A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Last Friday night MIL came over and we went for a ride. I saddled up the old lady and she saddled up Sis. We rode down behind the house where the fields are open and unplanted and just let loose. It was such a wonderful feeling for both of us to just let go and run. I’m not so sure the horses would agree however Black wasn’t too fond of letting Sis get in front of her. We rode into the timber and stopped for a brief moment to check for mushrooms. I found a few but the horses found a swarm of mosquitoes so we decided to head back.

Sunday my father, BIL, nephew, Chase and I went mushroom hunting. My Father, BIL and nephew rode down on the four-wheeler so Chase and I doubled up on Sis. Chase and I had a good time but he doesn’t think it is very comfortable to ride behind the saddle. I’m not sure if Sis has ever ridden double before but she did a great job.

Monday night I decided to get Miss Cat out. We did some LFR Stage 1, LFR Stage 2, the outback exercise, yhq stage 1, yfq, circle driving and some desensitizing. She very much wants to please but I find we end up fighting a lot. I’m sure it is me so I’m trying to “chill” and just go with it. During LFR she has an energetic departure but she also has a lot of draw when I yield her hq. Where our first argument comes into play is during the outback exercise when I try to back her back to the outside of the circle. She tries to take off vs. backing which usually gets a “fight” (for a lack of better words) started between the two of us.

LFR Stage 2 she is doing awesome. She was starting to get nervous when I would move the stick and speed up but she was also anticipating so I spent some time just moving the stick back and forth until she relaxed a bit. She really didn’t relax a lot but she did relax some.

During the desensitizing w/the stick/string she is getting much better. She usually flinches once or twice when I whack the ground but she doesn’t move. By the time I go to the other side she’s standing quietly.

YHQ Stage 1 she is doing very well. I just need to refine it a bit and get her to plant her foot more. I didn’t push it as she does have yet another injury on her front left leg.

YFQ was very ugly and I’m glad no one was around to see it. I’m hoping it is a bit better tonight when I try again.

Circle driving made her nervous. She was afraid she was going to get whacked with the stick so I changed things up and put the string on my stick and “flogged her with kindness” as she went around the circle until she relaxed.

I ended the night by clipping her. She HATES the clippers so I’ve decided to clip a bit each night after working her when she’s dog tired. It seemed to work well as I was able to clip a bridle path, her jaw line and muzzle, the exterior of her ears and part of her legs.

Last night I rode over to drill practice with MIL. I wasn’t sure if I would ride since my last ride on Cat was 03/16 but took my saddle so I could at least work her in it. I saddled her up as soon as we got there and headed to the arena to do some LFR. I didn’t stay on stage 1 very long as I didn’t want to “fight” the backing with an arena full of horses. The sand was nice and deep so she had to work twice as hard. Her turns weren’t quite as precise as I would have liked but she was listening to me and trying. I can barely move in the arena so I decided to cut her some slack.

I’m not sure how long I did LFR Stage 2 but it was long enough to make her want to die. She was pretty warm and when I drew her into me I don’t think she could have run fast enough. We left the arena so the drill team could run their routine.

I took her behind the trailers and did some desensitizing with the stick/string and then flapped the stirrups. She was good as gold so I decided to go ahead and mount up (ride #18). I rode her in small circles around the parking lot until I felt comfortable and then we ventured off. We went out of the arena grounds and onto the road. She was a bit nervous but not bad. I had forgotten how fast the cars drive on that road so I was thankful she didn’t mind them. She called a few times for Sis but she did keep moving. When we got to the end of the road I turned her around and headed back. The team was still practicing so I dismounted and let her eat grass.

During their break I mounted back up and went into the arena. To my surprise Cat is ok with me opening the gate while mounted. We went into the arena and trotted a bit but we weren’t able to stay in long before the team ran again. I decided this time to stay on her and just “sit”. I don’t do that often so it was good for her. It took her a little adjusting to figure out how to maintain her balance while just standing. She tried for grass once but once she was told no she left it.

