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.

Another Day, Another Dobbin

I had a nice day today, playing with two very different horses and doing quite different things with them. I started off with Dove. When she and Journey first went out on the track, I started putting up barriers at either end of the morning feed area, just to make it easier to catch them. Journey is simple to catch now, but Dove is still pretty elusive. Today I decided to set myself the challenge of catching her without the barriers. She must have realized that she was supposed to move on the the next phase, because she let me halter her without any problems. 

I decided that it was time to groom her tail, which I have never done since she came here. I figured it might be a challenge if she was feeling defensive about Zone 5, what with the recent vet exam and all. It took a bit of time to work my way back there, but once I did, she let me work with her tail at liberty, and only walked around a couple of times, and never flinched at the detangler spray, during what turned out to be a very long session. One reason I hadn't groomed the tail was that it's fairly thin and wispy (at least by Fell pony standards!) so I thought it would be easy to zip through when I had a moment. No. When I had a proper look, I found a solid round mat the size of a baseball near the end of her dock. Eek! No wonder I always felt there was something odd about the way her tail hung. It took about an hour to get it all combed out, and it was all live hair - so Miss Dove has a much prettier tail now!

I can't get over the feeling that Dove is blown away by all the positive attention, and patient handling. I can see her processing it, and almost feel her wonder, sometimes. She has her moments of being stuck or even stubborn, but I feel that she is becoming sold on the new lifestyle. I brushed her body down. She is starting to shed out her winter coat. She enjoyed that, and let me go absolutely everywhere. Nice. I wanted to do something different with her today, so we went for a Zone 3 Driving walk across the pasture and to the far side of the track. She had a little trouble with the concept of  going away from the herd. I had to disengage her a couple of times, but as my focus on where we were going got better, her confidence did, too. If that's as bad as she would be ridden, it would be pretty mild. If only I could have the same level of confidence ridden that I have on line!

We collected the empty haynets, and I shook old hay out of some of them. She enjoyed picking at it and relaxed as I got busy with my work. Once I had them all collected, I decided to see it she would carry them for me. I figured they were a nice familiar thing. She had no problem with that at all, and packed them all the way back to the yard for me. We finished up with a bit of Shiatsu back in her pen, which she enjoyed once she understood what I was up to.

All this time, Bruce had been patiently chilling in the pen next door. I'm sure he was ready to play, but his tail also desperately needed attention, so I got my comb out and resigned myself to another long session. We finally made it out of the pen and I took him for a drink. Yes, he needed to play! He got a drink then played with the feed buckets that were waiting to be washed. Then another drink. Then played with the buckets, etc. He went back and forth about five times, and each time he held the last gulp of water in his mouth in case he got a chance to dump it on me. That's quite a fun game, because of people's reactions. I let him have his fun with the buckets, but I made sure I stayed dry.

I put his bareback pad on and took him to the arena for a short play. We concentrated on some Level 3 Sideways games. I started on the fence, sending him in half circles. It took a few changes of direction before he woke up and then he got really bouncy. Great! I rewarded "bouncy" and tried for some fast sideways along the fence. We finished with him cantering sideways. We also did some sideways over a low jump, and other variations on a theme. One of the interesting things about loaning a pony out to other students is being able to say "I wonder if he knows.....Sideways Towards?" and finding out that he does! It needs a lot of polishing, but he knows what it is.

That seemed like enough. We headed out for a ride around the track. Some discussions about eating as we began were probably more to do with leaving the herd than anything. Once we turned along the dreaded east side I was very proud of him, because I could see that he was really trying for me. I'm still a bit nervous riding Bruce sometimes. Just not enough hours together, I guess. I got off once.  There was a gate coming up, anyway. Dratted hotwire gates! You can't really work them from horseback safely, and I never remember to turn the fence off. Once through that, I got back on and decided that if he needed to hurry back, I could probably ride it. However, he surprised me by taking his time, and not blasting through any thresholds. We did lots of walk/trot transitions. Bless him, when we got to the west side, where the neighbor has just put a herd of cows out, he whinnied at them. Well, they're mostly black. I guess there might be a Fell pony hiding there somewhere! (One of the calves sure seemed to think Bruce might be his mama. I was glad he didn't come through the fence.) Iona was waiting to welcome us as we pulled into the yard.

Journey Update

Journey loaded up easily for her vet appointment on Thursday. He sedated her pretty heavily and put her in a squeeze chute for her exam. It didn't appear to be traumatic in the least. Boy was she snoring! And SHE'S NOT PREGNANT!! Happy days! The vet is in the nearest town where any significant shopping can be done, and we had a few errands, so Journey got to visit a few parking lots and an outdoor eatery on the way home, all of which she took in her stride. She is a very cool girl.

