A chilled Filly

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Survival

On a forum I frequent we have a lively discussion on horse behaviour going. I have just written a piece following the question "So then what would they say the horse's first duty to itself is?"

Survival is of course the first duty of any organism. In fact survival of its' genes is maybe even more important, which results in altruism in some species (see http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism-biological/ for a fascinating if tough read).
Further googling produced this paper on altruism in horses http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347200915252 So it would appear that for stallions altruism does not play a part in horse behaviour. Thus we are left with survival and the ability to pass on its' genes as the prime motivator in a horse.
An interesting question is then what behaviours are important in the horse in order to ensure its' survival. Pat gives them as "Safety, comfort, play, water, food". We then need to try and understand why these are selected and why in this order.

Safety is self explanatory. Without safety then the horse dies and does not reproduce.
The subsequent two items, comfort and play, I would argue are there to ensure safety.

Comfort for a horse is to be found in the company of others. Other horses preferentially but the horse is nearly unique as a prey animal in finding comfort with other species. Donkeys, alpacas, dogs and even humans (as long as the last two do not display predatory behaviour). Thus comfort implies a preference to being a member of a herd. Even non-breeding stallions form bachelor groups .

Play. In order to build and maintain relationships within the group play is used. This can include mutual grooming (friendly game) or any of the other games we learn about. Play will also be instrumental in determining ones place within the group and determine who will lead it. Thus play is important in order to become and remain a member of a herd, leading to comfort and ultimately safety.

Water and food I will lump into one category. They are well down the list as horses can go at least a day without water, and several days without food. They would not survive many hours in the wild without the herd however so the top three categories are much more important in their desire to survive and reproduce.
 

Monday 26 March 2012

Lesson with Larisa Part 2

Just as a quick aside I left the last session having described bending the horse to a halt in a power position. Lucky I trained the muscle memories. Riding last night Bonitao had a little spook. Not a bolt, just a spook of about half the length of the school. Muscle memory for me kicked in, I grabbed the horn of the saddle and with the free hand bent him gently to a halt. This stuff works if practised perfectly under the watchful eye of an instructor. Thanks Larisa !
Back to the lesson.
Having got a really good set of breaks we moved onto "indirect to direct rein" turns. For this I continued to follow the rail and then asked for and indirect rein turn towards the rail, continuing the turn until we were facing away for the rail (270 degrees or more in other words) then shifted to a direct rein to re-establish us on the track going in the original direction. This was a great exercise for body position and fluidity. The real training coming in the transition from indirect to direct rein as I allowed my body to "open up" in the new direction and found focus back along the rail. The aim is, as on the equivalent ground exercise, to get nice hind leg cross throughs on the indirect section followed by a nice front leg cross over on the direct section. Thanks to all the training of this on the ground Bonitao was extremely familiar with the pattern, it just needed me to ask in the right way at the right time to get a nice pattern. Principle number 7 ! (Time I left you to look these up, but this one is "Horses teach Humans and Humans teach Horses")
Now came the hard parts of the lesson. To start we did a weave pattern using 4 cones, but only with one rein. Thus for every weave I had to change the side the rein was on by throwing the loop past his nose. (Practised on the ground first to ensure Bonitao was happy with it !). The coordination for this was very tricky to start, and timing was everything. I found that once he was going in the right direction I just trusted that he would follow my focus and at the earliest opportunity did the rein switch. The point of this exercise is many fold. To start it makes me very fluid in my body whilst riding, gives me a focus so that whilst I was active I could relax completely, thus giving Bonitao a feeling of neutral from me until I asked for the next direction change. It is also a great exercise for balance as I needed to wave my arms around a fair bit to get the rope to loop past his nose all while sitting back in the saddle. Should a lean forward, even slightly, and dump my weight on to Bontiaos' front legs he just stops, instant feedback. It did not take long to get this going at walk, but then the fun started at trot. There was even less time to make the switch and we disappeared out of the pattern to explore other parts of the school on several occasions. Slowly my timing got better. After a good pattern and with Ritchie and Larisa getting tired from laughing we moved onto other things.
I was now given two reins ! This was done by the simple expedient of tying the end of the lead rope back to the halter.
The next pattern was "Bowtie". This was again on the rail but with two cones spaced about 20 paces apart and 5 or 6 paces away from the rail. The idea was to follow the rail then ask for an indirect rein away from the rail, around the cone and back straight towards the rail. Then ask for an direct rein back along the rail towards the other cone. Repeat on arriving there. Again we started at walk but quickly transitioned to trot. This was again all about getting body position right. But right for what ? It turns out that the bit where you go from indirect to direct rein puts your body into perfect position for a transition to canter. I was surprised when Larisa said that I should now ask for canter between the two cones, back to trot for the indirect rein then canter to the next cone. Easier said than done. It took many attempts to get just one canter transition and she required three before she would let me stop. We got there in the end, but some of the canters did turn into more explorations of the school rather than staying on the pattern.
After 2 hours of intensive lesson, 1 1/2 hours riding we were done (in). Great fun, real progress, some reassurance that I was not as bad at riding as I thought and not too many sore muscles. Not a bad day really.
Since then I have ridden twice more, concentrating on the one rein patterns to get them, and my body, really fluid. I know from my days of teaching people to fly that getting these basics really nailed will enable me to progress faster than trying more advanced manoeuvres too soon. Once I am managing to perform these basics and chat at the same time (maintaining focus of course), then I will be confident that I can move on with muscle memory working for me instead of brain memory. For those who want to explore this idea more thoroughly google "motor engrams", a topic I studied particularly for gliding, and believe it or not, rock climbing.

