Rescuing Rusty

I’ve been enjoying the course on planning and goal setting by Hippologic. She asked us to think about a short term goal and a long term goal. I decided to work on the Spanish walk as my short term, and am already seeing some improvement. For long term I stuck with the goal I had from the beginning, even before Rusty came along, I wanted a good cutting horse.

Right now I am not even trying to ride Rusty, there is simply not enough child free time. Ground work I can do with children running underfoot. O have put some thought into how I can train Rusty to target a flag/ cutting dummie but have mostly put it to the back burner. Having to write it down as a goal and list things we can work on on our path to that goal forced me to really think about how to reach it. Kind of the point of the exercise 😉

Things that we need to work on to achieve the goal (listed on the Goal page I added, at the top by the title or here if you are interested) were easy and interesting, to me at least. Most of the things on the list involved ground work. So we got started. If he is going to work properly he needs to turn beautifully on his hindquarters. We had worked on this in the past but hadn’t touched it for a very long time. He had nearly forgotten completely. Once the move is perfected I want to move the cue to one I can give standing in front of him. Then he can learn to target me, or as my husband mentioned, a cutting dummie would be a better idea. I realize that completely but am somewhat lacking in one. He offered to build it for me!

All in all we had a great lesson starting, again, on turns on the hindquarters. We worked on following a target to start getting him away from me to lunge, kind of. Plus it is a start for our cattle work. Then we did a quick once over of Spanish walk and bowing. It was a 15 or so minute lesson in the 15 or so degree weather and i was ready to go in and get warmed up by the time we were done!

My phone says 12, I always forget that we have a thermometer, it says 10, and the wind is blowing. But I couldn’t resist besides the horses have been running to the gate begging for more cake every time we set foot out the door so Rusty was up here and ready.

I’ve been enjoying the (free!) course from Hippologic and went through the effort to write down my goals as she encourages, and the steps in how to get there. With them written down and a new video freshly watched I was full of ideas and enthusiasm to try them.

The theory is great, the reality is a little trickier. Not that it didn’t work, I think we made some pretty good progress, it’s just that Rusty is, well, Rusty. He is an interesting horse, I’m kind of glad not to be starting him the “normal” way. Not that I think he would be bad, but. I’m to old for hair raising rides like I remember taking on Coyote way back when.

He was very enthusiastic and energetic.

He wanted FOOD. He wanted FOOD NOW! I was wearing gloves on already chilled fingers, I had to find a cookie and get it to him before his head exploded. He was offering increasingly robust paws, we got the height I was hoping for. They were definitely paws not a walking step and not usually on the foot I was asking for. And we had been making such good progress on that 🙁

I wasn’t sure if I should reward him for a very good step? Or hold out because it wasn’t what I was asking for. I held out. He was doing all this while standing on top of me and I kept dropping cookies as he dove at them frantically with teeth bared. There was no way I was going under his feet to pick them up. Unfortunately I have just read an article about how we should make our training criteria so easy for the horse that they have a 98% success rate. So if he’s getting frustrated and pawing out of frustration thus causing me to wait even longer before rewarding that means I am doing it wrong. But how would I have made that easier? It was something he knew, we work on it regularly. Maybe it wasn’t me making it too hard but him being worked up from the cold and wind?

I’m not saying it was a bad lesson, that we didn’t accomplish anything. I think we did actually. He achieved some pretty good forward while giving nice high steps, kind of. He gave good, deep, long bows. I felt safe asking, even in this miserable cold weather because we were working in the old garden plot and the ground was nicely tilled.

Mostly, maybe, I learned that sometimes it might be best to skip the lesson and stay inside.

I can’t get enough. I want more, more, more! For as much as I crave knowledge, I am pretty bad at seeking it out. On one hand I signed up for a course Hippologic is offering on recording and working towards goals in training our horses. It’s only to the third, fourth? day and I am loving it. So I do make an attempt at learning what the heck I’m doing, even if most of the time I seem to wing it.

