I'm still working on getting those shoulders to move over nice and light. To say Filly is resistant to this is an understatement.
I had a lesson the other day from an instructor, Sue, who is new to us. She is not a Parelli instructor as such, but her teaching style is very similar and she intimately understands the Parelli approach.
The lesson started with just getting me more relaxed in the saddle, and I thought I was relaxed :( . "Imagine you have to ride for 50 miles, so get comfortable" was the imagery Sue wanted. As an image it did help and after a few minutes Sue said she could see a change in both me and Filly.
We then got to work on those front legs. As Sue explains it this is a very very important button we need to have working to even be able to walk a straight line. The button being to follow my hips/navel and step the front legs over in the direction my focus and navel are pointing. Remember "eyes, belly button, legs, reins". Well it's just the same but to a new level.
We started at the halt and and I slowly went up the phases until we got a response from Filly. Instead of rein we used the savvy string to back up my leg pressure (as my leg started to cramp!). We did get some nice steps over but at the cost of lots of savvy string waving. Basically Filly did not want to give up the dominance of her front legs.
So a couple of nights ago I revisited the same issue. All I was after was to walk in a straight line across the school and not veer towards the gate, or the cones (she loves playing with them) or away from the spooky spot. And ultimately I wanted a turn that just came off my outside leg.
It was an emotionally trying session. I tried with just the aids I listed above but even then she would not yield away from my leg. I was using positive reinforcement throughout but to be honest the reward of another piece of carrot was not as strong as the reward of pushing through my pressure.
After a time I realised that actually this was just frustrating both of us. My phase 4 could not be strong enough to get the response I wanted with just a savvy string and as the saying goes "you get a light phase 1 from an effective phase 4". So with considerable sadness in my heart I decided I needed to use a stick, something I hardly ever need these days. Phase 4 was now to tap her on the shoulder with the stick if she still pushed through my leg.
This did not please her. It certainly wasn't hurting her (I'd tried it on my leg to make sure) but it was aggravating her and she let me know it was. But slowly the opposition withdrew and whilst I was still having to tap her she was moving away from the pressure with less attitude.
Then there came a long lick and chew and she responded to just my leg, then to just my belly button. I'm not saying we have got to the point where I light phase 1 is getting all the response I want but we have made progress.
Would I have liked to have made progress without the stick ? Of course I would. I hated using it.
But in the end I also think that using an effective phase 4 for a brief period was probably better than the effect that the drip drip effect of not being effective was having on our relationship.
Incidentally I found I needed to carry two sticks. One in each hand. As proof that Filly knew full well what the belly button and leg aids were for she would respond to them very well IF the single stick was in the appropriate hand. If it was in the other hand she would push through the pressure or ignore it altogether. Carrying two sticks meant she had to pay attention to which side the pressure was being applied on and respond appropriately.
Looking back to the past I had a similar problem when I was after the inside leg isolation (bending the body with pressure from the leg). She resisted giving to that pressure for a long time and getting an effective phase 4 was the key to unlocking the lightness we now have. As I can very effectively turn Filly with the inside leg I had been neglecting getting the outside leg to work well. Until it came to wanting to build to gentle spins and roll backs I simply hadn't needed that button.
As always James Roberts was right in his training scheme. He had always had "outside leg isolations" in his scheme and I had neglected them. Sorry James :( . But then maybe my knowledge needed to get to the level I'm now at to really understand what he was on about. As such James will keep teaching me for years to come yet :)
Did it damage our relationship ? In the end I believe it did not. It was emotionally tougher for me than her and when I got off she happily followed me around the school as I put things away. I don't think she would have done that if I had made her scared of me.
All in all an interesting exercise that maybe made me a little emotionally fitter as well.
I had a lesson the other day from an instructor, Sue, who is new to us. She is not a Parelli instructor as such, but her teaching style is very similar and she intimately understands the Parelli approach.
The lesson started with just getting me more relaxed in the saddle, and I thought I was relaxed :( . "Imagine you have to ride for 50 miles, so get comfortable" was the imagery Sue wanted. As an image it did help and after a few minutes Sue said she could see a change in both me and Filly.
We then got to work on those front legs. As Sue explains it this is a very very important button we need to have working to even be able to walk a straight line. The button being to follow my hips/navel and step the front legs over in the direction my focus and navel are pointing. Remember "eyes, belly button, legs, reins". Well it's just the same but to a new level.
We started at the halt and and I slowly went up the phases until we got a response from Filly. Instead of rein we used the savvy string to back up my leg pressure (as my leg started to cramp!). We did get some nice steps over but at the cost of lots of savvy string waving. Basically Filly did not want to give up the dominance of her front legs.
So a couple of nights ago I revisited the same issue. All I was after was to walk in a straight line across the school and not veer towards the gate, or the cones (she loves playing with them) or away from the spooky spot. And ultimately I wanted a turn that just came off my outside leg.
It was an emotionally trying session. I tried with just the aids I listed above but even then she would not yield away from my leg. I was using positive reinforcement throughout but to be honest the reward of another piece of carrot was not as strong as the reward of pushing through my pressure.
After a time I realised that actually this was just frustrating both of us. My phase 4 could not be strong enough to get the response I wanted with just a savvy string and as the saying goes "you get a light phase 1 from an effective phase 4". So with considerable sadness in my heart I decided I needed to use a stick, something I hardly ever need these days. Phase 4 was now to tap her on the shoulder with the stick if she still pushed through my leg.
This did not please her. It certainly wasn't hurting her (I'd tried it on my leg to make sure) but it was aggravating her and she let me know it was. But slowly the opposition withdrew and whilst I was still having to tap her she was moving away from the pressure with less attitude.
Then there came a long lick and chew and she responded to just my leg, then to just my belly button. I'm not saying we have got to the point where I light phase 1 is getting all the response I want but we have made progress.
Would I have liked to have made progress without the stick ? Of course I would. I hated using it.
But in the end I also think that using an effective phase 4 for a brief period was probably better than the effect that the drip drip effect of not being effective was having on our relationship.
Incidentally I found I needed to carry two sticks. One in each hand. As proof that Filly knew full well what the belly button and leg aids were for she would respond to them very well IF the single stick was in the appropriate hand. If it was in the other hand she would push through the pressure or ignore it altogether. Carrying two sticks meant she had to pay attention to which side the pressure was being applied on and respond appropriately.
Looking back to the past I had a similar problem when I was after the inside leg isolation (bending the body with pressure from the leg). She resisted giving to that pressure for a long time and getting an effective phase 4 was the key to unlocking the lightness we now have. As I can very effectively turn Filly with the inside leg I had been neglecting getting the outside leg to work well. Until it came to wanting to build to gentle spins and roll backs I simply hadn't needed that button.
As always James Roberts was right in his training scheme. He had always had "outside leg isolations" in his scheme and I had neglected them. Sorry James :( . But then maybe my knowledge needed to get to the level I'm now at to really understand what he was on about. As such James will keep teaching me for years to come yet :)
Did it damage our relationship ? In the end I believe it did not. It was emotionally tougher for me than her and when I got off she happily followed me around the school as I put things away. I don't think she would have done that if I had made her scared of me.
All in all an interesting exercise that maybe made me a little emotionally fitter as well.
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