August 23, 2016

It’s A Mellow Monday…

Well, someone of the female equine persuasion was in season big time today. She also seems to have had a little bit of an altercation with one of the other horses which resulted in a scrape along the rear part of her right hind leg. We flexed and stretched it out then did some warm up work. She seems okay just a little stiff/sore. A little ‘bute’ will help this out.

We saddled up and did some groundwork review. It was nice having Laurie watching to see the improvements (Laurie has been gone for the last five days and says there is a very noticeable change with our gal) and offer commentary to help us refine things. We saw real improvements on the new exercises we worked on yesterday. Then it was “first ride” time. Now to be clear, Toimpulsivetonotice has been under saddle before. There was some form of training in her past. That being said we have found some holes in her foundation which when fixed are going to make her a really nice horse under saddle. Laurie and I both rode. We looked for her “buttons” and cue points. This mare wants to be light and supple by nature and did very well for both of us. She felt pretty calm and attentive for each of us. That first few minutes tells the horse and the human a lot about one another. Being over 200 pounds I have to be aware of my balance and body cues. When “Cali” realized I was not going to be a “kicker and puller” she rode nicely giving me a real solid effort. Her back up and stop were not bad. She was a bit foggy about the reins (we were being pretty soft with them) and clicked with seat and leg cues. She took two distinctly different riders pretty well considering what life was like a little more than a week ago.

Our program with is use of productive ground work and work under saddle should really help this young lady flourish into a really nice equine partner. We know there will be good days and bad days and awful days and amazing days ahead. It is all part of the journey. Tonight she’ll travel with us to the Golden State Horsemanship Club ride. More experience ahead!

TWO WEEKS: Where Are We At? Where Are We Going?

TWO WEEK MARK: Where Do We Go From Here?

We have hit the two week mark with Toimpulsivetonotice (her barn name is still Cali as nothing else has come to us yet.) and overall her progress is pretty good. Training from this point forward is going to be about reviewing the previously learned skills and adding more to her “tool box” so she continues to grow in confidence as well as improve her conditioning. There will be lots of travel in thus young lady’s reality in the months ahead and lots of new experiences that she will have to learn from. It truly is a journey that takes time. Every encounter with her is a training moment. The human has to be consistent, clear and fair all the time. There will be times when we will have to take a step backwards in order to progress forwards. There will be ugly days. There will be days of sheer brilliance! When all is said and done the goal is always to have more “good days” than “bad days.”

In our experience, the two to three week mark is usually when the first “big ugly” day happens. Because reality has shifted for the horse – going from being a hay vacuum and doing very little to being worked with on a regular basis and expected to learn and grow, not to mention a change is social structure and status – the “big ugly” day is a time of major push back and acting up. So far it has not happened yet (which is nice) but we are remaining vigilant about it. The recent training sessions have been good and on some exercises even borderline great. Improvements have happened. Shifts in attitude have happened. Now we begin to slowly raise the “expectations/performance bar” while we remain consistent. This is always a fun time in the relationship.

The recent sessions have happened at home and local arenas. She is getting better at being in new places. Our last session (Monday) happened at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds Area. Our gal got worked first and showed some real improvement in getting connected, reading her human, response, performance and emotional control. It was really nice to see. She got two sessions last night. One at 5:30pm for about an hour and one again at 8:30 for about thirty minutes. Good work happened. She also met a new person (a friend of ours visiting from Minnesota) and they did some ground work together (or friend later took Ronan for a spin). All in all it was a productive day and we are feeling pretty proud of this mare. She is gaining some muscle, fitness and weight overall too. It is a process but we see progress which keeps us motivated.

 Ronan and Lisa

Sunday Morning, Monday Afternoon...

It’s Horses on Sunday Morning…

We did something a little different today. We got into the round pen, groomed and tacked up with the saddle. This was a test because it changed up the routine. Our gal was a little antsy but stood for the most part, saddle d up and got to work without much fuss. Her demeanor s much more mellow than it was when we first met her and from a week ago. We have set some pretty clear expectation and standards. Sometimes she tests those standards but for the most part she seems to have bought into the “right thing easy” concept, which is nice.