On the other hand, here I’ve been trying to teach Rusty the Spanish walk for months now, other horses not as dedicatedly but still trying for years now, and never once did it occur to me to get instructions. How block headed is that? I honestly never thought of it. I tend to think I can do it, whatever it may be. Finding out how doesn’t seem necessary. My biggest draw back in training horses is… me.

In the course a video was mentioned on training the Spanish walk and I went to find it. I watched a couple, finished demonstrations and one giving directions. It was fascinating. We are on the right track but the pointers in the video were things I had never thought of. Seeking instruction might be helpful, maybe I don’t know everything. Whodda thought it.

I also said I was trying to get pictures of Rusty being awesome. This is what I got instead. That is one hard horse to get pictures of.

 

 

I said from the beginning that our problem with Spanish walk was all me. I had a total mental block. I seem to be recovering! It started with me learning how to ask him to step each front foot forward alongside me. He has that down pretty good. We’ve been using a target to get more height.

Today I asked for two steps before clicking. Starting with the leg he prefers to offer and clicking on the leg that’s harder for him. In the process of this it occurred to me, major breakthrough and duh moment, to pull forward on the lead a little as he paws so he steps down in the middle of the paw making it a big step instead of a paw!

I don’t know why it never occurred to me in my quest to add forward to his pawing. Maybe partially that I so seldom touch the lead. He works almost all the time at liberty. It also helps to hold the lead and encourage him to keep his head up while we are working on it. He wants to touch the target with his nose and be down there looking all the time.

Now he is giving a couple of steps that actually step forward! I can’t wait to go play again! Of course there are no pictures. There never is of anything cool, and it’s hard to do while holding a camera.

Also I got the best present from my husband, carpet squares! It seems like a little thing, and he says they wont work as my Christmas present but I love them and we are having lots of fun with them. I am enjoying imagining all the things we can do with them, in the mean time here is a little of what he is doing.

Also, also working on putting his head down. A simple thing he learned long ago, but with a twist. Trying to see how far away I can go with him staying on his mat (carpet square) and lowering his head on cue. We did it a little in the yard yesterday, grass worked nicely as his reward.

Still doing the painting. It’s too cold for real paint now, we’ll have to get out technique perfected for spring painting.

One of my favorite blogs, Haiku Farm, is doing a blog hop. Never done one before, sounded kind of fun, hope I’m doing it right, so here it goes:

My name is Megan, wife, stay at home mom and occasional horse trainer. There are no pictures of me that don’t involve horses and or children.

We have three horses, Princess Onna, my daughters horse. Coyote my good grouchy old boy, hopefully my sons horse some day. And Rusty my youngster. All fat, beautiful Morgans.

My favorite horse sport is a little difficult. At the moment we mostly ride around the yard and I work on training Rusty, we’re learning trick training. I enjoy trail riding, used to love cow horse stuff and reining and wish that dressage was more readily available in our area. Mostly my favorite thing to do with horses is to train them.

My whole family rides! My husband not so much since kids and only a little before that, he’s a farmer and a four wheeler guy. I had the pleasure of teaching my niece to ride, not so much lately but before my kids came along we had fun. My mom taught me to ride, my brother and his family ride and I am loving teaching my kids to ride.

Once my proudest accomplishment was showing a little gaited Morgan mare in ranch horse competitions and beating all the quarter horses.  I found and shamelessly “borrowed” some pictures of her back in the day. Went through all that work, figured I’d use a bunch 😉 Not with me riding, these are the first people I sold her to. Now it’s having good quiet well trained horses and figuring out clicker training. Or trying to.

My lowest moment was loosing Never. He was my baby, raised him from birth, then just when he was started and going good he was struck by lightening.

The best little thing I learned in a lesson. I think it was the first lesson I had with a filly I was riding. She had a week or so riding on her and I didn’t think we would be able to do enough to fill an hours lesson. There was more than enough. I learned how much you can and should be teaching a young horse.

No riding rituals I don’t think. Except never, ever, ever let a rope get wrapped around your hand. I’m a bit insane about that.