Sunday 25 March 2012

Lesson with Larisa Part 1

A few days ago I had my first Parelli riding lesson on Bonitao. Nervous times. The good news was that having moved it could now take place in the enormous Shana indoor school.
I wanted to concentrate on one rein and freestyle riding. As I have mentioned before I am going right back to basics to re-program some of those old muscle memories to become more effective and automatically encode the principle of Natural Horsemanship.
First of course we had to get Bonitao ready to ride. I still religiously follow the framework invented by Pat Parelli and as set out for me by James Roberts (see Training Plan Website link on right). These days, with Bonitao, and depending on what the riding goal is the plan does not take too long to finish. In fact it only takes around ten minutes more than a more traditional "saddle up and get on" approach. The difference is that each preparatory stage is graded for quality, all the way down to picking out the hooves in the "Place Feet Down" section. If the quality is too low then it is fixed prior to moving on.
Once on board we went straight into one rein riding. Again the plan was followed so we started with "Lateral Flexion" This is still a little sticky with Bonitao, especially to the right. I had been softening it up by asking for right lateral flexion with a nice porcupine with my right hand (steady pressure to the right on the halter) and then if needed backing it up with a driving pressure with the end of the rein on the left side of his neck. Larisa said this was "OKish" but wanted to see more porcupine to get the response. If necessary I was to "bump" the rope to get more response. This did seem to soften up the response a bit and it will be interesting to see how this will progress. So far I would give him 6 out of 10 for a lateral flexion to the right.
We then moved onto indirect rein to check out my body posture and timing. This got quite technical with my having to time the ask with the phase of movement of inside hind leg. This goes to the heart of negative reinforcement again. Apply the pressure and at the moment the response is offered (in this case the correct swing of the inside hind leg) release the pressure. We were also working hard on isolating the hind legs so that there was no drift forwards or backwards of the front legs. Thus not only was I having to time the cues for the indirect rein but also be aware and correct any forward or back drift. Tough, but then fortunately Larisa is a tough instructor (just what I like).
Having got the lateral flexion and indirect rein working to a reasonable level we now proved I had some brakes avaialable and so could start forward walk. This time the task was to improve my muscle memory for a bend to the halt stop. The principle here is that to stop a horse it is not wise to pull on both reins (part of the reason I am riding with just the one). Much better is to relax all ones body energy and using just one rein bend the horse into a lateral flexion and slowly drift to a halt. To really ensure compliance we did this whilst following the rail around the school and bent towards the wall. At the same time I hunkered down, grabbed the horn on the western saddle and adopted a relaxed power position. The aim of this exercise is to develop muscle memory in me to stop a runaway horse. It is good to have a set of automatic responses to deal with such a situation rather than have to think it through whist in a panic !
To describe the whole lesson in one would be a rather long post, so I'll leave this one here. There was a nice touch from Larisa at the end however. When I got off after 1 1/2 hours I mentioned that this was my first riding lesson for around 32 years. She then announced that she was not born when I had had it. Thanks Larisa.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Sudden insights

I find that when I reading around the subject of horsemanship I get sudden flashes of insight as things connect in my mind and a larger picture becomes visible, like starting to see the picture on a jigsaw puzzle.
I am still ploughing through "Equitation Science" and whilst it is all interesting there are certain concepts that just spring off the page and hit me between the eyes. The particular one I am going to discuss today is about spooking and riding with a contact.
To start with the book explains the nature of a spook. The first move is nearly always with the front legs. Often they will suddenly jump in the air and the horse will make off in a new direction with powerful accelerating thrust from the hind legs.
Secondly we are back to our old friend "Negative reinforcement" or Niddle as I termed it in a recent post to get over the unfortunate connections in laymens minds of the word "negative".
Thirdly is the idea of riding a horse with a contact. I have to say the more I read about the nature of horses the less inclined I am to ride with a contact which places continuous pressure on the horses mouth (bit) or nose (hackamore).
The connection between these three concepts suddenly crystallised for me why I feel unhappy about riding with a contact.
Let us take the scenario that we are riding along in a traditional manner with a nice contact on the bit. We are trying to ride with a focus, but suddenly the horse spooks. As a result the horse rears a little to move those front legs around, his head comes up and taken by surprise we are momentarily thrown off balance. With the head coming up closer to our hands there is a momentary slackening of the contact as we fight for our own balance. The horse has now been, however briefly, negatively reinforced to the spook and thus is more likely to spook next time when being ridden with a contact.
Let's look at that last point again. Riding with a contact is riding with a small (to large, depending on the riders ability) amount of pressure on the horses mouth (we'll assume the use of a bit for now). However accustomed the horse becomes to this pressure, no pressure is still preferable, but as we are riding with a contact the horse has to date found no way to evade that pressure and so has entered a state of learned helplessness over it and tries to ignore it. Now the spook occurs and for just a second the mouth pressure disappears. Now negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus and this has just happened when the spook happened. The horse has by the principles of negative reinforcement just been rewarded for spooking. Worse is what happens next. In fear of the horse bolting the rider is inclined to gather up the loose reins as soon as possible, probably after the initial spook is over and reapply the contact. Result, the horse has been punished for ending the initial phase of the spook by having the mouth pressure reapplied thus further reinforcing the idea that the state of spook is preferable. (I prefer to use the phrase "mouth pressure" as it reflects what is happening to the horse. A bit is metal and cannot feel discomfort).
So next time it is ridden with a contact guess what it is more inclined to do. Soon we have a "naughty horse" that spooks at the slightest thing for "no reason at all". The truth is of course, we taught it to spook.
Riding on a loose rein however this is unlikely to happen as the spook will not result in a relaxation of pressure. In fact if we inadvertently pull on the reins to regain balance we have added pressure during the spook.
I am not saying that riding with a contact is necessarily a bad thing to do, but if you do it wise to be aware of all the possible consequences. My own feeling is that I am nowhere near a good enough rider to ride with a bit, let alone a contact yet. I hope to achieve that mastery someday, but in the meantime I am content riding "freestyle" on a loose rein.

