KSC Spring Horsemanship Challenge: Week 5 Wrapup

Well I had an awesome recap post all done up, but Blogger ate it. If it somehow miraculously reappears, I will post it. Instead, this week, it's more of a general summary. Last week the weather was awesome, and I was able to ride Betty outside again. She is starting to settle into our rides much more quickly and has been improving with each ride. I've been focusing a lot on circles; I'm making sure she stretches her neck and responds to my leg correctly. The payoff is a horse who has learned to lengthen her topline and take longer strides. Her days of jarring pony trot are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Our circles are getting more balanced, and she is learning how to relax into the work. I'm still struggling with getting her to step cleanly into her turnarounds; she wants to push back off her front leg to start the turn. She's so compact and athletic, it's hard to catch her in time to fix the mistake. None of my normal exercises have worked, but setting it aside for a couple weeks and focusing on her response to my legs meant I've been able to approach it from further away. Spiraling in and out on a circle has been a fixture in our rides, and, by improving my timing in the spiral in, I've been able to help Betty understand that a squeeze from me means step forward and over. Betty's "git er done" attitude with take us far working cattle, but reining requires precision. She can learn it. I just have to ride well enough to teach her. Slowing down and looking at tiny details is not my favorite thing. It takes a level of concentration that is sometimes hard to achieve when I'm sneaking rides into the middle of my work day, but the payoff is totally worth it. Our lope has improved by leaps and bounds. I introduced walk to canter transitions this week and was pleased with how quickly she grasped the concept. We are still not where I want to be, and I need to put in some serious time working this month so she will be ready for the clinic. She's finding her rhythm more easily, but it's still a little disorganized and tense. I'm hoping the weather cooperates, because she seems to have a much easier time when we ride in the outdoor arena. Either way, hours in the saddle is the way to address this problem. Our rides have been a bit scattered and sporadic; work has been crazy. I'm really hoping to stick to my original plan of five rides a week for the coming month. We're headed to a cattle clinic on Sunday, so I'll get a lot of riding hours logged there. I'm excited to get her back in the sorting pen to see how she does.

Goals

I'm having way more trouble than I should writing up some goals for Betty and myself. I've been a little stuck in our training because I want everything to be perfect. I haven't had a horse all to myself in a while... a horse that's always as I left it... one there are no excuses for screwing up. Even though I know it's ridiculous to think I won't screw up, I just want what every crazy horse person wants right? I want the dream! So, to get it out of the way

Unrealistic goal: I want to train Betty perfectly all by myself and be awesome at everything we do and have a more famous video than Stacy Westfall.

There, I admitted it. I'm a crazy horse owner. On a more serious note, I did join this horsemanship challenge to stay on track preparing for the Les Vogt clinic in June.

Goal 1: Proficiency at 5 Pieces. Timeline: Completed by the beginning of June

We are well on the way with this goal. The 5 Pieces is a series of exercises that will help with teaching Betty body control by focusing first on the head and neck, then the shoulders, ribs, and hips. The fifth exercise, backing in a circle, tests the ability to shape the whole body. By the time of the clinic, I hope to have Betty relaxed and controlled through all five of these exercises.  The first three pieces are at least understood and gaining ground quickly. Pieces four and five have been introduced and just need to be developed further.

Personal Goal: Strive for 100% attentiveness when I am riding. This mare is so sensitive, I owe it to her not to let my mind wander while I ride. She rewards my focus with amazing work, but when I let my mind wander here and there she gets confused. On a related note, I need to remember to always ride her the same. When riding so many horses, it's easy to be inconsistent in the way I ask for certain things.

Not really a goal: I want us to feel together. Like she is an extension on my legs. In order to get there, we need to work on clarifying our communication first. Strengthening her body second. And smoothing out the edges last. Prerequisite to all of this, though, is that I get my act together as a rider. Betty's small size makes her agile and maneuverable which is paramount in a cow horse. I need to learn to stay out of her way so that she can work properly.

KSC Spring Horsemanship Challenge: Week 3&4 Wrapup

Week 3, I only managed one ride, so I was too ashamed for my wrapup post (haha, not really, mostly just busy), but I DID manage to have a much better luck last week. Betty is really coming along well, and I'm so enjoying getting to see her natural talent come out. I think she has some serious cowhorse potential. Here's what we've been working on the past couple weeks,

Week 3:

Wednesday: I hauled out and had an awesome lesson with Sabrina. It took Betty a while to settle in at the new place, but when she relaxed and started thinking we had some great work at the walk and trot. My focus on suppling her is paying off; we still need to work on consistently responding to my leg, but I think this is a problem of me not asking for things consistently more than her not getting it.  When she get all settled and warmed up, we worked on circles asking her to step deeper under her body with her inside hind and lift her back. It felt good that Sabrina picked up on the thing that I have just been introducing, and lets me know I'm on the right track. I really miss taking weekly lessons; sometimes it's hard to know what to work on when you are by yourself all the time. I was excited to show Sabrina how much Betty's canter has improved, but, alas, it wasn't in the cards for this lesson. Betty was still a little distracted, and I think the smaller space and new footing were just too many difficult things to bring her best work. Oh well, I was still super proud of her, and we left with some really good exercises to work on. Starting by asking her to step up on a circle, then step her hips slightly out so that the inside crosses under and in front of the outside light, and then doing a half circle like that followed by a half circle of  haunch turn. 

