July 15, 2010 - canter from walk

A friend came out today, which was very fun, so I spent a lot of time chatting with her and doing bits with Maia here and there.

More endotapping today, which made her incredibly calm. As the calmest thing she usually does is eat grass, she seemed to be very preoccupied with eating today. It was like she’d drop her head and suddenly, amazingly, find grass there, and of course have to eat it. ;)

At the end we were playing with some canter, and usually she runs into it. My friend suggested I try it from a walk or slow trot, doing a little more of a playful “surprise” into it. I did that several times, c/t for when she cantered (which was each time, after the first time, which was a big trot and a good enough effort to earn a treat), and after that, she would jump into a lovely canter. And she didn’t even seem offended – she’d go around and come back to me with this really intrigued, interested expression, like “What the…!? Didn’t expect that!” Such fun making her life more interesting. :)

July 14 - endotapping excitement!

A great day with a lot of great things. :)

Happiness is…

…well, a good thing. I realized today how important it is for the animal to really be happy in their training/playing with you. It seems you can work through any “problems,” train nearly anything, and work with nearly any situation if the animal is both happy and focused.

Today I tried to get that by at least beginning by treating for nearly everything. I know we’ve had some blocks in our relationship lately and I wanted to totally take away the feeling that I was picking on her, asking a lot, confusing, pressuring, etc. So I c/t when she did what I wanted, when she didn’t, when she was focused, when she wasn’t, when she was doing something, when she wasn’t, until she started locking on to me. Then I started withholding the clicks until she was softer, more focused, etc, and she didn’t seem to get offended at that.

It really helped, because most of the session today was done in inclement weather – rather windy, even rainy, with a storm coming. That meant she started out fizzy and spooky and it could’ve been not pretty, but with all the treats and “happiness” at the beginning it set a nice, focused, calm tone that carried on for the rest of the session. We even did some nice liberty work, her trotting around me and getting some bend and spiraling in on the circle, versus just trotting off somewhere else. ;)

Chris Irwin Body Language

I watched the Chris Irwin “Language of the Lunge” DVD yesterday and it was really great! It gave me some really helpful tips on body language when lunging (whether at liberty or with a line) that Maia really seemed to appreciate. Things like stepping into the outside leg versus the inside, squeezing the rope in time with the outside front, etc. She became much softer, rounder, and with more bend between those two things alone.

On Line Miscellaneous

She’s nearly bowing on her own, but still needs the leg rope as a reminder.

She was very spooked when I was working on some shoulder in in hand, and going right was very hard for her, but after persisting and doing things veeeeerrrry sloooowwwwly, she got some decent shoulder in and haunches in both ways. It took me a while to figure out the best position for myself and my whip and cordeo.

I started playing with some microshaping with lifting her back at the standstill, then found entirely by accident that if I gently tap the bottom of her belly with the flat of my hand (sort of like endotapping) she actually leans back, lifts her back, and will even lift her withers! I don’t know when she decided she could do that! :D I was so happy and she got a lot of treats for that. A few times she put so much weight on her hindquarters she started to lift a front leg off the ground.

I lunged her over a teeny crossrail several times and she seemed to like that!

Endotapping – How Did I Survive Without It!?

I jumped on bareback with the cordeo and for some reason remembered Karen saying you could endotap with your hands. So I started tapping her neck and did that until she could drop her head consistently. It seemed pretty good, but I didn’t realize how helpful until we were walking and she did a big spook at a car which suddenly appeared, and I remarkably had the presence of mind to give her some good taps on her neck and she almost immediately stopped and dropped her head!

It just got better from there. I endotapped at the walk until she could consistently walk with a soft, level topline, which was amazing in itself (I didn’t worry about steering, I just let her wander). Before it’s been like riding a bobblehead – updownupdownupdown. ;)

Then, I decided to try the trot. Trot has been really hard bareback because she gets stiff and goes so fast. But I did just the same as walk – tapping her neck/shoulders until her head dropped and topline softened. After some time, the change was simply mind blowing. She was trotting calmly and softly with a soft level topline or even a low/stretching one, keeping a big circle on her own, at the scary end of the arena! I couldn’t believe it. And then, I tapped her when I asked for a back up, and instead of backing tense and hollow as usual, she backed with a low, round topline!

I was simply blown away. She seems to understand the tapping perfectly and could layer it on other cues without confusion (like with backing). I could even escalate the tapping if needed (if she was getting more spooked by something and tuning out small taps) without her feeling offended, because the escalation brought about more relaxation.

I felt like we made many sessions of progress in just this one time. I feel more confident on her bridleless, now, because I feel like I have a calm down reflex available, versus just a calm down cue that she may or may not remember. ;) And the reflex isn’t based on a certain body part (touching her neck), piece of tack (bit/halter cue), movement (yielding on a circle), etc, all of which I’ve tried.

I was so excited that I tried tapping her as we walked back to the pasture. As usual, she wanted to be stiff, high headed, and looky, so I just kept on tapping, and she was able to walk with her head low and topline soft. When I got to the pasture, I tapped more, this time on her croup/rump, and she got extremely relaxed, nose nearly in the dirt and eyes very soft. Even when the other horses started racing around, I could tap just a little and she’d go back into total relaxation.

I can’t wait to see where this goes. I think it could be really good for helping her learn to relax at my touch, given that she is nearly hypersensitive when I even just put my hand on her with no intention, shown in all of the twitchiness and tail swishing. This may help a lot with that tail swishing.

So exciting!! Now I want to try it on line and lunging.

