Sissy - 7/29/13

Nothing real exciting to report today.  Worked on more of the same...

She is getting better going to the right, but still sometimes freezes up.  Which means one of two things:

1.  We can push on through it and continue to work
2.  Slow down, back up and do it at a slower pace

Which one you choose should be based on your skill level as a horseman and the mind set of your horse (which still comes back to your skill level as a horseman).  Do I always make the right choice, no...and I usually pay for it too!

Today, we pushed on through and I just held pressure until she calmed down and released.  She needs to understand that being scared is ok, just don't lose your mind when it happens.  She responded pretty well, as we move forward I expect these panic attacks will happen less and less.

Rode her again outside, we concentrated on walking some straight lines........

Sissy - 7/27/13

It’s important to understand that when I write a shorter post, I am giving a short highlight of what I worked on for the day.  Yesterday I only talked about working Sissy on her right side.  I, of course, did a full workout on her.  From groundwork, to vertical flexion, to lateral flexion and stopping…It’s important to stay with a program (horses like consistency).  Sissy still struggles with releasing to the right side and we will just continue to work on it every day.  She is better than when we started, but not as good as she will be later on.

I worked her on both side with lateral flexion (a soft release), but spent more time on the right side.  She is getting better, but tends to panic a little.  The only solution to this is wet saddle blankets, continue working until she relaxes.

Rode her outside again at the end of our ride.  The first few rides, I generally don’t ask for anything more than just walk straight lines.  She is getting better and as she handles better…I will spend less and less time in the round pen.  The next 11 rides should be really interesting.

SIssy - 7/26/13

To make a long story short, we worked on getting her to release to the right.  We started off at a stand still, always asking for that soft release.  When she got pretty good at knowing what I was asking for, I moved her into a walk.  We walked small circles with just a little pressure to the right.  I don’t want that big release and stop.  I want her to continue to move forward and just give to that right side, dropping her chin.  When she was doing pretty well with this, I asked for the same thing at a trot.  She gets scared and stiff at a trot.  The trick is to know when to slow it down and when to push on through.  It’s a pretty fine line and if you’re not sure…be conservative.  Slow it down.

Sissy - 7/25/13

I amped up the pressure for Sissy a little today.  There comes a time to get with the program, now I say this a little tongue in cheek.  I am for the horse, but you can only namby pamby along for a little while.  At some point...you just need to move on!

So today, we worked a whole lot harder than we have been doing in the past few rides.  I will say that other than working on her right side, she did pretty well.

Again most of the ride was about a soft release.  When I ask, does she release to pressure easily?  Going to the left, she is a trooper.  She will move through the small circles, bending her head around at every speed except a lope.  Is she perfect, no..then nobody is!  But she is right where i expect her to be with the number of rides she has.

Going to the right is a different story.  Even at a stop, she is hesitant to give to pressure and it only gets bigger from there.  The trick is to take it slow until she gets confident.  When she is confident, you introduce forward motion in the form of speed.  Increase the speed as long as she holds her confidence, as soon as she panics...slow down and build her back up.

She will stop on a "whoa" at slow speeds and we are working on breaking at the poll (vertical flexion).

We ended the ride outside, I rode her for the first time outside the round pen.  I didn't ask for a lot, just asked her to move forward...in somewhat of a straight line.  She did well with this!

As noted before...she was better at the end than in the beggining!  You can't ask for more than that!

Sissy - 7/23/13

Today was a pretty good day for Sissy.  She had her " I wanna fight" moments but we finished out really well!

Started riding her just letting her travel and gradually asked her to give laterally at a walk.  This went ok, so I kicked it up a notch.  Started asking for the same thing at a trot...first "I wanna fight" moment.  She immediately stiffened up and went to pulling against me!  So we slowed it back down to a walk and continued asking for the same thing.  Moving through a stop, to a walk, to a trot...asking for the same thing.  "just bend your neck enough to show a release"...

