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!

Fun with my boys!

Had a blast yesterday with Bruce and Hunter! It's been awhile since I rode one of the Fells and played with the other, but I've been thinking that this might be a good fit for Hunter and Bruce. Poor Bruce always seems so bored by the idea of being ridden by himself. I'm sure it is boredom, but I expect there is a lack of confidence involved, too. That will need to be addressed, but in the meantime, I thought it might help him to have a job while being ridden, as well as the novelty of involving another horse. From Hunter's viewpoint, I hoped the experience would also be confidence giving and give me a chance to play from up above him.

I brought them both in and groomed them together. There was some hay in the pen, and Bruce was intent on a) eating it and b) NOT SHARING. I didnt make a big deal out of it, just spread it out so Hunter could get at it. Usually when I put Hunter in the pen before playing with him he is pretty unconfident about being in there by himself - less so if the herd happens to stay nearby. It didn't seem to make a big difference to him that Bruce was there. More a matter of "I want to be out there on the track because that's where I usually am, and this is not normal." How interesting.

Then it was time for lunch for humans, so we did that, and I sat wondering exactly how I was going to do this. I figured that I would take them both to the playground, let Hunter loose for awhile while I warmed up with Bruce and then somehow collect Hunter and go forward with the two of them. However, I decided to tack Bruce up in the yard, and once I had led the two of them into the playground it just seemed natural to play with both of them online together. This had it challenges, but it was great rope handling practise for me and worked out okay.

I walked around for ages just playing friendly game with the stick and string and letting them follow me, making left and right turns. Eventually this flowed into some Driving games and Yo-yos. The Circle Game was hilarious. Bruce was s-l-o-w and Hunter rather fast, and if I tried to chase Bruce a little Hunter got scared and panicked. However, I think this was a good friendly game for him as Bruce and I were so unbothered and I was laughing. He got better with it after awhile and they managed some half decent circles. During our walks and trots around I managed to set it up so that Hunter had to go over some low jumps. That was a first for him - I think he just trotted them, but it was a great start. We also did some squeezes with the fence.

So I took them over to the pedestal and got them arranged in the "ride and lead" position and hopped on Bruce. (Once I got him off the pedestal.) As I expected he was much more light and willing than usual when we started moving. I had been working on Hunter synchronising with him while I was still on the ground by putting Hunter's rope over Bruce's saddle and working him from the far side of Bruce, so things went really well. I started off with lots of turns to the inside, as this created a lot of disengagement for Hunter, which he needs. We rode around for awhile, just having fun. Tried some back-ups, but it's hard to keep Hunter straight - he wants to turn and face, so I'll need to think about that.

We started to manage a little trotting, and that also went well. Then I just sat on Bruce and played some games with Hunter. More Friendly with throwing the rope over his head, helecopters with the string, etc. then went through all the other games except Sideways. Then we rode around a bit more, doing more trotting and also more circles with Hunter on the outside, so he got to go fast and Bruce got to go slower, which was perfect for both of them. We finished up with some Squeeze and Sideways using the fence.

I had so muc fun, and I think both of them did too! After we were done and I had taken Hunter's halter off he came and put his head over Bruce's neck and my leg, just in front of the saddle, and stood there for awhile while I stroked him. Nice finish.

Ride and Play

Moonrise at sunset. We had a beautiful full moon on Sunday night.

Sunday

Sunday Linda visited to ride and play with Dakota. We had a great time together in the playground. I spent some time doing pedestal tasks with Iona -four feet on the pedestal, and hind feet only. She is very confident with these now, which is cool, as it's a pretty small pedestal and fairly high, too. Linda and Dakota played with the low pedestal and spent some time on their Figure 8s. They had those going great.

"How do I look?"

"It's a long way down." A moment later she stepped her front feet off and left her hind feet on, with one leg cocked. Mrs Cool!

"Do we really have to do this?"

"Yes, we do!"

They get it on!

Some of our other stuff didn't go so well. We are trying to increase the laps on the circle. Perhaps I just wasn't patient enough, as it didn't go well, so I didn't push it. I hopped on and tried some carrot stick riding and stuff - that also needs attention, as my direct "rein" seemed to be broken. That should have told be that sideways also wouldn't go well, but I had to try it anyway, and guess what? It didn't go well either!! Maybe Iona just wanted to go out for a trail ride. Linda was also on by that time, and having some trouble with straightness and impulsion, so we both did a bit of point to point and worked on snappy departures. We both got going better, and then headed out to ride on the track.

