Thoughts on installing a “forwards” button in a horse

So Joey and I had ourselves a little “Come to Jesus” moment on the lunge yesterday…

It all started with his right hand canter lead.  He can counter-canter an 18-15 meter circle, impressively enough, and will do so because get the right hand lead is apparently just too hard!  Lazy horse…

Anyway, after asking for the correct lead a few dozen times, tightening the circle, loosening it, etc, I decided that I’d had enough, so I flicked him lightly on the bum with the lunge whip.

Only I missed his butt and the whip cord wrapped around his tail then slipped off.  You’d have thought someone lit him on fire the way he jumped forwards!  And on the correct lead too….  Heh.  

It actually turned out quite well – not something I’d try to repeat anytime soon, but I got a ‘forward’ reaction and the correct lead I’d been looking for, so I was happy.

I was thinking about what happened afterwards, and the forward response I evoked, and how it’s all a matter of what works for the individual horse.  I don’t use a lunge whip when lunging Copper.  He just doesn’t need it.  And I would never flick him on the bum.  He would flip out. 

But Joey is a firm believer in “movement conservation”, and likes to potter when he can.  A sharp ‘Hup’ can sometimes help, but he is rather inclined for the slow, almost backwards type of movement, where he pauses between each step.  That doesn’t help if he spooks – his reaction is “slam on the brakes”, sometimes followed by “up” or “sideways”. 

None of these responses are what I’d like to see him do.  Therefore I am working on installing a “Forward” button for my backwards horse!  So far I have seen some good progress. 

He’s learning that I will stay out of his face, and I’ll let him work it out as long as his response is forward.  He can jog past a spooky spot if he likes, as long as he is traveling forward (not sideways!).  He can get cranky at an aid, (not that it’ll change my mind about giving it!!) as long as he’s moving forwards, and not threatening to stop and/or jack up. 

This may not sound like particularly good training, but at the moment I believe this is what he needs.  Like I said, he tends to get “stuck” up in front, and will threaten to go up if he doesn’t like a situation – be it a scary one, or a training one, any thing that makes him uncomfortable.   I dislike this tendency exceedingly.  I don’t do rearing horses.  At. All.  

So far, he’s never really made an effort to get off the ground, and I’m trying to make sure that never happens.  Allowing him to realize that he is free to move forwards when he is uncomfortable seems to be working really well for him.  He is a lot less tense when dealing with these uncomfortable situations, and I know that from there I can work on the ideal responses, which of course involve no spooks and no crankiness. 

Mapping out the needs of each individual horse is tricky, but I do think that the need to be able to move forwards freely when uncomfortable is a fundamental need for all horses.

Each horse will react differently when faced with the restriction of that freedom – some will react by going backwards or up, as Joey will, others will react by taking that freedom into their own hands (or hooves) and bolting.

I think that the expression of that freedom is dictated by the individuality of the horse.

For Copper, training him to think “forwards” in uncomfortable situations is superfluous.  He already thinks “forwards” is the answer to everything – even when the question requires “stop” or “sideways”.

However, in Joey’s case, “forward” is often the last answer at the end of a long list!  I am trying to move it into the number one slot, and so far it’s working.

So that’s a little of my thoughts on installing a forward button – any other tips and trick to share?  Please do!

See ya,

bonita

What do child birth, horse riding, and achieving an independent seat have in common?

Believe it or not - your pelvic floor!

I discovered today that the key to "ultimate" relaxation for Joey to relax eeeeeevvvvvery muscle, and I mean EVERY muscle - including my, *ahem*, rear, inner thighs, pelvic floor - i.e., the muscle groups that make up a rider's seat.

The benefits of relaxing your seat muscles are numerous; the first one obviously is to achieve an independent seat.

Let's start by clarifying the definition of an independent seat:

"The phrase “independent seat” has historically meant a rider doesn’t need to hold on to stay on, and that the seat isolates the horse’s movement from the hands and legs." 

However, Mike Schaffer, writing about the dressage process breaks it down a little more -

"The words independent seat is easily misunderstood to mean the hands, seat, and legs should be independent from one another as well as the horse’s motion.  However, for any discussion of the aids in dressage, the truth is much more subtle than that.  Rather than being “independent” the rider should be using his hands, legs, and seat in a coordinated way – interdependently with each other and the horse’s movement.