I have mentioned this before about holes in your training.  At a stop, it is a little gopher hole.  At a walk, it might be as big as a ditch.  At a trot, it's an arroyo.  At a lope, it's the Grand Canyon.  Issues get bigger the more speed you add, so make sure that you are solid at each speed before moving on to the next one.

Back to Sissy, most of the ride was spent asking for this release.  When I felt she was doing ok at a stop...I asked her to walk and make the same release.  When she was doing well at the walk, I asked her to trot and make the same release.  Any time she had trouble, we slowed down and did it at the slower pace until she was comfortable again.

The biggest issue for Sissy is believing she can bend her big ol' self.  But she was better at the end than at the begining.  Ended up a pretty good day!

Buddy - 7/22/13

Buddy is my daughter Alicia's fair project from last year.  He is a big (probably 15 hands) gangly gelding.  He has basically been turned out since the fair last October.  I like him, but he is for sale!

Here is a couple of video's.  This is a testament to doing groundwork on a horse when they are young.  The first video is just me playing with him for a few minutes...remember he hasn't been messed with (other than feed) for about 9 months.

***enjoy the commentary by my daughters...***

 

 

 

Sissy - 7/22/13

Alright!  A week of rain and the grass is green, horses are rested and fresh!  Time to get the ball rolling again!

Since Sissy had basically a week off, I thought it would be wise to start with some basics.  But she had other ideas!  Once we got in the pen she felt so good that she started pitching!  Now I wasn't on her at the time, but I thought it would be a good idea to video this little escapade.  Unfortunately, my technical skills leave a lot to be desired.  I ended up with video of my feet...where is my videographer when I need her?

Once all the fuss was worked out, we did some ground skill basics.  It didn't take her long to get back in the swing of things!  After 30-40 minutes of ground work, I lead her into a hole and stepped aboard.  She never had a bobble.  Stepped out like she has done this all her life, until I asked her to walk in some circles.  Then we had to back up working this from a standstill, to a walk, to a trot and back again.  When she finally got to the point that she was giving laterally at all three paces....it was a good stopping point.

***FYI - you get a little serenade by Faith at the start!***

 

Sissy - 7/15/14

Somedays, you just have a good day!  Sissy had a good day today...other than the cows....

When I caught her up and started saddling...the neighbors cows came up to the fence....really made Sissy nervous.  It would do her some good to just stand tied and learn a little patience.  But not until the shoes come off, if she starts pawing...she could pull a shoe off.  Just something to work on in the future.

Today started with some basics, again.  I said before that most horse training is pretty boring to the uninformed, it just looks like your doing the same thing over and over again...and you are!  Horses like consistency, it means safety and as an added bonus...they learn well!

The basics include being able to yeild her front and back end from the ground.  This translates well to the saddle because you now can use your leg cues (with the aid of a stick, if needed) to move these parts of the horses body.  Once she got over the horse eating cows, we continued working on walking and trotting in small circles (forward motion being the key here), she has really improved on this.  I also worked a little on flexing both laterally and vertically.  She is quickly improving in this area!

I also started asking her (leg cues) to move her hind end over.  I started walking her in a circle and gave her the leg cue to step over with her hind end, when she did not move..I used my stick as an aid, tapping her hind end until she moved her hind end over.  I did this with the front end also, both directions...over and over again....

I was very pleased with her progress today!

Sissy - Bonus Footage 7/14/13

While working on our pool today, Sissy and our 2yro spent about 15 minutes playing up and down the fence.  I do believe that if Sissy can do this for 15 minutes, we can push a little harder with the riding!

 

Sissy - 7/12/13

Today was a little bit of a breakthrough day for Sissy.  The light bulb seemed to go off for her as far and vertical flexion goes.

Started like I always do, some groundwork to see where her head is.  Once I decided she was with me mentally, we moved on to driving.  She is getting better, but still feels a little heavy.

When I rode, we worked mostly on flexing.  Didn’t push real fast because if a horse has a hole in their training…it can turn into a arroyo at a trot and a canyon at a lope!  So we kept it slow and steady until we made some progress, which ended up being vertical flexion today!  The trick is to quick with the release once she made an effort to give just a little.

