I joined NAWD a couple of years ago. (that’s the North American Western Dressage association) I had grand plans.
Nothing ever happened. One of the greatest benefits of it is that you can compete from home with video. Apparently that’s one of the biggest draw backs too.
Without having to get out and go to a show I tend to forget and never get around to doing anything.
I haven’t gotten around to actually doing it yet but so far I am kind of remembering this one. There’s a show coming up soon. I need to go look and see when, that whole just not doing it thing 🙄
I have gotten an arena set up, that I have to put away after every use so people can drive in the driveway. And we have done some practicing.
Here’s our practice run. First go at it. I couldn’t remember the pattern. That’s the long pause in the middle that I fast forwarded through 
There’s nothing like a test to find holes in your training and I’ve definitely found places that need work. Mostly stopping. Rusty is NOT interested.
Other than that it was nice to have video.I really thought we had found dead center. Looking back it appears we did not.
Now to get to work! And find out when the show actually happens.
Baby Calves
Not sure which ‘calf’ this video is actually about.
I brought Ghost out to play for her first time yesterday. Not her first time in a long time, although it was that too, but her first time out of the corral. Her first time on my playground. Her first time out and about at liberty.
She did great. All the extra help was a bit much for her. If we keep getting this much ‘help’ she wont be bothered by anything before long!
I wanted to work on getting her onto the bridge but it some became apparent that that was not an option with all the commotion. We stuck to simple things, leading, standing, and manners, with a bit of mat training although I doubt she noticed that part.
Eventually she said she’d had enough and couldn’t handle the exuberance anymore. She spooked then wandered off to graze.
I let her go because she gets to say no when she can’t handle something. The child and I went and played in the mud for awhile then I came back and played with her a little more before forcing her to go back.
Like my horses she is going to need to learn about halters for that going back out to pasture with her friends part.
Sidepassing The L
In my playground I laid out two poles in an L, always a fun toy.
I finally got to play with Harvey over it. This was his first go. Not bad for being so out of practice.
We took it slow and easy, only asking for a couple of steps at a time. Eventually we will build up to doing the entire L fluidly and with only one click and treat at the end.
This is Harvey’s second time sidepassing the L in the playground. First in this direction though. All horses have a preferred side, this is Harvey’s.
We will continue to build on it and eventually be able to perform the whole movement smoothly and with only one click and treat at the end of the L.
Company
We had a visitor over the weekend.
Pattie came clear from Michigan to see us. Well not us exactly. She had a whole list of friends, people who begged to be included as she planned her trip that she is stopping along the way to visit.
Pattie is a fascinating woman. She has traveled the country, and the world even, on her bicycle. On top of that she is a trainer and raises future leader dogs, that’s puppies that are going to grow up to be service dogs. Although she has some horse training experience she is not a horse person. It may be her one failure 😉
Not being a horse trainer didn’t stop us from having lots of training things to talk about. There are very few differences between training dogs and horses and any species for that matter.
Traditional horse trainers are gasping and snorting and coming out of their seats in rebellion at that comment right about now.
With positive reinforcement though it’s true.
We look for the behaviors we want and reward them. Lions are trained the same way as butterflies. Horses the same way as dogs.
And yes, people have trained butterflies. We talked about that in awe while she was here. Also that plants have been and can be trained. If we can train a plant to respond to a stimuli, not sun or water but a cue, then are they really that different from any other living being? Can we really justify eating them but not their animal brethren? What a joy to be able to talk about all these things I ponder regularly with someone else who thinks about the same sort of thing.
I brought out Harvey and turned him over to her. Without a clue as to what we have been working on she went right to it with him. They did great together. I tried to resist filming the whole thing. It did seem rude to make her work with my horse and film it all when she didn’t know the horse and was playing without a particular goal.
She hopped on a fourwheeler, her first time with those, and drove it along to check cows with us.
Then we saddled up and went for a ride. I knew she had worked with a couple of friends horses and assumed there had been riding time involved there too. As I presented her with Smoke I asked how much riding she had done. She said none. That didn’t stop her from hopping right on and figuring it out, just like she had Harvey on the ground and driving the fourwheeler. It was easy to see how she had managed all the other much more impressive challenges that she has conquered in her life. Smart and capable, she just did it. Sadly I didn’t get any pictures.
