Yesterday was my opportunity to put the contents of the clinic to good use. Now I have been using the plan for many weeks now and getting good results, but the original lecture only lasted an hour and so did not have all the detail that the clinic provided. Being trained as an engineer and now being a professional pilot I find that my mind works best when I can really grasp the reasons behind anything I do. The clinic gave me the theoretical foundation I was partially missing. It is all in the Parelli training material I have watched over the last year but in disparate places. What the clinic did was pull all these pieces into a coherent whole. I guess I could have gotten there eventually on my own but it would have taken much longer.
The short term goal is to get both Filly and Billy to fully, in an LB sense, accept a human on the back and as a leader.
Ritchie was on hand to help during theses sessions which made things much easier.
First up Billy. To start with the training began in the box. I made a point of ensuring that he caught me. This may sound odd as he was in a box but if your horse turns its' back on you they have not caught you. I waited patiently at the door until Billy came to see what I was doing and put his nose on me. Patience was all it took, for maybe as much as a minute !!
I had watched Josh very carefully as he haltered his horse in the demo. He made sure the horse participated in the haltering by getting him to tip his nose towards Josh. It looked very calm and natural in contrast to my attempts with Filly, say, who would much rather eat hay. Billy cooperated nicely. Getting a good standstill is also important as the leader is the individual who controls movement of the other. When Billy tried to push past me to leave the box as soon as the door was open I backed him back in, and then made him stand there for several minutes, very gently correcting any attempt, even a forwards weight shift, to move. We then headed to the school. All the usual routine then followed (touch all over, place the feet, standstill). I then performed several online indirect/direct rein patterns and found that he was getting very light in feel. A couple of rope arounds to ensure that seeing me out of each eye in rapid succession did not cause a problem and we were ready for the main exercise of the day, mounting him. Billy is not ready for me sit astride yet but I wanted to make progress with lying over him. Being 17 hands this needs a mounting block as I am not and Olympic high jumper. To prepare him for me jumping around near him I first did lots of drunken man walk. This means walking in a very unsteady fashion towards his withers, gently bumping into them and giving him a scratch, whilst his responsibility is to stand still. Test past with flying colours.
Next I got on the mounting block and guided him with the lead rope and hind quarter yields towards me so that he was in the right position for me lay on him. Note I did not take the mounting block to him, he came to the right position when I was already on the block. This way it is his decision to stand next to a predator looming over him, not me suddenly popping up from the ground and imposing the position on him. Lots and lots of stroking ensued with Ritchie backing me up with another 12 foot rope attached to the halter in case he ran off. Slowly he relaxed and the head lowered. I gently eased some weight onto his back watching his head and ears. He looked a little unconfident so I came off again until he relaxed. Over the next 30 minutes or so I got more and more weight on his back. He did move off a few times and I hustled him back into position so that the right place was a place of comfort and everywhere else a place of commotion. On one escape attempt, at Ritchies suggestion, I in effect said "if you want to move your feet, let me help". We did several minutes of trotting circles and indirect/direct reins and magically arrived back at the mounting block in position in time for a rest. Great idea of Ritchies and things went smoother thereafter. I never got all my weight on him, but about 80% I would guess and more importantly he could see my head out of one eye and my legs with the other. He relaxed enough to swing his head round and very gently lick the back of my knees. Quit while your ahead !! Interestingly he relaxed much more when Ritchie took her rope off and sat at the school edge. Maybe the presence of two predators was too much for him and made him feel claustrophobic.
Filly. Quick description as the post is getting a bit long, but then it was an exciting day. I had been having lots of problems with Filly's touch all over, especially in the flank and udder area so this was what I wished to concentrate on. James' had really instilled the need for touch all over and I realised I had not been particular enough. I made good progress by just being very persistent and keeping my hand in the offending areas until she had stopped moving and trying to cow kick me, and then kept my hands there even longer. If she tried to move away I just followed until she stopped, which was exciting ! After several minutes of this (when I am training time means little and I loose track) she was a much more relaxed Filly. Amy is due to ride Filly soon and wishes to use a saddle so we needed to get her accustomed to it. We used Bonitaos which fitted tolerably well to get her used to a full saddle with flapping stirrups. I made her move around a lot with it on her back, circling at walk trot and canter. Canter bothered her for a bit as the stirrups flapped but soon she ignored them. We then did a nice liberty session where I could make her move even quicker with no problems at all.
I stepped up into the stirrup several times to let her get used to the new sensation. A bit unconfident to start, but soon she got the hang of it. Another good note to finish on !!
Sorry for the long post, but it was a good day for me and I wanted to record as much of it as reasonable so I can look back on it when we get into darker times.
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