Magic Saddlebags!

And no, I'm not talking about the ones on my thighs - those are not magic at all (I know, I've spent the past 25 years trying to make them disappear) and the internet doesn't need any photos of them!  Anyhow I've been wanting saddlebags - the horsey kind - for the past three years but have never actually bought them since so far I haven't done too much trail riding with Starbuck and there's always something I need more in the tack shop.  And I've dropped subtle (obviously too subtle) hints to everyone I know around every birthday and Christmas, but so far have had no luck.  Until I finally decided to be a little more direct the other day when I was at the tack shop with my girls and called all of them over to tell them that my birthday was coming up next month and that I really, really, really liked this specific model of saddlebags which just happened to be the standard cost of a "group gift" birthday present.

Then on the trail ride the other day René asked me why I used a backpack instead of saddlebags and I explained it to him and he said "Well I have like 3 sets of saddlebags I don't ever use - why don't you take one of them?"  I politely refused in case he got second thoughts, but he insisted so I finally gratefully agreed to use his until I get some of my own.  Suddenly, saddlebags!

On Monday I wanted to give her a break from riding and decided to kill two birds with one stone, so I saddled Starbuck up, tied on the saddlebags (the "official" straps are missing so I used some strips of leather) and led her into the arena for a little longeing.  She was completely unfazed while tacking her up and walking her into the arena, but when she started working in a circle she suddenly started to feel the saddlebags moving around.  At a trot she spooked a couple of times when the wind and her movement caused them to flap around a fair amount (I'd left them empty), and then at the canter she gave a few bucks to figure out whether she could get them off or not.  But I just ignored all that and asked her for loads of transitions, and before I knew it she was completely used to them.  And we had a really productive longe line workout :)

When I untacked her, I made sure to move around the bags a bunch and let them flap around and lifted them up and then dropped them back down on her hindquarters and even between her legs and it didn't bother her at all.  But just to make sure, I put them back on her yesterday for our lesson, just so that if she was going to have any residual spooks from the saddlebags flapping against her it would be inside the arena where if she bucked me off or I lost control at least she wouldn't be able to run too far.

And it turns out they are MAGIC saddlebags!  Right after I mounted up and started our warm up walk, she dropped her head and relaxed, then when I took up the reins a little for a very light contact and nudged her just a little with my leg to let her know that I wasn't putting on the brakes, she reacted just like I wanted her to and started putting her back into it and tracking up with her hind legs a little more instead of just slowing down and tensing up.  Then we did our flex head in - straighten - flex head in - straighten exercise José taught me and today was the first day I could really tell that she understood what I wanted her to do which is drop her head and stretch her neck into the rein contact.

While still in the walk, I also discovered a new and fabulous skill which I was beginning to worry I would never develop which is being able to feel her footfalls through my seat.  I actually felt this warming up on Friday afternoon but it was so fleeting that I decided it was just my imagination.  But I felt it again yesterday for more time although as soon as I started to think logically about it (comparing what I was feeling with what I know to be the correct walk footfall pattern) I stopped being able to feel it, and then started working on something else and forgot about it.  But I'm really excited about this, since if I develop it until I can always feel the footfalls I'll be able to time my aids so that they're much more effective in addition to that "centaur" connection thing.

Then we went into trot and I focused on getting at least a basic steady rhythm without so much starting and stopping... and she gave it to me!  With way less leg than is normally necessary and without her signature spooks and charges - it was just like riding a "normal" well trained horse!  I worked on "hanging my arms" - this is a posture improving exercise Marina has us working on lately where we take up a light contact, close our fingers on the reins and then just let our lower arms hang between the elbow and the reins, following the horse's movement through the reins and letting the weight of our arms create the contact.  I also tried to remember to open my fingers slightly every time I had to nudge her with my legs to encourage her to go forward, and as opposed to what normally happens, it worked!  The whole time we were trotting she kept up a really nice working rhythm without too many "reminders" and towards the end even started to relax her poll a little and start working more from behind.

