Another fun session with Mini yesterday. His liberty stick to me is getting really good, he only left me twice in about 20 minute game. Very responsive and seems to really enjoy it.
Once we had had a bit of fun and got a connection I went to work on trying to get his circling game a bit softer. As soon as I ask for a circle he sets off at a good pace and clearly tunes me out. It is just head down and go ! There are several ways to get over this problem and I used many of them yesterday.
He is maintaining his first responsibilities to maintain gait and maintain direction with enthusiasm but not much thought.
Not act like a prey animal ? Probably that is ok, but when circling I just don't exist for him so who can tell ?
Look where he is going, definitely not being upheld. Here was the clue I needed to help him through his problem.
To get him to slow down I could just wiggle the rope at him, but he soon pushed through that pressure, not something I want to encourage. I could flap the stick and string in front of him, but that just irritates him and he speeds up if anything, again not something to encourage. What I needed to do was break the pattern and get him to tune in if only briefly. The answer was to put an object in the way, not a small one but a big one he couldn't miss. So whilst he was circling I started to move around the field to get him used to travelling circles, then nonchalantly walked over to the fence. Suddenly, as far as he was concerned, a huge barrier appeared in front of him and he nearly trotted straight into it. That is how tuned out he was !
I sent him in the other direction whilst standing at the fence and he set off in a mindless circle only to bump into the fence on the other side of me. We kept this half circling going until he could complete the half circle in both directions at walk. Each time he got to the fence I let him stop and think about it for a moment before asking for the next half lap. We got a lot of licking and chewing at the fence line just before he made some nice connected half laps.
I then moved away from the fence and asked for more circles. Now you didn't expect me to say they had improved did you ? They hadn't much, but he was now checking in with me from time to time. I would ask for walk and we would inevitably wind up in his favourite gait, trot. Fine let him trot, but if he cantered I would just step smartly backwards and change his direction. Every time he even thought about canter we changed direction for about ten minutes. Suddenly we were getting nice, connected trot circles.
Now I asked for direction changes if he changed from walk to trot, five minutes later we had walk circles on a loose rope. Having managed one connected walk circle in each direction I called it a day.
Lessons to learn from this for me were to think laterally, don't just wiggle the rope or stick and string at the horse if it is not even tuned into you, that won't achieve much except to desensitise them to wiggling ropes and strings.
This was also my first conscious use of the ideas of Aikido to redirect unwanted energy. When he cantered on the circle I just redirected that energy in a different direction, in this case in a complete change of direction. It was very effective. Maybe being bounced off a mat by the Aikido club will be useful for my horsemanship after all.
Once we had had a bit of fun and got a connection I went to work on trying to get his circling game a bit softer. As soon as I ask for a circle he sets off at a good pace and clearly tunes me out. It is just head down and go ! There are several ways to get over this problem and I used many of them yesterday.
He is maintaining his first responsibilities to maintain gait and maintain direction with enthusiasm but not much thought.
Not act like a prey animal ? Probably that is ok, but when circling I just don't exist for him so who can tell ?
Look where he is going, definitely not being upheld. Here was the clue I needed to help him through his problem.
To get him to slow down I could just wiggle the rope at him, but he soon pushed through that pressure, not something I want to encourage. I could flap the stick and string in front of him, but that just irritates him and he speeds up if anything, again not something to encourage. What I needed to do was break the pattern and get him to tune in if only briefly. The answer was to put an object in the way, not a small one but a big one he couldn't miss. So whilst he was circling I started to move around the field to get him used to travelling circles, then nonchalantly walked over to the fence. Suddenly, as far as he was concerned, a huge barrier appeared in front of him and he nearly trotted straight into it. That is how tuned out he was !
I sent him in the other direction whilst standing at the fence and he set off in a mindless circle only to bump into the fence on the other side of me. We kept this half circling going until he could complete the half circle in both directions at walk. Each time he got to the fence I let him stop and think about it for a moment before asking for the next half lap. We got a lot of licking and chewing at the fence line just before he made some nice connected half laps.
I then moved away from the fence and asked for more circles. Now you didn't expect me to say they had improved did you ? They hadn't much, but he was now checking in with me from time to time. I would ask for walk and we would inevitably wind up in his favourite gait, trot. Fine let him trot, but if he cantered I would just step smartly backwards and change his direction. Every time he even thought about canter we changed direction for about ten minutes. Suddenly we were getting nice, connected trot circles.
Now I asked for direction changes if he changed from walk to trot, five minutes later we had walk circles on a loose rope. Having managed one connected walk circle in each direction I called it a day.
Lessons to learn from this for me were to think laterally, don't just wiggle the rope or stick and string at the horse if it is not even tuned into you, that won't achieve much except to desensitise them to wiggling ropes and strings.
This was also my first conscious use of the ideas of Aikido to redirect unwanted energy. When he cantered on the circle I just redirected that energy in a different direction, in this case in a complete change of direction. It was very effective. Maybe being bounced off a mat by the Aikido club will be useful for my horsemanship after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment