Billy Improves by using Liberty.

Another day and another ride on Billy. After the last ride I felt I had to work on Billy's confidence issues. One of the best Savvys to do this in is Liberty (playing on the ground with no lead rope). I was fairly confident this would go ok, but had only done one session at liberty with Billy before.

After entering the indoor school much to his surprise I just let him loose. To get him used to the sensation I allowed him to wander wherever he wanted to go and investigate the school. Trying to approach him however he looked unconfident which surprised me as he is so confident near me when online. The key now was not to panic, in a training sense, just give him time to work it out. As he was happy at a distance I asked for circling game and was rewarded with some pretty energetic circling around the edge of the school. I really tried to match energy here, but not in the way you think. I wanted to get our combined energy to 10 and he was at 9 so I had to go to 1. Just standing in the middle of the school did the trick after a couple of minutes. The mad rush slowly morphed into the prettiest trot on a 22 foot circle I could have wished for. His energy had dropped now so I could bring mine up a bit and did so by asking for direction changes. Again his energy exploded to a 9 and I dropped back to a snooze as he worked throught his issues. To cut a long story short we went through this cycle 3 or 4 times at the end of which he suddenly really relaxed and could focus on me.

Now we could start liberty properly, and what a session we had. For what was really a first go he was spectacular. Circles were now confident and controlled, even changing gait was not a big issue. YoYo was great on the backup, but initially hesitant on the draw. If he got stuck I just drove zone 1 around a fraction to unstick his feet, or zone 4 if he was standing crooked, then asked for the draw again. That worked a treat and soon he was coming to within a couple of feet of me.

We then moved onto “Stick to Me”, a bit like heel work with a dog. For this I tend to use a carrot stick with a plastic bag on the end as an aid. To start with he tended to pass me by as I stopped, but a quick shake of the bag in front of zone 1 soon corrected that resulting in very accurate stops at my side. We even did stick to me at trot and, with me running very hard, canter. Again all transitions were very accurate and easy.

I did try figure 8 at Liberty, but that was pushing things a bit too quickly and I soon gave up. He wasn't being disobedient, just could not work out what I wanted.

All in all a really fun session. The attention he gave me as I put him in his stable suggested he had fun to which to me is more important than getting results as it builds rapport which will translate into a better session the next day.

The next evening it was time to ride again with Ritchie along to help. The preparation work went really well but this time I made a point of doing lots of zone 3 driving around the edge of the school. One of my errors during the last ride was not to do this prior to mounting thus breaking my rule of simulating on the ground what I am going to do when riding.

On mounting he did move backwards a few steps, so lateral flexion was used until he stopped. This needed to be done anyway and is slowly improving. Getting him to bring his head round is easy, getting him to stop chewing my boot is hard.

Once settled with a nice standstill is was back to follow the rail again. This time with no sun in his eyes and after the proper preparation it was a joy. Many fewer directional corrections are needed now, he just sticks to the rail. As for maintaining the walk he rarely breaks gait. If he does the slightest reminder is all that is usually needed. To stop all I do is relax my body and exhale to get an almost military stop, no need for lateral flexion or anything else. I made a point of stopping at identifiable points, such has at the letter half way along the wall, or right in a corner to avoid him making the assumption that we always turn at a corner.

To prevent him getting bored I added in the point to point pattern. In this pattern we follow the rail until we get to a dressage letter on the wall. At this point we turn 90 degrees and head straight across the school until re approach the opposite wall going straight at it. Just as we get there I ask for a stop and we rest. This gives him a known point at which he is going to rest. Allows us to practise our walk to halt, and takes him away for the “safety net” of the rail so that he has to pay more attention to my directional cues. On one memorable occasion I asked for stop a little late but he kept straight until he lightly head butted the wall. Now that is obedience, but a bit low on IQ.

We had several cones out so finished with some figure 8 pattern. A little difficult to start as he was frustrated by me continually asking for a direction change, but he soon settled down. Ritchie asked if I was using leg at all on the corners which I wasn't. Next corner I used a little inside leg to push him around, but was rewarded with a very nice indirect rein hind quarter disengagement to a halt. So light I barely felt my foot on his side, but as it was what I had inadvertently asked for I rewarded him by getting off. Session over.

Filly

Just a quick note on Filly about something I am rather proud her for. We have been doing lots of Liberty recently just to give her a sense of fun in life. To cut a long story short I was practising Liberty sideways, and making a mess of it. She kept turning away from me and just walking on with me behind. It suddenly occurred to me I was in the perfect zone 5 driving spot, but at Liberty, with my carrot stick/bag. Would she respond to zone 5 driving. You bet. Using the stick and bag to direct by driving her nose around (she is short !!) we did lots of nice manoeuvres including figure 8, circling, follow the rail. Not something I had ever planned on being able to do but she just offered it.