The canter went really nicely as well, with hardly any spooks or bucks which really allowed me to relax and "hang my arms".  The jumping part of the lesson didn't go as well - a little zig zagging and hesitation which probably had more to do with me trying ineffectually to relax and push forward at the same time - but she didn't refuse or dodge any of them and our recovery (balance, speed, control, direction...) time after each jump was much quicker than usual.  Honestly I don't like these horses (very common at some of the more "competitive" jumping stables) that jump really well but can't do anything else - I'd much rather she did everything else well, even if she's never a terrific jumper.

This pretty much sums it up - after the lesson I told my friend Amanda "Even if she never got any better than she was today and just maintained today's quality of work for the rest of her life, I'd be perfectly fine with that".  I mean that - of course I want her to keep improving but she really was that fun to ride yesterday.

And it's all thanks to René and his magic saddlebags! ;)

Status Report

We're starting to find the rhythm of things.  I think that for now we're averaging about 2 or 3 good rides for each time I fall off which I'm OK with.  I've reached my 7 falls and am finding it harder to have a sense of humour about it, but hopefully my body's learning its lesson and at some point will get better at staying on.  The other day I fell a little harder than normal and really didn't want to get back on, luckily my fabulous instructor insisted that I climb back up there and handwalked us around for a few minutes until my legs stopped shaking.  But the other day we had another terrific lesson walking over cavaletti and threading in and out of jump standard poles at the trot.  So on the one hand I see all the bruises and back pain in my future and cringe and on the other hand, I enjoy riding Starbuck more and more every day.  I'm also feeling more confident about the scary side of the arena, we've been doing all our longeing there lately and she's starting to get much more blasé about it.  When I longe her in her halter I try to let her graze there for a few minutes at the end for a reward, so she'll see it's really a nice place if she'll give it half a chance.

I've also bumped up the amount of time at the trot I ask her for while longeing or roundpenning, making her stick it out for at least three and working up to five minutes at a time.  It's interesting for me to watch for her rebellious moments which almost always pop up when we're doing groundwork, mostly right when she starts to get a little tired or when I'm asking her to challenge herself mentally.  She does some serious teenager head tosses and speeds up and in the roundpen sometimes even gives a little kick or buck, but as long as I wait it out and ask her to change directions a few times she calms right down.

Also, giving her those massages with long heavy strokes along her spine that the vet recommended is definitely having a beneficial effect!  Where she used to move away from the saddleblanket when I would go to put it on her she now stands still and doesn't try to avoid it, and she also moves around a lot less when I cinch her up.  I think it improves our relationship too and am taking advantage of her being relaxed after her massage to really get her sacked out in the areas where she's always been a little more sensitive - udders, mouth and nose.

At any rate yesterday I dewormed her (I'm a little late this time but have decided to do it once every 4 months instead of every 3 months) - she behaved really well even though this time the worming paste was pretty nasty smelling.  And for a reward I broke out the new hay net I bought her and stuffed it with oat hay, wild fennel sprigs, freshly sickled grass (yes, we have sickles at my barn to take advantage of those hard-to-graze spots) and carob beans (there are a lot of carob trees around here and carob beans are a frequent horse treat).  She absolutely loved it and I think she had as much fun swinging the net around as she did trying to get at the yummy stuff hidden among the hay.

I have another lesson this afternoon, we'll see how it goes!

Good news, bad news

Thanks to Horse Bliss for the cute photo!!!

Yesterday I was reminded of the fact that we can never fully let our guard down with young horses, and that no matter how well we think we know our horse, they can always surprise us for better or for worse.  We started the day off early with a group lesson which went very well after the first 15 minutes (this is the time it takes for me to relax and for her to focus), then afterwards I gave her a good brushing out (she worked up some nice sweat during the lesson) and finally I walked her with my friend Belén and her gelding Cancun to a nearby field to let them graze and run free until lunchtime.