Mark played with her for a couple of hours today, including trailer loading, just to make sure she's forgiven us. No problems and he says they had a blast. She seems to be the kind of horse you can play with all day, and she just comes back asking what the next activity is. 

Well, once again I apologize, as I feel this blog must be a little boring right now. Not much problem solving going on, what with all the horses doing as they're told. I wonder whether it has anything to do with the increase in undemanding time I'm spending with them.....

The Incredible Journey

Last week we had a visit from the vet, to find out about the status of the two new mares. Dove, it turns out, isn't expecting. To be honest, I am relieved. She's a bit thin, and we've had enough of an equine population explosion around here. Unfortunately, Journey couldn't cope with being examined, even with a sedative, so we still don't know what's up with her. The next step is to take her to the vet's facility, where he will be able to examine her in a crate or crush of some kind. Of course, the step before the next step was to teach her to trailer load.

Fortunately, we keep the trailer parked in a pen which makes it easy to practice loading. I started off by giving Journey her morning feed bucket in the trailer. First day, it was just at the edge of the opening. then a bit further in. When I got in far enough in that she needed to put her front feet in, she got stuck. I tried sending her in with a little approach and retreat, pressure and release, but she wasn't quite getting it. I did manage to pick up a front foot and just set it in, but she didn't step up. The following day, I taught her to lift her front feet by tapping them with the carrot stick and rewarding her with treats. That was easy, so I got her to stand on a few obstacles and rewarded her some more. She picked this up at lightning speed, and immediately put her front feet in the trailer when asked. The next day she put them in voluntarily to get her bucket. Then the wind blew for two days, and I hid in the house.

Today, we got back to our program. I put the bucket much further in (long stock trailer), but when I came back to check, she wasn't trying to figure this out. I played around very briefly with some friendly game at the rear end. (She's gonna need that, anyway, right? I'm hoping that I might be able to ask the vet to try once more without the crush, when we get to his place, if I can help her be ready.) Then I tapped her hind legs and asked her to lift them. I quit after some pretty vague tries, and took her to the trailer. She put her front feet straight in, but we still weren't quite making it with the hinds. She was getting out of position, so I sent her around to the side and then gave her a pretty energetic re-send. She went straight in, thought about things for a bit, and ate her breakfast in a pretty relaxed manner. Hooray!

I left her in the pen, with a hay net in the trailer, but when I came back she was hanging around outside. I put her on a 22' line and checked to see how she felt about being tied up by running the line through a ring outside the trailer. She followed the feel of this very well, until I had her snubbed quite short. No problem. I then drove her a little with the stick, just to see what she would do if she felt the pressure on her poll. I was ready to offer slack if she got worried. She thought things over and just gave to the halter easily. I reloaded her and ran the line out through the slats, so that I could keep a feel on the rope while I played with the doors. She just munched the hay and couldn't have cared less. I finally left her shut in the front half of the trailer, took the halter off and chatted to Mark for a little while. When I opened up the middle partition she stood calmly for me to put the halter back on and unload her like a seasoned pro. We are suitably impressed. She has made such huge changes in a short time, and is a very fast learner. From being untouchable, to hard to catch, to coming up to us for attention - and now this!

Fell Pony Adventures

Iona has been a bit lame for a week or so. We've been here before. Last time (last May) it passed after awhile, and again, it looks like getting better. It's somewhere in her left hind foot. Fetlock joint, I think. I haven't asked her to do much, and have given her some massages and extra TLC and essential oils. Maybe it's time to think about some herbs or a joint support supplement. Being a pony who isn't inclined to move without a good reason, I suspect that she may make things worse by letting it stiffen up, so I have walked her or encouraged the herd to keep moving a bit. Of course, I've no idea whether that's helped, but she seemed almost sound today, so fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, I've had the opportunity to ride Bruce out a bit more as as result. I feel that I'm finally getting to feel the benefits of his time with Livia. I see that he upholds his responsibilities better than he used to. Today, I thought I'd ride him and pony Iona around - probably just walk. I warmed Bruce up in the arena for a few minutes. I started with S bends (for rapport and draw). It didn't take long until they were actually willing and I had draw. Much better than the last time I tried them, when he just ran to (or maybe at) me and wouldn't change direction. When it started to look like he might try that again, I went to Falling Leaf (for respect and impulsion) and stuck with it until he was keeping his shoulder out and even offering canter. Whee!