Sunday 18 March 2012

Settling in

After the move we were interested to see how Bonitao would settle into his new surroundings. Very very well is the answer. He seems much more chilled. At Manor farm he would even be a little nervous as I approached the stable door, backing away a step or two until using approach and retreat I could coax him to the door to sniff my outstretched hand. "Have horse catch you" was always a challenge ! Now however his head is stuck over the door as he surveys his surroundings and sniffs the hand of all who pass.
The difference is not that the new yard is calm and peaceful, far from it. It is just the human energy on the yard which makes the difference. There is no atmosphere of tension, everyone is laughing and chatting. Bonitao has picked up on this and takes all the noise in his stride (more or less), and now seems interested in what is going on around him.
The first time in the indoor school was exciting however. It is very large with a beautiful surface that is harrowed every day. This has made him much more confident in his footing which has manifested itself in a noticeably more responsive horse, especially when asking for any sideways or backup moves. However on this first occasion there was the small matter of the archery practise going on outside. The guys shooting the arrows using beautifully crafted home made bows did not always hit the target. Regularly they hit the outside of the school with a loud bang. This caused Bonitao more than a little worry. I am sure that at a more traditional yard they would have been asked to stop to avoid "frightening the horses". This is not a traditional yard, but a yard where anything, including archery, goes. We just had to work Bonitao through his fears. Not too difficult to do, just give him a job. In this case lots of sideways, circling, transition changes etc. During this it was important for Ritchie and I to show no reaction to the loud bangs, easier said than done. We also only let Bonitao stop and rest when he appeared relaxed and was near the archery end of the school. This was using the familiar pattern of making the place of fright the place of safety and comfort.
Of course he spooked a lot to start with and was very nervous of the area, but we worked him through it and the result is going to be an even more dependable, shock proof, horse than we had before.
It was interesting to note that horses who have been there for a while take no notice whatsoever of these sudden bangs and thumps. So who has it right, yards who stay completely calm and quiet in case the horses get frightened, or yards with a calm human energy but where bangs, flapping bags on sticks, tarpaulins and big scary balls are the norm ? I know from which yard I would rather take a horse out on a hack into the big wide unpredictable world.
Going for a quick play with Bonitao now, then flying to Calgary again for a nice walk in the Rockies tomorrow to calm my nerves about my lesson on Bonitao with Larisa next week ! :-)

Thursday 15 March 2012

The move to Shana

Tuesday was the day. We moved. It's worse than moving house ! Until you collect all the horse paraphernalia in one place you don't realise how much you have. Rugs, stable mats (that needed scrubbing), feed bowls, feed, tack, toys (ball, tarp, cones etc) all have to be collected and loaded in the trailer. Then at the other end comes the task of deciding exactly where each piece has to go. And, with Ritchie directing operations, I do mean exactly where it has to go ;-)  !!
We were very fortunate that ours friends Gary and Helen, who own Dodger, offered to help. Without them it would have been hard to get it all done in a day. The stable at Shana had to be cleared out and dusted to at least start with a nice clean environment for Bonitao to stamp his mark and smells on. This took some time as did the laying of our stable mats. They had been cut to fit the box at Manor farm and as a result they were in two different sizes. Jigsaw puzzle without knowing the final picture is a good analogy.
Finally everything was installed and all we were missing was Bonitao. Back to Manor Farm with the trailer to collect him. Trailer loading has always been a bit of a drama with him, but we had had the foresight to load him on Monday, let him stand in the trailer for around an hour then fed him his dinner. Thus the trailer became a haven of safety and, more importantly for Bonitao, food.
The result is that for the move it only took around 10 minutes to load him with no coercion, sticking rigidly to the principles that had meant I had never been allowed to take Filly to James Roberts. At Shana we are allowed to take the trailer into the indoor school to continue his training, so I hope we will soon be loading him at Liberty.
The drive was entirely uneventful, with Ritchie following, acting like a worried mother hen in the car behind. On arriving at Shana we did the most important thing we could do on arriving with a horse at a strange yard, made tea. This gave Bonitao time to settle in the now static trailer and be fed there again. Thus his last impression of the trailer was not one of a shaking, rattling metal cave on wheels, but yet again as a source of comfort and food.
We let him inspect the yard as he pleased after disembarking the trailer and then settled him into his new stable. He is next door to a pretty ex polo pony mare and the stable has a grill between them so they can see each other. True to form he totally ignored her and went to his hay net to start eating again.
There is more to tell, but Ritchie has a lesson at Shana in an hour which I am keen to watch.
Suffice to say the move went physically very well, but emotionally it was a wrench to leave our friends at Manor Farm. I think both Ritchie and I shed a few tears at the parting (though as a man I would never let it show of course). I would particularly like to mention Amy (the head girl), Perry and Wendy. Thanks for all the help and look forward to seeing you all socially in the future.