A dressage seat has to be capable of moving with the horse neutrally, or, influencing the horse’s movement by either slight exaggeration or resistance.  So, whether following or influencing, the seat is always working in conjunction with the movement, never independent of it.  When riding on contact the action of the rein should work with or “go through” the seat.  Any action of the seat, regardless of how subtle, should have a proportional effect on the leg.  In this way we use our aids to mold the horse.  We provide him with an envelope of aids within which he is free to move loosely forward."

I really like this detailed and clear definition.  I feel like a lot of instructional books miss this important step in explaining exactly what it is you are looking for when trying to achieve a certain basic positional standard - whether you are interested in dressage or not.

So, we are looking at relaxing the seat - being able to independently control the muscles to either positively influence, and release the horse's energy, or influence through resistance to collect the horse's energy.

The second benefit in doing this was the affect it had on Joey.   I find it really interesting exactly how sensitive he is!   I have been working on relaxing my shoulders, core, and lower back - but today, as I said, I discovered that he requires every single muscle to be relaxed before he fully relaxes himself.

Also, in relaxing the inside of my seat - the pelvic floor and inner thigh - I was able to convince him that there really is no bat-from-hell-horse-devouring-soul-stealing-monsters hiding around the arena and we mooched on both reins around the outside track.  Yes, mooched!!  It was fabulous!

But now, of course, I have to work on sharpening up his upwards transitions - Joey is perfectly happy just to mooch for the rest of his life.  : P  Naturally.

So how did I manage to do this marvellous relaxing?  Well, here's where it gets interesting.  And silly! 
Believe it or not, one of the labour techniques I read about is what did it.   The theory goes that child birth is a lot smoother when you can relax into it, and let your pelvic floor go so that it can do what it's supposed to.   So to do that, you need to relax your face, mouth, and jaw, because those muscles actually mirror your pelvic floor.

So to relax in labour, you breath in and breathe out with 'horse lips' - you know, all loose and floppy?.....   > . >  ........ Yup, you look and sound as silly as you think you do, but it works.

I could just imagine myself warming up amongst the dressage queens and divas blowing horsey lips to relax!!  I was laughing at myself the entire way around the arena.  Which, incidentally is another great relaxing technique!

It was perfect, however, and I now know exactly what is required from me to be able to work out Joey's tension if he gets skittish.  Although, if you have an better, and less silly(!!) ways to relax your seat feel free to let me know.  ; )

See ya,

bonita 

2013 means what?

I would love to say that I have a great list of goals and resolutions for the new year regarding my horsey boys, but there isn't really much to resolve until I know what to do!

I am hoping to sell Copper before the end of January - February at the latest; but from there...  *shrug*

Who knows?

I have someone currently helping me out with Joey and Copper, and I have my fingers crossed that she'll fall in love with Joey and want to half lease him with me!  There's not the greatest chance of that happening, but the fact of the matter is that if that doesn't happen, I guess I'll be selling him too.  : (

Leasing a horse is difficult at the best of times, I learnt that lesson with Copper, and I don't think I'll do that ever again.  It's better just to sell them and move on, then to get your horse back and feel like they've gone completely backwards with their education!  It's way too discouraging.  Which is why I am hoping for a half-lease.

The thing is - have you ever considered how hard it is to find a rider that is not only at the same level so that they can work with you - not against you, but also has a similar training/riding approach so that you are not confusing your horse?    And not only that - one that lives in the same area as you so that they are ok with the traveling distance to the adgistment yards??

*sigh*  I think the chances are one in a million, and I'm just not sure it's going to happen.   So it's a gloomy start to 2013, but you never can quite tell what the year will bring, so I'll keep my hopes up anyway!

See ya,
Bonita

Breakthrough!

Ever had one of those moments when you’re all like “I have no idea why this is happening – but ohkay!  Let’s go with it.”?

Joey decided to walk himself over to his spooky spot right next to the horse-eating-fire-breathing-monsters-of-doom-ed barrels today.  I don’t really know why, but he had his head down on a loose rein and proceeded to amble on the outside track RIGHT NEXT to the VERY same barrels he’s been freaking out over since, oh, last December…  

Which only makes it a year for him to make up his mind that they are ok, and as for why?  I’m not really sure.  He was determined last time I rode him not to go near those things, but this time he was willing to work with me. 

I do think that part of it is toughening up on our ground work.  I have determined to get full control of his feet – he will put them where I say to, and not move until I say “Jump!”.  

As he’s moved up in the herd hierarchy, I have noticed his confidence increasing, but also his bossiness.   Drawing firm boundaries appears to be helping him to deal with his trust issues – because even though his confidence is increasing, he still needs his person to be in charge or he’s going to resort to bossy and rude behaviors to make himself feel safe.