We went and got Iona, as no way was I leaving Bruce in the arena to roll in his bareback pad again! They were acting like they'd never been led or taken through gates before, which didn't exactly fill me with confidence, but I tried to keep smiling and we made it back to the arena. I hopped on Bruce and played with Iona over some obstacles. She stood between some barrels and on a tarp - really basic stuff for her, but I figured it would catch her interest if she could do something cool and get a treat. I tried some Porcupine yields. Iona did well, but Bruce seemed to be having a hard time understanding where I was trying to position him part of the time. I'm sure he's done this before when I've ridden him and played with Hunter. Today it was a challenge, but Iona tried her heart out. We did some Touch It, which finished with all four feet on a low pedestal. Then, of course, Bruce wanted a turn on the pedestal, so I said "sure"! While he and I were up there I did some Yo-yo and Circling Game with Ony. I decided to ask for trot to the right, just to see how bad her foot was. She was a little unlevel part of the time, but wanted to keep going, which was encouraging.I sent her to the left, and she went willingly, but I only asked for about half a circle, as I figured it would be harder for her than the right circle. The next part was the best, though. We did Sideways with a fence, and they were both so cool! Really in harmony, then smoothly into Squeeze, and Sideways the other way, etc.

So we headed out for a look at the world. Or at least the east edge of the pasture. Most of the east side of the track is still closed, so they haven't been over there for awhile and it showed. We felled a tree there awhile back and there are still some huge pieces of trunk on the ground, and our neighbor seems to have dug a big hole or something, and there is a very large pile of spoil from this near the fence. In other words: IT'S A TERRIFYING PLACE TO TAKE YOUR PONIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I hadn't really thought of that.)

Sooooo - we  got to work on thresholds. And grass eating. And not eating until invited. And not bolting for the barn.  A - n - d    b - r - e - a - t - h - e!  I got off for awhile. I took them over for a look at the scary stuff. They took turns nibbling on weeds and going giraffe-necked and snorting. I finally thought they had relaxed, but when I turned them around, they dashed forward because now all the scary stuff was in Zone 5. Help! Naturally I thought I'd get back on Bruce anyway. (I know. Don't say it!) It went okay for a bit. We went back to the grass. They ate, they walked on, but I had a feeling. It wasn't that I wondered whether they would eventually take off with me, more that I wondered when they would do it. If I had only had one of them, I would have gone with the flow, but I decided I didn't need the experience with two, so I hopped off and walked back with them. That's not easy for me, but probably the right thing to have done, since I wasn't really confident.

Mark and I were talking about what a great resource the east side could be for us. We can take horses over there for walks and things to check out  and build their confidence, so every cloud has a silver lining.

Bruce is Back - First Session

Livia returned Bruce to me, safe and sound, a couple of weeks ago. She and I spent an enjoyable few days together, playing with him, riding, and talking about some of the things she learned during her time as an extern at the Parelli ranch in Pagosa Springs. During one session, I watched her ride Bruce in the Cradle Bridle. I think both Livia and Bruce were tired, and the session wasn't great. It really got me thinking, yet again, about where I stand on bits, on so-called collection, etc.



Like a lot of Parelli students, I would prefer to ride without a bit. I'm not vehemently against them, but they aren't my ideal, either. However, I'm curions, and recently experimented a little with Iona in the Cradle, and found it pretty easy to get a "soft feel" that might just develop into something we could both enjoy. The conclusion that I've come to is that most of us don't have our Porcupine Game in Zone 1 anywhere near good enough to be messing around with contact with a bit. For sure, Bruce's Zone 1 stuff has never been very good at all. When I first started riding him, I couldn't steer him at all in a hackamore. Of course, I thought that just because we could play the 7 Games fairly well that it was time to get on and start riding him. And when that was difficult, I just fought with him as best I could.

I haven't ridden him in the hackamore since he came back from the ISC, so I don't know yet what may have changed. It is a testament to Livia that she managed some good sessions with him in the Cradle. However, I've made up my mind to make a big effort to get all our horses soft, soft, soft in all their Zone 1 yields, and to explore whether we can even make some steps into contact and collection in the hackamore before we use bits for these things.

All this is really just a prelude to telling you about my session with Brucie today, as I didn't want to interrup the flow of the description explaining all this.

The first things I played with today was yielding the forehand with finger pressure just in front of the girth. Bruce was doing well with this previously, but found it trick to keep his feet still for a complete 360 degree turn. He can do that now, and is lighter and more confident with it than before. Yay!! I also played with lowering his head, backing him up with my fingers on his nose, lateral flexion with my hand on his muzzle, etc. These things felt really good. He need a little more friendly game in his mouth, I think, and then I might try some lead by the lip.

I am still working my way through the tasks I planned with the trailer (see I Have a Plan) so I thought we'd go do that next. My plan was to play the games On Line inside the trailer. We headed to the trailer, which I keep in a roped off area. However, I didn't think I'd need to close the gate! Well, it seems that Bruce has a few concerns about the trailer. Whether he doesn't want to take a six hour trip only to find himself away from home for three months, or just didn't like the hunks of bark and stuff that were decorating the trailer floor (Mark hauled some firewood) I really don't know. I got him in on the first couple of sends, did something he didn't like, so he came out. No big deal. I re-sent him and he just left. Went to talk to the cows about borrowing some alfalfa. Okay, so he still knows how to leave. Not surprised!

