We went to James Roberts again yesterday for another dose of spectating. It is amazing what can be learned by just watching. Now I have a good idea about the big picture I am homing in on the details. To do this it is necessary to watch very intently to pick up on the slightest piece of horse behaviour and James' response. Yesterday was a particularly fortunate day to attend as he worked with one horse which was, in character, the spitting image of Filly and another very like Billy. If Filly knew where I was getting all my new tactics from I think she would be very upset with him !!
At the risk of incurring James' wrath (or at least a fine) I will mention the past. Two days ago I rode on Ritchies' horse, Bonitao. Trotting the rail was going very well. Unbidden he tipped up into a canter, then spooked. I was just bending him to a stop when the world turned upside down, the saddle slipped an I landed squarely on my back (still holding the rein I might add). A bit sore we quickly readjusted the saddle, tightened it a bit more and I returned to trotting the rail. All went well until he cantered again and once again I bent him to a stop and the saddle slipped. Landed on exactly the same part of my back a second time a bit winded. Now having a bit of a thick head I got on again but was intelligent enough to do away with the stirrups. Feeling much more secure I went back to trotting the rail with lots of small circles at each corner until Bonitao calmed down, relaxed and gave a nice adrenalin releasing snort. At the center of the school I finally dismounted gracefully, but B was a little right brained about me getting off. Can't blame him the previous two occasions were not exactly calming. So I spent some time mounting / dismounting until he was again confident and we could put him away.
Investigation of the girth revealed that the elastic could stretch up to a total of 6 inches. This is fine with Ritchies' light frame riding him but with my greater weight the added torque started a slip, the girth stretched and so it continued until I was dumped. Needless to say we have now bought a new girth and I am a very sore and a bit stiff!
Additionally I now see the wisdom of mounting from the ground whenever possible. If had had done this without Ritchie holding the other side I would have found the saddle rotated under my weight and could have sorted it out before falling off. In future I will always try to do this, at least for the first ride or two on a new horse/saddle/girth combination to ensure it will not slip.
With this slight impediment I have not tried to ride Billy for the last few days as I am not flexible enough to move with him and don't want to interfere with his movement at this early stage. However I did have a nice online and first proper liberty session with him tonight.
The online section was largely played with a very very small jump. As with Filly a few nights ago I was using the jump in a similar way to a question box. I had been having a few problems with gait transitions online and needed a way to get his attention. We started with some ordinary circling game, which is getting very good. By travelling the circle I presented the jump to him with no real expectation as to what he would do with it. Initially he just jumped it. After a time just before the jump I started to ask for a transition to halt. Soon I had him stopping just before the jump. I then had several choices. Ask him over it, sidepass around it or turn round and go the other way. Thus I made a game out of the jump and got him asking me questions as we approached it, "what do you want this time". We also got to practice sideways game around the jump which reinforced the driving games. On a few occasions I managed to ask for just the front feet over which built confidence in having the pole under his belly. It is amazing how a simple obstacle such as this can a) give so many teaching opportunities and b) make the game way more fun for both of us.
Once we had this going well I took a chance and removed the rope. I had done one brief session of Liberty with Billy before but this was the first long session attempted. It was mostly a sucess. We started with YoYo, sending him out and drawing him back. Getting this straight was a chellenge but we got there. Next was circling game. This started well, but I played with it too long and it broke down requiring some "Catching game" to get him back.
One of the beauties of Natural Horsemanship is that there are so many tools in the bag to fix the odd mistake like this, the trick is picking the appropriate one. After a few more nice circles I switched to Stick to Me game which went very well.
One thing that was very interesting to me was that at Liberty, when the circling game broke down, Billy was very happy to go and stand at the spooky end of the school. I took advantage of this, trying to plan for the future, by letting him stay there longer than I should for the Catch me Game. The idea was to make this area a haven of calm. Time will tell if it works.
Quick note about Filly. We continue to play in the field on the 45 foot line (which I have nearly made friends with !!). I am being much more particular if she tries to invade my space about getting her out of it. Even on a circle I am watchful of the shoulder arcing towards me and drive it away, normally with a stern look, but if that fails a quick throw of some of the spare rope at zone 2/3 does the trick. It is starting to bear fruit with regard to the respect she gives me but, as a very nice liberty session in the indoor school proved, not at the expense of rapport.