Monday 12 March 2012

Saying good bye to Filly

This deserved a separate post.
I had avoided seeing Filly since being asked not to play with her as I felt it would break my heart. But as we are moving yards tomorrow and I doubt I will be welcome back at Manor Farm afterwards I decided to spend a last hour alone with her in her field.
It was a beautiful sunny day and so armed with some carrots and a parting gift of banana I went to visit her. As usual she came straight up to me and we walked around the field together. I then just spent a long time watching her graze and just enjoying her company one last time.
I am a 48 year old testosterone filled male but I am not ashamed to say I cried, and doing so again writing this blog. We did not play at all, I just wanted some moments to remember all we had been through.
If you remember back to the beginning of our time together she was quite scary. I even remember Ritchie and I discussing who was going to do up the straps under her belly on the rug. Play sessions felt like a fight for survival !
Slowly we gained trust of each other and play became fun, but we had the problem that she could not go out in a field. Now she was under some semblance of control I could take her to fields and get her used to the great outdoors. This finally resulted in her being able to live out in a field.
Then came the ring worm crisis, with Filly one of the worst effected. She was quarantined in a field and I was banned from playing with her, rightly, to reduce the risk of it spreading.
Whilst there she somehow split her hoof in half and could hardly move. I still remember the trust she placed in me as she went through tremendous pain walking back to a box to be cared for. Weeks of worry then ensued as we were not sure if the infection in the split had gone so deep into her hoof that her bones would become infected which would have been the end of her. During this period I spent many hours just being with her in her box and the bond deepened.
With this crisis over we then enjoyed a period of real fun and progress, with Liberty being our joint favourite activity. She would get really excited if I approached her stable with the halter knowing we were going to play.
Then I came off Billy and broke my hip. Several weeks apart as I was in hospital and I wondered what her reaction to me would be. I did talk to her one day on the mobile phone which apparently fascinated her as she could hear voice but not see me.
The day after I got out of hospital I was back at the yard on crutches which she found very fearful objects. I would just sit in the sun in a garden chair and watch her in her field while Ritchie played with Bonitao.
Eventually I decided I had to play with her, so the chair was placed in the school and Filly brought in. Amazingly she went straight to my injured hip and sniffed it. We then had many sessions of me playing with her whilst sat down. This really helped my savvy as I had to keep my feet still !
Once back on my feet we were back to our old fun.
I am pleased that my last play time with her was nearly all done at Liberty, with Ritchie and our friend Claire watching. She was very moved by the spectacle saying how beautiful it looked. I have to say it felt beautiful as well. In a way I am happy that I did not know this was the last session. There was no pressure and so it was amongst one of the best session we had ever had. I think the pressure of knowing it was a last session could have made it turn out otherwise. But now I have a fantastic memory to live with, not a disappointment.

