Saturday, August 29, 2009

t19

Hi, This was actually on Thursday evening. I really had a good session with the horse. I thought she was going to be kinda cranky at first. But I just took things slow and gentle as possible and she came around. She is moving with feel better everyday. I worked her about 30 minutes from the ground. I was really interested in whether or not she would transition to trot and canter without pitching a little fit. So I made sure I was asking in the right way, body language and positioning and cue. She did good going to trot and back down. I knew the real test would come when I asked for a canter. But again she did it real smooth in both directions. I figured if I couldn't get a smooth transition from the ground it wouldn't be any better from the saddle. So after a good transition I did it a couple of times and then I got on her. She moved right up to a trot no problem. Now I noticed that there are some real deep sandy spots that she doesn't like her footing in so I was aware of this when I asked for a canter. When I asked for a canter it took a bit of compulsion with the crop,I think because of the footing, but with a little persistence on my she finally did it without a fit and kept it up all the way around. Thus, to reward her I bent her to a stop and let her soak for a few minutes. Then we did it in the other direction with the same good result. I flexed her a good bit and then got off. That was her reward. Enter Felice. She worked her from the ground with flexing, shoulders over, disengaging, back up, etc. She did a good job. Just needs to learn the details better. She will. Haycee was moving with her feel pretty good. That is what I want to see because Felice will need to keep this up when she takes her home next week. Anyway it was a good session with her. I didn't get a chance to work her on Friday but will work her today some time.
God bless

Thursday, August 27, 2009

t18

Hey, Had a good day yesterday. It has been raining here so my round pen doesn't have good footing. Not a good place then to have a horse moving fast in a canter or even a fast trot. So I kept her in her own pen. It is higher ground and sandy. It was actually good training for her and me. We didn't have the round pen to keep us in a circle I had to keep her in one on the lunge. She is moving her feet real good from the ground. Her back up, disengaging and shoulders over are becoming real smooth and as fast as I want them. He disengaging is really working good as she is learning to keep her eyes on me. I lunged her a few times working on transitions, but I had to keep bringing her back into the circle. She got a little feisty only because of confusion. She was trying to figure out if the tug on the line was for a stop or change of direction. So we had to work on that a bit. However I spent most of the time on her back walking in circles, disengaging. Then we moved up into a trot, with not much compulsion. I just double kissed to her and she started. We trotted alot, mayb 25- 30 min. Not much disengaging, just enough to make sure she will do it. also the 1 rein stop. Then I started to ask her to lope. She didn't want to and so would show me that by throwing her head, trying to buck a little, It was never an all out rebellious buck. Besides I had one rein to stop her. I got her to lope in both directions, not good, not what I want, but when she gave me 3 good strides I disengaged her and let her stop. Believe me it took a while to get that. One of the things she would do is just stop, so I really had to get after her a couple times to move forward. This is where it would really be nice to have a partner on the ground who knew what they were doing to move her and then I would just go along for the ride. Anyway, when she gave me the three strides I decided to stop and quit her. We had been riding for close to an hour anyway and the session was about an hour and a half long. So it was a good place to stop. Then I walked her leading her around the arena a couple times working on her back up every so often. I am trying to get her to follow my feel, when I move she moves, when I stop she stops and keeps pace with me. I want her to keep slack in the line whatever direction I am going. She did pretty good for as long as I have been working with her. I am beginning to think she might just turn out to be a good horse. However, the panel is still out on this one. I haven't had her on the road or trails yet. She might move better out there, but maybe not too.
Gotta go. So have a great day.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

t17

Things went good with her yesterday. She was relaxed with the dailies and saddling. I figured out that her ear pinning, which has not been all the way back on her neck is most likely confusion. I must be giving her some conflicting cues when I ask for transitions. That is not to say that she doesn't have attitude, she does. I just don't think that it is that much on the surface. I got her to trot quite a bit and worked on one rein stop with her. She has a nice trot. We were running out of time so I stopped and had Felice work some exercises with her from the ground. She is getting better at them and Haycee is picking up on them with her. We work next on Thursday.
I am going to try to work with her today providing the rain quits and the footing is okay.
Til next time Adios!