Week 4: 

Monday: We rode in the indoor arena and warmed up with circles, sidepass on the wall, and alternating between sidepass and forehand turns to help get her back and hips loosened up. Betty still likes to get quick with her feet, and these exercises encourage precision but not speed. Then we worked over some trot poles. At first she wanted to wiggle and squiggle over them, but after she figured out the spacing she came through much more straight. She stays very balanced and doesn't throw herself around, but I can tell we need to do more of these to build consistency in her trot. Working with poles always provides additional opportunities to mount and dismount when things get knocked out of place. Betty continues to be hit and miss with standing still, but she knows what I want and really tries to be good. We worked on the canter a little bit, but it was just not flowing like it did outside. Switched to working on rollbacks and we both had a lot more fun.

Monday night Betty also got some back shoes installed. After riding outside so much more in the beautiful weather, she was getting some uneven wear and cracking on her hind hooves. I'm also hoping this will help give her a little bit of extra traction to get the lope figured out. She still scrambles through turns, especially in the tighter space, and I think a little extra grip will help her get her balance figured out and help her feel more confident. I'm really hoping by the next cycle she will be ready for her first set of sliders.

Wednesday: I decided to rrde Betty while I taught my evening lesson. She was a pretty good demo horse and also tolerated my teaching and general silliness very well. I didn't dedicate much attention to her while I was teaching, but I appreciated how she just waited for me to give her a job and relaxed the rest of the time. At the end of the lesson I took a few minutes to move her around; we had nice trot work and her canter was amazing. She felt much more stable and able to slow her legs down through our turns instead of rushing and feeling like a motorcycle. Yay! I could get my legs long and balance her through the turns instead of just trying to stay with her. This was huge improvement from our last canter inside, and I'm so excited to feel like we finally have a place where we can start working on the canter. Introducued piece 5, backing in a circle, she tried hard, but I need to focus on getting her shoulders softer before I spend much time here. She has the idea now, and I was able to see that she's not quite ready yet. 

Thursday: I only had a few minutes, so I decided, why not ride her bareback? In a halter! All of our work on standing still during mounting came in handy as I had to take a few attempts to jump on her back. Once I finally made my way aboard, she looked back and got a cookie, let out a big sigh, and wandered off like this is our usual routine. I love my little horse. 

While I was initially hoping to finish this challenge by the end of May, I'm finding that I really like the slower pace I am taking with Betty. Ok, one ride a week was a little ridiculous, but we are one month in, and I've completed 11 rides. Betty is progressing really well in her training, and I don't want to push her too hard. Right now, she enjoys the work, but I also balance it with a lot of hanging out, grooming, and free time in the arena. I worry if I get too focused on under saddle stuff, she will lose her enthusiasm. We'll see how the next couple weeks go. I sent in my check for the Les Vogt clinic, and I definitely want to be ready for that. I just don't want to risk ruining this awesome horse that I'm so lucky to own. 

KSC Spring Horsemanship Challenge: Week 2 Wrapup

Week 2 of the Challenge was indeed a challenge. I had a crazy busy work week and didn't ride nearly as much as I wanted to, but where we lacked in quantity, we made up in quality. Betty is such a willing partner; it challenges me to be the best, most effective rider I can be so that we don't waste a moment.

Tuesday: Started off the ride in the best way possible when Betty stood like a statue for me to hop on. We warmed up with circles working on stretching her neck long and down first to the inside and then to the outside. When she was relaxed, I would lift the inside rein slightly and ask her to make her circles just a little bigger. This was our first time riding in the indoor arena in a while, and I was pleased that she felt much more forward and balanced. Our previous rides frequently had a sort of scrambling quality like she just didn't understand how to get traction, and at the same time she would always be trying to stop and then shoot forward. Not pleasant. Tonight was a whole different story; she felt solid and ready to concentrate on work instead of putting most of her attention into not falling down or running into a wall.  We moved up to the trot and did some buttonholes and some pinwheels. She still struggles to the left, but had some really nice forward moving maneuvers with good crossover in front. I need to remember to feel whether or not she is balanced and ready to do the exercise rather than just throwing her into it when I get impatient. I really focused on how she responded to my leg, because I wanted to try something new. After our quick warmup, I knew she was ready. 

We ponied Norman! It was awesome. She really wanted to be worried about the whole situation, but, when she realized there was a job to do, she settled right down and got to work. I was really impressed. She had a few moments where she got really nervous, but she handled herself so well. I like the way she clinks the bit in her mouth three times after she does something scary. It's like her way of settling herself. My silly little mare. 

Thursday: I ran Betty and Norman around together in the indoor arena. They really seem to enjoy their group exercise time, and it's so cute watch them together. I felt lucky to have enough time to groom her and shove some treats in her face. 

Saturday: I had some of my students out for a lesson and it was way too nice not to ride a horse myself. Betty tolerated things pretty well and even did some nice work. 

The weather was beautiful, and all the ponies were on their best behavior. We worked on pivots and on moving her hips around while walking forward. No fancy maneuvers, just asking her if she minds moving her big booty over a step or two. She still likes to be tense rather than relaxed, so this was a challenge for her, but she gave it an A+ effort. 

Monday: We enjoyed another sunny ride outside. She was very soft at the walk. Her trot work was much more rhythmic without being lazy, and she's figuring out how to take horse size strides rather than choppy ones. Our pieces work (1,2,3) is getting smoother. She seemed to understand piece 3 better after Saturday's review of moving her hips around. I can feel her thinking about what I'm asking but not always getting the right answer. We did the windshield wiper exercise (stop, back, pivot, trot off, repeat) to help get her lifting her shoulders better in her backing as well as give her a reason to hustle around her turns. Loping we introduced the idea of the big fast and slow small circles that will be such an important part of her reining work. Our circles are getting rounder and more consistent, and, to the left, we even have two speeds, sometimes.  To the right, she still needs to get coordinated to bend and slow down, but she's thinking along the right track.  I've been struggling to figure out my seat on this mare, as I've always felt we are slightly out of sync. I think I finally got myself figured out during this ride. She is so small even a small change from me can really affect her. I know the actual change in my position is small, but it feels like I am leaning so far forward over her shoulders that she will fall on her face. Apparently, that's where I need to be so that she can get her back up and drive with her hind end, though. Strange as it may feel, I'm gonna work with it. 