I was really pleased with how the day had gone and even got a few compliments on how well she behaved from some of the other ladies in the class.  I specifically remember that at one point when I was talking to them I said that the really nice thing about having trained your horse yourself is that I more or less always know what to expect and that "there's really not a whole lot she can do to surprise me at this point".  If only I had kept my damn mouth shut...

After lunch my friend Virginia and I were doing some poo picking and she decided to leave a bundle of freshly cut green hay in front of Starbuck's stall since it's shadier there.  As she squatted down to leave the hay, Starbuck stuck her head out inquisitively and Virginia decided to blow a raspberry on her nose.  The first time, Starbuck just kind of startled back and then craned her neck down to look again.  So Virginia blew another raspberry, but this time Starbuck lunged toward her with teeth barred and ears back, hitting my friend smack in the face and knocking her backwards.

I was shocked!

So shocked in fact that for a few seconds I was completely paralyzed and couldn't even give Starbuck a good smack to make it clear that biting people IS NOT OK.  After I made sure that she hadn't bitten Virginia's face off, I shooed her out of her stall and let her know that I was not happy with her actions.  I was completely at a lack for what to do, I know that after a few seconds punishment doesn't make any sense but I didn't want her to get the idea that this is something she can EVER EVER EVER repeat.  Virginia's gum was split open by the impact and it bled a little and she has a bump on her forehead too, I feel absolutely terrible about it and keep asking myself how I could have prevented it, or what I would have done if it had been a child or someone I didn't know.

I think this was definitely a dominance play of "I don't like that, get out of my face", and I've noticed her acting more dominant with other horses too.  So apart from getting her really sacked out all over her face, I'll be keeping a close eye on her and as soon as she starts getting even the slightest bit pushy or tetchy with any humans at all I'm gonna be on her like white on rice (that phrase isn't racist.  I checked).  For instance today I was feeling up her little udders which I know for a fact she doesn't like and she just lifted up her leg as in "keep doing that and I'm gonna kick out" which I'm usually patient with as long as she doesn't actually kick, but today she got a slap on the hip and a sharp word.  I'm also conniving with Marina the barn owner to stick her in a paddock one of these days with the most dominant horses at the stable, so she recognizes that her real place in the pecking order is NOT as the boss of everyone but me.

Anyhow in the end I think it's nothing to obsess over as long as I make sure it doesn't happen again, but it is an effective warning that my sweet little filly isn't as sweet as I always think she is and that she can turn nasty in a heartbeat.  And that the only thing I should expect from her is to be constantly surprised.

Do you have any biting stories or advice to share?

'Fraidy Cat

As much as I absolutely hate to admit it, I have some fear issues with horses.  I've fallen off, lost control and been bit, kicked and trampled enough times to know that injury is a given-- the only wild card is how serious.  I'm also discovering that my 30-something year old body is not as resilient as my teenage body was, and falls which I once would have classified as anecdotal now develop into weeks or months of nagging pain and unsightly swelling.  On top of everything, I've set out to do something-- train a green filly to be a 100% dependable, bombproof trail horse-- that I honestly have no idea if I really can do and which many people with a lot more horse experience than me have advised me not to try.

So yeah, I have to deal with some fear.  In a lot of ways, this is good, basic survival mechanism stuff and I sure am glad I'm not as death-defying as I was at 18.  But from time to time I'll notice that I don't really feel like working on the "spooky" side of the arena, or walking Starbuck past the barn stallion when she's in heat and he's feeling studdy.  Or we'll take a few too many "vacation" days without actually working.  And when I really start soul-searching, I'll figure out that it's not usually laziness, it's fear.  Fear of her spooking and running away, of the stallion breaking out of his paddock, of either of us sustaining a disabling injury, of not preparing her well enough, of losing my motivation... even of what people might think when they see us doing an exercize that's not going as planned.

