Agility

Sorry guys, this is an old post (from December 9th or so) which I wrote and forgot to post.  But I definitely want to post it to remember the exercises so here goes:

Yesterday (well actually about 18 days ago) was a bank holiday in Spain (immaculate conception day, if you can believe that) and since we had hardly any classes last week due to rain, Marina ignored her no-class-on-Mondays rule and gave a regular riding lesson in the morning and a groundwork agility lesson in the afternoon.  I was too busy flying back from Madrid (a nice trip by the way) to go to the regular lesson but I did make it to the groundwork lesson, and boy am I glad I did - we had a great time and I really got some good advice from Marina to put into practice.

We started out with a little longeing to warm up, and then Marina put us to work on a sort of obstacle course she had put together - we had to stay at any of the "stations" long enough to get the horse to go through it correctly, then move on to another one.  If any of the "stations" got to be easy, we had to up the difficulty level by standing farther away from the horse, or doing it in trot rather than walk.

Here's a diagram of the different stations, the smiley face is the person and the green arrows are where the horse is supposed to go.  Below the diagram is a brief description of each station - all of them were to do in both directions.

1 - Two tires about 3 feet apart inside a square formed by four jump poles (maybe 8 - 9 feet long each).  The person stayed outside the square, the horse inside.  The horse had to make a complete circuit of the square without stepping outside, then change direction through the two tires.  This was incredibly difficult, we only did it well like 3 times.

2 - This was a larger, partially open square made of the blue and yellow cushion-like training bars with two cones placed in each corner.  The person was inside the square, and the horse had to go around the square between the bars and cones, without stepping outside.

3 - This was a simple low crossrails jump using two tires as the standards.

4 - Parallel jump poles in an "L" shape.  The horse had to go between the two poles without stepping outside, with the person outside the poles.  Starbuck and I even did it backwards a few times.

5 - Three pairs of cones for the horse to walk between, with the person walking alongside.  This was really easy until I tried to get farther (like 3 - 4 feet) away from Starbuck, then it was much harder to get her to go through the cones.

6 - Ground poles to go over in a circle.  Using only my dressage whip and not having a longe whip, it was difficult to keep her at a trot, but we ended up figuring it out.

7 - This is a solid "wall" made out of plywood in an elongated pyramid shape for the horses to jump in a circle.

8 - Two tires about 6 feet apart.  The person stood back about 6 feet away from them and had to send the horse in a figure eight between and around the two tires.  We've done this before so it wasn't impossible, but she would still "skip" a tire every now and then.

The main thing I took away from the lesson was that instead of just "ignoring" incorrect responses and trying again, Marina suggests I try really hard to stop Starbuck before she does the wrong thing and re-set it up so she can do the right one.  For instance, going around the figure eight tires, I often have the problem where I "undersend" and she doesn't quite make it around one on one side.  Until now, I've always simply let her finish and then try harder the next time.  But Marina says that if I see she's going to "miss" a tire, I should stop her, back her up if I need to and re-send her - repeating all of this until she does it right.  And I could definitely tell she was thinking about it and trying to work it out when she finally made it through and I was reminded of an article I read way back when I started working with her, about replacing the flight response with a problem-solving mindset so the horse gets in the habit of thinking before it reacts.  I don't remember who wrote it, but it's definitely something to keep in mind when working with Starbuck.

Marina also recommended that instead of just doing 10 minutes of walk to warm up before ridden lessons, I work on some of these exercises to warm up and get Starbuck focused on me.  I think this is a fabulous idea and am going to try to remember to do it!

Here and here are two Facebook videos of the lesson (sorry if the visibility's limited, a friend of mine made it), I definitely hope we do more like this in the future.

Mixed Feelings

This week is one of mixed feelings.  On the one hand, Starbuck's still uneven at the trot and doesn't reach as far underneath her with her right hind.  While it's not exactly lameness, I still don't feel confident working her 100% and it's something I have on my mind pretty much constantly.  She has no visible swelling, hotspots or pain anywhere in her legs.  At the walk she's perfect.  At the canter she's perfect.  But trotting (especially going to the left) you can tell that there's something wrong.  My vet has ruled out tendon or bone issues and is convinced it's back or hip tension causing this, I've had the physical therapist out to work on her and between holidays, rain and preparing for the show with Vent she's had what amounts to about a month and a half of paddock rest with a few interludes of hour-long hacks, lungeing and very light riding.

Since she was doing better a couple of weeks ago but has now reverted to her old gimpy highjinks, I'm a little tempted to call up the "specializes in lameness" vet and ask for a second opinion.  But both my vet and the physical therapist advised me to work her normally, with an emphasis on extensions.  So I've decided to keep doing just that for at least a little while longer - if she gets worse or doesn't improve at all after a few weeks I can always stop working her and call the other vet and if she gets better then great.  I'm trying to be objective about it and remember that when I personally have pain issues (especially back pain), generally the only way I can get it to go away is through exercise.

