Sissy - 6/25/13

Started the day just like every other one.  Groundwork, groundwork, groundwork…I can’t say it enough. Spend more time now, to spend less time later.  This is especially important for young horses, but even with an older (finished) horse…sometimes it will pay off to back up and remind them of some of the basics.  It will also help you as a horseman/horsewoman.

I saddled her with a thicker pad today, but she was still pretty cranky about me getting on.  So tomorrow I will try a different saddle.

I drove her today and she is progressing nicely.  I increased the pressure a little by asking for more speed as I drove her.  I did this based on how her mindset was, as long as she didn’t stress out…the speed was ok.  If she had stressed, we would have backed up and slowed down.  She drove like a champ.

Today when I put the snaffle in her mouth I did a little “catch and release”.  Meaning I hooked my lead to one side and asked her to release to the pressure, when she did…I released also.  I did this on both sides, the goal is to be as consistent as a fence post.  That fence post applies the same pressure no matter what the horse is doing, and releases that pressure as soon as the horse releases.  I have been riding her with just a rope halter and lead, so the pull is different for than a snaffle.  The rope halter/bosal is a push, meaning when I pull the direction I want to go…the halter/bosal is pushing on the opposite side.  A snaffle/side-pull is a pull, meaning when I pull…the snaffle pulls the same way.  Sissy had a little trouble with this at first, but with a little patience she did ok.

When I rode her today, I continued to let her carry that snaffle around and guided her with the rope halter.  She is really doing well and if she does well tomorrow, then I will start using just the snaffle.

After riding for about 30 minutes, she started limping a little on her right front.  I think that this is maybe a case of sore muscles or she could have just stepped on a rock, but I did not want to chance it.  So we stopped and I hydro’d her leg and turned her loose.  I don't think this will be a big issue and  tomorrow her leg will be better…but we will monitor this going forward. 

Sissy - 6/24/13

Started today with groundwork.  Boring, huh?  Most everything that is done in horse training is repetition….to see something done the same way, every time, is pretty boring.  Except to the horse, the horse wants consistency.  So we began like we do everyday…groundwork…where’s her head?  Is she connected to enough to me to pay attention?  Every horse is different, some take longer to get with you…you have to deal with the horse that shows up.  Sissy got “with” me pretty fast today.

The plan was to drive her today.  So that is what we did next.  Driving is a funny thing, funny in that a lot of people think you can just hook long lines to the front of the horse, run those lines down either side and go to driving.  This approach usually leads things getting a little western.  If you have not prepared your horse to bend both directions and to be able to stand those lines touching them front to back…then prepare for a rodeo.  If you have, like I have done with Sissy, then this is almost an anticlimactic experience.  I put a snaffle in her mouth (nothing hooked to it, just letting her carry it around) and I drove her for about 30-40 minutes.  She acted like she had done it all her life.

So I thought I would just step up on her and ask her to move, with minimal direction.  Now the stepping up on part still kinda bothers her.  She will lay her ears back and fling her head up and down.  Some of this is her voicing her opinion, some might be it hurts her when I step up.  I will do two things starting tomorrow.  One, change to a thicker saddle pad and two, more work on the pushing/pulling/hopping thing.  If this is just her voicing her opinion….well then she will have to learn that this isn’t the end of the world.  If the pad is too thin, then the saddle is hurting her…change to a thicker pad…maybe even a different saddle.

Enough of what I’m going to do tomorrow.  Today, I stepped up on her and asked her to move out.  I did not have reins attached to the snaffle (I put it on over the top of the halter), I just want her to carry it around and get used to holding it in her mouth.  So we moved out, with  some direction from me, I just wanted her to move.  She really did well.

 

Sissy - 6/23/13

After the "no catch attitude" of yesterday, I decided to go ahead and work her today.  What we did yesterday, really worked well for today.  Walked right up to her in the pasture.

Once we got to the round pen, I did all of the basics I have been talking about since we started.  Spend more time now, to spend less time later!  We moved pretty quickly to the saddling and I again did the barrel thing.  She had no problems.

Next thing was prep for mounting.  I did a lot of leaning in the sttirrups, just getting her used to pressure and pull.  These are things she will have to get used to, she's a big mare and you will not always be in a position to have a mounting block.  She should be able to deal with push/pull and hoppin', without freaking out!

 

Once we got through a lot of that, I started stepping into the stirrup and leaning across the saddle.  I did this on both sides...ALOT!  When I felt she was ready, I stepped across and sat down.  One of the best things you can do to a horse after getting on the first time...is to get the heck off!  I got back on and off several times.  I did not step her out (which could lead to the ride being a lot more western), I want to drive her a while before I start asking her to move (one rein stops work best if the horse knows what you are asking for)

 

Sissy - 6/22/13

Ol' Sis had a little trouble today.  Not with anything as far as training, she just looked at me coming to catch her in the pasture and said "not today!"  She took off runnin'.

