Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Honey Bun -Day21-24

I have done something a little different since the last post about her training. Instead of focusing on her I have been teaching her owner, Diane, to work with her horse. So rather than me working Honey, it has been Diane with my help. So Thursday we started with going through the GW with her. I think we covered YH, backing, YF, lunging 1. Friday we reviewed the above and added flexion, sending, circling. I even had her riding in the rd pen working on one rein stops. Saturday, we did a similar thing. Her issue is really being more assertive with Honey. She is much to timid with her and that has created her problem. Monday, we went through all of the GW and Diane has much improved on being more of a wild woman with Honey, but still is not there. When she got in the saddle she flexed her and while sitting there, Honey squealed and humped her back, much as she would when two horses are nose to nose on opposite sides of the fence. Well, that scared her so she got down and I got on and made Honey work real hard. She tried to bite my boot while flexing and ran into it. She didn't try again. I have not accomplished all that I would have liked with Honey, but found it better to spend the time teaching Diane. Anyway, Honey is going home today and I don't know what Diane is going to do with her.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Honey Bun day 20- Wednesday 9/9/15

 Today I started out with her on the groundwork. I did flexion on both sides and she did well. I also Did yield the hindquarters. She is really good at this exercise. I also did some yield the forequarters. She is getting better, but still needs work. We went through all of the backing exercises. I think she needs to add some energy. She also has a problem staying straight. It could be that I am asking her to back too fast. I did the circling and sending all around the barn yard. I sacked her out again to the flag and bags. Then I saddled her. No bucking today. After flexing and some touch and rub I got on her. Flexed some more. She is real heavy going from one side to the other. I also did some YH and one rein stops. Then we trotted doing diagonals from point to point. She made some improvement from yesterday. Then I trotted her around the track for about a mile, stopping at the corners to do some bending transitions. Then we cantered about two miles or more. Just trying to get her relaxed. She was getting into a nice rhythm. Then some more bending transitions and one rein stops. Then it was gime to quit.

Honey Bun day 19-Tuesday 9/8/15

Today we worked in the rain. I started out with yielding hindquarters, she did really well. She is at level two in yielding hindquarters. Then I did lunging for respect one and two and she did real good with those. Then I did some backing with the tapping the air and wiggle and whack. Her backing with marching was good and with hand in the lead rope was good. I did some sanding and circling exercises around the boat and the trailer she did fine with those. Then I got the flag out and the black plastic bag and the noise bag. Those went well.

Then I settled her up and when I started to move her out in lunging she really started the buck. I don't know what it was that caused her to buck. It might've been the back cinch bothering her. But I kept changing her direction and she quit bucking. I tightened the cinch and then walked her into the arena and got on. We trotted around did some disengaging and then a little cantering with disengaging. Then we rode into the pasture and I started driving around and doing some yielding of the hindquarters. We also did the cruising lesson and the diagonal lesson just trying to get her to follow your nose and stay between my legs or rather my Reins. Then I did this at the canter in both directions she did really good considering it was raining pretty good. I open the gate and we rode around the barn doing a lot of yelling the hindquarters direction changes just keeping your mind on me we went around the track at a walk-in and then at each corner did bending exercise. then we did it at a trot. We cantered around the barn a couple times I did some bending exercises with her. We also did bending at the walking and bending transitions I worked on flexion at a standstill. And draw to a stop she did really well. there were a few hiccups, but that is to be expected. I did some flexing with her and then we quit.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Honey Bun Day 18-Monday 9/7/15