We had a wonderful ride. I enjoyed it at least. Hope she did too. She did a much better job at riding than many people I know who think they know how to ride.
She spent the night in her tent in our yard. I’m afraid I’m not a very good host. We don’t have room in the house and aren’t used to company.
The next morning she stayed with us for breakfast before heading off to see more people, do more things. We were happy to have her as long as we did. She has more of the world to conquer and we have chores.
Playground
I have a playground!
It’s nothing that wasn’t already here laying scattered about, now it’s contained in one place. Hopefully it is out of the way enough that I wont have to move things anytime soon.
Having all my toys together in one place makes it easier and more likely that I will work on things. That I will remember what things I should work on even 
I have a little teeter totter, a bridge, the roping dummy, the basket ball hoop, posts that I can arrange in any way to play with, right now they are in an L shape, a mounting block, and a place to put the camera!
The tubs also work as storage so I can keep our rubber chicken for playing fetch, the tarp, a target, a ball for basket ball, all sorts of things out there and they wont blow away.
I sped this video up a little so I could leave it all in. Otherwise the video got a bit long.
This was Rusty’s first go at it I let him wander a bit and choose what he wanted to look at.
Rodeo!
There were two shows this weekend. I had planned on making it a really busy weekend and making them both.
The kids refused to even try to ride and were making me insane trying to get them on a horse.
I gave up on that and said that if they didn’t want to I wasn’t going to force them and I would go play with my horse instead.
I really needed that after the maddening attempts at riding with children.
In the end I decided to skip the actual show. With the horses at least. I wasn’t going to miss it altogether just because of these rotten children. I wanted go visit with friends!
Once we got there I wished so badly that we had brought the horses. It was a small relaxed sort of show, not the fancy, strict type that the kids were NOT ready for. They could have done this one.
I got to visit with Andrea a little and talk horse/clicker training while she judged trail. Rebecca was too busy working to be much fun. The horses were all fun to watch and the weather not too hot.
The next day we went to a little kid rodeo. It was also a perfect one for them. This time I had ignored their desires and brought horses.
Even if they didn’t want to ride I could get my horses out and about and used to being in public. Extra training never hurts.
Once I had everyone saddled, I brought ALL the horses, the kids wanted on and to go play!
It’s a great little rodeo. No fuss. No entries. No placing. Just kids out playing on their horses.
A friend of ours met us there and helped with horses and kids. She rode Smoke and ponied Rusty or I rode Rusty and ponied Smoke while we lead kids around. There were goats, kids roping dummies, horses running all over the place, the general chaos that it does horses so good to get used to. They were both great.
Hieldorf had to wait in the trailer. I don’t have enough saddles for everyone and I haven’t spent enough time with him to really mess with him out and about. He stood quietly with no screaming or pawing though. What a good boy.
I did saddle Harvey with some thought to letting my daughter ride him. We ran out of time and didn’t get to see what he was like in the arena first so we didn’t try it. I did get to pony him around though and when it was all over our friend, Taya, got on him and I ponied them around. They were both great. Harvey didn’t bat an eye at anything and Taya was very brave on such a green horse. He didn’t give her any reason not to be though.
After the rodeo there was also a hay scramble? Not sure what it was called but they threw change into a bucket filled with hay and turned the children loose to dig for it. Between that and the treat bags they handed out talk about good positive reinforcement for the children. A perfect way to reward them all for a job well done.
On the way home my children started asking when the next show was! They loved it and wanted to do it again!
Yesterday, small rotten children, the last show was yesterday, that you did not want to go to, remember? 🙄
Oh well, maybe next year 🤣
The Importance Of Kindness
Can you imagine, I know this is going to be hard but bear with me, can you even begin to imagine if we applied our positive reinforcement training to people with the same fervor as we do with our horses?
I’m not talking about TAG teaching or other purposely applied principles of teaching.
Instead, what if in our everyday interactions we remembered that rewards work better than aversives and that kindness is always the answer?
In real life it can be a little easier.
If we have to see a person in person every day we remember to be polite, most of the time. It would be embarrassing to have to look someone in the eye the next day after telling them everything they are doing is wrong.
On a computer we sit in solitude critiquing some stranger online that we will never have to interact with in person so we tell them enthusiastically every little thing they may be doing wrong. We take glee in being catty and mean. Differences that may not make that big of a difference if we knew the person, well, personally become arguments, battles of right vs wrong.
