REFLECTION & RESPONSIBILITY Pt. 2:

REFLECTION & RESPONSIBILITY Pt. 2: Towards the end of the week we squeezed in some groundwork review from the round pen to the trail course/obstacles. Annie continues to improve in her abilities mentally and physically. She seems to enjoy the partnership. On day off from training we go out to the pasture, sometimes with the halter/lead, and just hang out or groom or bring treats. Why? It is about association. Humans should represent “good things” to the horse. From the training process to the social aspects of the herd the human needs to be “good stuff” and positive experiences in the mind of the horse. Leaders can be fun too.

Escalation and reduction of energy/pressure without escalating the survival instinct was on the menu this week. This is a fancy way of saying that we wanted to increase and decrease the level of energy and performance expectation without Annie feeling “revved up”. We wanted to help her manage her emotions. We have been doing this by mixing up what we ask of her. She seems to be getting pretty dialed in to a level of sensitivity that allows her to handle what we throw at her. Working on a long (25’) line, lots of transitions, good rest periods, and ALL the exercises we play with are working wonders for her mentally, physically and emotionally. She is maturing in experiences and finding a new level of confidence in herself.

Recently we had a novice rider on her (they came to see if she would be a good fit for their family). We had our doubts about the humans because they ALL were novices to horses which is never a good thing. Still they did drive 1.5 hours to see her so…. Well, Miss Annie did pretty darn well! She did her best to take care of her rider even though the rider’s cues were too hard or simply not correct. She was a real Lady on the ground and a trooper under saddle. We opted not to rehome her with this family even though she was “the best behaved” horse they has seen so far. The humans were not really ready to have any horse yet much less one like Annie.

We have been working on transitions, seat and leg cue softness, vertical flexion and a wide variety of exercises and maneuvers which are fun and challenging for horse and human!

Annie has been doing GREAT this weekend. We host to “workshop days” at a local arena and Annie was Michael’s “teacher’s assistant” having to demonstrate all the exercises the workshop focused on both on the ground and under saddle. She rode really well in the group setting (something we have been working on since the Retreat in late May) and was both light and respectful of the cues and aids. Really could not be happier. She rode better than many of the horses in the workshop who supposedly had more experience. Just goes to show the QUALITY is more important that quantity! Annie did really well with the changes in expectation and energy and showed everyone what could be done with consistency, feel, timing and keeping the conversation fair and quiet. Tomorrow is some trail and obstacle training. Should be a good time!