I'm really pleased with her progress this week, and I'm inspired to ride even better this week and see where we are by next Tuesday! 

KSC Spring Horsemanship Challenge: Week 1 Wrapup

Our first week of the challenge went really well. The weather was, overall, wonderful. Betty is shedding... mostly on her neck and shoulders.. why?! Why must my beautiful horse shed from front to back like a weirdo? Oh well, I'm sure her hiney will catch up eventually. Throughout the week, I've been taking a critical look at where we are at in our training and trying to set some concrete goals to mark our progress as we prepare for our clinic. Each of my rides focused on skills that are too important to only learn halfway. 

Tuesday: Our ride was focused mostly on going forward. Forward has always been a sticky spot for Betty. She is willing to go, but when she wants to stop or slow down, she's pretty quick about doing so. I need her to start moving when I ask and maintain movement until I ask for something else. When we are working cattle, I can't nag at her with my legs every stride; there's a few other elements I need to be focused on. A steady, balanced canter has thus far eluded us, but we had some nice circles during our ride. My goal was to just stay out of her way and let her work, and she did! I've been a little ADD with Betty's rides lately, and I really had no idea where we would come out on this important foundation piece. That being said, I wasn't surprised that she has improved so much. This mare is so smart and loves to learn new things. I have to keep my focus, or she gets ahead of me and doesn't know what to do.

Wednesday: Since Betty is shedding like mad, I took a little extra time and refreshed her clicker training during grooming. She doesn't like to stand still when she doesn't feel like it and would also still like it to be ok for her to be nervous about me touching certain places on her body, particularly around her rump. I have no aversion to buying my horse's cooperation, so I reinforced her "Stand" command while I gave her the most thorough grooming of her life. This also tied into my plan for riding as she has gotten into the habit of wiggling around when I try to mount; I want to be able to tell her to stand and have her plant her feet immediately. We also worked on pulling her feet forward like she will have to do for her farrier appointment on 4/21. She hates holding her foot up on the hoof stand the most, and I think this cycle she will get back shoes as well, so twice as many feet as the last time. She really loves food so was very good for this practice. I'm hoping it pays off for John, the best farrier in the whole wide world. When I finally got around to riding her, I spent a few minutes working on having her stand while I mount, and showing her that this way she doesn't get bumped in the ribs with my foot, which she hates. Sadly, I forgot to check my cinch, and I ended up getting down to do that and has the bonus opportunity of practicing standing to mount again. Eventually, we got warmed up and I began working on our "5 easy pieces exercises". If you aren't familiar, it's basically a five part warm up routine that helps you break down the body into four basic pieces, head/neck, shoulders, ribs, and hindquarters. It's a great way to move front to back through your horse's body (and training) and find where you and them may need some extra work. Pieces one and two (Stretching the horse's neck in and out while traveling on a circle, nothing fancy) have been part of our routine, but I focused on emphasizing relaxation as she gave to the rein and stretching her neck out rather than down. I feel that she completely understands these two exercises but needs to spend more time doing them to get more relaxed before increasing the difficulty by asking for more give or smaller circles. She still wants to either tuck her head or stiffen her neck and dive her shoulder into the turns. I have to try to support her with my leg without hanging on her or nagging her. We rode the buttonhole exercise, which I have a separate post to talk about because I like it that much. Toward the end of our arena time, I introduced the concept of piece 3, moving the ribs, and she gave me a few nice steps. We left that one to soak, but I was very pleased with how hard she tried to figure out the puzzle.  I added more guidance from my outside seat bone in the canter and we had some nice moments where I felt like we were together rather than bouncing off each other trying to find the rhythm. Also did some rollbacks along the rail at the canter for the first time, and she loved it. We had some lovely departs into the canter and some nice stops as well.  It was such a beautiful day we spent some time riding the loop and visiting neighbors working on steady steps up and down hills and just going straight without worrying about much. She wanted to explore where the tree fell recently, and down by her old paddock along the fenceline. She is so smart. And weird. Here's a short video from our "trail ride"

Thursday: We took a day off from riding and did just a bit of groundwork. I focused on having her yield her head and neck to halter pressure and loosening her back. This ties in with my decision to focus on pieces one and two becoming more relaxed under saddle, and it's a huge piece of her lunging training that I skipped. I also let her free lunge with her mini me, Norman. 

Friday: We did lots of trot work and changes of direction. Working on clearing up leg aids and getting response from shoulders/ribs/hips as needed. Used leg yeild on the wall to help her get the idea for piece three, and it helped a lot. Our canter was even better than the previous days. Riding in the outdoor arena where she has a little more space to get coordinated seems to have really helped her get things figured out. I was happy that she really seemed to relax into our bendy trot work and I even got some video to prove it... but you can't see it... because, even though I uploaded it to Youtube, they say I didn't. I know it's out there somewhere, but I can't figure out where or how to make it be here. So, just imagine it for now, but try not to imagine too fantastically, I don't want you to be disappointed. 

 

Saturday: I didn't have time to ride, but we spent a few minutes hanging out in Betty's stall. I fed her too many treats and scratched her itchy neck, but then I had to take off to teach some lessons. 

