May 22 - "desensitizing" to legs

Neck Rope Replaces Halter

Well, she didn’t come up to me today. I did a lot of leading from behind in the pasture as we weren’t very connected. She kept an eye on me but that was about it. I was going to halter her and bring her to the indoor, but then I thought, what am I doing. If my goal is to have a totally bridleless/halterless horse, I might as well start making it normal now, especially as I am very confident doing most things with just a rope around her neck. So I just looped the rope around her neck, and off we went. She was very chipper and seemed to love not having her head restrained, yet was very connected and even when wanting to trot down the hills she stayed right with me. And there was no problem leading her, other than coming back at the end of the session when I gave a few short jerks to divert her attention from the extremely excited stallion. ;) Someday I’d like to find how to do that through release – perhaps I could’ve slapped her barrel with the rope belly instead.

Purpose-Based Training

I’ve done a lot of thinking the past day or two about the most effective way to train functional, happy bridleless/liberty horses, and those thoughts should be coming soon in a few articles. Meanwhile, I changed my approach slightly. I had her jambette onto a low barrel to give her purpose, and she instantly caught on; I didn’t even have to retrain the other side, she transferred the cue. She would throw her leg up on there (incredibly flexible) happily. Later I had her back away from it then SW to it, ending with her foot on the barrel. It gave her more understanding to the SW.

“Desensitizing” Her Sides

She was somewhat nervous, as normal, in the indoor, so I just walked with her, mirroring her as she walked around and around. I was near her, and soon put my hand on her, then my whole arm over her back. She walked around and around, and I just stayed with her. When she stopped at the treat bucket, I’d open it and give her a treat, then we’d go back to walking. After some time, she started to think, and stopped every circuit at the treat bucket.

She got much more nervous, however, when my side bumped hers when walking. This isn’t good for a bridleless horse, especially her, whom I’m training to understand that legs do NOT mean go. After a few bumps she’d jump into a trot and leave. After a few repetitions of that, something had to change. I didn’t want to desensitize her, I just needed her to breathe… calm down… So, totally at liberty, at the halt, I’d put my arm over her back and then press my side against hers. Many times she tried to walk off, but I kept asking her to stop, again and again, stroking her and breathing slowly, scratching what itchy spots of hers I could reach. She was remarkably level headed through her nerves and after some time, started relaxing with me. I could press myself all over her side. Then I did the same on the other side.

Then it was time to transfer it to riding. I stood on the barrel, she swung over to let me on, and I mounted. She was all ready to charge off, but I kept stopping her by leaning down and touching her chest (no tack), and breathing, and stroking, and saying, “gooood, gooood,” over and over. Then, I started stroking my legs on her side. Of course she wanted to jump off, but I stopped her again and again and stroked and stroked and rubbed and rubbed with my legs. It was incredible – soon she was relaxing, and she even put her head down – level with her back, unusual for her! – and then very intentionally kept it here, as if she were trying to calm herself down. I kept on stroking for the longest time, as long as her head was down, and then as she seemed to be starting to come out of her reverie, I slowly slipped off and went back to the ground stroking at her side for a minute, when she put her head down again. Lovely!!!

It was good to not have treats. In her nervousness, they don’t always help, she gets snatchy, and sometimes I think they prevent her from learning, when she is nervous, as nerves+treats seem to cause her to stop thinking and not fully understand what I’m doing.

Release Into the Pasture

She seemed excited to be returning to the pasture, so to prevent a blast away from me once I undid the rope, I walked with her a little ways toward the her, undid the rope, then walked with her about halfway to them. I eventually stopped, stepped/looked away, and hung there for a minute or two. Maia eventually stopped, too, for a minute, before she had gotten to the herd, like she considered me part of them and my stopping was sufficient to halt her.

May 21 - first time in big pasture

Today was the test: Maia + 40 acre pasture + me calling her = what??? Well, I was pleasantly surprised. She wasn’t terribly far away and after a few calls/whistles, she started walking toward me, which turned into a trot to me. :) Her new buddy is a Paint mare named Callie, and what is funny is that when Maia was first sniffing noses with all the horses over the fence, I wondered if those two would be friends, as they sniffed for a long time and never squealed at each other.

I had no agenda for today, being the first time we’d play in the big pasture, and didn’t even have treats a lot of the time (no tack, either). I spent a lot of time chasing the big herd away from her/us (who got very interested in me) as well as getting Callie out of our way. We did a lot of leading from behind that merged into reciprocal movements and companion walking across a big chunk of the pasture. It is so great to have such a big area; we both get into the rhythm of the walk and it seemed totally natural for her to be walking by my side as we checked out the pasture.

