Not too long ago I had taken the two mares down to Cindy's place to use her arena. We got to talking about our horses and training like horse people do and what we both had a laugh over, was having someone work with us or our horses and thinking, I already know this. I've done this before. Where have I heard this and how many times??? And someone she knows had told her, Do you know how much I've spent on lessons, to have someone else tell me how to do something I already know how to do?
When Cindy had taken video of me riding Aruba a while back, I had sent links to one of my friends up north. One of her suggestions for getting my horse to stride out, engage her back end and step up under herself, sounded awfully familiar. I had read it in one of my many books and when I emailed her about this, she not only knew which book I had and mentioned, but knew the author. Not knew OF her, but actually KNEW her. Yeah.
So fast forward not to me getting several rides in on my mare, trying the things my friend has laid out for me to do, seeing some successes happening already and being stoked about it. But there's always a setback or three... While Aruba has developed a Lovely, very forward walk, she gets a bit rambunctious and wants to break into a trot all on her own. Her stops are improving but she would pull the Stop & Pop, the instant she stops, she pops her head up like a giraffe. She might stop, but she tried to creep forward and took any movement from me to mean, go ahead and walk forward.
So how do I stop the creeping? Ask her to stop again. Create that invisible line as if it were a wall and she can't go past it until I say go. if we had to back up a step of two? Well then back her up. The stop & pop? Well we're still working on that, but it is greatly improved. While she still gets excited about working and tries to break into a trot on her own, half halts, asking for bend, moving the shoulders or her butt over one direction or the other can sometimes slow her back down or I just ask her to stop. If she tries to creep a few steps, we back up a few stops and stop again. We have been doing a whole Lot of up & down transitions. Walking, trotting, stopping, waiting, a step or several backing up and of course all of this is at random and mixed up. I have to say that my mare is developing a really nice looking butt! Remember, the muscles that work will be where they sweat.
In all of our work though, besides the progress, there was still a few things needing to be fixed. This late can be a bit bullish and pushy at times. I found myself holding onto the reins in what sometimes felt like a tug-o-war. Now we can never out muscle our horses and if this continued, she would begin ignoring the bit and my hands, so obviously it needed to change. My friend reminded me to let her go and then ask her to come back to the contact. Let her go and pick her up again. Besides remembering to keep my hands wide, up a little and everything else.... While she may start out this way, as we worked thru things, later on she would relax and give in to the work and soften up.
Last night when I rode, I decided to try something different. I got on and we waited until she relaxed before moving off. When we moved off, I let her go a few steps and then asked for the stop. There we stood. Then I asked for a turn on the haunches or for her to move her shoulders over a few steps. Stop and wait. Side pass a few steps the other direction, stop and wait. Move her butt over or turn on the forehand, stop & wait. Walk forward a few steps, stop & wait. We moved around the pen, little by little, stopping & waiting in between each move as I asked for her to move her shoulders both directions, her butt both directions, side pass both directions and walk off relaxed.
While she did really well moving her shoulders over and turning on her haunches, and the side passing, turning on the fore or moving just her butt over was a bit of issue. More so to the right than the left. She tried to move off, move into my leg, not away from it, backed up and acted as if she had no clue what I wanted. I asked her to stop, let her settle down and asked again. It took a few tries and then I got about 3 steps. Take what you can get and go from there. There's always more time to work on it later and ask for more. Look at it like building blocks.
As we worked at the walk, now I asked her to move over one direction or the other as we went around on the rail. Some counter bend, bening to the inside, on the rail, of the rail, use your corners, throw in some straight lines and mix it all up. When we moved into our trot work, she didn't try being bullish at all. What I got instead was soft contact the entire time and a comfortable, easy to sit trot. She did really well. Well enough that I actually had to push her a little to show her, she has a few gears at each gait. Not just fast like she wanted to, not just slow as if she was about to litter out, but somewhere in the middle is a nice, relaxed, working trot. Slowly, we're getting there. It takes time, but we're getting there.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Friday, January 30, 2015
Exciting things
I haven't posted here in a while and I have been super busy, BUT.... I have been working my mares and the TB mare is showing some serious promise as a driving horse. YAAAYYYYY!!!! Because you all know how much I enjoy driving... lol
Another reason I wanted to get this mare going with driving, besides being able to show her off in more ways than one, I want another horse to bring along, so I'm not a one horse wonder where driving is considered. I love it and if something should ever happen to Kat, it would suck to be sidelined or out of it altogether. Sure I will have to bite the bullet and buy more stuff, but as always, I can take my time, find what I want and hopefully snatch it up for a fair price.
