January 30th, 2008

The next "Post from the Past"

Yesterday I outlined problems that I’d like to work on with Catlow. Today I’d like to outline approaches to deal with those problems. So, there are two ways of thinking that I have with dealing with Catlow. Sometimes I think that maybe I’m just not being firm enough with her (I know that’s a problem with Cody), and so she really doesn’t want to do what I ask and is really good at making me think I’m doing harm with her so I don’t push her as hard. The other times, I think that I am being too firm and that Catlow is too sensitive to work with the same way that I did Chico. When I ask too much of her, she shuts down, so that would make me think I need to make her more comfortable so that she wants to be with me. Too much for Catlow is often not very much. It might just consist of me asking her to do something…usually when I want her to move. Probably because she’s just reacting when I ask her to move instead of thinking…I need to work more to get her thinking instead of reacting. Maybe keeping her busier and changing directions and activities lots would help…but I have to remember to stick with an activity until she gets it. Maybe I’ve just not been consistent enough with her training. I think that with Catlow I need to start from the beginning. I’ve obviously skipped some steps in her training. I want to try to take both approaches…be more firm, and also pay more attention to when I’m overexposing her.

I think I’ll start with round penning to build the base. Because I’ve been having such an issue getting her to canter, my first instinct is to just ignore cantering right now, and work on getting her to respond to my cues in a relaxed manner. I know there’s controversy over using treats, but it worked so well with Chico that I want to try it again with Catlow. They seem to be great incentive. So, the initial round pen session will focus on getting Catlow to trot in consistent directions and turn to the inside consistently when asked. Eventually, when she relaxes with this, I will put her on a long line and do the same exercises and help her to respond to voice cues of walk, trot-trot, and whoa. I want her to be relaxed and obey immediately when I ask. I will start each round pen session with desensitizing exercises and I will finish each one with desensitizing exercises. These exercises will consist of tossing the rope all around her until she looks relaxed, tossing the string all around her until she looks relaxed, and then jumping all around her. I will also work on asking her to flex from side to side and work up to flexing and staying soft under pressure (i.e. I flap my elbows or arms or jump up and down).

So, in round penning sessions I will follow these lessons and work up to more difficult things as Catlow progresses: (in the first lesson, I will ask her to canter, just to check her attitude with it.
1). A) Desensitize to rubbing and touching all over on lead line
B) Desensitize to stick and string
C) Desensitize to rope, start on rump and legs (first session, just do legs, gradually work up to head and neck)
D) Remove lead line and ask her to move off at a trot with word cue and signal
E) Work on getting consistent relaxed trotting with turning to the inside.
F) Desensitize to rope at the end.
2). Do the same exercises as the first sessions, but add lead-line work and voice cues and also add in yielding hindquarters and forequarters and backing up.
3). I will teach her the sending exercises and navigating obstacles. Particularly, I like the jumps, backing through L’s, side-passing, and the cowboy curtain, although I’m not sure how I’ll do that one here.
4). I will then work up to cantering when she’s trusting me, and keep her cantering until she relaxes. For desensitizing I will slowly work up to doing everything with a saddle on and bit in mouth, and flexing to the bit. I will tie pop bottles to the saddle to simulate legs flopping.
5). I will eventually add the breeching and breast collar and maybe ask to use the pack saddle to desensitize her to the weight and shifty movement.
6). Through all this I will take Catlow for walks out into the countryside on weekends during the day when it is still light outside. On these walks I will keep her occupied instead of letting her get distracted.
7). I will also continue to pony Catlow off other horses, but I think I need to work on my other horses before I do that.

The farrier is coming this weekend to trim up everyone (all their feet are severely unbalanced in the front). After the trim, I will work Catlow in the round pen for the first time. I will continue on Sunday, then pick two days next week when I will come out to the farm and continue working…so I will spend most days on the weekend out there. If I can’t spend those two days working horses, then I will substitute one or two other days during the week. I need to spend 3-4 days a week working the horses. So, next week, my two days will be Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hope this works!!!!

January 29, 2008 (really late at night…actually I think technically it’s morning)

Entry #1

Today I decided that I need to get organized and make some goals for training my horses this spring. I want to focus on Catlow, since she’s four now and has never really been ridden. She also needs the most work out of the three…she is more fearful and suspicious of humans and being alone than the other horses.

