Fun with Skittles after 3 months off

It's taken me a while to clean all the dust off that's accumulated on this blog since I last added an entry, but here we go!

I spent about 3 hours at RafterXX with Skittles today.  I took Holly and a friend of hers and met Tamara there with Toby and Spy.  It's been about 2 1/2 months since I've done anything with my horses (besides playing/sitting on them in the pasture).  Time to get back in the saddle - literally!  But on the bright side, I've been spending time getting back into shape --- a long, arduous journey!

One very key lesson I learned from Johnathan Field last year is - when you are asking something of your horse - BE SPECIFIC.  Especially when they're learning. That was what I focused on with Skittles today.  After letting her explore and sniff all the poo and obstacles and things, I decided to ask her to jump a barrel. I've asked her to jump 2 barrels lying on the ground (end to end) before, and that's never been a problem.  Today I just laid one barrel down and asked her to jump it.  It actually took about 15 minutes because it was way easier for her to dart around rather than over, so there was lots of stopping, backing up, and re-aligning her in front of the barrel.  She finally did jump over it and I let her stand there on the other side for quite a while to think about it.  The second attempt did not take as long.

After that, I worked on sideways (without the wall)... she's amazing at that, then did some circling.  By this time Tamara had arrived with Toby and Spy.  My daughter and her friend were with me, so they immediately started playing with Toby.  Tamara helped me out a bit with softening Skittles on the circle.  She doesn't have much flexion around the bend at all and virtually none at her poll (she turns at the shoulder).  So Tamara suggested trying some of Jonathan's shaping circle with her.  She had a tough time with that, but we did get a couple good bends and I left it at that.  I asked Tamara to watch me ask Skittles into the canter on the circle because I've been having trouble with keeping her in the canter (as soon as I stop asking, she stops cantering).  However, today she actually cantered fairly easily and actually cantered a few strides after I stopped asking before breaking to a trot.  Tamara just told me to keep up doing what I was doing and ask her to stop after a quarter of a lap, then a half a lap, then  a full lap etc until she can maintain the canter until I ask her to stop... which was what I was trying to do, but before she'd always stop before I asked, so I had to keep after her to maintain the canter.  Anyway... hopefully she'll be able to keep it up.  It's the same problem I have with Gypsy -- although Gypsy's problem is more about being ABLE to canter in a circle (i.e. balance issues).

OK, I started typing this on Friday, and it's now Monday.... I need to stay focused!

After all that, I tried practicing mounting from the ground (asking her to lower her head, jump on her neck and swing up on her back).  She was very patient, but I have virtually no vertical and every time I managed to jump on her neck, she'd swing her head away from me and I'd slide off.  So I gave up for now (maybe I should practice my vertical before attempting it with my horse -- spare her from my flailing around on her neck!).  Instead I stood up on the cavaletti and hopped on her back that way.  I tied a savvy string around her neck to see if she'd listen to that pressure to turn and stop. I still had the  halter and lead to correct her if she didn't listen too.  She did respond correctly a few times, but then she didn't just as many other times, and I had to use the lead to correct her.  It was a good start though... I think I'll keep trying with that.  I think I'll use the bridle next time since it'll be a quicker correction that the lead (i.e. I don't have to worry about flipping it to another side before correcting). 

I put the saddle on shortly after for a short riding session.  Tried to get a soft, round circle at the trot.  It was mostly soft - except on the side closest to the door where she tended to drift and constantly needed correcting. She corrected well enough, but I never did get a full circle without the correction.  She was starting to warm up at this point and since it was so cool outside, I didn't want her working up a sweat.  So I left it at that and worked on sideways over a cavaletti.  Last year she's was very claustrophobic with anything under her (she wouldn't stand quietly with something under her.... she had to move away).  On Friday though, she stood perfectly fine with the cavaletti under her and then moved very nicely sideways off of it.  Initially I started with her stepping over the cavaletti, then moving sideways off it.  Then I tried asking her to start sideways beside it - then over it.  She had a fair bit of trouble with that at first, but we stuck with it and she figured it.  Once she understood what I was asking she settled right down and did it flawlessly! 

I was very proud of her and all the try she gave me Friday.  After riding her I asked her to put her front foot inside a hoola-hoop.  She didn't have much trouble with that, but when I asked her to put a hind foot in the hoop, she did have trouble with that.  Lots of forward/back/sideways to get her to put a hind foot in there.  After about 10 minutes or so though, she managed to get it.  Then it was the tarp.  She still really struggles with tarps and probably will for a while - so I have to keep at it until it's no more scary than grass.  I had brought the tarp into the middle of the arena right after we arrived, but ignored it most of the time -- it was just there to move over or around as she felt she needed.  I didn't avoid it, but I didn't ask her not to either - it was just there.  Anyway, at the end I did ask her to step on it.  It took a few minutes, but she did step her front feet on it.  Back feet - again - were an issue, but with patience and persistence she did manage to step her back feet on as well.  And we left it at that.  It was a pretty successful day considering I haven't done anything with her since probably Oct/Nov last year!