If we did that in horse training we would be earing our horses down and spurring them to a stand still. They might eventually stop bucking but they wouldn’t be convinced our way was right and they wouldn’t want anything to do with us ever again.
Instead, with our horses, we reward the good and ignore the unwanted, knowing that behaviors that are rewarded will be repeated while those that don’t gain anything will fade away.
What if the next time you saw someone being brave enough to share a video on Facebook instead of tearing apart the things that are so dreadfully wrong, or at least not exactly the way you would have done it, you looked for one thing that was good. Even if that is how nice it is that you kept that ride short!
Would the person notice what they are doing that is good? Would they seek more compliments?
The one things that’s guaranteed is that they wont change the things we don’t like because we attack and demean them. Nobodies mind has ever been changed that way. It is far more likely to cause them to dig in and refuse to consider another way. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/…/5-step-recipe-opening-peo…)
People are willing to consider new ideas from people they can relate to. People who are kind and have said nice things.
I’m not saying that we should ignore blatant abuse or starvation.
Not that being mean to those people online will help either. Most rescues will tell you the how hard it is for them, and what great pains they go to, to be polite to a person with starving animals in their pasture in order to get those animals out safely. It works far better than telling them what they really think.
So what do we do when we see wrong? If we never let people know there is another way how will anyone learn better?
Wrongs, real, hurtful wrongs, should be righted. We should fight hard to defend the ones who can’t defend themselves, to speak up for those with no voice.
Helping out at rescues, offering assistance, kindly, teaching, helping, all things done in kindness, might be ways to get started.
Bad mouthing and demeaning others online will never truly help solve any problem.
The Show Experience
I helped at a 4H horse show recently.
It had been a long time for me. Since high school or before for an actual 4H show slightly less time for a regular horse show. The sights and sounds were deeply reminiscent of the past and all new at the same time. I brought my daughter along to give her a feel for it. Hopefully when she gets old enough she’ll want to take advantage of this opportunity..
The people were the usual mix you see around horse events. There were the girls with expensive horses bought for them by doting parents who wanted to make sure their children did the absolute best they were able to. Those same parents offered up myriad excuses as to why the fancy horses couldn’t buy their children first place in every class.
There were the ranch kids who could ride anything and get a full days work done in the saddle but lacked show ring polish.
There were the ones, either ranch kids or from town, who were painfully out of place. Horses noses in the air, cheap bits pulled tight in gaping mouths. Children riding with heels and elbows straight in the air as they bounce into the ring.
All of them there because they love their horses. All of them wanting to learn how to do their best.
None of the riding was fancy. Just a bunch of kids having fun.
As I stood at the gate watching classes, waiting for my time to help, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversations of a few of the parents also standing and waiting.
They laughed about the halter class the children were currently in. Not the usual type with children leading horses, instead they watched their horses being shown and made judgements to be compared and discussed.
Their child didn’t need to know how to judge some fancy show horse. All they needed was a horse that could go all day and get the job done. Show ring ideals meant nothing to them and shouldn’t for their kid either. As a small child rolled on the ground under their horse they extolled the benefits of turning kids loose on a horse to get them ‘good and broke’. Sure you might lose a kid or two but it got the job done good.
With teeth gritted I waited for the class to finish. Their disdain for everything this show stood for was palpable.
As the children gathered in the arena with plentiful knowledge before them, hopefully soaking it up as it was presented, their parents stood outside dismissing it as unnecessary. As soon as the children returned to them they would scoff and demean anything that may have been learned, pushing the children to join them in ignorance.
While it is true that show ring ideals often take what was once a good trait and push it to the extreme, no longer useful, no longer desirable, it is still good to learn about why it was sought after to begin with. While there are certain conformation traits that are preferred for different disciplines those traits still produce the same results no matter what. Good conformation is good conformation. Bad conformation will still produce bad results even if it is popular bad conformation.
Knowledge should always be sought. Things should never be accepted because they are tradition or the way it’s always been done. Always ask why. Always doubt and seek proof. Always strive to learn more. The opportunity to learn should never be scoffed at because you already know all there is to know. If you think that might be the situation then you have lots to learn. The more you know the more you realize there is that you don’t know.