Monday, August 24, 2009

t16

Howdy,
Felice came and we got started with Haycee. We worked on haltering which she does well at this point. I could tell she would have rather not played tonite, but she still submitted. We worked on the dailies, then saddled her. I showed Felice how to do the pressure and release on the lead using downward pressure to get her head down. Then worked on the backup and disengaging hindquarters. We probably spent about 3o min doing various exercises. Then I lunger Haycee working on transitions. She didn't want to trot or canter and pitched a little fit so I just made her canter more in both directions. After doing that for a few minutes she decided it was easier and less tiring just to do what she was asked. When she was good doing the transitions without a fit I worked on disengaging from the ground using her rein. Then got on and she moved off a little faster at the walk. I worked both directions on disengagement and one rein stop. She is still sluggish but doing a lot better on the disengaging. She was starting to get the hang of it. I suspect she will be even better tomorrow and then will do it at the trot and eventually the canter. I also need to start introducing things to desensitize her with. She already is pretty good with alot of things. But we will see. I flexed alot at the beginning and end of the session, but she sure is bracey.
That's all for now.
Have a good one.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

t15

Had a good day with Haycee. She is no longer trying to get away from me when I show up with the halter, which is a good sign of submission. She also stands rock solid to saddle and brush. I still work on putting my hands between her hind legs. That is still a touchy place initially for her then she settles down and lets me rub her on her belly there. I worked on the dailies with her she is getting better at responding. I just have to make sure I give her a heads up, a preparatory signal that we are about to do something and what we are going to do. I lunged her working on transitions she is getting better at them, though still pins her ears, but I think it is a little confusion on her part, as my body position might not be where it should be. So I need to work on that more. I did what I call the squeeze game, walking beside her with the rein in hand as though I was in the saddle and asking her to move forward from a standstill then disengaging the hindquarters and either continuing to walk off or to back up. She was doing pretty good. Then I got on and flexed her then walked off and disengaging. I did this for 30 min or so. I worked on letting her get up some speed at a walk alot more too. She needs to get moving. So next time I will have her trotting and hopefully loping around and disengaging and one rein stop. Felice is supposed to come next time. So we will see what is going to happen.
asta luego!

Friday, August 21, 2009

t14

hi, thought I'd give a little update on Haycee. Yesterday I went through all my dailies. She did good, though needs more refinement. I don't have to catch her anymore when I go to get her. She just stands there and waits for me to halter her. I worked her on the lunge after saddling her for about 20 min. I really wanted to make sure she had the disengaging of the hindquarters down pat. Then I go on her and worked on disengaging for about 30 min. She is slow to move off and that is part of the problem. I need to get some life in her feet in order to really work on the disengaging and the one rein stop. So next time I will be working mostly on that. All in all thought we had a good session. I am seeing progress everyday with her.
Well gotta go for now.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

t13

I didn't get a chance to write yesterday so today's post includes both days.
Last night the owner came and watched as I worked with Haycee. She has made improvements everyday. I worked on the dailies explaining to them what I was doing. Saddled her and then lunged her both directions working on transitions. She did well. Although she pins her ears when I ask her to speed up. But after multiple transitions she stopped pinning her ears. I wondered if it might be the saddle fit. Anyway, the owners were glad to see the progress she is making. The biggest issue they had with her was getting her to respect their space. Well, she does now. They liked how she stood for saddling and mounting without moving off even a step or two. I mounted her from both sides. Then I flanked her out and she is responding well to the pressure on her flanks slowing down from a trot to walk and then a stop just with the flank rope. She is also getting better at following that feel on her flank to actually lead her with it. Then I laid her down one more time (I won't do this alot more) and she went down like a sack of potatoes. This time she was really relaxed, stopped swishing her tail, crossed her hind legs, took a big sigh of breathe, blinking her eyes. She was totally relaxed. Felice came in and rubbed her down a good bit. Then we got her up and I worked a little more with her and quit. Monday She is going to start coming over so I can teach her the things she needs to know in order to help Haycee be the horse she needs to be.