This is not a big deal, she just recognized that I represented work.  With the help of my bride we played what Parelli calls the catching game.  Basically everytime she ran away, we forced her to do it with speed!  When she stopped, we stopped and took the pressure off.  Took her about a five minutes to decide this was a whole lot more work than just standing there and letting my wife catch her!  Felicia walked up to her as easy as you please. 

When I put the halter on her I decided that since it was Saturday and we had been running all day with lamb tag-in, church work day and delivery of a little mare to West Columbia; this would be a good day to reward her for letting us catch her (see this link for a little lesson on that).  I just turned her loose in the round pen and let her be for an hour or so.

Sometimes training horses isn't about quantity, its about quality!  If you have a horse that you have trouble catching...what do you do with them when you get them caught?  NOTHING fustrates me more than a horse you can't catch, I used to work the devil out of them when I had them caught (just wanted to make sure that they would remember me and this punishment  I was giving them...they always did...they were always harder to catch the next time!)  there is a tale I could tell about that...maybe on my other blog sometime.

We will see how Sissy catches the next time!

Sissy - 6/21/13

I started today with the basics.  If your horse has a solid base, then they always have something to fall back on when they get in a bind. 

We worked on yielding her hind end and getting confident in standing away from me.  Then I started rubbing on her with the saddle pad (what we used to call “sackin’ on out”), basically desensitizing her.  Once she could handle all of that without even twitching, I moved onto the saddle.

She never made a bobble when I put the saddle on (and took it off) several times.  Again, did this until she never even twitched.  Then I let her move out, just discover that she could move with weight on her back.

She handled everything really well.  I even had her jumping over some barrels (the only different between a jump and a buck is intent – if she was going to buck, then when she jumped over the barrels she would have).  This is not to say that she will never buck, just means it isn’t her first option!

All in all, she really did well.

Sissy - 6/20/13

As The Lamb Turns

Since we had all of the drama with the lambs, I thought is would be a good idea to work on some basics with Sissy. We started with some of the same things that we have been doing all along...we just did it up by the lamb pen!

There are several things you can do in ground work that will help focus your horse, to get them to look to you for safety and trust when they get nervous. These things can be done in the saddle, but (as I've gotten older, I've found) it is better to do them on the ground. So we work on some ground skills right there beside the drama that was the lamb pen.

One of the things we worked on was yeilding the hind quarters (here is a really good article about that very subject), Sissy is pretty smart and she picked this up pretty fast, going forward we will work on the subtlety of this.  How little do I have to do before she responds?

We also worked on what Parelli calls the yo-yo game.  This just means that I wanted her to back away from me, while I stood in place.  This is also about a person’s own personal bubble, a horse wants to be with the herd.  Sometimes when it is only you and them, you are part of the heard.  Wouldn’t it be safer to be able to make them back off, out of your bubble, when you are nervous?  It’s also about the horse being brave enough to stand away from you, when they are nervous and scared, and learn that they can be scared…just not on top of you!  This was a little harder for Sissy, specially up by the lambs, but she got better by the end.

Really all you can ask for, from a horse, is “are you better at the end of the workout, than you were at the beginning?”

Sissy - 6/18/13

More of the same today!

I had every intention today of saddling Sissy, but once she caught site of my girls 4-H lambs....she was a little spooked.  Not that you would notice much in the video, but if you watch when I am hopping (yeah, I said hopping!) close to her hind end...she lays her ears back.  She was not comfortable at all with me doing what I was doing, where I was doing it.  ***alright, here it is...with all the grunting and talking to her that happened***

Now, let me clarify the "hopping".  This is a great big mare, if I am going to ride her...I had better be able to hop a little to put my foot in the stirrup (it's also a good desensitizing tool...if she can stand this, then she will be fine).  So I risked looking like a fool and hopped all around her, after I sacked her with the saddle pad for a while.

Once she was comforable with me and the hopping, we called it a day.  (this was a small portion of the work, I can only load so much of a video from my phone).  This is where the lamb stress kicked in.  Before I started, I had tied my girls 4-H lambs...once she realized that she was going to have to walk right past them...she started stressing a little....then the neighbors cows came up...more stress...

She eventually calmed down a little, but she stressed pretty good about the lambs!  She was hot and started pawing...really nervous.  I eventually moved her back to her pasture and she calmed down, but  here (the lambs) is something for her to get used to and realize that the lambs will not eat her!

Sissy - 6/17/13

Ok, been a long time between posts.  But I was brought a new pony to start, she's a sharp looking mare and I am really looking forward to starting her!

Started today with groundwork. 

Lotsa different trainers call it different things, but basically it is all desensitization.  When Sissy was dropped off Saturday, I did a scaled down version and today I ramped up the pressure a bit.  I want to make sure that she can handle what I am going to be throwing at her in the coming weeks.  She did really well, not much fazed her. 

The question to ask is: can I touch her just about anywhere and with just about anything, or does she blow up?

As I said, not much fazed her.  Which is a testament to the work that her owner has put in from the start.