Just Playin'

Whew! December already!!!

I had a friend (Sarah) visiting from England all week last week. She took hundreds of photos (mostly of the horses) while she was here. She's as crazy about horses as I am, but unfortunately doesn't have any of her own, so she spends a lot of time with mine when she's here.

We spent a lot of time just "hanging" with the horses, but also managed to ride a couple times. The first time she rode Roma (a friend's horse) while I rode Gypsy. We borrowed my neighbour's arena, then rode around the fields after that. I was trying to get Sarah to trot without letting her hair bounce (i.e. absorbing the movement through her pelvis).... I think she managed it a few times, but needs more practice! :-)

I rode Gypsy in the bareback pad and halter and asked for some lateral flexion, sidepasses, circles, etc. and she did them all nice and soft. She still is way more forward outside the arena. Not prancy like she used to be, but every time I stopped her to let Roma catch up, she got upset, and kept trying to leave without me, so I had to circle and make her stand until she could wait for me to ask. I probably should have kept at that until she blew or could stand still more relaxed, but I didn't.

The second time we rode, Sarah rode Gypsy and I rode Saphira. My neighbour and her friend also joined us on their "seasoned" horses. I rode Saphira in a bareback pad and halter (first time without a saddle). Gypsy and Saphira were awesome. The "seasoned" horses had trouble though... lots of spooking and jigging. And here's my little 2 year-old who's only been ridden outside an arena one other time, just walking along calm as can be! I was so proud of her! I don't think I'll ride her bareback again for a while though... she's so bum-high right now that I felt like I was sliding into her withers the whole time! :-) Growth spurt.

Below are some more photos of us just playing with the rest of the herd.

Updates for everyone

I've been playing a lot with all my horses in the past few weeks, so I'll see if I can provide an update on all of them:

Sherlock: Actually I haven't done much with him because he injured himself 10 days ago. He scared the crap out of me when I found him struggling to come up the hill (after all the other horses were up at the hay), dragging his front leg. In my panic, I was thinking he broke his leg (being a mom -- or is it just being female? -- I immediately feared the worst!). But after taking a few deep breaths, and upon closer examination, nothing seemed obviously injured. He had a bit of blood on his shoulder and some swelling, but no other marks. I thought he must have been kicked and he injured his shoulder. So I backed the trailer to the gate and managed to encourage him to hop on 3 legs up the hill to the gate and into the trailer. He's such a trooper. I was so amazed when he even hopped into the trailer on 3 legs! What a guy. The vet poked and prodded him, shaved his shoulder and revealed a puncture wound. She could not feel any damage to the shoulder at all and his range of motion seemed ok, despite the soreness. She figured that the punture probably jammed some nerves. So she put him on bute for 4 days and antibiotics for 10. After 3 days on bute, he was trotting around like his old self. Big relief.

Allegro: I took him to 3D a couple weeks ago to play with him online. He's starting to settle down a bit... less tail swishing and pulling away when he's asked to do something. He can circle both ways (better to the right) with slack in the line, yoyo is spectacular, driving is about 80% consistent and even sideways is getting better. He's really ticklish too, so porcupine tends to lead to friendly. But he does move away from the pressure pretty quickly.

He loves to play with the tarp, so I started putting it on his back. Really no big deal (see short video clip at the end). He's still pretty skeptical, but is starting to be more interested than upset when we try something new.

Saphira: I've probably done the most with her recently. She's going to be a nice horse (provided I don't screw up!). She's starting to learn to move off my leg pressure (forward as well as sideways). Sometimes I still have to go to phase 4, but I think that's more about her testing me rather than not understanding. However sideways off my leg still needs work. Her first instinct is to move into my leg. I've tried incorporating adding driving with the stick if she moves into my leg, and that has worked sort of, although I'm pretty uncoordinated with the stick while on her back, so I've abandoned that. She's starting to understand the different cues for moving her front feet vs her back feet. Although we've only worked on this at the standstill, not walk or trot yet. On the ground, her sideways is OK, but could use more work: I can drive the front end and the back end, but not both together yet. Yoyo is nice and light and the circle is wonderful to the left, but still a bit stiff to the right (she tends to stop and look at me a lot more going to the right).