On the other hand, we are really reaching a new level in our relationship which I'm absolutely thrilled with.  I'm convinced that my focussing on giving her more positive feedback and trying to dial down the negative feedback (less scolding, more praise) is really having a great effect on her behavior and motivation.  I'm also able to use lighter and fewer aids than before and hardly ever get to the point of having a battle of wills.  It actually feels like she's listening to me and waiting for my next instruction, and I hardly have to nag at her to keep going at all.  In our lessons, to try to ensure that she doesn't just go around and around "practicing" unevenness, Marina has suggested that I do lots of transitions and work a lot over ground poles and tires and stuff so she has to think quick on her feet.  We're also doing a fair amount of turns on the haunches to loosen up her back (which she's starting to get pretty good at), shoulder-in to build her up a little for more impulsion and trotting poles to work on her abdominal muscles.

As a result of all of this, her transitions are really getting spot-on - right when I ask for them, with ever-lighter aids and less dragging of feet than she usually does (trot?  you REALLY want me to trot?  are you SURE about that?  oooooookay...).  And after about 20 minutes of warming up with walk-stop-walk and walk-trot-walk transitions, her trot is definitely a lot more even and the irregularity is barely noticeable.  But best of all?  Her canter has improved immeasurably!  Tuesday and Wednesday we only did transitions, never letting her get more than 5 or 6 canter strides in before going back to a trot.  But yesterday she was moving well enough I decided to let her keep going for about a 30 meter circle to the right, and it was the best canter I've ever experienced on her.  Smooth, rhythmic, energetic, even a little floaty... it was like a dream come true!  And in the other direction it was almost as good, although there was a little head-shaking (probably related to the unevenness thing).  And best of all?  In the three lessons we've had this week, even now that it's dark enough for the arena lights to cast long and scary shadows, she's only spooked ONCE - and even that was when another horse spooked first, and she didn't take off galloping, only jumped to the side and spun a little.

So I'm really having a blast riding her both out on the trail and in lessons, and we get along much better on the ground - she pays much more attention to me and is a lot less bargey now that she knows that a neck rub, a "good girl" or a carob bean are right around the corner.  And best of all, she seems to actually be enjoying our rides nearly as much as I do.  So if we can get her movement and back issues worked out, we'll be right on track.

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! ;)

Parelli!

Yesterday my barn next-door-neighbor Amanda and I ended up at the stable at the same time when no one else happened to be riding, so we decided to block off the non-scary half of the arena and to work on our new-found one rein Parelli skills.  And since Amanda's sister (also named Sara) was there, she was kind enough to take loads of photos and videos :D

What follows is pretty embarrassing as far as posture, seat and control of my horse goes - it's funny how when riding as soon as you have to start focussing on something new or different, everything you thought you had under control goes right out the window.  And for the first 15 minutes or so just getting Starbuck not to stop to eat the grass growing around the edges of the arena was a losing battle.  But we eventually got on the same page, especially after I remembered to look where I was going rather than at her, and before we knew it we were doing serpentines and figure eights and even a few mostly straight lines!  We ended with the thrill of a better connection and some nice cantering which was only punctuated once by a few bucks which I was able to stop short with a one-rein stop (yay me!).

It's not lost on me that when I'm riding her like this, we're effectively practicing her being able to say "No" whenever she wants to, and so I've got to be careful not to do it too often.  But I do feel like when she finally says "Yes" it means much more than when I'm riding her with a hackamore or a bit, and I know it will eventually do wonders for my riding position (the center of gravity is much farther back), leg and seat aids and for my dependence on the reins for balance, so until I see any nasty consequences I'm looking forward to riding her like this once every week or two.  In the meanwhile, enjoy the photos and video - at the very least they'll be great for "before and after" comparisons ;-P

Frankenhorse, Great Expectations and other stories

 before...

 after... no, it's not just you, there's no visible difference aside from the direction of the light

My sister apparently has taken to calling Starbuck "Frankenhorse" for her freakish appearance - and indeed lately she does look like two or even more horses kind of haphazardly thrown together.  She's probably shed about 50% of her winter coat, mostly from her head, neck and legs, so there she's fairly uniformly shiny black or at least very dark brown.  But her torso, chest and hindquarters still retain large splotches of thick, fuzzy brown and yellowish winter fur.  Here are some more photos I took before and after giving her a bath in the hopes of getting her to shed a little quicker, quite obviously it didn't work since there's no noticeable difference between the before and after pics.  She does seem less itchy though so that's a step in the right direction.

 before...

 after...