When I took the two horses to Cindy's to use her arena, this mare was not all that fun to ride. The first time she was looking around at everything and sooo behind the bit or way out in front of it, that I had little to no contact. She wasn't exactly responding very well either. I kept it short and hopped off when I could. No sense in getting hurt or starting any bad habits. The second time I decided to long line her and man did I find holes in her progress. She worked well enough and looked damn good out there trotting, but when it came time to settle down and walk while cooling her out- she was having no part of it. Zip, Nadda, None.
The mare jigged and pranced and scooted around like she was amped and ready to blow. She was lit up and just would not settle down for nothing. So we made plenty of circles, stopped and started, serpentines, change of direction and just about everything I could throw at her to help her figure it out that if she just settled down and walked, a) life was much easier and b) she would get to quit.
I can say that this mare has reminded me of a few things in the short time I have been working her and while I needed to work on developing her walk, she also needed to do a lot of slow, boring work involving plenty of stopping and standing around. Driving horses need to know that "Whoa" means stop everything. Sometimes it means "Stop. NOW!" Speaking to my friend who is also bringing along a new horse, we agreed on one thing- The power of the plow.
When she started her mare, her trainer/mentor gave her a harness, sans the breast collar & traces. When he felt the mare was reasonably ready, he gave her the 'missing parts' of the harness. When she finally got the borrowed cart to start her horse, the first day hooked, they drove a few laps in the arena and then went off down the street, over to the trainers and he was a bit speechless. When he found out that she had been using her horse to pull a sled of sorts and work the footing in her 'arena', he was a bit dumbfounded. She had been enjoying having such lovely footing to work in and training her horse at the same time. Nothing wrong with that.
Since my mare had been making progress, I decided to make another set of 'shaft trainers' and see how it would go. When I started Kat, I had made some fake shafts to get him used to the feel of having something stiff and rigid along his sides, feeling the weight, having something bumping on him and making noise. Better this, than a cart and having the horse destroy it, if it all went south in a hurry like it always does. So for around $25 I bought a spool of rope, two snaps, some plastic pvc pipe and a fun noodle for the pool. I now have fake shafts for training.
The first night I put the shafts on my mare, she had been working and although she slowed down to a walk, she maintained a very forward walk. When I stopped her and brought the shafts in the pen, she wasn't too sure about it. I led her around with one hand, dragging the shafts with the other and let her hear the noise it would make. She was fine so I stopped her, slid the pipes thru the tugs and snapped them to the breast collar. She may have been forward before, but now she wasn't sure if she should even move at all. I gave her a few moments to think about it and asked her to move off. She walked very sedately around the round pen, doing her best not to bump into the shafts or let them bump into her. My horse that was all about GO? Now only had one speed. S.L.O.W!!!
I picked up my lines and stayed off to the side of the shafts and drove her around the pen a few times, making some turns, smaller circles, stopping and she handled it all beautifully. I have since put the shafts on her several times and every time, she just does so well and handles it all in stride with no issues. While she has her physical limitations, I don't use them as an excuse to go easy on her. If she can handle the work, we do the work. If I need to back up a few steps and fix something, we do. If it's all good, we move on to new things. So far so good. If she never moves up past training level, that's ok. Prelim? Fine too, but I'm not going to push her and expect a lot or even any speed from her right now. She may have been a racehorse before, but it's going to be a different type of course this time around. I have no doubt that she will be able to handle it.
Another reason I wanted to get this mare going with driving, besides being able to show her off in more ways than one, I want another horse to bring along, so I'm not a one horse wonder where driving is considered. I love it and if something should ever happen to Kat, it would suck to be sidelined or out of it altogether. Sure I will have to bite the bullet and buy more stuff, but as always, I can take my time, find what I want and hopefully snatch it up for a fair price.
When I took the two horses to Cindy's to use her arena, this mare was not all that fun to ride. The first time she was looking around at everything and sooo behind the bit or way out in front of it, that I had little to no contact. She wasn't exactly responding very well either. I kept it short and hopped off when I could. No sense in getting hurt or starting any bad habits. The second time I decided to long line her and man did I find holes in her progress. She worked well enough and looked damn good out there trotting, but when it came time to settle down and walk while cooling her out- she was having no part of it. Zip, Nadda, None.