Wanted to see if a “quiet conversation” could happen. Used a “cheap” rope halter (way to soft) and 6’ rope (cheap too, no feel) to see if our communication was based on respect and listening or the tools. Glad to report that overall the communication was really good. The better tools do help communication to be more clear but she really tried hard. A really nice round pen review and ground work review happened. We added two new exercises to the mix to day and feel pretty good about her getting the concept. In short is was much like yesterday with more improvements and refinements. We wrapped up the session with a nice leadership walk through the obstacles, a long drink, a rinse off and finally a nice snack.

Toimpulsivetonotice is really progressing well. She is social in the herd but not overly dominate. She is getting more respectful of “personal space” (feeding time is still a challenge) and seems to be adapting to this new reality. While we still feel like she needs more muscle/weight (she is on a weight builder) we also feel she is ready for short rides. So tomorrow (being a two-fer day) morning we’ll have a session and a short ride in the round pen. Should be a good time!

It’s A Mellow Monday…

Well, someone of the female equine persuasion was in season big time today. She also seems to have had a little bit of an altercation with one of the other horses which resulted in a scrape along the rear part of her right hind leg. We flexed and stretched it out then did some warm up work. She seems okay just a little stiff/sore. A little ‘bute’ will help this out.

We saddled up and did some groundwork review. It was nice having Laurie watching to see the improvements (Laurie has been gone for the last five days and says there is a very noticeable change with our gal) and offer commentary to help us refine things. We saw real improvements on the new exercises we worked on yesterday. Then it was “first ride” time. Now to be clear, Toimpulsivetonotice has been under saddle before. There was some form of training in her past. That being said we have found some holes in her foundation which when fixed are going to make her a really nice horse under saddle. Laurie and I both rode. We looked for her “buttons” and cue points. This mare wants to be light and supple by nature and did very well for both of us. She felt pretty calm and attentive for each of us. That first few minutes tells the horse and the human a lot about one another. Being over 200 pounds I have to be aware of my balance and body cues. When “Cali” realized I was not going to be a “kicker and puller” she rode nicely giving me a real solid effort. Her back up and stop were not bad. She was a bit foggy about the reins (we were being pretty soft with them) and clicked with seat and leg cues. She took two distinctly different riders pretty well considering what life was like a little more than a week ago.

Our program with is use of productive ground work and work under saddle should really help this young lady flourish into a really nice equine partner. We know there will be good days and bad days and awful days and amazing days ahead. It is all part of the journey. Tonight she’ll travel with us to the Golden State Horsemanship Club ride. More experience ahead!

A Short Break, The REVIEW SESSION!

REVIEW SESSION SATUDAY

The ability for the horse to retain information and to perform adequately after some time off is really important to us. This ability speaks to how the horse learns and can be trained in the future. Some horses hold on to past lessons and some do not. So, after three (days) off it was time to test Toimpressivetonotice and see what she as retained!

We also use the term “leadership walk” because frankly we don’t know what else to call it. What a “leadership walk” is in our program is groundwork on the line done outside the round pen/ arena over terrain and obstacles. We work on the same exercises learned in the round pen/arena but now there is a “reason” to do them and a great opportunity to build confidence is the human’s leadership and the horse’s abilities while conditioning occurs at the same time. These are fun to do when you want to change it up a bit but still work on refinement of learned skills.

We did a short leadership walk to start. Ground School Circles to get going, then the Cowboy Curtain, a serpentine walk, some backing, pool noodle “tunnel”, narrow trail, rock outcroppings, hills/grade, dead fall box and a low jump. Our gal did really well. Then it was the round pen to see what has been retained.  Consistency in gait, direction, changes of direction to the inside and getting “two eyes” all showed some improvement. She was less reactive and seemed to be thinking more. This is a win! Then we saddled up, popped the bridle on her head (no fuss at all) and did more work in the round pen and out on the trail/obstacle course. She did really well. We introduced two new exercises today. Both will have real impact on her performance and confidence. She took to them pretty well. On the emotional side she seems to be “coming to center” faster. Yes, this has only been a week but it seems like she is less inclined to stay revved up when faced with an increase pace or energy. She escalates and then quickly comes down. Her biggest challenges are her focus (it is short at times) and the habit of walking forward and almost into you periodically. The focus will sharpen and strengthen with time, training and practice. The “space invader” habit is going to require a firmer correction for a while. One that sticks in the mind. Still we are a week and six sessions into the program. She is improving and beginning to connect. She has not fully warmed up to the gentle touch concept (this says something about her personality and her history) but it is MUCH better than this time last week.