I love this time of year, it's not unlike very very slowly unwrapping a present (if wrapping paper were made of fur and caused allergies) - as over the course of a month or so my fluffy yellowish stuffed animal horse turns into a sleek, shiny black steed (and then promptly turns yellow again).  And if all goes well this year and we can manage to not destroy the flysheet before Summer's over, maybe we can even avoid the sores and bald spots from all the itching.  Speaking of the flysheet, I agreed this weekend with Marina that she's going to go ahead and start putting the sheet on her every morning and I'll take it off in the evenings - I know it's early but there are already a fair amount of flies and Starbuck already has several itchy flybites.  If I leave it until any later she'll end up scratching the flysheet to pieces.  She totally looks like a horse from outer space in her fly gear, I'm glad she seems to have no idea of how bizarre she looks in it because she doesn't seem to mind wearing it at all.  Maybe with the light color it reflects heat and she'll actually be cooler, or at least stay dark longer.  I can only hope.

On another tack, my dad e-mailed me a very intuitive comment about my previous post where he reminded me that I tend to have elevated expectations and get nervous and wound up and suggested that by not feeling 100% and only riding because I really wanted to, I was actually more relaxed than usual and that Starbuck had picked up on that and was correspondingly more relaxed as well.  I think I proved him right again on Saturday - I had a pretty good lesson on Wednesday, Thursday I didn't go to the stable (Thursday's my CSA day) although my friend Lola rode Starbuck and Friday I got tied up at work and only had time to run by the stable and give Starbuck a good rubdown for about 30 minutes before I had to go home.  So I was really looking forward to riding Starbuck on Saturday, especially since the weather was wonderful - about 65º, sunny and hardly any wind.  I blissfully tacked her up, mounted up and rode breezily into the arena and started warming up.  UNTIL. WE GOT. NEAR. THE. TRACTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Someone had lifted the hood of the tractor and LEFT! IT!! UP!!!!  Turning an unassuming piece of farm machinery we've ridden by nearly every day for the past three years into A HUGE HORSE-EATING MONSTER!!!

*sigh*

Nearly all of the rest of the class was spent either recovering from full fledged spooks (i.e. working on our "walk to extended gallop to walk" transitions) or attempting to avoid them in the first place by trying to keep my seat relaxed but my aids businesslike.  And after the umpteenth time she stumbled over a trotting pole and nearly went to her knees because she was paying more attention to the tractor than where she was going, I lost it.  Too much frustration, too much trying to relax my body when my mind was wound to the breaking point... I honestly broke down crying in the middle of the class and had to take a time out while I sobbed into her mane for a minute.  I was really really close to giving up and walking out of the class, but knew how much I would regret it later and decided just to finish the class no matter how badly I rode or how crazily she acted.  I was so emotionally exhausted I just didn't care as long as I could finish the class.  So I got in line after the rest of the horses in the class and what do you know?  After one or two "token spooks" she settled down and started working normally, and spent the last 10 or 15 minutes of the class with hardly any silliness.

So obviously there's a pattern here - I think when I set the bar too high maybe I overface her.  So something to focus on over the next few rides is to make a concious decision before mounting up to not try so hard and to accept whatever she's willing and able to offer up that day.  And as a matter of fact yesterday I decided she was so skittish and I was so exhausted from Saturday's catharsis that I decided to ride her in the roundpen to work on some "seat building" exercises, and it ended up being one of the most positive things I could have possibly planned.  I was able to ride her without using my hands at all to work again on balance like I did that day with Marina, to work without stirrups and to do some trotting with my eyes closed, and she was able to practice walking, trotting and cantering without me having to constantly urge her on.  And once again, cantering around in circles with my arms out like airplane wings and slowing her to a trot, then a walk and then a full stop with my seat alone, I was able to feel like my goal of us being able to work together seamlessly isn't so far off after all.

The Ears Have It

Thanks to As the Herd Turns for the photo!

Thanks to Belinda Skipper for the photo!

Hangovers and skittish horses don't mix.  That's what I was telling myself yesterday as I was driving to the stable with a splitting headache, the result of lambrusco + amaretto (oh sugar you evil dog).  It was beautiful and sunny, but it was also superwindy and considering that Starbuck hadn't worked at all since Tuesday, in my weakened state the last thing I wanted to do was deal with constant spookiness.  Plus when I got to the stable the thick coat of mud that Starbuck had accumulated by repeated rolling over the last few days sealed the deal.  So I wimped out and asked Marina if I could ride one of her horses and she assigned me Chadwick, her Holstein stallion.

Chad's not the kind of horse I'd ever look to buy, he's a little ponderous and very laid back and doesn't have much of a spark.  He's also very large and has a long, not terribly comfortable stride.  And there's that stallion thing - he's really well trained and a dream to ride, but you can't tie him up just anywhere and you have to be a little strategic while riding, not getting too close to other stallions and mares in heat.  But as I said, he's very well trained and behaves extremely well under saddle so it was fun to not have to worry about spooks or tantrums and focus on my posture and moving with the horse for a while.  So a really nice lesson.  But as the lesson went on, the wind died down and I started to regret not having ridden my little girl, so after the lesson ended and I had unsaddled and left Chad in his paddock I decided to ride Starbuck too.

