"Post from the Past"
February 18th, 2008
Yesterday I took Catlow for a walk. We went all the way to where the creek crosses Dry Creek Rd. I figured the mileage to be 4 miles round trip. It was a good walk for me, but it was unnerving for Catlow. She was good for parts of the walk, but there were places (namely the red barn and all the way to the creek and back) where she was very nervous and snorty. She would start doing the horse sneeze thing, and when she was nervous, it was fast and bursty. A couple of times, she actually did the alarm snort, like a deer makes when you startle them in the woods. The very first part of the walk consisted of me basically pulling her. Then once she started getting nervous, she picked up the pace and I had to make sure that she didn’t get too far ahead of me. Pretty much for most of the walk, she was not very cooperative with the lateral flexion. She would do it, but it was really forceful and as soon as she gave to me, she’d whip her head back straight and stiff again. If I tried to get her to keep her head around, she just kept pulling it back till she hit the lead rope, and then flexing and pulling it back again…violently. When I wouldn’t give it back to her, she would get kind of upset and then start circling. Once, she actually tried to pull the rope out of my hands instead of flexing. When she did that, I yanked on the lead rope to ask her to back up. Actually, I had to do that a lot. When I ask her to back up, she does focus on me, but if I let her stand still too long, she starts to get anxious. She did a couple of times, refuse to back up and instead would go from side to side and try to walk forward around me (my back was facing home). I did take Cody past the places where I walked Catlow, and Cody was on edge for some of the time as well, so I guess that I can’t blame it all on Catlow. I wrestled with trying to decide if I should continue her training or give up on her today. After all, I have two other horses that progress easily when worked with, and they both need additional work too. I ultimately decided that I will continue her training, but now that she is getting better inside, I need to take her for more walks. I’ll give her a couple of weeks of walks, and if there has been no discernible improvement, then I’ll have to re-evaluate what I’ll do with her then (give up, or continue). I’d like to be able to ride her alone, but at this point I’m accepting that this might not happen. I think that I need to ride with another horse (hopefully Cody and Doni) so that Catlow is calmer. She might be able to gain confidence doing all these things with another horse, then maybe we can progress to working alone. I rode Chico alone for the first several times, but Cody spent her whole first summer riding with other horses, and they are both doing well, although I’d say Chico is more confident than Cody about being alone. So, the current plan is, keep her going on the walks and practicing all our moves out on the road, and at the same time, I am going to work her up to the saddle on our indoor lessons (this shouldn’t take long, since I have sat on her before). Then, after a few weeks, I’ll begin ponying her under saddle with Cody. Then, depending on how she does, I’ll ride her with Doni on Cody. I’d also like to continue working Chico in this time, as he is getting lonely in the field.
Catlow is getting better about trusting me in the field. I didn’t work with her today; instead I worked Cody and Chico, but I did take Catlow’s blanket off so that she could enjoy the warm air on her skin today. And she did let me put the blanket back on without haltering her later.
Today, I worked both Chico and Cody. First I worked with Chico in the round pen. I let him loose, while I picked up the plastic bag on the stick and walked around nonchalantly waving it. He snorted and ran around the pen. Tango (2 year old filly) and the two weanlings were in the barn, and Tango started snorting and blowing and scaring the babies. They all ran back and forth through the barn and Chico tried to run with them. Every time that he stopped and looked at me, I put the bag down and praised him. Finally, he walked up to me, to sniff the bag. He just needed to get a little spook out. When that was over, he ignored the bag and approached me for a treat. He was nervous about the bag a little bit, but he adjusted to it well. He didn’t like it over his head, but he accepted it by the end. The only thing that really worried him was when I was flapping it up and down on his sides. He did panic and run away. I think he partly didn’t know what I was asking him to do, and once he decided he was to stand there, he did accept it, although he wasn’t super pleased with it. This was his first time with the bag like this, so I thought he took it really well. Then we did some lunging and flexing and yielding the hindquarters. He remembered this all well. Then I tried to teach him to yield the forequarters. This took quite a bit of repetition, but I think that with continued future lessons, he’ll catch on quickly. It was all brand new to him and he wasn’t sure what I was asking. We’ll continue to work on this, because I think he will be the one to make the connection under saddle.
I worked with Cody next. First, I trimmed her feet up a bit. Her right foot was more upright than her left, so I took heel off of both front hooves, but a bit more off the right. The right front is still just a bit more upright. The left hoof had a longer toe, so I just rasped the tip of the toe off (didn’t make it shallower, just shorter). Her back hooves appeared to be too long in the toe and low at the heels, so I just rasped the toes shorter so that it’d be easier for the hoof to break over. I rasped until the hoof wall surrounding the white line was the same width on the toes as it naturally was on the side (it was thicker to begin with at the toe).
In the round pen, I did the same order of events as with Chico. Cody ran around a bit at first with the introduction of the plastic bag, but very quickly, she was stopping and staring at me to figure out what I was doing. When approached with the bag, she smelled it, and didn’t flinch at all when I touch her withers with it. All in all, Cody was not at all afraid of the bag. She was even fine with me sliding it over her head. The flapping it on her side did bother her at first, but she only flinched and made to move off, but I bumped her nose and told her to stand and she got over it really quickly, and then just stood there looking at me. I flexed with Cody, but she is really bad at it. Always has been. She’s actually pretty good when I’m out riding, but if we are just standing around and I ask her to flex, she is really heavy. I have to pull her around, and bump on the rope to get her to touch her side. She doesn’t seem to get better with repetition; she gets worse. It’s not the same thing as with Catlow, where she shuts down. Instead, I think that Cody is just testing me, and being a bit lazy. I’ll have to try getting her to really move her feet, then asking her. Maybe if I use the dressage whip, she’ll give better. I think that I should try to teach her to bow or lay down. She’s pretty comfortable with herself, so I think that she’d do it once she understood what I was asking. She remembered the yielding the hinds well, but teaching the yielding the fores was completely a new thing. She wanted to walk forward at first, and I had to really get after her, bumping the rope to prevent her from walking forward, and I had to hustle my feet to keep at her head. She wasn’t getting the girth pressure, as the cue to step across, but I think it’s because I was rushing it. I need to start from the very bottom with this step, since Cody has not done it before. We will continue more with the next lesson.
After that, I lunged her and used the plastic bag to ask her to move. Wow, did I have a breakthrough! She has always been really lethargic about cantering on the lunge line; in fact, in lessons, Katie was having me just try to get a few canter strides out of her before stopping her so I’d catch her before she stopped on her own. Using the plastic bag, she took right off into the canter, and I even had her on a fairly short rope (she wasn’t at the edge of the round pen). I was able to get her to canter in both directions. I didn’t push it too much because I want didn’t want to tire her too much (she was puffing and worked up a sweat). A couple of times, she’d face me as asked, but when I asked her to go back out, she’d just stand there and I had to really get after her. Over all, she was really hustling. She was also being a bit disrespectful, as a couple of times when I asked her to go out, she’d hump her back and kick out, and start bucking. I didn’t get upset about it because this was really the first time she’s been worked since she colicked in October. She was just testing me, and making sure that I knew that she was going, but she didn’t like it. She quit trying to kick out after she got tired. Then I bridled her, and we went off down the road for a trail ride. She did the same as always, although she was a little uncertain in some areas (same ones that got Catlow worried). I rode bareback, so after our 4 mile ride, I was pretty tired.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
February 17th 2008
"Post from the Past"
February 17th 2008
Doni did not end up coming out with me yesterday. It was such a nice day, partly cloudy, sometimes sunny, and melty, that I couldn’t bear working in the round pen in the barn. Instead, I worked Catlow for just a few minutes in the barn, then took her out for a walk. We went north out of the driveway, down to where the loop joins Dry Creek Rd, then back. The gravel was saturated with water and nice and soft and squishy. I liked that Catlow was curious and comfortable enough about her surroundings to drop her head to investigate the footing whenever it changed. And she walked through puddles with no problem.
This lesson consisted of me leading her, then stopping every once in a while to ask her to yield the fores and hinds, and back up. She came along well, but going away from the house, she did her usual barn sour stop, and I’d have to pull on her head until she decided to follow me again. She’s quite stubborn. She did get nervous when we went past Harriet’s pastures as she could see the other horses and she wasn’t sure what to do. I just tried to keep her occupied with flexing and pivoting. She flexed every time as asked, and we really only got into one disagreement where she was stiff and decided to spin around instead of flex, but she did eventually stop and flex. When she was nervous, her flexing was rapid, she touched me with her nose rather firmly, then pulled her head back straight to stare out across the field. I tried to ask her to keep her head flexed, and she would flex, then start to pull her head back, find that I was still holding her head, flex again, then again, then again…trying to pull her head back straight. I kept her flexed until she started to be less resistant about it. She didn’t completely calm down. But it was obvious that the flexing we did in the round pen helped her. She’s a bit more automatic about it, and understands what I’m asking of her. And she did calm down after the first initial freak about seeing the other horses. On the way back from our walk, she didn’t stop once (a little barn sour). Since she was walking up much nicer, I took advantage of this and asked her to trot alongside me, which she did immediately, then “whoa” and back up. She was catching on pretty good, although I’d like her to listen to the “whoa” a bit more instead of only relying on my body language. That will help once I’m in the saddle.