Neutral Lateral Flexion

This has been a thorny issue with Bonitao for a while, but yesterday we made progress.
But first, what is neutral lateral flexion and why is it important? Put simply it is asking the horse to bring his head round so that it almost touches your toe when riding. It is important as it is a primary means of stopping a horse, if its head is pointing towards its' tail it is probably not going to be able to run forwards very fast. Psychologically it is important as this bent neck posture is a very submissive position and is one that many predators will try to force a prey animal into in order to bring it down. Thus adopting this pose with a predator on its' back and then have that pose released will help to build trust between the horse and rider as the horse figures out that even in this extreme submissive pose its' predator still does not mean it harm.
The snag is getting the horse into this position, bearing in mind that the neck muscles are some of the most powerful muscles a horses possess. Given their job of supporting and moving its' massive head a long way out at the end of a cantilever that is not surprising. Pure muscle on our part is not going to do the trick.
Much of the work is of course achieved on the ground. All the exercises that make the horse responsive to halter or bit pressure will prime them to responding when pressure is applied asking for an NLF.
Once in the saddle it is vital that before asking for the NLF we are completely relaxed in our body cues. We want to just talk to the head and neck, not the feet. Any body tension will be perceived by the horse and at best we will get a hind quarter yield and at worst we will have given conflicting cues and wind up with a prancy confused horse.
To achieve this state of relaxation it is suggested that for a right NLF you pick up the buckle of the rein (middle with rope reins) with the left hand, lift it high up, gently stroke down the rein with the right hand several times and then politely and gently apply pressure with the right hand easing towards your right thigh. Now just wait until you get relaxation from the horse at which point you have around 1 second to release it so that you negatively reinforce the behaviour. (look at this link for negative reinforcement).
Slowly the time period in the NLF is increased with the aim of 1 full minute with no brace from the horse and a maximum of 4 ounces of pressure applied. Sounds easy until you try.
Back to Bonitao. Ritchie had of course taught this years ago, but with me starting it was back to kindergarten for him. I found that his NLF to the left was just about ok, but to the right it was sticky to say the least. Once he was in the right NLF he would tend to stay there OKish, but getting there took more than the desired pressure and longer than I would want to take on a horse I needed to stop in a hurry. Ritchie and I puzzled over this for a solution. The progressive application of pressure as a form of phases was not working. Remembering Pats phrase "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" we needed a new idea.
Ritchie provided the first part by suggesting I could use the tail of my lead rope rein to apply a little rhythmic driving pressure on his zone 1 or 2 to further ask the head to yield. Having first checked he was ok with me swinging the rope around whilst sat on his back in neutral I decided to give this a go. I applied just the 4 ounces of pressure I desired a response from and then instead of upping the phases with more pressure I started to use the driving game with the rope tail on his left side to ask for more. Here I introduced phases, first a swing then a tap on the neck with the rope. He was a little startled but I got the most beautiful lateral flexion.
Now to refine the response. This was just done with repeats of the above, stopping increasing the phases and negatively reinforcing by releasing the pressure as soon as I got the flexion. In only two or three goes at this and I was getting light responsive flexions at the first ask. What a turnaround.
The timing of the phases was critical. Reading the "Equitation Science" book has made more concentrate not only on the phases but the time interval of each phase. We desire a response to the onset of phase 1 pressure, not 10 seconds after the onset of the pressure. Thus we need to increase the phase such that the new phase can still be associated with the onset of the phase 1 pressure. I used to wait for 30 seconds or more before increasing my phase, I now think this was a mistake as horses do not remember that far back in the past. As a result they do not associate this new aversive stimuli with the onset of a previous lighter one. I now use about 3 to 6 seconds before upping the phase and this seems to be paying dividends. I am going to experiment more with this timing and try to work out what the optimum is. Too quick and the horse has not had a chance to respond and increasing pressure then breaks the principle "The attitude of justice is effective". Too slow and am not allowing the horse to associate new pressure with the onset of light pressure and I am also then breaking the same principle. I feel this is going to be a fascinating but frustrating learning curve !

Sunday 11 March 2012

One rein riding

I have been really concentrating on my riding recently. Bonitao is a very good teacher. He will respond to my aids readily but only if I get them right. If I get them wrong he does nothing bad which is also a bonus and, after my fall last year, is very confidence building.
As the title suggests I have been concentrating on riding with just a rope halter and 12 foot lead rope. I am determined to continue this practise until I have developed all the good body language cues needed to ride with just the one rein. In order to give a focus for myself I have been using a variety of patterns, both Parelli ones and an excellent one from Stacy Westfold. The purpose of a pattern is two fold.
Horses like consistency and they are good pattern learners. As a result as they begin to understand a pattern the cues the rider gives get less and less and if the pattern is mixed up a bit then at each potential turn point they start expecting a cue and become more responsive.
For a human rider a pattern gives that all important focus. Remember that one of the responsibilities of a human is to "Use the natural power of focus". Riding randomly in a large area it is very difficult to keep a focus as there is little to focus on. Put a few cones in that arena and the featureless desert become studded with focal points. It is important to use the cones as guides however. Yesterday I made the mistake of focussing on the next cone itself, instead of into the distance past the cone. The result was that Bonitao obediently went to the cone, stopped looking very pleased with himself and asked for a treat for getting the task right. He received one of course because he had done want I asked, just not what I had intended !
The cues I am working hardest on are transitions and turns, both direct and indirect reins.
The walk to trot transition is achieved by bringing up my energy, lifting the rein and smiling with all four cheeks. This means a squeeze of the buttocks. If there is no response I allow a wave of squeeze to travel down my legs to my feet. If there is still no response then I create a little commotion on his back by flapping the end of the rein/lead rope on my own back. If this still fails then the lead rope touches his hind quarters. As you can see I use deliberate phases of pressure in a strict sequence. By the end of yesterday he was doing a nice transition to trot at the squeeze of the buttocks.
James Roberts uses the phrase "prepare to position to make the transition". This is important as I have found out. I have learned to prepare the transition. Make sure it is done at an appropriate part of the arena. There needs to be space in front as there are a lot of phases to go through, initially, which take time. Organise my hands on the lead rope so when I need to flap the end I can rather than fumbling for it, and mentally rehearse the steps so when they happen they are consistent and smooth.
Similarly with the turns I am finding that with one rein I have to be very very disciplined to get them right. Riding with two reins it is too easy to find that one has made a mess of the early phases and just grab the reins and pull. A very bad habit. Using one rein this is not an option so if the body cues have not worked it is probably because I have got them wrong. There is no fudging with a little squeeze on that rein, the result is there for all to see. I intend to do many hours of one rein riding, and once solid I will allow myself two reins, but return to one rein regularly to check on progress.
One additional advantage of having one rein is that it improves my balance. I cannot use the reins as a balance aid. After all if I put pressure on the one rein to hold myself upright he is going to turn, probably sharply, making the balance problem worse. Thus riding with one rein (and eventually none as my confidence builds) should truly give me an independent seat.
I fully expect there to be at least 100 hours in the saddle before I feel I am good enough to use a bit. Not the way riding is traditionally taught I know, but a method that I feel will give me a much more solid base to build on.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Dodger update