The mare jigged and pranced and scooted around like she was amped and ready to blow. She was lit up and just would not settle down for nothing. So we made plenty of circles, stopped and started, serpentines, change of direction and just about everything I could throw at her to help her figure it out that if she just settled down and walked, a) life was much easier and b) she would get to quit.
I can say that this mare has reminded me of a few things in the short time I have been working her and while I needed to work on developing her walk, she also needed to do a lot of slow, boring work involving plenty of stopping and standing around. Driving horses need to know that "Whoa" means stop everything. Sometimes it means "Stop. NOW!" Speaking to my friend who is also bringing along a new horse, we agreed on one thing- The power of the plow.
When she started her mare, her trainer/mentor gave her a harness, sans the breast collar & traces. When he felt the mare was reasonably ready, he gave her the 'missing parts' of the harness. When she finally got the borrowed cart to start her horse, the first day hooked, they drove a few laps in the arena and then went off down the street, over to the trainers and he was a bit speechless. When he found out that she had been using her horse to pull a sled of sorts and work the footing in her 'arena', he was a bit dumbfounded. She had been enjoying having such lovely footing to work in and training her horse at the same time. Nothing wrong with that.
Since my mare had been making progress, I decided to make another set of 'shaft trainers' and see how it would go. When I started Kat, I had made some fake shafts to get him used to the feel of having something stiff and rigid along his sides, feeling the weight, having something bumping on him and making noise. Better this, than a cart and having the horse destroy it, if it all went south in a hurry like it always does. So for around $25 I bought a spool of rope, two snaps, some plastic pvc pipe and a fun noodle for the pool. I now have fake shafts for training.
The first night I put the shafts on my mare, she had been working and although she slowed down to a walk, she maintained a very forward walk. When I stopped her and brought the shafts in the pen, she wasn't too sure about it. I led her around with one hand, dragging the shafts with the other and let her hear the noise it would make. She was fine so I stopped her, slid the pipes thru the tugs and snapped them to the breast collar. She may have been forward before, but now she wasn't sure if she should even move at all. I gave her a few moments to think about it and asked her to move off. She walked very sedately around the round pen, doing her best not to bump into the shafts or let them bump into her. My horse that was all about GO? Now only had one speed. S.L.O.W!!!
I picked up my lines and stayed off to the side of the shafts and drove her around the pen a few times, making some turns, smaller circles, stopping and she handled it all beautifully. I have since put the shafts on her several times and every time, she just does so well and handles it all in stride with no issues. While she has her physical limitations, I don't use them as an excuse to go easy on her. If she can handle the work, we do the work. If I need to back up a few steps and fix something, we do. If it's all good, we move on to new things. So far so good. If she never moves up past training level, that's ok. Prelim? Fine too, but I'm not going to push her and expect a lot or even any speed from her right now. She may have been a racehorse before, but it's going to be a different type of course this time around. I have no doubt that she will be able to handle it.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Dilemma's
We all come to a crossroads of sorts in life, at one time or another. Do I do this or keep doing that? Do I go straight or turn? Take the path less traveled or the road well worn? I am at one of those points in my horse life now.
I have been ground driving and doing long line work with my TB mare and she would make a very elegant driving horse. She is fun to ride as well, but I enjoy driving so much more. I have been focusing on riding her, mostly because I have the tack and can do it. Driving would require finding and buying a cart to fit her and a harness of her very own. Cha-CHING! Add in the fact that I'm not even sure she Wants to be a driving horse and then it gets fun.
Another thing taking on this adventure would mean is this- Katman would be on the back burner. I simply don't have the time to drive 2 horses. A side note in his story is that the girls want to begin riding him. For the most part, he's not really broke to ride. Sure I've hopped on him a few times, my nieces led each other around on him a few times (I wasn't there and my sister as expected, caught hell for it!), but he is far from trained to be a riding horse.
So here's where I'm at with both horses-
MAM the TB mare
-The harness I have is a piece of crap. It is a cheapo nylon harness that marginally fits, but nowhere near like it should. She would need a new harness. Synthetics are around $200, Leather is just under $400 from Amber Hillside where I bought the one for Kat.
-Carts are all over the board. Frontier stopped making theirs from what I understand and they were around $400 for a decent starter cart. Frey Carriage Works has a Sprinter for around $2100 with no frills. There are also a few for sale online, some in the driving club newsletter and again the prices are across the board from $700-$1000. I also have a cob sized cart I am hoping to sell to help fund this effort, but then again I can have modifications made to it for minimal costs and make it work meanwhile.