Feeling pretty positive! More of the same tomorrow. Monday we saddle up! It will be a two session kind of day!

 Playing in the round pen.

Trotting.

 More trotting.

 Vrrrooom! Loping!

 Looking sharp in the bridle!

Two-fer Tuesday - Two Different Horses!

Two-fer Tuesday: “Cali and Freya”

Toimpulsivetonotice: It is “Day 4” for Miss Cali and her new life. She has seen more work and learned more new things in this short time than she has in months. Still not feeling the barn name “Cali” and keep hoping some inspired moment will happen that will tell us her “real barn name” but time will tell. It has been a bit difficult to make that connection with her on the –and we know this sounds all new age and stuff – emotional level we like to have. Part of the reason is our lives right now have some stresses and drama (non-horse related) that are tapping our reserves of energy, time and money. Being “open” to a new horse who needs emotional support and is less than eager to give up her “Professional People Trainer” union card is difficult right now. This mix is just tough. Laurie feels that “Cali” will actually be easier to connect with and train than some of our previous project horses. I am on the fence. We have had to go to some pretty firm corrections to get her to take us seriously. Still we have only had to make the correction once and it seems to stick. The trick here for the human is to have patience and let the connection happen in its own time. Not easy but necessary.

So today we skipped the round pen work. Crazy, yes. What changing it up a little does at this point is keeps it interesting. She is only 5 and her attention span is on the shorter side. So, after some nice grooming we did some Ground School Circles to get the body and brain warmed up and then did a “leadership walk” around the property. This allows a review of all that she has learned in the last sessions while giving those new skills a real purpose in her mind We did some work over some of the terrain, up and down hills and around some of the rock outcroppings. These she did great over and around. The (now dry) seasonal brook bed is about 4 to 10 inches deep and no more than 1.5 feet wide in most places. You would have thought this was the Grand Canyon we were asking her to deal with.  After a bit of encouragement and some strong reminders that running over the top of us is not acceptable she finally investigated the small crevasse and jumped over it. Several more jumps convinced her that she could do it with confidence, which she did. More playing up and down the hill, around trees and over some of the rock outcroppings gave her a really good workout and a boost of confidence.  Then we passed through the pool noodle “tunnel” and over the deadwood box. We played over the low jumps and worked on some backing exercises. The cowboy curtain did not scare her but it did confuse her a bit so we wrapped up our obstacle work there. All in all it was pretty good and other than her sometimes forgetting “personal space” boundaries which had to be adjusted she did pretty well. A long drink of water, a cool rinse off and some time on the Tree of Knowledge was how we ended Day 4. We are going to give her the rest of the week off because A) It is going to be HOT and B) we want to go out, catch her, love on her, groom her, hang out and make the connection,

Freya: Freya is heading north at the beginning of September. She is going to a great trainer, Troy Griffith of Hands-On Horse Training. He does some amazing work with warmblood breeds and after seeing some video and pictures of Freya he know he found is next project horse! We gave Freya a couple of days off but the looks we were getting said she wanted the interaction. So today we played in the upper “day pasture” with her and had a good time. We started with some free play off the lead line. She is a pretty mover. Walk, trot and lope. Checking in and getting rubs. Working on a variety of things was just fun for her.  We then hooked up the lead line, did some Ground School Circles, lateral flexion backing and Hindquarter Yields. Then she got to play on the jumps, terrain and obstacles. She seemed to really enjoy it. A long drink of water, a cool rinse off and some time on the Tree of Knowledge was how we ended the session. Everyone is getting time off until the weekend as noted above. Just hanging out, getting loved on and enjoying the fellowship.

Not a bad Two-fer Tuesday!

The Third Date

The Third Date (Lesson #3)

On an on-line forum I actually read something to the effect of  “ I have to ride two broncky horses and it is hard to video when you are holding on so tight” in relation to training the horse to be a productive equine citizen. My first thoughts were ‘Why would you ride the buck out in the first place?” and “you can fix the problem before it happens on the ground with some forethought and preparation.” Guess some people have to have their ego involved in the process.

