It was a weird and wonderful week last week. Heat was on the rise and I spent most of the week not wanting to do anything. Sort of staring at the sky. I managed some work in the cross ties and some ground work (ups and overs) on Tuesday and Thursday but it was Friday that was total gold.
Since I hadn't worked with her but 45 minutes all week, I went in on Friday planning to touch lightly on everything. A little bit in cross ties, ground work, on the longe line and under saddle. She was very quiet in the cross ties (as she usually is while tacking up) and I am happy to say that when I tap on her shoulder or hip followed by her fetlock (ankle) she lifts her foot on her own so that I can slip my hand underneath and clean her hooves. Not perfectly, mind you, she pulls a little with her right rear foot and once or twice she has refused. It is becoming more consistent each time we do it.
When we worked the ground work, she was very attentive. I let her eat grass a couple of weeks ago and since then she has been a little more eager to pull when walking with me, my mistake. Once I brought her to the center of the ring, however, and started to ask for specific behaviors she appeared to be working hard at figuring out my cues and giving me the requested actions. Although nothing is perfect and she is still easily distracted by cars pulling into the parking lot and people coming down the hill, you can tell when she is trying to pay attention and respond appropriately.
In my effort to keep things light and simple, I was just going to ask her for walks and whoas on the longe line. Since I hadn't asked her to burn any energy all week I didn't want to push my luck by actually asking her to move faster than a walk. Her walk was fast, she was definitely ready and willing to move, but she never broke into a trot on her own and ultimately I did ask for a few steps of trot on the right rein. She's still not stopping upon first request, she goes anywhere from two steps to two circles around me while I say "whoa" over and over. She responds more quickly over the course of each session and I have the distinct impression that ifI were more consistent in my efforts, she would have it. We'll get it. It's just taking us longer, my fault I know.
Can you tell I'm rushing to get to the under saddle work? I am.
My primary goal is still teaching Matilda the vocal commands - right now focusing on "walk on" and "whoa". The same readiness to move that I saw on the lunge line worked in my favor as we worked under saddle. We made real progress with "walk on". Many, many times on Friday, I sat limp in the saddle, said "walk on" and she moved forward. She moved more definitively than the last time we tried it, too... almost with purpose, I would say. Of course, with that willingness to move she also moved forward without me asking and it took me 3-4 tries before I could mount her without her trying to walk away, whatever....
And, of course, she doesn't stop on vocal command alone. I have to use the rein aids. As with everything else in this experience, I probably need to think through this a little more specifically and be a little more methodical with how we work. I need to spend one day just mounting over and over. One day just clicking for "walk on" and then another for "whoa", working through each command separately instead of squishing them all in one day. You know, boring but necessary work-type stuff... maybe next week:)
After we had done walk ons and whoas, it was time to have some fun. I was having another bold and sassy day, the ring was empty and I was anxious to do something. Last time we tried the trot (a rising/posting trot, I should say), we did a few steps on and a few steps off. Mostly straight lines, maybe one corner. Friday was to be the same. We walked around the ring and as we came out of the corner and into the straightaway I asked for the trot (with both vocal and leg aids, as before). As we came down the straight we started to pass a jump and I decided to see if we could circle it - how would she do as I asked for some bend with rein and leg aids, but no bit in her mouth. She circled it beautifully and we finished back on the rail and dropped into an easy walk before we got to the next corner.
We changed direction and I asked for another trot in the same place. She picked up an easy trot, with less prompting than before (as with "whoa", the more often you ask the more responsive and ready she gets), and we trotted all the way down the straightaway at a nicely paced even trot. It was going so nicely that I decided to keep going. I didn't go all the way into the corner, I didn't want to risk making a last minute mistake and getting stuck, but asked for her to start turning about 4 feet before we got there. Piece of cake, so we kept going. We went around the ring twice at that nice, easy pace. Every once in a while, she would start to slow down and I would add a little leg or make a little kissing sound and she would immediately pick back up into our easy going trot.
At some point, the three year old in me realized that no one was seeing this, so I yelled across her head and the ring into the barn, "HEY YOU GUYS ARE MISSING THIS!!!" Even my ill-timed bellowing couldn't phase her and we were able to complete a couple more turns around the ring, taking one brake to trot a small circle around a jump while people watched. As we came trotting towards the gate and the barn (you horse people know what a draw those things can be), I squeezed with my hands and said "walk" - she immediately dropped into the walk and stopped. I rode her for a nice cool down and back to the barn for our un-tacking madness. (Although she is also getting much better at standing still for that process too)
This does no justice to the feeling I had in this experience. It was relaxing. Free. Almost effortless. And then we just kept going....
I was giddy but left wondering what was so exceptional about this. I mean, Matilda is not green. She was taught to walk, trot, canter, jump, proper flexion and so forth. So why is this such a big deal? I had to look back to my first experiences with Matilda-two or three years ago, long before I started this project. My first ride with Matilda, she ran off with me constantly. The second, I don't remember what she was doing, I remember that I was frustrated to the point of tears. The third was the same as the second, but I had a sense of humor about it. This past Friday was so easy, what's the difference?
I mean think about it - I have only been on Matilda 3-6 times. There hasn't been any aggressive saddle work. Not only that, but over the last 2 years, the vast majority of my work with horses has been ground work. Even so, am I a better rider than I was 2 years ago? Absolutely. Is Matilda a more willing partner? Most definitely.
Of those 2 years of ground work, 8 months (less all those days and weeks that I said to myself, "I don't want to this" and therefore didn't) has been with Matilda, in part if not in entirety. We have spent time together building a foundation of trust and reward. I have been attempting to shape her into a horse that understands that there are benefits to doing the things I ask her to do and I think, I hope, that work is what is paying off now. We let her be her and me be me and met each other each day with a plan that we had to be willing to leave behind. I have lost my temper, she has refused to work but there was no severe punishment involved (I don't think-although I have not always behaved well), I tried to just walk away from those days or do as little as possible. On the days when we were both present and willing the rewards were frequent and good. She knows what to expect from me and a little of what I expect of her. Eight months of relationship building and we did something, with very little effort, that I would not have dreamed of being able to do with her two years ago. Something I didn't dare dream about eight months ago.