I did GW with her around the barn to see how she would be. We had to start out with Lungeing and after a few direction changes and some sending exercises she began to pay better attention to me. I did backing and circling. She did fine at all of the exercises. At first she wanted to eat grass, but that changed straight away. I also did some serious desensitizing. She needs it. She can be sort of jumpy. So I got the flag out and the plastic bag and my noise bag and did as much as I could to make her move. She moved a little but was pretty quiet. Something moved in the woods and she spooked forward a step then stopped. That's a good sign.
Then I saddled her and we went to the arena. After bridle bending her I went to get on and she wouldn't stand still so I just made her do bridle bending with more energy and disengaged the HQ and back up a few times from each side. Then she stood nice while I got on. I wanted to work on one rein stops a bunch as well as diagonals at the walk and trot. Since she had a hard time standing still while I flexed her I decided to go on and walk forward. She offered a trot and 10 minutes later we stopped. She started to get the hang of the diagonal exercise. The purpose there is to help her follow her nose wherever the rein directs her. She is supposed to stay on whatever track and gait I put her. She was beginning to get it at the trot. I let her rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I flexed her and worked on YH from a standstill. Then we did the diagonals in a canter. It was hot and the footing is kinda deep, as well as the arena not being real big. It was kinda hard to do it. But We made some good progress. She cantered more than she has with me. The corners on the diagonal come up fast at a canter so it seems like 8-10 strides and she has to turn. It might be less than that. But we stuck with it. I gave her a good rest with her nose in a corner. Then I got off and did some touch and rub exercises. Which is flexing the her with the rein and using my thumb on her flank where the spur/heel would touch and ask her to move her hip over. She was real good at this since I have been doing it somewhat already. Then I got in the saddle and did YH from a standstill and then worked on YH and stop from a walk, trot. What this is asking her to move forward several steps then picking up a rein, bending her head and using your heel to push her Hq over and stopping. She did this pretty good. When I tried it from a stop she took a lot of persuasion to get her to go into a trot. It was hot and she was sweaty as was I. But I pushed her through it so we could practice this a few times. I wanted her to get real soft. She is getting better. I need to take her out of the arena next time and that might get her moving a little better.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Honey Bun day 17-Saturday 9/5/15

Today I didn't bother trying to saddle first. Instead, I went right into the GW to see where she was at on all of them. The ones she really needs more work are the Flexion-She now has taken to want to YH instead of stand for the flexing. So we had to work through that. Her YH is very good. Her back ups in all styles are real good. She could put some more energy into them, but she knows what is being asked. her LR 1,2 are excellent as is her Circling and sending. She went over the platform without hesitation. She stands real quiet with the desensitizing.
In the riding part of it, I did the flexing and again she didn't want to just stand and flex. She kept YH which on the one hand is good, but not when I am not asking for that. So I had to work through that with her. Then I did the cruising for 10 minutes at the trot. She didn't try to slow down much and only moved into a canter once. I gave her a rest then went into one rein stops. She has been very heavy on this. So I wanted to work towards getting her real soft. I think she made some good improvement and didn't want to keep walking after she stopped her feet and was soft. We went through this several times and then moved up to a canter. My goal here was to have canter 5 laps of the arena in each direction without slowing. She did fine in the right lead, but her left lead she didn't want to keep going. So I had to use my Mecate a few times and then she didn't try to slow down. So she was just getting lazy there. She doesn't like to go into the left lead. Then  let her rest and went to yielding Hindquarters at a standstill. She is catching on to this. After that we went through some bending exercises at the walk to help her cool down and did some flexing at a standstill too. Then I put her up .

Honey Bun day 16-Friday 9/4/15

I had her owner over to show her where she was at in her training. I had a bit of a dust up with Honey when I tried to saddle her and she didn't want to stand. The saddle fell off when she kept trying to back up. I should have quit the saddling and did some GW and then went back to saddling. However, I did not do that. So when the saddle fell off I left it lie and backed her up about fifty feet and did a bunch of changing of directions while lunging. Then went back to saddle her and she stood fine. Then I went through all the GW exercises for her owner. She did pretty good. I wouldn't say that she passed with flying colors but she did fine. Then I rode her for the last half of the session. I went through cruising, follow the fence, a bit of diagonal. I mainly wanted to work on her YH because she has been real heavy. So I worked her several times until I started to feel some softness coming through then went on to walk, trot and canter her. she did real good most of the time. I think her owner is quite pleased with how things are progressing.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Honey Bun day 15- Thursday 9/3/15