So glad we are not those people. It is all about helping the horse, not “breaking the horse,”

Today is actually going to be a two part adventure. The goal for this morning is to review the skill sets from yesterday, get some improvements/refinements and see about playing outside the round pen a little bit. This evening we are loading everyone up and heading over to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds Arena for a little Spur of the Moment Ride with the Golden State Horsemanship Club. Herself will get to do some groundwork but for the most part she’ll get to hang out and soak it all in.

The Morning Session: Cali was focused challenged for the first part of the session. She was having issues just giving “two eyes” and relaxing. So we have to move her feet and sweat a little bit to reach her brain. It always seems to happen this way. Around day 3-5 of the process the horse just wants to fire the human because said human has shifted the horse’s reality a bit. The expectation to behave and perform have changed. Push back is expected. She was more energetic than yesterday. She was cutting the circle a bit so her shoulder and ribs had to flex a bit. We finally got some nice work done and reached the brain. She is beginning to figure out that not everything is about “go” but there is an equal measure of “whoa” in this new reality too. We left the round pen with a stronger connection and understanding.

Then we took all that she has learned in the last sessions and played outside on our mini trail/obstacle course. We did some work over some of the terrain, up and down hills and around some of the rock outcroppings. We passed through the pool noodle “tunnel” and over the deadwood box. We played over the low jumps and worked on some backing exercises. All in all it was pretty good with no real drama other than her sometimes forgetting “personal space” boundaries which had to be adjusted.

We wrapped up with a long drink of water and a nice rinse off. She seems to like the process. She got to marinate on the lesson standing tied on the Tree of Knowledge for an hour. Good session. Tonight we “travel” 15 minutes away to a new location (for Cali).

The Evening Session: We loaded up with very little fuss. Cali does need to work on her patience in the trailer but she loaded up just fine and once we got moving she didn’t fidget much. She has had VERY LITTLE trailering and traveling experience. New places are NEW to her. We thought about this as we headed to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds Arena. She has been with us for three (3) days and has been to three (3) different places! Reality has shifted!

Since the evening session was her second training activity of the day we just wanted to review the lead line work that has been done while exposing her to a new place. Some members of the Golden State Horsemanship Club were in attendance as well. This location will be used quite a bit over the next several months because it is covered, has great footing (the staff did over water it the arena in some places last night) has is lit up until 9:00pm three days a week. We worked on Ground School Circles, backing, Yields of the Hindquarters and a few other exercises. She was a bit focus challenged at first but figured out that if her humans were there then everything is going to be okay. Once we got some wins we headed to the pens attached to the arena and she got to hang out while we worked our other horses. Took her a bit to relax in the pens (again, new place) which we expected. When she finally stopped being worried that we were going to leave her even though she could see us and her pasture buddies we got ready to leave. A little work on manners and we called it a night. She loaded up well and we headed home. It has been a BUSY three days for this mare. Reality has shifted. Standards and expectations of behavior have been set and the foundation of a good future is being built.

Spending a Sunday Morning With A New Girl....

Lesson #2

We wanted to review the round pen lesson. We feel strongly that once those skills are really tight and can be performed with a “quiet conversation” that the rest of the training will fall into place with a great sense of ease and purpose. Round pen skills are very foundational in nature in our program. Without them firmly in place you are building a house of cards and not a solid horse.

Establishing a direction, maintaining a specific gait, the achieving of “two eyes”, changing directions to the inside making sure that all of these elements are consistent was the goal. We achieved the goal faster than the first time we met (win!) and faster with lower effort today (WIN!!). We also introduced the Pom-Pom-On-A-Stick as a desensitizing tool. It tickled her nose and made her sneeze! We could wave it around and rub her with it without issue when she realized our body language was saying “relax” and not “go forward”. Watching that shifting of gears is always a good time!