Riding without an agenda. Horsemanship without a timeline. Building a relationship as it comes to you and letting it unfold. The waiting and patience is so hard but if you can do it, it makes everything that comes after so much easier.
None of this is new but sometimes experience makes old thoughts and ideas become new wisdom.
Make no mistake, I don't pretend that everything will be smooth sailing from here on out. Even writing this makes me feel nervous. Like I sound cocky. People pay for cockiness. I am well aware of who I am dealing with and that there are (attempted?) break aways coming down the road and who knows what else. I may be screaming about the she-beast tomorrow.
But Friday was gold. We were together, for awhile, in every way.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Matilda Under Saddle
Yes, under saddle:) Although I have griped about the busy barn and full ring, I have been back on Matilda a few times in the last three weeks. Thanks to my dear Kaitlyn, I have lots of pictures from our very best day.... so far.
I have her in the bridle that belonged to my own horse, Bella, but have rigged it to work without
a bit. Keeping things pleasant, you know, and nicer for taking carrots.
Ah, carrots. It is harder than anticipated to get carrots from the saddle to Matilda's mouth. The more we do it the better our coordination gets but the first couple of days there was a lot of maneuvering to pick up dropped carrots and a lot of thumb and finger biting. Unintentional.... I think.... I hope.
On Thursday, the 11th, our coordination was so poor that it was impossible to actually work on any goals. Trying to get her to "walk on" requires a certain rhythm of words and movement that cannot be achieved when one has to constantly stop to rub one's fingers or pause to back the horse while pointing to the ground and
saying, "It's your fault, you dropped it.... Can't you see, it's right there!! Just put your head down!!" She has gotten better at retrieving the dropped carrots, I am proud to state.... any achievement, no matter how small, right?
I was also feeling bold and sassy that Thursday, so without being able to work on our actual goals, we just played and tried stuff out. Using plain old leg and rein adds (words too) we walked and stopped a lot, attempting to reward for good behavior along the way.
She was so quiet and easy while I was up there that I couldn't stand it and asked her to trot! She did beautifully. I used the same three step process, along with light leg aids, asking first, "Matilda, are you ready?" Then, "Matilda, Trot!" and lastly "Up, Up!" She came up to the trot at the exact same point that she would have, had I asked on the longe line. We only trotted a few steps before I squeezed back with the reins and asked her to "walk"; she fell into the walk immediately, to my tremendous joy and pleasure. We did that several times around the ring, alternating between walking and stopping or walking, trotting, walking and stopping, as I happily clicked and dropped carrots all over the ring.
It popped into my head to see if some of the ground work was translating (this was before I
started working with the whip for over) so we went to the center of the ring and stopped. I pressed my left leg into her side and said "over". It was amazing to feel that big body shift under me as she moved laterally, away from my leg. I hollered out, "Kim! Kim! Watch me!!" like a three year old doing penny drops and repeated the movement. She confirmed that what I thought was happening actually was happening. Matilda was moving her whole body sideways, stepping out and crossing her front then her hind legs under her. Very cool. Wonderful day. We finished it out by giving Kaitlyn a "pony ride" on Matilda, with me leading them around the ring, as a thank you for all the pictures and just because we could:)
This past week, I was up on Matilda one more time. This time we were able to work on the voice commands. It will be a slow process, but I know she can get it. I started it the same way that I did on the ground, saying "walk on" as I
squeezed with my legs and clicking when she took a step. Unlike when I was on the ground, when I said "walk on" without squeezing, she did not move right away. She would eventually, but I had to sit on her awhile and wait it out. The walk is much slower and lazier if it starts from just a verbal command too. That may just be because she is unsure and I don't really mind a slow, lazy walk at this point.
We also spent some time on mounting and dismounting. The first time I got on her, she stood rock still, but in later days she was moving forward as I tried to mount. At the end of our session this past week, I got off and on her three times before she stood still while I mounted. When she did, I clicked, rewarded and called it quits. I didn't ask for a repeat, maybe I should have, but why press your luck? There's always next week.
Matilda on the Lunge Line
I'm not really sure how much there is to say about our longe work of late. There have been days wherein the barn was so busy, we couldn't carve out a nitch to work on it.
Over the last week, the weather has cooled off and she has been more difficult to manage. She has been more apt to rush or try to break out, but thus far I have been able to hold on to her and bring her down. I have also been asking her to walk longer without reward which I suspect precipitates some of the break away moments.
One day, a couple of weeks ago, she broke out into a full on canter, the first one I've seen in quite a while. I was very proud of myself for hanging on through a full circle around me and then bringing her in and down. She didn't stop moving until she was about 3 feet away from me, but she did stop. I don't reward her for stopping at that point. Don't worry.
I spent some time last week really challenging her with the longe whip, swinging it and moving it erratically, while expecting her to either stand still or continue walking. That was an interesting day. There was a lot of dropping the whip as she took off and bringing her in to me to stop her. A real challenge to my physical and her mental strengths. Ultimately she did very well and by the end of the day she was able to maintain a calm(ish) walk as I picked the whip off the ground, swung it over my head and brought the whip tip to the ground quickly.
Why would I do this, you may ask? I want Matilda to be as "bomb proof" as possible. I won't always be the one dealing with her and people are weird. I really don't expect her to be able to keep her cool if someone comes up behind her cracking a whip, but I'd like to know she is capable of trusting me not to touch her harshly with it. If she can trust me, she can trust others. This exercise was asking a lot, I knew that, but I was sort of looking to see where we were.