Back at the trailer again, I shut the gate this time and tried a few hard sends on a circle, but of course he's too smart for that. Back to trailer loading, then. He wasn't enthusiastic, but it didn't take much to get him going in the trailer easily. He was more sceptical about me coming in, though, so we played with that, and with me playing a bit of Friendly Game with the back door of the trailer, too. In the end, we did manage to play the games inside, although I'd say there were some reactions amongst the responses. It wasn't easy enough to get him to lower his head, for one thing. However, I decided to keep things light and not make the session too long, so I wound things up, and will come back to it later. 

Our last task today was circles. My goal was 5 laps of trot on the 22' line. We did this in the arena, in the corner nearest to the loafing shed. I fully expected to have trouble hanging onto him, but he never left. When we started the session my plan was to get first one lap, then three, and then five. He started off constantly breaking gait and leaning on the rope. I decided to fix the leaning first, so I asked for walk. The moment he put slack in the rope I brought him in for a rest. The next time I waited about 12 strides, after he put the slack in, and the next time he managed a full circle. It doesn't take him long to figure things out! (I was proud of myself for remembering my goal of lightness in Zone 1.)

We moved on to trot, and it really didn't take much to reach my goal of 1, 3 and 5 laps. He didn't have a lot of impulsion, and on the five laps, he leaned on the rope sometimes. But I never stopped while he was leaning! We will sort those things out, but at least he maintained gait in this simple task, and understood that slack in the rope is important.

More fun with Bruce!

My Beautiful Brucie

(taken in Scotland)

Denise and I have had a few sessions with Bruce since I last posted. Their partnership is improving. Denise has stepped up to take on the things I am asking her to do with him, and he is having a lot of fun playing and enjoying the extra attention. Yesterday evening was really fun, though!

We started by looking at playing Games 4-7 in a flow, and I suggested that Brucie should really be trotting 90% of the time. I played first, and I have to say I was surprised at just how well he did. I didn't need to ask him to pick up the pace much at all - he just went. Denise also had a good little session, although she needed to remember to "expect a lot" as she just didn't realise he could easily do much more for her at first.

We then had a look at tacking him up with a bareback pad. Typically, he was trying to undo the latigos and "help" her put it on. He is always impatient with tacking up. He thinks it take too long.

In the interest of continuing with the Impulsion Programs, I had to think of a way to play the Trotting Game dismounted. I decided we could try Liberty. We were in the small arena, so Denise and I each took a half and I sent him off - really to go where he liked as long as he trotted! And if he went over to Denise's side, then it was up to her to keep him trotting. Naturally, he had no idea what we were asking him to do. However, that just seemed to make it more fun for him and he was pretty expressive. Only one or two little moments of "uh-oh, I guess I'm wrong!" He mostly offered to do big circles around us, and we ended up having to sort of discuss how to get him to go to the other person's side. We all had a blast, and ended up asking him not to canter more than not to walk, by far. It would be very easy to get him to do a big Figure 8 around the two of us, I think.

Denise then mounted up to work on her lateral flexion, friendly game and a bit of Passenger Lesson. I'm not sure that too much Passenger Lesson will be a good thing for Bruce, so this may be a bit of a compromise. Hopefully, Denise can sort of get that just riding him around with me and Iona before too long.

Because of Bruce's impending trip, I thought I'd better work on his trailer loading. We haven't done much with it since the Trailer Woes thing this autumn. However, after a little initial scepticism he went on and off several times easily. I then experimented with how he felt about me coming in. No problem, so we played a little Yo-yo game and stuff in there, and I also experimented with running the lead rope through the bars to simulate tying him up. That also went just fine. I think that's where we had problems the last time - or at the next step, where I dallied the rope to something and left him - and then he panicked a little. No problem this time. I didn't dally the rope, but did get out of the trailer and go around and give him a treat through the bars from the outside. A pattern he knows from our old trailer in Scotland. I was really happy with that session, and with how the whole evening went.

I Have a Plan

So - I've been thinking about a skeleton for a trailer loading program, and what's important. Confidence! General confidence, the confidence to stay straight, to back out, to be tied if necessary, to stand relaxed when partitions and doors get swung, and when people or other horses enter and leave. That's all. Simple, but not necessarily easy. Hehe. And I figure that if I want to travel them loose, being able to do everything at Liberty would be good, too.

This is what I've come up with:

- 7 Games outside the trailer OL (On Line) Every OL section will include a section on tying preparation. That will include me going to the places and doing the things that I would normally do to tie the horse, plus running the rope through something and playing with a live feel on the rope.

- 7 Games outside L (at Liberty)

- Loading OL

- Loading L

- 7 Games inside the trailer OL

- 7 Games inside the trailer L 

- Loading without turning OL (I will probably use a row of metal barrels up one side of the trailer for this. First in the back section only, with the partition shut, then with the barrels moved to the front section.) 