After I was done with Catlow, I pulled Todd (who had a mild flu) out of the house to take a few pictures of her (hence the grouchy expression). Then I put my new bridle (got the loop reins and slobber straps!!! Yay!!!) on Cody and we went for a quick bareback ride down the road and back. I do think that the molasses is negatively impacting Cody. She’s not lame right now, but she has super obvious bulges in the hoof where there has been new growth since December. It’s scary. I’d like to have the vet out or show it to someone other than Todd's mom so I have an unbiased opinion about what it was caused by and how severe it was. I just don’t want my horses to be injured. They do not NEED the molasses lick. They are all fat, so I’d rather not take the risk if they could possibly hurt my horses, even if they were not the cause of the weird hoof growth or wearing.
A pic of Catlow on this day. Notice the brown smudge across her nose from licking the molasses/protein bin all day.
February 17th 2008
Doni did not end up coming out with me yesterday. It was such a nice day, partly cloudy, sometimes sunny, and melty, that I couldn’t bear working in the round pen in the barn. Instead, I worked Catlow for just a few minutes in the barn, then took her out for a walk. We went north out of the driveway, down to where the loop joins Dry Creek Rd, then back. The gravel was saturated with water and nice and soft and squishy. I liked that Catlow was curious and comfortable enough about her surroundings to drop her head to investigate the footing whenever it changed. And she walked through puddles with no problem.
This lesson consisted of me leading her, then stopping every once in a while to ask her to yield the fores and hinds, and back up. She came along well, but going away from the house, she did her usual barn sour stop, and I’d have to pull on her head until she decided to follow me again. She’s quite stubborn. She did get nervous when we went past Harriet’s pastures as she could see the other horses and she wasn’t sure what to do. I just tried to keep her occupied with flexing and pivoting. She flexed every time as asked, and we really only got into one disagreement where she was stiff and decided to spin around instead of flex, but she did eventually stop and flex. When she was nervous, her flexing was rapid, she touched me with her nose rather firmly, then pulled her head back straight to stare out across the field. I tried to ask her to keep her head flexed, and she would flex, then start to pull her head back, find that I was still holding her head, flex again, then again, then again…trying to pull her head back straight. I kept her flexed until she started to be less resistant about it. She didn’t completely calm down. But it was obvious that the flexing we did in the round pen helped her. She’s a bit more automatic about it, and understands what I’m asking of her. And she did calm down after the first initial freak about seeing the other horses. On the way back from our walk, she didn’t stop once (a little barn sour). Since she was walking up much nicer, I took advantage of this and asked her to trot alongside me, which she did immediately, then “whoa” and back up. She was catching on pretty good, although I’d like her to listen to the “whoa” a bit more instead of only relying on my body language. That will help once I’m in the saddle.
After I was done with Catlow, I pulled Todd (who had a mild flu) out of the house to take a few pictures of her (hence the grouchy expression). Then I put my new bridle (got the loop reins and slobber straps!!! Yay!!!) on Cody and we went for a quick bareback ride down the road and back. I do think that the molasses is negatively impacting Cody. She’s not lame right now, but she has super obvious bulges in the hoof where there has been new growth since December. It’s scary. I’d like to have the vet out or show it to someone other than Todd's mom so I have an unbiased opinion about what it was caused by and how severe it was. I just don’t want my horses to be injured. They do not NEED the molasses lick. They are all fat, so I’d rather not take the risk if they could possibly hurt my horses, even if they were not the cause of the weird hoof growth or wearing.
A pic of Catlow on this day. Notice the brown smudge across her nose from licking the molasses/protein bin all day.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
February 15th 2008
"Post from the Past"
February 15th 2008
Yesterday, I went out to Todd’s with the intention of us spending Valentine’s day together (making beer and playing with horses), but Todd didn’t feel very well, so I played with horses myself.
I had spent the previous week making rope halters with the new rope that I bought from D&B. I got a reddish brown with a tan tracer, and a bright purple with a white tracer. I thought the brown would be a perfect color to complement Catlow’s color. I ended up making 12 halters (also with some other leftover rope I had). I caught Catlow (feeding at the molasses licks which had been replaced in the pasture, much to my dismay, since last weekend). I took her in the round pen, then proceeded to try every halter on her. She was very patient. The halters are going to fit perfectly once they’ve been on a horse and the knots have tightened up…as is now, the unused ones seem too small around the nose, but really, they are perfect. I ended up using a dark neutral colored halter that Todd said was his favorite color, but he didn’t end up coming out to check on me until I was done working with her.
Since I started trying rope halters on her, I had her flex in a few of them. She actually flexed to touch me very quickly…hardly any wait period today! Either a break of 4 days did her good since our last session, or she likes that I didn’t do any desensitizing with her.
I did not do ANY desensitizing with her, and the difference in her attitude is amazing…I think that I may have to do a few experiments. Sometimes I need to do desensitizing first, and check her willingness to flex, then I also need to just start a lesson with flexing, and see how she acts. I think that perhaps she is shutting off a little bit when I do the desensitizing exercises and it really shows when I ask her to flex so that she will choose to hang on the halter instead of giving to me. She is much more willing when I do not make her uncomfortable by throwing the rope around. Maybe I need to stop “annoying” her with the desensitizing stuff…she’s not really afraid of the rope tossing, but it makes her uncomfortable.
The primary exercise that I worked on with Catlow was yielding the fores and the hinds and some side-passing. She remembered that she was to step across in front with both the fores and hinds when yielding. She pivoted very nicely, but I noticed that she was tending to get a little bit lazier with the hinds. I think mostly because previously I hadn’t asked her to do very many steps, so I worked on asking her to take more steps and quicken up her feet a bit. She really did quicken up fast when I poked her, and she stayed relatively calm throughout the whole process. When I would praise her and let her stop, she’d immediately look at me to see if she was going to get a treat for doing well. Sometimes I did give her treats, but I was trying to save them for when she did REALLY well. I was extremely pleased with her yielding the fores in a complete circle. She is really consistent about rocking back on her hinds and stepping around with her fores. She caught onto that very quickly. The only time she became confused was when I first started asking for a 360 degree pivot…she’d step across several times, but then when I kept pushing her, she’d start to step back…I had to just keep with her until she stepped across in front again and then reward her big. She did great today. It was calm and pleasant to work with her, and my overall impression was that she was trying for me.
She was also a lot more relaxed overall. When I let her go, she walked over to investigate my halter pile, and she even picked one up and tossed it a bit (which is not her personality at all…she’s the quiet hang back and watch horse). Then I let her eat hay with the weanlings in the barn after our lesson, and I laid down in the hay. She actually approached me to sniff at me, then continued eating. She usually doesn’t approach me when I give her the choice. I have been rewarding her with a treat when she walks up to me on request in the round pen. That’s probably helping her to be more interested in approaching me.
Well, I’d like to work with her again tomorrow. Doni might come out with me again. Hopefully, she’ll want to work longer than she did last weekend. Maybe I’ll see if she wants to work with Cody. I’d love to take both Cody and Catlow to the clinic at Katie’s in March. Actually, I’d love to take all three of my horses, but I’m not sure I want anyone else to work with Chico because he hasn’t been worked by anyone else yet, and he still needs quite a bit of work.
February 15th 2008
Yesterday, I went out to Todd’s with the intention of us spending Valentine’s day together (making beer and playing with horses), but Todd didn’t feel very well, so I played with horses myself.
I had spent the previous week making rope halters with the new rope that I bought from D&B. I got a reddish brown with a tan tracer, and a bright purple with a white tracer. I thought the brown would be a perfect color to complement Catlow’s color. I ended up making 12 halters (also with some other leftover rope I had). I caught Catlow (feeding at the molasses licks which had been replaced in the pasture, much to my dismay, since last weekend). I took her in the round pen, then proceeded to try every halter on her. She was very patient. The halters are going to fit perfectly once they’ve been on a horse and the knots have tightened up…as is now, the unused ones seem too small around the nose, but really, they are perfect. I ended up using a dark neutral colored halter that Todd said was his favorite color, but he didn’t end up coming out to check on me until I was done working with her.
Since I started trying rope halters on her, I had her flex in a few of them. She actually flexed to touch me very quickly…hardly any wait period today! Either a break of 4 days did her good since our last session, or she likes that I didn’t do any desensitizing with her.
I did not do ANY desensitizing with her, and the difference in her attitude is amazing…I think that I may have to do a few experiments. Sometimes I need to do desensitizing first, and check her willingness to flex, then I also need to just start a lesson with flexing, and see how she acts. I think that perhaps she is shutting off a little bit when I do the desensitizing exercises and it really shows when I ask her to flex so that she will choose to hang on the halter instead of giving to me. She is much more willing when I do not make her uncomfortable by throwing the rope around. Maybe I need to stop “annoying” her with the desensitizing stuff…she’s not really afraid of the rope tossing, but it makes her uncomfortable.
