that it would be okay to be haltered. He did put the lead rope over her neck first, as she was skeptical, but he wasn't sneaky. He let her sniff the halter and rope, rubbed her head for a bit and talked to her and that was that. Halter on, and here's your cookie!

Meanwhile, I installed Ranger in the arena with a flake of hay on a tarp. That's become my method for introducing new horses to the herd. I wouldn't use this method with every herd boss, but Bruce is so confident and seems to have a policy of using only the minimum force necessary to make his point. So I put one pile of hay out, and it's easy to tell when an agreement has been reached. Even so, I was a little concerned about Bruce and Ranger. Ranger is a very big, athletic boy. Playful, pushy and like Bruce, a former stud. I would be very upset if Bruce got hurt. 

Ranger had a few bucks and  rears while tearing around the arena, before I brought Bruce in. I let him settle a bit and find the hay. Bruce was really more interested in the hay than he was in Ranger, and ignored him a lot of the time. He even let him eat some peripheral strands of hay. After awhile Bruce drove Ranger around the arena for a bit. Ranger kicked him once and after that Bruce drove him from a couple of feet further back. They ate a bit more hay and then started playing with the hay tarp and abusing the arena obstacles like a couple of hooligans, so I guess Bruce has a new friend.

I put Iona in with them and she couldn't even be bothered to kick Ranger. Honestly, I think Bruce and Iona meet so many new horses that they just don't care anymore. I also like to think that the peaceful atmosphere here and plenty of space and Parelli helps. So I gathered up Ranger and Iona and put them in pens and introduced Journey to Bruce. Another non event, as was putting Iona back in. Ranger's reappearance started to stir things up a bit, as he now had "his" mare (Journey) to protect. So there was a bit of running around and posturing. I don't think Journey is any more interested in being rounded up by other horses than she is in being rounded up by humans, though. 

Hunter certainly tried to round her up when I put him in. That set them all of on a mad gallop around. Journey was too funny, taking off with Hunter and Ranger in hot pursuit. She can really move fast, but braking seems to be limited to a series of stiff legged bounces. Wouldn't like to ride that! Bruce was wildly excited by this time, bucking and high blowing, galloping sometimes and doing fancy trots. But also conserving energy by making smaller circles further inside the arena while the big ones did laps on the rail. 

Iona mostly stood in the middle and watched. Sometimes Bruce just stayed in the middle and bucked. Now Bruce and Iona don't always like to move their feet that much, it's true. But I also wondered if I was seeing a bit of learned behavior. The center of the arena being the sweet spot. The honeycomb exercises they've done on courses where you get to stop if you go to the middle. I wonder.

I put Dove in last, and she and Journey paired up, leaving Hunter without his hostage/friend. They all calmed down and I picked up the tarp and barrels that had been tossed around, so that they don't blow away in the next storm. I opened the gate. and got the Fells moving out and down the track. Everybody followed us until we reached the grazing cell gate. So we now have everyone out. I'm so happy for them. That's where horses belong.

The weatherman says we're now due for another big freeze up, so I don't know how much we'll get done with horses the next few days. I sure won't miss the constant hay net stuffing and pen cleaning, though!