At some point, I wil get Annie started well enough for someone to finish her. She is a solid mare and deserves more time than I can give her! We have decided to sell her...
That being said, it sorta appears that the long (about 20-25 days so far) south Texas winter is over. Next week I look forward to some riding and more work for Annie. Of course all of this will be squeezed in between the visits to MD Anderson with Felicia (The Life and Times of a Cowboy Who Married Up)...so again stay tuned and you will eventually see this saga end for Annie with us!
If you are trail riding into Houston, be sure to do some check ups on your horse. Can you stop them with one rein? Will they stand calmly when you get on? How scared do they get when a car or wagon goes by? These are all things you should know before you get on the road. If you cannot accomplish at least these in the arena or at home...do you really think you can be safe out there on the road? Take it from me, most people in cars don't know enough to slow down when a horse is on or beside the road. How many people get hurt during this time of year because they don't know thier horse or think cars will stop?
Ride safe, ride prepared!
Showing posts with label Annie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Annie. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Annie....1/1/11
On this first day of 2011, we had and excellent day!
Again we worked in the round pen, spent time with the turns in to the fence. Really looking for the turn and wants to carry herself through it. One of the the things I mentioned yesterday was the softness and suppleness homework. I kinda put the cart before the horse, so to speak, in explaining what this is to me. I always work this before I start asking for any turns. If you can't bend that head around, then you can't stop them if they get away from you.
I started out by asking her to bend side to side. Most horses will do this, but if you look at that eye...they are not looking at you, this is called a false release. I kept asking her for the release until her eye connected with me. Meaning, I could see more than the whites of her eye when she bent her head around. She's a pretty sharp mare, so this went pretty fast. Once both side were going well, I then started asking for her to break at the poll. This is nothing more than asking for both sides at the same time. The key to any release, is the soft ask. Most anybody can muscle one, but softness, ask softly. My Dad calls it butterfly fingers. Annie is still pretty resistant to this, but I understand where she is coming from. Her past wreck has made her hypersensitive around her nose. Time and patience will win out in the end.
Again we worked in the round pen, spent time with the turns in to the fence. Really looking for the turn and wants to carry herself through it. One of the the things I mentioned yesterday was the softness and suppleness homework. I kinda put the cart before the horse, so to speak, in explaining what this is to me. I always work this before I start asking for any turns. If you can't bend that head around, then you can't stop them if they get away from you.
I started out by asking her to bend side to side. Most horses will do this, but if you look at that eye...they are not looking at you, this is called a false release. I kept asking her for the release until her eye connected with me. Meaning, I could see more than the whites of her eye when she bent her head around. She's a pretty sharp mare, so this went pretty fast. Once both side were going well, I then started asking for her to break at the poll. This is nothing more than asking for both sides at the same time. The key to any release, is the soft ask. Most anybody can muscle one, but softness, ask softly. My Dad calls it butterfly fingers. Annie is still pretty resistant to this, but I understand where she is coming from. Her past wreck has made her hypersensitive around her nose. Time and patience will win out in the end.
Annie....12/31/10
Rode today for about 1 1/2 hours. Wasn't suppose to rain, but it did and after the first 10 minutes, I wasn't going to get any wetter.
Worked today on forward momentum. You would think with most horses being forwardholics, this wouldn't be an issue. When you get on them, at first, they sometimes forget how to move their feet. Once the forward part was going pretty well, we worked on turns into the fence. I like to turn into the fence because it really forces them, if you do it right, to walk their front end around. I give myself plenty of space between her and the fence, not to much, usually 2-4 feet. Softly ask for the turn, made sure that I have already done the home work with softness and suppleness. As she started around, I gave the cue (soft pressure with opposite leg - picture pushing her through the turn with your leg) and has she completed walking through, I released the pressure. After 4 or 5 like this, she started looking for the turn in that direction. I repeated all of this on the other side. You cannot use the fence forever, eventually she needs to learn how to move her front end around with nothing more than my cue and no physical aid. All in all...a good day!