When the team was finally finished we went back into the arena. The sun was quickly disappearing but I wanted to lope her before leaving. She did pin her ears at a few horses but I’m going to ignore that for now. I think if I start to pick on everything I will create more issues. If she still pins after she’s been ridden around other horses consistently then I will get after her but I don’t think she will.

Once the arena was free I asked her to lope. I didn’t do a bunch of ORS but I did temporarily shut her down after a few strides the first two times and then I let her go. She was literally running circles around Sis. She broke a few times and once or twice I had to whack her. Each whack was followed with a small kick up. Once she was loping out freely and away from Sis I shut her down and dismounted. She really wasn’t arguing about that.

Our high today is 67* but it won’t be raining so I’m hoping to get just one more day in on her tonight so I can get my three days in a row.

It's about time!

Sunday I was finally able to play with the ponies! I loaded up Lu and Abby and we headed over to the indoor to play.

I had no intentions of riding since it had been so long since I’d done anything with them. It was a good thing too! First rule of winter in Iowa – make sure you have a padlock that won’t freeze on your tack compartment of your trailer! Luckily my stick & string and a hoof pick was in the truck so I was at least able to pick out their feet.

Abby unloaded a lot faster then I would have liked but unfortunately the drive was icey and LFR just didn’t seem like a good idea so I reloaded her and unloaded her one more time but didn’t push it. She was nervous but not in the cracked out type of way. When I opened the garage door (to get into the barn) she drew herself back and her eyes got big but she kept her feet still. I walked her into the barn and tied her up and headed out to get Lucy.

Lucy was a bit impatient as she wanted to get to Abby. She had no fear of the barn but she’s been there before too. After I picked their feet we headed into the arena. I tied up Lu and started with Abby. I walked her around first so she could check things out and then headed to the middle of the arena to do some desensitizing. The cats kept trying to get the end of my rope and she wasn’t sure what to think of that but she did keep her feet still.

We did the following exercises –
Desensitizing to string
She did just fine
Desensitizing to stick & string
No problems
Flexing
She is very soft. I had to bump a few times to get her to give but once she decides to give she gives all of the way.
Yielding HQ
She tried. I’m having issues here and need to find out what I’m doing. I always do better w/o the halter/lead.
Yielding FQ
She bends her head around to her belly (like flexing) to avoid the stick but eventually does yield her FQ
LFR Stage 1
Much better then before. I did get some attitude when I asked for a lope but not nearly as much as normal. She kept an nice arch on the line and moved when asked.
Backing Stage 1
Good. She picked up on the concept fairly quickly and really hustled when asked
Desensitizing w/the stick & string (slapping the ground)
Good. I had low to medium energy but this normally sends her over the edge so we found a starting point.

After that she was pretty warm so I tied her up and moved on to Lu. She fell asleep during the desensitizing exercises. She anticipated the yielding the HQ exercise and she moves faster then I can on the yielding the FQ exercise. Flexing we need to work on. She comes around and she’s soft but she’s in no hurry at all.

LFR stage 1 went well. She trotted out nicely and when asked to lope she only kicked up her heels once. She’s still having problems staying on the same lead (she cross fires) but her balance is getting better.

When I’d yield her HQ to stop she wanted to anticipate going the other direction so I would take a long pause before going the other direction. So then when I’d stop her she’d back up (I don’t like that either) so I started sending her, yielding her HQ and then drawing her to me. Backing her back out to the circle and then going the other direction. She was starting looking forward to coming to me which I like because she’s a very antisocial horse.

Then we did LFR Stage 2. When we started Lu turned so fast that she darn near tripper herself up with her front feet. I remembered what CA told one of the gals in the NE clinic & I slowed myself down and thought more about the steps instead of what Lu was doing and her turns were much better. She was smoother and not in as much of a hurry nor was she as pissy. LFR stage 2 seems to ramp her up and LFR stage 1 seems to make her dull. She needs a happy medium so I played between LFR stage 1/drawing her to me and LFR stage 2.