We then broke out the saddle with a rear cinch. You never know what you are going to get when the rear cinch is added to the mix. Could be nothing (win!) or it could be a rodeo (not-win! But a teaching moment)! She was cool with the rear cinch and cool with the saddle. Since she is under weight/under muscled (especially for a Quarter Horse) we won’t ride her for a bit. We may find one of our young and skinny friends to come help with some lead line work. Her hind end is sort of flat where it should be round and the normal musculature is not developed as we would like. The formula of time, good feed and exercise will bring her back. Speaking of back, we worked on Backing with Tap the Air (better than yesterday = win!) and Wiggle, Wave, Walk & Whack. Backing up with energy is so NOT in her lexicon right now. Part of it may be her under developed hind end the other part is a mix of not knowing and lazy. We will be fixing that. It was better than yesterday so we will call that a win too! We wrapped up the session with some “follow the feel” exercises and lateral flexion.

Since we were told she doesn’t know that rinsing off feels good we did this after a nice long drink. Tied up to the Tree of Knowledge we gave her a nice cool rinse off. She liked it just fine. Then she got to think about the lesson.

Not a bad second day!

AQHA Mare 'Toimpulsivetonotice" - A New Chapter!

THE NEXT JOURNEY: MEET“TOIMPULSIVETONOTICE”

It is Saturday August 13, 2016 and we are off on another project horse adventure!

We left Placerville pretty early to get to Stockton by 8:00am. Road conditions were less than ideal so we were few minutes late in picking up our newest project horse “ AQHA Toimpulsivetonotice” (barn name to be determined because Cali does not seem to fit her) This horse is a 2011 model with a really unique coloring –almost silver in her roaning - and nice frame. Nice breeding too. At just (born in April) 5 years old she has some foundational skills on the ground and under saddle but they will need quite a bit of work to refine and make “user friendly” to be sure. It never ceases to amaze us what some people, even “professional horse people” consider (or make excuses for) acceptable behavior. Still this charmer has a nice frame, sitting at about 15 hh and ready to embark on the next chapter in her life. Our mission is to make it positive and productive so she can find her true calling. According to her registration she has some solid Western Pleasure and Halter breeding in her lineage.

6:00am: Out the door. Ronan and Argent were along for the ride. Feed bags for everyone makes for a happy road trip.

8:00am – Time to Load Up: We arrived at the property, had to do some creative maneuvering to get the rig situated. Lots of talking and a little time getting reacquainted in the round pen. This mare is a bit of a space invader and pushy which can make working with her a challenge at time. Always a learning process! We had planned to put her in the last section of the trailer (we have a three horse slant load). We went back and forth getting the horse in the trailer but she just didn’t understand the space of it so we pulled Argent out and put the new girl, after a few back and forth moments, in the middle. Trailer loading is going to be a BIG part of her life so we are going to be working on this. Loaded up and off we go!

9:30am – At Practice: New place (she has not traveled much), new horses, new people. Lots of distractions. Expectations? Pretty low actually. We figured her brain would pop and her sassy/pushy attitude would make her a handful. While not the exact opposite of our expectations, she did pretty well overall. Once we gathered everyone up for the Round Pen 101 Workshop we introduced “Herself” to the folks, gave a little back story and got to work teaching her how “we” round pen and what the expectations are. This was a great learning opportunity for everyone (horses and humans) because she really did not “know” these skills and had to learn them in the session. This provided the humans with a great visual learning opportunity as communication, corrections, body position, focus and more could be seen. They also got to see the beginning of a new relationship which is pretty exciting too. We had a minor blow up, moderate levels of sass and several breakthroughs. Very productive session and a great learning opportunity. Herself got a long drink of water, a little snack and they hung out in the shade at the Tree of Knowledge for a time.

The practice/workshops were a success.

First Day Review: As the practice was winding down we took “Herself “ into the BIG arena at IT Ranch. Wanted to work on “Backing” and staying out of our space as well as doing some basic work on the lead line. Her backing up SUCKED but we knew that going in. Had to work pretty hard to get the concept through to her. Once it did we made a HUGE deal about how awesome he was (even though we were tired and a bit sweaty). He lead line work and the effort she put into it was MUCH improved over our first meeting and the efforts made earlier in the day. The Tree of Knowledge is a Good Thing and allows then horse to “marinate” in the lesson.

It was a big day for this young lady but she did pretty well. Some of the farm equipment and even the puddles by the wash rack “gave her pause” so we took advantage of these training opportunities.