We gatecrashed a little girls' jumping lesson, so it was five 10 year olds and us keeping things exciting.  Starbuck had a couple of spooks but mostly did very well during the lesson but what mostly stood out to me (and what inspired this post) was one point when the little girls were working on a lengthy jump course and Starbuck and I retired to the top of the arena to work on our own.  Since we don't do transitions much in lessons, I decided to work on them so walk - stop - walk - trot - walk - trot - stop - trot and so on.  At first of course there was a lag in response times and a certain tendency to pay too much attention to scary things like tiny birds flying into and out of the brush nearby.  But after only a couple of minutes I noticed a different kind of energy coming off of Starbuck's body - more impulsion in general and a much quicker response to the aids.  And I looked at her ears to see if she was about to spook and she had them swivelled back listening to me, just like in the photos above!  And the best part was that she kept them swivelled back for a good minute or so while we continued our transitions.  For anyone with a well trained horse, this is no miracle, but for me it was a triumph - she's never given me her undivided attention for so long that I know of, and it was a real pleasure to be so in tune with her that I could simply think "trot" and tighten my calve muscles and off she went.

Definitely transitions are something to continue working on in the future.  And one of my goals for the next month or so is to think about and identify more exercises that "get her attention" in the same way.

Leaps and Bounds

Look at those pricked ears!  We sure do love being out and about :-)

Rode Starbuck again on Wednesday and it went just as well as Tuesday, we did some exercises attempting to lengthen / shorten strides at the canter between two ground poles.  So if you have two poles about 15-20 yards apart, and you canter between them counting strides and you end up with say 5, then the next time you try to squeeze 6 in, or you can lengthen your stride to try to get 4.  I find this exercise really difficult, especially since with the bit I was hesitant to use the reins as much as I normally would.  But I really enjoy it because it forces me to be rhythmic (we count the strides out loud and it seems silly but you pay way more attention to rhythm that way) and to really think hard about and try to visualize what I want Starbuck to do.

This "thinking" thing is a concept Marina introduced me to and that seemed like a bunch of hippie bunk at first but I find really works.  She regularly tells students on nervous horses "don't give any leg aids, just think "canter".  And I remember I was trotting with Starbuck for the second or third time and she said "think about her hind legs, visualize them coming further forward".  And what do you know, she started tracking up!  There was a horse at the beginning of the 19th century called "Clever Hans" who could do math - I mean pretty complicated arithmetic.  His handler would ask him say "What is six times seven divided by three" and Hans would tap his hoof 14 times.  And it wasn't just his handler - other people could ask him and damned if he didn't get the answers right something like 90% of the time.  So there were a bunch of trials and finally figured out that if the handler knew the answer to a question, so did Hans.  But if the handler didn't know the answer, Hans didn't either.  He was watching for the near invisible building up of tension in his handler as he tapped and its involuntary release when he reached the right number.  I think that horses are so sensitive to body language that they can really tell when we think "whoa", "canter" or even "make your stride go upwards instead of forwards".

But all this is easy to forget, especially when you're busy thinking "heels down, shoulders back, hips forward, hands still, thumbs up, shit someone's coming out of the bar, knees open, calm down Starbuck, breathe deep...".  And this exercise gives you 20 yards to put your full attention on "ONE, upwards, TWO, slower, THREE, upwards, FOUR, don't trot, don't trot!, FIVE, oh shit the pole".  And OK, we're not very good at it and we didn't ACTUALLY work in 6 canter strides without a stray trot stride, but we very nearly did and we both felt at the end of the class like we'd really worked hard and accomplished something.

Friday I lent Starbuck to my friend Virginia whose mare Coco is recovering from a booboo and can't be ridden at anything but a walk, and I rode Marina's lesson pony Vent ("Wind" in Mallorquín) without any stirrups for the whole lesson to work on my seat.  Which went very well except for the very end when I decided to try a jump - between the no stirrups thing and the fact that we took the jump from way too far off (still not very good at judging distances) I ended up making a crash landing.  But still proud of making it through the whole hour of walk - trot - canter without stirrups.  Virginia had a little trouble at the canter with Starbuck (I'm used to riding with very little contact and Virginia as an experienced dressage rider is used to using more) but schooled her very nicely in the lateral movements which is a huge help to me - I'm still not 100% sure when she's really crossing her legs or just scrunching her neck around and faking it.

And today we had a lovely morning lesson with markedly improved shoulder-ins and leg yielding and some very nice, fluid jumping from Starbuck, followed by an even lovelier hack out through the blossoming almond tree groves.  Starbuck for the most part behaved very well and only got a little worried a couple of times (mostly about the footing since the land had just been plowed and was very soft) and I was able to ride her along the tiny (like 300 yards) stretch of rural highway we have to go along and across, which is great because the last time I had to get off and walk with her.

The only negative issue to report is that I noticed this morning after our ride that the bit is apparently pinching the corners of her mouth because she had some sore spots there, so I'm going to add some bit guards and see if that helps things.

So all in all a terrific week filled with progress, fun and an object lesson in not being so reckless just to prove to myself and others I'm no chicken.