The primary exercise that I worked on with Catlow was yielding the fores and the hinds and some side-passing. She remembered that she was to step across in front with both the fores and hinds when yielding. She pivoted very nicely, but I noticed that she was tending to get a little bit lazier with the hinds. I think mostly because previously I hadn’t asked her to do very many steps, so I worked on asking her to take more steps and quicken up her feet a bit. She really did quicken up fast when I poked her, and she stayed relatively calm throughout the whole process. When I would praise her and let her stop, she’d immediately look at me to see if she was going to get a treat for doing well. Sometimes I did give her treats, but I was trying to save them for when she did REALLY well. I was extremely pleased with her yielding the fores in a complete circle. She is really consistent about rocking back on her hinds and stepping around with her fores. She caught onto that very quickly. The only time she became confused was when I first started asking for a 360 degree pivot…she’d step across several times, but then when I kept pushing her, she’d start to step back…I had to just keep with her until she stepped across in front again and then reward her big. She did great today. It was calm and pleasant to work with her, and my overall impression was that she was trying for me.
She was also a lot more relaxed overall. When I let her go, she walked over to investigate my halter pile, and she even picked one up and tossed it a bit (which is not her personality at all…she’s the quiet hang back and watch horse). Then I let her eat hay with the weanlings in the barn after our lesson, and I laid down in the hay. She actually approached me to sniff at me, then continued eating. She usually doesn’t approach me when I give her the choice. I have been rewarding her with a treat when she walks up to me on request in the round pen. That’s probably helping her to be more interested in approaching me.
Well, I’d like to work with her again tomorrow. Doni might come out with me again. Hopefully, she’ll want to work longer than she did last weekend. Maybe I’ll see if she wants to work with Cody. I’d love to take both Cody and Catlow to the clinic at Katie’s in March. Actually, I’d love to take all three of my horses, but I’m not sure I want anyone else to work with Chico because he hasn’t been worked by anyone else yet, and he still needs quite a bit of work.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
February 13th 2008
"Post from the Past"
February 13th 2008
I worked with Catlow last Sunday (Feb. 10th), but I haven’t written about it yet, so that’s what I’ll do now.
Doni came out with me to help me work the horses, but she didn’t have much time, so we didn’t do many things. Primarily I worked Catlow and described her various vices and Doni watched and gave me input. She didn’t really suggest anything that I should do, but she did let me know what she thought about how I was approaching Catlow’s issues. She said that she thought Catlow was doing well, and definitely ready to ride. I think I could ride her right now if I felt pushed for time (I did ride her a bit last fall in the round pen, and up and down the driveway once, but the only reason it went okay was Catlow was in a comfortable place (the barn) and I wasn’t pushing her to do anything stressful, just walk and turn...and really, I was lucky it went okay given that she still didn’t really trust me at that time), but I think that there are still things that need to be second nature for her before I begin some things. I need to first get her to want to work with me…seems like she’s getting quite a bit better, then I need to start working her on the line doing some lunging things. She needs to be comfortable with that, so that I can do that with her out in the field in case I have any problems. I’d like her to also be comfortable cantering in the round pen, or on a lunge line before I do too much work with her under saddle…but maybe I shouldn’t push the cantering thing, and do progress to doing some of the exercises under saddle (yielding shoulders, hinds, sidepassing, flexing, backing) even before she’s good with cantering. I think she could do them now.
First thing we did was to bring both Catlow and Chico in. I wanted to demonstrate how willing Chico was. So I did just a bit of lunging with him, and he was definitely willing, but he was also out of practice and a bit flighty. He kinda panicked when I asked him to move his shoulders over, but I didn’t want to work on him, so I ignored it and let him go. I do need to start spending a bit less time with Catlow and try to spend more on both Cody and Chico too. It’s hard to do with 3 horses and a full time job.
Then I brought Catlow in, and basically ran her through her paces…everything that we’ve been working on. Of course, I tried to demonstrate the two different horses on the different sides thing, but she was pretty close to being the same on both sides today. She was a little better on the left than usual, and a bit worse on the right…but she’s evening out…I think that’s good. She was very good about not spooking. I’ve been thinking that I should maybe try something different with her lateral flexion. I think if I start using the bit, she might respond better, so maybe next time, I’ll put a bit in her mouth halfway through, and see how that goes.
I was reading Tom Dorrance’s book “True Unity”, and I had some thoughts about Catlow. At first I became concerned that I was causing her undue worry with some of the things I was asking of her (like the plastic bag), but then I realized that I’m not trying to annoy her there, I’m trying to show her how to deal with stress…and I do think that she is learning to tolerate annoyances, and to relax when presented with them. I repeatedly ask her to lower her head or flex in between annoyance exercises, and she definitely does relax as soon as I ask her to drop her head…then of course, she raises it back up as soon as I offer the stress again.
February 13th 2008
I worked with Catlow last Sunday (Feb. 10th), but I haven’t written about it yet, so that’s what I’ll do now.
Doni came out with me to help me work the horses, but she didn’t have much time, so we didn’t do many things. Primarily I worked Catlow and described her various vices and Doni watched and gave me input. She didn’t really suggest anything that I should do, but she did let me know what she thought about how I was approaching Catlow’s issues. She said that she thought Catlow was doing well, and definitely ready to ride. I think I could ride her right now if I felt pushed for time (I did ride her a bit last fall in the round pen, and up and down the driveway once, but the only reason it went okay was Catlow was in a comfortable place (the barn) and I wasn’t pushing her to do anything stressful, just walk and turn...and really, I was lucky it went okay given that she still didn’t really trust me at that time), but I think that there are still things that need to be second nature for her before I begin some things. I need to first get her to want to work with me…seems like she’s getting quite a bit better, then I need to start working her on the line doing some lunging things. She needs to be comfortable with that, so that I can do that with her out in the field in case I have any problems. I’d like her to also be comfortable cantering in the round pen, or on a lunge line before I do too much work with her under saddle…but maybe I shouldn’t push the cantering thing, and do progress to doing some of the exercises under saddle (yielding shoulders, hinds, sidepassing, flexing, backing) even before she’s good with cantering. I think she could do them now.
First thing we did was to bring both Catlow and Chico in. I wanted to demonstrate how willing Chico was. So I did just a bit of lunging with him, and he was definitely willing, but he was also out of practice and a bit flighty. He kinda panicked when I asked him to move his shoulders over, but I didn’t want to work on him, so I ignored it and let him go. I do need to start spending a bit less time with Catlow and try to spend more on both Cody and Chico too. It’s hard to do with 3 horses and a full time job.
Then I brought Catlow in, and basically ran her through her paces…everything that we’ve been working on. Of course, I tried to demonstrate the two different horses on the different sides thing, but she was pretty close to being the same on both sides today. She was a little better on the left than usual, and a bit worse on the right…but she’s evening out…I think that’s good. She was very good about not spooking. I’ve been thinking that I should maybe try something different with her lateral flexion. I think if I start using the bit, she might respond better, so maybe next time, I’ll put a bit in her mouth halfway through, and see how that goes.
I was reading Tom Dorrance’s book “True Unity”, and I had some thoughts about Catlow. At first I became concerned that I was causing her undue worry with some of the things I was asking of her (like the plastic bag), but then I realized that I’m not trying to annoy her there, I’m trying to show her how to deal with stress…and I do think that she is learning to tolerate annoyances, and to relax when presented with them. I repeatedly ask her to lower her head or flex in between annoyance exercises, and she definitely does relax as soon as I ask her to drop her head…then of course, she raises it back up as soon as I offer the stress again.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
February 9th 2008
"Post from the Past"
February 9th 2008
It was gorgeous outside today. In Moscow, the temperature was 47 degrees F at 1:30pm. I worked with Catlow this morning for about 2-3 hours (I lose track of time when I’m out with the horses). I also trimmed just a bit off her heels on her front feet after our session.
I began with working on Catlow’s difficult side (her left side). I did everything on that side first before I moved to the other side, because I wanted to be sure that I spent enough time on it and moved forward before I got tired. I’ve been thinking about naming her two sides, since it is like working with two different horses, for the most part. I’m still thinking of names…one side is evil, the other side is good.
First, I tossed the rope until she became bored with it…which she is kind of doing now! But mostly, bored means she’s not glaring at me with her shut off eye, and she’ll actually look at me once in a while. I’m going to buildup the muscles on my right arm more because I work with her left side so much. We’ll both be one-sided! I wouldn’t say she was better than yesterday, but she wasn’t worse.
Then I played jump rope from her side and tossed the rope at her neck…she was very good with this…Always has been. Maybe it’s because I’m farther away, so she doesn’t shut down as much.
Then I worked with her lateral flexion. She definitely wasn’t any better today, and in fact may have been a bit worse…taking longer to yield. I started giving quick tugs on the rope because she felt like she could hang there all day. Also, if I cluck while she’s just hanging there, she will yield. I’m not sure if that indicates that she doesn’t understand what I want her to do, or if she does understand, but has no real incentive to do it. I generally cluck to her whenever I want her to move, whether I’m asking her to step across, or move out…cluck means “do something”, and she’s generally very responsive to it.