Worked today on forward momentum. You would think with most horses being forwardholics, this wouldn't be an issue. When you get on them, at first, they sometimes forget how to move their feet. Once the forward part was going pretty well, we worked on turns into the fence. I like to turn into the fence because it really forces them, if you do it right, to walk their front end around. I give myself plenty of space between her and the fence, not to much, usually 2-4 feet. Softly ask for the turn, made sure that I have already done the home work with softness and suppleness. As she started around, I gave the cue (soft pressure with opposite leg - picture pushing her through the turn with your leg) and has she completed walking through, I released the pressure. After 4 or 5 like this, she started looking for the turn in that direction. I repeated all of this on the other side. You cannot use the fence forever, eventually she needs to learn how to move her front end around with nothing more than my cue and no physical aid. All in all...a good day!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Annie...12/24/10
It has been awhile since I was able to ride, so I am going to start talking in hours and not days. Since Thanksgiving there have been a couple of projects around here that have consumed all hours of daylight available. We have completed residing the barn and I helped Cully a little in tearing down another building. But today…I rode. I plan on riding, weather permitting, all through the weekend and next.
Today I reviewed, with Annie, some of the things we did at the clinic with Dad. Sit back, squeeze with your cheeks and a light tap with a carrot stick (handling a stick and riding does get your hands tied up a little, but it is a good skill to learn) for forward movement. Once we were moving, with the sit back and squeeze good, I started asking her to turn into the fence. Once this was going alright I started asking for the break at the poll. All this she handled pretty well but I am still riding her in a natural bosal (fancy name for a good rope halter with a mecate tied in it). By next weekend we are going to look at putting a ring snaffle in her mouth for awhile and see how that goes. All in she probably has 15-20 hours on her, spottily! In all training consistency is the key. If I’m not consistent, there is no way she is going to improve. So the goal going forward is to ride her 4-6 hours every weekend until the time changes.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Annie....11/27/10
11/27/10
Day 4 was a long one for Annie, rode her (gulp) in a clinic given by my dad (Natural Remuda Equine Learning Center) for about 5 hours total. Thought it might be pretty exciting because she had never been outside the round pen, but it went really well. Started in the round pen just to be sure there was no bucking and moved on to the arena within a few minutes.
Spent most of the time just getting her to unstick her feet. Lean back, smile and squeeze with my cheeks (I don't mean the ones on my face). Dad helped her along with a few timely, encouraging slaps with a stick and she finally freed up and started walking out. After moving out was going pretty well, we started turning her into and away from the fence. She really needed to be back on her hind end in order to complete the turns. She really did well with this, but we really had to work getting her to break at the poll. She is so fearful that I was going to hurt her face that she would raise her head in the air to get away from the pressure. Finally got her to break at the poll, semi-consistently and things got better from there. She has a tendency to attack a little when she is pressured and Dad played with her on the ground for a little while to help me with that.
All in all, it was a good 5 hours. With the time like it is (dark at 5:30-6) most of Annie's rides will be long ones on the weekend. So posts will be on the weekends.
Day 4 was a long one for Annie, rode her (gulp) in a clinic given by my dad (Natural Remuda Equine Learning Center) for about 5 hours total. Thought it might be pretty exciting because she had never been outside the round pen, but it went really well. Started in the round pen just to be sure there was no bucking and moved on to the arena within a few minutes.
Spent most of the time just getting her to unstick her feet. Lean back, smile and squeeze with my cheeks (I don't mean the ones on my face). Dad helped her along with a few timely, encouraging slaps with a stick and she finally freed up and started walking out. After moving out was going pretty well, we started turning her into and away from the fence. She really needed to be back on her hind end in order to complete the turns. She really did well with this, but we really had to work getting her to break at the poll. She is so fearful that I was going to hurt her face that she would raise her head in the air to get away from the pressure. Finally got her to break at the poll, semi-consistently and things got better from there. She has a tendency to attack a little when she is pressured and Dad played with her on the ground for a little while to help me with that.