- Loading without turning L

- Loading straight OL (No barrels now, just communication!)

- Loading straight L

- Loading and:  1 ground tying; 2  having halter removed and standing; 3 being tied.

- Loading two horses OL

- Loading two horses L

It's quite a program, but I think it will be fun, and really beneficial. too. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way! I'm really grateful that we have this nice big solid stock trailer to play with.

Today's Session with Iona

We had a really nice time together today. We started off playing with some S Patterns and Zone 5 Driving on the way out  to  a spot where two paths meet at right angles, each with a small ditch along it. This is a fun place to do circles, with a little natural obstacle of the ditches. Iona had her own games in mind, like stopping and eating a lot and/or running off. Ha Ha! I had a 45' line so plenty of drift. So we spent awhile playing a combination of if-you-look-out-on-the-circle-I-will-disengage-you and wipe-that-look-off-your-face! This resulted in (finally) quite an exuberant horse! Cantering around throwing bucks of joy and having great draw. More and more I realise that the eating and running off is play - I just need to encourage more positive games.

As it was pretty windy we then headed for the shelter of the little back arena, where we played with Figure 8 and Weave patterns. Thanks to the good circle warm-up these went much better today! We are back to getting simple changes on the Figure 8 and not acting like a pony who has never done a Weave in her life.

On to the trailer. For a horse who was acting pretty upset at her last trailer session, Iona was pretty keen to get in there today. Of course I wasn't asking her to! "Hey, what are you doing? Don't go in there, we're supposed to be playing outside!" So we did all 7 Games no problem - the hardest was getting her to notice the treats I had hidden for Touch It.

Back in the arena I mounted up for some Freestyle. I have a bunch of 5 gallon pails with lids and a couple of stones in each to stop them blowing away. I put one out to circle, and I'm glad I decided to make some marks in the sand with my heel to sort of help us find the circle. I think it really helped. She was a little distracted by the herd moving around nearby, but they went fairly well. We also did some sideways and a little jumping. I didn't have a log big enough, so we jumped a row of pails laid on their sides. Maybe next time I'll set them upright if I'm feeling brave. LOL!

                                           

Trailer Woes

Spent most of today trying to get Bruce and Iona comfortable with the trailer. My agenda was to have them both relaxed in the front section, let them eat hay awhile, congratulate myself on my fabulous horsemanship, etc. etc.

What really happened is that Iona did pretty well, confidence wise, but I didn't have a clear enough plan as to how I was going to keep her straight while I put Bruce in. The trailer interior is about 16' long, with a swinging partition that divides it into a front and back section. My intention was to put the Fells in the front section and the horses in the rear. I thought I would just get one in and relaxed, tie to bars at front, load 2nd one, close partition and go have lunch. Wrong.

The Dreaded Stock Trailer!!

There's plenty of room to turn around in there. They both know that. Therefore, when I tie one (well, only dallied the rope so far!) they get worried because they can't turn. And although I did only dally the rope, it was enough to give each of them a wee fright. (Yes, that's right - I made the mistake with one, and repeated it with the other, just to confirm my findings. Doh!)

Bruce's confidence was wobbly, at best, anyway, so now he thinks the trailer is a deathtrap. Iona is much more pragmatic about the whole thing. "If I have to do it, okay. Let's see whether I have to." Bruce even put in a running away performance in three acts. Oh, well. That provided one of the better laughs of the afternoon, when on one occasion after chasing him for a bit, I managed to draw him back toward me, and when I saw him following me I ran down the drive with him chasing me.

I ended on the best note I could, but felt very down this evening. I knew that I had been too direct line. Somehow I couldn't seem to get my head around using this type of trailer and just wanted the comfort of my old two horse straight load. What I began to realise is that to use this trailer with excellence, it's really got to be about loading at liberty. Especially since it's a great trailer for allowing them to travel loose. Then I felt frustrated because I need to be ready to take them all on a trip by Friday morning.

I have loaded them at liberty in the past, both into a straight load and a slant. In the end I decided that I am likely to get too tense and too direct line with this time frame, so I did what I considered to be the Savvy thing and rang the dentist. He said that he is happy to arrange to come to us in the next few weeks, so that will allow me the chance to do this for them rather than to them! It will also allow me to do something in the next 48 hours other than trailer load. Exciting things like putting up a fence and going to the laundromat. Now I just need the self discipline to continue with it.

Peace

The herd are near the grazing cell gate when I go out to bring them in. The two Fells lying down. We do greetings and treats. It's cold. Tatters of yesterdays snow still lying around.