After flexing, I moved on to asking her to yield her forequarters and hindquarters. Today I used cues on her side and I am trying to be very consistent with them so that she’ll understand when she goes under saddle. Toward the back means yield the hinds, and in front of the girth area means yield the fores. She really was understanding this and I was very pleased with how much she retained from yesterday. I also began with moving her forequarters, and slid my hand back to in between the two cues to ask her to step over with both feet and she got it! She’s not perfect and I’m only asking for one good step with both front and hind right now, but with more focus on that lesson, I think she’ll be great.
I wanted to introduce her to the plastic bag on the stick today because she seems ready to try something a little more stressful for desensitizing. She was definitely uncomfortable at first, especially with the bag up around her head, but she settled down and at the end I was able to pass it all around her and over her head without so much as a flinch (although she was holding her head kinda high). She was even better when I did it on her other side.
I finished up with trimming her heels a bit…trying to reshape her feet again after the worn toes issue. Everyone says that she didn’t founder, but she definitely has some very distinct new growth on her hooves, and at this point I can definitely tell it isn’t the cuticle.
Tomorrow, Doni is going to come out with me and help/watch me work Catlow, and maybe Chico or Cody too.
February 9th 2008
It was gorgeous outside today. In Moscow, the temperature was 47 degrees F at 1:30pm. I worked with Catlow this morning for about 2-3 hours (I lose track of time when I’m out with the horses). I also trimmed just a bit off her heels on her front feet after our session.
I began with working on Catlow’s difficult side (her left side). I did everything on that side first before I moved to the other side, because I wanted to be sure that I spent enough time on it and moved forward before I got tired. I’ve been thinking about naming her two sides, since it is like working with two different horses, for the most part. I’m still thinking of names…one side is evil, the other side is good.
First, I tossed the rope until she became bored with it…which she is kind of doing now! But mostly, bored means she’s not glaring at me with her shut off eye, and she’ll actually look at me once in a while. I’m going to buildup the muscles on my right arm more because I work with her left side so much. We’ll both be one-sided! I wouldn’t say she was better than yesterday, but she wasn’t worse.
Then I played jump rope from her side and tossed the rope at her neck…she was very good with this…Always has been. Maybe it’s because I’m farther away, so she doesn’t shut down as much.
Then I worked with her lateral flexion. She definitely wasn’t any better today, and in fact may have been a bit worse…taking longer to yield. I started giving quick tugs on the rope because she felt like she could hang there all day. Also, if I cluck while she’s just hanging there, she will yield. I’m not sure if that indicates that she doesn’t understand what I want her to do, or if she does understand, but has no real incentive to do it. I generally cluck to her whenever I want her to move, whether I’m asking her to step across, or move out…cluck means “do something”, and she’s generally very responsive to it.
After flexing, I moved on to asking her to yield her forequarters and hindquarters. Today I used cues on her side and I am trying to be very consistent with them so that she’ll understand when she goes under saddle. Toward the back means yield the hinds, and in front of the girth area means yield the fores. She really was understanding this and I was very pleased with how much she retained from yesterday. I also began with moving her forequarters, and slid my hand back to in between the two cues to ask her to step over with both feet and she got it! She’s not perfect and I’m only asking for one good step with both front and hind right now, but with more focus on that lesson, I think she’ll be great.
I wanted to introduce her to the plastic bag on the stick today because she seems ready to try something a little more stressful for desensitizing. She was definitely uncomfortable at first, especially with the bag up around her head, but she settled down and at the end I was able to pass it all around her and over her head without so much as a flinch (although she was holding her head kinda high). She was even better when I did it on her other side.
I finished up with trimming her heels a bit…trying to reshape her feet again after the worn toes issue. Everyone says that she didn’t founder, but she definitely has some very distinct new growth on her hooves, and at this point I can definitely tell it isn’t the cuticle.
Tomorrow, Doni is going to come out with me and help/watch me work Catlow, and maybe Chico or Cody too.
Monday, January 5, 2009
February 8th 2008
Before we get to the "post from the past", I just need to complain a little bit. They closed the university today due to snow, but because I have a looming deadline for a project, I can't afford to take today off, so I have to go in anyway! It's not fair! Okay, done. And now, to our "Post from the Past".
February 8th 2008
Today really warmed up compared to yesterday. I think the high was around 40 degrees. There is a lot of melting going on. The roads are clear, but with all the snow, there may be flooding in the creeks. It was also raining a bit in the evening.
I worked with Catlow a total of 2 hours. I started with rubbing her with the stick and string, which she accepted very well, then progressed to tossing the string over her back, legs, and neck. I worked on her easy (right) side first, and she accepted the string tossing very well. I was even working with the lead line lying on the ground, so she stood there accepting the string tossing without being held there. Then I moved to her left (bad) side. She definitely wasn’t as comfortable with it, and as soon as I began the first toss, she sidestepped away, so I had to hold the rope so that she knew she couldn’t avoid the situation. Then the only reaction I got was the raised head and hard eye. She didn’t even attempt to move after I held the rope. She did start to soften her eye just slightly, but barely. The head stayed up. I could tell after tossing and resting then tossing again for a long time, that she was relaxed enough to look at me occasionally, and her glaring eye wasn’t quite as hard as usual. She was trying to push her wall down and peak at me over it, but that wall is high. It will take some time. I also smacked the ground with the string all the way around her and standing in front of her and she didn’t offer to move at all…this is a first!
I rubbed her a lot, and once I was satisfied that she was okay with the string tossing, I backed off and played “jump rope” with her. I also tossed the rope toward her head and body so that it would bump her on the chest, neck, and nose, and she did really well. She only jumped the first time that the rope touched her nose, and that was before we even began the jump rope activity. She is surprisingly good at this game. I feel like it is because she looks at me with both eyes. I do notice, that when I am more toward her left side, she will often turn her head further to the right…that is her trying to avoid accepting the world from that eye…she tries to turn away from me. I also wanted to see how she would accept me running up the rope at her. I began with her facing head on, and she backed off a step or two at first, but she caught on quick and didn’t move at all as I ran up the rope straight toward her head and started rubbing her face. I progressively moved out a couple steps at a time until I was running at her from her right side to her shoulder to rub her. I even threw in a few crazy jumps and arm waves and hisses as I ran at her, and she accepted it! I did the same thing again moving toward her left side, and again, she wasn’t as good at it. She tended to want to move away from me more and turn her head away as I ran toward her, but she did accept it toward the end. I didn’t push it with jumping and hissing at that side. We’ll work more on that.
Then we worked on lateral flexion. She is getting a little better every time, but not as much as that first time after I had to make her uncomfortable to want to give to the rope. She is definitely trying harder, now that she understands, but it still takes some waiting for her to give…only a few seconds, but still waiting. After we practiced for quite a while, she was giving faster. She is still slower on her left side. I also practiced having her flex with me standing on her off side with the rope laying over her back. She seemed to want to try to flex toward her left, when I was asking her to flex toward her right. The other way around was very easy.
After flexion, I worked on getting her to yield her forequarters properly. Last time, when going around to the left, she wanted to pivot on her forequarters and spin her hind end around, instead of the other way around. I had to tap on her shoulder to convince her to step across. We worked on this quite a bit, and she was really starting to get it toward the end…rocking back on her hindquarters and stepping across with her fronts. She also had to be tapped to step across going to the right, but she was a bit better to this side. I would still like to work on this more, but she improved quite a bit, so I didn’t push it much more. I also gave her treats when working with her this time. She knows when she did something right. As soon as I tell her “Goood Giirrl!”, she cues into me…I can see her mind whirling trying to connect what she did, and she watches me to see if I’m going to give her a treat for it. I then yielded her hindquarters once on each side…still works (she’s very good at this as it is the first thing that I taught her last year when I began working with both her and Chico). Then I wanted to see how difficult it would be to teach her how to side-pass. She actually caught onto this very very quickly, seeing how she doesn’t quite have the pivoting on the fores down perfectly. I just held my hand up next to her eye while clucking to her (like when I ask her to yield the fores), and added in pushing her on her side where the girth would go. She knew she was supposed to move because I was clucking, and I had my hand up near her eye. She also from before, knew that if I poke her in her middle, she is supposed to yield her hinds. So put the two together, and she side-passed! It wasn’t necessarily pretty or exactly sideways, but she did step over with both the fores and hinds crossing in front. At one point, she did try moving first the fores, then the hinds, until I got the cues better so she understood, then she stepped across. She got big praises for that, and treats. She did it all with a rather calm demeanor…she wasn’t panicking to get out of my way, she was trying to figure out what I was asking. This is great. I’m already thinking that when I get started riding her, she will understand some cues better than Chico currently does. Chico doesn’t know how to side-pass from the ground…I’ll have to work on him some more.