Today, I wanted to see if she would still pin her ears even without the saddle on while doing transitions on the lunge. She did. So it really wasn't saddle fit. She just doesn't want to do it. She will do the transitions she just lets me know she doesn't like it. I worked on the dailies again. I really want to get her disengaging rock solid. I saddled her and lunged her. I did ground work for about forty minutes. Then I got on her and started asking her to move off. I should say that she accepted the bit, though she didn't want to put it in her mouth. She didn't really seem to be bothered by it though. I flexed her several times and then asked her to move off. She has sticky feet so getting her to move was a chore. Tomorrow I will have my riding bat with me. She will move then. I had a difficult time working on the disengaging, probably because she wouldn't go forward very good. However, she will move her shoulders over in both directions so that isn't so bad. I rode for about 20 minutes then quit her. I flexed her 10x each side and asked her to disengage from the ground using the rein several times from both sides. All in all I think she is making improvements daily. She didn't even run away from me when I went to get her for school.
So far it seems good. Tomorrow is another and hope for more improvement.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Training day 11

Howdy!
Things went good today. Each day I am seeing a little more submission in Haycee. When I go in her stall to feed her now all I have to do is hold up my hand in her face and she backs right out and waits for me to put the feed where it goes. She won't come back in until I let her.
Today I went to catch her for training and she didn't want to be caught, but again each day it takes less time for her to come up to me. I never just put the halter on her. I might just pet her and walk away. Then come back to her. I kind of play a game with her for a few minutes then I put the halter on her and we go get started.
I backed her a few times to get that solidly down so that she moves back as quick as I want her to. Then I lunged her both directions working on transitions again, mainly my body position. She is getting good at it. Then I saddled her and worked some more on flexion both sides, moving the shoulders over and disengaging the hindquarters. I want that moving really good for when I get on her. That is the emergency break. After working on the transitions I put the flank rope on her and moved her off. She is giving alot better to the pressure. She exploded pee out the back one time and then faced me and stopped. The pressure lets off her when she makes the right choice about slowing down or stopping. I even had her following me just by flank pressure. I eventually would like to see her moving her hip toward me when the pressure is on her flank so I could lead her by the flank.
I laid her down. That went quickly.
She tried to get up 1 time but I wouldn't let her. Then when I was ready I let her up. I worked on some shoulder over, disengaging, flexion, backing up. Then mounted her from both sides a couple times. I took the saddle off and did the Jeffries method which is laying on her bareback and rubbing all over her. She seemed really relaxed with all of this, except she swishes her tail alot. I am not sure if that is because she is irritated or just flies. Something tells me it is irritation, but I am not certain.
Tomorrow I hope to ride her around a bit. Her owner is coming in the evening to watch and learn. So pray that all goes well for the horse and me.