Woooooooooo!

We cantered today!  And we took our first ride outside the stableyard!

Side note: Yesterday I longed Starbuck old school style, using just the rope halter and while it took a while for her to chill out and tune in to me, in the end I got her listening to me well enough to ground drive some figure eights and do some nice lateral work. It was fun to go back to basics and have to focus more on our connection than on her posture and way of going, or just on getting the crazy out before riding.  I think she had more fun, too.  Anyhow I'm not sure if that had an effect on our lesson today or not, but I think it's important to keep things mixed up.

So this morning we had a lesson with Marina and right from the start Starbuck was working nicely - really focussed on me and responding to my aids but relaxed and soft.  Today was the first day we joined in with the rest of the girls trotting in two-point and sitting trot, and also the first day we didn't cut the corners so as not to pass the scary side - she didn't even seem to notice when we rode close to the bar.  We worked over a cavalletti square in the center of the arena, too, crossing it in every way possible - straight through the middle, from corner to corner, in one side then making a 90º turn to go out the next, etc...  Marina complimented us on Starbuck's posture and then later on on how well she was working.  And it's true, the last two weeks have made a huge difference!

When the other girls had their turn to canter, Marina asked me once again if I wanted to try the same exercise they were doing but at a trot.  They were cantering in a 20 meter circle around the cavalletti square twice, then cut in to cross the square through the middle, then changing leads and do the same thing again in the other direction, returning to their "place in line" at a canter.  So I nudged Starbuck into a brisk trot and on our second circle around the square she broke into a canter for a couple of strides.  It was so quick and easy I almost didn't believe it, but when Marina told me to pet her and keep going I knew she had done it!  We repeated the same exercise a couple of times and each time she cantered just a little while longer - the second time we got three good strides in and the third time was long enough for me to really sit into the canter and enjoy it - maybe six or seven strides!  Each time, Marina told me to pet her, then cross the cavalletti poles immediately afterwards and trot her back to her place in line and let her walk for a while.

Later Marina explained her logic to me.  The whole concept is for the trot to be fast enough for her to get a little out of balance, so that these first strides in canter are her idea - making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard.  Then as soon as she canters, taking her across the poles takes her mind off it by giving her another task to focus on right before I reward her by letting her rest.  This is why I'm so thankful to have Marina's support - I never would have thought of doing it this way but it works!  I was so proud of my little girl and so happy about our progress, Marina had to really get on me about going across the poles the last time I was petting her so much.

At the end of the lesson we joined my friend Belen and her horse Cancunen on a walk around the stableyard and into the parking lot.  Starbuck often spooks there when I'm leading her, so I was a little apprehensive, but she did great and was so cool with all of it that we decided to keep going past the stableyard gates and down the road a ways.  Not too far since there are some very noisy dogs at the end of the road, but we went about 300 meters and back, then doubled back through the almond grove next to the road and rode a few loops inside the almond grove.  Since she had done so well I didn't want to push it, so we left it at that and rode back to the stable.  Not bad for a morning's work, huh?

Oh and also I got my saddle back afterwards, I took it to Manacor to have some of the stuffing taken out since it's always been a little tight on her and now that she's starting to fill out her topline I think it was starting to pinch her withers.  And I also asked them to put some D-rings on the back to be able to attach saddlebags to, so we're ready to roll!  I'll try to remember to take a picture :-)

Doma

Thanks to Top Iberian for the photo!

The word for "Dressage" in Spanish is "Doma" and it essentially just means "training".  And this is more or less the Spanish horseperson's mindset - the fundamental dressage movements are just part of the basic training that nearly all horses and riders recieve.  As a kid the only "aids" I ever learned were to squeeze, kick and kick harder and dressage was something only extremely fancy people did with their impossibly fancy horses.  I think the fact I'm from a middle class non-horsey family in the South had a lot to do with this perspective and I know a lot has changed in the US horse world in the last 15 or 20 years, but I still get the feeling that dressage over there is viewed as an "advanced" discipline by a lot of people, whereas here it's pretty common to see 8 year olds leg yielding across the ring with their little lesson ponies.

As far as I understand it, the goal in dressage is not to win contests or see who has the fanciest horse but to improve your horse's movements and build fitness, efficiency and flexibility, kind of like equine pilates.  So when the instructor who comes to our barn to give the monthly dressage clinic asked me if I wanted to do the next one with Starbuck I leaped at the chance.

The day of the clinic Starbuck was pretty spooky so I longed her for a fair amount of time before it started using lots of changes of direction and rhythm to get her focussed on me instead of the invisible monsters lurking right outside the arena.  I actually doubted whether to ride her in the clinic or not but I figured it was worth a try and anyway the worst that could happen is I could fall off again (been there, done that!).

