After a particularly trying week, this weekend has been great. I got to play with Josie in the outdoor arena this morning, which was so great! The footing was great, the sun was out....couldn't have asked for much more.
After our unexpected blow up earlier in the outdoor earlier this week (see previous post), I made sure to use approach and retreat to enter the arena! I actually started out in the grass yard just grooming her. She really wanted to be groomed today! She kept positioning parts of her body towards me, especially when I got distracted talking to Kari and stopped currying! She would wriggle closer to me, asking to be groomed again. Very funny!
We eventually entered the outdoor arena. She had mild apprehension going in there at first, but I let her come in and out of the gate until she was comfortable staying in the arena. She did notice the cows today, but had a much quieter response to them today. The fire breathing monster did not rear its ugly head again!
She had good impulsion today, which of course comes with being outside. She gave me some really great figure eights today. That's about it for today. We are slowly making progress with the patterns. I can't wait for trail riding season!!!!!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The things we are afraid of in life...
Today was a beautiful, warm day. A great day to spend outside with my horse! Miss Josie was happy to see me, and I collected her from the back paddock and brought her outside. There was a lesson going on in the outdoor, so I brought my brushes outside and set to work on her shaggy muddy coat. She really enjoyed the grooming (and fresh shoots of grass). She was in a sweet, soft mood today. I really didn't have much intention of asking her to do much tonight, but once the outdoor lesson was done, I thought we could mosey in there for a bit. All was fine, until she spotted the cows from up above on the next door farm. The same cows she looks at all day from her pen, no less! LOL!!!!! (I never say LOL, but that is just what I did!) My soft, sweet girl transformed instantly into a fire-breathing, sweat squirting hot mess! So much for not asking too much....
So we transformed into managing the situation that presented itself. She needed to move her feet, so I had her move her feet. I eventually got her attention. She then gave me some nice soft figure eights and the walk and we quit there. I think I may call Gretchen for some on line lessons. I feel like I am not always the most effective leader for her in those situations. The obvious answer is to not let her go there. It is possible that I did blow through some thresholds going into the arena in the first place, and the cows just activated the RBI blow-up. But even so, I need to learn to more effectively handle those when they happen! The good thing is that I didn't lose my temper, or my good humor, or get frustrated at all. I was happy for the opportunity to work on an interesting conundrum. And I'm sure that it won't be the last time, since those cows aren't going anywhere soon!!!!!
After we exited the arena, we went back to the grass. It didn't take her long to roll several times....a release of adrenaline. I am so happy that she can express her emotions like that. I was thinking about some of the other non PNH horses that I know that 1) wouldn't be allowed to do that, and 2) wouldn't even offer it.... An interesting thought to ponder.
Savvy on!
So we transformed into managing the situation that presented itself. She needed to move her feet, so I had her move her feet. I eventually got her attention. She then gave me some nice soft figure eights and the walk and we quit there. I think I may call Gretchen for some on line lessons. I feel like I am not always the most effective leader for her in those situations. The obvious answer is to not let her go there. It is possible that I did blow through some thresholds going into the arena in the first place, and the cows just activated the RBI blow-up. But even so, I need to learn to more effectively handle those when they happen! The good thing is that I didn't lose my temper, or my good humor, or get frustrated at all. I was happy for the opportunity to work on an interesting conundrum. And I'm sure that it won't be the last time, since those cows aren't going anywhere soon!!!!!
After we exited the arena, we went back to the grass. It didn't take her long to roll several times....a release of adrenaline. I am so happy that she can express her emotions like that. I was thinking about some of the other non PNH horses that I know that 1) wouldn't be allowed to do that, and 2) wouldn't even offer it.... An interesting thought to ponder.
Savvy on!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Farrier Prep
Josie has not always been the perfect horse for the farrier. She has gotten loads better since I got her, but she is not the perfect partner when it comes to giving up control of her feet..... The interesting thing, is that she is not bothered by getting her feet tangled up in things (hula hoops, kiddie pool, etc). She just isn't all that willing to pick her feet up and hold them for you. I have to admit that I haven't worked with her enough on it in a focused manner to get her better for the farrier. After watching the recent Savvy Club dvd on farrier prep, I have re-committed myself to making a program out of it to see if we can overcome this issue. I have no doubt that it will increase my leadership points from her if we are successful!