We've started playing with obstacles too now. I tried sideways over a barrel last week. I had to take it really slow - I think she thought I was trying to drive her into a wall! She did eventually figure out that the barrel would fit under her and I let her stand there until she licked and chewed, then let her step out. Smart girl! I still can't get Skittles to do that! I'm still working on the pole with Skittles, not even close to a barrel yet!

Skittles: I haven't rode her in a couple of weeks, but I played at liberty with her last week which was kind of fun. I had her going sideways, yoyoing (although the bring-back was more like a catching game!) and even backing by pulling on her tail. She does all of it really well... although she did decide to leave a few times. I got her up on the pedestal at liberty too. Just the front though. I'm hoping to work with Tania to get her "bring-back" a little sharper. Even online, her first response to pressure on the halter is to pull back. It's only for a second, then she comes forward, but I'd like to fix that. Plus the bring-back is sluggish, so if I can get Tania to swing a savvy string behind her when she pulls back, maybe she'll come forward quicker.

Gypsy: Gypsy is pregnant now, so I will only have a few more months to ride her before she starts to get big and uncomfortable. I took her to 3D with Saphira last week so my daughter and her friend could ride her. She's my friend/kid-proof horse. Although she was a bit wingy when we got there, so I did some ground work and riding before I let the girls get on her. She's such a pleasure to work with. Sure we still have some things to work on (lots!), but she's so responsive and tries so much for me, I just love playing with her. We've really come a long way. She still struggles with cantering online. She - like Saphira - is much better to the left than the right. I know she can do this because we did it for the L2 tasks, but that was in a huge outdoor arena... I wonder if that has anything to do with it (perception of more space)??. Anyway, I did manage to get nearly a full circle of canter to the left, and about a half circle to the right. I was focusing more on her response to "the allow" than the actual distance she cantered. I just wanted her to pick it up. I left it at that, then got on and rode for a while.

She is so much softer than a year ago. Her rooting is almost gone and her sideways and lateral flexion are starting to get nice and soft. She's even starting to get some vertical flexion. I'm so pleased with that progress, because it's been a long time coming. I had a hard time relinquishing her to the girls! Next time I'd like to work more on sharper transitions. That's our next big obstacle.

Skittles + Tarp

I know it's been ages since I've blogged, and I apologize for those who've mentioned it :-).
I've been busy with the horses, I just haven't taken photos or blogged, and I apologize.

Saphira is coming along really well. She started out with sticky feet (didn't want to go) and wiggly lines (couldn't walk in a straight line), and was very stiff circling to the right -- which was more like a square actually. Left was nice and soft. However, now she's got lots of forward, is getting nice and straight, has maintained very quick, soft responses to cues and has even started softening on the circle to the right. I haven't done anything in about a week with her now because one hind leg was swollen the last time I took her out, so I've been leaving her to heal. She doesn't appear to be lame, so it could have just been a kick or a strain from slipping in the mud or something. She seems a lot better now, so will probably try to ride her again tomorrow.

I've also been working a lot with Skittles. She's also been doing well. She had about 2 months off after she dumped me back at the beginning of August. Did I ever mention that? We were walking along in the ditch near my house and she reached her nose down (I thought she was reaching for a bite of clover). She sniffed a scrap of newspaper, it fluttered, and she LAUNCHED into the stratosphere, striking at the killer piece of paper with her front feet, and lept sideways at the same time, leaving me hovering up in the clouds. I landed, as you can imagine, quite hard -- on my left cheek. Thankfully there's lots of padding there, but it still hurt like hell and required sitting on ice for several days, while it turned every possible shade of purple, black and blue. There's still a dent. After I was able to breathe again, I got up, picked up the offending piece of paper, put it in my pocket, got back on Skittles and walked her up and down the ditch again, got off at home and played friendly game with the paper. She got as far as sniffing it with her neck outstretched and I left it at that (she started with flying around me on the 12' line, so I felt that was pretty good progress).

Since then, I've mostly been focusing on the colts and Saphira (i.e. not sitting in a saddle for a while). So it was way past time to get back on Skittles... which I did early in Oct. and have been riding her every week since.

Last week - on Monday, I spent close to an hour with her and a tarp. Tarps are categorized in the same "killer" category as fluttery pieces of paper. I've been avoiding tarps - because they're difficult, and I'd rather work on things that are easy. Wrong approach, I know, but that's the way my brain works (and don't tell me yours doesn't either!). Anyway, long story short, we made a bit of a breakthrough.... she's still not entirely hunky dorey with the tarps, so we'll continue to work with it, but she's WAYYYYYY better than before. At the end of Monday, she was able to put one toe (if she had a toe) on the tarp, and I was able to rub her all over on both sides with it, walk away and she was licking and chewing.