The first thing I started with was picking up his feet.  Joey would do it, but he’d take his sweet time deciding when he was actually going to pick them up.  That’s not going to be the case anymore – I want a prompt response when I ask for his foot.  A “Yes ma’am, no ma’am, three bags full ma’am” and nothing less.

That, and really letting him know about it when he crosses the line into my space, seem to have helped.   It’s totally true when they say (Mugwump is a big advocate for this) that if you can direct the feet, you can direct the horse.

It’s a psychological “battle” as it were – horses are all about body language and space relation to their herd.  The alpha mare or stallion can put any horse they want, in any spot they want, and they don’t even think about it.  If you can’t control the horse’s feet – i.e., their body, their direction – then they are not really listening to you.  If they’re not listening….  Well, true communication hasn’t been established, and there’s still work to do.

And I’m working on that with Joey!  We will get there one day I hope.  If I don’t have to sell him yet.  Only time will tell either way.  : /

See ya,

bonita

Contact – so THAT’S what it feels like!

 
I’ve recently had another aha! moment with my riding – this time it’s all about contact.  I actually am starting to get what it is/feels like now.  It’s only taken me donkeys years of riding to finally understand it; but hey…

Basically, the discovery came when I figured out that I should really be bending my elbows.  Yah, I know – basic stuff, but honestly, if my instructor isn’t telling me to bend my elbows then how am I going to know?

That is, until I do something like take a video of my riding and go “Wow, what straight arms I have!  That’s not good!!”, which is essentially what happened…

And then Joey started to work into the contact and I was like – “Oh, okay - I can actually feel my horse’s mouth… It’s heavy!”  But the thing was I knew it was finally right.  We were getting a give-take connection that was elastic and soft, although it felt weird and ‘heavy’ to me.

You see, I blame it on reading too many pony books when I was growing up, and essentially teaching myself to ride.  They all talked about fantastic riders who “held the reins like strands of silk” or “wonderful light hands” – or in complete contrast “he had beginner’s hammy hands”!   And as a result I got the idea that the lighter and softer – the better.

But that’s not quite the case – I tend to ‘throw’ away contact before/after upwards and downwards transitions so that I don’t “pull” on my horse’s mouth.  That means I’m not providing any support for those transitions either, so my horse pops his head up and asks “Where’d you go?”. 

I also taught Copper to carry his own head which meant that he wasn’t on the bit correctly – he broke at the 4th vertebrae, rather than his poll, tended to be a bit ‘behind’ the bit and didn’t engage fully through his back. 

It still LOOKED pretty, but it wasn’t correct.  We didn’t have any 'throughness’, which is a weird dressage term I tend to understand as being the horse’s flow and energy coming from behind me.  It has to come through unbroken from the rear, across the back, over the neck and down into the bit.  I shouldn’t break it with my seat or hands, and if my horse isn’t fully engaged then we won’t get it either. 

So I have learned that if the horse can’t feel the rider’s hands and receive connection with them, then even though the rider’s seat might be connected effectively, the connection for the front part of the horse (shoulder, neck, head) to communicate with it’s rider is still going to be missing.   Rider’s core, seat & legs = horse’s back, quarters, hind legs.  Rider’s shoulders, arms, wrists/hands = horse’s shoulder, neck and head. 

If the rider provides a steady contact, and an effective seat aid that drives the horse forwards from behind, then the horse will naturally offer to round up and come on the bit by itself.  It sounds simple, and it sort of is, but sometimes it still takes a lot of work to get it right!

I’ll keep at it though, and practice a ton of transitions to help.

See ya,

bonita

Chiro for Copper

I had the chiropractor out for Copper today – he was a mess.  The chiro adjusted his neck, shoulder, pelvis and released the static nerve in his back which was being pinched.

I also found out that his left shoulder muscle has withered away – and as a result of course, his right one is far more pronounced.   Apparently this has been a problem for a while (developed while I leased him out I think) so now I have to rewrite his muscle memory.

This means riding every day for the next 7-10 days, 20-30 minutes a day, straight trot, or as close to.  Hill work is perfect, trails ideal.  Basically, Copper needs to extend his front end out so that he can rebuild his shoulders evenly.  