We had a great time, and did a lot of cantering. I can't believe how much Linda's confidence, balance and leadership have improved in just a few months. When we got up to the north side, four deer jumped the fence in front of us and then jumped the track fence and headed away across the pasture and then on into the neighbour's pasture. That could have been an "oh no!" moment, and the horses did do a bit of a dance, for sure, but we all kept it together and went on to enjoy the rest of the ride. Amazingly, they didn't damage the track fence! (This time.) It was kind of cool to see them, as I knew they were around, but hadn't managed to see them before.

Area where we saw the deer

I had to laugh and tell Linda that for the past few days I'd been moaning to Mark that I didn't have anybody to go out and ride fast with. Looks like that has changed! Hooray!!

Today's play

Today I went out to get Iona to play. The herd was in the wide area of the newly opened section, where they have been spending a lot of time lately. I called her and looked at her hindquarters a couple of times from a long way away, and was really pleased to see her head toward me. Brilliant! Since we had that, I decided to see whether we could make it at liberty. I stood by the nearest track gate, and she came over. Of course Bruce had to come too, just in case he missed something. The challenge then was to let Iona through the gate into the main pasture without Bruce getting through. However, I managed to position them with very subtle gestures - NO stick waving, etc.! - and worked her through. I always give the one who is left behind a treat at this point, if they have been cooperative, so Bruce scored.

We did the whole walk to the playground gate as stick-to-me, with only a couple of corrections. I stopped a few times and allowed her to eat grass, and threw in some trot and some back-up to keep it interesting. When we got to the playground I realised that I had forgotten some things I wanted, so I left her. When I came back, she was grazing on the far side of the playground, but when she saw me she headed straight over. I was really pleased. I then thought that she had zeroed in on her bareback pad, but when I picked up the pad to put it on she left, so I guess not!

We then had a little catching game at a slow walk. This was probably because Bruce decided to bring the herd in along the section of track beside the playground. So Iona thought she preferred to join them. However, they kept going around the buildings to the water tank where she couldn't see them. She got fairly agitated - albeit in slow motion - and pawed the ground and even halfheartedly tried to duck under the fence. She got shocked for her trouble. Ouch! I sent quite a lot of time doing a low key catching game with her before i got her back with me. She was then fine about being saddled.

I wanted to do some work on circles with obstacles. It took ages to get her willing to circle and then to do anything with the obstacles, however we finally got into it, she did some nice things and I quit that task. I wanted to improve her impulsion on the circle a little more before we moved on to Figure 8s, as I hoped to work on cantering them. Now I was trying to just do a few trot canter transitions on the circle, but she kept running back to the obstacles!! What a pony!

The Figure 8s were really hard work and we never cantered. I did my best to be firm, fair and friendly.... I found myself thinking that she is bored, rather than engaged, by the whole Patterns thing right now. I have tried very hard not to turn them into drills or be too repetitive, but I am obviously missing something, so I will need to think about this. Weave was also a drag.

We moved on to riding, and this went better. Did a little bit of carrot stick riding - mainly HQ disengagement which went very well. Then a little jumping, and she was actually getting enthusiastic. I enjoyed that, too, even though I felt I was bouncing around a little too much at the trot. We finished up by working on circles on a casual rein. It took a little patience, but they improved at the walk as I improved my ribs and hand position and she settled into the pattern. When she did well I went into a Bullseye to finish. We did a few of these, then played around with the Weave just for a little change. Came back to the circles at trot. She went into a very fast punchy trot that was uncomfortable to sit. It was kind of exciting and the circles were pretty good, but it was not easy to get her into a better gait. I tried some walk trot tranitions, which helped and she finally stretched down a little a couple of times, so I quit there. I didn't want to quit while she was doing her "machine gun" trot!

So not a great session, but it left me with plenty to think about. It's always great spending time with Iona. I am so lucky to have her. We just hung out together for a little while before I moved on to do some chores.

TRACK OPEN!

Down the Drive

(Sorry about the awful hat!)

