July 24, 2010 - more liberty dressage

Leading From Behind/Pasture Liberty Work is Paying Off!

While she did trot away a few times today, in general, our pasture liberty work was greatly improved. If she was leaving, several times she stopped and even came back when I whistled, and a few times she ran around playing with me. She is circling me at the walk, though not quite at the trot yet. However, she didn’t quite want to walk to the gate with me. I spent a long time on that, and finally, after being very quiet and very accepting of her leaving, I did ask her to accompany me by holding onto her mane for a bit. She tried to leave twice, then stayed with me even when I let go.

When we played at liberty in the arena, there was a big difference! Not only was she consistently circling around me (although going left she tried to switch directions for a while until she got the hang of it), although it was a lumpy circle ;), but she was willing to come in as well as take stretching posture. She was even comfortable enough to play a bit, with me playing with her into the canter a few times, her running around, me calling, and her trotting and even once cantering up to me! A huge improvement from the frozen walk recall of before. The high energy and playing posture I take to get the canter has gotten some playfulness out of her, which is very exciting.

More Roundness On Line

I’m still transferring the endotapping to the neck rope by “tapping” (squeezing, especially upward) it when her neck muscles tighten. It really seems to work, and she was even keeping her stretch at the trot while doing small yields. She was finding her a more round balance as well between the yield and endotapping neckrope, coming out of the stretch and into more compact carrying power (although still a quite low posture) as well.

Spanish Walk Refresher

We hadn’t worked on it for a while, and when I went back to it, she was ignoring my cues for jambette. I try to be very careful on what I label as her “ignoring” or not thinking about, but it did seem that this was the case. I played around with the intensity and placement of the cue, even having her stop doing jambette with the wrong leg (usually I don’t ever squash a suggestion by her, although I might redirect it). Pretty soon she was doing a good Spanish walk again.

This doesn't have much to do with Maia, other than I would love for her to have this kind of Spanish walk someday. I don't think I've ever seen such engagement behind while maintaining lifted shoulders in front.

July 23, 2010 - traditional collection done untraditionally

All this leading from behind/sharing space is paying off, I think! It started off rather depressing again, her just cantering across the pasture whenever she felt like it. Then, we were getting a little better, and she started to leave, and I just said, “WHOA!” She stopped, rather surprised. I was pretty surprised, too. We then kept playing with it (I walk toward the space behind her, so she feels a draw to turn – I don’t look or face at her body that would drive her away), me saying “whoa” or making an “ah ah ah” noise if she started to walk off, and she soon got it!

I would change my body position and ask her to turn in and switch eyes, and when she did, we’d walk a few steps, then stop, treat, and share space. After a while, I’d have her walk around me again, and we’d repeat, and repeat. I tried not to be too picky about her sour face when she turned in (which did improve a little), but did have her put her ears up before I’d give her a treat.

The turning all the way in and switching eyes seemed to have a very good effect on her. She had a definite goal and behavior she could do whenever she wanted a scratch/treat/rest.

Same Principles in Lunging

When I took her to the outdoor, I used the same principles. Her understanding that she could bend in and switch eyes helped her bend a lot more on the lunge, being more focused on and softened to me, which was super.

More Traditional Collection

As you know, I’ve been playing with “direct communication” of collection, asking her back directly to come up in movement. I did that for a while longer today, but it was just falling apart. She hated it and it was hard and things weren’t going well. I still love the reinback to trot exercise, but I think I’ll stop using it as a direct-communication collection exercise.

What I played with instead was getting that stretching in walk/trot on a small lunging circle, then asking for some yielding along the wall, then continuing on the circle. In the yield at the trot, she stiffens and hollows right away. We kept on playing with it, using lots of endotapping (although I use the neckrope to “tap,” squeezing in time with her outside foreleg when needed) and she started getting a lot better. Her collection she was showing that way, though not nearly as “extreme,” seemed more correct, an extension of the stretch, just a stretch upward, versus more of a contraction.

In some ways, this reminds me of the trot she was starting to give me through the yielding while stretching. You can see how this horse, while not terribly collected (and neither was Maia), is still starting to lift up through his withers and neck while keeping his lower neck soft.

Riding: Focus, Little Mare!

I jumped on bareback and we instantly had some difficulties with attention. Her head flies up and ears lock on to Invisible Threats of Mass Destruction. Because Invisible Threats of Mass Destruction aren’t very conducive to training, I wanted her to ignore them. The best method I had was to use endotapping, so I did.

I got stronger with it today, and she actually didn’t seem to mind too much. Essentially, as soon as she’d start to check out, I’d tap – sometimes hard – on her neck until not only did her topline lengthen again, but her focus came back to me. We did this for some time.