That's about all I can say. She still walks, trots and whoas at the end of the lunge line. Well, until she doesn't. There have been days that she just wasn't listening. I would get her walking and then ask her to stop and she would walk 3 circles around me before turning towards me and walking all the way into my space as if to say, "Did you say something? Was that good enough?" She still rushes and pulls and the cooler nights have made these moments more frequent than I would like it to be but it has all been manageable. That's vital. I am always able to bring her down somehow. I am always able to get some sort of decent upward and downward transitions out of her. (well, except for that one day, but the food cart went by right as we were getting started...) She is getting fewer food rewards for her work on the longe, although there are plenty, and my arm muscles are getting stronger. 'Nuff said.
Over the last week, the weather has cooled off and she has been more difficult to manage. She has been more apt to rush or try to break out, but thus far I have been able to hold on to her and bring her down. I have also been asking her to walk longer without reward which I suspect precipitates some of the break away moments.
One day, a couple of weeks ago, she broke out into a full on canter, the first one I've seen in quite a while. I was very proud of myself for hanging on through a full circle around me and then bringing her in and down. She didn't stop moving until she was about 3 feet away from me, but she did stop. I don't reward her for stopping at that point. Don't worry.
I spent some time last week really challenging her with the longe whip, swinging it and moving it erratically, while expecting her to either stand still or continue walking. That was an interesting day. There was a lot of dropping the whip as she took off and bringing her in to me to stop her. A real challenge to my physical and her mental strengths. Ultimately she did very well and by the end of the day she was able to maintain a calm(ish) walk as I picked the whip off the ground, swung it over my head and brought the whip tip to the ground quickly.
Why would I do this, you may ask? I want Matilda to be as "bomb proof" as possible. I won't always be the one dealing with her and people are weird. I really don't expect her to be able to keep her cool if someone comes up behind her cracking a whip, but I'd like to know she is capable of trusting me not to touch her harshly with it. If she can trust me, she can trust others. This exercise was asking a lot, I knew that, but I was sort of looking to see where we were.
That's about all I can say. She still walks, trots and whoas at the end of the lunge line. Well, until she doesn't. There have been days that she just wasn't listening. I would get her walking and then ask her to stop and she would walk 3 circles around me before turning towards me and walking all the way into my space as if to say, "Did you say something? Was that good enough?" She still rushes and pulls and the cooler nights have made these moments more frequent than I would like it to be but it has all been manageable. That's vital. I am always able to bring her down somehow. I am always able to get some sort of decent upward and downward transitions out of her. (well, except for that one day, but the food cart went by right as we were getting started...) She is getting fewer food rewards for her work on the longe, although there are plenty, and my arm muscles are getting stronger. 'Nuff said.
Matilda on the Ground
We had to spend a lot of time working from the ground the last few weeks. Once I had gotten up on Matilda, I wanted to keep getting on her every day and came to the barn with that expectation every day. After a few consecutive days of disappointment and frustration, I sort of gave up the idea and committed myself to just working from the ground until school started again.
We've kept up with the "back" and "up" (for lifting the feet) but I've mostly worked on fine tuning the "over"s. She has gotten really good at moving just her front feet again, when I touch her shoulder, and doing a full body lateral shift when I touch her at the girth. Her hind end has been the problem. She almost always has to step forward, then a tiny step away from me with her front feet before taking a huge step away with her rear feet followed by a step backwards. We went through this dance step many, many times over the last weeks before I finally started giving her some help by holding her head.
I really want her to do this movement all by herself, without me giving any physical help in adjusting her body. For now, however, I have to bend her head a little bit towards me and hold it back while asking her to move the hind legs alone. When I do all that she performs the movement beautifully. The second I give her her head, we go back to the dance step. We'll keep plugging away at it until she understands.
I have also added a dressage (long) whip into the mix. I figure that it will be both impractical and unsafe for me to keep my balance while I ask for her to move her front legs around her rear - or vice versa - by swinging my leg up to her shoulder or all the back to her hip, pressing in, and saying "over". It would be much easier if I could do the same thing with a light tap of the whip, don't you think? The larger, full lateral move can easily be done with pressure from my leg so no worries there.... If it will work in transition to the saddle at all.
So, we have been going through the same exercise from the ground with me standing either in front or beside her, tapping her lightly with the whip and asking for "over". She quickly understood what I was asking for when I tapped her shoulder, tougher with the rear end. She doesn't even like the whip going back there. If I am holding the whip while I move to stand beside her, she cranes her neck around as if to say, "And where do you think you are going with that?" I have to tap lightly with the whip, then press with my finger in order for her to move. She has begun to respond to the taps occasionally, but only just. There's a little ways to go with that one.
I hoped to start on teaching her to "walk on" by voice command only. I had, in my head at least, worked out a system that I thought would work from the saddle, but was not sure I could translate it to the ground. My short time in the saddle made it clear that she either did not understand or did not know to listen for the voice commands. I thought she had been listening at least some of the time during our longe work, but I was evidently sending more signals through body language than I thought.
It came to me an instant, however, and we started to try it. Standing next to Matilda, I would say "walk on" as I walked forward. She of course would walk with me and I would immediately click and reward. We did that 3-5 times, back-to-back in rapid succession. Then, just as quickly, I said "walk on" and didn't move - she did! HA! Click!
We went back and forth, sometimes I would walk with her and others I would stand still, but she always walked forward. We have only gotten a few shuffling steps in a tight circle around me (she'll never go far from that reward) but it has been a start.
On Friday (the 26th) we began working "whoa" the same way. I stopped beside her and said "whoa" as she stopped. After several times, I said "whoa" and kept moving forward very slowly. This proved more difficult for her to grasp, but she showed small signs that the synapses were starting to fire on this one too.
As soon as I gave myself over to a couple weeks of ground work only, I really enjoyed it. One day, we even had the time to work in her paddock like we did in the very beginning, no halters or leads. Absolutely her choice to hang out with me or go off on her own. I felt like she really enjoyed that and I will try to make room for "play days". That being said, she can no longer stay there but must continue working to join the rest of the world. Despite my own failings and confusion, I will continue to try to make it as pleasant as possible for sweet Matilda.