The focus for this month's course was on transitions, when the clinic started we gathered round the instructor Daniela and she explained some visual images inspired by Sally Swift's Centered Riding - for downward transitions we should grow both upwards and downwards at the same time and visualize an anchor being dropped from our center of gravity down to the ground, breathing as if a tube linked our nose and mouth all the way down to our toes, sending the air through our entire body.  For upward transitions we should imagine energy coming out of our belly shooting forward and upward diagonally in order to energise our horses.  Then we tacked up and split into groups for the ridden segment.  I only had one other rider in my group - a teenage girl who's been taking lessons for about a year now and was riding one of the old steady lesson geldings,  but since Starbuck was a little spooky that morning I warmed her up under saddle for a good 30 minutes while another group was riding.

When the group before us finished, Daniela started us on an excercise - walking around the ring and stopping completely at every letter.  Starbuck did pretty well except when we got to the scary side of the arena, where she couldn't stop moving her feet.  But all in all not bad.  Then each of us claimed a 20 meter circle to practice stop - walk - trot - walk - stop transitions, always at the same point on the circle.  I thought we were doing OK but Daniela pointed out that Starbuck wasn't bending correctly into the circle and asked for more flexion at the poll.  This was a lot harder since she kept on falling in and my inside leg just wasn't doing the trick, I was especially surprised since she kept on the circle way better at a trot than at a walk.  But Daniela said that the important part was the posture and that tracing a perfect circle was secondary.  It's funny how every instructor you go to says something which is the exact antithesis of what some other instructor has drilled into you.

When I was finally able to keep Starbuck on a mostly round circle with the correct flexion for a full lap we stopped and let her take a little break while Dani gave me some pointers - keep the hands absolutely still (I had been fiddling with the reins) with the inside rein slightly elevated and if I see that my inside leg isn't strong enough to keep her on the circle, shift my weight slightly to the outside.  While we were talking Starbuck let her head down and Dani commented on how that was a signal that she was working well - relaxing and opening her topline "like an umbrella".

Anyhow we changed reins and repeated the exercise and it was just as difficult the second time around, but at least I was able to give her the correct aids instead of just "trying different things" as my great grandmother would say.  In the end though we finally were able to understand each other and she did one circle almost perfectly, without leaning on the bit at all.  Daniela pronounced it a job well done and I promptly hopped off to reward her for her good work.  Daniela praised me for improving my seat and arm position since the last clinic and said that Starbuck has a good attitude and is using herself well for her age and stage of training.

So all in all a great experience and we have some terrific new exercises to add to our repertoire which work on strengthening her topline without putting undue stress on those baby joints of hers!

Aha!

You ever have one of those "Aha" moments with your horse?  I mean where you observe or hear or read something which really leads you to reconsider even your most ingrained habits?  I read the following on Carolyn Resnick's blog this morning which made me really think about training Starbuck in a whole new way.  For those of you unfamiliar with her methods, Carolyn is a proponent of what you could call "Naturist" Natural Horsemanship - naked (no tack, halter, lines, etc...) liberty training is a big part of her method, thus truly allowing the horse to choose whether she wants to accept you as her leader or just walk away.

"When people use tack they can reprimand a horse easier and because of that they do. However, if a horse is at liberty, the horse is able to get away easier when reprimanded, and when he does, he loses interest in that person. Because of this freedom at liberty, the person stays away from reprimanding the horse in order to keep from losing their connection."

--Carolyn Resnick

How many times have I read "Praise your horse when she does what you want her to, ignore her when she doesn't" and that almost all "punishments" are futile?  I have no problem whatsoever in upping my taps with the whip to a whack when Starbuck is ignoring me, letting her barge right into my waving crop in front of her nose when leading or using the leather popper on my rope to protect my personal space, but I really strive never to yell at her or hit her after she's done something "wrong".  I much prefer to just make her work a little harder (backing up and leading forward several times, turning tight circles or yielding her hindquarters right and left) afterwards to get her mind off whatever caused her "misbehaviour" and make her think twice about it the next time.  But it's true - having the rope tying her to me makes it all to easy to give a sharp tug on her halter or yell at her a little when she makes a mistake.

So seeing as how we had such gorgeous weather at lunchtime today, I had a bag full of carrot rounds and I wanted to try something different and fun, I decided to give some liberty work with Starbuck a try.  We started out with a longe line just so she'd get the idea that this was in fact work and that I had treats to give her when she did the right thing, doing a few laps in walk and trot and then doing a little ground tying as well as working on our "back up" and "come here girl" cues.  But after about 15 minutes I manned up and unsnapped the lead rope, leaving it in the sand and waiting to see if she'd just high-tail it towards the grass on the edges of the arena.

And she didn't - she stayed right with me just looking at me asking me what we were going to do next!  At first I just walked around with her following beside me, seeing if she'd stop and back up with me.  She did so well at that that I stopped her and gave her a little rest as well as some rubbing and a carrot round.  I then tried sending her out on a circle like I do in the roundpen.  The first three or four times she went superwide and wandered off, so I adjusted my body language but especially my focus on her and my energy to be able to regain and maintain her attention.  And what do you know if she didn't come back and start walking circles (well, ok, maybe more like ovals or pears) around me at liberty!