The head dropping is going great. She’s not quite automatic yet, but getting closer. It really is keeping her calm, and also serves as an indication to me how she’s feeling inside. If something is bothering her and I ask her to drop her head, she is more likely to resist first before she does it. I noticed that when other horses where fighting while I was working with her. I feel like being worked with is not torture anymore for her. I think I was just doing it wrong. Catlow and Chico are too different for the same method to work on them the same way. Catlow needs more close work, and I will continue to move her around to keep her respect. Then when I feel like the trust foundation is solid, I will move to lunging her.
I do think that I need to step up the desensitizing. I think next time I’ll try a plastic bag on the end of the stick.
February 8th 2008
Today really warmed up compared to yesterday. I think the high was around 40 degrees. There is a lot of melting going on. The roads are clear, but with all the snow, there may be flooding in the creeks. It was also raining a bit in the evening.
I worked with Catlow a total of 2 hours. I started with rubbing her with the stick and string, which she accepted very well, then progressed to tossing the string over her back, legs, and neck. I worked on her easy (right) side first, and she accepted the string tossing very well. I was even working with the lead line lying on the ground, so she stood there accepting the string tossing without being held there. Then I moved to her left (bad) side. She definitely wasn’t as comfortable with it, and as soon as I began the first toss, she sidestepped away, so I had to hold the rope so that she knew she couldn’t avoid the situation. Then the only reaction I got was the raised head and hard eye. She didn’t even attempt to move after I held the rope. She did start to soften her eye just slightly, but barely. The head stayed up. I could tell after tossing and resting then tossing again for a long time, that she was relaxed enough to look at me occasionally, and her glaring eye wasn’t quite as hard as usual. She was trying to push her wall down and peak at me over it, but that wall is high. It will take some time. I also smacked the ground with the string all the way around her and standing in front of her and she didn’t offer to move at all…this is a first!
I rubbed her a lot, and once I was satisfied that she was okay with the string tossing, I backed off and played “jump rope” with her. I also tossed the rope toward her head and body so that it would bump her on the chest, neck, and nose, and she did really well. She only jumped the first time that the rope touched her nose, and that was before we even began the jump rope activity. She is surprisingly good at this game. I feel like it is because she looks at me with both eyes. I do notice, that when I am more toward her left side, she will often turn her head further to the right…that is her trying to avoid accepting the world from that eye…she tries to turn away from me. I also wanted to see how she would accept me running up the rope at her. I began with her facing head on, and she backed off a step or two at first, but she caught on quick and didn’t move at all as I ran up the rope straight toward her head and started rubbing her face. I progressively moved out a couple steps at a time until I was running at her from her right side to her shoulder to rub her. I even threw in a few crazy jumps and arm waves and hisses as I ran at her, and she accepted it! I did the same thing again moving toward her left side, and again, she wasn’t as good at it. She tended to want to move away from me more and turn her head away as I ran toward her, but she did accept it toward the end. I didn’t push it with jumping and hissing at that side. We’ll work more on that.
Then we worked on lateral flexion. She is getting a little better every time, but not as much as that first time after I had to make her uncomfortable to want to give to the rope. She is definitely trying harder, now that she understands, but it still takes some waiting for her to give…only a few seconds, but still waiting. After we practiced for quite a while, she was giving faster. She is still slower on her left side. I also practiced having her flex with me standing on her off side with the rope laying over her back. She seemed to want to try to flex toward her left, when I was asking her to flex toward her right. The other way around was very easy.
After flexion, I worked on getting her to yield her forequarters properly. Last time, when going around to the left, she wanted to pivot on her forequarters and spin her hind end around, instead of the other way around. I had to tap on her shoulder to convince her to step across. We worked on this quite a bit, and she was really starting to get it toward the end…rocking back on her hindquarters and stepping across with her fronts. She also had to be tapped to step across going to the right, but she was a bit better to this side. I would still like to work on this more, but she improved quite a bit, so I didn’t push it much more. I also gave her treats when working with her this time. She knows when she did something right. As soon as I tell her “Goood Giirrl!”, she cues into me…I can see her mind whirling trying to connect what she did, and she watches me to see if I’m going to give her a treat for it. I then yielded her hindquarters once on each side…still works (she’s very good at this as it is the first thing that I taught her last year when I began working with both her and Chico). Then I wanted to see how difficult it would be to teach her how to side-pass. She actually caught onto this very very quickly, seeing how she doesn’t quite have the pivoting on the fores down perfectly. I just held my hand up next to her eye while clucking to her (like when I ask her to yield the fores), and added in pushing her on her side where the girth would go. She knew she was supposed to move because I was clucking, and I had my hand up near her eye. She also from before, knew that if I poke her in her middle, she is supposed to yield her hinds. So put the two together, and she side-passed! It wasn’t necessarily pretty or exactly sideways, but she did step over with both the fores and hinds crossing in front. At one point, she did try moving first the fores, then the hinds, until I got the cues better so she understood, then she stepped across. She got big praises for that, and treats. She did it all with a rather calm demeanor…she wasn’t panicking to get out of my way, she was trying to figure out what I was asking. This is great. I’m already thinking that when I get started riding her, she will understand some cues better than Chico currently does. Chico doesn’t know how to side-pass from the ground…I’ll have to work on him some more.
The head dropping is going great. She’s not quite automatic yet, but getting closer. It really is keeping her calm, and also serves as an indication to me how she’s feeling inside. If something is bothering her and I ask her to drop her head, she is more likely to resist first before she does it. I noticed that when other horses where fighting while I was working with her. I feel like being worked with is not torture anymore for her. I think I was just doing it wrong. Catlow and Chico are too different for the same method to work on them the same way. Catlow needs more close work, and I will continue to move her around to keep her respect. Then when I feel like the trust foundation is solid, I will move to lunging her.
I do think that I need to step up the desensitizing. I think next time I’ll try a plastic bag on the end of the stick.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ah, snow!
I know many of you are probably sick of snow right now, but it's still good for some things! Over New Years a bunch of us gathered at a friends house in Spokane to enjoy the winter weather and the insane amount of snow. We went cross-country skiing Friday and Saturday. The weather was beautiful! It was a bit too warm on Friday (snow stuck to our skiis), but perfect on Saturday. On Friday, we went to a conservation area (can't remember what it's called, but my friend calls it the Duck Park. I think it's managed by Duck's Unlimited?). On Saturday, we went to Turnbull Wildlife Refuge. The skiing was great, but the roads to get there were terrible. They were all covered in hard ice/snow and potholes. I took my dogs both days and they had a great time. Here's a picture of us at the duck park.
We had amazing food. Everyone pitched in and helped cook meals. I made two pies (cranberry apple crumb and strawberry apple crumb) and breakfast (Southwest scrambled eggs). We had amazing pepper cheese soup, enchiladas, chicken noodle soup, delicious goat cheese and red wine....Mmmmmm! I love remembering, but I don't think we worked hard enough while skiing to burn off all that great food. I was so full Saturday night that I had a hard time falling asleep. And now, I am feeling the tightness of my jeans due to the holiday food and inactivity. I'm going on a diet starting Monday. I'm sure this is on everyone's mind at this time of year!
And regarding cameras, I'm leaning toward a Canon Powershot S5 with 10X or 12X zoom. I'm waiting to find a good deal on one though...
We had amazing food. Everyone pitched in and helped cook meals. I made two pies (cranberry apple crumb and strawberry apple crumb) and breakfast (Southwest scrambled eggs). We had amazing pepper cheese soup, enchiladas, chicken noodle soup, delicious goat cheese and red wine....Mmmmmm! I love remembering, but I don't think we worked hard enough while skiing to burn off all that great food. I was so full Saturday night that I had a hard time falling asleep. And now, I am feeling the tightness of my jeans due to the holiday food and inactivity. I'm going on a diet starting Monday. I'm sure this is on everyone's mind at this time of year!
And regarding cameras, I'm leaning toward a Canon Powershot S5 with 10X or 12X zoom. I'm waiting to find a good deal on one though...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Horse-sick and camera-less
I'm horse-sick (you know, like homesick?) It's been getting to me the last few days. I've been working everyday (except Christmas day) of the last couple weeks because I have a lot to catch up on. Also, I'm one of the few people remaining around campus, so I have the whole lab to myself, which means I'm also a bit lonely, despite the fact that I've been getting lots of work done. Plus, I see no point to taking time off...I have nothing to do here. My family are all in Wisconsin (I just saw them for Thanksgiving), except my boyfriend (but he's been working lots lately too, and we've not been spending much time together). And I have no horses to spend time with anymore! I still of course have my dogs, and they'd really love it if I took some time off to take them someplace fun. I have been taking them for walks, but sporadically. So I'm horsesick...because I'm lonely and I've been reading lots of horse-related books lately, which really makes me itch to get out and do something with a horse. Re-reading my journal from training Catlow also makes me itch to get out and do something with a horse. Although we've been having such crappy weather here lately that I doubt it'd do much good if my horses were still here. But then, at least I could wrap my arms around them and bury my cold fingers into their big warm wooly manes.