Friday, August 14, 2009

change

Well I suppose you are all anxious to know how it went with Haycee today. Actually, I was ready to go. I was excited to see what kind of change, if any, had been made in her thinking. Well, I wasn't given much hope at first. I got all my tools into the pen then went to catch her. She left the stall, since she saw the halter in my hand. I could tell she wasn't overly excited about going to work with me after yesterday's experience. Which I can't blame her. I actually let her catch me 2x without putting the halter on her. Then it was play time. It took probably another 5-10 min. to get her to let me walk up to her with the halter. Then we went to the pen. I worked her a little bit on backing, shoulders and hip. Then I saddled her flank cinch and all. She didn't flinch. That was good. Then I put her to work lungeing her both directions and working on upwards and downwards transitions. I was noticing some changes, she was responding faster and with more energy, yet smooth. Then I played the c-exercise with her. After a few minutes of me asking her to change directions her resistance started to come out. Her ears would pin back, but she didn't crowd me or kick at me. So I just made her move faster and spaced out the direction changes farther apart. Then started to shorten the distance between changes. She was more responsive. Then I worked on disengaging, shoulders over. it was going good. Then I round penned her. She immediately moved off in a trot. But at the weak point in my fence where she tried to exit yesterday she kept wanting to stop. My timing was off a little bit so she could stop there. However, I soon caught on and kept her moving by it. She stayed on the rail better and I worked on her transitions up and down. In both directions.Then I remembered Jaime gave me my homework: put the flank rope on her and just let her wear it without being tightened. So I grabbed my 22' rope alot softer than the lariat, and put that on her with the halter and moved her forward. She started trotting and I kept her moving. THe rope naturally tightened as the slack dragging on the ground offered resistance. She started to pee but didn't go into hyper mode. So I eventually put pressure on the rope to slow her to a walk and stop and then helped her out with the lead. We did that a couple times, for about 10 min. then I laid her down. It took about 5 min. and she was laid out. Now I could tell she was totally giving up, she would kick out with her hind legs when I rubbed them to get her to relax and she kept swishing sand into my face with her tail. But all in all it was good. Then after 20 min I got her up and went through several exercises and then quit. I noticed a distinct change after that. In her stall I fed her grain and hay. Before she wouldnt' move out of it unless I put a lot of pressure on her to move. This time I could have almost used a feather to get her to move out of the stall. I made her wait until I was ready to let her back in. I did this 2x and she moved out quickly with just a slight feel on her. That was probably the most noticeable change in her. Anyway she has the weekend off hopefully it will sink in for her.
Adieu!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