Her attitude has changed, however. She is far more opinionated toward the other horses than I thought (a lot of pinned ears) and that transferred to me, too, with some grumpy faces when I asked for trot, when she came up, etc. Depending on what seemed right, sometimes I had her stop until her expression changed, or a few times drove her away when she did that.

We also spent a long time hanging out, me scratching her, as I talked to one of the boarders who had come out. She got more connected to me there, started offering jambette and stretch, and I was even able to keep her halted at my side at liberty for a while even when she wanted to run over and greet the boarder’s horse. The boarder complimented her on how well she stood at liberty! :D

She also wanted to come out the gate with me.

May 20 - in the new pasture

Today I just sat in the paddock and read with her, as we turned her out into a new paddock next to the other horses so she could sniff over the fence. After about 45 min we turned her out with the herd (about 10 horses). She was fine with them and ran and ran in the pasture – it is huge, a horse’s paradise, about 40 acres of grassy rolling hills. It was phenomenal to see her galloping flat out like that for so long; she was so free. It will be such a blessing to have a large space like that to practice at total liberty with sometimes almost no fences in sight, and yet still have the security of being in an enclosed area.

May 19 - calmest tackless ride yet

Her head flew up and she whipped around and came instantly when I called today.

I stayed in her paddock again. I was doing an extended session of leading from behind when things were just not going very connectedly. Like in the arena the other day, she kept whipping around to go back to the same corner of the paddock, blasting through any quiet blocking I’d try to do as I guided her. So instead, I tried to do more of reciprocal movements instead of just leading from behind. Basically, I found the figure-8 pattern she wanted to do and kept asking her to do it again and again and at increased speed (We got to work on canter/gallop leading from behind! Quite advanced! ;) ). Soon, she settled into it and started tuning into me, as if she could no longer tell the difference between what I wanted and what she wanted.

Then I learned from yesterday and for the rest of the session, focused only on the connection. While we still did quite a few things, my main priority was doing whatever felt right to keep or increase the connection. Sometimes it involved doing things – if she seemed to be “at attention,” I asked for a trick – and sometimes not – once I left her merely to go get her a treat, as nothing else seemed to be connecting. This seemed to work very well and kept me from getting legalistic about what was “right” or “wrong” to be doing/cuing her at the time.

I had totally forgotten about chase the tiger, so started that today, with a rag on the end of a stick. I just dragged it around the paddock and she followed and I treated a few times when she seemed to be more focused on or aggressive toward it. Within minutes she was of a much higher energy and playing a little with it!

Worked on tricks, having her hold her jambettes for longer. Also did “smile” and “no,” which were fine. She almost understands parking out.

I rode, this time with no BB. She let me mount from the fence, but instantly got nervous/rushy again. I just sat up there for minutes feeding her treats constantly until she realized I wasn’t asking for anything and she calmed down enormously. She did start to walk around, but it was a much slower walk and she was willing to stop much more. I did have to tell her “whoa” once or twice when she started to spool up, but it was not bad at all. The connection was there, so she was far more trained. At the end, she walked forward and stopped very calmly with focus on body cues only, and I got off and was done. Great!

May 18 - system for treats, realization about connection

I kept her in her own paddock today, which is hilly and has lots of trees, so quite different from an arena. Overall, she stayed with me but wasn’t particularly enthused to do a lot; things seemed off. However, three interesting things happened today.

First, I found a good system for using treats. Although I say “yes” when she does something correctly, I don’t treat every time, but didn’t have a good system for when I treated or how long I worked on an exercise. Today, I did not treat unless the behavior was especially good or improved (basically, I waited until my first impression was, “Wow, that was fantastic!” to give her a treat). Then, I worked on the exercise until I had gotten three of those wow-treat moments, and then I moved on. That seemed to keep her interested and help us make solid progress without drilling.

Second, I practiced UE1 with the BB. (I just I was off on my UE numbers, so this UE1 is the same as the UE2 of before. J ) I floated her head down and every time she felt good and floaty, or too resistant to focus or give (which happened several times), I released and walked around her, repeating it from the other side. We did it for about 10 minutes. By the end, she was holding her head down in a low arch while I walked around her, which was a big improvement and showed she had relaxed a ton. I was able to get to the point of very lightly turning her head from side to side a few millimeters; she is very sticky, and instead of flowing, her head/poll jerks from side to side, like it’s “catching” on something.

Third, I rode. However, today she really showed me how much the connection trains the horse. Although she let me mount from the fence, she was nervous, which showed in her getting distracted and hyper. This meant she couldn’t even hear my body cues, so when she started rushing and even trotting, she got heavy on the aids and I needed to jiggle the BB reins to stop her, several times. I only rode for a few minutes – I shouldn’t have ridden at all!