So, step one, I decided, is to write down the problems that I’ve had with her in the past (problems that have persisted primarily because I didn’t have the time to continue work with her on a regular basis), and then write a plan of action as to how I want to approach “fixing” them. Then, I will make a schedule of days to work with Catlow and stick to that schedule. I will keep a regular journal of the approaches and activities I try and how Catlow responds to them. Right now, it is really late at night, so I am just going to list the “problems” that I’d like to overcome with Catlow and some goals.

Major goal: Ride Catlow on the trail alone by summer (mid-May)

Major issue to overcome before that goal can be reached:
Catlow is suspicious of me. I can catch, handle, do anything with her, except that if I move too fast, she still startles. If I move too fast toward her in the pasture before she’s caught, it will take me a long time to catch her. I think part of that stems from her being lower on the totem pole than the other horses, and when most horses move toward her, she gets out of their way. So she’s kinda doing that with me, but I think she’s also just avoiding me, cuz being with me is stressful for her.

Manifestations of Catlow’s lack of trust:
1) If I move too fast when catching her, or act too intent on catching her, she will move away from me and avoid me. She’ll often get other horses between us, and if I keep pursuing her, she’ll run away from the “herd”. I currently deal with this by acting very nonchalant when I walk up to her…I be sure to not walk straight up to her and face her head on. I sort of walk toward her, then let her approach me. This works always…unless I trip over horse poop on the way to her and then she thinks that I’m chasing her, so she runs.
2) Desensitizing exercises never seem to stick with her. She ALWAYS reacts when I toss a rope, string, my hand, saddle blanket, anything, over her back or neck. Her reactions vary from running away and circling me on the lead rope, taking a long time before she stands still and “accepts” it to not running and standing still, but even when she is “accepting” the exercise, she has a look on her face that says she doesn’t like it or trust it (wrinkle under her eye, stiff neck and lips, head held high). Maybe I don’t do the exercises long enough, but I think I’d have to do them all day, everyday to get her bored with them. She does seem to be okay with me tossing a rope around her legs and toward her rump. She gets more upset the closer to her head I get.
3) She doesn’t like to move out in the round pen. I can get her to go at a steady trot, but if I’d like her to canter, I have to keep on her and keep on her. She’ll canter, but kind of in a scooting forward manner, tail clamped, and she wants to keep shutting down and quitting on me. I feel bad really getting after her to go because I feel like the chasing thing is one reason that she doesn’t trust me. She works really well at the trot in the round pen and on the lunge line, but cantering is harder…maybe it’s just because there’s not much room to canter and she’s unbalanced. I ponied her off my other horse several times. The first time I tried to get her to canter following us, she just trotted faster and faster and faster…never breaking into a canter. The next time, I timed asking her to break into a canter with a downhill slope, and really urged my horse to pick up the pace and that worked. She finally broke into a canter and kept it up. I really haven’t worked with her since then, but I feel like trying alternative options to get her to enjoy moving out might be worthwhile rather than chasing her around the round pen. Then again, maybe I just need to get more firm and stop feeling like I’m chasing her…maybe I’m looking at it all wrong.
4) She’ll often get really worried when I lead her out by herself (without other horses). She does well if we are on a single-track trail in the woods and ask her to follow behind me. But when we are in the open, she’ll sometimes get distracted (usually she sees the neighbor’s horses) and get really flustered. She almost forgets that I’m there with her. When this happens, I’ve been jerk, jerk, jerking on the halter to ask her to back up and get out of my space (she tends to crowd me when she’s worried). This seems to work pretty well, but it doesn’t prevent her from getting worried in the first place. Maybe I just need to give her more things to do and keep her more occupied when I lead her out. I do think that might help. It helps Cody keep focused on me instead of trying to veer home all the time.
5) So, maybe her crowding me when she’s worried is a problem in itself that needs to be better addressed.

These are all the things I can think of right now as far as problems go. For the most part, Catlow is very well behaved and she’s really good with her feet. I can even trim her myself unaided. Most of her issues seem to stem from lack of trust or respect (or maybe both), but I do think that she respects me…she just doesn’t trust that I’m not trying to eat her or do something unpleasant. So in that sense, maybe she doesn’t trust or respect me enough to be her leader, but she does respect me enough to fear me (sometimes) and want to avoid stressful situations with me. I don’t know…part of the reason I’m writing this journal is to evaluate how I am approaching her training and to figure out how I need to change it to be more effective at getting her to trust and respect me enough to be her leader so that she doesn’t have to fear me or situations that we get ourselves into (namely, trail riding alone).