-Do I throw all of this money into it and find out she's not a driving horse? Whatever I buy, it need to fit her properly so that the learning process isn't a painful or uncomfortable one.
Kat-
-He has become a point and shoot pony. He can sit for a while and I can pull him out, harness up and put to the cart and go. I keep him in shape and ready for action, so no worries there. Our dressage scores may reflect the lack of work in between, but they aren't anything to sneeze at either. He's doing well and we could possibly move up to Intermediate before long with a bit more work.
-If the girls start riding him, he will need a saddle and tack to go with it, they will need boots and helmets of course and our time will be spent bringing them along as riders, him along under saddle and then of course there will be shows to go to, probably the same weekends as driving events... and more stuff to buy (clothes) for in the ring.
-They will soon outgrow him (their height) as a mount and likely need something to move up to, IF they want to continue riding. He will be a leadline only pony for a while until a) they prove to be able to handle him and b) he proves to take care of them when they're on him. Once they outgrow him for riding he will go back to being a driving pony. I don't know if they can ever handle him while driving, especially in cones, but we'll see how it goes with riding first.
So there it is. A lot to think about and kick around in my mind for a while. There's also another major factor in play here that is always in the back of my mind, where the horses will have to take a back seat in everything. The girls are priority, way before them.
I put the shit-tastic harness on the mare the other night and got it adjusted as best I could for her, for now. She did really well (YAY!!!) and then it rained, the footing is crap (slicker than snot) and she has an abscess in the left hind. She will be getting some time off until that is remedied.
I have been ground driving and doing long line work with my TB mare and she would make a very elegant driving horse. She is fun to ride as well, but I enjoy driving so much more. I have been focusing on riding her, mostly because I have the tack and can do it. Driving would require finding and buying a cart to fit her and a harness of her very own. Cha-CHING! Add in the fact that I'm not even sure she Wants to be a driving horse and then it gets fun.
Another thing taking on this adventure would mean is this- Katman would be on the back burner. I simply don't have the time to drive 2 horses. A side note in his story is that the girls want to begin riding him. For the most part, he's not really broke to ride. Sure I've hopped on him a few times, my nieces led each other around on him a few times (I wasn't there and my sister as expected, caught hell for it!), but he is far from trained to be a riding horse.
So here's where I'm at with both horses-
MAM the TB mare
-The harness I have is a piece of crap. It is a cheapo nylon harness that marginally fits, but nowhere near like it should. She would need a new harness. Synthetics are around $200, Leather is just under $400 from Amber Hillside where I bought the one for Kat.
-Carts are all over the board. Frontier stopped making theirs from what I understand and they were around $400 for a decent starter cart. Frey Carriage Works has a Sprinter for around $2100 with no frills. There are also a few for sale online, some in the driving club newsletter and again the prices are across the board from $700-$1000. I also have a cob sized cart I am hoping to sell to help fund this effort, but then again I can have modifications made to it for minimal costs and make it work meanwhile.
-Do I throw all of this money into it and find out she's not a driving horse? Whatever I buy, it need to fit her properly so that the learning process isn't a painful or uncomfortable one.
Kat-
-He has become a point and shoot pony. He can sit for a while and I can pull him out, harness up and put to the cart and go. I keep him in shape and ready for action, so no worries there. Our dressage scores may reflect the lack of work in between, but they aren't anything to sneeze at either. He's doing well and we could possibly move up to Intermediate before long with a bit more work.
-If the girls start riding him, he will need a saddle and tack to go with it, they will need boots and helmets of course and our time will be spent bringing them along as riders, him along under saddle and then of course there will be shows to go to, probably the same weekends as driving events... and more stuff to buy (clothes) for in the ring.
-They will soon outgrow him (their height) as a mount and likely need something to move up to, IF they want to continue riding. He will be a leadline only pony for a while until a) they prove to be able to handle him and b) he proves to take care of them when they're on him. Once they outgrow him for riding he will go back to being a driving pony. I don't know if they can ever handle him while driving, especially in cones, but we'll see how it goes with riding first.
So there it is. A lot to think about and kick around in my mind for a while. There's also another major factor in play here that is always in the back of my mind, where the horses will have to take a back seat in everything. The girls are priority, way before them.
I put the shit-tastic harness on the mare the other night and got it adjusted as best I could for her, for now. She did really well (YAY!!!) and then it rained, the footing is crap (slicker than snot) and she has an abscess in the left hind. She will be getting some time off until that is remedied.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)