As I mentioned recently I have been helping with a super young horse called Dodger. Progress has been really good, thanks mainly to the consistency of handling that the owners are able to provide. As I keep repeating natural horsemanship is not just something you "do" in the school, it is a way of "being" with the horse. Garry and Helen have really understood this now and progress is rapid. This fact was obvious when I went to play with Dodger yesterday and Garry suggested that I watch him being brought in from the field. This really told me that Garry was trying hard to interact with Dodger in a natural way all the time.
To be honest Dodger was being a bit bargy and pushy coming in and seeing this it made it easy to decide what we needed to do during the session.
We started with "place the feet" in the stable whilst his feet were being picked out. It was not a surprise to me that he resisted this, whilst recently he has been an angel in the school. To generalise new behaviour it is necessary to train the same response in multiple locations, another good reason for ensuring that all interactions with the horse are performed consistently in order to generalise the training.
It was interesting that the back right leg was particularly difficult to handle. He has had an injury there in the past and as a result the vet had to do lots of possibly painful handling of that leg. He now, understandably really tries to protect that leg from interference. The solution was just to pick the leg up in a whilst in a "power position" so that I could gently resist his attempts to kick and pump his leg. I also tried to gently rub his leg at the same time to give it a nice feel for him. Slowly his resistance subsided and I was able to place the toe of the foot down just as it should be done. This was repeated several times until the response was nice and light. This however was just one session of training that leg in the box. As he had many interventions on that leg by the vet it will probably take some time until he is consistently good with the leg. Passive persistence is the only way in this situation in order to bury those many painful memories under many more good ones. I expect there will always be an occasional problem with that leg from now, just as there was with the leg where Filly split her hoof. Horses are made up of "potential minus interference" and in this case, whilst the interference was completely necessary, it will always, but to an ever decreasing degree, interfere with his potential of being perfect with that leg.
Once in the school we started working with the leading problem just by leading him around. His habit was to hold back a bit behind and either stop altogether or push you in the back. The aim was to get him to lead alongside and act as a partner.
He was not going to submit to this lightly and loose another precious ounce of dominance. There are a couple of ways of doing this. Porcupine pressure on the halter is an obvious one, and the one most people will instinctively adopt. However it is not necessarily the best one. First, and most important, is to maintain a focus. Second, I like to use the stick and string as an extension of my body to signal the horse to come along side. To do this I just have the stick trailing on the ground behind me, if the horse starts to lag then lift the stick, if it continues to lag then wave the stick, then if needed tag the horse with the string. In a way this is emulating how a mare uses her tail to keep her foal alongside her.
With Dodger I immediately found that whilst he was perfectly happy with the stick and string flapping around during friendly game he was not happy with it driving him forwards like this. He tended to charge past and which met with the stick coming around in front of him and a sharp wiggle on the lead rope. If he stayed on my shoulder all was calm. Rapid control of my body energy was needed in this scenario so that I was only in a friendly state when he was at about the right spot. This is a classic example of helping him find the answer by making the right thing easy and pleasant, and the wrong thing difficult and unpleasant. To avoid placing additional pressure on him I made sure to make all my turns away from him to start with (let's be kind and remove his dominance a little at a time !) until he settled down. Garry then repeated the process on the other side, as we are of course training two horses (left and right) not one. Once this was solid we then added in turns into his space, again being very careful to signal the turn by focussing in the new direction for a stride or two first.
The result : he lead to the field beautifully. No pushiness or holding back and by all accounts the final lead of the day back to his stable was similarly angelic. I am sure that there will be problems ahead with leading in different situations but we now have a language to consistently ask for a nice lead

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Moving on from Manor Farm, Henton

We have finally decided that the time has come to leave Manor Farm, Henton. To be honest we have been ready for quite some time but have bitten our tongues and stuck it out for the sake of Filly. Now it is clear that I can no longer help her, for the sake of our own horse, Bonitao, we have to leave.
Manor Farm is a very traditional yard, and whilst they have allowed us to use Parelli techniques there to play with horses it has always been done with an undercurrent of disapproval. I was instructed to not even discuss the principles with the staff and that several other people had complained about our activities. No one had ever complained directly to us however so I take that fact with a pinch of salt.
The end came the other day when Bonitao was turned out, against our wishes, by Rick the yard owner. We have had a lot of trouble with Bonitao turn out in the past as he tends to pull away from the handler and bolt. This made us worried about the possible consequences for him and the handler. We had not been informed about the extent of the problem until last Autumn. Once aware we sought help and it was suggested that temporarily we sent him sideways or backwards to the field to keep him mentally in contact with us. This solved the immediate problem and we could get him to the field safely. I then spend many mornings refining this using techniques such as making him work hard in the field and rest by the gate (and get a carrot) to make the gate a place of safety and comfort. This has worked very well and soon we could lead him out normally. We then did a few turn outs with Amy (the head girl) which went very well so could leave it to her and stay in bed ourselves !
The problem came on Amy's' days off when there was no one trained to turn him out. As a result we tried to make sure one of us was home on those days so that we could do it. Back at the end of January Rick decided that he should try as Bonitao was now so good and we thought it was worth a try. However the result was another escape by Bonitao and he bolted again. We then made a decision that Rick should not try this again for everyone's safety. However 2 days ago he decided to give it another go. Ritchie arrived at the yard and was surprised to see Bonitao out of his stable. Enquiring of the yard girls it appeared Rick had turned him out, but "it had gone well". Fearing the worst Ritchie found Rick and asked him how it had gone. Bonitao had bolted again. We were furious that all our hard work had been jeopardised again.
After an agonising sleepless night we decided we had to leave Manor Farm, leave Filly and Billy and move to a more Savvy yard. As a result we are moving to Shana where we have many friends who also use Parelli methods and we will feel at home.
On handing in our notice poor Ritchie had to endure a session of being talked at by Rick and Sue. Sue said she had never seen such a nervy horse as Bonitao and it was all our fault, which was a bit rich. Around us and other savvy folks he is very very solid. At present I am riding him with a halter and single lead rope, scarcely an activity I would indulge in on a nervy horse !
One of our Parelli friends made a very good point. Using natural horsemanship we strive to make the horse connect to our energy and emotions so that when riding we can use those to guide them rather than mechanical bits and spurs. A traditionally trained horse is to a greater or lesser extent made insensitive to such feelings. As a result when a traditional horseman who is not in control of his energy state interacts with a Parelli horse the horse responds to all sorts of commands and aids the horseman does not even know he is giving out.
There are at least 5 or 6 horses on the yard that they can barely control to and from the fields and hence lead in a chifney all the time. She said that a chifney is what Bonitao needs. In my view such a device, except for a brief retraining period for an extreme horse, is just an excuse for poor horsemanship. I certainly would not want to ride a horse that needed to be lead in a chifney, because if you cannot control it while you are safely on the ground what chance do you have on its' back ?
This is just one example of the problems we faced and is indicative of the general atmosphere on the yard from the point of view of a natural horseman. I could not say all this before as we needed to stay on the yard for the sake of Filly but now feel free to let everyone know our feelings about the place.