Also, my camera broke. I have a Kodak z710 (10X zoom) and it appears that the mechanism that powers the lens has become stripped (like a screw) or burned out or something. When I turn it on, it tries to push the lens out, but it can't so just gives an error light and turns back off. I wasn't able to get any pictures of the new snow (which isn't new anymore) because that is precisely when it broke. I might be able to get it replaced, but I'm not sure. I have to contact the company. This is the second time this camera has broke on me. I already had it replaced once (A gentle fall while in the very protective case actually cracked the LCD screen, and Kodak replaced it no problem). Since it's caused me more than its share of headaches, I'm thinking of getting a different kind of digital camera. I'd appreciate knowing what you all use to take your pictures. I like to have powerful zoom (10X (not digital) preferred) and between 5-7.5 MP picture resolution. I'm partial to Canon. I have a really nice SLR film camera that I LOVE, but it's one of those types that you only get it out when you are on a trip special for photography (it's too big and expensive to just throw around and drag with you on hikes or horseback rides). I was really resisting going digital for a long time because I was a film snob, but now I can't fathom living without the ease of my digital camera! And they generally aren't super expensive, so I don't feel the need to keep it wrapped in a bubble. I'll put it in my saddle bags or let it bounce around my neck on hikes.
So please, all my horse friends, what is your preferred digital camera (brand and type)?
Also, my camera broke. I have a Kodak z710 (10X zoom) and it appears that the mechanism that powers the lens has become stripped (like a screw) or burned out or something. When I turn it on, it tries to push the lens out, but it can't so just gives an error light and turns back off. I wasn't able to get any pictures of the new snow (which isn't new anymore) because that is precisely when it broke. I might be able to get it replaced, but I'm not sure. I have to contact the company. This is the second time this camera has broke on me. I already had it replaced once (A gentle fall while in the very protective case actually cracked the LCD screen, and Kodak replaced it no problem). Since it's caused me more than its share of headaches, I'm thinking of getting a different kind of digital camera. I'd appreciate knowing what you all use to take your pictures. I like to have powerful zoom (10X (not digital) preferred) and between 5-7.5 MP picture resolution. I'm partial to Canon. I have a really nice SLR film camera that I LOVE, but it's one of those types that you only get it out when you are on a trip special for photography (it's too big and expensive to just throw around and drag with you on hikes or horseback rides). I was really resisting going digital for a long time because I was a film snob, but now I can't fathom living without the ease of my digital camera! And they generally aren't super expensive, so I don't feel the need to keep it wrapped in a bubble. I'll put it in my saddle bags or let it bounce around my neck on hikes.
So please, all my horse friends, what is your preferred digital camera (brand and type)?
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
February 7th, 2008
"Post from the Past"
February 7th, 2008
The weather today finally warmed up. We got lots more snow last night and it was really windy today, but upper 30s and around 40 degrees in Moscow today. Tonight I worked with Catlow for 2 hours. I caught her outside. Even though it was windy and very difficult to walk (I was stumbling through the snow), Catlow let me catch her and showed no interest in moving away. Not that she usually does, but sometimes I feel like I have to be careful how I approach her.
I worked on lateral flexion and dropping her head first. She remembered pretty quickly from last time. She responded to me pinching her poll immediately, which pleased me. She is still not as good at dropping her head with pressure from the halter. We’ll have to work on that more. I bet that if I move the halter up closer to her ears she might respond better. She is getting really good with pinching her poll. I don’t even have to pinch very hard.
Her lateral flexion is getting better. She is still better with flexing to her right side, than to her left. She is actually stretching back much better from both sides, so I’m asking more of her. I’m asking her to reach farther and farther each time. She is beginning to attempt to touch me, or her side (whichever is closer), and she’s doing it with just pressure from the halter now. She is bringing her head around nicely and I just need to apply direct pressure when she gets all the way around to ask her to reach further. She waits a second or two, sometimes several, before she actually reaches back, but she’s actually doing it. Last session, she was really lax about reaching further and it took quite a wait, with shuffling around to make her uncomfortable, before she’d give slack in the rope. She’s improved quite a bit.
I also brought treats this time, and gave her a treat when she would approach me, or look at me, in the beginning. I gave them out more and more sparingly toward the end of the lesson, but they peaked her interest. I think that treats, combined with only trying to win her trust (by not chasing her around yet), is what is helping her to want to work with me and do what I ask. She is definitely more willing this time than she was last time. Her wall is coming down just a bit.
I played “jump rope” with Catlow and the lead line (basically, I just stood back and swung the 14 ft lead line as though she was holding onto the other end (with her head) for an invisible person to jump over). She did really, really well with this…it didn’t faze her at all, even though the rope would slide around her nose and tug at her halter. I progressed to tossing the rope around her head, and also snaking it at her body so that it touched her on the chest. She didn’t even flinch, jump, move, or give me that suspicious hard look. This was my biggest surprise, and it made me feel very good…she’s improving. She seems to do better when she’s looking at me with both eyes, than with just her left eye…her right eye makes her trust me. Her left eye doesn’t quite trust me fully.
I also did a bit with asking her to yield her forequarters. She is getting more forward and stepping across in front more consistently now. I think that is also a factor of trusting me more, and also me having better position when asking her. Our communication is getting better; she’s understanding what I’m asking. She’s funny, cuz when asking to yield to the left, she will try to pivot on her forelegs and walk around with her hindquarters. I have to tap her on the shoulder to loosen her up and get her shoulder to move. I didn’t work with her much on this, but I will need to more in the future.
I also attempted to spook her by unexpectedly jumping and hissing. She only raised her head the first few times. She’s caught on with that, and she’s not overreacting anymore. I danced like a crazy person, waving my arms around and jumping, and she raised her head and eyed me suspiciously at first, but didn’t move away. I alternated doing stressful things like jumping and spooking at her, with asking her to flex and drop her head. She went with both exercises well. She would raise her head up when I jumped around, but would drop it immediately when I asked her to. I was pleased. She was altogether much more relaxed this session than last session. She wasn’t raising her head suspiciously with that hard look in her eye every time I moved to do something else. That’s a big step.
I worked a lot with desensitizing her to me tossing the rope over her. I stood on her left side, and started with her rump and hind legs. That’s no problem for her, although the first few tosses, she was bobbing her head up and down. She will cock her leg when I stay behind her withers, but when I move up to her neck, she bobs her head, raises it up, looks around to the other side…anything to avoid actually accepting me tossing the rope. I tossed over her neck repeatedly, until I was getting bored with it. She just doesn’t relax. I was trying to watch her really closely and see small signs of slight acceptance or relaxation, and that’s all I got. She kept her head up high, but she would actually look at me once in a while (because once I stopped tossing when she did that, so she tried it again). Her eye wasn’t quite as hard, so I decided that was a good stopping point on that side. Then I moved to her right side, and what a difference! She had her head lower, and was totally accepting me tossing the rope up on her neck. It wasn’t because I had just been doing it on the other side, because she hadn’t really accepted it on that other side. She’s just really lopsided. I was shocked, but I guess that really illustrates that she has this wall built up on her left side, for whatever reason. I’m glad I started with her hard side, because I worked much longer at it than her good side. After the rope tossing, I went through the motions of jumping up on her back from both sides, and she really accepted that. It doesn’t bother her at all. If only I could jump higher, I’d jump up on her back and hang over her. After that, I let her be, and played with the dogs. She was a few feet away from a salt lick, and moved over to lick salt. I spent about 10 minutes with her while she licked salt (I don’t think they have a block in the pasture right now because of all the snow). She continued to lick while I messed with her and jumped around her. I took that as a sign that she’s more comfortable with me.
She’s doing really well. I think that I need to continue with the desensitizing for many more sessions, until she responds automatically with dropping her head and lateral flexion. I think that I should also wait to start lunging her until she completely accepts the rope tossing on her neck. I want her to trust me before I start driving her away from me, so that she isn’t confused. We need to build up our communication before I ask her something that she might mistake for me chasing her.
February 7th, 2008
The weather today finally warmed up. We got lots more snow last night and it was really windy today, but upper 30s and around 40 degrees in Moscow today. Tonight I worked with Catlow for 2 hours. I caught her outside. Even though it was windy and very difficult to walk (I was stumbling through the snow), Catlow let me catch her and showed no interest in moving away. Not that she usually does, but sometimes I feel like I have to be careful how I approach her.
I worked on lateral flexion and dropping her head first. She remembered pretty quickly from last time. She responded to me pinching her poll immediately, which pleased me. She is still not as good at dropping her head with pressure from the halter. We’ll have to work on that more. I bet that if I move the halter up closer to her ears she might respond better. She is getting really good with pinching her poll. I don’t even have to pinch very hard.
Her lateral flexion is getting better. She is still better with flexing to her right side, than to her left. She is actually stretching back much better from both sides, so I’m asking more of her. I’m asking her to reach farther and farther each time. She is beginning to attempt to touch me, or her side (whichever is closer), and she’s doing it with just pressure from the halter now. She is bringing her head around nicely and I just need to apply direct pressure when she gets all the way around to ask her to reach further. She waits a second or two, sometimes several, before she actually reaches back, but she’s actually doing it. Last session, she was really lax about reaching further and it took quite a wait, with shuffling around to make her uncomfortable, before she’d give slack in the rope. She’s improved quite a bit.
