"Post from the Past"
April 11th 2008
Today is Friday and I made it out here by 6:30 so it was still light enough to ride. I took Cody out for a trail ride. I put the easy boots on her for our trail ride. Originally I planned to ride down the road, but I wanted to see the creek, so we went down the trail into the canyon. That trail is pretty rocky in some places and the boots did a great job. She didn’t gimp over any of the rocks. I was also impressed with how well they stayed on. They didn’t move an inch, and we went through some really rough stuff…boot-sucking mud, some down trees with lots of branches down, and snow, and up a really steep hillside complete with mud and branches. They were a good purchase. Especially since I can take them off when I am not riding her. Todd's mom had shoes put on two of her horses and it’s so muddy outside right now that she has to keep them in barn so that they don't pull their shoes off in the mud.
On her ride, Cody was a bit barn sour, as usual, but once down the trail, she was better. She was really good about standing patiently beside me while I broke branches down so that we could go under and then over some downed trees. I was very pleased with that. We saw lots of moose poo and moose tracks, but no moose. The creek was very full and the crossing was all blown out. We just looked at it, and then turned around.
After I got back, I grained Chico and put scarlet oil on his cut, then I grained Catlow, saddled her up, and worked with her in the round pen. I pulled the tarp out, and the PVC pipe…I just laid it on the ground in the middle of the round pen. One of the horses reached through the panels and pulled out my stick with the plastic bag on it…they essentially ate the plastic bag off. So, I had her trot and canter around me off the line, then I put her back on the line to do more fine-tuned work. When working free, she is much more in an escaping me mindset, so I prefer to work with her on a line and she reacts better. On the line, we crossed the tarp and the PVC pipe. Then I worked for quite a while teaching her to side-pass over the pipe. At first she didn’t understand at all, and I think she also didn’t want to step over the pipe because it was flustering her brain. She kept trying to back up, then side pass behind it. Whenever she got it wrong (backing up and sidepassing), I kept asking her to move until I did at least get a sidepass out of her, then immediately walked her in a circle and tried again. When she got it close, I let her stop and made a big fuss over her. It didn’t take her very long to get it, and when she did, she started anticipating what I wanted her to do. She knew I was going to ask her to stop while standing over the pipe, then move…usually she wanted to move back first, but she really got it after she tried everything else first. Then I climbed in the saddle, and did some walking around the pen. We practiced steering…she’s getting really good…and walking over the tarp. Then I tried to ask her to sidepass over the PVC pipe and she was awesome! Since she’d already gotten it from the ground, she made the connection under saddle immediately and did it very well. I made a huge fuss over her and gave her treats for that one. I don’t think I could get Cody or Chico to side-pass like that. Each horse that I train gets better and better. I need to go back and retrain the other two now as well. I really can’t wait to take Catlow to Katie’s clinic. It’s going to be so good for her. I can already see that she is trusting me more and more. I do wish that she wouldn’t get high-headed and defensive when I ask her to do things undersaddle. She really only gets that way when she doesn’t understand what I’m asking, or when she thinks I’m being too rough (like when I ask her to trot, because she needs a bit of urging to do it). Perhaps tomorrow evening I’ll ride her out on the trail again.
Showing posts with label sidepassing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sidepassing. Show all posts
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
February 24th 2008
"Post from the Past"
February 24th 2008
Today when I went out to the field, Chico was the first to greet me, so I took him out. We went straight out the driveway for a walk. He was weaving all over the road for a while. He also wanted to pass me, or stop and eat grass, or chase the dogs…in general, he was real full of himself and wasn’t used to being respectful or paying attention to me. He wasn’t that bad, but more cantankerous than usual, also a little bit unsure in some places. The dogs found their deer bone again. Dogs laying down chewing on bones really unnerves horses for some reason (both Chico and Cody today!). I found a hub cap on the side of the road, and I used it to kick around and desensitize him with. He of course freaked at first, but got really curious about it after.
Almost halfway to the turnaround spot on our walk, I had to stop and lunge him for a while, as he was getting really antsy. He started to pay more attention to me after that. Then we continued walking and I worked on getting him to stop and back when I stop and back. At first, when I stopped, he just kept walking, so I pulled really hard to spin him around. We did that several times, then he started to catch on and pay more attention. Once he was paying attention, then it was easy to get him to back as I backed.
We turned around at the red barn on Dry Creek Road. On the way back, I asked him to trot, then whoa and back. Same thing over again, he wanted to just keep trotting when I stopped, so I had to pull him around really hard, then make him back up. He caught on after a couple of stops. Once, I asked him to back and he did nothing, so I gave him a horse kick in the chest…then he dropped his head and back when I asked him. He was just testing me a little bit, and he’s used to being one of the top horses in the pasture, so he’s not used to obeying someone else’s every whim. About half way back, he dropped back into his old self, where he was paying attention to me really well…not until then would I have ridden him. I think I’ll bring my saddle next weekend and ride him on Sunday.
