Sissy - 8/17/13

Today was the last ride for Sissy…for me.  She goes home today and Amber gets to continue the journey.

Today was a day where I showed Amber some of the things we have been working and things that she should work on with Sissy.  We talked about lateral flexion (bending that head back and forth), stopping and asking for vertical flexion (bending at the poll).  We also talk about when to move on to the next speed and step. 

Amber rode her and I think was very pleased.

Last thing was the trailer loading and unloading.  She did pretty well at the house, but Amber did say she froze up when they got home.  You have to deal with the horse that shows up…sometimes even within the hour or minute.  More fun for Amber as she continues her Journey.

 

**Amber, if you need any other help…give me a call and we can work out a time***

Sissy - 8/15/13

I think Sissy still has some trust issues, maybe with men.  Lately she has been a little hard to catch, so today after I caught her I spent some time just rubbing on her.  She has a spot on her belly that really gets her to licking and chewing.  I want to make this as pleasant an experience as I can for her.

Today also marks the first time I haven’t started with a little ground work.  I just stepped up and started riding.  Please make note I paid attention to where her head is, if she had been twitchy and jumpy…I wouldn’t have gotten on.

We did a pre-flight check…can I bend her head both directions?  Yes.  There is some resistance there, but she is lots better.  Will she flex at the poll?  Yes.  Again she has resistance, but way better than in the past.  Will she back up a little?  Yes.  Resistance is still there, but enough that I thought we could move on.

So we started working.  I long trotted her and then asked for that next step, which is the lope.  She picked it up, but as with most young horses (in a small pen) she couldn’t hold it for very long.  That is ok for where we are.  I also did a lot of circling, asking for that soft release as we trotted.

She was doing really well, so I moved out into the big pen and asked her to trot some long straight lines.  It is a constant state of movement, long straight lines…now circling…now straight lines…now stopping…now circling…you get the idea.

Once we were finished and I had rinsed her off, I took her back to the box and we backed off of it several times (which she handled like a champ).  Next was the stocks and when she was ok with that…today we added some more pressure.  I backed my stock trailer into a shallow ditch we have and started asking her to step into the trailer.  She has some fear issue with getting in, which I suspect leads to the way she can (or can’t) get out (as the case may be).  But with patience and time she was getting in.  Next was getting her to back out like a big girl.  We started with just a step, stop and calm down.  Take another step, stop and calm down.  As we got closer to the back of the trailer, she got into a panic and shot gunned out.  So we got back in and started the process over again.  As with anything you ask for, was she was better at the end that when we started?  Amber will need to spend a lot of time getting her to calm down in the trailer.  Calming down in the trailer is set up by the drama (or lack thereof) of getting in and how the ride when you're driving down the road.  Everything and anything that can be done to set a horse up for success.

 

 

She is doing very well and I think that Amber will have a lot of fun going forward with this mare.

Stretching That Top Line

This is too good an article not to pass on!

http://showhorse.co/news/?p=2573

Sissy - 8/13/13

She started out pretty solid, so I amped up the pressure again today.  We continued to work on the same things that we have done all along, but I asked for more speed while we were doing it.

Instead of walking circles, asking for that soft release, we did it faster.  Not that I haven’t been doing this all along, but today I never asked her to slow down.  If we were trotting circles, and she got in a bind…we continued trotting.  She has to learn to work through some things on her own too.  I helped her through her troubles and she did pretty well.

We also worked in the big pen, expanding on what we have been doing in the past few day.  There was lots of circling (big change for her, no fences close to use as a guide…she had to listen to me only) and asking for that soft release.  She is getting so much better.  During all of this, sometimes I would pull out of the circling and do some long straight lines.  Then back to the circling, then ask for a stop and release.  Then back to circling and so on...

She had a really good day today!

Sissy - 8/12/13

We got home late today, so I decided to do a little ground work and work on her fear of tight places.  The ground work went as expected, the other not so much.  Remember I said you have to deal with the horse that shows up?  Today, Sissy was a little twitchy.

Once we warmed up with some basics, I started her back on the box.  For some reason, this rattled her today.  She could not make herself stand on that box.  But we kept working at it and she was finally able to calm down.  She stood there, chewed and licked…releasing those endorphins.  Once she calmed down, I started asking her to step forward and backward…but not off the box.  Once she was doing that ok, I just never stopped her from backing up.  She backed off the box as pretty as you please.  Once she was stepping off  pretty good, I moved to our stocks.