All in all, it was a good 5 hours. With the time like it is (dark at 5:30-6) most of Annie's rides will be long ones on the weekend. So posts will be on the weekends.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Annie....11/25/10
11/25/10
We loaded up, eventually, and headed to Utopia for some ride time with Dad. Start-up was a little rough....nothing like waiting til the day you are heading out somewhere to load in the trailer for the first time. To be honest, I had forgotten that she hadn't been in the trailer since the day she was born. It took a couple of hours, (take the time it takes, don't rush or you do more damage than good) but finally she was loaded.
When we got there, we started some groundwork. After working a while, Dad suggested I do everything with open hands. She is ultra sensitive and reacts to everything that she feels. We worked on controling her feet and movements. We did this for about 3 hours and I could really tell a difference at the end. Looking forward to tomorrow and riding her in the arena.
We loaded up, eventually, and headed to Utopia for some ride time with Dad. Start-up was a little rough....nothing like waiting til the day you are heading out somewhere to load in the trailer for the first time. To be honest, I had forgotten that she hadn't been in the trailer since the day she was born. It took a couple of hours, (take the time it takes, don't rush or you do more damage than good) but finally she was loaded.
When we got there, we started some groundwork. After working a while, Dad suggested I do everything with open hands. She is ultra sensitive and reacts to everything that she feels. We worked on controling her feet and movements. We did this for about 3 hours and I could really tell a difference at the end. Looking forward to tomorrow and riding her in the arena.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Annie = trouble
By the title maybe you would think it is a training issue. Nope, we got her feet trimmed last Thursday and she has limped around ever since. Bummer! Had the shoer over this morning and we checked her feet, thought maybe she had been trimmed a little close. But after checking, we have decided she has stepped on something. I am going to give her some bute and put turpentine on her foot for a couple of days to help the healing along. So Eva, don't give up hope...we have had a little setback here, but I hope to be back riding by this weekend.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Annie....11/4/10
11/4/10
Annie has a lot of issues with claustraphobia. You would never know it to be around her, she likes people. She will leave her feed to come and see what you are doing. So, I tend to want to move to fast...after all, nothing really bothers her...until the pressure comes. Then it can get a little western. She can sometimes be tied and all of the sudden start yanking back. She feels trapped and I wasn't attentive enough to notice the signs. Blocker rings are a good thing here, but just remember...if your lead rope is to stiff, you can break a blocker ring!
Since I am fairly freshly back from a Brent Grarf clinic, I thought it would be a good idea to put into practice some of the things I learned there. We spent the afternoon doing some ground work. She took to this pretty well but we did have a little trouble with some of the retraining I had to do on myself. The more I pay attention, the better she seems to do. I look forward to some riding this weekend, but I always need to remind myself to pay attention to her claustraphobia. She will get better with this in time.
Annie has a lot of issues with claustraphobia. You would never know it to be around her, she likes people. She will leave her feed to come and see what you are doing. So, I tend to want to move to fast...after all, nothing really bothers her...until the pressure comes. Then it can get a little western. She can sometimes be tied and all of the sudden start yanking back. She feels trapped and I wasn't attentive enough to notice the signs. Blocker rings are a good thing here, but just remember...if your lead rope is to stiff, you can break a blocker ring!
Since I am fairly freshly back from a Brent Grarf clinic, I thought it would be a good idea to put into practice some of the things I learned there. We spent the afternoon doing some ground work. She took to this pretty well but we did have a little trouble with some of the retraining I had to do on myself. The more I pay attention, the better she seems to do. I look forward to some riding this weekend, but I always need to remind myself to pay attention to her claustraphobia. She will get better with this in time.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Annie....10/26/10
10/26/10
OK, I know I have a day one for Annie....as per usuall I have been hit and miss with her. So, since I would like to send her to her new home with a good foundation, I'm starting over (again).
