Came off a night flight yesterday. I know better than to ride after a night flight, I'm just not alert enough and emotional control is harder. Therefore I decided to blow the cobwebs out with a long walk. Total distance turned out to be around 10km in the end.
I wanted a long walk to give Filly a chance to really settle and relax. To start she was very excitable and difficult to control, which wasn't great alongside the road. But we got through it and survived.
She still wouldn't settle. She seemed to think everything was out to get her and for a while I couldn't figure out how to help her. The most annoying habit was to walk on ahead of me despite me continually asking her to come back to my shoulder. So I upped my phases a lot. In the school the highest phase of pressure I use these days is spanking the ground with the string, I hardly ever have to touch her. But the trail is a different environment and that has different rules of engagement.
So I went from my usual phases to much higher ones. Rope wriggling to get her to back up to me was stronger and when that failed the next phase was a very sharp slap with the end of the lead rope on her chest.
That did it. She immediately backed up into a nice position and walked alongside me for a while before forgetting herself and pushing ahead again. Going up the phases she again got a slap with the rope. And again she relaxed and walked alongside me.
It then finally dawned on my sleep deprived brain that what she had been looking for all along was a strong leader to keep her safe. While I wasn't providing that she took on the role of being a very nervous leader herself. My mistake had been in not wishing to add energy to a highly energised Filly, but in fact that is what she needed to bring her energy down and to be able to relax.
We continued the walk doing a million transitions. Walk, stop, backup, changes of pace within the walk. This was the only game I could think of to play on a narrow path where circling, falling leaf etc would not have worked.
We returned to the yard with a much calmer and very tired Filly. Lessons learnt and stored away for use when riding her. Be assertive, show I am the leader and don't be afraid to add energy to a situation in order to reduce energy.
I wanted a long walk to give Filly a chance to really settle and relax. To start she was very excitable and difficult to control, which wasn't great alongside the road. But we got through it and survived.
She still wouldn't settle. She seemed to think everything was out to get her and for a while I couldn't figure out how to help her. The most annoying habit was to walk on ahead of me despite me continually asking her to come back to my shoulder. So I upped my phases a lot. In the school the highest phase of pressure I use these days is spanking the ground with the string, I hardly ever have to touch her. But the trail is a different environment and that has different rules of engagement.
So I went from my usual phases to much higher ones. Rope wriggling to get her to back up to me was stronger and when that failed the next phase was a very sharp slap with the end of the lead rope on her chest.
That did it. She immediately backed up into a nice position and walked alongside me for a while before forgetting herself and pushing ahead again. Going up the phases she again got a slap with the rope. And again she relaxed and walked alongside me.
It then finally dawned on my sleep deprived brain that what she had been looking for all along was a strong leader to keep her safe. While I wasn't providing that she took on the role of being a very nervous leader herself. My mistake had been in not wishing to add energy to a highly energised Filly, but in fact that is what she needed to bring her energy down and to be able to relax.
We continued the walk doing a million transitions. Walk, stop, backup, changes of pace within the walk. This was the only game I could think of to play on a narrow path where circling, falling leaf etc would not have worked.
We returned to the yard with a much calmer and very tired Filly. Lessons learnt and stored away for use when riding her. Be assertive, show I am the leader and don't be afraid to add energy to a situation in order to reduce energy.
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