The video clip below is last Wednesday -- session #2 with the tarp. She even stepped on it with a back foot! :-) I will continue to play with the tarp until it's as common as dirt for her. The difficult is starting to get easier.

More with Saphira

I had another session with Saphira the other day. She's improving with her driving and circle. I can't get a trot out of her in the circle yet... she'll trot as long as I keep pressure in zone 5, but as soon as I lower the stick, she goes back to a walk. I need to keep at it until she can trot long enough for me to ask for the walk before she does it herself. Then build on that. Maybe I'll try Linda's trick of changing direction each time she slows to a walk. But for now, I'll just work on getting the circle good at the walk -- see if she can stay on the circle without veering toward the gate (path first, then speed, right?)

I keep forgetting about squeeze for some reason... will try that next time! I also did more driving from zone 3. She's getting good at that. And we did more with the pedestal. There's no hesitation with stepping up with her front feet at all. I tried several times to get her to put a hind leg up, but as soon as one of the hind legs steps up, a front leg steps down. So I practiced getting more specific with where she puts her feet by asking her to step (and stand) into a small hoola hoop. She did this several times with her front feet without much trouble. I couldn't get her to do the same with a hind leg, however.... will have to keep working on that. She's less confident with her hind legs stepping on anything at the moment. Anyway, I did get her to let me lift one of her hind legs while her front legs were on the pedestal, but she wasn't able to set it down on the pedestal. But it's a start.

Then I saddled her up and rode for a while. I was hoping her walk/trot transitions would be a bit better this time, but they were actually worse this time! She really didn't want to move much. I didn't use treats this session... I was just planning to give her rest if she managed to trot across the paddock. Leg pressure meant nothing at all, so I continually had to use phase 4 (savvy string on the butt) to get her to trot... and even to walk when we were near the gate. Hmmmm.... not sure how to fix that. I get off her at a different place each time and I've even left from the gate at the other end of the paddock once. She continually drifts toward the side of the paddock where the other horses are. I guess it'll eventually get better, as long as I find places away from the gate to give her rest, but I have to get her there first! I wonder if it will help when I start trailering her to other locations. and get her away from the horses altogether. That seemed to help with Skittles: whenever we were alone in a strange location, she was much more connected to me. My "training" paddock is pretty small and boring... so maybe a new location will help. And I haven't tried any of the patterns yet either... now that she's better with the 7 games, maybe it's time to start some patterns... perhaps that will help as well.

It's definitely getting interesting! A new puzzle to solve... OH BOY! :-)

Saphira continuing training at home

I had a really cool session with Saphira today. Third ride since coming home last weekend. I haven't ridden too much because I want her girth sores to heal. They're scabbed over right now... nearly dried up, so we're close.

I started today's session with just some 7 games again. She's pretty sticky on the driving game and I had to stay at phase 4 a few times trying to drive her front end around (popping her on the side of the head with the stick). She would occasionally turn her head away (which I gave relief for, but only for a few seconds), but wouldn't move her feet. Eventually she moved her feet sideways and I released. We repeated a couple more times and then she got it. And when she got it, she virtually SPUN away. Very cool. I hope it comes easier next time. Driving her hind away is easier, but at the start I still had to get to phase 4.

Circle is still tough for her. We started out with a struggle going to the right again ... always as she's coming around and away from the gate. I know it wasn't a squeeze this time (I made sure of it), she just wanted to go toward the gate and not away from it. But I was patient and persistent in asking her to continue around and finally she did. The first few circles to the right I had to re-send just about every quarter turn, but I kept it up until she was able to do one full circle, then I asked her to disengage. I gave her lots of pats and rubs and let her stand there a while before asking for the other direction. Going left only took about 3 sends before she made it around once without help.

I didn't do any squeeze or sideways. After finishing circling, I took her around to various obstacles to get her to touch/push or put her foot on it. At the pedestal, she stepped up right away this time (remembering the treat she got last time). At the ball she put her nose on it, but didn't push it. She got a treat. So when the wind blew the ball down the slope, I asked her to follow it and she did with great focus and when she touched it, she immediately looked back at me for her treat! Smart cookie! I can see that treats are going to be a major motivator for her! At the hoola-hoop she nosed it, then pawed at it.