This type of fear camouflages itself as laziness or apathy and leads to procrastination, excuse-making and justification.  It's insidiously demotivating, since it's oh-so tempting to tell myself that I've had a long day at work and that she could use some rest anyway to get out of a workout on one of those days where I'm sure all those invisible horse-eating monsters will abound.  But admitting that I don't want to work with her because I'm afraid... well, that's not so acceptable.  Not to mention that it sets a horrible example for Starbuck, who needs to be exposed to as many "scary" situations as possible as often as possible by a calm, responsible leader.  So how to deal with it?

Well, I think the first step is acceptance.  I need to accept that there are some things I'm afraid of and admit that some of these are perfectly valid.  After that, I need to set an internal alarm so that every time I say "Oooof, I really don't feel like doing so-and-so" I look deep inside myself to see if my reluctance is really motivated by fear, and decide whether that fear is rational or not.  And when I recognize my inner 'fraidy cat, I need laugh at myself for finding one of my own personal invisible monsters, go ahead and do what I didn't want to do and then make a note to do it again, and again, and again.

In other words, I need to sack myself out the same way I do with Starbuck: figure out what freaks me out and then keep doing it until I'm no longer phased by it.

Our First Ride!

After the outstanding weekend that Starbuck has given me with amazing concentration, focus and progress on Friday, Saturday and today, I felt pretty confident about at least getting into the saddle for the first time.  So after a fairly strenuous workout of leading, longeing, yielding hindquarters and forequarters and sending work, I took her into the round pen and just let her rest while I did some preparation work; standing on a mounting block and rubbing her, tapping the saddle, putting a little weight in the stirrup, rubbing her belly with the tip of my toe and finally standing up and half mounting which is what you see here..

Afterward my friend Salvador helped me get Starbuck used to my weight (sorry girl, but this is Thanksgiving weekend after all) in movement by leading her around the roundpen with me just kind of half mounted like this and resting my belly over the saddle and she did great, no bucks or bunny hops or even any insecurity, she just took it completely in stride.  So I asked Marina, the owner of the stable, to help us out with our first ride and this is the result!  She's a little wobbly and you can tell we still need to work on finding our balance (I'm leaning forward to try to take some of the weight off her back), but I'm soooooo proud of her (and of me!) for being able to be completely relaxed and confident in movement with me sitting on top of her.

The other big change this weekend was that we moved Starbuck to new digs with a nice shed to keep her warm and dry this winter, so after our ride I made sure she had an extra big serving of bran mash, three freshly scrubbed out buckets of cool water and a bed of hay about 3 feet deep inside her little shed; she deserves some luxury after being such a good girl today!  Here's a fuzzy photo of her enjoying her new home:

Approach and Retreat

A few days ago I got ahold of Clinton Anderson's Starting Under Saddle DVD series and I've been checking it out.  This guy drives me crazy trying to sell stuff every 30 minutes and he's got the same cheesy catchphrase charisma that Pat Parelli does, but he sure is good at getting his ideas across and teaches useful solution for common training problems.  Yesterday I already taught Starbuck one of his sending exercizes, where the trainer stands to the side of the horse and gets them to move forward back and forth between the trainer and a fence.  I think that in combination with the other nuggets of information these DVDs are going to be really useful!

One of the things that this guy preaches along with nearly all the other bastians of Natural Horsemanship is the "Approach and Retreat" method.  Basically, you move forward with your training until you get the response you want (either for the horse to stand still and do nothing for desensistizing exercizes or for them to move some body part for sensitizing exercizes).  So if your horse is afraid of the flyspray, you just keep spraying at them until they stand still and then take it away.  Of if your horse won't move off when you tell them to, you just increase the pressure and consistently cue them to move until they do, then instantly stop whatever you were doing to "convince" them.

Sound familiar?  That's right, it's the old "the release is the reward" concept.  But what really came home to me with his method is that concept can be used even for lesson planning.  In other words, you get your horse to move her feet, then reward her by letting her stand still, then you reward her for standing still by letting her move her feet, and so on.  So before and after each and every sensitizing (get the horse to move) exercize, he adds a desensitizing exercize.  And I'm not talking about just giving your horse a quick rubdown with the longe whip, I'm talking about 5 - 15 minutes of sacking out with different stuff after every "workout".