I also brought treats this time, and gave her a treat when she would approach me, or look at me, in the beginning. I gave them out more and more sparingly toward the end of the lesson, but they peaked her interest. I think that treats, combined with only trying to win her trust (by not chasing her around yet), is what is helping her to want to work with me and do what I ask. She is definitely more willing this time than she was last time. Her wall is coming down just a bit.
I played “jump rope” with Catlow and the lead line (basically, I just stood back and swung the 14 ft lead line as though she was holding onto the other end (with her head) for an invisible person to jump over). She did really, really well with this…it didn’t faze her at all, even though the rope would slide around her nose and tug at her halter. I progressed to tossing the rope around her head, and also snaking it at her body so that it touched her on the chest. She didn’t even flinch, jump, move, or give me that suspicious hard look. This was my biggest surprise, and it made me feel very good…she’s improving. She seems to do better when she’s looking at me with both eyes, than with just her left eye…her right eye makes her trust me. Her left eye doesn’t quite trust me fully.
I also did a bit with asking her to yield her forequarters. She is getting more forward and stepping across in front more consistently now. I think that is also a factor of trusting me more, and also me having better position when asking her. Our communication is getting better; she’s understanding what I’m asking. She’s funny, cuz when asking to yield to the left, she will try to pivot on her forelegs and walk around with her hindquarters. I have to tap her on the shoulder to loosen her up and get her shoulder to move. I didn’t work with her much on this, but I will need to more in the future.
I also attempted to spook her by unexpectedly jumping and hissing. She only raised her head the first few times. She’s caught on with that, and she’s not overreacting anymore. I danced like a crazy person, waving my arms around and jumping, and she raised her head and eyed me suspiciously at first, but didn’t move away. I alternated doing stressful things like jumping and spooking at her, with asking her to flex and drop her head. She went with both exercises well. She would raise her head up when I jumped around, but would drop it immediately when I asked her to. I was pleased. She was altogether much more relaxed this session than last session. She wasn’t raising her head suspiciously with that hard look in her eye every time I moved to do something else. That’s a big step.
I worked a lot with desensitizing her to me tossing the rope over her. I stood on her left side, and started with her rump and hind legs. That’s no problem for her, although the first few tosses, she was bobbing her head up and down. She will cock her leg when I stay behind her withers, but when I move up to her neck, she bobs her head, raises it up, looks around to the other side…anything to avoid actually accepting me tossing the rope. I tossed over her neck repeatedly, until I was getting bored with it. She just doesn’t relax. I was trying to watch her really closely and see small signs of slight acceptance or relaxation, and that’s all I got. She kept her head up high, but she would actually look at me once in a while (because once I stopped tossing when she did that, so she tried it again). Her eye wasn’t quite as hard, so I decided that was a good stopping point on that side. Then I moved to her right side, and what a difference! She had her head lower, and was totally accepting me tossing the rope up on her neck. It wasn’t because I had just been doing it on the other side, because she hadn’t really accepted it on that other side. She’s just really lopsided. I was shocked, but I guess that really illustrates that she has this wall built up on her left side, for whatever reason. I’m glad I started with her hard side, because I worked much longer at it than her good side. After the rope tossing, I went through the motions of jumping up on her back from both sides, and she really accepted that. It doesn’t bother her at all. If only I could jump higher, I’d jump up on her back and hang over her. After that, I let her be, and played with the dogs. She was a few feet away from a salt lick, and moved over to lick salt. I spent about 10 minutes with her while she licked salt (I don’t think they have a block in the pasture right now because of all the snow). She continued to lick while I messed with her and jumped around her. I took that as a sign that she’s more comfortable with me.
She’s doing really well. I think that I need to continue with the desensitizing for many more sessions, until she responds automatically with dropping her head and lateral flexion. I think that I should also wait to start lunging her until she completely accepts the rope tossing on her neck. I want her to trust me before I start driving her away from me, so that she isn’t confused. We need to build up our communication before I ask her something that she might mistake for me chasing her.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
February 3nd, 2008, 8:30pm
"Post from the Past"
February 3nd, 2008, 8:30pm
I worked with Catlow for about 2 and a half hours today. I did not end up round penning her because I focused mainly on desensitizing. I had planned to desensitize her, then round pen her, then desensitize again, but as I started working with her, she was not responding well. She was doing okay with me tossing the rope at her (after the first attempt when she skittered all over the round pen). She settled down pretty quick though. The problem arose when I started asking her to flex laterally. She was really heavy. When I would pick up on the rope, she would respond and turn her nose toward me a bit, but I had to pull her head all the way to the side…well, I didn’t pull it all the way, just around to encourage her to flex to me and touch me or her side. But she wasn’t into flexing. She would just sit there and lean on the halter. Sometimes she would give just a bit, creating less pressure on the rope, but not slack. I’d reward her for that, but it didn’t encourage her to try harder the next time. The next time, she was just as heavy and would just hang there on the rope. She felt like she could hang there forever. I got sick of standing there and holding her head around, so I started moving around, kicking my feet, or waving my other hand. That actually seemed to make her want to find relief from the pressure. I’m not sure why she was okay with just standing there and hanging on the rope forever. My theory is that she doesn’t quite understand that I’m trying to ask her to cooperate with me. I think she might think that I’m just subjecting her to “torture” and that she needs to just put up with it until I quit. Giving her the reward of relief from pressure (like releasing the rope when she gives me slack) just wasn’t getting through to her as a good enough reward. But after I started making it more uncomfortable for her to just hang there (when I started moving around and waving my free arm around her face), she actually sought the reward because it was a greater reward then. Then she seemed to realize that I was asking her to give to me and try. After that, she would reach toward me and give me slack in the rope without me having to wiggle around. But it really took quite a while to make that happen. I feel bad that she doesn’t want to try with me…like I’m subjecting her to “torture” by working with her. She’d be perfectly happy if I just pet her once in a while and left her alone. But I think that what this means is that I just have to be more creative to find ways to show her that it will be more fun for her if she tries to do what I ask. As it is now, I’m asking (or rather, telling) her to do things, and she is only obliging because she has to, not because she wants to.
She is so different from working with Chico. I worked with Chico before I worked with Catlow. Working with Chico is like cutting butter with a hot knife, where as working with Catlow is like trying to cut frozen meat. Chico wants to be with me. He likes getting messed with. He is very willing. He also felt good today, not having been worked with in so long. I turned him loose in the round pen, and then I just stood in the middle. He started off and began cantering around immediately. I wasn’t asking him to do anything. He just went round and round. I ignored him and messed with my rope and he continued to alternate between cantering around and coming in to see what I was doing. (Catlow just stands by the side and watches me, not interested in moving or coming to investigate me). When I finally did begin working with him, he went easily, listened to what I was asking him to do, making trot-canter and canter-trot transitions easily. He also turned in and changed direction with vigor. Chico is a little bit one-sided so he likes to come off the fence when traveling to the right, but not as easily when traveling to the left (he needs a little bit more encouragement to come in and if he’s pushed too hard, he’ll turn to the outside). He came into the center when asked and I flexed him. He did not even need me to pull on the rope to ask him to flex and touch his side. He did it all with slack in the rope. He yielded his hindquarter when asked and also his forequarters, but he needs a little more work on the forequarters. I tried to spook him, and he did jump but only the first time. He’s not afraid of me. Then I did a new activity where I ran up the rope toward him. He looked at me like I was crazy and backed away, but only a few steps and he didn’t attempt to run away. It was fun. I would back away from him, and if he made an attempt to follow me, I’d just hold up my hand and say “whoa”. He’d stop and wait watching me as I backed up. Then I’d run toward him, sliding the rope through my hands as I went. He’d watch me intently, and back away as I got closer…mostly because he didn’t know what I was doing. We’ll have to work on that some more, but his first few times were okay. He was awesome for not having been worked with since last October. The thing that I liked the most was how when I would relax, he’d come right in to me. I’d love on him a bit. Then when I pointed out to the rail, he jumped to attention and headed the direction I pointed. I’ve never had to be harsh to get him to respect me like that. It’s a good feeling.
Okay, back to Catlow. I also asked her to drop her head just like I did yesterday. Yesterday’s lesson wasn’t so good. It took her a long time to “get” the drop head lesson. I asked her using two different cues. The first cue was a downward pull on the halter that puts pressure on her poll. I’ve done this before, but I’ve never consistently worked with her, so most of these lessons have been tried before, they just don’t stick with her. The second cue was pinching her skin on her poll. She seemed to understand both cues almost immediately, but then after a while of practicing, she seemed to not understand anymore. Maybe I was not giving her enough reward time before I started asking her again, so she didn’t think she was doing the right thing? Or maybe she got bored and didn’t want to play my game anymore. Or maybe it just wasn’t uncomfortable enough for her to want to find a way to relieve the pressure and she wasn’t interested in willingly cooperating with me. Whatever the cause, I tried to end on a good note yesterday, but she wasn’t being very consistent. Well, today when I tried both cues, she got them right away. She didn’t drop her head all the way to the ground, but she did drop it when asked. I didn’t try these cues until after I had been working on lateral flexion, so maybe that helped.