My short term goal for Rusty it to learn to bow, Spanish walk, stand on a pedestal, get trick training figured out basically.

 

Long term I would like to be able to ride him! Children make finding time for that difficult. I want to train him to cut and rein and some high school dressage 😉

My dream horse vacation would be to go spend a few weeks, months? 😉 , training with Juan Carlos. If I want to train high school dressage learning it first might help.

Wow, I can’t believe it was ten years ago already since I was busy Showing Jerry! Fall of 2016 we won our first belt buckle. She was a great little cow horse, she did ranch horse competitions, working cow horse and cutting. Awesome little gaited Morgan mare.

I hope in ten years the kids will be showing, in Four H if nothing else, or at least want to ride. I would be happy with that. I hope to be RIDING Rusty, doing some cutting maybe. After the changes from the last ten years I can hardly imagine what the next decade will bring.

My favorite quirk in my favorite horse would have to be Coyote’s tendency to be so miserably grouchy. Or maybe that he thinks he is a red heeler, he loves to bite cattle, push them a long with his nose. He’s a great cow dog or, er, horse. Rusty however thinks he’s a red lab, bouncy, in your face, in your lap if he could.

I need it so desperately there’s no reason to think my horses wouldn’t want the same.

The weather was perfect for the end of November. And my darling daughter wanted to ride. How could I say no. We saddled her mare and I hopped on Coyote. Rusty would be left behind, I hated the thought of him running the fence and carrying on. SO why not let him come? He’s more puppy dog than horse and Daisy got to come.

We went down the driveway with him trotting along behind, grazing here and there. I debated how far we should go. It seemed wrong to cross the road with a loose horse following but then again why not. The road is mostly deserted and he comes as good as Daisy. We crossed the road, checked the mailbox, didn’t get the mail I am only willing to go so far in humoring the child, and rode into the neighbors CRP on the other side. It’s a beautiful hilly tract, I was thrilled when they said it was alright for us to ride there. Smack in the middle of farm land it’s nice to have some hills to play on.

Rusty galloped about, I appreciated how well behaved our horses were putting up with his shenanigans. We looked back at the cattle grazing in their corn field. We saw the neighbors houses and even as far as the cousins house across the highway. The grass in all it’s winter colors. I love that tall pink grass, I never have known what it is. Rusty took his turn leading the way. I thought a couple of times that he was going to go join the cattle. He stayed right with us  though coming back when called.

Going home down the driveway he couldn’t resist the call of that nice green winter wheat. He stayed to graze as we continued on our way. Almost half way down the drive we stopped and called him. I was a little worried. He looked up standing still watching. Then he took off running and bucking. He caught up with us in no time then walked along side. Until we meet the mother in law coming down the driveway on a four wheeler.

It was a little concerning. Both sides are lined with electric fence now that the cattle are home, if the horses spooked we could be in big trouble. Of course there was no need to worry, Coyote thinks he’s a four wheeler. We nodded in passing and went on home. But not done yet.

I made a trail through the tree row and we followed it, over a log and under some branches. Then to the stack yard to “bang into” some hay bales. Coyote rather likes to crash his chest into the round bales quite enthusiastically. It’s fun to ride and the kids get a kick out of it.

I have been greatly enjoying Alexandra Kurlands articles, or blog or book in monthly chapters? whatever you want to call it, on clicker training.  I started at the beginning and am working my way through, I’ve made it to September second. New ones keep showing up in my news feed but I’m holding steady in my course, I will not read the new ones until I get to them proper like. I’ve heard her writing described as overly wordy, but I like reading and enjoy her style. It was her book, Clicker Training for your Horse, that got me started three or four years ago.

Some, ok all, but some for me more than others, of her stuff enthralls me. The chapter about priming the pump to get a horse softer in responding to cues was fascinating and I couldn’t wait until we were healthy and warm enough to get out and try. Today we got to.