RODEO

Have you got a minute? You might want to get that cup of coffee or some other drink this might take a while.
It all started at 9:30 this morning. Jaime, my horsemanshipX friend arrived as I was round penning Haycee/Halley. He gave me some pointers and we moved on to other things like backing up which I wasn't aggressive enough at or smooth enough. Then once that was covered we addressed shoulders moving over, and yielding the hindquarters. My problem was that I wasn't upping the anty enough making her move faster. She was just moseying along. She was doing the movements, but not with enough flow and speed. She was going in her own sweet time. She still hasn't learned to stay out of my space. So after about oh a half hour or so we had her moving good. Then I started to do the C-exercise where I ask her to cross in front of me then when her tail gets passed me I ask her to yield her hindquarters and turn on them swinging her front end across in front of me and move in the opposite direction. I am basically asking her to do a 180 degree turn around. She did this okay for where we are at in her training. Next I saddled her and sent her off loose in the round pen and worked on her transitions up and down, you know walk to trot to canter and back down to a walk. She was doing this pretty good although she as I stated in an earlier post didn't like going clockwise. Mostly the problem was my being in the correct position not too far behind the drive line and not too far ahead which would slow her down or turn around completely. I got the hang of that pretty good. But are you ready? The rodeo was about to begin. It was not pretty or for the faint of heart, which I almost did a couple times. My britches were probably a little wet but with the sweat and dirt who would know. Jaime told me later he had never had a horse this rank. Which gives me a lot of confidence. I am really raring to get back in their with her. Now remember this horse has been ridden on trails in a parade, at the fair, etc. You would think she would be a safe horse. She was calm happy to be near us. But inside we found an explosion which I found last Friday when I tried what I am about to tell you about. You've read about that nice guy who would never hurt a fly, in the news who went on a killing spree? Everyone who knew him said they always thought he was a nice guy. That is really this horse. She showed her true colors when Jaime began to flank her out. (That was the reason I asked him to come and show me how to do this correctly 'cause last Friday's take on was not what I thought should have happened.) Well anyway all was well at first, He put the rope where the flank cinch would go on the saddle she handled that okay almost as if she had done it before, not big deal. Even when he moved the rope back to her belly he went nice and slow and easy and light moving her forward around the pen. But then He upped the anty adding pressure trying to show her the release was to slow down and stop and face him. Again all was going well, but he upped the anty more and she blew. The resistance exploded out of her literally, urine exploded out of her like vomit while she grunted and and bucked. Fortunately I wasn't in the pen with them I was safely outside observing. So he kept after her and seemingly she would calm down and he would up it again. I'm thinkin', I don't know if I would go there. Well, he did and she blew up again. After, I don't know how long she tried to bust down my fence even with me standing their waving a flaggin stick (golf club with the head and with a plactic bag attached) trying to keep her off the fence. He lowered the intensity so as to bring the horse back into the middle and got me in there with the rope on her flank in my hand. My job was to keep the pressure on and release it at the right moment his job as to keep her off of both of us, because she would come in and try to run us over pushing us around. Needless to say she blew up a couple more times almost getting us tangled up. The ole plaque was moving in my arteries and what seemed like mach speed. Finally, we stopped on an easier note, not what we were exactly wanting. We were looking for a change in attitude, a slight give or surrender, but we didn't get it to our liking and because my round pen is not up to this kind of cowboyin' stuff we decided to lay her down. Forcing her in as gentle a way as possible to lay down and give up. Now think about it, a horse is a prey animal, corner them and they will fight to the death or surrender. With the flanking out, because I saw from day one and he saw today she has the latent dominance over people that she has learned we need to get that out of her and help her make a mental change that says I give when any kind of pressure is placed on her. This might never show up in a horse except when you are riding along and she doesn't want to go anymore or do what you ask and she blows up on you. It has happened twice to her owner. So we have to do something. Back to laying her down. A prey animal will finally lay down and give up to what she thinks is death at a certain point. So we both got in there again (I don't call myself 'El stupido' for nothin') after a good long break to gather our courage and slake our thirst out of my dirty water hose. So Jaime had the rope dallied around the saddle horn and her front left foot tied up on the other end. He also had the lead rope so that he could get her head to counter bend opposite of us and my job was to hold another rope tied to her halter to keep her head from going past a certain point where she would swing her hindquarters into us and then get away from us. I also had to stop any idea of hers from turning towards us and swinging her hips away. So Jaime held her foot up and asked her to back up while I held her straight. Believe it or not at this time we had been working with her for a couple of hours but she still had resistance and fight that showed up. Sometimes when she moved back, especially at first we would give leg back. But then take it up and repeat the process. You see the thing is she would give to a certain point then decide she wanted nothing to do with and blow up when you put a little more pressure on her. That is what we have noticed. This could have disastrous results with someone riding her and this resistance comes out. So we persisted and kept asking for more than just a step back now it went to actually putting her knee to the ground and then release and repeatedly doing this. Til finally, she went all the way down with just her butt in the air, resting and trying to catch her breath. After a few more tries she went all the way down. Jaime gently asked her to lay her head all the way down fully laying out on her side. She had given up and relaxed. Then we just let her lay there for what seemed like a half an hour, while we rubbed on her all over. Then we thought it was time to quit. So we got her up and did a few ground maneuvers to reinforce staying out of our space and to do it now when we ask for and stopped. Total time for the session, 4 hours. I didn't plan on that. But this could be a dangerous horse. Some think it cruel to lay her down, which actually was gently done, or the flanking out some might think was cruel, but she needs to learn not to resist pressure and to stop thinking she can be the dominant one over humans. She needs to learn to submit. Hopefully, tomorrow when I get in their with her she won't take as much to get her to give. I will probably let her wear the flank rope without pressure while I move her around the round pen. Then lay her down again.
This horse to the owners and maybe to others probably appears to be a gentle horse. She wasn't spooky or anything. In fact, she was calm as a glassy sea until we asked her to do something she didn't like. We had to do this sort of thing for the safety of ourselves and future riders. And it has to be done until she will stop and stand when the pressure is put on her flank. It is her thinking that has to be changed. To put a little spiritual spin on it that is what has to happen to any human being in order to come to Christ. What this horse needs is to truly repent and go in the other direction mentally. Hopefully, I will be able to get her there. It is scarey, no doubt. I have been a little bit tongue in cheek about this episode. But I will tell you what. Both of us were genuinely afraid, but we had to hang in there with her. I want to see her a better safer horse. I'm sure her owner does too. But, this is not even a riding issue, it is a mental issue. She has learned not to fear man and to push to get her way. If that means bucking and pushing in to her handler to get them to back off that is what she will do. And this is what I have to deal with now. To be honest, my eyes are wide open with an I've just seen a ghost kind of look and I am not looking forward to getting into that pen tomorrow. But I will take one day at a time and deal with the issues as they come. Pray for me and this horse, for wisdom in knowing how much and how hard to push her and for safety for both of us. I believe God knows this animal, and if Jesus was here He could ride her no problem, just as He did that colt when He rode into Jerusalem that last time. I hope my angel is a real bonafide cowboy. :}Hopefully, the fight will have gone out of her and she will be submissive even when pushed. But I won't take her for granted. I will try to be ready. That is all I can do. I don't even know how far I will actually get her by the time the owner takes her home. But I personally think she needs another horse. But really, as I said earlier, you wouldn't know that just by looking at her or even handling her some. She seems real calm. Her resistance only comes out when you up the anty. I guarantee that at some point whether she likes it or not the anty will be upped and she will blow up unless this can be nipped in the bud.
Til next time, God bless.