July 13 - bits of this and that and nothing good enough for a title

She was rather buzzy/spooky/looky today, so no huge progress, but some good little things. Improvement in the various tricks, including picking up/holding the treat bag, bowing on her own power, haunches in/shoulder in on the ground, and one-leg Spanish walk. In her hyperness she’d race away when I asked for trot while companion walking, but wouldn’t go far and would come back.

I had two poles set up and c/t when she went over. She decided she LOVED that and would even go over by herself. She has no idea where her feet are, though, and knocks them a ton.

When riding, we were pretty disconnected, unfortunately, so did nothing beyond the walk. We did work a while on haunches in, and she got a few steps. She’s also understanding how to walk a straight line across the arena! Amazing. :)

I found some of her non-walking-straight issues were because I was too loose in my riding. When I firmed up my body and solidified my seat using some Mary Wanless techniques, she followed it a lot better.

She had much better stopping/backing on a leg squeeze as well.

July 12 - bridleless canter

Liberty in the Pasture

We started playing around at liberty in the pasture, some shoulder in, some trotting circles around me (that took some practice as she tends to just want to trot straight ;) ), some cantering downhill, etc. It’s a little rough without support of fences and with all the hills, but could be worse.

We Did Stuff. You Know, Like, Things.

We continued that in the arena, working on more serpentines, companion “walking” trotting, etc. It’s slowly improving and if I use my hands like “reins” to turn (if we’re turning left, my left hand drops back and my right goes forward) that really helps.

Continued to dabble in shoulder in at the walk and a bit more haunches in. Also spent a while transferring the bow from me holding her ankle to using the rope and a whip cue, letting her bow more on her own. She started to lower herself by the end.

A Good Way to Have Fun is to Go Really Fast

I put her on line (neck rope), and we did some really fun lunging – fast! We played with a fast trot, straight lines, big circles, scary end of the arena, canter, going over a pole, etc. She actually seems to get a much better attitude when we go fast for a long time. She got a lot better life and was actually not really pulling on the rope.

She had some GREAT lengthened trot. A lot of times she just speeds up her feet, but a few times today (in her sweet spot), she actually got more suspended and working through her back. It looked cool. It also feels cool, because she’s done it a few times when riding. It really feels like her back works more. I might try to shape that movement with the clicker next time.

She also is getting relatively comfortable in canter, holding it for a circle or two, and even stretching in it (not down, just level with a stretching “feeling” – way better than the head in the air thing she did before).

She does get in her “zone” out there, though, especially when stretching, and forgets to tune in and come in when I ask, so we worked on a little spiraling in, which kind of worked. ;)

Bridleless – Canter, SI/HI, Halt

I rode, and when we were zooming around at a very fun fast trot :) she offered some canter. After some time of encouraging, treating, etc, she got to the point of being able to pick it up from a fast trot when I asked and maintain it for a circle or two, both leads! She is fast, for sure, but relatively level in the topline and reasonably balanced for being so green. Her ears are back some but she seems to go into it quite freely, so I think it’ll improve as she feels more comfortable.

I started seeing if she could do some haunches in and shoulder in at the walk/halt. We got a few steps here and there. I put the cordeo up by her throatlatch more to help explain the bend.

I noticed that she is speeding up when she feels my legs, which is already creating trouble for our lateral work. I spent a while, then, having her halt and even back when she feels me squeeze. It took a long time for sure, and I experimented with my intensity of reminding her not to just blindly zoom ahead with the cordeo/my hands on her neck, but at the very end, she started to really get it, and we had a couple solid, almost-immediate stops.

I felt a lot more particular today. In a lot of ways, Maia didn't seem to mind, her attitude didn't get upset, and she improved, so that's all good, but I still have a tough time being particular without getting pressuring or maintaining a "playing" feel. Something to work on.

July 11 - haunches in, CW serpentines

July 11, 2010

Companion Walking Serpentine with Distractions

There were lots of distractions today – several people riding outside, plus rain, thunder, and lightning. The barn owner walked by at one point (as Maia and I were both drying off from the downpour) and commented on my being “diehard.” :D Yup, that’s me…! Maia was certainly distracted but did well despite it.

No whiz bang improvement today, but some smaller things to be happy with. She did several steps of Spanish walk while keeping full movement/forwardness in the walk, although the steps were more suspended than actually lifted. We did TONS of companion walking, lots of attempted serpentines, lots of trotting big circles, lots of working on turning toward me. She definitely has a hard time turning toward me; she turns very wide, if at all. It helps if I drop my inside shoulder. What I’m working toward is smooth trotting serpentines while companion “walking.”

Canter – On Line, Liberty

Played with canter at liberty by running with her down the long side, then sending her off away from me across the arena and having her canter. I also had her canter on the lunge and she kept it for about ½ circle.


Haunches In and Other Miscellaneous Topics Which Apparently Don't Deserve Their Own Heading

I’m starting to ask for haunches in at liberty, shaping her body with my hands. She got a few steps here and there. The bend is the hardest part. I’m on her outside, asking for the bend with one hand on her hip and one on her face.

I’ve also decided to not ask for “collection.” It’s definitely a scrunched up “collection” right now if I ask for it, coming from contraction, and I don’t want that. I’ll focus on her keeping the long, “sweet spot” frame throughout the gymnastic exercises, and the lift will come.

Her sweet spot (long/stretching) at the trot, especially, on the lunge is getting great. She keeps it better and better, even after a gait transition. She was starting to keep it transitioning from slow trot to fast trot and back again, as well.

Oh, and her expression and tail swishing is definitely improving, and her connection, as well. Even when she leaves (usually her not quite paying attention -- turning too fast at the trot and losing me) if I just stop or turn away, today she would generally turn around and come right back).