Monday 5 March 2012

Dodger

As I mentioned in one of my recent posts I have been fortunate enough to be asked to help with a young horse called Dodger. He is of indeterminate breed, but comes from Ireland, is 18 months old and has real character. He had become a little pushy, somewhat difficult to lead, but trusted humans almost completely. He definitely has his own opinions. I would class him as a horsenality cross between Filly and Billy, erring on the Billy side. We have done a horsenality chart on him and it was no surprise to find a left brain extrovert with just a touch of right brain thrown in. In other words a really fun horse which is, to me, an ideal Parelli partner.
The first few sessions we played the catch me game. This was to establish our roles as leader. Up until now he had tended to look on humans as completely equal if not slightly beneath him, that needed to change. As I have mentioned before the catch me game is played at liberty. The idea is to drive the horse around until he turns faces and follows us as his leader. It is similar to introducing a new horse to a herd. The dominant matriarch will tend to drive the new comer around for up to 5 days until they submit to her leadership. Thus in this game we act like the feisty matriarch and using the driving game move Dodger around until he gives us both eyes and finally follows us around the school. If you try this be prepared for a long long session with a sweaty horse and trainer at the end of it.
In the case of Dodger he was not going to submit lightly. He had spent many hours thinking of himself as a cut above humans and suddenly finding that this was not the case was quite emotionally stressful for him. This could be seen by the fact that he wound up in a full body sweat, rather than just the usual exertion areas. I am sure that many of you have experienced getting sweaty just at a thought that raises your emotions, well the same happens to horses.
Watching his reactions to all this was interesting. To start with he was going around the school with his head turned to the outside and lots and lots of dominant head tossing. This was enough to convince me we had chosen the right game to play as a start. When I tried to change his direction of circle he tended to push through the pressure of the stick and string again with lots of head tossing showing that he had learned to push into pressure and in the past it had, to an extent, worked.
As time progressed he realised that these old tactics were no longer going to work and he had to find a different answer. This was signalled by a slight lowering of the head and much more compliance with the change of direction signal, however he was still circling me at a goodish pace.
One slight snag was that the school we were working in is relatively small, though has a nice surface. The problem was that as I was moving him around I had to be careful not to create too much of a squeeze for him to pass through between me and the wall. Thus I had to take real care as I drove him around the school that I was also positioning myself so that he did not feel claustrophobic.
As James had shown us, in a rectangular school as the horse goes around a corner the geometry tends to turn the head towards the centre of the school. This can be used, with good timing, to help teach that turning and facing the trainer is part of the correct response. As the horses head is bent around the turn back off the pressure a bit. Dodger quickly picked up on this and soon we had the turn and face response occurring fairly regularly. The problem now was to try and get Dodger to understand what his next move should be.
Whilst he was still head tossing and acting dominant I felt I had to keep driving him, but as soon as the dominance started to subside I could back off and help him solve the next piece of the puzzle. Any re-occurrence of the dominance and it was back to driving game.
As he was standing quietly contemplating me I walked up and down past him in a assertive leader type walk, head up and purposeful. He just stood still. To start with as I got nearer to him he would leave with another head toss and then I would drive him on. If he just stood there I persisted in walking up and down past his nose being careful not to get behind the drive line. As I was walking past his nose I started to ask for his zone 1 and 2 (front end) to yield which was a gentle way of reasserting my dominance whilst trying to unstick his feet. When a horse becomes rooted to the spot it is easier to ask just the front or just the hind legs to move, not all four at once. Soon we had a nice yield followed by him sticking to me at walk for a few steps. With that I removed all pressure by kneeling down and relaxing. The catch me game was nearly done, I just needed a better stick to me and we then finished on a good note.
The owners, Gary and Helen, supported me through this process, and made sure that in the early stages he did not try and jump the gate out of the school. Since then they have continued with the game and by all accounts it is coming on well, reducing from the nearly 1 hour that it took with me to ten minutes or less. His general attitude also seemed to take a turn for the better with leading becoming less stressful.
I have played with Dodger since then but will recount those sessions another time.
Ritchie and I may be going on holiday tomorrow for a week so the blog will be out of action unless I get wifi in the hotel :-)

