Same old same old

Well, I was in a bit of a crunch for time today, so I didn't get a chance to get a video. I wish I would have, because Gunny was excellent. Responding to my leg cues, bending around my leg, and stopping much better than yesterday. She was relaxed and seemed very willing today. I was very happy with our success. I was able to get 3 feet to stop over the log this time. That sure is a challenging exercise!

Our riding didn't take too long today. I rewarded her for doing everything I asked.

Well, lucky for her, she'll have a few days off now. We (my family) are heading up to Mackinac Island to stay with my mom (who's currently living up there for the month of June). I'm really excited. No motor vehicles - Just horses! :)

More to come when we return!

Focusing on stopping

Good evening!

 It was a beautiful day, high 70's and sunshine. I got out to the barn today, Gunny seemed quite content. I saddled her up and whatnot, set up my camera, and went for a ride. I put a ground pole closer to the camera to practice stopping one foot over at a time. I continued doing the figure eight at the walk around the cones as well.

She seemed really relaxed today, head down nice and level, however, she didn't really want to stand still (more than usual). So, that's what we focused on today, mostly. I made sure I used one rein to hold the bit gently, and raised the other hand. It took a while to register sometimes, but I got her to stop when I asked. I was able to stop her feet 1/2 and 1/2 today with the pole. Not too bad for the first time. I'd stop her with one foot over, and she'd bring the other one over the pole to balance herself out. It's quite a challenging exercise, but I made it as fun as I could.

I also focused on holding her shoulder up with my leg as well as having her bend around my leg while going around the cones, so she didn't drop her shoulder. I've noticed in the videos that I took today that she was quite a good deal better than she normally is going around the cones. It's great to see progress! I know that it's not perfect by any means, but it's better than it was. :)

I know that the videos are quite boring, as I am merely asking her to stand still a lot of the time, but she needs to learn that when I say "whoa" it means NOW, and it means UNTIL I SAY TO MOVE AGAIN. She has learned to anticipate when I'm going to make her go again, and I have to teach her just to hang out for a while. 

I was trying to practice using the stopping technique Don has told me about, and I hope that I did it alright. 

My camera died before the end of my ride, but I rode Gunny until she stopped exactly when I asked, no extra steps. I then got off and called it a day.

Click here to watch part 1

Click here to watch part 2

Click here to watch part 3

Click here to watch part 4

Click here to watch part 5

Rainy Riding

Well, today was drizzly and grey, so I didn't get a chance to take a video. I did ride though, and I'm proud that the rain didn't stop us. 

Started today with lunging, like always. I'm still noticing head tossing, ear pinning, and resistance when I ask her to go faster on the lunge. I'm not sure how to go about fixing that...she complies with what I say, but just is obviously unhappy with having to work.

After lunging, I stepped on and began to walk in a figure 8 around the cones, just like yesterday. I found some ground poles, and set up two, 2 feet apart from one another. She is doing fairly well with the figure eight, but she likes to turn either too sharply or not sharp enough. Usually, clockwise (to the right) she is either pretty good, or doesn't turn quite enough. I'd rather her not turn enough then drop her shoulder. Now, going counter clockwise (to the left) she gets stiff and resists my pressure for a while, once I apply enough, she'll usually turn 180 degrees fairly quickly. She'll drop her shoulder at times, and quite often speed up during those turns. I'm not quite sure why. I've heard horses are usually better on one side than the other. I think that's showing with Gunny. I've just got to be patient and keep working on things.

For just a little additional work, I would walk out of the circle and have her cross the two walk-over poles. The first time we crossed them, she clunked them with all four feet. She's stepped over things before on trail rides, so I was rather surprised. I tried it again, making sure my reins were loose and she cleared it completely, no problem. I did it about 3 more times (encorporating it into my figure 8 pattern) and she did fine, never hitting a pole again. She picked her feet up nicely, and went fairly slowly over them. There were a few times I felt her going too fast approaching the poles. I stopped her, let her relax, and then proceeded at a slower pace. 

Her "whoa's" were much better today. I only had to touch the reins a few times today to enforce the stop. I felt more confident with her stopping...she got anxious a few times and anticipated walking off again, where I just said "whoa" again, and she stopped and relaxed. I was very pleased.

I also had a neat experience when I put her back into the pasture. She's not usually a very affectionate horse, but when I turned her loose I just pet her head, neck, and withers. She went to go get a drink then came back to me. I gave her a little bit of attention and she seemed to enjoy it. I'm liking the bond we're creating, even though it's very slow. It made my heart smile to know that she enjoyed being with me a little bit.

Supposed to be mid 70's tomorrow, so hopefully it'll be a better day to ride and get a video. :)

More and more walking...

Yep, that about sums it up. Just did more walking today. I set up some cones as a guide so I could see my riding better with the camera. I started applying the indirect rein (Gunny was never very good at neck reining) today and she actually responded quite well. I had to use my leg quite often as well as a bump or tug on the bit a few times, but overall she did well. 

Click here for video one

Click here for video two

I cut out a lot of the riding in the middle because it was just the same old same old. She started to relax toward the end, and it seems to be happening quicker now. She did end up trotting twice, and I tried to remember to stop her with one rein. She did quite well with that as well. She wanted to keep walking off, and I just kept telling her to stand still. (I'm telling you to be lazy, horse! Just stand there!) Lol.

I also focused on sitting back a little more in the saddle. I think she responded better because of that as well.