We've kept up with the "back" and "up" (for lifting the feet) but I've mostly worked on fine tuning the "over"s. She has gotten really good at moving just her front feet again, when I touch her shoulder, and doing a full body lateral shift when I touch her at the girth. Her hind end has been the problem. She almost always has to step forward, then a tiny step away from me with her front feet before taking a huge step away with her rear feet followed by a step backwards. We went through this dance step many, many times over the last weeks before I finally started giving her some help by holding her head.
I really want her to do this movement all by herself, without me giving any physical help in adjusting her body. For now, however, I have to bend her head a little bit towards me and hold it back while asking her to move the hind legs alone. When I do all that she performs the movement beautifully. The second I give her her head, we go back to the dance step. We'll keep plugging away at it until she understands.
I have also added a dressage (long) whip into the mix. I figure that it will be both impractical and unsafe for me to keep my balance while I ask for her to move her front legs around her rear - or vice versa - by swinging my leg up to her shoulder or all the back to her hip, pressing in, and saying "over". It would be much easier if I could do the same thing with a light tap of the whip, don't you think? The larger, full lateral move can easily be done with pressure from my leg so no worries there.... If it will work in transition to the saddle at all.
So, we have been going through the same exercise from the ground with me standing either in front or beside her, tapping her lightly with the whip and asking for "over". She quickly understood what I was asking for when I tapped her shoulder, tougher with the rear end. She doesn't even like the whip going back there. If I am holding the whip while I move to stand beside her, she cranes her neck around as if to say, "And where do you think you are going with that?" I have to tap lightly with the whip, then press with my finger in order for her to move. She has begun to respond to the taps occasionally, but only just. There's a little ways to go with that one.
I hoped to start on teaching her to "walk on" by voice command only. I had, in my head at least, worked out a system that I thought would work from the saddle, but was not sure I could translate it to the ground. My short time in the saddle made it clear that she either did not understand or did not know to listen for the voice commands. I thought she had been listening at least some of the time during our longe work, but I was evidently sending more signals through body language than I thought.
It came to me an instant, however, and we started to try it. Standing next to Matilda, I would say "walk on" as I walked forward. She of course would walk with me and I would immediately click and reward. We did that 3-5 times, back-to-back in rapid succession. Then, just as quickly, I said "walk on" and didn't move - she did! HA! Click!
We went back and forth, sometimes I would walk with her and others I would stand still, but she always walked forward. We have only gotten a few shuffling steps in a tight circle around me (she'll never go far from that reward) but it has been a start.
On Friday (the 26th) we began working "whoa" the same way. I stopped beside her and said "whoa" as she stopped. After several times, I said "whoa" and kept moving forward very slowly. This proved more difficult for her to grasp, but she showed small signs that the synapses were starting to fire on this one too.
As soon as I gave myself over to a couple weeks of ground work only, I really enjoyed it. One day, we even had the time to work in her paddock like we did in the very beginning, no halters or leads. Absolutely her choice to hang out with me or go off on her own. I felt like she really enjoyed that and I will try to make room for "play days". That being said, she can no longer stay there but must continue working to join the rest of the world. Despite my own failings and confusion, I will continue to try to make it as pleasant as possible for sweet Matilda.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Matilda Around the Barn
I am planning a series of posts this weekend, to catch you up on the last few weeks. For these posts, I am going to summarize the four focus points of our work rather than trying to provide a blow-by-blow of days worked.
I have tried to have Matilda around the barn more and more over the last few weeks, making sure she spends time in the cross ties being groomed and even giving breaks during our work outs by putting her in a stall or bringing her up to the barn at feeding time so that she can eat in a stall. I don't know that there is any good reason to do some of these things, other than my desire that she be more and more a part of barn life. Getting used to seeing people and being seen by people.
She is very quiet in the stall.
No big deal, although she will try to steal your food if you eat in a chair that she can reach. Matilda doesn't mind being stared at or petted by random passers by and it's nice to see people walk by, pet her nose and ask "Is that Matilda?" every once in a while and express an interest in riding her.
She is also quiet in the cross ties... for pre-work grooming. If you remember my last post (and I didn't, I had to go re-read it before starting this one. Sheesh.) you will recall that I complained about Matilda being annoying while I tried to groom her after some work. I attributed this to the feed cart going by. Not so. She is always annoying in the cross ties during the untacking and grooming process before going back out to her paddock.
This makes no sense to me. She should be quieter, by my reasoning, after a little bit of a work out but instead wiggles and moves back and forth. People walk by and ask, "Is Matilda going to break out of the cross ties?" (At this point no one expresses an interest in riding her.) She also punches me in the arm as I walk back and forth in front of her. In fact, one day I spent more time than I wanted walking back and forth close in front of her nose simply clicking when she left me alone. She's a little better about that now.
This tends to be a dangerous time for me. I am apt to lose my temper as I try to go through what should be a relaxing process. I lost my temper a little bit today, jerking at her halter as I tried to keep her still. Shortly after, I stepped back and took a deep, sighing breath as I put my hand on her back. As soon as my hand touched her back she took a deep, sighing breath too. I realized that she was just as frustrated and confused as me. As much as I was gritting my teeth by her not getting it, she was pinning her ears back because she couldn't figure out what I was after. That was enough to calm me down. I hugged her neck for a second and went back to work.
After a lot of trial and error, I found that if I just froze the brush wherever it was when she started moving, waiting until she stopped moving before resuming the brush stroke and clicking while said brush stroke was in progress (sheesh again) - THAT she started to understand. I was, by the end able to brush her face (which she abhors, by the way) and one side of her body while she stood quietly and got a click and reward at the end.
And her feet... I used to pick up each foot and click and reward the moment it was in my hand, immediately releasing it. Now I can pick up a foot and click and reward with every other foot that I clean, her hoof resting fairly gently in my hand for as long as it takes. When tacking up, that is. When untacking, I have to click for each hoof. Clicking while I am actually brushing or picking out the hoof but only if she is not trying to pull it away. (If that isn't a neat trick.... wiggly hoof, hoof pick and clicker in hand, where does that third hand come from??) It's getting better. She really only tries to pull her rear hooves out of my hand and, in all honesty, I haven't spent a whole lot of time on it. I'm usually out of carrots by the time I get to her feet. I am trying to be more conscious of my carrot rations these days.