I tried this yesterday in a loooooooooooooooooooong training session with Starbuck and it went great!  She usually gets a little burned out after about an hour of training, even when I switch it up a lot and do different stuff.  But before I was just paying attention to her mental and physical state and making sure she didn't get too tired or bored and actually was making the mistake of quitting certain exercizes when she "told" me she didn't like them (pawing the ground or whatnot), thus rewarding her for being uncooperative.  So up until now a standard lesson plan would be like this and would last between an hour and an hour and a half:

1. Grooming, tacking up and lifting hooves.
2. Start with a little low key longeing at the walk and trot using the rope halter.
3. Low key porcupine game, then a quick rubdown.
4. Some more longeing at the walk, trot and canter using the bit.
5. Backing and leading work.
6. Some more porcupine game for fore- and hindquarter yielding and sidepasses.
7. Finishing with a rubdown from the mounting block and / or a brisk walk around the stable yard or parking lot with lots of stops, turns, circles and back-ups.
8. Grooming, untacking and lifting hooves.

Yesterday however I made sure to squeeze at least 5 minutes of desensitizing exercize (sacking out, rubbing, grooming, etc...) between each sensitizing exercize; so the lesson plan went like this and lasted about 3 hours, without her ever getting too bored or tired:

1. Grooming, tacking up and lifting hooves (D).
2. Low key longeing at the walk and trot (S).
3. Flapping the longe whip back and forth to her right and left (D).
4. Some more longeing until she cantered easily in both directions (S).
5. Twirling the longe whip overhead (D).
6. Sending through between me and the fence where that scary new lamp post is (S).
7. Rub down with longe whip and hands, adjusting tack (D).
8. Roundpenning to get consistent direction changes toward me (S).
9. Rubbing and lightly slapping hands all over body, lifting hooves at liberty (D).
10. Sending at liberty between me and the roundpen fence (S).
11. Putting on and taking off bridle, lifting hooves (D).
12. Yielding the hindquarters to indirect feel (craning head towards hindquarters, pointing with longe whip), direction changes (S).
13. Putting on and taking off bridle, lifting hooves, bunny hopping (D).
14. Porcupine game on fore- and hindquarters, lateral flexion of the neck (S).
15. Adjusting tack at tying posts, rubbing, putting on and taking off bridle (D).
16. Longeing with the bit at the walk and trot, giving to the bit to the right and left (S).
17. Rubbing "from above" and half-mounting at mounting block (D).
18. Sending one step at a time from mounting block (S).
19. Grooming, untacking and lifting hooves (D).

I think if I can make sure to remember to plan lessons in this way in the future and to NEVER quit an exercize because she's not doing it well or is bored but just go back to the starting point and practice where she was doing it well, I'll have a much easier time of it!

Training in the Rain

Yesterday it was raining cats and dogs but I wanted to work a little with Starbuck anyway, so I decided to break out my umbrella for some sacking out.  She seemed to be a little sore around her flanks so I just worked on head and neck for now but later this week I'll take the umbrella back and get her 100% used to it being rubbed and opened over and under every part of her body.  But she was really good and sweet and actually discovered that she loved licking the rain off the umbrella XD.

My saint-like husband tagged along and got some great pics, enjoy!

 Starting out small...

 Getting her interested by showing the folded umbrella, letting her lip it and walking away.

 Opening the umbrella for the first time from afar.

After a while she gets curious about this new "toy". 

 Walking backwards keeps it nonthreatening.

 What's all this then?

 To the side...

 Overhead...

 To the side once again...

 Why won't you let me eat the toy???

 Reflections.

 Oooh, that's flappy around my ears!!!

 Hmmmm.... do you have a treat?

 So.... no treat, huh?

Ending the session by opening and closing the umbrella so she gets used to the noise and change in shape.