This week's rides were all super productive, and I am working on a post laying out my goals for the coming weeks. 

This Is Not a Joke

I wanted to post this entry yesterday, but I feared people would only think it was an April Fools joke and never come back. This is, I believe, my return to regular blogging. I have been dealing with a few issues that led me to be a bit wishy washy with this blog. First, I had a hard time deciding on what type of writing I wanted to do here, but I also lost a dear friend last year and have spent the last year feeling not at all myself. Earlier attempts at bringing the blog back in a "fake it til you make it" approach left me feeling frustrated. I was empty inside and words would float around my head but never solidify into cohesive thoughts. The good news is, I've been doing a lot of training, riding, and thinking. Now that I'm feeling a little more myself, I'm ready to share my thoughts with you! BUT FIRST... We are going to start off with an update on Betty the wondermare.

After our fantastic outing at the SAFE show, Betty and I continued to work on riding, showmanship, and having her feet handled. I struggled to find enough time to ride her at the facility she was at as the days became shorter. Without arena lights,  I was still heading out to feed her each day, but I wasn't able to ride much. So, in October, she moved to The Red Horse Farm, my home base of operations and where two of my lessons horses live. We spent the next four months not quite riding as much as I'd like but still progressing steadily. Then we went and did this:



Her first time on cattle showed a lot of promise, but I realized how many buttons I still needed to install before she would be ready to work them again. We started working with more focus and with an aim at better body control. Betty was really enjoying her large pasture at RHF, but I was again running into issues with her housing arrangement. It was beginning to get hard to catch her, and I found myself making excuses not to ride just so I could avoid the half hour of chasing her around the pasture it would take to bring her in. In January, I had a serious talk with myself about getting this mare on track. At this point, she had about the equivalent of 45 days of training. We could walk/trot/canter and had basic steering but little else.

So, again, Betty was loaded on the trailer and moved a little further north along the road to Lazy M Stables. This has become my main training barn, and it made sense to have Betty where I do most of my riding. Since her move in February she has really come a long way. We have been taking lessons with a reining trainer, a dressage trainer, and hauling out to work some cattle. She has learned how to bend (relaxation is still a work in progress), is much better balanced, works well off my leg, and is starting to take horse strides instead of short choppy pony strides. This little mare has been such a joy to work with, and it turns out she's pretty talented too. She clearly was bred for the types of events I want to do and has such a steady temperament it's amazing.

So why bother to blog about her again after so long? Well, let me tell you what we have coming up! Starting April 1, we are participating in a 14 Week Riding Challenge. Between now and July 12, the goal is to complete 40 rides and a total of 60 hours together. Since we usually ride 5 days a week, I am hoping to complete this challenge by the end of May. Here are a few photos from our first ride of the challenge.




She's still pretty fuzzy but has put on some good muscle since the fall. These are our official "before" pictures for the challenge.



Baby slide stop tracks are starting to happen. Sometimes she braces too much, but it's a work in progress.

The reason for the challenge and the blogging, is to help keep me accountable and track my progress towards something that's already keeping me up at night with excitement. June 7-8, Betty and I will be heading across the mountains to clinic with Les Vogt. This guy is one of the greats, and I never expected to have a chance to ride with him. Needless to say, I am super excited and want to be sure that Betty and I are prepared to take home as much from the clinic as possible.

For some reason I can't get this video to embed, but it's a great explanation of his training approach and our road map for the next month at least: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJs_KP7e_DA&list=PLR4AO9Zju0dTri8I--5JmsUJolS3n33fE&index=2

We are currently improving pieces 1 and 2, and I just introduced step 3. So, we are well on our way. I'm also focused on getting her more relaxed and steady at the lope. Once these skills are a little further developed, I will put together a list of more specific goals. I still need to be careful of pushing her too hard, and I want to get out on the trails as soon as we dry out a bit here. Check back often to see what we're up to! 

SAFE Show Recap

Well, we have survived our first show. There are lots of firsts to check off our list now. First night stalled away from home, first show, and first ribbons won. Overall, I was pleased with the way that Betty handled her first show experience.

Friday evening I loaded up and Z and Betty, dropped by another barn to pick up a friend's horse, and drove out to the beautiful Donida Farms. After locating the stalls, settling the horses, and getting things organized, I took Betty to the indoor arena to let her get used to the surroundings. We looked around at all the new sights....mirrors, flower boxes, and all the other little things a horse might find scary. Betty, of course, didn't find any of them alarming. At all. I put her on the lunge line to get a little exercise and work out any kinks that she might have developed in the trailer. She worked just as well in the scary, new environment as she does at  home. I hurried to get her put away so that I could bathe Z while there was still some daylight.

Saturday morning Betty showed in her very first classes. We almost missed our Stockhorse Halter class, but the judge let us sneak in at the last minute. Betty did very well standing waiting for the judge to come around to her. After asking her age and breed, the judge commented that she loved Betty's cute ears. I like 'em too. No ribbon in our first class, but because this show was to benefit a rescue, they also held a rescue horse halter class. Betty totally knew the routine for this class, and I was very proud of her. I was even more proud, though, when we were announced her as the third place horse in the class. Betty was done for the day after her two morning classes, and I shifted my attention to Z for the riding classes. He did great his first day showing. In our first walk/jog class after warming up with several walk only classes, Z looked so shocked when I asked him to jog off. I was really proud of the way he calmly took on everything he came across.

Sunday was the English day at the show, but the trail course was still open for both disciplines. Betty did the course in hand two times. The first time through, I brought treats and gave her a little reward after each obstacle. She handled all of them very calmly, Even though we had never done anything like this before. This is our second time through:

At the end of the day, it was announced that we placed fourth in this class. Way to go Betty!