So, we are hard at it! Who knew a simple brushing would be so much work?!? Next time (tomorrow, I hope) Matilda on the Ground...
I have tried to have Matilda around the barn more and more over the last few weeks, making sure she spends time in the cross ties being groomed and even giving breaks during our work outs by putting her in a stall or bringing her up to the barn at feeding time so that she can eat in a stall. I don't know that there is any good reason to do some of these things, other than my desire that she be more and more a part of barn life. Getting used to seeing people and being seen by people.
She is very quiet in the stall.
No big deal, although she will try to steal your food if you eat in a chair that she can reach. Matilda doesn't mind being stared at or petted by random passers by and it's nice to see people walk by, pet her nose and ask "Is that Matilda?" every once in a while and express an interest in riding her.
She is also quiet in the cross ties... for pre-work grooming. If you remember my last post (and I didn't, I had to go re-read it before starting this one. Sheesh.) you will recall that I complained about Matilda being annoying while I tried to groom her after some work. I attributed this to the feed cart going by. Not so. She is always annoying in the cross ties during the untacking and grooming process before going back out to her paddock.
This makes no sense to me. She should be quieter, by my reasoning, after a little bit of a work out but instead wiggles and moves back and forth. People walk by and ask, "Is Matilda going to break out of the cross ties?" (At this point no one expresses an interest in riding her.) She also punches me in the arm as I walk back and forth in front of her. In fact, one day I spent more time than I wanted walking back and forth close in front of her nose simply clicking when she left me alone. She's a little better about that now.
This tends to be a dangerous time for me. I am apt to lose my temper as I try to go through what should be a relaxing process. I lost my temper a little bit today, jerking at her halter as I tried to keep her still. Shortly after, I stepped back and took a deep, sighing breath as I put my hand on her back. As soon as my hand touched her back she took a deep, sighing breath too. I realized that she was just as frustrated and confused as me. As much as I was gritting my teeth by her not getting it, she was pinning her ears back because she couldn't figure out what I was after. That was enough to calm me down. I hugged her neck for a second and went back to work.
After a lot of trial and error, I found that if I just froze the brush wherever it was when she started moving, waiting until she stopped moving before resuming the brush stroke and clicking while said brush stroke was in progress (sheesh again) - THAT she started to understand. I was, by the end able to brush her face (which she abhors, by the way) and one side of her body while she stood quietly and got a click and reward at the end.
And her feet... I used to pick up each foot and click and reward the moment it was in my hand, immediately releasing it. Now I can pick up a foot and click and reward with every other foot that I clean, her hoof resting fairly gently in my hand for as long as it takes. When tacking up, that is. When untacking, I have to click for each hoof. Clicking while I am actually brushing or picking out the hoof but only if she is not trying to pull it away. (If that isn't a neat trick.... wiggly hoof, hoof pick and clicker in hand, where does that third hand come from??) It's getting better. She really only tries to pull her rear hooves out of my hand and, in all honesty, I haven't spent a whole lot of time on it. I'm usually out of carrots by the time I get to her feet. I am trying to be more conscious of my carrot rations these days.
So, we are hard at it! Who knew a simple brushing would be so much work?!? Next time (tomorrow, I hope) Matilda on the Ground...
Friday, July 29, 2011
Riding Matilda Part 2, My Turn
I went to the barn with an agenda on Friday. Never a good thing; fortunately I got away with it. I wanted to get on Matilda so badly after seeing Loryn up there the day before. The barn was crowded, as it always is these days. With camp every morning almost all the lessons have to happen after one o'clock and there is rarely, if ever, a time that the ring is empty. If I am lucky, I can find a time when there is only one lesson or one practice ride going on. I know that it's good for us to work with all those distractions but I was admittedly out of sorts on Friday for unknown reasons, feeling hurried and impatient. Wanting time to myself. Snarky...
I try to be as unobtrusive as possible when I work with Matilda, working around lessons and other riders. This wasn't possible on Friday. I had to ask to take over one end of the riding ring, pushing four other riders to share the other side. Like I said, the barn was crowded on Friday.
It was just me and Matilda. We started with some review and I noticed that her "over" was really imprecise. A couple of weeks ago, I put my finger on her shoulder and asked her to "over" and she stepped over with just her front feet. This afternoon the same action got a full body lateral shift with a step back at the end. We did it several times before she even came close to doing it correctly. I was not impressed. We worked on it a little while, going up and down her sides and asking her to step over. I asked just until she gave me something that (if I squinted my eyes and tilted my head to the left and with the sun behind her) looked a little bit like what I wanted. Did I mention I was not impressed? Next time I am at the barn I will most likely spend all of our time reworking those ground commands. As much as I want to work on new stuff, I guess I have to set aside days to reenforce those things.
After I hurried through our review I put her on the longe line. I shouldn't have been surprised to find her quick and unfocused. A perfect reflection of my own attitude.
She walked when I asked, but I had to ask her to "whoa" at least a half dozen times before she stopped. I clicked for stopping and tried again. Same thing. I could tell she just wasn't listening and I could see the possibilities of me getting on Matilda's back fading into the ether.
As we struggled through our workout, I stumbled across another take off trigger, too. At the end of one of our circles, I dropped the longe whip on the ground and went to her to give her a reward for half decent behavior. I asked her to "walk on", which she did nicely, but when I bent over to pick up the whip she tried to take off! Huh, I thought, that's weird. Then it struck me that all of my desensitizing exercises with dropping and picking up the whip had been done while she stood still. This was the first time I had tried to pick up the whip while she was already in motion. All plans had to go on the back burner in order to fix this.