Horse 2

Today I had to work halley before she would let me halter her to move her to the round pen. However it was accomplished and we got started. She is doing pretty good on backing, flexing, yielding the hindquarters and moving her shoulder over. However, she still tries to push on me when I lunge her or begin to lead her. I saddled her from the right side, which I have been told she doesn't like. After some initial movement on her part she stood and let me put on her and tighten the cinch. Then I moved her around on the lead rope working on changing directions and stopping with her eyes on me. She did well. I took the halter off and moved her around working on turns and transitions from walk to trot to canter. She is learning and beginning to repect my space a lot better. I also worked on moving her sideways on the rail, the beginnings of sidepassing. I used the rope on her trying to get her to just be with me and let me put the rope all over her. She wouldn't stand still so I moved her off. Then she wouldn't stay next to me to put the halter on and take the saddle off so I moved her more. Finally, she would come next to me and stand while I got her ready to quit. It was a good session.
In the next session I hope to flank her out with a friend of mine helping me.

Horse 2

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

horse

Well I was out there with Halley (the horse) today. Had planned for 1 hour. Even had it scheduled out when I would work what part. Started with flexion both sides, then disengaging the hindquarters and moving the shoulders over worked on some backing of her. All the while what I am after is getting her to move with just my body language and feel of the lead, just ounces of pressure. Then worked her on the lunge line for 15 min. working on tranisitions from walk to trot to canter and back down with just body language. She didn't want to work going to the right so worked that the most. When I stopped with this exercise I had her going pretty good and stopping and giving me both eyes. Then I took the halter off and moved her just in the round pen. She was already turning to the inside or outside whenever I asked so I worked mostly on transitions again. When she was moving to trot and canter and back down pretty good I decided to introduce the rope again. I tried to put tail of it just around the girth and get her to give to pressure but she moved off and I couldn't hold it. So I asked to stop and come to me. She did, but when I tried to brush her with the rope I she wanted no part of that. I guess if someone had a rope around my middle and pulled tight on it while asking me to go, not liking be tied down at all anyway I think I would pitch a bit of fit if they tried to do that again. So I can understand. That's why I have to work with her on it some more. I made her move and kept asking her (for another 20 min. or so) to stop and come to me. She would until I introduced the rope again. I finally was able to rub it all over her on both sides with her just standing there. So I chose to quit on a good note. A 1 hour session turned in to an extra 1/2 hour. That happens sometimes. But it was a good note. I think we turned a corner .
til next time. Adios!

