Over the last few days I have managed to ride a fair bit. The weather has been windy, but otherwise ok
On Tuesday we had a lesson with Beca Holloway. She lives and work at James Roberts yard and was one of the staff who helped to back Filly. It was good to get a check up on our progress. The main subject was "forwards" at walk. The first few sections to our training skeleton are "Rhythm", "Relaxation", "Forwards".
The first two Filly is pretty good at both in walk and trot, but I was struggling to get real forwards at walk. We define forwards as the hind hoof over tracking the front hoof by at least one hoof print. In other words the hind hoof should strike the ground at least the size of a hoof print in front of where the front hoof just left the ground. Additionally the mind of the horse should be forwards. They should not even be thinking backwards. This can be determined from where they are tending to scan with their eyes and ears.
We started with the normal prepare to ride, but Becca made me concentrate a little more on her expression, particularly when I ask her to draw towards me. Just for a few seconds she would give me an ears back "snotty" look. Becca had me drive her away from me the instant she did this, timing was crucial. In other words I was no longer to accept even a seconds bad expression.
Once riding we worked on several patterns to get more forwards. One was particularly effective. We trotted along the long side of the school until just before we got to the end, then did a rapid hind quarter yield towards the fence (ie swung her hind quarters away from the fence) then set off in the other direction. Once she got this pattern she became much more willing to give forwards.
We also tried using a string to tap her on the rump if she still did not offer forwards. This was not very effective.
Yesterday I repeated the exercises, but instead of slapping her with the string, slapped myself on the back. Amazingly this made all the difference. Suddenly she was forwards and really listening to my aids. It's the little differences that make the difference, not going to more and more extreme persuasion.
Today the idea was to go for a short walk down the road. She was good in the school, but as soon as we got onto the road she seemed to be very very lame on her front right leg. She kept "flicking" it up and forwards. It felt awful. So I hopped off and checked her over. Nothing obvious but decided not to ride anymore. Even with me off her back Ritchie and I could see and hear this odd flick. So as not to waste the expedition entirely I worked on getting her to cross a runnel of water that ran down the verge. Getting her to up and down from the grass verge, across the water on and off the road. To start this was very worrying for her, but as Parelli students we have the "squeeze" game to deal with just this sort of problem. Soon she was settled and happy.
We then noticed that the "lameness" had totally disappeared. She was not really physically lame at all, it was just her way of going when under mental stress
On Tuesday we had a lesson with Beca Holloway. She lives and work at James Roberts yard and was one of the staff who helped to back Filly. It was good to get a check up on our progress. The main subject was "forwards" at walk. The first few sections to our training skeleton are "Rhythm", "Relaxation", "Forwards".
The first two Filly is pretty good at both in walk and trot, but I was struggling to get real forwards at walk. We define forwards as the hind hoof over tracking the front hoof by at least one hoof print. In other words the hind hoof should strike the ground at least the size of a hoof print in front of where the front hoof just left the ground. Additionally the mind of the horse should be forwards. They should not even be thinking backwards. This can be determined from where they are tending to scan with their eyes and ears.
We started with the normal prepare to ride, but Becca made me concentrate a little more on her expression, particularly when I ask her to draw towards me. Just for a few seconds she would give me an ears back "snotty" look. Becca had me drive her away from me the instant she did this, timing was crucial. In other words I was no longer to accept even a seconds bad expression.
Once riding we worked on several patterns to get more forwards. One was particularly effective. We trotted along the long side of the school until just before we got to the end, then did a rapid hind quarter yield towards the fence (ie swung her hind quarters away from the fence) then set off in the other direction. Once she got this pattern she became much more willing to give forwards.
We also tried using a string to tap her on the rump if she still did not offer forwards. This was not very effective.
Yesterday I repeated the exercises, but instead of slapping her with the string, slapped myself on the back. Amazingly this made all the difference. Suddenly she was forwards and really listening to my aids. It's the little differences that make the difference, not going to more and more extreme persuasion.
Today the idea was to go for a short walk down the road. She was good in the school, but as soon as we got onto the road she seemed to be very very lame on her front right leg. She kept "flicking" it up and forwards. It felt awful. So I hopped off and checked her over. Nothing obvious but decided not to ride anymore. Even with me off her back Ritchie and I could see and hear this odd flick. So as not to waste the expedition entirely I worked on getting her to cross a runnel of water that ran down the verge. Getting her to up and down from the grass verge, across the water on and off the road. To start this was very worrying for her, but as Parelli students we have the "squeeze" game to deal with just this sort of problem. Soon she was settled and happy.
We then noticed that the "lameness" had totally disappeared. She was not really physically lame at all, it was just her way of going when under mental stress
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