I really wanted to just relax with a horse today, so I decided to take Rain for a ride alone. She and I have covered 1000's of miles together and riding her is like wearing a really comfortable pair of shoes. We went about 5 miles, not very far, on pretty slushy and mucky footing. We have a lot of sand on our trails, so the footing stays decent - but not quite good enough to go cantering around.
There's an area on the trail that washed out badly last summer and requires us to step about 2 feet down into a creek bed to follow the trail. Rain doesn't like that at all. I took my time with her, kept her pointed at the step down and tried to never encourage the try. After a few calm minutes of letting her figure out the answer, she slowly and confidently stepped into the creek bed. I really think it's the look of the ground that worries her. There's some weird vine type plant on the ground and even when we walked the 20 feet or so in the creek bed, she was concerned. Something in her instinctively tells her to tread carefully. Interesting.
Not a lot of horse time and the weather was cold, but a nice ride with my best and favorite horse.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Catching up
Trying to catch up some horse training after a busy week of travel. The weather was pretty good, so I made the most of it. The ground is soft and mushy, so I had to do things slow and keep the horses at a walk or at most, a trot.
Gem - we practiced COD with a huge improvement on his hard side (left to right). I know he was struggling with footing, so I cut him slack. He did notice my draw and begin to make the change with me in his left eye, so a win in my book.
Z - we did a lot of trailer loading and I closed her in, closed the panel, and gave her alfalfa. I left her in there for a while (45 mins?). She was calm, eating, and seemed prepared to take our upcoming road trip. We also practiced zone 5 driving, spanish walk, and the spin.
Tina - Friendly game! With the tarp and the obstacles. We worked on the circle game, asking her to stay on the circle until I asked her in. Her sideways was very, very nice and I'm being much more subtle in my ask. She's extremely sensitive and I want to respect and reward that. I also took her into the front pasture and we played with hill therapy - using the circle over terrain. She was quite calm and thoughtful! I slowed my asks way down from where I've been and gave her more time than usual. It was an experiment to see how a slightly different approach would be received and she was very responsive. I'll start slowing my asks down until she seems more clear on the language before stepping things back up again. Her draw was better than ever - a good indicator that slower is the right thing for now. She was really eager to catch me when I first went out to get her - another good indicator that things are going well in her mind.
Nina - An interesting time with Nina! She was full of energy again today and did some amazing leaps through the air! I swear, she's the biggest, brownest Lipizzaner-impersonator I've ever seen. I stuck with her and we did some falling leaf until some of the play drive was expended. Then we got to work. Sideways, circle, back, back, back, driving the hind and fore... After she settled, I got some very nice, calm responses from her. It was a good lesson and I feel pretty sure that the next lesson will start off much more calm. We just got some good things done and left the arena on the right note.
All in all, a great and productive day with the equines. I spent 10 hours with the horses! Thanks to my family and my husband for letting me catch up some time.
Gem - we practiced COD with a huge improvement on his hard side (left to right). I know he was struggling with footing, so I cut him slack. He did notice my draw and begin to make the change with me in his left eye, so a win in my book.
Z - we did a lot of trailer loading and I closed her in, closed the panel, and gave her alfalfa. I left her in there for a while (45 mins?). She was calm, eating, and seemed prepared to take our upcoming road trip. We also practiced zone 5 driving, spanish walk, and the spin.
Tina - Friendly game! With the tarp and the obstacles. We worked on the circle game, asking her to stay on the circle until I asked her in. Her sideways was very, very nice and I'm being much more subtle in my ask. She's extremely sensitive and I want to respect and reward that. I also took her into the front pasture and we played with hill therapy - using the circle over terrain. She was quite calm and thoughtful! I slowed my asks way down from where I've been and gave her more time than usual. It was an experiment to see how a slightly different approach would be received and she was very responsive. I'll start slowing my asks down until she seems more clear on the language before stepping things back up again. Her draw was better than ever - a good indicator that slower is the right thing for now. She was really eager to catch me when I first went out to get her - another good indicator that things are going well in her mind.
Nina - An interesting time with Nina! She was full of energy again today and did some amazing leaps through the air! I swear, she's the biggest, brownest Lipizzaner-impersonator I've ever seen. I stuck with her and we did some falling leaf until some of the play drive was expended. Then we got to work. Sideways, circle, back, back, back, driving the hind and fore... After she settled, I got some very nice, calm responses from her. It was a good lesson and I feel pretty sure that the next lesson will start off much more calm. We just got some good things done and left the arena on the right note.
All in all, a great and productive day with the equines. I spent 10 hours with the horses! Thanks to my family and my husband for letting me catch up some time.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Playing in the cold snow... Brrrrr!
February has been a tough month for horse time. We've had cold temps and snowy weekends. I promise myself to have this situation fixed for winter 2010-2011. Today, it was cold (about 18 degrees) and snowing all day. Dang it, I wasn't going to miss a whole weekend of horse time. Yesterday was bitter cold and also snowy. Today, I bundled up and headed out.
I started with Nina, Miss LBE. We did lots of sideways and back. Looking for obedience. Figure 8 is nice! She started off trying tricks to get away. She likes to try antics such as front feet up or flying through the air like a Lippizanner. She has amazing athletic ability. It never worked and it took her some time to abandon that idea. At the end I was starting to see a horse I'd mount. She was so sweaty, so it obviously took some good energy to get her on the bandwagon.
To be fair, I haven't spent a lot of time with Nina this winter. I have an arrangement with her owner where we trade training time. The short days have put a wrinkle in our arrangement, but I'm sure we'll be picking back up soon.
I found a time at the end where she circled calmly and with obedience. I quit there. I asked her to back straight along the fence to the gate. Her hind end would come off the fence and I'd ask her to put it back. Once she got with the program, she backed nicely and straight. Good girl, great place to quit. I tucked her into a stall with a wool cooler over her and a pile of hay so she could get warm and dry.
Tina - what a great session! She was very calm
and offered energy to match mine. She never once got overly excited. Her friendly game responses were fantastic with some nice extreme friendly. I decided to saddle her in case she seemed good for some mounted time. I'm taking it very easy because of my arm. I also want to be sure that her mounted time starts back up on the right track because of our accident. We did figure 8 and boy, she really understands that pattern. The thing is, she wants to please so badly and she's so sensitive that as long as I'm clear with my body she's all over it. If she gets confused, she gets afraid.
I played with the circle and her maintaining her gait. She wants to stop behind me, a typical response. I will help her get past that. We played with squeeze and sideways and she did very well! She surprised me, truth be told. She was clam and smart today.
I ended with her head down, calm, quiet. We then left the round pen on that note.
I also trimmed Cowboy's hinds, Tina's fronts (what nice looking feet she has now), Ninas hinds. Nina has beautifully shaped hooves. Cowboy has the worlds thickest hoof wall and I'm getting the job done faster with nippers on him. He was extremely well-behaved for this trim and the last couple trims. Makes it much easier and faster to get my work done.
I started with Nina, Miss LBE. We did lots of sideways and back. Looking for obedience. Figure 8 is nice! She started off trying tricks to get away. She likes to try antics such as front feet up or flying through the air like a Lippizanner. She has amazing athletic ability. It never worked and it took her some time to abandon that idea. At the end I was starting to see a horse I'd mount. She was so sweaty, so it obviously took some good energy to get her on the bandwagon.
To be fair, I haven't spent a lot of time with Nina this winter. I have an arrangement with her owner where we trade training time. The short days have put a wrinkle in our arrangement, but I'm sure we'll be picking back up soon.
I found a time at the end where she circled calmly and with obedience. I quit there. I asked her to back straight along the fence to the gate. Her hind end would come off the fence and I'd ask her to put it back. Once she got with the program, she backed nicely and straight. Good girl, great place to quit. I tucked her into a stall with a wool cooler over her and a pile of hay so she could get warm and dry.
Tina - what a great session! She was very calm
and offered energy to match mine. She never once got overly excited. Her friendly game responses were fantastic with some nice extreme friendly. I decided to saddle her in case she seemed good for some mounted time. I'm taking it very easy because of my arm. I also want to be sure that her mounted time starts back up on the right track because of our accident. We did figure 8 and boy, she really understands that pattern. The thing is, she wants to please so badly and she's so sensitive that as long as I'm clear with my body she's all over it. If she gets confused, she gets afraid.I played with the circle and her maintaining her gait. She wants to stop behind me, a typical response. I will help her get past that. We played with squeeze and sideways and she did very well! She surprised me, truth be told. She was clam and smart today.
I took her into the round pen, played with COD, then decided to mount. She was responsive to me getting in that position. Hmmm... She moved away, very clearly telling me not to mount. I decided instead to build her confidence here. I made a lot of commotion with the stirrup, the saddle, flaps, etc on both sides. When she had a calm response, I mounted and just laid over her. I haven't been on her in a while, so I didn't want to do much more than mount. She was ok with me being on her back and I rubbed her a lot before getting off.
I ended with her head down, calm, quiet. We then left the round pen on that note.
I also trimmed Cowboy's hinds, Tina's fronts (what nice looking feet she has now), Ninas hinds. Nina has beautifully shaped hooves. Cowboy has the worlds thickest hoof wall and I'm getting the job done faster with nippers on him. He was extremely well-behaved for this trim and the last couple trims. Makes it much easier and faster to get my work done.
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