After that I did some backing and focused on getting her to back straight since she’ll back fast. She wasn’t a happy camper about that but did it. It probably was not to CA’s satisfaction but it was a good start for us.

I then tied her up and hopped on Abby bareback while LLL cooled down. Abby was very soft in the halter but a bit nervous so we did some ORS until she relaxed and then we loaded up and headed home.

The weather is going to turn bad this week but hopefully the roads will be cleared off by Sat. or Sun. so I can go again.

Our Starting Point - Part 2

Yielding the QH and FQ. I always seem to yield the HQ better off-line then I do on-line. I see her front feet are still moving. She does better yielding her FQ without the stick which is why I dropped it.



LFR Stage 1. This is the one you need to turn the volume up on if you want a giggle. Lucy was well…………..being Lucy. Is it sad that I get a chuckle out of this behavior? I don’t see it as disrespectful as much as a young horse feeling her oats on the end of the line. It’s been a LONG time since we’ve done LFR Stage 1. She’s normally not this full of it.



And just for S & G’s I took a quick LFR Stage 2 video just to show you how athletic this little fart is! We don’t do stage 2 because I was trying to get her better (less reactive) at stage one and well………you know how far I got on that.

I’m dismissing her ear pinning when she turns. I don’t think it’s any different then when Mindy does it when CA turns her. I think its Lucy’s way of concentrating. It’s that “cutting” look.

ETA: Yes I am asking her to turn at the same spot so that it is easier for my camera "woman" to get the video & so that you could hopefully see her facial expressions (didn't figure you could see the pissed off look she gives me if her butt was pointed towards the camera).



Once we were done messing around I decided to lay Lucy down. Here are a few pics from that.

Meet “dead horse”





She hates having her nose messed with when she’s down.



Good girl!



No, she’s not eating. She’s just to lazy to pick up her head.




Tweets! Have you got tweets?



I still think she’s half donkey some days!

Our Starting Point - Part 1

I’m going to break this up into two posts because I’m having problems with PFI and I don’t want to lose what I have.

Over the last few years I’ve been on a handful of discussion boards. What I noticed quickly was that those who were the first to offer advice/critique of videos/pictures (even if they weren’t asked for it) that were posted were those who never posted any videos/pictures of themselves.

I’ve been hesitant to post video because I hate being judged. I’m not perfect in my horse training skills and I’ve never claimed to be but what I do seems to work for me. Can I improve? Most definitely! That being said I have a greater amount of respect for you guys and your opinions which is why I’m posting this here.

John, after following your blog with Jessie I decided I needed to video my starting point with Lucy. I really want to challenge myself to work with her and get her where she needs to be. I really want to do this with all of them but we’ll start with Lucy.

Here are a few pictures of the princess. She’s really starting to fill out and mature (physically). It’s hard to notice when you see her everyday but she’s finally thickening up!

She's standing downhill in this one.



I love this pic!





Her normal "goober" look.



Last night I had my sister take some video of me doing some of the groundwork lessons with her to establish my starting point. It’s a bit shaky at times and my niece is in the background riding (turn the volume up for her commentary – it’s pretty funny) but it will do.

Credit needs to go where credit is due though as Jaimee did a lot of groundwork with her prior to her coming up her and if you look back I really haven’t done much.

For you reference- MFF = monkey f*cking a football

In this video I was desensitizing her left side to the rope. Yes – I’m rope challenged! Can you hear my niece? She’s learned that if she takes Nikki to the bottom of the hill and she’ll trot up to the top of it. She cracks me up.



I’m desensitizing her right side in this video. Take note that my left shoulder blade has been very sore again and it feels like someone is jabbing a knife in it every time I move it so while I typically look like a MFF on my left side this is a bit to the extreme.



Here is my desensitizing to the stick and string. Doesn’t she look frightened? Actually she needs to quit looking away but we weren’t fixing problems last night we were showing where we are at for starters. When I was on her right side she was a bit nervous with me whacking the ground in the end only because she got whacked a few times (oops). I need to work on my left side a bit more.