Dailies

Hi there.
I have got a few minutes before I have to leave for the jail and thought I would update you on the horse I am training. She is a 7 yr old Qtr horse. She has been ridden in a parade on trails and in the Sherrif's posse. But she has some bad manners and the owner wanted me to work with her some. I thought she would be an easy one to work with and would be on her back in short order. However, I was wrong. When I got her I discovered that she is pushy. She had no respect for my space. So I had to really work with her over the course of 5 days last week on teaching her to respect my space. She was not, in my estimation, even halter broke. Which to me is more than putting a halter on her and leading her around. I wanted her to be move her feet wherever I wanted with a slight 'feel' on the lead and pay attention to my body language. So after working for 6 days, roughly 8 hours I have her backing and moving her shoulders and hips over also lungeing to the right and left fairly well. She still has a ways to go to be really soft. Friday I decided to flank her out, which means putting a rope around her girth area and moving it back to her ribs/barrel and finally to her belly and making her move off and give to the pressure of it with the least amount of resistance. However, I have since realized that I did it with too much pressure and too long. Now I have to go back and do it right. It might take a while to do get her where I want her. The reason I need to do this is to try to help see that bucking is not the answer, but yielding to the pressure, any pressure is the right answer. You see, the owner has been bucked off 2x when trying to get on. When I was rubbing her with my hands I found a spot she didn't like touched under her girth area. So I have had to rub on that area alot until she is relaxed or allowing me to put pressure there without her getting excited.
Today my plan,after I get back from the Jail is to work on her softness with backing, moving hips and shoulders over and flexing her neck. Then to lunge her on a lead line both directions, she doesn't like going to the right/clockwise so I will work on that a bunch, and doing transitions from walk to trot to canter and back down. Then I will do this without a line in my round pen. Finally, will flank her out again, this time alot softer and hopefully with a lot better response. So pray for her and me. My desire is that all of this will be done with good communication from me to her and that I will pay close attention to what she is telling me with her body language. My goal is to be saddled and riding her by the end of this week with no issues.
Anyway I intend to give a daily report over course of this training.
The bottom line is that she needs to be willing to come under my authority and yield to me if she is going to be any good as a riding horse. The Bible talks about the same thing with people. If we are not obedient to the Lord we are really no good to anyone. As the Lord Himself submitted to his parents, see Luke's gospel chapter 2, and to the will of The Heavenly Father (repeatedly He stated, "I am come to do the will of My Father in Heaven."), even submitting to the soldiers and authorities who put Him on the cross ("He was obedient unto death even the death on the cross" Philippians 2:8) so we should make ourselves submissive to His will for us. The more sensitive we are to the pressure God puts on us in life the softer He can be with us. As it is also with horses. Softer is better. We call that 'feel'. I want to work with feel both with horses and with God. How about you?
So Long

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Pushy horses

Howdy!

I thought I would let you know what is up around here. We have had Sharon's family here for a few days. They left on Thursday. We had a great time with them. Sharon played several hours of pinochle with them. I think she got her fill for a while.
I had a new horse delivered for me to work with last Monday. She is a 7 yr old Quarter horse that I have found out is very pushy. I have had to work everyday on getting to stay out of my space. You know there are people like that. They are the bullies, those who think that you are there to serve them. They show up at work, at home, at the store. They live among our acquaintances and friends. So I have had to make her know the boundaries and to be consistent with her at enforcing them. With people you know you might have to draw a line regarding your time or conversation. But draw the line and stick to it no matter how they whine about it. This horse has to learn to be under authority and until she does she will not be a safe horse. I was told that she has bucked her owner off 2x last fall, but not lately. I have to wonder if she has just not been put in a situation where she thought the answer was to buck. So Yesterday I made her buck by something we call flanking out. It is when you put a rope around their girth and after asking them to move off to the right or left you tighten the rope around their girth or flank to make the buck and hopefully stay with them until they stop or slow down without bucking and possibly give you two eyes. Unfornately, I did this three times and she still didn't really give me a calmness I am looking for. In fact, in taking the risk she doesn't really like me anymore. So I have to work with her more and win her back and then try again. I can't safely get on her back even though she has been ridden until we work through this. So I will start again on Monday. In the meantime everything about my mannerisms around her will be soft and gentle. The problem is that she is okay with having things her way, but when I or another rider adds pressure will she blow up? Who knows? The thing that has to happen is that she needs to willingly yield to pressure no matter what. That is just going to take time. I've got just over three more weeks with her and I am not sure I will get it all accomplished. If this horse is going to be a good horse these things have to be worked through. It is kinda like raising kids. No one wants to raise a tyrant or worse yet a passive aggressive person who will blow up when least expected. Allow that with a horse and the consequences can be injurious, to say the least. I will keep you posted on the progress.
In the meantime take things slow and easy and you will have a more harmonious outcome.
See Ya!