After all that, I went and put the saddle on her. She stands so well for saddling. I still can't get either Gypsy or Skittles to stand that well! Once in the saddle, I asked her to trot around me both directions a couple times. It takes a lot of encouragement to get her into a trot, but we're getting better. Then I hopped on. Steering is working great... I barely move the rein at all to get her to turn her head. It's really lovely! But staying straight in one direction is definitely a challenge. We weaved around quite a bit to get from one side to the other. But she's is definitely responding well to both rein and leg pressure, so I'm very confident that straightness will come.

I trotted her today too. She kept wanting to go back to the gate, so I used that to get the trot. She wouldn't trot past the gate though, so I had to use the treat strategy to get that to work. First to get her to trot away from the gate, I had to use phase 4 (savvy string on the butt). But then when we got to the other side of the paddock she got a treat! This time we walked back to the gate, then asked for the trot... she walked faster, but I still needed the savvy string to get the trot. And she got another treat on the other side again. She really liked that idea. Then she turned toward the pedestal and stepped up! And again, looked for the treat! She's such a smartie-pants. And offering so much. I did give her treats since she's trying so hard for me. I know I can't keep that up, but I also want to continue to make these early sessions with her as positive as possible. THEN she meandered over to the hoola hoop and picked it up! She's such a cool horse. I'm getting such a kick out of her. I got off after that and called it a day. What a sweetie.

MY first ride on Saphira

Saphira came home from Redwater on Sunday afternoon. I've left her alone for the last couple days to let the past few days sink in. Today we got back into the training again.

I was excited to get on her. I wanted to try before taking her to Redwater, but decided not to -- just in case she decided to object -- and I didn't want to mess with her head before Martin and his crew started her. So I didn't. But TODAY.... now I can continue what he started.

She didn't come out of the pasture too nicely. Lots of stopping and wanting to turn back because that's where her herd was. But we got there. Lots of waiting on thresholds, but also applying pressure. One of the other horses eventually decided to follow us and once there was another horse heading out with us, Saphira didn't object. No problem. As I do more and more with her, this will get better. Once out of the pasture I groomed her and picked her feet. For the first time she stood still when I picked up ALL FOUR feet. First time. I was ecstatic! Every time before, she had trouble with her hind feet and had to move away from me. Today she stood perfectly.

She still has sores under her girth from the clinic. Five days in a row with a saddle and girth on after having never had one before -- sores are inevitable. So I was very cautious and slow doing the girth up. She stood very nicely to be saddled. I noticed all of Martin's guys saddled from the left side. I generally saddle from the right, so I was interested to see if she'd react at all to the change. Nope. She moved a bit and pawed the ground when I did up the girth though. I expected that since I knew she'd be sore. But I did try to be as gentle as possible.

Once saddled, I let her loose in the paddock (my newly filled in paddock!) to explore and get a feel for the saddle. She trotted around sniffing this and that. I kept her moving until she slowed down and started blowing. Then I put the halter back on, led her around, tightened the girth a bit, then prepared to mount up. When I put my foot in the stirrup, she turned her head toward me and looked like she was asking what I was up to? I pulled down on the horn to ensure she was braced. She was ready and so I mounted up. She stayed in the same position the whole time, sniffing my foot as I mounted up. Then she sniffed my other foot. Then she decided to graze. I flipped the lead back and forth a few times and asked for lateral flexion. No problem. Then I asked her to move her feet. No problem, but mostly she went in circles. I just let her go where she wanted and just kept using the lead to change direction. I only stayed on for a few minutes - long enough to get a few turns and for her to move off my leg. Then I got off. Great start! I'm so pleased with how positive she is!

I spent the rest of the session working on the 7 games: porcupine, driving and circle. She knows yoyo really well. She still tends to move into pressure, so we worked on this quite a bit. As well as driving from zone 4/5. This is also a challenge. We had quite an argument at one point trying to get her to go around me to the right. She kept stopping and wheeling left. Then I FINALLY figured out it was because we were getting close to the fence and the pedestal was on the other side of the fence. She was feeling SQUEEZED! I backed further away from the fence and she was able move past me to the right. Duh. She's more of an introvert, so my read on her isn't as easy. I'm glad she's patient! I did finally get it. We tried a few more circles to the right, then switched to the left. She was licking and chewing by this time, so we called it quits.

She was pretty sweated up when I unsaddled her, so clearly the "arguing" was stressful for her (even if she's not as expressive as my extroverted Skittles or Allegro). I need to be more aware of that in future sessions. I need AMY here again! She's my local introvert specialist! :-)

I put some dermagel on her girth sores, let her wander and graze a bit, then let her back in with the others. She did great. She's going to be a cool horse to work with.