Everybody out and the gate shut I get on Iona. Carrot stick and string, halter and finesse reins. Bruce is the leader and he kindly waits until Iona and I are set to go. There is no real discussion, we just all leave. Bruce, Iona and me, Hunter, then Dakota. That's the usual travel order these days, same as the dominance order. Bruce doesn't go very fast. He's careful. Checks everything - even going from one side of the track to the other sometimes to see what's behind brush. It must be nice to follow him, if you're a scared pony. He takes his job seriously.

We trundle along. I never touch my reins or use the stick or my legs. It's like some sort of royal procession. Slow and dignified. I know if I was walking we would go a lot faster, but probably less dignified. Everybody stays calm and I concentrate on fluidity, on staying out of 'Ony's way.

Bruce stops to sniff noses with Molly, the pup. When we all stop I see she is wondering what to do about it. I try to figure out whether she is trying to herd us yet, then laugh at myself for thinking in terms of "us". Guess I'm a horse now!

We go on and come to an area that's slippery. It's always Iona's back feet that slide out behind her because she's on the forehand. I try to think of ways to shift my position to encourage something else, but it's not effective and I don't feel like using my reins. Maybe tomorrow....

At the water tank I hop off. There's half an inch of ice. The Fells push it under with their noses and try to slurp. Iona gets impatient and breaks the ice with her hoof. Job done.

Hunter - 1st trailer loading session

Thought I'd do a bit of this with each horse this week, as on Friday we have a trailer trip to the dentist for the whole herd. He was high headed even as I led him in. I'm trying to think what was bothering him - maybe some new tarps on haystacks? I led him in a circle each way around it. Had to defend my space a little, and quite a lot of snorting going on. I managed to sneak a treat onto a fender and then played Touch It. He loves that, and it gave him something to focus on. He munched the treat then came to ask me for another one. He can do that and still be really on his toes, which he was. Food motivated even while he's high. I snuck into the trailer and put one on the floor about a foot from the edge for later. 

We played a bit of squeeze between me and the open door, and he chose to dash into the trailer, turn around and dash out again. Whatever! It seemed like he hardly even knew where he was. Next time he tried that I blocked him with a rope wiggle and we got a better squeeze game going. He was pretty respectful of my space and I could stand really close. Asked him to touch the trailer opening this time and he found the treat. Score!! So I offered him a squeeze in. He did the dash in and out thing again a couple of times. I would have taken just zone 1! Maybe I was shouting with my ask. I tried not to, and there was no stopping him once he headed in. I still felt that he wasn't thinking much about where he was in physical space. I think this is how he is always getting hurt. (OMG maybe he's a candidate for TTeam! That's supposed to tell a horse where his body parts are, etc.)

I began to suspect that he is afraid of coming out, particularly backing out. In fact I think that would be a huge challenge for him right now. Thank goodness it's a stock trailer! Hunter's way of dealing with things he's scared of seems to be to push through and get it over with, so I think that's what he was doing. Finally, a couple of times I managed to get him stopped with just his front feet on, then back him off. It wasn't very straight, but he managed to get them down fairly gracefully. Cool!

Later when we got all four feet in again I managed to ask him to stand inside and relax. Even though he had already turned around, I felt that was big progress. I rubbed him and gave him a treat and he came off much slower and more aware. That seemed like a good place to quit for the day. We do need more preparation, but I don't think he will have a problem, as long as the rest of the herd is travelling, too. Even if he doesn't learn to back off this week, we will get there.

Mark and I have spent a lot of time recently reviewing old Savvy Club DVDs, and we've been enjoying the tour stop segments. Of course there's always trailer loading involved, and Pat is very "free form" about it. I think that this has helped me a lot with my own loading approach. In a way, maybe more so than all the "How to Trailer Load" stuff that Pat has produced. It has opened up my thinking a lot and helped me focus more on principles and less on technique. This PNH stuff really does work!

Just Horsin' Around

We've had some great weather recently - cool, calm and dry - so it's been a busy week for horses. Last Saturday I decided to ride Iona around the track to check the fences. Thay need to be checked regularly, but too often it happens because there's already some kind of problem, we're in a hurry and go in the truck, just to get it done. However, I had plenty of time and wanted a ride, so we saddled up.

Well, she was like molasses in January. Just didn't want to get out of camp at all! Sigh! When she was younger she was like the horse that invented "barn sour" and occasionally she reverts. Like I said - plenty of time - so I just practised being polite and passively persistant in the proper position. * She seemed to have a lot of thresholds, or maybe they weren't, as they always seemed to involve looking back toward the herd. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. We finally made it to the first corner, so I let her eat a bit of grass. When I asked her to walk on she did a quick turn on the haunches and bolted for home. Panicked. Laughed at myself. Enjoyed the ride. Got her bent and turned her around. Headed for the corner. Repeat from * !