I started her with LR 1&2 because she was wanting to move out. I then got her set up for ground driving again. I had her go around the arena 1x in each direction then down the center. I set up some cones to use as markers to  go around and weave in and out of. She is so quiet and good at this. She needs some steering, but her yielding to the bit is pretty darn good. I did this about 20 minutes or so. Then I saddled her and did some bridle bending with backup. I got on and flexed her. She needs more work here because while she flexes nice, she has a tendency to stay there and not want to soften to the other side. So today I really started getting after her with that. Then we moved out. I always try to start with a yielding of the shoulder in the direction I want to go and she is starting to get it. She wanted to move up to a trot right away so I accommodated her and for the next 10 minutes we did the cruising exercise in both directions. Then I gave her a good 5 minutes to catch her breath and cool down a bit. I flexed in there a few times too. Then we started to do the one rein stop. She is very dull on this. She moves her Hindquarters over easy, but is very stiff on the flexion part of it. So I worked on this ten times each side. I need to keep working on that in increments because I want her real soft to this before I give her back to her owner. Then I started to do follow the fence at a trot and canter in each direction. It took a few laps in each direction before she started to get the concept. Once she seemed to get it I let her rest a bit. When we started again she kept wanting to go back into the rd pen. So I let her and then really worked her, cantering in both directions, one rein stops with YH a bunch of times, even started doing some roll backs. Then I went back to the arena and left her alone in her trot. She went back to the rd pen and we did the same thing. Three times she went back to the pen and finally she didn't want to go back there again so I didn't make her. We finished off with some bending around the cones at a walk. Then I got off and walked her around on my track and let her graze a bit to cool off. She did another amazing bit. 
I need to really work on her lateral flexion, her one rein stops and follow her nose kind of exercises next time. 

Honey Bun day 14- Wednesday 9/2/15

What a good session today. I started out by reviewing ground driving from yesterday. I adjusted the bridle and that took care of the head tossing. I took her out into the big arena and drove her around for about 30 minutes. She did well. I saddled her and rode for about 40 minutes. I did the bridle bending and then cruising lesson. I did this at the trot and then after a 5 minute rest I did it at the canter. I finished with bend and around trying to collect her. 

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Honey Bun day 13- Tuesday 9/1/15

Today I put the surcingle on her. I put her in rd pen and went through the process of teaching her to ground drive. She did very well. No panicking with rein around her hind legs or butt. I found out that her throwing her head while cantering was her getting used to the bit and rein pressure, because she did the same thing at this time. By the time we were finished though she had quit that. She was getting real light. Stopping fine. Her turns inside and out were good. I took her out in the big arena and she did real nice there. She was relaxed with her head down and responding nicely. I didn't ride her today because I already took an hour and we were both too hot. A very good session though. 

Honey Bun day 12- Sunday 8/30/15

She did a great job of being used as an illustration for my sermon. She was not uptight at all. I thought she would be. During the course of the event we went through most all of the exercises and did well. I introduced an umbrella, plastic garbage bag, noise bag, and she handled them quite well, but not without some anxiousness. I had her step on and over a cardboard box that was flattened. Not a real problem for her. There were all kinds of noises that could have disturbed her, but didn't: clapping, cars, motorcycles, barking of dogs , screeching of sound system. I even rode her without any issues. Then I ended with laying her down. She was good with that and used it to her advantage to eat grass while she was lying down. 

Honey Bun day 11 - Saturday 8/29/15

We started out with saddling then we walked out to the pasture and I started working on getting her to do the LR one and two. She did fine at these I also did the sending exercise. We went to the platform and I started to ask her to go over that she did pretty good on that. I had her go over the platform three times on each side real nice and relaxed. Then I had her go over the log by lunging. When she was good at the one log I added another log a few feet farther. When she was good at going over both of those in either direction I took her into the riding arena and backed her and did yield hindquarters and yield the fore quarters. We went into the round pen and I introduced my plastic noise bag with bottles and cans in it. I desensitize her to that and she did pretty good. When I put it up by her ears she really got bothered so I kept it up until she calm down. I was bouncing that bag all over her body making all kinds of noise and she did pretty good just standing there. Then I put the Bridle on and  did some bridle
bending. Here I had her go forward and bend around me using the rein picking up the appropriate foot and when she was bending nice then I would disengage the hindquarters and ask for a back up. She did great. Then it was time to get on. I wanted to work on inside and outside turns and one rein stops. I did everything I could to act like a drunk, flopping my hands, making popping noises with my mouth, moving my legs all over her body and she did just fine. I had her walking and trotting and cantering no problem. So then for the last five minutes or 10 minutes I took her in the big arena and we rode around in there. I got off her in the big arena and we quit. She did a good job.