Rusty was not in the mood today. I don’t know what was up but he did not want to  walk, he did not want to fetch I asked if we could try the backing in a square thing. He said no. I convinced him to fetch his chicken a couple of times. Over Thanksgiving we are going to be seeing the uncle who gifted it to our dog, Daisy, and wanted some video to show him what we are doing with his gift. He doesn’t have a computer, or even a cell phone. Gasp! So I have to have the video on my phone to show him, we’ll see how that works.

He did give me a few really good bows and definitely felt like painting. We did lots of that. Thinking about it, I should probably be encouraging more brushing? Instead of working on getting him to put the brush back in the bucket? Kind of going blind here. I might be able to google it, should probably the are usually directions for almost anything if you just ask google the right questions.

Even though I am not even making an attempt to ride right now I had to answer one question she posed. Could I stand my horse on a mat, get on the mounting block and call him to me? Yes I could. I climbed on and slid right off the other side. He hadn’t felt like doing anything else, I wasn’t going to push it with a ride. Did he come at a canter? No, he didn’t. He doesn’t do anything at a canter. Yet.

 

It’s cold out, snowed a little a couple of days ago. A bit of a shock after being in the seventies. 8 and I are sick, I’m sure the others will be sharing it with us soon enough. All of which leads to not playing with Rusty anytime too soon. So…

My husband has no interest in horses. I like that in a marriage. When most men think they know something they feel the need to impose their knowledge on everyone, wives especially. I always scoff when I see a girl looking for a boyfriend who rides.

I think we have a deeper understanding of each others hobbies without necessarily sharing them. Well I think I do at least, he never really does more than nod, and look confused when I point out the similarities.

He is a computer guy, a brilliant one in my opinion. We have all sorts of unusual technology around our house making life more fun.

He will not be  bound by the constant constraints of Windows. It is common place, beset by viruses, stifling to someone who wants to get the most, the best, out of a computer. I compare it to the old fashion bucking out, rein yanking type of riding. The people who grew up watching John Wayne and think the neck reining involves the horses nose stuck in the air and turned away from the direction they are going, stopping with a jerk of the reins, mouth open, eventually drug to a halt. Never heard of leg cues, and wouldn’t use something so silly if they had.

I was going to say grew up with but that’s not true, I didn’t grow up with any type of computer, so I come from a Mac family and it’s what I use. They are a far better riding type of computer. Smooth, run pretty good. A horse that listens well, moves off your legs, can turn on its quarters and stops pretty good to seat and leg. And that’s how I’ve ridden most of my life. I thought I could make a pretty good horse.

But then I met my husband, he’s a Linux guy. He can make a computer do just about anything. He never keeps things factory, not computers, not phones or anything else that can be tinkered with. He collects Raspberry Pi’s like some people collect, well, horses. He uses them throughout the house for fascinating little projects, music in the kids rooms, our TV, you name it and he can think of a way to make it cooler.

And that brings us to clicker training. Our horses go from a pretty good ride, they listen to us and don’t run away when we go out to catch them, to infinitely programmable. Instead of being stuck with the operating system they come with we can personalize them down to the finest detail.

I’ve taught my horses to paw on command ever since Coyote taught me how and we put it on a cue some fifteen or so years ago. But that is not a Spanish walk. With my clicker and a cookie I can ask him to raise his foot to an exact height at a tiny cue. Theoretically of course, we are close but not there yet. Before I could ask them to move off of pressure by removing the pressure. Now, I still remove the light pressure and offer a click so he knows exactly what he is being rewarded for. Progress is faster and he runs to the gate and begs to come play when he sees me outside.

As with Linux some knowledge of programming is required. Steps need to be broken down into their tiniest parts, we see clearly every line of the programming instead of the user interface. That is in no way a bad thing. Shouldn’t we know how our horses operate instead of getting on, yanking and pushing and expecting them to work?

Funny, if I remember right this is where we started out. Long walks down the driveway trying to keep him out of my space. Yanking and pulling trying to hold onto him without being run over. Things have changed a bit.

