It’s been a crazy busy last few weeks and I haven’t gotten anything posted! Things are slowing down a little and I hope to get caught up, there are lots of things going on that I wanted to talk about, just didn’t get a chance. Until then, here’s more time playing with Rusty.
In the Horse Tricks Academy this month we’ve been concentrating on doing less while working with our horses and here I am doing as little as possible to while playing with Rusty.
So often people tend to over cue, offer way more help than needed, and generally muddy up communication with our horses.
Ghost
Getting the halter on Ghost for the first time.
This one is a little old.
I could have held her still long enough to pull the halter on quick and get it fastened before she could get away. Probably. But I don’t want to do it that way. Not completely. We did end up with a little bit of that once she was more comfortable with the halter.
Instead we worked on letting her get used to it all around her head then eating her treat through the nose piece.
Once the halter was on I did not start pulling on it. if the halter goes on and then lots of fun stuff happens, tricks and treats, then the halter becomes associated with those things and is a great fun thing to put on.
Ribbons
Rusty and I entered a virtual western dressage show last month. Technically it was last month, we submitted our video in August even though the show ended in the beginning of September.
I got my score sheet back and was very happy with our scores. The judge seemed very fair and exact in their comments and scoring. The critiques were very much accurate and the comments kind. There was advice for improvement, real actual constructive criticism of the best kind.
I never did see any show results. Of course I didn’t look that hard either.
Today we were working around the house. Taking advantage of the nasty weather outside to get things done inside. My husband forced the children out the door with him to go get the mail. He brought me back a package. I wasn’t expecting anything. We opened it curiously.
Inside was a ribbon!
I saw blue but I also saw brown, maybe a fifth place?
We pulled it all the way out. Small hands were grasping at it as I tried to read. It looked like it said first place though! As I saw that it disappeared with a child. I stood there grinning like an idiot.
Then I gathered my wits about me and went in search of child and ribbon.
She had nicely laid it out next to my bed for me but I had other plans. It was going on display with my buckles and pretties. Then I messaged my friend with NAWD and asked about show results. She sent me a link and I went searching. There were only two people who rode the same test.
Well, that explains a lot.
Looking over the scores and comparing I was still thrilled with our ride. Now I can’t wait until next time! I want to ride more tests!!
Mounting
I thought I’d include a few here that I didn’t think should go on places like Facebook 😉
Cross Training
We signed the kids up for gymnastics recently. I have hopes, false hopes but still, of them someday doing vaulting. The horseback verity. The gymnastics instructor was very confused when I talked about it. She had never heard of any such thing. It doesn’t exist close to us unfortunately.
Oh well. It teaches balance and builds strength. It can;t help but help with riding. Not sure they care about that but, it makes me happy.
Our kids went in on their first lesson and did great. If I do say so myself, parents always think their kids are the best ones 😉
They went in though and were able to climb and hang and swing and walk on the balance beam. None of what was asked was overly challenging to them. They had to work but where not over faced.
I put that credit on the hours they spend out climbing on the hay bales in the stack yard. They can clamber up the sides of the stacks and race down the top row then down again. All that exercise makes them strong and improves balance. Which helps them in gymnastics. Which I hope will help them ride better. Which will continue to make them strong and improve their balance.
Nothing they do stands alone. All activities are interconnected.
How does this tie into riding?
The answer to that is two fold. We can improve our riding by working on other things. Gymnastics is awesome but so is yoga. If nothing else it can help us reach those stirrups. It also works inn other areas though, balance and strength and focus. There are so many activities that can improve our riding. Even something as simple as regular walks.
Our horses too can benefit from exercises other than the ones directly related to the chosen sport. If we are working on trailer loading practicing stepping onto a bridge and leading will help to greatly improve the loading issues. Canter circles are improved by lots of exercises done at the walk far more effectively that continuous canter circles.
So often difficulties in one area are best solved by focusing on something completely different.
With all of that in mind I let my son convince me to try to climb the hay stack with him. I made it up on my second try, with his urging. Then he totally schooled me. He raced across the dips and crevasses leaving me in his dust then down and up again on a new stack as I gasped for breath, following slowly behind.
I’m going to have to keep this up, I want better strength and balance for riding too.
Quiet Riders
They say that quiet riders make for nervous horses.
Going by that theory then, do quiet rides make for nervous riders?
I desperately hope for and want my children to love horses and want to ride with me. I also hate riding with my children. The bounce around and skitter about underfoot. They yell and laugh and high five each other from the saddle.
When they are around I can’t find that spot of quiet concentration that allows the horses and I to get so much done. They make me nervous and worried and I often end up yelling. The last thing that will ever make them want to ride with me.