Loading up was not hard and she traveled well. At home she gets to share about 2.5 acres of pasture with our two geldings. Lots of terrain to play on and we even opened up the “trail/obstacle” area for her to explore on her own.  Dinner for everyone. Lots of love for everyone and we even checked in on her a few times during the night. She settled in nicely. We like pasture over stalls as we feel it is more natural for them and puts them in a more receptive frame of mind. There are shelters and LOTS of trees in our pastures too. Nice set up for the equines!

Tomorrow we will review the lessons of today and see how it goes!

Interlude #2: SHOWING FREYA

INTERLUDE: SHOWING FREYA

Readers of this journal are probably screaming “WTF” and “Are You Kidding!” Truth! Freya has had THREE (3) sessions with us with this morning being #3. We got a call from Freya’s owner asking if WE could show Freya to a potential family. Why? Well the owner could not be there so….

Sigh. Our usual rules - Don’t like to show a horse that is not ours to anyone without the owner being there. Don’t EVER show a horse with just three lessons with it. Just a recipe for ugly times.

Still, we did it. Spent almost three hours with us. Have to say that Freya surprised us in a very good way. Since all we know Freya knows is what we have worked with her on that was the basis for the session. We talked about her personality as we have observed over the last 3.5 days. We ended up working with Freya for session #2 that evening and ended up teaching potential new family – they knew next to NOTHING about actually productive groundwork – about position, intent, energy, focus and feel/timing. Simply put these folks did not really listen and watch as we worked with Freya and we had to repeat ourselves a lot. Never a good sign!

We showed the potential family how she moved out, performed “ground school circles” which combines FIVE exercises in one and some other cool stuff that really captures her mind and gets her tuned in to her human. Still all we heard from the family was “ride” and even though we repeatedly told them that she was saddled once five days ago she really has not been ridden/worked much at all. Normally this is a “sign” that riding should probably wait. For accident-waiting-to-happen and high maintenance/high drama people this means “get on anyway.” Oh well, they signed the waiver. Freya took the saddle without issue. She does have issues with the bit currently. She fussed with the bit and didn't want to take it at first but I coaxed her with some rubs and mellow advance/retreat exercises. Under saddle she was pretty good at the walk. She was less confident at the trot and a little bit forward (fear/nerves). I think it is a confidence thing but she really tried. We had to have the rider loosen up on the reins a little (English thing) and that helped Freya feel less confined. Had to, once again, repeat ourselves several times to get the point across. They tooled all over the place and even cruised by some of our obstacles without too much fuss at all. This was a major improvement over our first meeting. Then the daughter, who had a horse related wreck earlier this year got on. The daughter mounted from the ground and from a tree stump. Freya was a little worried about the tree stump but quickly got settled once I helped the daughter find her "confident happy place." All in all it went well. Freya really needs MUCH more productive groundwork and more confidence building under saddle. She needs someone who KNOWS how to do this or will commit to getting the help that everyone needs. When we pressed for a commitment to engage in real, productive training we didn’t get a satisfactory answer. All we heard was “showing” and “maybe we could lease” and other indicators that this was NOT going to be a good fit.

We shared our impressions with the owner.

Looks like Freya is staying with us for a little while longer.

We crafted a little video the following say. The owner was present and was pretty amazed at the improvement in Freya, from performance to attitude, for our first visit not five days ago. Check out the link below.

Video of Freya-Groundwork:  https://youtu.be/C5GPaZmiwmg

Interlude: Working with the Warlander (Freya)

So, even though Freya is NOT going to be with us long term for any type of real training we felt that she needed some refinement and additions to her skill set so that the owner can show her as well as possible to any new family. Freya has some fear issues. No way around saying that because it is true. Not sure why they are there but one can make several assumptions and at least one of them is probably right. The round pen is scary to Freya, especially when asked to work. He over reacts and gets spun up pretty good. Our 40-45’ round pen is really not big enough for her to move out and feel less confined. Also our bargain prices panels are not really a match for her size. Our hope is to help Freya get soft in the halter/bridle, soft in her ribs, hindquarters and forequarters. We want to her to be able to back up with lightness from rhythmic and steady pressure and we want her to be aware of personal space. We also want her to be able emotionally to deal with an increase in pressure/intent without having a fit. That last one may take some time but it is important to get it done so she can control herself better emotionally under saddle.