He still wants to be in my space, he has never lost that. Now he is haltered, my reins lay around his neck, just in case. In case of what I’m not sure, mostly they get used to say that yes, he does have to go back to his pen when we are done. I do very seldom pick them up to use as a lead. The halter is mostly to say that we are working now.

As we work on more intricate and interesting things I am sometimes, often ;), reminded of basics that got skipped, forgotten about. I don’t mind or care too much when he makes laps around me while we walk but thinking about the things that can be taught with a clicker, leading was high on that list. It is very bad manners to let him walk in front of me. Mostly it is when he is going back to their pen, he says “Lets not, shall we? How about we stay out and eat more? More fun games?” it is still rude though. So I decided to work on it.

So on a warm but windy day we went out for a walk, a lap around the yard.When he walked with his head at my shoulder he got a click and a treat. We stopped and stood, we walked past scary cars and buildings. He would pass me. I would stop and bring him back to position. We are working on targeting my hand, when held out to my side it puts him right where he should be. Just a nose bump I tell him, biting now would be terribly rude.

We walked past the in laws house to that spot that terrifies all horses. Where the yard opens up into fields with trees on both sides. The father in law knocked down a dead tree with his payloader, now there is a stump with a metal sign propped against it. That was more than Rusty could handle. He shot past me, past the stump and down the driveway. There is and electric fence up both sides of the driveway where cattle, now home for the winter, are turned out in the empty fields. We used to walk out in that corner and I’m afraid he wont realize the fence is there now. He runs along it, arched away from the terrifying trees. Slamming on the breaks he spins and comes back towards me. I call him and he passes me into the yard then stops and comes to touch my hand.

Instead of a mistake, or any type of misbehavior I think we have won a major battle. He dealt with his fear and returned to me despite the way home being clear and open. We turned back, away from the scary stuff and circled around the other way. We entered the tree row from the middle, walked down the narrow lane and out past the scary stump going towards home. He was hyped. The trees were blowing in the wind, weeds were swirling around our feet, the noise of the wind out beyond the shelter of the trees was impressively noisy.

Rusty stayed at my side. Not always in perfect position, we really worked hard at targeting my hand to bring him up to, or back to, where he should be. I was so impressed with him that we went back to the house and worked on fun easy things so he could have a break after all that stress.

It seems lately like the things that are hardest for us, that take the most work and concentration are the things that look easy. Going for a walk, moving his legs how and when I cue. I am learning all of this along with him and the learning curve for me is steep. Thankfully he is being patient with me and is very forgiving.

Today it is cold out. The storm all that wind was blowing in is coming closer and I want to stay in where it’s warm as much as I want to go play with him. I’m afraid that warm and playing on the computer are winning out so he is getting a day off. Weather he wants it or not.

I did not work Rusty today.

We have developed a pretty good routine, one that works very well for me. I step out the door and call him, he pulls his head out of the hay bale and looks at me, ears perked. Sometimes he whinnies, sometimes he just starts walking. He is not one to run to me, or after his ball. I go back in and gather our “stuff” and set it out on the pickup, ready to play with. By the time I’m done he’s at the gate waiting, usually calling to make sure I haven’t forgotten him.

The only problem with this is that the other horses want to come out too. I feel bad about them not getting to, they stand at the gate and look pitiful. Coyote bangs on the gate with his hoof. I give them cookies to ease my guilt.

Today I grabbed a couple of things and stepped out the door. I saw horse butts at the hay bale and called. I called again and Rusty finally turned to look. He didn’t move though. Coyote thundered up to the gate, he had been getting a drink and was much closer. As he ate his cookie Rusty and Onna left the bale and ran to stand in a corner, facing us but with no way through. They were stuck. In the pen they spend most of their time in, that they navigate regularly to reach water, the gate, they were lost.

I was slightly grouchy about their silliness (stupidity), short of time and not in the mood to walk out and show them the way. So we did nothing. This afternoon maybe things will be different for now Coyote enjoyed his cookies.