When I went to catch Betty in her stall at the end of the day on Sunday, she turned her back to me showing that she was at the end of her good behavior. Even though she spent most of the weekend just being at the show, I can tell that she was pushed to her limits. She never wavered in her behavior with me, and I have to remember in the future that even if she is showing no outward signs, she may still be stressed out. It is always tempting with a quiet horse to push them too far too fast. Me and Betty have a lot of years together, and I don't want to push her faster than she is ready to go.

We will continue to build on this first exposure, and I am excited for what will come.

No news....

I am sad to say I have nothing to report. Betty has been enjoying some time off as my attention has been required elsewhere. She is scheduled for a trim Thursday. So, I'm hoping to get her out for some groundwork the next two days to get her brain back on business. We are still on track for the show, and I have some other exciting pony news to reveal soon.

Now I Can Exhale

Last week I had my second and third rides on Betty, and we are settling into a routine. I catch her and Z, cross tie them to groom and saddle, and then they take turns tied to the fence while I ride the other horse. Betty usually stands very quietly watching while I ride Z. Occasionally she'll get herself into a pickle with the rope over her head, but she just calmly works herself out of it. What a smart girl. I'm so glad she's sensible when tied. Nothing really seems to faze this mare, though; so, I shouldn't be surprised.

Our second ride was much like the first. Betty had a little bit more nervous energy when I brought her to the mounting block, but she settled down quickly and stood very nicely at the block for me to hop on. The most important thing for her to realize this ride was the ability to move forward. We still did many tiny little circles, and she trotted off in a small panic when I smacked her hiney with the end of my rein to inspire some forward energy, but she relaxed into the ride and even went straight for a few strides at a time. I kept it short and sweet, but I was so proud of my girl.

Our third ride was even better! We walked and trotted both directions mostly on the rail. She balances well and is getting the hang of turning from my seat and leg. I'm riding her in the sidepull, and it's a great tool for teaching her to follow her nose through turns. I've never started a horse with one before, but I think it may be my new favorite piece for starting horses.

During training, people put a lot of emphasis on the first ride, but, the way I see it, I have the element of surprise for that one. To me, the better test is the second ride. The horse knows what's coming and has to make the decision whether they're going to behave or buck me off. Of course, if I have done my preparation well, there won't be a problem, but there's always the free will of the horse to take into account. Since we've got three rides behind us, I think I can finally relax. Betty will continue to progress, and I can stop worrying about it and get down to the serious business of training.

While I haven't sent in my registration yet, we are definitely planning on attending the S.A.F.E. show August 3 and 4. Z will show in some western classes, and I may even ride a Western Dressage test with him. I'm not sure what capacity Betty will participate, but, at the very least, I hope to do some in hand classes with her. We have been practicing our showmanship every session, and she is improving by leaps and bounds. I'm really hoping she will be doing well enough to go into a walk only class. We've got a few weeks left before the show, and I will just have to see where we are at when the big day comes.

Finally!

I finally got a good picture of Betty, but that's not even the most exciting news. When we did groundwork Thursday, I ran through my pre-ride checklist. Flapped the stirrups, jumped by her side while pulling on the horn, putting pressure in the stirrup, and leaning over her back from the mounting block. Her behavior could not have said "Ride me!" any more clearly. She stood calm and relaxed like this had happened to her every day of her life. That's what I love about this girl. Since my trusty sidekick, Aly, is back in town on break from her summer job, I had a little extra motivation to put my first ride on her. I've been putting it off for no reason, and I'm so glad I finally did it.

We kept it short and sweet, but I'm so glad I finally rode my little horse. Aside from the fact that she mostly wanted to walk in tiny circles, I was really impressed with how calm she was with the whole process. SO excited to see what she turns into.

7/2 Betty Update

I actually worked Betty two days in a row. All the beautiful sunshine we've been having leaves me feeling motivated enough to work ALL the ponies! She would have preferred the day off, so I buttered her up with some vitamins. She seems to be back to liking them after several weeks of turning them down.

Her second day wearing the saddle went much like the first. Alas, a good photo of her all dressed up continues to elude me, but, where I lack in quality I make up for in quantity.

Betty has become very snuggly. I'm not complaining, but it does make photographing her a little more difficult. 

I think she looks pretty cute all tacked up. 

More exciting news is coming soon.   

On a roll...

July 1 Recap: It's been crazy hot the past few days, but I'm determined to work the big ol' bellies off these horses before the show in August. I waited until it started to cool off for the day so none of us would die of heat exhaustion, but even with my kind intentions the horses took off the second they saw me coming with their halters. I got Z caught after only a minute or two chasing him around. I popped him in the crossties and headed back out for Betty. She stood very patiently in the crossties while I groomed them both. She did have a mild freak out when I hit her with the fly spray, but she settled right down again afterwards.

I tacked up Z and tied Betty to the fence to wait her turn. She stood around patiently the whole time. I'm not sure if this girl is just that good, or maybe a day spent grazing in the sun had her feeling drowsy.   When it was her turn to work, we spent a few minutes trotting and cantering circles. She was very lazy tonight, but, since I had big plans for our session, I decided to go with her laid back vibe and get down to business. I reviewed standing still while I waved the whip around and the saddle pad. I took a little extra time because this was a different pad than we'd used before. Then...

TADAAA!!!! Goal #5 has been accomplished! Betty was great for her first time saddled. I tossed it on and off her back a few times before cinching her up. She stood like an old dude horse and moved off calm as could be. I worked her both directions at all three gaits without a buck, snort, or silly fit.  So proud of this sweet girl.