So yesterday, when I went out to play, the girl did NOT want to talk to me! How interesting! I had not seen her in about a week. She was at the round bale with several other horses. I entered the paddock and started walking around the round bale. There was an Appaloosa in there that likes to be in my pocket, so I just played with driving him around for a while. She eventually got curious enough to look at me, but still didn't come over to say hi. I eventually tapped her butt when I went by on the circle, at which point she ran away from the feeder and away from me, and then faced up to me. I just kept on playing with the other horse, and eventually she came over to check me out. I petted her for a while, then asked her to halter. I went to lead her--away from the gate, which she wasn't expecting--and she was just dogging along. So we worked on stay with me and give me some EFFORT. Eventually I had a more willing and respectful horse. We went into the indoor and I let her loose with Vegas for a while. They really ripped around, preferring the canter today, which is very interesting!
After haltering up again and playing some games, I decided to do some of the farrier prep exercises. I friendlied her legs quite a bit, and worked on picking her front feet up. I led her with the rope around her leg, then put a noose around her pastern. I have been playing with holding her leg up with this for the past week or so. My goal is to get her to hold her leg up, instead of me doing all the work. Then I tied her leg up like Pat did in the video. I really did not know how she was going to take this, since she doesn't like the control taken away from her on her legs. At first she just stood there. I released her leg. I did it again, and let her stand there for a while. She eventually started trying to free her leg. She never completely freaked out, but did have a minor tantrum. She was particularly interested in trying to get the rope in her mouth so she could free herself! It was very interesting to watch. I waited until she relaxed and put her head down a little and then released her leg. She went kind of introverted after that, but all in all I think it was a successful session. I didn't want to do too much at once, so we quit on that note.
When I came out today, I was fully expecting her to not want to greet me again today, since we had kind of a provocative session yesterday. I got the complete opposite! When I whistled for her, she perked her head up and came over to the gate immediately. Just before the gate she stopped, blinked a lot, and licked her lips, showing me some tongue! She doesn't lick with her tongue out very often!!! Very interesting indeed! I must have gained some leadership points yesterday....
I won't go on too much longer, but I had friends out to visit today and they were going to have pony rides on Coco. Turns out he woke up on the crazy side of the fence today, so I ended up using Josie instead. She was a complete doll! I love my girl!!!!
So yesterday, when I went out to play, the girl did NOT want to talk to me! How interesting! I had not seen her in about a week. She was at the round bale with several other horses. I entered the paddock and started walking around the round bale. There was an Appaloosa in there that likes to be in my pocket, so I just played with driving him around for a while. She eventually got curious enough to look at me, but still didn't come over to say hi. I eventually tapped her butt when I went by on the circle, at which point she ran away from the feeder and away from me, and then faced up to me. I just kept on playing with the other horse, and eventually she came over to check me out. I petted her for a while, then asked her to halter. I went to lead her--away from the gate, which she wasn't expecting--and she was just dogging along. So we worked on stay with me and give me some EFFORT. Eventually I had a more willing and respectful horse. We went into the indoor and I let her loose with Vegas for a while. They really ripped around, preferring the canter today, which is very interesting!
After haltering up again and playing some games, I decided to do some of the farrier prep exercises. I friendlied her legs quite a bit, and worked on picking her front feet up. I led her with the rope around her leg, then put a noose around her pastern. I have been playing with holding her leg up with this for the past week or so. My goal is to get her to hold her leg up, instead of me doing all the work. Then I tied her leg up like Pat did in the video. I really did not know how she was going to take this, since she doesn't like the control taken away from her on her legs. At first she just stood there. I released her leg. I did it again, and let her stand there for a while. She eventually started trying to free her leg. She never completely freaked out, but did have a minor tantrum. She was particularly interested in trying to get the rope in her mouth so she could free herself! It was very interesting to watch. I waited until she relaxed and put her head down a little and then released her leg. She went kind of introverted after that, but all in all I think it was a successful session. I didn't want to do too much at once, so we quit on that note.
When I came out today, I was fully expecting her to not want to greet me again today, since we had kind of a provocative session yesterday. I got the complete opposite! When I whistled for her, she perked her head up and came over to the gate immediately. Just before the gate she stopped, blinked a lot, and licked her lips, showing me some tongue! She doesn't lick with her tongue out very often!!! Very interesting indeed! I must have gained some leadership points yesterday....
I won't go on too much longer, but I had friends out to visit today and they were going to have pony rides on Coco. Turns out he woke up on the crazy side of the fence today, so I ended up using Josie instead. She was a complete doll! I love my girl!!!!
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