Overall I am happy with our success today. :) More to come soon!

Lunging and More Riding

Today was very productive. I began by lunging Gunny at all three gaits. She was a little sassy at the jog and lope, but eventually got over it and relaxed. 

Click here to view a video of Gunny lunging

As you can see, she's coming along well with this. If you compare this video to the first lunging video, you can see the slight progress she's making. Her gaits are a bit more collected than they used to be.

After lunging, I practiced riding Gunny on a loose rein, at a walk, in a figure 8 pattern. At first she was a bit tense, but began to relax after a few minutes. I didn't realize it until almost the end of the ride, but I was leaning forward slightly, which I believe was causing her to want to go a bit faster. I was trying to stay off of her mouth except for to bump her the way I wanted to turn. I think me trying to keep my arms out forward to encourage a long frame made me subconsciously lean forward. Oops! That's something I have to work on. At the very end of the ride, I sat up and back slightly and I felt her relax and go slower. Once she relaxed her head and I felt her complying with my wishes, I got off and called it a day.

Click here for the ride today (Part 1)

Click here for the ride today (Part 2)

We still have lots of work to do, but it's good to see things get better, slowly. 

Trying to Ride on a Looser Rein

Well, this video was the first attempt to ride Gunny on a loose (not really) rein, in a small circle, only at the walk. You can tell both her and I were tense. She kept wanting to GO and that was making me frustrated. This was previous to Don telling me to just RELAX. My reins need to be more loose, and I need to not be so tense.

I have to realize, that all this time I have been teaching her to go faster, rather than just chill out. So she really is doing what I have been asking her, in this video. I just wanted to document where we're at at this point. I've ridden her once since this day, on a much looser rein...and she did quite well. She seemed a bit more relaxed. I spent more time grooming her and bonding with her, as well as just walking on the lunge line. She never got to that "worked up" point, and it showed under saddle. 

Click here to see the riding video

Okay, until next time!

Lunging

When I started working with Gunny, she had been trained to run around frantically on the lunge line. I was taught to "take the edge off" because that makes her tired and want to listen.

Well, that just made her more headstrong. It made her WANT to go fast, where I just wanted her to relax.

In my courses I was taught to lunge her slowly, asking for frequent stops. Whenever she decided to go faster, I'd ask her to stop, relax, and proceed again. Here is a video of me lunging her, after teaching her to go slowly.

Click to see a lunging video

She still is a bit feisty, where she tosses her head, and pins her ears if I ask her to move to the next gait. She's nowhere near perfect on the lunge line, but she's a lot more relaxed than she ever used to be. Please excuse the titles, as this was part of a project for "preparing for the first ride".

This video was from the end of April, so it's a little old. I will have to post a newer video of her working on the lunge line soon.

Gunny's Introduction

Let me briefly introduce you to my horse, Gunners Greatest, ("Gunny").  

Gunny is a 9 year old, bay tobiano, registered American Paint Horse. She stands at 15.1 hh and is built very stocky. Her previous owner, who sold her to me, originally bought her to be a roping horse. I have shown her in open shows, doing mostly novice showmanship, western horsemanship, and western pleasure. We actually have done quite well in those classes, but she was absolutely miserable at those shows. She's quite high energy and likes to move. She has a hard time standing still and doing things she doesn't want to do.

Gunny had about 60 days of "training" on her when I purchased her. Her previous owner, who was my "trainer" told me that she would help me work with her to get her up to par. Cathy (my trainer) has been a very successful horsewoman, taking a World Championship Friesian Saddleseat award, winning many roping competitions, many first place saddleseat ribbons at local shows, owns a grand champion halter horse, etc. The only stipulation is, I have been taught to force my mare into complying and working her hard to take her "edge" off. Gunny is an alpha mare and is very headstrong. Her original owner (Before Cathy owned her) would ride her and whenever she would balk, swish her tail, buck, or otherwise misbehave, the lady would get off, unsaddle her, and put her away. I think that will forever be ingrained in her mind, as she always has to test your authority.

Click here to see a video of Gunny with her previous training

As you can see, I have been taught that force is the only way to get my mare to go correctly. It's been four years of teaching her this, so it is all she knows. It's going to be a long process, but I know with hard work and dedication, there is hope for our partnership!

With the help of Don Blazer from www.horsecoursesonline.com, I am working toward rehabilitating her training into a form of non resistance and a quality partnership.

My first step is to go back to square one. Lunging before riding and teaching her to walk in a small circle on a loose rein. I have to teach her to think "slowly" and "relaxed". I do not want her stressed out, fighting me, nor the bit, and stopping only on a verbal command. 

I will document her progress via videos and text throughout the course of her training. I am looking forward to this new project!

I need to teach myself patience and not be in a hurry to move forward. 

My goal ultimately is to be able to walk, jog, and lope on a loose rein, collectedly speaking, stop on command, and have my horse not be totally miserable while doing so. I want to be able to do every maneuver in a snaffle bit, without the use of harsher bits, tie-downs, martingales, or other training devices. I want to have my horse ENJOY being with me and willingly do everything I ask.

Unfortunately, my barn owner and Cathy do not really agree with not using training devices or severe bits. It will be a challenge to do my own thing and not to seek their approval, like I once did. The success and achievement in itself will be more fulfilling than the approval, anyway.

Wish me luck!

Have a great day,

Meaghan