After Chico, I caught Cody and took her in the round pen. She was quite a bit better today with manners than she was last week. Only once did she try to go over to the hay pile while I was closing the gate, and I made her back away from it. Then she was very mannerly. We went into the round pen and I right away got the plastic bag on the stick. She’s not afraid of it at all, but I made sure and desensitized her first, then I lunged her using the bag to create a bit more energy. It is still working great, and today, she showed no signs of insolence like last time (the bucking). She did everything I asked and paid close attention to me.
I bridled her at the jeep with my new bridle, and used Todd’s truck to climb up on her bareback. Off we went down the driveway at a good walking clip. Today, she didn’t seem nearly as ouchy on gravel, but we also stayed on roads that were softer (last time the road was still frozen in spots). We went down to the end of the loop where it meets up with Little Bear Ridge Road, then back. I think it was probably over 3 miles, but under 4. We did some trotting and cantering (I love cantering on a bareback horse up a gentle incline…it’s the neatest feeling in the world!). I really tried to work on getting her to side-pass. As we were walking down the left side of the road, I’d put my left leg back and push and at the same time, pull the left rein to my hip to swing her hindquarters out. We had to do that a few times, just so that she would get it. Then when she was swinging out perpendicular to the edge of the road, facing the ditch, I’d also apply right rein pressure and move my leg more toward the left middle, to push her over. She really wasn’t getting it very well, and I suppose it didn’t help that home was over the bank, so she’d sometimes step into the snowbank. The other direction, she wanted to just back up when I applied the second rein pressure. After a while, I started to think that maybe I was keeping her head tilted too far to the left (she was supposed to side-pass right). Then I tried stopping her in the road, then asking her to step side-ways with my leg, while blocking her forward movement with the reins….and she side-passed! Only one step or two, but we’ll practice that. I’d like to eventually be able to ask her to side-pass over a log. Cody is so smart that sometimes I think she’s playing dumb just because she doesn’t want to listen to me when I ask her to do something.
After we returned, Catlow was standing at the gate, so I took her out too. I didn’t really feel like taking her for a walk, and to be honest, I kind of have been avoiding her because I felt like all the work that I’d done so far had done nothing for her. So I took her in the round pen and decided to do a lesson with the plastic bag. I turned her loose, and then just started walking around waving the bag violently. She of course took off, running around the pen. I ignored her and when ever I inadvertently cut her off, she’d quick change direction and run the other way, but very quickly after only a few circles, she stopped and faced me. I stopped waving the bag when she did that to give her a reward and a break, then continued waving the bag. She ran another circle, then stopped and faced me again, so this time I walked up to her, let her sniff the bag, then set it on her withers and rubbed her with it. She stood there really well, so I slapped it up and down her body, and she stood there!!! Without a lead rope! Then we switched sides and did the same thing and she stood again. I was a bit floored because my impression of her after taking her for a walk had gone way way back to before I started working with her. It was nice to see that working with her in the round pen really had stuck with her.
Then I decided to push her and I ran around with the violently flapping bag. This of course set her off and she took off round the pen, but she faced up again! After I was positive that she was not afraid of the bag, I decided to use it as an aid to get forward movement when I lunged her free (no lead rope…I guess you could call this roundpenning). I hadn’t done this with her in a long time, so I was unsure what to expect. But she moved off really well, and the bag definitely created more forward movement. But she wasn’t panicked, I could get a slow trot out of her, and a canter. I only worked with her very briefly with several changes of direction. I tried to make my body language very consistent (point to go faster, and only shake the bag when she ignored me). And when I asked her to stop, I said whoa and walked up to her with the plastic bag and gave her a treat. This was also way different from when I first started working her in the round pen. She used to want to take off again when I approached her, as though the whole round pen experience was beyond her comprehension…she didn’t know why I was chasing her or what I expected of her. And I haven’t been lunging or round penning her since then. She is so much better now! This is all a sign that she definitely trusts me more than she used to, even though it didn’t seem like it after our walk.
I’m really glad that I worked her today because it has given me more hope. I will continue to work with her with the goal of riding her out of the round pen. It might have to be with Cody, but that doesn’t matter right now. I think that this week, I’ll saddle her up and do some more exercises, then I’ll start riding her around the round pen. Then by this weekend, I’ll be ready to take her for a walk saddled. And maybe I can convince Doni to come out, and we can take Catlow for a walk with another horse, too.
February 24th 2008
Today when I went out to the field, Chico was the first to greet me, so I took him out. We went straight out the driveway for a walk. He was weaving all over the road for a while. He also wanted to pass me, or stop and eat grass, or chase the dogs…in general, he was real full of himself and wasn’t used to being respectful or paying attention to me. He wasn’t that bad, but more cantankerous than usual, also a little bit unsure in some places. The dogs found their deer bone again. Dogs laying down chewing on bones really unnerves horses for some reason (both Chico and Cody today!). I found a hub cap on the side of the road, and I used it to kick around and desensitize him with. He of course freaked at first, but got really curious about it after.
Almost halfway to the turnaround spot on our walk, I had to stop and lunge him for a while, as he was getting really antsy. He started to pay more attention to me after that. Then we continued walking and I worked on getting him to stop and back when I stop and back. At first, when I stopped, he just kept walking, so I pulled really hard to spin him around. We did that several times, then he started to catch on and pay more attention. Once he was paying attention, then it was easy to get him to back as I backed.