15 minutes into the round pen session we had some nice low energy trotting happening and even got two eyes and backing up without the lead line. Then like all young girls she got distracted by boys (Ronan and Argent) who seems to take all her focus away. So some pressure was added after several quiet requests for her focus. She took this pressure to mean race around like an idiot and posture assertively. We maintained the request and the level of energy at which the request was made. She took offence to that and tried to rear up (failed) and then kick out towards the human. Wrong answer. A touch more pressure and a “use your brain” vibe was applied. She then chose to attempt to go over/through the round pen. She succeeded and damaging two panels and flattened three more.

So rope in hand she gets caught again. We did LOTS of “ground school circles” which incorporates a few of the fundamental skills needed to actually be a good horse. It is hard work mentally, emotionally and physically because the horse is responsible for its feet, its energy output and being in communication with the person on the end of the lead rope. The person has to be VERY aware of the horse and its needs. It takes a it to get the “universal translator” dialed in. We did and got some good work done. Then it was a nice rinse off and 45 minutes tied to the Tree of Knowledge. Minus the damaged panels it was a good session and the information shared will help the communication between the horse and human.

Follow the journey at: http://adventureswithhorsemanship.blogspot.com/

The Karma Of Horses & Humans!

HORSE KARMA: Everything Happens For A Reason

To say this last few days has been “horse focused” would be an understatement! In a crazy turn of events the nice folks who currently own Freya had to, for a variety of uncool reasons, move her from a bad situation to a safe situation. Our place (Lucky Star Ranch) was the safe place. Even though we just met Freya and her humans we felt they were good souls. When we heard about the craziness we opted to help. So in short, Freya is staying with us until she finds a new home (see Evaluations: Meeting Freya to learn more about this beautiful Warlander mare. Now that the horse is safe and getting a little extra attention to help refine some of her skills from us the owner can relax a bit, screen potential families and make the RIGHT and BEST choice for Freya. She also had some time to do a little research on what the value of the breed is in the current market. Combined with our evaluation and suggestions she has opted to set her rehome fee at $900.00. Any interested family will need to answer some screening questions and demonstrate that they can work with Freya. Seems fair and logical. Yes, we are the first point of contact so if you want to know more about Freya contact us at Michael.canfield66@gmail.com.

We worked with Freya yesterday in the round pen. She is a mover! Once she realized what was expected of her (so many distractions to be distracted by) she performed well. We were able to help her understand what we wanted and rewarded the positive tries. She needs a gentle but confident hand to learn. She has to believe in the leadership (not always easy for a mare of her type and experience) and make that connection in her brain that the leadership is good and consistent. It was a little challenging but really fun! We will do some more of these, focusing on the concepts introduced.

 Freya

 Freya

Adding to all this fun is our new “project horse” who we are picking up on Saturday! AQHA Registered Bay Roan mare “Toimpulsivetonotice” is a 2011 model with a really unique coloring –almost silver in her roaning - and nice frame. Nice breeding too. At just 5 years old she has some foundational skills on the ground and under saddle but they will need some work to refine and make “user friendly” to be sure.

Our first meeting was a good one. After getting some basic history Michael went into the pen and gave the Horseman’s handshake – basically letting the horse get a sniff, retreat slightly, repeat and when things look good a few soft rubs of the shoulder and neck. When that went well it was “rub all over time” to see if there are any “oh no” spots. Once that is done we got to work in the round pen! The mare was a little tender from a hoof trim that happened the day before but worked through it. (NOTE: The humans are putting shoes back on her feet before we pick her up because we felt that she needs them to handle the level of training and the terrain at our place). She was a bit sassy about moving out at the trot. When we increased to the lope we got some more sass and some kick-outs. Yes, it had been a while since the mare had seen work, combined with some negative training experience the mare had previously. We worked through it and got “two eyes” consistently from both directions. She picked up her trot and lope better by the end of the session. As we ran through the gambit of “what do YOU know” exercises we took lots of breaks to praise and rub. The mare “locked on” pretty quickly. Giving up the “horse trains human” union card will take a few more sessions but she seemed to learn quick! She got lots of rubs and praise for trying hard. So amazing how they respond to the praise. Life lesson reight there.  We even slipped her a cookie on the down-low.