I asked her to "walk on" and bent down to the whip, she picked up that quick trot and I had to stand up quickly and use both hands to bring her back to the walk. I let her walk for a while then bent my knees to about the half way point, she picked up the quick trot with a head toss. Sigh. Up again to bring her down to the walk. OK, third time's the charm. I barely bent my knees, she sped up the walk but this time I was able to click before she trotted. It's pretty much a given (as much as these things can be) that when she hears the "click" she stops (thank You, Lord). She did so in this instance and I rewarded.
I asked her to walk again and after a few circles did another knee bend - click. Again, with a slightly deeper knee bend. We probably did this 10-12 times, with me getting a little closer to the ground each time, before I could pick up the whip while she continued to walk. The whole time I could feel my mental fingers drumming away on a mental table top with impatience.
Of course we had to do the same thing on the other side. Fortunately it took less time, as she was already familiar with the exercise.... I guess.
Now for the moment of truth. Did I dare?? The four riders had left the ring, but two more had come in for lessons. One little girl on a pony (I think it was a little girl on a pony, I was only half paying attention... you know, like Matilda) and one teenager on a young horse still in training. Not the ideal situation. Especially since Matilda was not listening to me on the ground.
But how could I not?! So, on went the helmet and Matilda and I walked to the mounting block. I clicked for lining up almost perfectly with the mounting block. I clicked for standing perfectly still while I hoisted myself up.
I wanted to see if she would respond to simple voice commands so I said "walk on" without giving any indication with my body of what I wanted (This is harder than it sounds. It's sort of auto-pilot-motion memory to squeeze with your legs as you ask for the walk.) and she just stood there. I said, "Matilda, walk on." and she stood there. I said, "Matilda, waaaalk ooooon." And she moved forward! No, just kidding, she still stood there. Finally I gave her a little squeeze with my ankles while asking her to walk on and she did (click!)
Then I asked her to "whoa" and she kept walking. So I squeezed back with the reins and asked her to "whoa" and she did (click!)
We spent about 10-15 minutes in just this way: walking, stopping, dismounting and re-mounting. All with relaxed loose reins and as little physical encouragement as possible. (Remember, one of our new goals is for her to respond to voice commands only from the saddle.) We now know that Matilda and I have to work on our coordination in getting carrots to her from the saddle. It's a little awkward but every time she stretches that head around to get a carrot from my hand, she is stretching her neck, loosening up and learning to bend. Bonus!
I wish I could end on this positive note, but as I finished my last dismount (click!) the food cart went past... Whatever little bit of good Matilda there was immediately vanished. I tried to hose her down but she would not stop moving and punching me. I finally just took her out to her paddock and turned her loose. We'll save working through feed time for another day. I was so frustrated by the time I took her out to the pasture that I did not realize until I was on my home how easy it was to lead her out. I know she was focused on getting to the food, but she never got ahead of me or punched me to try and get me to move faster. It would be quite simple (and some horses do) for her to try and rush and pull me along, but the whole way back to the paddock her head was near my shoulder... of course there was no time wasted either:)
On a second sad note, I have lost some of my contact with Loryn. Stupid school is already getting in motion and preparations intrude. We will try to figure out how to get together at least once a week but I am sad. I feel like the three of us were just hitting our stride together. stupid school. I am grateful for how she has motivated me to pick things up through this summer. I wouldn't be where I am without her involvement. We'll find a way to continue working together in some fashion. In this I am confident.
A new week begins. I see a lot of "walk on" and "whoa" in my near future. At least I will be in the saddle for some of it and that's where I want to be.
P.S. School is important. School is good. If you are in school, stay in school. Blah blah blah ;)
I try to be as unobtrusive as possible when I work with Matilda, working around lessons and other riders. This wasn't possible on Friday. I had to ask to take over one end of the riding ring, pushing four other riders to share the other side. Like I said, the barn was crowded on Friday.
It was just me and Matilda. We started with some review and I noticed that her "over" was really imprecise. A couple of weeks ago, I put my finger on her shoulder and asked her to "over" and she stepped over with just her front feet. This afternoon the same action got a full body lateral shift with a step back at the end. We did it several times before she even came close to doing it correctly. I was not impressed. We worked on it a little while, going up and down her sides and asking her to step over. I asked just until she gave me something that (if I squinted my eyes and tilted my head to the left and with the sun behind her) looked a little bit like what I wanted. Did I mention I was not impressed? Next time I am at the barn I will most likely spend all of our time reworking those ground commands. As much as I want to work on new stuff, I guess I have to set aside days to reenforce those things.
After I hurried through our review I put her on the longe line. I shouldn't have been surprised to find her quick and unfocused. A perfect reflection of my own attitude.
She walked when I asked, but I had to ask her to "whoa" at least a half dozen times before she stopped. I clicked for stopping and tried again. Same thing. I could tell she just wasn't listening and I could see the possibilities of me getting on Matilda's back fading into the ether.
As we struggled through our workout, I stumbled across another take off trigger, too. At the end of one of our circles, I dropped the longe whip on the ground and went to her to give her a reward for half decent behavior. I asked her to "walk on", which she did nicely, but when I bent over to pick up the whip she tried to take off! Huh, I thought, that's weird. Then it struck me that all of my desensitizing exercises with dropping and picking up the whip had been done while she stood still. This was the first time I had tried to pick up the whip while she was already in motion. All plans had to go on the back burner in order to fix this.
I asked her to "walk on" and bent down to the whip, she picked up that quick trot and I had to stand up quickly and use both hands to bring her back to the walk. I let her walk for a while then bent my knees to about the half way point, she picked up the quick trot with a head toss. Sigh. Up again to bring her down to the walk. OK, third time's the charm. I barely bent my knees, she sped up the walk but this time I was able to click before she trotted. It's pretty much a given (as much as these things can be) that when she hears the "click" she stops (thank You, Lord). She did so in this instance and I rewarded.
I asked her to walk again and after a few circles did another knee bend - click. Again, with a slightly deeper knee bend. We probably did this 10-12 times, with me getting a little closer to the ground each time, before I could pick up the whip while she continued to walk. The whole time I could feel my mental fingers drumming away on a mental table top with impatience.