Once we got round the corner she was a different pony. A little high but very forward going. Of course that was probably about getting back to the herd, but obviously she had accepted that we were going the long way. That suited me, I like to go fast, so we had a nice ride. On our return, I decided to pay the other horses a visit so I rode her over to the loafing shed where they were. Cue lots of peeing and squealing from Iona and some very interested nickering from Bruce. Oh, I get it! She's in season. Doh!

On Tuesday, Mark's son Clay wanted a riding lesson. I also wanted to play with Hunter, so after we fed them we got halters to bring these two in. Iona has been difficult to catch about three times in the 12 years I've owned her. Tuesday was one of them. She knows Clay, and is used to different people being around. I can only think that she simply still didn't want to leave Bruce, and definitely didn't want to check any fences! So Clay got treated to a catchng game workshop that he could have probably done without. We got them in and groomed, and I showed Clay how to play the friendly game. He has a really nice touch with his rope and stick handling.

We were going to use a bareback pad, and since Hunter was there I decided to play some friendly game with him first. He wasn't the least bit bothered, even when I held the cinch tight and circled him around. That was very pleasing to see.

Clay's last riding experience, on a friend's ranch, wasn't good, so we just took it easy and concentrated on stuff like pushing passenger - mostly with Iona on line. Clay did really well, and we finished up with him having a little ride around in the yard and driveway.

I then went through some L2 groundwork with Hunter. He was feeling a little RB, but it was interesting to see how much it helped him when I was just persistent about asking him to focus on a task. "Move your feet if you have to, but in my pattern." He really did get hold of himself after awhile, and as I felt like continuing I decided to do some flank rope stuff with him. Happily, that didn't bring out any issues, he walked, trotted and cantered both ways unconcerned. Proving once again that whoever started him probably did know what they were doing, and that it's his tendency to get unconfident in new environments and to lack self confidence that needs work. I finished up by spending a lot of time kneeling on an upright barrel, playing friendly game from above, leaning over him, scratching his back with my boot, etc. I might have got on, but by this time he was getting a bit high headed and bug eyed about stuff that was going on with the herd out on the track, I was tired and I decided to call it a day.

Wednesday, Sara popped over and we took the two Fells out for a ride. I mistakenly thought that they would have a lot of go. Eventually they did, but it took us awhile to find it. Once we did, we had a blast. Sara was on Bruce, and she was really egging him on to get past Iona as we went for a gallop. He is pretty unfit, though, and when she said she felt him run out of gas, we pulled them up and let them eat. I wouldn't want to sour them on going fast! It was great to spend time with Sara, riding and catching up. She's been busy moving for ages, and hopefully we will start to see more of each other again. 

Friday I played with Bruce. We started with the trailer. I'll be concentrating on this with all the horses this week as we have a trip coming up next Friday. Bruce hasn't really been in the stock trailer. It's huge and roomy, but her wasn't very confident, and didn't even eat hay once he got in. I got all four feet in several times, and when he was willing to stand and let me pet him for awhile, I moved on to other things. We went to the playground and rode some Figure 8 patterns. We just walked, but I felt it was one of our better sessions, because he was looking for the pattern. Then we did some On Line things like Yo-yo jumping and zone 5 driving, stick to me and hold the tongue. He was really up for anything I asked him, so we both felt great at the end.

Yesterday I had a nice session with Iona. We also played with the trailer. Iona loves the stock trailer because it is so roomy. Load from the fender? No problem! However, there is a swinging divider that I wasn't sure she would like, so we played with that, but it just wasn't an issue. What a pro!

We are trying to build up our trot and canter laps. I decided to do that in the roundpen. It took a little while to get her feeling willing, but then she was great. I've recently retreated to just doing trot laps, then ending the session with some fun cantering stuff, in the hope that she will not look at cantering circles as such a chore. We are working on simple lead changes, and she got quite high and silly, which is just what I'm looking for. A playful pony! Circling with LBIs is a funny thing. You have to be so careful not to overdo it and bore them, yet when you do do it, it seems  to really help everything else. While we were there, we did a few little Liberty tasks. All fab!

We went on to work on mount from a fence. Of course I can mount from a fence, but I really have to discipline myself to do it with excellence rather than just throw myself on any old way. (If I want to start working with less experienced horses I really need to lose a few bad habits like that!) I'm also hoping that it will help up with Sideways Towards. Since the calf pens have pipe fencing, it's a great place for that task. So we were doing that, and then once I was on, doing a few carrot stick turns. These were incredibly light and responsive. And you should always watch it when a LBI is incredibly light and responsive... they may be up to something! There is a low wire near the calf pens, that you have to duck under. I had just been thinking that maybe we should do that, so we could go out into the yard where there is a little more room. But Iona doesn't really like going under it, so I changed my mind. Then she changed hers and made a beeline for it. I didn't get her bent in time, and also didn't duck in time, as she then squirted under it, so I have now had that experience! I picked myself up, feeling around on the ground for my emotional fitness. Iona was just standing there going "What happened?" I made a joke to her about not doing stuff like that, and thought "Oh, boy! I get to practise mounting from the fence again." Unfortunately I had lost a little trust, so we went into a corral to do our carrot stick turns at trot!