A Tight Place
Sometimes I question my judgement in getting my son a young mostly green horse. Something older and more experienced would be the wiser if not as cool choice.
Then there are times like this when this horse amazes me and assures me that he will be a great horse for my small child. Not yet, but soon.
The horses were all turned out in the yard to graze. I was keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn’t get into trouble. They had been grazing between and on the hay bales for a little while when I needed to get them and put them away.
I took Harvey first because he came to greet me. Then came back for Rusty. Smoke I took around to the other gate and tried to convince him to eat his allergy medicine.
The whole time Heildorf stood between a row of bales looking at me. He’s usually a bit stand offish and doesn’t always want caught. He will usually follow when the other horses come up though. I did think a couple of times that it was odd that he wasn’t coming at all. I was in a hurry though and didn’t put too much thought into it.
When I was finally done with the other horses and went back for him I realized why he hadn’t ever come.
Heildorf had wandered down a very narrow row of bales. As in touching in some places. Apparently he isn’t bothered by tight places. From the side I hadn’t been able to tell that his row was any more narrow than the row the other horses were standing down. At the end of the row the electric fence wire that surrounds the yard ran right across the end of the bales blocking the exit.
Heildorf was well trapped. Had been for quite a while. He had been looking at me over those bales when I checked on them long before I went to bring them in.
I went around the bales and over the fence. I was able to drop the wire without leaving him again to go shut of the power.
With it on the ground he would be able to step over it, once I got him haltered. He wasn’t thrilled about being caught but didn’t immediately run me over in the tight quarters. I stepped out the end of the bales and onto the wire to hold it down for him to cross. Or I did after first backing into it and getting a good shock myself 😏
He didn’t bolt out when I asked him to come. He did come with great enthusiasm though. Once out he pranced and spooked on the end of the lead rope as we walked to a gate.
He had controlled himself while penned now he was blowing off some steam.
The mind on that horse is incredible. The self control he exerted to keep from panicking and going through the wire or flipping and getting hurt between the bales was amazing. He stayed calm and controlled. Not even screaming for the other horses when he was left all alone.
In all his captivity lasted maybe half an hour. Combined with how willingly he lets me hose his nose down, it was a half hour that proved the mind this horse has. His bloodlines are everything I could ever want in a Morgan, Justapesty Morgans knows how to breed them. Heildorf, Justapesty Solar Flair, lives up to the names in his pedigree. I think I need to stop worrying about whether he will work out for us and make time to get to working on him!
p.s. Of course I stopped long enough to take pictures! He was standing nicely and could wait another minute
Storm Warnings
The kids and I were helping with the 4H clean up day getting ready for fair. as the cleaning wound down we looked out to see dark clouds filling the sky. Last year they had gotten hail and sever storms. This year it had been rescheduled once already for predicted, and received, storms. It looked like the curse was going to strike again.
I checked the radar and it looked bad. If we hurried we might be able to make it home before the storm did. In the distance we got to watch the storm approach ass we raced it home. The sun setting lit the billowing clouds with yellow and pink shining through the greys. They hung tiered like an upside down wedding cake.
I’ve watched tornadoes blow in before. I knew what that meant.
If we hadn’t known the shrill warnings from the radio would have alerted us. Storm warnings from the next county over, large hail, winds up to seventy miles an hour, heavy rain, and, finally, tornado warnings. All of it headed our direction.
Once home I rushed to prepare the best I could. The greenhouse needed closed. Not that it would do much good if the storm hit us full strength.
The calves had been grained before we left. Not knowing how late we would be gone I thought they could eat whenever they wandered into the corrals then spend the night out in the trees on grass if they wanted. Now I wanted to lock them in the relative safety of the corrals, in shelter.
Standing at the fence I called, watching the trees for any sign of them appearing. Waiting patiently I happened to turn and look behind me.
There was Ghost sauntering happily up to me!
Soon the other three appeared behind her. Coming out of our yard where they had been exploring before they answered my call.
All the time I spent training them had paid off. Even with fresh grass and new things to explore, even after already having eaten their corn, they came running when called.
Fortunately for us the storm didn’t come.
After plowing through the county next to us is completely dissipated a few miles before it got to us. Even without the storm having loose calves come when called made life much easier. Good training is always a wise investment!