Of course we had to do the same thing on the other side. Fortunately it took less time, as she was already familiar with the exercise.... I guess.
Now for the moment of truth. Did I dare?? The four riders had left the ring, but two more had come in for lessons. One little girl on a pony (I think it was a little girl on a pony, I was only half paying attention... you know, like Matilda) and one teenager on a young horse still in training. Not the ideal situation. Especially since Matilda was not listening to me on the ground.
But how could I not?! So, on went the helmet and Matilda and I walked to the mounting block. I clicked for lining up almost perfectly with the mounting block. I clicked for standing perfectly still while I hoisted myself up.
I wanted to see if she would respond to simple voice commands so I said "walk on" without giving any indication with my body of what I wanted (This is harder than it sounds. It's sort of auto-pilot-motion memory to squeeze with your legs as you ask for the walk.) and she just stood there. I said, "Matilda, walk on." and she stood there. I said, "Matilda, waaaalk ooooon." And she moved forward! No, just kidding, she still stood there. Finally I gave her a little squeeze with my ankles while asking her to walk on and she did (click!)
Then I asked her to "whoa" and she kept walking. So I squeezed back with the reins and asked her to "whoa" and she did (click!)
We spent about 10-15 minutes in just this way: walking, stopping, dismounting and re-mounting. All with relaxed loose reins and as little physical encouragement as possible. (Remember, one of our new goals is for her to respond to voice commands only from the saddle.) We now know that Matilda and I have to work on our coordination in getting carrots to her from the saddle. It's a little awkward but every time she stretches that head around to get a carrot from my hand, she is stretching her neck, loosening up and learning to bend. Bonus!
I wish I could end on this positive note, but as I finished my last dismount (click!) the food cart went past... Whatever little bit of good Matilda there was immediately vanished. I tried to hose her down but she would not stop moving and punching me. I finally just took her out to her paddock and turned her loose. We'll save working through feed time for another day. I was so frustrated by the time I took her out to the pasture that I did not realize until I was on my home how easy it was to lead her out. I know she was focused on getting to the food, but she never got ahead of me or punched me to try and get me to move faster. It would be quite simple (and some horses do) for her to try and rush and pull me along, but the whole way back to the paddock her head was near my shoulder... of course there was no time wasted either:)
On a second sad note, I have lost some of my contact with Loryn. Stupid school is already getting in motion and preparations intrude. We will try to figure out how to get together at least once a week but I am sad. I feel like the three of us were just hitting our stride together. stupid school. I am grateful for how she has motivated me to pick things up through this summer. I wouldn't be where I am without her involvement. We'll find a way to continue working together in some fashion. In this I am confident.
A new week begins. I see a lot of "walk on" and "whoa" in my near future. At least I will be in the saddle for some of it and that's where I want to be.
P.S. School is important. School is good. If you are in school, stay in school. Blah blah blah ;)
Thursday, July 28, 2011
On Top of Matilda (to be sung) aka A New Thing
FYI - We are leaving Kelly Marks' book behind. It has served its purpose and we are taking all the things that we have learned and running with it! I'll talk more about that later in this post.
We went to the barn on Tuesday but only so that my 6 year old niece could have a lesson. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw Matilda in the upper ring with a saddle on! Loryn was working with Matilda, not just going over "over" (hee hee) and moving away from pressure, but teaching Matilda to move away from small, gentle taps of the whip with the saddle on. Loryn informed me that she was not at all distracted by the saddle. Kismet -
Loryn was reading my mind. I had written in my last post that I was thinking of putting the saddle on Matilda for the lunge work and there she was, with a saddle on her back!
So today Matilda worked with a saddle. Loryn briefly showed me what she had been doing and then we put Matilda on the longe line. (I had indicated my hopes for the day to Loryn and I think she was as anxious as I was to press on!)
There was another horse in the ring and we had a slow start. I asked her to walk and then whoa. She kept walking for a long time after I asked her to stop, but I clicked as soon as she stopped and then I had her. She gave me everything I asked for within moments of my asking.
Now that she is doing so well with her walk, trot and whoa transitions, I am trying to focus on and reward some specific aspect of her lunge work. Right now it is softness on the line. Matilda likes to use the longe line to help her balance, just like we might balance by pressing against a wall, I believe she presses to the end of the longe line as a way of trying to balance herself. This means that I have to use my body weight to hold her head in, in an attempt to keep her from that spiraling out of control business. So, my goal now is to only click if the longe line is soft (or relaxed) and she is maintaining the circle on her own. Right now I can only get a few steps before she presses to the outside but a few steps is better than no steps at all.
Now we get to the fun stuff:
As long as Matilda had a saddle on her back and there were two of us there, somebody had to get up on her, right?! This was what Loryn and I had talked about and why we were so eager to get through our basics. We had talked about just clicking for Matilda standing still while Loryn simply mounted and dismounted, yeah right.
Our barn uses a mounting block and it is very difficult to dismount on top of a mounting block so we had to ask her to move forward a little too, right?? right??
This was Loryn's first time on Matilda and Matilda's first time with a rider in 2+ years. I think we were both really excited. I had the lead for Matilda's halter and Loryn was on her back. I wish I had pictures but, well... I had the lead rope and I am super paranoid and not getting distracted for a photo op.
OK, I am going to digress from the narrative to explain our new ideas and direction now so that you understand what we were doing....
One of the things Kim and I have talked about (in a vague sort of way) is the possibility of Matilda becoming a therapy horse. As I thought about how to transition Matilda from longe work to under saddle work, it hit me. If Matilda is to be a truly phenomenal and unique therapy horse, she needs to be able to listen, understand and obey basic directions from the saddle- whether by voice, leg, hands or any combination of the three.
I mean, what if someone who had no leg strength wanted to ride? Wouldn't it be great if they could be confident in rein or vocal aids while building leg strength? Or someone who had poor motor skills - they could rely on the vocal aids while figuring out how to move and control their limbs independently. The possibilities are infinite if we can figure out how to make this work.