We finished up with trying a little Sideways Towards. This has never really gone well. Once in awhile I think we've got it, but it is gone at the next session. I had the bright idea to put her in a corner, so that she had less wrong options, and something seemed to click. We did it several times, so I'm feeling hopeful. Iona is so much fun and such a great little partner!

Progress

Let's see if I can start this thing off again with a couple of happy stories. The first one doesn't start off sounding that happy. A few weeks ago something was bothering me about Iona. She looked really grumpy. In my usual busy-busy state it took a few days for the penny to drop that she wasn't actually grumpy, her ears were just wonky. She looked like a flop eared mule. "Oh, no" I thought, "she must have some kind of bugs or maybe an infection." Really bad news, as she is pretty funny about her ears - particularly the right one.

I know, I know - as a diligent Parelli student I should have been dealing with this! To be fair to myself, I have tried. Spent lots of time touching them with hands (okay 'til I get too invasive), carrot sticks (string okay, handle okay, tip okay, orange part NOT OKAY!!!!...unless your hand is touching the same part of the orange part that is touching her ear - go figure!) plastic bag/flag also seriously not okay. Spent over an hour on this with an instructor a few years ago, and it still wasn't okay. Aaaargh. So I just got on with life, y'know?

The day of reckoning was now upon me. Iona is a lovely pony and I love her dearly, but she is very dominant, and when she gets scared or simply doesn't want to accept something she can get defensive, pushy and dangerous in an up-close situation. However, now I really couldn't put this off. I was pretty sure it was only something like gnats, and anyway, there was no way I was going to inflict a vet on her, or her on a vet, for that matter! That seemed like a recipe for a fight or a setback.

The thing that was in our favour to sort this out, however, was the sheer amount of PNH we have under our belts as a partneship. I know about approach and retreat, and so does Iona. I know how to time the release when the horse pauses in it's resistance, and Iona has learned to look for and recognise that release. That was something that the Hold the Tongue task really taught us, and I am grateful for that task and the help I had from an instructor when I was struggling with it. Quitting when the horse gives a little is such a powerful teaching tool.

Day 1 - I kept Iona in a pen near the house, which she seems to enjoy, and went out for several sessions. I made a little progress, and think I avoided being too direct line, but I still felt a long way from actually getting my finger in her ear. She always managed to either evade me or got agressive. This was mostly trying to bite, and I must have dealt with it right - backing her up and also making her soften her ribs and pushing her shoulder away very firmly when she tried to barge at me. I began to see that she was only half serious, and I think she knew I saw it. That realisation might have been the biggest breakthrough of the day. It subtly changed my attitude, and Iona's response. I wish I could explain this part better, but it's probably more down to knowing the horse. I finished each session on a good note and hoped that I would be able to get into her ears before it turned into something really nasty. Poor girl, she looked really uncomfortable.

I spent some time thinking about how often Iona has turned out to be a bit of a paper tiger, as far as her agressive behaviour is concerned. I know that she has scared me more than once when she wasn't really serious. I know that this is an important piece of information that I need to hang onto!
Day 2 looked like being a bit easier, but I was struggling with the timing of my release. It wasn't easy to quit at the right moment, and only at the right moment, while she was throwing her head in the air one minute and swinging it like a baseball bat at me the next. I thought back to learning the Hold the Tongue task, where I was taught to hold onto the halter - not to control to movement of the head, but in order to make it easier to follow the movement.

The way Iona's halter fits, there is quite a bit of spare rope hanging from the knot, so I wrapped that around my hand. That worked great on the left side, and before I knew it I was in and out of her ear, just because I could stay with her when she moved, and release when she relaxed. She even discovered that it might feel nice getting a scratch way down in there. Okay, so the left ear was the easier one, anyway, but at least it was a start. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to get hold of the halter on the right side and got a bit stuck. Finished on a good note on the left ear and went away to think. Aha!! Tied a piece of heavy twine to the right side of her halter, and we got the right ear, too.

It wasn't long untl I could get her ears doctored after that, and did it a couple of times over the next days. The problem turned out to be a minor one, but I'm thinking about what I learned. Pat says "I never saw it take longer than 2 days." I could whine and say "But it took me 12 years!!" but actually it only took 2 days. Two days of having the right attitude, savvy, imagination, tools, taking the time, etc. Should I beat myself up for not having all those things in place before. Heck no!

The other happy story is a short one. I easily trailer loaded Iona several times recently from the fender. That means I just stood back by the fender and casually sent her in. No big deal.
It used to be a huge deal to get her in a trailer at all. Those days are mostly gone, I'm sure, but I sure was proud!