Started the day with groundwork. Annie has had a ton of ground work done so we moved through it pretty fast. I had only planned on getting on and off today, but that went so well I stayed on. I was riding her with a rope halter, just wanting to let her pick where she wanted to go. She had frozen feet initially, but I just made it uncomfortable for her to stand still. (wiggling in the saddle and letting my legs flop). I didn't really care where she went, I just wanted her to move. After 30-45 minutes of just wandering around the round pen, I started asking her to bend her neck both directions. She really did well, but still had some sticky feet. Before getting off for the day I did ask her to stop and she did ok with that.
She has a lot of ground basics so I am looking forward to see how she responds to the riding.
OK, I know I have a day one for Annie....as per usuall I have been hit and miss with her. So, since I would like to send her to her new home with a good foundation, I'm starting over (again).
Started the day with groundwork. Annie has had a ton of ground work done so we moved through it pretty fast. I had only planned on getting on and off today, but that went so well I stayed on. I was riding her with a rope halter, just wanting to let her pick where she wanted to go. She had frozen feet initially, but I just made it uncomfortable for her to stand still. (wiggling in the saddle and letting my legs flop). I didn't really care where she went, I just wanted her to move. After 30-45 minutes of just wandering around the round pen, I started asking her to bend her neck both directions. She really did well, but still had some sticky feet. Before getting off for the day I did ask her to stop and she did ok with that.
She has a lot of ground basics so I am looking forward to see how she responds to the riding.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Annie....9/1/10
Most horsemen will tell you a horse is about subtlety, that we are not built to be that way. We are direct line thinkers, so we miss signals that a horse gives us. So my advice to everyone is to "take the time it takes".
Yesterday I was going to start driving Annie on the ground because of how will she did the day before. needless to say, she was not ready. She has been driven in the past, but that was some time ago. I put to much pressure on her and she did not respond well. She resisted alot and fought the whole time. BUT, I am smart enough to know when to back off. After 20 minutes of a very "western" outing, I BACKED UP to the basics. We finished out just fine and I turned her loose in the round pen just the carry the snaffle around for a while. Sometimes when you push to fast, you can undo alot of the work you did to get to that point. Since I backed up, we were able to finish on a good note.
Yesterday I was going to start driving Annie on the ground because of how will she did the day before. needless to say, she was not ready. She has been driven in the past, but that was some time ago. I put to much pressure on her and she did not respond well. She resisted alot and fought the whole time. BUT, I am smart enough to know when to back off. After 20 minutes of a very "western" outing, I BACKED UP to the basics. We finished out just fine and I turned her loose in the round pen just the carry the snaffle around for a while. Sometimes when you push to fast, you can undo alot of the work you did to get to that point. Since I backed up, we were able to finish on a good note.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Annie....8/31/10
Annie is a 5 yro paint mare, out of Hot Majestic Man and Super Shady(QH-Skipa Star) that we raised. She was rejected by her mother and had a lot of handling from birth, until we found her a surrogate. Needless to say, she thinks we are part of her herd. She has been semi-started a couple of time by me, but not for more than a ride or two. So, since we have sold her to a friend, I am going to call this day one.
The first few workings with just about any horse should be on the ground. This will let you figure out their personality and get the basics started. With Annie, since she has been indoctrined naturally all her life, this was more of a refresher (she has already had a lot of ground work, so last evening she started out saddled). We worked on yeilding the hind and front end. we also worked on draw and drive ("pulling her to me and pushing her away"). She isn't really afraid of anything I have tried on her, so tomorrow we will start to drive her with lines.
As willing as she is, this should be alot of fun.
The first few workings with just about any horse should be on the ground. This will let you figure out their personality and get the basics started. With Annie, since she has been indoctrined naturally all her life, this was more of a refresher (she has already had a lot of ground work, so last evening she started out saddled). We worked on yeilding the hind and front end. we also worked on draw and drive ("pulling her to me and pushing her away"). She isn't really afraid of anything I have tried on her, so tomorrow we will start to drive her with lines.
As willing as she is, this should be alot of fun.
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