That's right! We've finally done it. Yesterday we got the track fully open. It's that simple really and there's not much to write, except that I am sooooo happy that it's done. Not just in the sense of not having to work on it, but happy for the horses, that they will now be able to go all the way around without finding a dead end. Of course there are many improvements that I want to make, and with so much fencing, constant checking and upkeep is required.

Linda with Dakota and Hunter

So yesterday Linda and I took the four of the down the drive and showed them that they could now get through to go along the front going east. Of course, they didn't really know why we were taking them that way in the middle of the afternoon, but they were pretty impressed with the amount of grass they found along the way. Then we walked them up the east side where all the brush and dead trees are. (This area is wide, as further up I want to create a second playground to take advantage of a bit of a bank that has some landscaping potential for drop jumps, etc.) Then the track narrows and continues to follow the old county road along the east side of the property. It was along here that the track has had to be blocked for so long to deny them access to the problem area from the northeast.

Turning the Corner into New Territory

Taking a Break to Check Things Out

Fells Checking the Grass Quality

Hunter Leads the Way

Hunter did a great job of being an enthusiastic four year old and led most of the way. He was the only one we didn't have on line, as I felt he would just get us all tangled and I knew he would come with the group. At one point he took off, a little excited and right-brained and so I lost Bruce and Iona. Predictably, the all stopped and grazed soon and order was restored.

Here We Go...

"I Now Declare this Track Open"

Once we got them unhaltered, we headed in for a celebratory dinner for everybody that has helped with this massive project over the past year. Linda, Sara, JR (Sorry you couldn't make it, Buddy! Hope you enjoyed the food I sent home with Sara.), Mark's boys Justin and Clay, and of course Mark.

I wondered where I would find the horses this morning. Maybe down on the new part of the track where there is lots of grass. But they were in their usual place in this month's grazing cell, which we are still only opening at night. They came in and ate their breakfast, and so far I haven't seen them using any new areas. I suspect they may need a little time and encouragement to break old habits. I'm sure the grass will help. I will keep you posted on developments.

Almost there...

I'm starting to get a little bit excited. It looks like we will get the last stretch of the track opened today or tomorrow! There were so many things that got in the way of that: trees that needed to be felled, tumbleweeds, mowing took precedence, I got sick, there was so much brush and weeds in the barbed wire fence that I couldn't run the hot wire, old fencing had to be hauled out and cut away by hand where trees had grown through it... However, there are just a couple of little jobs left. Hooray! Watch this space!

Some of the brushy mess waiting to be removed.

The black posts are part of a "safety fence" we put up to seperate this area from the track. The perimeter barbed wire lies behind the trees and brush - somewhere!!

That gray mass at the base of the trees is an accumulation of old tumbleweeds.

Hunter

Meet Hunter!

Hunter joined us a couple of months ago. He is a four year old gelding that we bought at a local sale. He is a lovely guy, and Mark hopes he will be a good horse for him to have fun with and maybe take elk hunting in the future.

I have played with him a number of times, and he is a fast learner, but so far he flips between right and left brained behaviour pretty frequently and we don't really feel sure about what his innate horsenality will turn out to be. He is certainly a lovely mover, though, and has a nice nature, so that's a great start.

Although we saw him ridden in the sale ring, we have not been on him yet. I feel that he lacks a little bit of confidence (quite a lot of confidence, actually) and that both horse and human will have a happier experience when we have the communication better established. I would like to treat it as a "re-start" when the time comes, even though I think that he will be pretty quiet. However, if it suddenly feels right to hop on, then we won't make a big deal out of it. Right now he loses it pretty easily over certain kinds of commotion. Tossing the rope over his head or swinging it like a helecopter are enough to set him off, and his default it to run.

He is certainly making herd life more interesting, though. All the horses here are in their early to mid teens. Hunter isn't too impressed with their daily agenda of just hanging out. It's been funny seeing him trying to stir up a little action, and I'm hoping that he and Bruce will eventually play, but so far I haven't seen much of that. Perhaps now that the weather is cooling off things will change. Ducky has been staying at Linda's house while she concentrates on her L2 and has frequent classes with Kime Conkright, so it's worked out well for Dakota, who now tends to pair up with Hunter.

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!