It reminds me of what Carolyn Resnick has said before – get the connection/relationship right, and the horse comes out “pre-trained.” If I ever find myself struggling with her and feeling like going back to pressure and release to “train” a behavior, perhaps my connection wasn’t right to begin with.

May 17 - first TOTALLY tackless ride!

She cantered up to me in the paddock! I think that’s a first. :) I thought about just hanging out in the paddock but she actually left my scratching of her and went up to the gate and seemed to want to go out, so we went out!

We both were very low energy and so didn’t want to do much, at least, not at speed. I had her in the outdoor today and despite doing some things that didn’t seem as “fun” (I started getting more particular on how I wanted her to extend her leg in jambette – but even at liberty, she didn’t leave, even when I made a few mistakes and could’ve offended her) she stayed quite connected to me.

I started a more solid “come up” cue – both arms down and out to the sides some, and kind of coming in to tap my leg, or if it’s a whip, tapping the ground. We practiced going out and coming up a few times (at a very leisurely walk :D ) and she did fine.

The fence is wooden so I sat on it playing around with her, her offering jambettes and so on, and she right away started offering inklings of sidepassing to it to get her treats/allow me on. She had her BB on and I slipped on. I rode for several minutes, not steering today and letting her walk off (or trot, which she did – she is more energetic/nervous when riding still) as she wanted, but asking for halts and rewarding that. It was okay, but she wasn’t quite tuned in to the halts and a few times I had to jiggle the reins. So instead, I started doing back up. The first few times I had to jiggle the reins, but then she got it and was really enthused. ;) She thought the cue meant go forward at first but soon figured it out. She did so great and was backing so well (very forward in diagonal pairs) I hopped off. She followed me around and was very connected when I went back to sit on the fence a few minutes later, and offered her back again, so I got on again – this time, NO bridle/cordeo/nothing! She was even better at backing this time and really got into it. I think that will make a really good whoa cue. She stops dead from a verbal whoa but I want just as solid a riding-cue whoa.

May 16 - long lining through feel, first ride w/no tack cues

I love that mare so much. I think I would keep her in my room with me if I could. I’m sure she could be housetrained.

Mostly we were connected except when Mom came in to watch and she/we/I got slightly distracted. Even so, I just kept her trotting and guided her around the indoor. She was constantly switching to track right, but I’d just nicely ask her to circle left again, and after a few minutes she reconnected with me.

I put on the BB for the first time since last summer and did UE2 with it some, which went fine, nothing great. I have long rope reins and did a lot of long lining (me at her girth), as much through feel/release as I could, though it’s a lot tougher than I thought. Single lining is easier through feel, probably because I’m used to it. Anyway, she was pretty energetic and rushed, but did listen enough to be able to turn and halt and walk. Our turning sometimes becomes leg yielding or SI, as does our go forward. For go forward, I touch and release off her side. For turn, I give and lightly vibrate (as in lots of quick releases directed up) the inside, while rubbing her shoulder groove with the outside rein. The reins are totally looped/slack. We’re still working out halt. It’s a release of the reins forward and down when possible, but if we’re too rushy and distracted, it’s a vibrate straight up (lifting her head/neck and thus stopping her). Overall it went well. I then asked for ramener by touching the looped reins (resting on her neck) with the whip, then her chest, then the reins, so she learns that on a looped rein.

I decided then to get on! She stepped over to the mounting block for me, I had my treat bag, and I got on. I had the BB on with the reins dropped on her neck, but never used them, although I thought I was going to. Instead, she was so incredible that I didn’t have to use them at all. She walked off from a release from my heels, she stopped dead when I did a seat cue, pressed her withers, and said “whoa” (she is very solid on a verbal whoa). I was so surprised she actually turned, too. I did a Cynthia Royal cue, touching the side of her neck and releasing my hand away lightly. She turned into the release (I'm actually not sure why it worked, but it certainly did :) ) as well as being supported by releases from my outside leg (I wonder if releasing from my inside would make better sense, though??). She did all this multiple times around the arena for several minutes. I was so happy!! This was the first ride with no tack (although it was on, we didn't use it).

My question, however, is how to get enthusiasm/consistency while riding without treats on me. It's very easy on the ground because they are just in a bucket and we go specifically to get them if she's been good, but I (almost) never have them on me, and she knows that very well. But riding, I can't get her treats out of a bucket on the ground... maybe I'll have to put a bucket up higher? That could work. But it's annoying if I'm in a place where I can't put a bucket.

And she wasn’t even upset about it, following me after I dismounted and stepping right over to the mounting block again when I got on it.

We also had fun playing, doing the recall game back and forth across the arena (running to a treat spot, giving her one, then racing away before she was done, and her chasing).