We changed direction a couple of times with no problems so I decided to up the difficulty and started jogging a little bit.  She broke right into trot and made her circle a little bit bigger, but stayed tuned in always coming back to me - we ended up cavorting up and down the arena together, changing speed, distance and direction fluently using only my body language.  At one point when she got a little too excited for my comfort zone, I was even able to stop her in her tracks by just inclining my head a little in the direction of her hindquarters.  During the 20 or so minutes we were playing, I stopped every few minutes to give her a rest and a carrot round.

At first she was a little confused and confounded by this new dynamic, but I think the sheer joy that I was feeling must have transferred over to her because she ended up having a good time too, and we even drew a bit of an audience since we started just when lunch was ending and lots of folks had the day off today (yesterday was a regional holiday).  At the very end Marina said what a good job I was doing and that it had been lots of fun to watch and I let Starbuck graze while we were talking, but when it was time to go and I walked away she stayed on the side of the arena grazing.  So Marina told me to call her, which I did, then Marina shuffled her feet which startled Starbuck and she came running right to me, stopped when she reached me and stood still while I snapped the rope back on her halter.  It was a glorious way to spend my lunch break and I feel like we're really taking our relationship to the next level.

Next time I do this I'll try to get some video or at least some photos, but I'll leave you with some amazing footage of Carolyn doing her thing - hopefully some day Starbuck and I can have this kind of connection and finesse!

Heartbeats

Thanks to ChestOfBooks.com for the image!

Starbuck and I had a very good groundwork session today-- the footing in the roundpen was finally more or less dry and it was a bright sunny day (albeit super windy).  But most of all we just had a really solid connection today. I've been working on using non-verbal cues for transitions (using first my focus, then body language, then stepping up the body language and finally accompanying the body language with a verbal cue if none of the above works).  The idea is that instead of her having to learn to speak my language, I try to "speak" hers.  Today I didn't have to use any words at all, she was tuned in enough to me to follow my lead!

I also have been accompanying her when roundpenning by walking about 4 feet away from her as she goes around the pen - the first few times we tried it she freaked out a little and didn't like me so close to her while she was working.  I think she must have seen it as micromanaging at first, but she's now realized that it's just something we do sometimes and today did really well.  At first she tried to veer away from the fence towards me, but I flicked the string of my whip at her shoulder a few times and she got the picture.  She did so well we even escalated to changing reins across the round pen while maintaining speed and rhythm.  All of this interspersed with lots of breaks where we worked on standing tied, pivots on the hind- and forequarters and the "come here" cue.

Anyhow the best part of the session was at the very end when I gave her a long, long rubdown complete with a face massage to reward her for such a fabulous job.  At the end, I gave her a hug and pressed my face against her neck and realized that I could hear her heart beating.  It was slow, much slower than I would expect.  Maybe because she's so big?  Anyhow it completely mesmerized me and I just let my whole being tune into her being, the sound of her heart beating and her breath whooshing through her throat and the smell and feel of her coat against my face and the weight of her jaw resting on top of my head.

An amazing moment I hope I never forget and can often repeat.

For all those science geeks out there, here are some links on the equine heart:

• The Equine Heart: Anatomy, Function and Performance
• Cardiology: The Equine Heart

Hoovesies!!!

I realized the other day that I hadn't ridden in like three weeks because of the rain and snow, and I haven't been able to do much training with Starbuck either since the arena's been so soggy.  So I decided to take advantage of the crappy weather to do lots of bodywork with her, using the different techniques in my new Tellington Jones book.  I think that this is good for our relationship as she starts to see me as someone who can make her feel better, it's leading me to get to know her better, and above all rubbing on a warm fuzzy animal in her straw-lined stall is way more comfortable than running around the barnyard dodging puddles.

We've also been inadvertently working on leading since what we've done more than anything else is leading her to different fields and paddocks so she could at least stretch her legs and socialize with her horsey friends and wouldn't be so stir crazy when I could start working with her again.  So we've gone to the top of the barnyard, to the orange groves accross the street, to the field down the road, to the parking lot... you get the picture.  I've started carrying a short crop with me when we walk anywhere and I think both that and all this "practice" is making all the difference-- she's only run past me once in the past few days and today we led up and down the scary side of the arena several times without any problem!

The other change in our training is that I decided to start hand-feeding her treats every now and then, mainly when working on things like ground-tying and lowering her head, or after a particularly successful exercize.  I'm glad I spent time without using treats at first, but I think using them now may help motivate her and keep her more focused on me.  We'll see how it goes, if she gets pushy I'll have to re-think it.  But both yesterday and today she did really well and was much less bratty than she's been lately, it was really a pleasure to work with her and we learned something new-- trotting alongside me while I jog without getting ahead of me.

All the photos below are just because I'm so proud of how pretty her hooves are and want to make a record of it, so I can keep track of any changes.