The box is wide open, nothing around it.  The stocks add a level of claustrophobia, it has bars on the sides.  She didn’t like it at first, but it didn’t take her long to get the idea.  She quickly stepped in and backed out like a pro.

After a bit of a rough start, she finished strong.

Sissy - 8/11/13

Rode outside the round pen again today, just pushed a little harder that I have the past few days.  When a horse starts doing pretty well, handling everything you throw at them…then it’s time to up the pressure a little. 

We spent a most of the day learning how to trot straight lines.  Sounds kinda crazy and contradictory to say that, don’t it?  Here I have spent weeks teaching her how to bend in a circle and release to pressure.  Now today, we are working on straight line.  Working circles makes that soft release easier to understand, once you have some of that down…the straight lines teach them how to travel out (without the aid of a fence to help them stay straight). 

She did as well as any horse I have ever ridden.  Young horses tend to push their shoulders back and forth, so we spent most of the day correcting a drift.

Sissy - 8/10/13

Today I moved right into the ride.  We kept working on that soft release and she is getting better, as you would expect with more time riding.  Pretty boring day, for someone watching….same thing over and over again…no wait….that’s horse training!

She is actually doing pretty well.  I have had horses that were further along and some that were further behind.  You just have to judge the horse for what they are in that moment.  Ride the horse that shows up!  They are a living, breathing, decision making animal.  They most likely will be different every day!  You must stay consistent no matter what horse shows up that day.

Sissy - 8/9/13

Well, we finally got the shoe back on. Sissy's riding has been sporadic at best, but she is smart as a whip...so mentally she has kept up!

 Since we had a few days off, I thought it would be a good idea to do some ground work.  So we started with the basics.  Yielding her hind end, backing away from me when I ask, and giving her face to both directions…

 She did pretty well, though she does struggle with a soft give when you ask her to yield her face.  Time and wet saddle blankets will make that better.  I also started asking her to step up and off of the box (bridge if you prefer).  I know that she does not like to back out of a trailer and that’s because it’s a blind step.  Not only blind…but backwards too!  Horses fear the unknown, so we need to make sure that she trusts me enough to make that blind step.  That trust has to start with baby steps.  Forward motion on  and off the box is our first steps.

 As far as riding, she did fine.  No drama, she will give a release when you ride, but it is not as soft as I would like to see.  All in all, pretty good for two days off.

Sissy - 8/5/13

We had a little bit of a fustrating day today...threw the other front shoe!  I think she stepped on it when I was  asking her to really extend herself.  Sometimes horses overstep when you start asking for extension.  The only good news was that it was toward the end of the work out.  I have the shoer coming and should be back riding at least by Thursday.

About the ride...

She did really well today.  I continued with asking for that soft release at forward motion.  She does really well going to the left, in fact she has started dropping her chin (vertical flexion) as we travel.  To the right, she is willing to give a release...but almost as soon as she releases, she snatches it back.  Wet saddle blankets can cure this little issue.

Like I said, she did really well today.  Rode for about an hour and a half before the shoe came off, but if the shoer can come tonight....we may ride Wednesday!

Sissy - 8/4/13

After a few lost days because of a thrown shoe and a lamb show...we're back to riding today!

Started the day with some basic groundwork, just to see where Sissy's head was.  She did pretty well and really is showing how far along she has come. 

So I moved right into the ride.  We started with just some forward motion and quickly started working on lateral flexion as we moved.  Which is a fancy way of saying I asked her to walk/trot some little circles and release her chin when I asked her to.  It's important that she is comfortable at all gaits when you ask for any release.  Holes in a horses training turn into the Grand Canyon when speed is added.  So worked on what we have been working on for some time.  Releasing smoothly to the left and right at a stand still, walk and trot.  I don't like to ask for more than she can handle, but I am going to be introducing new things for her to learn.  The trick is, when she gets rattled, to back up and do it slower!

Rode her outside for a bit, asking her to walk (and trot) straight lines.  She did ok.  Sissy is doing pretty well for 21 days of working.  The biggest jump in what she learns and how fast she learns it will probably occur from about day 25 to day 40.

Amber asked me about using a stick when I rode and I basically use it as an extension of my hands.  Sometimes I use it to ask her to move forward, sometimes I use it to to ask her to move her shoulders or hind end over.  It just gives me more extension.  It is useful, but there is a learning curve...