What was amazing is that her turning improved so much when she was truly focused on me and relaxed. I could do small walk figure 8’s with decent bend on almost all leg, as long as I was tapping with one hand to keep her relaxed and focused. I needed a lot of tapping along one particular fenceline part, which, between the Horrible Foraging Killer Chickens and the Fascinating Interesting Grazing Foal, was quite a challenge as she kept ricocheting off of it with her head in the air. But we just went back and forth along it, insisting she stay on the fence while keeping a level topline and focused attention (and when she did, click and treat), and it got a lot better.

July 22, 2010 - recall at liberty

More Liberty Work - Recall/Leading From Behind

We began with a shorter period of leading from behind in the pasture, and she was much improved! She connected up much faster, and when I got her to the outdoor, it was great! She was happy to use the entire thing and circle around me at the trot or canter, although she zones out and doesn’t shrink her circle, bend in, or look at me. However, she was keeping a stretching posture even at liberty, which was great.

We played a lot with a come up/recall, me sending her off while standing still, clicking when she stopped and looked, and rewarding when she came back when I called/whistled. She is understanding coming back, but reminds me a lot of the “poopy face” our young Westie will give, who is a very sensitive rescue dog. He’ll put his ears flat back, freeze up, and respond veeery veeery slooooowly. To get him out of it, I have to combine being very positive about anything he does (no matter what it is) as well as “annoying” him a bit, poking at his sides and roughing him up until he starts to snap out of it and play.

I wanted to put a picture of my dog's "poopy face" but I found I had deleted them all off my computer since they weren't very photogenic. Of course, his expression doesn't look that much like this one, but I couldn't help but post this picture. What a face!

Anyway, Maia was giving me that frozen movement sour face as she was coming in at a super slow walk. I started ignoring the sour face (before I’d have her stop when her ears went back) and just rewarded for coming. Soon the frozen sourness started to disappear and once or twice she actually trotted in a little bit.

Haunches In Morphing Into Spinningtop

I played with some different ways to do haunches in as she’s still struggling with that, but ended up going back to my original method. As I was playing with the rope position, though, I started intentionally getting her wound up in it, then follow the feel through the neck rope to turn around and unwind herself. She seemed to like that game. :)

I ended the session with another very long pasture session of leading from behind. She was totally unconnected and flying from herd to herd. It was getting rather depressing when she did finally connect and then walked with me happily across half the pasture to the water (I knew she was thirsty).

July 21 - liberty in pasture

Today I really wanted to start playing with liberty in the big pasture. I know I rely on fences too much, so playing with her in 40 acres seemed like a good solution. I spent the entire time in the pasture today.

Basically, what I did was a modified leading from behind. I had a driving whip and would just “swoosh” her around the herd, swooshing other horses as well if needed. She often trotted or cantered, but mostly stayed around, until the herd kind of split up. Then she was happy to run between the various horses in the herd – sometimes going a LONG ways across the pasture. And with all those hills… that was some serious exercise.

It felt like the pasture just went on and on and on and on...

If she looked at me, I’d click, and if she started to come toward me, I’d extend my hand and invite her in very softly, backing up a little, then would pet her and just share space for a long time, giving a treat if I had one.

After a while, I would wander away and ask her to move a bit again, and the whole process would be repeated.

In general, she got a whole lot more aware of me, often keeping an ear on or looking at me with a very curious expression, even coming over, which is a good improvement. However, she has no qualms about trotting or cantering away from me across half the pasture at a moment’s notice…

GiddyUpFlix

Giddy Up What?

It can be very difficult to find an economical way of learning horsemanship. Taking lessons: expensive. Going to clinics: expensive. Buying books: expensive. Buying DVDs: expensive. However -- renting DVDs: cheap!

There are several horse DVD rental sites out there, similar to NetFlix, but unfortunately, they are either prohibitively expensive (think $6 or more dollars per DVD, add shipping, etc.) or have a very small selection of materials. However, GiddyUpFlix solves all those problems! Not only do they have nearly every horse DVD  you could imagine (plus lots of multiple copies), instead of charging per DVD, they charge per month.

For example, for $11/month (they pay shipping), you can have one DVD out at a time. As soon as you return the DVD, they send you the next one in your queue line, and so on and so on until your month runs out. The most expensive plan is $27/month with four DVDs out at a time -- but if you're quick about it, you could watch 8 or more DVDs that month, coming to less than $3 per DVD. That's a good deal!


Does it Work?

I have been using GiddyUpFlix all summer with multiple accounts (I'm obsessed, I know) and have been nothing but pleased. The service is fast and easy, the list of DVDs available is more than adequate, and the DVDs have generally been in great shape. The few times a couple have not quite played right, they instantly sent me a replacement one.

I would absolutely recommend this service to anyone trying to watch big name DVDs (or small name ones!) without a big name budget. Try it out, and if you do, tell them Hannah Rivard sent you!

July 19, 2010 - apparently nothing big enough for a title

A lot of today was similar to the other days, working on bridleless dressage groundwork, but with a few interesting changes.

First, I started long lining in the cordeo. I did little more than hook on the lines and do some circles, straight lines, and a few halts/backs. She did great as she got more confident with my switching eyes.