We then hooked up the line, did some “despooking”, backing, yields, flexion and even introduce the concept of “ground school circles” to Cali. She had not really had training like this (lots of corner were cut and steps left out in our opinion) and much of what we asked her to do was new to her. Overall she did really well considering that he has not had much done with him in a (by our standards) long time. She seemed willing for the most part. Not too over-reactive but often unaware of “personal space” which will need to be worked on. We spend close to two hours with her. As the sun was setting we said our goodbyes.

 Toimpressivetonotice

Toimressivetonotice

Saturday morning she gets thrown into the deep end of a new reality. We’ll have Ronan and Argent in the trailer with us as we’ll all be heading to Lodi (from Stockton) to the monthly Golden State Horsemanship Club practice. Since one of the mini-workshops we will be having is “round pen skills” our new mare gets to dive right in! And so it begins! We hope that she develops nicely into a solid horse with good manners, nice foundational skills and a great attitude. We envision a slightly longer process because of her youth but the efforts should pay off nicely.

Stay tuned! The journey continues and it looks to be a fun and interesting one!

Freya the Warlander (WOW!!)

We had the chance to meet a beautiful young lady today and it was a wonderful learning opportunity for all involved. Her name is Freya and she is a 16.0-16.1 hand high Warlander (Friesian/Andalusian cross), just turned 6 years old in April. Having never worked with this breed before this was a fun experience for us. She a bay horse with hints of dapples. Really a beautiful and well-built mare.

We headed over to the barn to get introduced. Michael did his usual “horseman’s handshake” letting the horse get several good sniffs and rubbed her all over. No “oh no spot” showed up so that was a good sign. She really liked the attention. We then headed out to the corral which was about the size of a small cutting pen.

Freya’s Backstory: As one can imagine, Freya is a big mover which is one of the reasons she needs a new home. She was originally purchased, with supposed training, for a novice rider and proved to be too much for said rider. Freya has size and power which is, reasonably, scary to a novice. The well-meaning humans got Freya some more “training” but after four months the “trainer” stated that the horse is too much for the novice. So the humans pulled Freya out of training. Now the humans just want to find the beautiful horse a home where she can have a job and help her reach her full potential. Sadly the humans are not in a position to put more money into training and it appears that the current facility where Freya is at is for sale so she needs a new home.

As is our way we swapped out the web halter for our rope halter and got to work. Laurie worked with Freya first. She got some nice hindquarter and forequarter yields, some backing, simple lunging (all 3 gaits), lateral flexion and some nice leading from beside. Then Michael stepped in. Lunging with direction changes (all 3 gaits), yields of the hindquarters, yields at the forequarters, lateral flexion, backing (steady pressure). We tried some follow the nose/feel and some “de-spooking exercises. This really showed us where the previous “trainer” skipped steps in building a good foundation. What Freya didn’t know she picked up pretty quick. She had some sass a time or two but we kept on working and she got over herself. Then we did some “ground school circles” which incorporate impulsion, bend, yields of the hindquarters, backing and yields of the forequarters before impulsion happens again. Took a few tries but she did a really nice job. She did work on both the 14’ and a 25’ lead line which was cool.

We then saddled her without fuss. She had not ever worn a rear cinch so we took it off of our saddle. She really did not want to take the bit (smooth snaffle) at first but eventually we got it on and fitted to her. We asked her to move out and she got fussy. Assuming (correctly) that something wasn’t fitting right, we made some adjustments to the saddle and pad and tried again. MUCH better results. The young hand rode her first.  They did not communicate all that well but the ride was successful after some sass. Freya needs a confident leader in the saddle who understands how to squeeze (not kick) to ask for impulsion and who has good rein management. She has a really pretty extended trot, a passable (right now) seated trot and a lope that can cover some ground but needs work on the rating of seat, speed and collections even though she does it on her own at times in a beautiful manner.

She needs her ground skills improved but her manners were nice. Picked up her feet. Loaded decent in a trailer and stood tied without a fuss. She needs help with the bit and she needs refinement and confidence under saddle to find the joy in the horse/human partnership. We REALLY like this mare. We have to REALLY consider our set up at home for training a horse this size who needs work on the long line or “larger than we have round pen” because our 40’ pen is not going to cut it with a horse that moves like she does. This is going to be a tough choice as we normally steer away from the warmblood breeds (personal preference) but this mare is something special.