All three of us went for a ride today. They had managed to keep wanting to ride long enough for me to get two horses saddled for once. My daughter on Harvey being led by me on Rusty with my son up behind. They seemed happy and the horses were fine with it so we went for a longer ride. The length gave me time to be desensitized to the noise and ruckus. It also gave me time to think.
Getting used to them is good for the horses and these small doses will help them be able to handle the children without me there and help the children be able to handle the horses without me there to lead them. Hopefully they can do this on their own eventually.
But it’s good for me too. I need to be exposed to the chaos. The exposure helps me to calm down and not be as up tight about the lack of calm quietness. I need lots more of this. Not just so the children can get out and ride but so I can learn to deal with the children getting out and riding.
As pleasant as I find quiet alone time with the horses these loud enthusiastic rides are good for me.
Bitless
I did that thing that horse people are infamous for. The cardinal sin that everyone knows, or should know, is wrong.
I didn’t mean to do it. Didn’t even realize I had until looking back I realized what had happened.
Rusty and I were practicing for our western dressage test. It was our first attempt, the first time i had remembered and gotten on the ball. The whole thing was very exciting. I found and chose a test that suited both of us. It was fun and simple,and nothing Rusty wasn’t capable of. Except it called for some stops.
Rusty doesn’t like to stop. he is a very forward hot horse. If he were turned loose he would go all day. Go fast. I rode him in a halter in the beginning then switched to a snaffle when I didn’t like the communication offered by the halter. Then I got my bitless to try out and really liked it so we’ve been riding in that. Because we ride in the bitless doesn’t mean that he’s quieted down any. It only means that he listens to me and does what I ask because he wants to.
When he was plowing through my cues and not stopping I switched back to the snaffle, to give a little more oomph to my cue when I asked.
It’s a double jointed French link snaffle. Bits don’t get much softer than this. There was no twisted wire, long shanks, or gags.
That’s why it took me so long to realize that I had moved to a harsher bit to get training results in stead of TRAINING. A very gentle snaffle that he is used to is still a harsher bit than the bitless, a wide flat rope around his nose with not a drop of leverage. The point isn’t that it’s a soft kind bit. The point and problem is that I put him in it to get him to listen to me better when I pulled on the reins. That I switched to it because he felt dull and unresponsive when I picked up the reins in my usual bit. That I used it to get more response without changing the way I was training.
It’s the trap so many of us fall into. Now I can see how easily it can be done and with the best intentions.
And when I switched? Were the results magically different? Did he suddenly start stopping when asked?
no.
Instead he was stiff. He was no more or less responsive than he had been before. I was more tense and less forgiving because he should know better!
After a couple of days of that I got sick of the communication we had lost somewhere along the way. I was sick of drilling and fighting to get that stop. I said to heck with it. Riding wasn’t fun anymore. If this was what was required to show then we weren’t going to do it.
I put him back in his bitless and got on determined to not be so determined. I wanted to relax and get our mojo back. I wanted the communication and cooperation back. We didn’t stop great. Instead we worked together, got him loose and responding to me again. We worked on all the other parts of training, the listening, from both of us, that leads to a good stop.
Now, having let go of all of that, we are getting a stop in the bitless again.
Western Dressage
A couple of years ago, or something like that, I joined NAWD, North American Western Dressage and I’m guessing there’s an association in there somewhere. I thought Rusty and I could do the ground work tests. I love to compete and we weren’t at a place where we could do any local real type shows.
We never got it done.
This year I received a reminder that there was a ranch horse show coming up. I looked up the tests, found one we would be capable of, did a very little bit of practicing, and got it done!!
Only life can never be that easy.
Our go felt wonderful. Rusty was relaxed, happy, and he even stopped when asked! It was nearly perfect, or felt that way, looking back at video things are never as good as they feel. Finding that center line is hard! Watching the video I realized how far away the GoPro made everything look. It was set not too far away from the marker but even that looked to be far off in the distance and Rusty was the size of an ant. I sent the video to a friend of mine asking if she thought it would work. She was very diplomatic in saying that no, it would not.
Redo number one.
Riding is easiest when I’m home alone. That wouldn’t work for this. I’d have to corner my very busy husband and beg him to film for me. The day was cool and cloudy. The film very dark. It worked though. We had a run that I was very happy with. Watching it I noticed more little things that were wrong, center is SO hard to find apparently and I needed more bra 😉
I got it cut down to only the parts needed and was ready to send it to the friend again to make sure I hadn’t messed anything up this time. When I noticed that I didn’t trot for the first part where I was supposed to.
Grrrr
Managed to get my husband again. Twice in one weekend, it has to be some kind of record.
Rusty did not feel good. He was sick of this pattern and doing it AGAIN. He was off and running for our first try. We went through it fast! Missed most of our marks. I asked for a redo.