A really good thing that I noticed was that after she started flexing consistently and dropping her head when asked, she got really relaxed. That is a really good thing because if I can get her to respond immediately to those cues, then when I ask her to do that under pressure or when she gets worried, it will help her to remain calm. I think that will be a very important thing for this horse.
The thing that I really didn’t like about our lesson, and something that I think will take a lot of work to “fix” and is really just the manifestation of her lack of trust, was that every time I would move to do something else, or just move in general, she immediately raised her head up, got stiff, and got that hard look in her eye. Even after I’d ask her to drop her head and relax, the next move I made would elicit the raised head response and the hard eye. I hope that this is something that will go away as we continue our work and she learns to trust me.
So, today we worked on relaxing and not responding to random “spooks” and stimuli such as swinging ropes and stick and string. I was pleased with how the session ended. I gave her a few handfuls of grain as a reward at the end, and I think that I would like to do that next time, too. Just a little “thank you” for putting up with me. I’ve decided that I need to once again revamp my outline to work with Catlow. I think that I need to keep her on a line, and keep her with me. I don’t want to drive her away in the round pen without any control over her. I think that the line will keep her looking to me for direction instead of feeling like I’m chasing her. So, the next time I work with her I will do the desensitizing exercises again, and if there is time, I will move onto some lunging on a small circle. The lunging exercises will basically be geared toward getting her attention, listening to cues, and changing directions lots. I plan to stick with doing desensitizing first thing every lesson, then if there is time, we will progress beyond that. I expect that desensitizing will continue to take a long time in the beginning, but as she actually improves, I will have time to move onto other things. Lateral flexion and dropping the head will be part of the desensitizing routine that will turn out to be really important for keeping her calm.
I think that it will work, but it will take time, and I’ll probably have to revise my approach multiple times.
February 3nd, 2008, 8:30pm
I worked with Catlow for about 2 and a half hours today. I did not end up round penning her because I focused mainly on desensitizing. I had planned to desensitize her, then round pen her, then desensitize again, but as I started working with her, she was not responding well. She was doing okay with me tossing the rope at her (after the first attempt when she skittered all over the round pen). She settled down pretty quick though. The problem arose when I started asking her to flex laterally. She was really heavy. When I would pick up on the rope, she would respond and turn her nose toward me a bit, but I had to pull her head all the way to the side…well, I didn’t pull it all the way, just around to encourage her to flex to me and touch me or her side. But she wasn’t into flexing. She would just sit there and lean on the halter. Sometimes she would give just a bit, creating less pressure on the rope, but not slack. I’d reward her for that, but it didn’t encourage her to try harder the next time. The next time, she was just as heavy and would just hang there on the rope. She felt like she could hang there forever. I got sick of standing there and holding her head around, so I started moving around, kicking my feet, or waving my other hand. That actually seemed to make her want to find relief from the pressure. I’m not sure why she was okay with just standing there and hanging on the rope forever. My theory is that she doesn’t quite understand that I’m trying to ask her to cooperate with me. I think she might think that I’m just subjecting her to “torture” and that she needs to just put up with it until I quit. Giving her the reward of relief from pressure (like releasing the rope when she gives me slack) just wasn’t getting through to her as a good enough reward. But after I started making it more uncomfortable for her to just hang there (when I started moving around and waving my free arm around her face), she actually sought the reward because it was a greater reward then. Then she seemed to realize that I was asking her to give to me and try. After that, she would reach toward me and give me slack in the rope without me having to wiggle around. But it really took quite a while to make that happen. I feel bad that she doesn’t want to try with me…like I’m subjecting her to “torture” by working with her. She’d be perfectly happy if I just pet her once in a while and left her alone. But I think that what this means is that I just have to be more creative to find ways to show her that it will be more fun for her if she tries to do what I ask. As it is now, I’m asking (or rather, telling) her to do things, and she is only obliging because she has to, not because she wants to.
She is so different from working with Chico. I worked with Chico before I worked with Catlow. Working with Chico is like cutting butter with a hot knife, where as working with Catlow is like trying to cut frozen meat. Chico wants to be with me. He likes getting messed with. He is very willing. He also felt good today, not having been worked with in so long. I turned him loose in the round pen, and then I just stood in the middle. He started off and began cantering around immediately. I wasn’t asking him to do anything. He just went round and round. I ignored him and messed with my rope and he continued to alternate between cantering around and coming in to see what I was doing. (Catlow just stands by the side and watches me, not interested in moving or coming to investigate me). When I finally did begin working with him, he went easily, listened to what I was asking him to do, making trot-canter and canter-trot transitions easily. He also turned in and changed direction with vigor. Chico is a little bit one-sided so he likes to come off the fence when traveling to the right, but not as easily when traveling to the left (he needs a little bit more encouragement to come in and if he’s pushed too hard, he’ll turn to the outside). He came into the center when asked and I flexed him. He did not even need me to pull on the rope to ask him to flex and touch his side. He did it all with slack in the rope. He yielded his hindquarter when asked and also his forequarters, but he needs a little more work on the forequarters. I tried to spook him, and he did jump but only the first time. He’s not afraid of me. Then I did a new activity where I ran up the rope toward him. He looked at me like I was crazy and backed away, but only a few steps and he didn’t attempt to run away. It was fun. I would back away from him, and if he made an attempt to follow me, I’d just hold up my hand and say “whoa”. He’d stop and wait watching me as I backed up. Then I’d run toward him, sliding the rope through my hands as I went. He’d watch me intently, and back away as I got closer…mostly because he didn’t know what I was doing. We’ll have to work on that some more, but his first few times were okay. He was awesome for not having been worked with since last October. The thing that I liked the most was how when I would relax, he’d come right in to me. I’d love on him a bit. Then when I pointed out to the rail, he jumped to attention and headed the direction I pointed. I’ve never had to be harsh to get him to respect me like that. It’s a good feeling.
Okay, back to Catlow. I also asked her to drop her head just like I did yesterday. Yesterday’s lesson wasn’t so good. It took her a long time to “get” the drop head lesson. I asked her using two different cues. The first cue was a downward pull on the halter that puts pressure on her poll. I’ve done this before, but I’ve never consistently worked with her, so most of these lessons have been tried before, they just don’t stick with her. The second cue was pinching her skin on her poll. She seemed to understand both cues almost immediately, but then after a while of practicing, she seemed to not understand anymore. Maybe I was not giving her enough reward time before I started asking her again, so she didn’t think she was doing the right thing? Or maybe she got bored and didn’t want to play my game anymore. Or maybe it just wasn’t uncomfortable enough for her to want to find a way to relieve the pressure and she wasn’t interested in willingly cooperating with me. Whatever the cause, I tried to end on a good note yesterday, but she wasn’t being very consistent. Well, today when I tried both cues, she got them right away. She didn’t drop her head all the way to the ground, but she did drop it when asked. I didn’t try these cues until after I had been working on lateral flexion, so maybe that helped.
A really good thing that I noticed was that after she started flexing consistently and dropping her head when asked, she got really relaxed. That is a really good thing because if I can get her to respond immediately to those cues, then when I ask her to do that under pressure or when she gets worried, it will help her to remain calm. I think that will be a very important thing for this horse.
The thing that I really didn’t like about our lesson, and something that I think will take a lot of work to “fix” and is really just the manifestation of her lack of trust, was that every time I would move to do something else, or just move in general, she immediately raised her head up, got stiff, and got that hard look in her eye. Even after I’d ask her to drop her head and relax, the next move I made would elicit the raised head response and the hard eye. I hope that this is something that will go away as we continue our work and she learns to trust me.
So, today we worked on relaxing and not responding to random “spooks” and stimuli such as swinging ropes and stick and string. I was pleased with how the session ended. I gave her a few handfuls of grain as a reward at the end, and I think that I would like to do that next time, too. Just a little “thank you” for putting up with me. I’ve decided that I need to once again revamp my outline to work with Catlow. I think that I need to keep her on a line, and keep her with me. I don’t want to drive her away in the round pen without any control over her. I think that the line will keep her looking to me for direction instead of feeling like I’m chasing her. So, the next time I work with her I will do the desensitizing exercises again, and if there is time, I will move onto some lunging on a small circle. The lunging exercises will basically be geared toward getting her attention, listening to cues, and changing directions lots. I plan to stick with doing desensitizing first thing every lesson, then if there is time, we will progress beyond that. I expect that desensitizing will continue to take a long time in the beginning, but as she actually improves, I will have time to move onto other things. Lateral flexion and dropping the head will be part of the desensitizing routine that will turn out to be really important for keeping her calm.
I think that it will work, but it will take time, and I’ll probably have to revise my approach multiple times.
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