Finally I was fit enough and had Ritchie around on the same day. Time to put another ride on Billy.
Again I religiously followed the plan (see link on right). Everything went really really well. In the prepare to ride section I did loads of zone 3 driving again, which was very relaxed and confident. This gave me confidence in turn that the riding section would go well. Just to check his tendency to buck I asked him to go over a very small jump with the saddle on, which he popped over like a dream. He is a bit clumsy with his feet still and did knock it down on the second attempt, but unfazed still continued to jump after this knock. On the circle his direction changes are becoming amazing, so light in the porcupine game with the halter. Lateral flexions were added to the pre-flight check stage, and are as a matter of course now.
He willingly came up to the mounting block and stood there very calmly with almost no input from me. Mounted from the right side this time as that is what he voluntarily offered. Stepped up and down a few times keeping all my weight in one stiirrup. I don't want a repeat of the saddle slipping I had on Bonitao recently, it hurts !
Once on we stood still for a few seconds and relaxed before I asked for lateral flexions. As on the ground very light.
Asking Billy to move forwards has always been a challenge, so just to test his confidence Ritchie lead him around the school with a 22 foot rope with me acting as passenger. No problems at all. Lead rope off and I asked for forwards. Small buck, and I mean small. Direct rein to unstick his front feet and I get a few paces then stuck again. More direct rein to get him moving again, stuck again. Try indirect rein, a bit difficult to get, a few paces of walk and then stuck again. This is a repeat of previous sessions and is getting us nowhere but frustrated.
Remembering the phrase "If you always do what you have always done you'll always get what you've always gotten" I decided we need a completely new tactic.
To start I got Ritchie to walk around in front of us, no lead rope. He willingly followed her with ears pricked and confident. Snag was ears were pointing at her not me. He was in effect ignoring me. Could I use this following behaviour to my advantage and get him to listen to me at least a bit.
I asked Ritchie for a savvy string. In Pats level 2 freestyle video the phases he uses to get forward motion where 1) Lift up reins and extend arm forwards 2) Smile with all four cheeks 3) Squeeze with the legs 4) Smootch a kiss noise 5) Swing a savvy string around his back so it hits him not the horse.
Well phase 1 to 4 were not working and I had been a bit reluctant to use phase 5 on a green horse, but then his Standstill section is really good now with way more commotion than a savvy string being waved about. With Ritchie in front of me ready to lead off I went up the phases and we had motion with a small buck at phase 5. Ritchie walking on ahead kept the walk going. We did an entire circuit of the school in this fashion with the odd string swing to keep things going. He did do another few light bucks, but soon settled down. After a while I got Ritchie to stop and just continued on past. A few sticky spots around the school where he tended to stop, one stop for a very relaxed poop and we were confidently walking the rail. We must have done 3 or 4 laps on our own the last ones with a nicely lowered head and relaxation. Not that I was looking at his head of course, I was maintaining a strong focus in the direction I was going (that should avoid a fine for not focussing from James Roberts next time I see him!). The advantage of a training partner is, if they can read horses, they can give verbal feedback on progress.
Finally I turned down the length of the school to stop in the middle and sighed to a stop, at which point he gave a small buck. After all this time getting him going he was annoyed when we stopped. I could not allow this so asked for a few more steps of walk, sighed to a stop again (no pressure on the reins at all). On stopping he gave a huge adrenalin release snort. My cue to get off to reward the relaxation. After dismounting I quickly released the girth as a further comfort giving reward and made a good fuss of him.
In many ways I would count this as his first real ride where he accepted a rider. Before we were really in the accept a human phase working towards accept a rider, but not there. As a result this is a real big deal for the both of us, I hope that it continues as easily.
Again I religiously followed the plan (see link on right). Everything went really really well. In the prepare to ride section I did loads of zone 3 driving again, which was very relaxed and confident. This gave me confidence in turn that the riding section would go well. Just to check his tendency to buck I asked him to go over a very small jump with the saddle on, which he popped over like a dream. He is a bit clumsy with his feet still and did knock it down on the second attempt, but unfazed still continued to jump after this knock. On the circle his direction changes are becoming amazing, so light in the porcupine game with the halter. Lateral flexions were added to the pre-flight check stage, and are as a matter of course now.
He willingly came up to the mounting block and stood there very calmly with almost no input from me. Mounted from the right side this time as that is what he voluntarily offered. Stepped up and down a few times keeping all my weight in one stiirrup. I don't want a repeat of the saddle slipping I had on Bonitao recently, it hurts !
Once on we stood still for a few seconds and relaxed before I asked for lateral flexions. As on the ground very light.
Asking Billy to move forwards has always been a challenge, so just to test his confidence Ritchie lead him around the school with a 22 foot rope with me acting as passenger. No problems at all. Lead rope off and I asked for forwards. Small buck, and I mean small. Direct rein to unstick his front feet and I get a few paces then stuck again. More direct rein to get him moving again, stuck again. Try indirect rein, a bit difficult to get, a few paces of walk and then stuck again. This is a repeat of previous sessions and is getting us nowhere but frustrated.
Remembering the phrase "If you always do what you have always done you'll always get what you've always gotten" I decided we need a completely new tactic.
To start I got Ritchie to walk around in front of us, no lead rope. He willingly followed her with ears pricked and confident. Snag was ears were pointing at her not me. He was in effect ignoring me. Could I use this following behaviour to my advantage and get him to listen to me at least a bit.
I asked Ritchie for a savvy string. In Pats level 2 freestyle video the phases he uses to get forward motion where 1) Lift up reins and extend arm forwards 2) Smile with all four cheeks 3) Squeeze with the legs 4) Smootch a kiss noise 5) Swing a savvy string around his back so it hits him not the horse.
Well phase 1 to 4 were not working and I had been a bit reluctant to use phase 5 on a green horse, but then his Standstill section is really good now with way more commotion than a savvy string being waved about. With Ritchie in front of me ready to lead off I went up the phases and we had motion with a small buck at phase 5. Ritchie walking on ahead kept the walk going. We did an entire circuit of the school in this fashion with the odd string swing to keep things going. He did do another few light bucks, but soon settled down. After a while I got Ritchie to stop and just continued on past. A few sticky spots around the school where he tended to stop, one stop for a very relaxed poop and we were confidently walking the rail. We must have done 3 or 4 laps on our own the last ones with a nicely lowered head and relaxation. Not that I was looking at his head of course, I was maintaining a strong focus in the direction I was going (that should avoid a fine for not focussing from James Roberts next time I see him!). The advantage of a training partner is, if they can read horses, they can give verbal feedback on progress.
Finally I turned down the length of the school to stop in the middle and sighed to a stop, at which point he gave a small buck. After all this time getting him going he was annoyed when we stopped. I could not allow this so asked for a few more steps of walk, sighed to a stop again (no pressure on the reins at all). On stopping he gave a huge adrenalin release snort. My cue to get off to reward the relaxation. After dismounting I quickly released the girth as a further comfort giving reward and made a good fuss of him.
In many ways I would count this as his first real ride where he accepted a rider. Before we were really in the accept a human phase working towards accept a rider, but not there. As a result this is a real big deal for the both of us, I hope that it continues as easily.
1 comment:
Success and progress feels good, doesn't it? :-)
Petra Christensen
Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
Parelli Central
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