Front hooves, side view:

Hind hooves, side view:

Front right hoof:

Left front hoof:

Right rear hoof:

Left rear hoof:

Clinic Part 2

Sorry guys but I've been pretty fluey for the past few days so aside from trying to edit the more than 200 minutes of video I took at the clinic the other day (still not done!!!) and work on my mystery project I haven't done much else.  Since I haven't finished the video of the last part of the clinic where everyone but me did ridden exercises, this post is going to be kind of wee.

First I'll include the Yoga for Riding video, the subtitles are in Spanish for the benefit of the folks at my stable but I'll include a translation in English below.  The exercises are designed to improve your coordination, flexibility and balance and "train" your body to allow independent movement of one part without influencing the rest.  The idea is to do the exercises for a few minutes before every ride to loosen yourself up and not let  your stiffness or imbalance get in the way of your horse's movement.

1. Rotate shoulders foreward and backward.
2. Rotate the left shoulder forward and the right shoulder backward (then repeat on the other side).
3. Move head slowly up and down, then left and right.
4. Lift your leg and rotate it from the hip: first with your eyes open, then with your eyes closed.  Take note of which side is easier to work on the other one.
5. Balance on one leg: first with your eyes open, then closed.
6. Step forward in slow-motion with your eyes closed.
7. Rotate your hips while keeping the rest of your body absolutely still.
8. Windmills- rotate your torso left and right while swinging your arms.
9. Write the alphabet in the air with one hand and the numbers from 1-10 in the air with the other.
10. Now do the same while rotating your leg from the hip!

I've also made a video with some of the best moments of the roundpen session.  I've tried to include a little of both the horse's usual handler and Henry working with each and every horse in the workshop and there were a lot of fascinating moments, so it's almost 30 minutes long.  But if you're even a little interested I highly recommend watching all of it or even just skipping forward every few minutes since the horses, their reactions, their handlers and Henry's work with them are so incredibly unique.  A few examples are Starbuck who's a spoiled baby green 3 year old, former international show horse Gladys who was then used as a brood mare for several years and only recently brought back to the world of riding, and a few 20-something year old lesson geldings finally getting a chance to find their own personality with a private owner / leasor as well as some feisty younger mares with dominance issues (just a hint-- they're the ones wearing pink).

It was really a great experience since we were able to observe each of the horse's reactions and get some real insight into how the horse communicates its feelings, worries and desires.  It was also a great chance to soak up some of Henry's natural animal magnetism and try to assimilate some of the techniques he uses- mostly just being peaceful and not "expecting" anything while very clearly maintaining a leadership position, allowing the horse to decide when and how to respond to him and taking the time the horse needs instead of keeping a "human" schedule.  

I'll try to finish the video of the "ridden" part of the clinic today or tomorrow and upload it before the week is over :-)

Clinic Part 1

Today Starbuck and I attended our very first clinic!  Held at my stable and given by "horse listener" Henry Sandkhule, the one-day class focused on improving communication between human and horse and was attended by 8 kids and adults.  I of course recorded about 17 hours of video which I'll attempt to fuse into a nice "best of" medley, but I wanted to share a little about our experience here.

We started bright and early with a chat about herd dynamics, then some deep breathing exercises and stretching.  Then we moved outside and worked on our flexibility, balance and coordination-- just imagine 8 people all teetering on one leg while moving the other in circles, writing the alphabet with our right hand and numbers from one to ten with our left in the air!  But it was a great way to recognize just how difficult it is to have truly independent aids and also to loosen ourselves up for the day.

The first horse escaped at the end of the roundpen session and ran all the way back home (she and her owner are from another stable down the road), which pretty much set the stage for what promised to be a crazy but interesting day.  For almost all of us, Henry first observed the handler's interaction with the horse, then stepped in to the roundpen to work with the horse himself and finally worked with both of them either giving some one on one coaching or even giving them a leg up to ride bareback and only using the halter.

But when it was my turn, he just gave me some coaching from afar, asking me to walk alongside Starbuck on a smaller circle instead of staying in the middle of the roundpen and to not use any vocal aids.  Which was really hard!  The idea is to use your energy to transmit your wishes to your horse, then body language if the energy doesn't get your idea across.  Starbuck did pretty well but Henry commented that she was clearly testing me, attempting to get away with less work and that I shouldn't let her get away with so much.  It was definitely what I needed to hear, I'm so afraid of screwing up and traumatizing her that sometimes I'm not the leader she deserves.  

It was a shame that I didn't get to see him working with her, but it was certainly good for my ego to know that our communication was good enough that he didn't feel the need to step in.  This is getting longer than I expected so I'm going to split it up into two parts, but I do want to mention how impressive his connection with each horse was, every single one of them visibly relaxed after just a few minutes with him.  Lots of lip-licking, neck stretching and long sighs... a real pleasure to see, especially with some of the horses which are particularly stressed-out!

More tomorrow...