So, I asked Loryn (and I will be also) to brain storm how to proceed to teach Matilda to stop (whoa), walk, trot and turn left or right by voice, leg and/or rein aid. I am really excited about this new idea. We'll still be working on "regular" riding so that she will be a good horse for Loryn to ride in lessons and such but this will be an entirely new dimension for us to work towards. We need to come up with long term and short term goals to meet each week. So cool.
(You can tell how excited I am by the poor sentence structure:))
Back to the narrative:
Loryn was up on Matilda, I had the lead. Our goal? to see how Matilda listened and responded to the vocal commands (NOT trot but walk and whoa) with minimal leg aids.
The difficulty? being next to her with the lead in my hand and not telegraphing "walk on" and "whoa".
Loryn would ask Matilda to "walk on" with minimal pressure from her heels then to "whoa". She had nothing to pull back on to support the vocal command. I did my best to walk next to them only after Matilda started walking and to slow to a stop only after Matilda did. Every few starts and stops Loryn would dismount, walk Matilda back to the mounting block and re-mount. I would click and reward when she stood absolutely still for mounting and for stopping on command. (stop is always the most important command for a 1600 lb. horse)
It was all brilliant. She was absolutely calm and quiet with everything we threw at her. I really believe that we are starting a new chapter in this journey. Now I am thinking about how to teach Matilda the difference between left and right. I think it will all start with the vocal commands and we will be able to build the other aids from there. Using the heat as our ally and the clicker as our enforcer, we press on to see just how far we can go, how much she can learn. The sky is truly the limit.
We went to the barn on Tuesday but only so that my 6 year old niece could have a lesson. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw Matilda in the upper ring with a saddle on! Loryn was working with Matilda, not just going over "over" (hee hee) and moving away from pressure, but teaching Matilda to move away from small, gentle taps of the whip with the saddle on. Loryn informed me that she was not at all distracted by the saddle. Kismet -
Loryn was reading my mind. I had written in my last post that I was thinking of putting the saddle on Matilda for the lunge work and there she was, with a saddle on her back!
So today Matilda worked with a saddle. Loryn briefly showed me what she had been doing and then we put Matilda on the longe line. (I had indicated my hopes for the day to Loryn and I think she was as anxious as I was to press on!)
There was another horse in the ring and we had a slow start. I asked her to walk and then whoa. She kept walking for a long time after I asked her to stop, but I clicked as soon as she stopped and then I had her. She gave me everything I asked for within moments of my asking.
Now that she is doing so well with her walk, trot and whoa transitions, I am trying to focus on and reward some specific aspect of her lunge work. Right now it is softness on the line. Matilda likes to use the longe line to help her balance, just like we might balance by pressing against a wall, I believe she presses to the end of the longe line as a way of trying to balance herself. This means that I have to use my body weight to hold her head in, in an attempt to keep her from that spiraling out of control business. So, my goal now is to only click if the longe line is soft (or relaxed) and she is maintaining the circle on her own. Right now I can only get a few steps before she presses to the outside but a few steps is better than no steps at all.
Now we get to the fun stuff:
As long as Matilda had a saddle on her back and there were two of us there, somebody had to get up on her, right?! This was what Loryn and I had talked about and why we were so eager to get through our basics. We had talked about just clicking for Matilda standing still while Loryn simply mounted and dismounted, yeah right.
Our barn uses a mounting block and it is very difficult to dismount on top of a mounting block so we had to ask her to move forward a little too, right?? right??
This was Loryn's first time on Matilda and Matilda's first time with a rider in 2+ years. I think we were both really excited. I had the lead for Matilda's halter and Loryn was on her back. I wish I had pictures but, well... I had the lead rope and I am super paranoid and not getting distracted for a photo op.
OK, I am going to digress from the narrative to explain our new ideas and direction now so that you understand what we were doing....
One of the things Kim and I have talked about (in a vague sort of way) is the possibility of Matilda becoming a therapy horse. As I thought about how to transition Matilda from longe work to under saddle work, it hit me. If Matilda is to be a truly phenomenal and unique therapy horse, she needs to be able to listen, understand and obey basic directions from the saddle- whether by voice, leg, hands or any combination of the three.
I mean, what if someone who had no leg strength wanted to ride? Wouldn't it be great if they could be confident in rein or vocal aids while building leg strength? Or someone who had poor motor skills - they could rely on the vocal aids while figuring out how to move and control their limbs independently. The possibilities are infinite if we can figure out how to make this work.
So, I asked Loryn (and I will be also) to brain storm how to proceed to teach Matilda to stop (whoa), walk, trot and turn left or right by voice, leg and/or rein aid. I am really excited about this new idea. We'll still be working on "regular" riding so that she will be a good horse for Loryn to ride in lessons and such but this will be an entirely new dimension for us to work towards. We need to come up with long term and short term goals to meet each week. So cool.
(You can tell how excited I am by the poor sentence structure:))
Back to the narrative:
Loryn was up on Matilda, I had the lead. Our goal? to see how Matilda listened and responded to the vocal commands (NOT trot but walk and whoa) with minimal leg aids.
The difficulty? being next to her with the lead in my hand and not telegraphing "walk on" and "whoa".
Loryn would ask Matilda to "walk on" with minimal pressure from her heels then to "whoa". She had nothing to pull back on to support the vocal command. I did my best to walk next to them only after Matilda started walking and to slow to a stop only after Matilda did. Every few starts and stops Loryn would dismount, walk Matilda back to the mounting block and re-mount. I would click and reward when she stood absolutely still for mounting and for stopping on command. (stop is always the most important command for a 1600 lb. horse)
It was all brilliant. She was absolutely calm and quiet with everything we threw at her. I really believe that we are starting a new chapter in this journey. Now I am thinking about how to teach Matilda the difference between left and right. I think it will all start with the vocal commands and we will be able to build the other aids from there. Using the heat as our ally and the clicker as our enforcer, we press on to see just how far we can go, how much she can learn. The sky is truly the limit.
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