She is now bowing on her own! No leg rope! I sometimes have to tap her hoof to remind her to hold it up, but she’s made a ton of progress. She seems to like it, too.

I had her do a lot of cantering on the lunge today, and she started to find a better more level balance. She has trouble when she relaxes down in that she’ll trip or break into the trot, but she improved, and we did a lot of transitions. I also had her hand gallop down the long side a few times.

Not much more on the reinback to trot collection exercise, but still a few good collection steps here and there. She tosses her head a lot so I’m going to play with slowing it all down so she doesn’t feel pressured.

I did a lot of crossing of her hindquarters (steep 4 track shoulder in) in hand, going from shoulder in on a straight line to shoulder in/almost sidepass on a square, back to a straight line. That’s where her shoulder in is getting stuck – her inside hind is stiff, so that’s why I went to the square exercise.

Here you can see a 4-track versus a 3-track shoulder in.

Finally, we had fun at liberty. I’d ask her to walk off and she’d jump into a trot and leave. ;) Instead of following her, I just stood there and watched her trot around the arena fence by herself (she used the whole arena!) (asking her to keep going if she stopped, but that was it). When she got curious and turned to look at me, I’d call her and back up and reward when she trotted in. I’d treat, endotap for relaxation, then send her out again. We repeated this a lot until I could even have her trot or canter along the fenceline and it wouldn’t take long before she’d be ready to come in back to me. It felt really nice and non-pressuring, not to mention I wasn’t doing any work (before, I’d try to make it all work and keep her connected right away so I’d be following behind and this and that and it was a lot of work. ;) This way I just stand there and let her get curious while still directing her energy.).

July 17, 2010 - endless endotapping

I wanted to move beyond endotapping for just her head down, so focused a lot today on continuing to tap until she seemed to refocus and relax (head shaking, licking and chewing, ears soft to the side, etc.).

Because I want relaxation to be a habit, I worked her almost entirely on line today (on the neckrope), so I could endotap her at any time when needed to relax her.

Endotapping for Backing

She has had a lot of trouble with backing in the past and it’s something I’ve ignored for too long. We did a long session of backing along the fence, me asking for a back while tapping her hindquarters over if she swung away from the fence and tapping her neck/back to ask for a level topline when she popped her head up and stiffened every two strides. It took a while, but she was finally doing some quite decent reinback at the end.

Here you can see a little more of what I was going for -- the deep hindquarter engagement while backing. Of course, I had a cordeo instead of a bridle.

Endotapping for Collection

She’s really getting how to lean back and lift her withers on the ground, but I don’t want her to get stuck in a backwards-thinking collection. So I started transferring it to movement by doing a solid reinback (like we got earlier in the session) to trot transitions, tapping her belly during the reinback as I’ve done at the halt to get the lean back. When she’d tuck her hindquarters/lift her withers in the reinback, click and treat. Eventually I started tapping for the reinback in the trot and would click and treat if she showed any signs of collecting her trot. We did this for a while, with a lot of stops for rest and endotapping for relaxation. She was definitely starting to understand she had to play with her posture and a few times even got some really nice hindquarter-dropped collection. Tapping the belly seems to help lift her back and get the movement described below, while the backing helps lift the withers and drop the hindquarters. Once she even seemed to give a step or two of a piaffe-like movement.

Despite not fully understanding collection today (darn, I was SURE she’d understand it in one session and bypass the 8+ years of collection training a Grand Prix horse has…), she still felt enough difference to really change her trot going that direction (left) on the lunge. Instead of just trotting with her head down, she really stretched level over her back and got the most interesting trot and kept it nearly the whole time. It was like her leg movement was undulating all through her back and her steps were much more cadenced and emphatic. Not to mention her neck was gorgeously arched.

Endotapping for Turning

I jumped on bareback and practiced weaving through poles that were set up. At first we had some troubles, as normal – not quite steering, and if I did tap her with my leg, she’d get stiff and trot. Endotapping to the rescue! I simply tapped her neck if she got stiff, and because she would them remain relaxed, I could tap with my leg, she’d turn without rushing, and problem solved.

We spent a while on backing up, too. You’ll be shocked to know I used endotapping to keep her topline more level. ;) I tried tapping more with my heels to see if she’d drop her hindquarters like on the groundwork, but it didn’t work quite as well, or else my seat while riding isn’t as sensitive as my eyes in groundwork!

Welcome!

Welcome to Cambria Horsemanship: Bridleless Dressage Through Play, Feel, and Dance!



On the top of this webpage are four different "sub-blogs": Training Diary, Articles, Reviews, and Inspiration. You can read more about each blog in the posts below. Remember, those are sub-blogs, so that gives you the option of subscribing to any or all that you want.

Eventually, more may be added, such as photo and video critiques, or creative tips (as in saving money, making your own tack -- and saving money-- taking good horse pictures, and even saving money). I'm open to suggestions!


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God bless!
Hannah Rivard