It’s amazing how poor work, poor saddle fit, or lack of rider knowledge – any one or all of those things can almost completely break a good riding horse.  And I would say that Copper was very close to being completely broken.  When I hopped on him, anyone that didn’t know any better might say that he was unridable, but no, all he needed was to be put back into alignment!

I have always been big on the benefits of chiro for your horses, and now I am even more so – particularly after I’ve also learned that a handful of bi-carbonate of soda in his feed at the end of the day will neutralize the lactic acid he’s going to get from working a whole bunch of muscles that he hasn’t in a long time.  A neat trick if you ask me!

There are probably a whole bunch of expensive supplements to do the exact same thing, but I love this simple and cheap solution provided by my chiropractor!

So it’s going to be a busy week for me, but it does have one benefit; at least I can treat the rain scald that’s beginning to pop up on his hind legs again…  Gah!  Wretched stuff.

Another simple and cheap treatment I’ve discovered for rain scald is a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar – pick off all the scabs, spray it on and you are good to go.  Repeat daily (if you can) until the rain scald disappears.

See ya,

bonita

Top Tip:  Copper also has tears under his barrel where he’s been girthed too tightly, and they are causing him quite a bit of pain.  Check your girths at the side of the horse, about half way down the barrel, at the horse’s widest point – NOT near the elbow.  Because of the way the barrel is shaped, there is ALWAYS going to be space between the horse and the girth near the elbow. 

Pulling the girth up to eliminate that space just causes muscular problems, as well as painful tears underneath the horses’ barrel, and is the reason a lot of horses become girth-shy.

…In which we turn and turn about

Because it seems like once I make up my mind, something happens to change it again.

As I now handle two horses and make side by side comparisons, it’s interesting how it confirms the choice I made in the first place to lease out Copper and move on to a horse with more aptitude and ability.

I was thinking to half-lease Copper out after selling Joey, but now I am wondering if it might not be more advantageous to seek a half-lease for Joey and sell Copper instead.

The reasons I have for this thinking are these:

-  Copper is still a horse that I’ve moved on from.  Though he’s quieter on the ground and less baby-ish in manners, I have been riding him, and boy, he needs work.  He hadn’t been ridden in a while, and I think that he’s lost a lot of education that he had.  Poor riding position on the part of the rider I leased him too, and perhaps something more.  I’m not sure yet, but it’s work time for him!

Still, even with the work I know I need to put him into him to improve him again – I can feel the limitations he has – conformation-wise, mentally, and definitely background training.

-  Why half-lease Copper when I could half-lease Joey?  Yes, I have already thought of this, and yes, I had previously dismissed the idea because I thought it would be too hard to find a rider that would work with Joey.  But I realized that even if I was to lease Copper instead of Joey, I’d still want to share him with a rider that wasn’t going undo my work; i.e. – someone up to my level anyway; so why shouldn’t I do that with the horse I really want?!

-  Copper is Copper – he’s just as much work in his own way as Joey is.  Go figure!  I think I haven’t realised that until today after riding them both, one after the other.  Guess who was the better behaved?  

Well, you’re not wrong if you guess Joey! 

Long dissertation over, congrats if you managed to stick with it this far!
So what actually happen on the rides today? 

I lunged Joey first – he had a bit of a humpy back, so there where a few bucks in there…  I was like, oh.  Bother.  Still, I hopped on anyway, and gee – it really isn’t wasn’t a big deal.   

He got a little stuck up in front when I ask for trot circles – I forgot that he likes to move out when first trotting so I switched to an X pattern across the diagonal with half 20m circles on either end.
I got a lovely soft trot on the long lengths by pushing my seat forward and encouraging him to move up with his back end and loosen up his back, by the end of it, he was moving forward into the contact.  It was awesome!

It was a long frame – very beginner, but ohmygoodness!  He was connected, through, soft in hand – he felt like he was at the start of something, and I loved it.

Copper….  Well.  Humph.   Sure, he’s had time off, but eep!  What a mess. 
: P   He was as skittery as a rabbit in the grass, one touch of the leg (and I mean that literally – I couldn’t even settle my legs on his sides without him jumping like a crazy roo!) and we were off!  Walk wanted to be trot; so we worked on slowing that down, then trot wanted to be canter aannddd…  it was.

On the upside Copper has a lovely balanced canter in him now that he didn’t have before.  Downside; he also has a buck in him that he didn’t have before!

So we worked on establishing trot and when we got that on both reins it was time to finish for the day.  Whew.  Fun times, but I’ll be glad when I’m back to one wee beastie, not the both of them.

See ya,
bonita