Sissy - 7/11/13

Today we started out with the basics.  Basic ground skills translate so much to what you do in the saddle, but more importantly…it teaches the horse to respect you.  And, if you lack a little confidence…it can build you up to be brave together.  Because if you are fearful, then it makes your horse fearful.  After all, the horse can flick a fly of his back by twitching a muscle!  Don’t you think they know when we are scared…and don’t you think this makes them start looking for things to be scared of….

I use the ground basics to build confidence, confidence for the horse to understand that they can do certain things without being fearful (now, understand…I wasn’t always this way….I used just get on and force the issue…but that was when I was young and rubbery!)

Once I felt Sissy was ready, today is the day that we drive with the snaffle bit.  Now, she has been having her issues with flexing (both laterally and horizontally).  She will turn pretty easy, but she moves stiff and heavy.  But since this is the first day to drive with the snaffle, I don’t have huge expectations.

I hooked her up and we started.  She turns easy enough, but wants to move around on her front end instead of being on her back end.  We will need to work on that…

She did well enough, but is still plenty stiff and heavy.  This should improve with more wet saddle blankets.  I rode her a little, but since she was still a little sore on Tuesday…I did not push to hard.

Sissy - 7/9/13

As I mentioned yesterday, one of my goals today was to convice Sissy that she could move forward in a circle.  She really struggled, yesterday, with forward motion and releasing to pressure on side or the other.

But I started today with some basic ground work…yielding her hind end, backing away from me (and being brave enough to stay away until I invited her back in) and some release to pressure from the opposite side (simply asked for her to release her face, while standing on the opposite side.  I did this over the top of the saddle to simulate how I would ask if I was in the saddle).  I didn’t drive her with the snaffle, but plan on doing that on Thursday.  Today I wanted to focus on forward motion….

It took her most of the ride, but she finally sorta got the idea that I was asking for just a little release as she was moving forward.  She is right where I would expect her to be after three days riding in a snaffle.

I did notice that after riding her for a while (this was a lot harder ride than I had been doing before), that she was still a little touchy on that left front foot that was trimmed to short.  We may have to ease up on the hard rides for a bit until that foot toughens up.  She travels fine…just a little sore after a hard ride.  There are still lots of things we can do to set the stage for later on, so this is not a huge worry.

Sissy - 7/8/13

Started today a little different.  Did just a few basics, just to see how she would react.  I was on her pretty quick, and she took it pretty good.  Although I think she sorta has a little habit of laying her ears back when I put weight on the left side.  I believe this is from expecting it to hurt when I get on and she will get over this eventually (when she realizes that it doesn’t hurt).

Before I go much further, I want to point out that horses are little like people…we all have a bad day once in a while.  Today wasn’t a good day for Sissy, compared to the last 8.  It was the first full day with just a snaffle and she wasn’t none too happy about the whole situation!  And to be honest…it was her first full day with the snaffle and I did move through some basic stuff pretty fast.  So I'm more to blame than her!

One of the things that I worked on with her was convincing her that a big ol’ girl like her could still move forward while bending her neck just a little.  I think that will be the challenge in the coming days, forward motion.  We spent most of the ride, just working establishing forward motion and then asking for a slight bend…both ways.

She was better at the end than she was at the beginning and that is all you can really ask for!

Sissy - 7/6/13

Alright, back to riding.  Sissy has new kicks and seems to be doing well.  Didn’t push real hard to day, but I did cover some of the basics again (since she has been off for about a week).  Started with a little desensitization, clear up to the hopping thing.  Again, this is a big ol’ mare and I do have to hop to get on.

Also rode her for the first time with just a simple ring snaffle.  She wasn’t to wild about it, but I didn’t want to stress her too much.  We just rode in a circle and turned her toward the fence.  She did pretty well, but I can tell she ain’t gonna like it to much when I start to put a little pressure on her.  But that’s all part of learnin’!  I never liked school much myself!

***sorry, no pics or vids***