Shopping

Today I went to get the bit I ordered, it's a D-Ring Snaffle with copper rollers and it has a nice feel to it.  I also got a Spanish style bridle this weekend, so I greased it up, attached it all and took off the noseband so it would be easier to put it on Starbuck the first few times and this is the result:

I personally think it looks pretty good!  Today I started just getting her used to it being rubbed on her face and neck, tomorrow I'll try to put it on her again (she was pretty skittish about it).  If all goes well, I'll lead her a little bit with it and then plan to longe her with the line attached to a halter over the bridle for the first time.  We'll see how it goes.

I also dewormed Starbuck again today with Maximec, it's about two weeks early but I wanted to deworm her before her winter coat came in.  She behaved really well and I think she actually liked the way it tasted... let's hope it keeps going so well every time.

She's lost another tooth, this one's the upper right encisor (the first was the lower left encisor).  The equine dentist is coming next week... that'll be a new experience!

Raincoat

Today I wanted to try something a little different so I got out the tarp I use to cover my bale of hay and decided to sack Starbuck out with it.  First I put it on the ground in her paddock and she went right up to it, sniffed it and walked right over it on her own!  So I led her over it a few times and stopped on top of it, then backed her over it until I was satisfied that she was 100% cool and wouldn't suddenly decide it wanted to eat her.

Then I folded it up into a little square and rubbed it all over her body, unfolding a little bit every time she got comfortable with the previous step.  This is where we called it a day since it was getting dark and they were about to bring around supper (good luck to me trying to get her to do anything with the feed cart coming by)!  But we got up to the last fold, with the tarp folded in half and she let me rub it all over her including putting it over her head, under her belly and around her feet... tomorrow is a bank holiday in Spain so we'll work on this some more until she's all the way cool with the whole unfolded tarp.

Thanks to barn buddy Miguel for the photos!!!

Surcingles and Saddlepads

Today I decided to try to put a saddlepad on Starbuck for the first time since the other day I sacked her out with the plastic bag, so I grabbed the lightest weight rectangular saddlepad I could find in the tack room and set out for her paddock.  So she would accept it with no fuss, first I folded it up as much as I could and let her come up to me, sniff it and satisfy her curiosity and then rubbed her around the head and neck at first with it then all over her body.  Then I unfolded it a little and repeated the process until it was completely unfolded.  The first unfoldings went really well but the last one took a little longer, I guess the full sized pad freaked her out a little but after many approaches and retreats finally she let me rub it all over her and then put it on her back.

When my friend Virginia saw our progress she offered to let us use her surcingle, which is a padded strap which goes all the way around the girth, and after our success with the saddlepad I couldn't say no!  Starbuck accepted the surcingle surprisingly well and didn't seem to mind even when I tightened the girth a little, although she bucked and farted like a malfunctioning rocket as soon as she really started to move around with it.

Then I put on her rope halter (I wanted to see whether the other day she longed badly because of the cavesson) and took her out to the arena to longe a little.  At first she didn't want to cooperate and kept turning  to face me and stopping and after maybe about 20 minutes of this I kind of gave up and decided to work on leading a while.  However, Javi, one of the owners of the stable saw that I was having trouble and came out to show me how it was done; in the end he got Starbuck to walk, trot and canter on the lunge line.  So I need to work on following through in the future and remember to never let her win the patience game.  It was a real treat to watch her from afar though and I was able to take some great photos :D

Sacking Out Starbuck

The other day I didn't have a lot of time and was feeling pretty under the weather, but I wanted to work at least a little with her so I found a plastic bag and decided to try sacking her out to get her more used to strange new noises and sights.  So she would see the plastic bag as more of a toy and less of a threat, I tied it to the wheelbarrow which she LOVES to play with while I muck out her paddock and she started mouthing it right away.  Then I tied it on my dressage whip and let her get close to it, then would try to rub her neck with it and when she would shy away I would back off and wait for her to come up to it again.  I did this for about 15 minutes the first day before I had to go, then tried again today and spent about 15 more minutes until she let me touch her neck with it, the rest is what ensues in the video!