Thursday 1 March 2012

Stable Manners

This is a topic that I did see covered in one of Pats' DVDs, snag is I can't remember which one and I have dozens ! Therefore I am going to write my own piece on the subject as I see it and hope it reflects Pats' thoughts as well.
To many people it seems that they only think they are "doing" Parelli when they are with there horse in the school, round pen or whatever and are playing variations of the seven games. Natural horsemanship is so much more than that. As Becka reminded me in my recent lesson with Billy the interactions of natural horsemanship start the moment that the horse is aware of your presence. As we don't know when that is we had better act accordingly all the time we are in the vicinity of the yard. After all horses can easily distinguish your presence from the sound of you foot falls as we all have a slightly different gait. On James' yard he expects everyone to walk with a purpose whether or not they are leading a horse such that it just becomes a habit. He says that he, and Pat, can detect a truly natural horseman just by the way they move !
Often the first physical interaction occurs as we enter the stable. It is worth reflecting how you would feel if someone entered your bedroom without the manners to ask permission and then gave you a big personal space invading hug. At my friend Garry's yard recently I did just that. I got out of my car, walked over and gave him a big hug, his face was a picture. I then asked how it felt. "Invasive". I then shook his hand and put an arm on his shoulder, which felt pleasant. The difference was not the actual actions but how they were carried out, in the second case the hand shake asked permission to touch him. Even in humans the difference of feeling ok and violated occurs at a deep subconscious level and is not using our higher brain and mind to process it. Thus this feeling of what is or is not good manners is instinctual. If that is the case in humans, why not in horses ?
If you observe horses in the field you will almost invariably see that the first interaction prior to a pleasant encounter is to touch noses. (An aggressive encounter does not include this "handshake" which is partially what makes it more aggressive). From this "nose shake" they then move onto touching and grooming other parts of the body, typically the whithers first.
I don't wish to suggest we touch noses with our horses if we want to keep them intact but offering the back of the hand on an outstretched arm is a good substitute. Why the back of the hand ? It doesn't look like the claw of a predator, these small differences are important.
Once this "nose shake" has been achieved then we can move to the whithers for a good scratch. Research has shown that touching the whithers immediately reduces a horses heart rate thus making it a good spot to scratch to give a reward and induce calmness.
I would advice against ever patting a horse. Such rhythmic pressure only occurs between horses when they are playing the driving game with each other and that is designed to move the other out of ones space. When we are trying to create a bond do we really want to drive them away by patting them ? It is true that they will learn to tolerate patting from humans but natural horsemanship is about using their natural language as much as is practicable and patting a horse is not a necessary act so I suggest not doing it. Simulate the stroke and scratch as horses do with their tongue and teeth instead by using fingers and finger nails. If the horse is of a nervous disposition use the back of the hand for the stroke, see previous comments about claws. That's natural.
Once this pattern is established the horse will start to actively come to you as you enter the stable looking for this pleasant, reassuring interaction. Now doesn't the horse coming to greet you sound a lot like "Have horse catch you" in the Plan ?
Once we are over this initial introductory period then we can do what is necessary to provide for their welfare or to prepare to ride them. All these actions should also be done in exactly the same way as we would in the training school. If I need to move the hind quarters I would apply the same porcupine phases in the same spot on the horse as I would in the school. The horse does not distinguish the difference between interactions in the school and those in the stable, they are just interactions. One of the keys to training success is complete consistency. Without this consistency we wind up with a confused horse which is commonly perceived as heavy or dull. They are neither, they have just become confused as to what various aids mean and in extreme circumstances can withdraw into a state called "learned helplessness". In this state they stop even trying to respond to our increasingly frustrated and aggressive signals and just tune out.
Thus even picking out the feet in the stable must follow the same "Place the Feet" ideal that we use when preparing to ride. Having done it in the stable, of course, it may not be necessary to waste time doing it in the school.
The "Touch all over section" can be accomplished with a nice groom, but being methodical to ensure the whole horse is touched and observing their reactions. If they tense or twitch when the back is rubbed maybe a quick check for a sore back is suggested prior to creating more discomfort by saddling, riding and being bucked off !
As I suggested in the last post following the Plan need not take any longer than the usual preparation people perform prior to getting on. The difference is the intention of each section and the continual awareness of the "score" each section has achieved. Knowing these scores will give you a clue as to what needs working on in order to have a safe and progressive ride or ground training session.
I also cannot overemphasise the importance of having a plan. The horse does not know anything about plans of course, but it does change your attitude to how you do things. You'll find that with a plan you will be more definite and methodical in the things that you do and will perform those tasks with more intention in you body language. The horse will notice that you appear to know what you are doing, know when you are doing it and know why you are doing it. If I were a horse that feels a lot like a good leader worth following and trusting with my life !