Betty Update: June Summary

Wow! I can't believe June is gone already. It's been a full month with 4H season in full swing. Sadly, this means Betty has been doing lots of standing around mowing pasture. I'm happy to say, though our sessions are few and far between, we continue to progress. 

Below are a few posts that I had waiting as drafts to be edited and posted. I procrastinated too long and now it seems a little silly to post them on their own. So you get them all together. 

6/2: I only had time for a quick session. I brought her down to the barn, tied her up, and picked her feet.  Then we worked on holding her feet in the farrier positions and tapping/filing gently with a rasp. This will help get her ready for shoes to be nailed on. She was really good, but several times she declined my offer of treats. This has been happening lately, and I'm going to add timothy pellets for variety to suss out whether its the treats themselves or the process she is rejecting. 

Tonight was her first night together in the pasture with Z. I was ready for some running and tomfoolery when I opened the gate between their two pastures, but they just trotted together over to a grass patch and began grazing like they'd been together forever.

6/3: As I feared, Betty avoided me at catching time. I knew this would probably happen when she had a buddy to hide behind, as that was her favorite tactic in the pasture at the rescue. Since I had an extra pair of hands, I asked my trusty sidekick to catch Z. With the ability to use him to avoid me removed, she only walked away about 15 yards before turning around and approaching me for her treat.

In our groundwork, I was looking for more balanced trot in her circles, and she did very well. She tends to be more stiff when travelling to the right, so I occasionally ask her to yield her hips for a step to get her reaching her right hind deeper under her body and closer to her midline. As a way of reinforcing this, I asked for a lot of yielding her hindquarters from a standstill as well. Because she has been doing this one for a while, I asked for a little more refinement and precision. She's getting more consistent at crossing her hind legs while keeping her front end still, but she does have a tendency to want to walk forward rather than pivot. As she gets more flexible, I will continue to raise the precision that I require from her.

I also worked on the Landslide Exercise (back 4 steps, 90 degree turn on the haunch, sidepass 4 steps, 90 degree turn on the forehand, back 4 steps) from both sides. She was having trouble with the sidepass, which is the most recent step she has learned; so, we worked on this one both directions with her standing perpendicular to the fence. This helped her see clearly what her options were, and she greatly improved in only a few passes. We will need to continue to work on calmness as she tends to want to rush through her maneuvers, and she goes to the right much better than to the left. I need to be sure to pause between each step of the exercise to give both of us time to get organized for the next step.

I reviewed targeting the feet for a few minutes, but she doesn't seem to be enjoying that particular exercise. I think it's hard for her to lift her leg forward, which is why I chose this method in the first place. I think I'm going to put that one on hold for a while, and I will re approach the issue when she is better balanced. While it would be convenient for her to know it now, she really doesn't need it until she has to hold her foot on a hoof stand for shoes.

Today was also the day I introduced her to the saddle blanket. As with most things that aren't person related, Betty didn't care about it one bit. In this instance, a picture is worth a thousand words...

She also wore it over her back while walking and trotting some circles. Since the session was going to well, I also introduced the concept of approaching me at the mounting block. She wasn't too sure at the beginning, her hardest training moments involve her having to move near my bubble. She is OK with me being near if she can be still, but when she has to move in close proximity to me, she still gets a little tense and rushy. She caught on quickly to the concept, and I was very proud of our first session on it.

6/10: Continuing with my goal of getting Betty more comfortable moving closer to me, we worked on showmanship. She is already fairly maneuverable in hand from all the groundwork we've been doing, but she is really uncomfortable trotting in hand. To slowly ease her into it, we started with her trotting a circle about 8ft wider than I was jogging. I adjusted my speed and direction to keep her aligned approximately in the position I want her to be in when she is closer to me, but I allowed anywhere from a foot in front of to a foot behind my shoulder. When she got too fast, a quick turn brought her back into an ideal position. She rarely went too slow, but if she did, I would slow down my pace to match. As she became more comfortable, I reeled in more and more slack from the line. We ended up doing walk trot transitions with about three feet of rope between us. We had some good moments and some not so good moments, but she was really trying to figure out what I wanted. At the end of our session, I introduced the first step of setting up for showmanship. I used the clicker to reward her for standing squarely with weight on all four feet. The addition of variety of treats seems to have revived her interest in treats (and the clicker), but she does still occasionally pass on them. I've been wondering how far I would take the clicker into the training process, but it's starting to look like we will leave it behind sooner rather than later. We'll see how the next several sessions progress.

6/22: This was our first session that I left my clicker in the tack room. Her declining interest in receiving treats but not in the work itself led me to believe it was time to let it go.  We worked on more traditional lunging work; she seemed to like the more relaxed pace of working one direction and then the other. I worked her at each gait changing directions before moving faster. She is really improving in her balance and getting a more regular cadence to her work. My boyfriend was along so he was able to take some video.

You can see she is getting much more relaxed about pretty much everything. We also reviewed her showmanship moves. I've added in trot to halt transitions, and, while she still doesn't love it, she is getting much more comfortable moving next to me with only about 18" of slack in her lead. Today was her first introduction to pressure around her stomach, a vital step in preparing her for a riding career. This video was our first attempt...

I couldn't be happier with how she responded! That cool as a cucumber quality is one of the reasons I was drawn to her. I think she is going to be a rock solid horse. After this session, I think I'm ditching the clicker for our regular sessions. I'm sure it will come in handy for occasional things. I find it awesome for motivating a horse and for clarifying ground work where our cues are more difficult for horses to interpret, but, now that Betty has overcome her suspicion of me, I think I can treat her more like a "normal" horse and progress our training in my usual way.