Western dressage sounds easy what with being able to do your tests at home and send in a video only once you get it absolutely perfect. In real life it isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Getting that perfect run is never easy, even at home. Getting it filmed just right isn’t easy either. Remembering when a show is going on when you don’t have to be there at a certain time is as difficult as getting a couple of weeks to get a test rode and sent in is great.
Our second try of the day was okay. Rusty slowed down a little. I think we mostly found center? The biggest problem is stopping at C. It’s up against the only real barrier in the whole “arena”. You’d think being about to crash into the hay trainer would make it the easiest stop in the test.
Every single time he wants to run through on that stop. Almost only that stop, stopping is never easy for such a forward horse. We ran over the marker (lick tub) but the rest of the run was good and I did not want to do it yet again. So we called it good. Now I just need to figure out how to submit the video. Should be simple right? 😉 Except I am incapable of reading directions.
p.s.
No I’m not wearing the same shirt for every ride. Not quite. I may have fallen madly inn love with the shirt and color and bought quite a few of the same one 😉 A solid colored shirt is required so why not choose one I like, over and over again…
Origins
It’s been a few years now. I think it’s time for me to share the story of where Rusty came from again.
I did NOT need another horse. I had two very small children. A small bunch of horses that was perfect for us, older and experienced. I was bored sick. I wanted a horse for me. A young one that I could train on. I was complaining to my mom about it. After I went on for awhile she said there was one that she hadn’t been going to mention to me but maybe I should take a look.
He was on the Forever Morgans Facebook page, he needed pulled NOW. Today. On Halloween. He came with warnings about his behavior and lack of manners, to go to an experienced home only! There were lots of offers to take him, offers to foster and to adopt. How could there not be? He was in that young ugly duckling stage and a plain boring sorrel but his bloodlines were great and even as an ugly baby he showed promise.
“URGENT!!!!!!! …Foster home needed immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can’t pull him unless he has a place to go with people who understand he needs training. This horse has ONLY TODAY. If we are going to pull him we need a place NOW. “Rusty” 3 year old reg. Morgan gelding… He is in Washington State. $375.00
Rusty needs someone experienced in handling a young horse who has limited manners. He has a habit of running over people, and showing no understanding of personal human …space. That said, he is young, and young horses can be pushy if not taught to understand these things. We are recommending him only for someone who feels comfortable with a horse that needs this sort of training. We are looking for a foster who is willing and ready to help Rusty with his manners which is an important step in his finding a forever home. PLEASE consider helping him – and, again, he has only today. This is a dire situation.”
I talked to my husband, figured it would never happen so there was nothing to worry about and said I’d foster if I was approved. I didn’t even start on the paper work until the next day. The approval took forever, they are fully volunteer staffed and do a thorough check to make sure horses don’t end up back in a bad place after being saved once, I’m not complaining, just saying. All the other offers disappeared somehow. They finally called to say he’d be coming here!
Now what?
I hadn’t really thought I’d end up with him. It was still exciting. We waited for hi to get here. He was on the west coast. It was winter time. Finding a hauler willing to cross all the mountains in the middle of winter was nearly impossible. Finding a break in the weather once one was willing was just as hard.
He finally got here in January. The people hauling him came through ice and snow, sending me pictures of all the vehicles in the ditches, but they made it safely.
Once he finally got here Rusty was everything they had said and more. He didn’t move away from pressure, he didn’t respond to escalating pressure. He stood there and ignored you no matter how hard you applied…. pressure.
He ran me over a couple of times. Smashed right into me if he spooked or wanted by. Round penning didn’t work. He wasn’t afraid, saw no reason to move just because I asked. I didn’t want to beat him, the only thing that he might consider as incentive to move. We started with the simplest of training, taking long walks down the driveway. He bounced off the end of the lead, drug me along behind him, wore my hands raw. I was so glad I was only fostering and wasn’t stuck with this horse.
I had started young horses for years. I hadn’t thought teaching this one some manners and respect would be a problem. He was wearing me out.
Then I read a blog post about a lady teaching her horse to fetch. I thought Rusty could do that. He bites everything anyway. I talked to the lady who wrote the blog. I googled trick training. I found a group that did that stuff. They also did clicker training.
I wasn’t against that. I had a book I bought years ago and started my way through before that horse got struck by lightening 🙁
We started with fetch. Ooops. Later I went back and worked on manners and things like that but we were goners. No looking back.
Suddenly instead of yanking on the lead to try to get Rusty to acknowledge me, I was simply clicking when he was in the proper position and he worked hard to stay there. He still has some issues. Behaviors that are so deeply ingrained from birth don’t simply go away. Now though, his complete lack of fear works in our favor. His headstrong confidence and determination allows us to do anything instead of making him impossible to deal with. By working with him instead of trying to force him to conform I have found a brilliant, willing horse who will try to do anything I ask.
He is by far the best trick and treat that I’ve ever gotten on Halloween.
Basketball
Basketball practice 😉