We turned around at the red barn on Dry Creek Road. On the way back, I asked him to trot, then whoa and back. Same thing over again, he wanted to just keep trotting when I stopped, so I had to pull him around really hard, then make him back up. He caught on after a couple of stops. Once, I asked him to back and he did nothing, so I gave him a horse kick in the chest…then he dropped his head and back when I asked him. He was just testing me a little bit, and he’s used to being one of the top horses in the pasture, so he’s not used to obeying someone else’s every whim. About half way back, he dropped back into his old self, where he was paying attention to me really well…not until then would I have ridden him. I think I’ll bring my saddle next weekend and ride him on Sunday.
After Chico, I caught Cody and took her in the round pen. She was quite a bit better today with manners than she was last week. Only once did she try to go over to the hay pile while I was closing the gate, and I made her back away from it. Then she was very mannerly. We went into the round pen and I right away got the plastic bag on the stick. She’s not afraid of it at all, but I made sure and desensitized her first, then I lunged her using the bag to create a bit more energy. It is still working great, and today, she showed no signs of insolence like last time (the bucking). She did everything I asked and paid close attention to me.
I bridled her at the jeep with my new bridle, and used Todd’s truck to climb up on her bareback. Off we went down the driveway at a good walking clip. Today, she didn’t seem nearly as ouchy on gravel, but we also stayed on roads that were softer (last time the road was still frozen in spots). We went down to the end of the loop where it meets up with Little Bear Ridge Road, then back. I think it was probably over 3 miles, but under 4. We did some trotting and cantering (I love cantering on a bareback horse up a gentle incline…it’s the neatest feeling in the world!). I really tried to work on getting her to side-pass. As we were walking down the left side of the road, I’d put my left leg back and push and at the same time, pull the left rein to my hip to swing her hindquarters out. We had to do that a few times, just so that she would get it. Then when she was swinging out perpendicular to the edge of the road, facing the ditch, I’d also apply right rein pressure and move my leg more toward the left middle, to push her over. She really wasn’t getting it very well, and I suppose it didn’t help that home was over the bank, so she’d sometimes step into the snowbank. The other direction, she wanted to just back up when I applied the second rein pressure. After a while, I started to think that maybe I was keeping her head tilted too far to the left (she was supposed to side-pass right). Then I tried stopping her in the road, then asking her to step side-ways with my leg, while blocking her forward movement with the reins….and she side-passed! Only one step or two, but we’ll practice that. I’d like to eventually be able to ask her to side-pass over a log. Cody is so smart that sometimes I think she’s playing dumb just because she doesn’t want to listen to me when I ask her to do something.
After we returned, Catlow was standing at the gate, so I took her out too. I didn’t really feel like taking her for a walk, and to be honest, I kind of have been avoiding her because I felt like all the work that I’d done so far had done nothing for her. So I took her in the round pen and decided to do a lesson with the plastic bag. I turned her loose, and then just started walking around waving the bag violently. She of course took off, running around the pen. I ignored her and when ever I inadvertently cut her off, she’d quick change direction and run the other way, but very quickly after only a few circles, she stopped and faced me. I stopped waving the bag when she did that to give her a reward and a break, then continued waving the bag. She ran another circle, then stopped and faced me again, so this time I walked up to her, let her sniff the bag, then set it on her withers and rubbed her with it. She stood there really well, so I slapped it up and down her body, and she stood there!!! Without a lead rope! Then we switched sides and did the same thing and she stood again. I was a bit floored because my impression of her after taking her for a walk had gone way way back to before I started working with her. It was nice to see that working with her in the round pen really had stuck with her.
Then I decided to push her and I ran around with the violently flapping bag. This of course set her off and she took off round the pen, but she faced up again! After I was positive that she was not afraid of the bag, I decided to use it as an aid to get forward movement when I lunged her free (no lead rope…I guess you could call this roundpenning). I hadn’t done this with her in a long time, so I was unsure what to expect. But she moved off really well, and the bag definitely created more forward movement. But she wasn’t panicked, I could get a slow trot out of her, and a canter. I only worked with her very briefly with several changes of direction. I tried to make my body language very consistent (point to go faster, and only shake the bag when she ignored me). And when I asked her to stop, I said whoa and walked up to her with the plastic bag and gave her a treat. This was also way different from when I first started working her in the round pen. She used to want to take off again when I approached her, as though the whole round pen experience was beyond her comprehension…she didn’t know why I was chasing her or what I expected of her. And I haven’t been lunging or round penning her since then. She is so much better now! This is all a sign that she definitely trusts me more than she used to, even though it didn’t seem like it after our walk.
I’m really glad that I worked her today because it has given me more hope. I will continue to work with her with the goal of riding her out of the round pen. It might have to be with Cody, but that doesn’t matter right now. I think that this week, I’ll saddle her up and do some more exercises, then I’ll start riding her around the round pen. Then by this weekend, I’ll be ready to take her for a walk saddled. And maybe I can convince Doni to come out, and we can take Catlow for a walk with another horse, too.
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.
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.
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