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In between these sessions were some ho-hum, run of the mill ones. I wanted to focus on her fitness and moving in balance to best prepare her for being ridden, so we spent a lot of time trotting circles and changing directions. After her one night of rebellion, she has remained catchable. She willingly walks up to me in the pasture 90% of the time. She still has her occasional moments of avoidance but they are becoming less frequent.
Our showmanship is getting much better. So much so, that I've declared Goal #4: Go to a show. I'm planning on taking her to the S.A.F.E. Benefit Horse Show August 3rd and 4th. If she is exceptionally laid back about her new surroundings, I may show her in showmanship and trail in hand. As of now, the plan is just to get her out to see the world. I'll be showing her pasture buddy, Z, in some western classes, so she will have a battle buddy there to reassure her.

In the last month's sessions, I've been laying the very early foundation of her riding career. She is gaining confidence with each session, and I'm starting to feel like riding her is approaching faster than I thought it would. To that end, I will continue refining the movements that have already been introduced, while adding new elements that will continually build towards my first step in the saddle. The first one, Goal #5: Carry a saddle, should be uneventful. She has already worn the blanket and had pressure around her middle, but saddles have flapping stirrups and a stiff feel on her back that may inspire some excited behavior. I'm excited to see how she handles this new element.

Month End Goal Recap:
Goal #5: Carry a saddle.
Goal #4: Go to a show.
Goal #3: Plant the feet. - Accomplished!
Goal #2: Get a hoof trim. -Accomplished!
Goal #1: Create a catching routine. -Accomplished! 

It's no excuse, but....

I've been sitting at too many of these...

... And this is the evidence!

Look at those tubby ponies! I actually have a few posts waiting to be edited, and some exciting new goals. Stay tuned :) 

Goal #2: Accomplished!

Betty had her first "real" trim on Thursday. I'm particularly proud of her because it was raining, and she had to be trimmed in a stall. I was glad we had practiced with the scary mats because she marched right into the stall when I asked her to. It probably helped that there was food in there. Betty loves food.

Sadly, I have no action shots. I was busy shoving treats into Betty's mouth. As long as she was chewing, she could handle the scary guy working on her feet. I think she'll get much better with a little more practice, and John gave us a rasp to use to work on getting used to having her feet hammered on. I'll keep her barefoot as long as I can, but, when the time comes for shoes, she'll be ready. 

Since the weather was rotten, we decided to leave the horses stalled for the night. It was also a test to see how they got along in close quarters. The plan is to move them in together so that they can start going out in the big pasture to graze. When I came to turn them out in the morning, Betty was happy and relaxed. She didn't seem to mind her night in the stall one bit. 

I've been holding off doing a lot of "work" with Betty because I didn't want to chip her feet, but now it's time to get serious about conditioning. While I'm not in a hurry to get her started under saddle, I do want to start making baby steps toward it. 

A Mostly Blurry Pictures Betty Update

Even though the weather and an illness have kept me from getting out to see Betty as much as I'd like we are still making wonderful progress. We are doing so well, in fact, I've scheduled of Ferrier appointment for this Thursday.

Yesterday, it was really rainy so I decided to skip our normal work session in favor of a spa day. Since mostly spa day included standing around, I decided it was a good day to introduce tying.

After we conquered the obstacle of standing on the scary mats, Betty totally relaxed and went about doing her favorite thing... looking for something to eat.

Including coming all the way into the tack room with me. Her cookie search was not rewarded until she was back outside where a pony belongs!

Now that she was comfortable, it was time to tie her up.

While she nibbled from the planter, I trimmed her mane and tail, brushed them out, and used scissors to give her a bridle path.

Spa day was also a way to get her relaxed in the area where she will get her feet trimmed tomorrow.

So, we worked on holding her front feet between my knees like the farrier will. She did great and let me hold them for quite a while. She would occasionally struggle but quickly relaxed. Her balance has improved, and I think that makes it easier for her to relax.

Can't wait to get these bad boys fixed up! 

Betty Update 5/14-5/21

Betty has been settling in really nicely at her new place. Thursday, when I got there, she even greeted me at the gate with a nicker. I know it's just because I'm the one who brings the cookies, but it still makes me smile.

I had the company of my wonderful bf who agreed to take some video of our session.

Here's our warm up. I'm looking for consistent speed and level shoulders. She has a tendency to lean in towards me and also gets a little nervous when it comes to going between me and the arena panels. We did this both ways for as long as it took to get around the arena one time each way. Once she was settled, we worked on her feet. I reviewed our previous steps and worked on moving each hoof around into different positions. We are still working towards a hoof trim, and she gets closer to our goal every session. Her balance is improving to the point I feel she could hold them up long enough to be trimmed, but her confidence isn't quite there.

I introduced two new things during this session as well. First- Backing Up. When she is scared, Betty tends to raise her head and run backward. This muscle memory also shows up when I ask her to back up on the line. So, I broke it down into the two steps that I wanted. First, I would ask her to lower her head from pressure on the halter. Then, I would ask her to back keeping her neck and back relaxed. It took a few tries to get both pieces together, but we had a few good ones in a row.

Second- The Flag. As you can see, she did pretty fantastic. First I had her follow me around while I waved it around, then I progressed to having her stand still while I waved it around, and the final step was for her to stand still while I rubbed her all over with it. While I wouldn't call her relaxed, she did tolerate it really well, and that's the first step. For me, this work is about her making a decision to stand around when running away seems the better option. Relaxation will come with time, and we have plenty of that.

Saturday I only had a minute to stop by and give her some vitamins. She wasn't too sure about the new grain pan, but her desire for yummy pellets won out in the end.