At the risk of incurring James' wrath (or at least a fine) I will mention the past. Two days ago I rode on Ritchies' horse, Bonitao. Trotting the rail was going very well. Unbidden he tipped up into a canter, then spooked. I was just bending him to a stop when the world turned upside down, the saddle slipped an I landed squarely on my back (still holding the rein I might add). A bit sore we quickly readjusted the saddle, tightened it a bit more and I returned to trotting the rail. All went well until he cantered again and once again I bent him to a stop and the saddle slipped. Landed on exactly the same part of my back a second time a bit winded. Now having a bit of a thick head I got on again but was intelligent enough to do away with the stirrups. Feeling much more secure I went back to trotting the rail with lots of small circles at each corner until Bonitao calmed down, relaxed and gave a nice adrenalin releasing snort. At the center of the school I finally dismounted gracefully, but B was a little right brained about me getting off. Can't blame him the previous two occasions were not exactly calming. So I spent some time mounting / dismounting until he was again confident and we could put him away.
Investigation of the girth revealed that the elastic could stretch up to a total of 6 inches. This is fine with Ritchies' light frame riding him but with my greater weight the added torque started a slip, the girth stretched and so it continued until I was dumped. Needless to say we have now bought a new girth and I am a very sore and a bit stiff!
Additionally I now see the wisdom of mounting from the ground whenever possible. If had had done this without Ritchie holding the other side I would have found the saddle rotated under my weight and could have sorted it out before falling off. In future I will always try to do this, at least for the first ride or two on a new horse/saddle/girth combination to ensure it will not slip.
With this slight impediment I have not tried to ride Billy for the last few days as I am not flexible enough to move with him and don't want to interfere with his movement at this early stage. However I did have a nice online and first proper liberty session with him tonight.
The online section was largely played with a very very small jump. As with Filly a few nights ago I was using the jump in a similar way to a question box. I had been having a few problems with gait transitions online and needed a way to get his attention. We started with some ordinary circling game, which is getting very good. By travelling the circle I presented the jump to him with no real expectation as to what he would do with it. Initially he just jumped it. After a time just before the jump I started to ask for a transition to halt. Soon I had him stopping just before the jump. I then had several choices. Ask him over it, sidepass around it or turn round and go the other way. Thus I made a game out of the jump and got him asking me questions as we approached it, "what do you want this time". We also got to practice sideways game around the jump which reinforced the driving games. On a few occasions I managed to ask for just the front feet over which built confidence in having the pole under his belly. It is amazing how a simple obstacle such as this can a) give so many teaching opportunities and b) make the game way more fun for both of us.
Once we had this going well I took a chance and removed the rope. I had done one brief session of Liberty with Billy before but this was the first long session attempted. It was mostly a sucess. We started with YoYo, sending him out and drawing him back. Getting this straight was a chellenge but we got there. Next was circling game. This started well, but I played with it too long and it broke down requiring some "Catching game" to get him back.
One of the beauties of Natural Horsemanship is that there are so many tools in the bag to fix the odd mistake like this, the trick is picking the appropriate one. After a few more nice circles I switched to Stick to Me game which went very well.
One thing that was very interesting to me was that at Liberty, when the circling game broke down, Billy was very happy to go and stand at the spooky end of the school. I took advantage of this, trying to plan for the future, by letting him stay there longer than I should for the Catch me Game. The idea was to make this area a haven of calm. Time will tell if it works.
Quick note about Filly. We continue to play in the field on the 45 foot line (which I have nearly made friends with !!). I am being much more particular if she tries to invade my space about getting her out of it. Even on a circle I am watchful of the shoulder arcing towards me and drive it away, normally with a stern look, but if that fails a quick throw of some of the spare rope at zone 2/3 does the trick. It is starting to bear fruit with regard to the respect she gives me but, as a very nice liberty session in the indoor school proved, not at the expense of rapport.
1 comment:
I am starting to catch up on your blogs... Hope your back will be back to it's normal function soon :-)
Petra Christensen
Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
Parelli Central
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