Tuesday's session was a lot like last Thursday. We warmed up with our circles, reviewed leg handling and added holding her front legs between my knees for short periods of time. We worked on backing again, which she did amazingly well. She went from only one or two halting steps in our lest session, to doing three or four steps consistently soft. She even offered some steps after I stopped asking. I have to be careful with her, because she has a tendency to guess rather than waiting for me to ask for things, but I like to see her take a little initiative sometimes. I did more work with the flag this session, and I made sure to mix in lots of moving work to help keep her calm and focused. She was a significantly more unhappy about the flag on her right side than the left, so I spent a bit more time over there. By the end, we were back to where we were before with a higher degree of relaxation. So, success!

I also added some targeting work. For the unfamiliar, take a look over here. I decided to introduce the concept of targeting as a way to help her with picking up her feet into the forward position needed to go on a hoof stand. She was really resistant to the rope method I tried, so I'm choosing another tactic. I started by just touching her hoof with the target (my whip with a tennis ball on the end) and clicking; she caught on pretty quickly and only moved her foot away a few times. The next step was for her to move her foot to the flag. I don't want her to just go around stepping on things willy nilly, so I'm using a pull forward on the halter as a cue from the beginning with this. She showed me she had it by stomping firmly on the stick after the third or fourth repetition on each side. Smart girl. There were times when we stalled out, and, to create some momentum, I would just send her out and work her on a circle for a few minutes. This is where I like the mixture of clicker training and natural horsemanship methods. They both have a lot to offer, and they really can work well together. I think. At least so far. I'm having a lot of fun experimenting, in any case.

During our sessions, I'm trying to stick to the less is more mentality. When something is working, we move on. She is really smart, so the pace is fast and fun. I have to keep in mind that everything with her is work... even standing around getting scratches can be an exercise. Although, I did spend a few minutes Tuesday massaging from behind her ears up to her poll. She seemed to genuinely enjoy that and stretched her neck low to make is easy for me. What a great little horse.

Groundwork, Moving, and Goal Accomplishing Mega Update

I have been really good about getting out to see Betty, but I've been horrible about blogging. So here, in all its fascinating detail, is the recap. 

Saturday was our first day working on Goal #3- Plant the feet. I want to desensitize Betty to the point that she will stand still and relaxed while I walk around her doing any number of ridiculous things. 

I started by turning her loose in the arena to work a few of the kinks out. I was able to catch a little video of her "before" movement. 

When she got all the wiggles out we moved on to our desensitizing work. I got out the long rope and started swingin'. I decided to keep going with the clicker into this stage of the training. I've gone back and forth about using so many treats, but I'm really enjoying working with her using the clicker. It serves as a nice bookmark letting her know when she is on the right track and it's really working as a way to get her to check back in with me. When she gets nervous, she wants to run off and just keep going so nothing scary will happen. The clicker gives me a way to grab her attention and bring her back to me. I set up an easy question, when she gets the right answer, I click, and she walks over to me to get a treat. It's an easy way to reset a situation that isn't going in a productive way. If she ever gets rude or pushy, the treats go away for good. So far, though, she has been very respectful. She totally understands the system and doesn't try to mug for treats when she hasn't earned one. So I'm using the clicker and the approach and retreat method to introduce the concept that scary things can fly at her and not eat, maim, or kill her. By the end of our session, I was able to swing the rope, training stick, and the training stick with the string all over her and around her with only minimal wiggling around. We will need a few more sessions until I can walk around her swinging with her standing completely still and relaxed, but we are off to a great start. She definitely had a harder time with things happening up near her head and on the top of her rump; so, I will be putting some extra time into these areas. To address her head issue, I worked on asking her to lower her head when I put downward pressure on her lead rope. She has a tendency to raise her head and pull back in response to pressure on her halter, so I want to make sure she understands the concept of giving and gets more comfortable with things moving on her head before I teach her to tie. Overall, I was really pleased with our session. She seems to be retaining information very well, and she tries hard to do what I'm asking of her. She's also admitted she likes getting scratches on the neck and ear rubs. She'll be acting like the big pet that she is in no time. 

Sunday was mostly a day off for us. I did stop by and give her day 3 of her dewormer and spent a few minutes scratching all the loose hair off her neck. She is shedding out her scuzzy winter coat and growing a new beautiful, soft, coat. I can't wait to see how nice she'll look all shed out. 

Monday was a stormy, windy, ugly, day. It was also the day I'd planned to move Betty out to the new place. The rain was coming out sideways when we were trying to load her. After the last trip, Betty was none too sure about getting back into one of those metal contraptions. It took a few minutes and a few times halfway in and then back out, but then she loaded like a dream. It was only a short drive, but by the time we got there the rain had stopped. 

She will eventually be sharing space with a sweet gelding named, Z, but for now, they are going to get to know each other over the fence. She quickly settled in to graze and didn't even look up when I said goodbye. 

Which brings us to today, Tuesday. I only had a few minutes to stop by after work, but I was able to sneak in a quick training session. I was delighted that she stuck to our catching system in her new, bigger pasture. I'm nervous to announce Goal #1 as accomplished, but it's looking like she is willing to keep working on it even with more room to get away from me if she wants. I decided to keep it simple and review our work with her feet. She needed a little reminder on keeping her feet still when I rubbed her legs, but she remembered our previous lessons quickly and was very well behaved while I handled all four feet. I worked on getting her more comfortable with bringing her front feet forwards to continue preparing for her first real trim in a few weeks. I used a rope behind her pastern to encourage her to lift her leg forward and up. It only took a few repetitions for her to get the idea, and she lifted both front feet for me several times before we called it quits.