Striving for conscious competence...

I have started learning Karate, and I am loving it!

The most interesting thing is that learning Karate is giving me heaps of BFO's about my horsemanship!!!  I thought I was just signing up to get a bit of exercise, and let out some frustrations by kicking the hijibees out of a bag, and since the kids are doing it anyway why not.  But I am getting so much more out of it.

For starters, a whole new awareness about learning a new skill, from a learners perspective, and how to be mindful of that when teaching.  I am going through the process of

Unconscious incompetence
Conscious incompetence
Conscious competence
Unconscious competence

all over again.

I have been back to unconscious incompetence, learning where to put my feet, and forgetting what my hands are doing.  Thinking about where my hands are, and forgetting where my head is, and getting a clip across the ear!  My instructor was amazed on monday night when I exclaimed, 'Wow, I have got to a whole new level of conscious incompetence!'.  For me that was one big step up from not knowing what the hell I was doing!  At least I was starting to get an idea of what I should be doing!

My horsemanship has helped my Kyokushin with focus, and also an awareness of having the left and right sides of my body equal, or at least being aware when they are not equal!

Tonight I was sparring with one of the really experienced students.  She told me to stop crossing my legs over as I was moving around, because it took away my power... Well, where have I heard that, a million times before...  Take away the hindquarters and you have control of the horse...

Hmmm, there is a lot too this Karate...

Finding the answers...

Wow, is it really that long since I have written on my blog! Oops. I have had lots of blogs rattling around in my head. I just haven't sat down and put them down on paper.

I think my play with Split yesterday is a good place to start. Background - Split is a 3 year old QHxTB who I bred. He has had minimum handling, only the essentials to get him through thus far. A few weeks ago I brought him home from agistment to start his development, and I'm having a blast!!!

Split has had a few 'got to' situations where he has had to be transported with little preparation. (see http://genquinn.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-day.html ) He has coped well, and it hasn't been all bad, but one of the things I really wanted to address with him once I got him home is trailer loading, and travelling, with confidence. The way I went about this was parking the float in the paddock, and basically ignoring it. I incorporated it into our play sessions only to the extent of asking him to touch it. I made a deal with myself that for now I would not ask him to go in it.

The first couple of times we went past it even he said 'oh, no, we are NOT going in that thing'. My reply was 'you bet, can you sniff the spare tyre? Great, let's go do something else'. He started getting pretty curious about it, and after a couple of days he voluntarily put his nose and neck right in, and had a good look around in there. I quietly walked up, gave him a rub, and slipped his head collar off and left, that was just the response I was hoping for from him.

I went and opened the gate into the big paddock because as far as I was concerned, we were finished for the day. I walked back up and Split was still at the float! He was sniffing it, and walking around it and back to the tailgate again, thinking 'jeez, what did I do right?'. He stayed there for a good five minutes, I sat with him, then we both walked together out into the big paddock with the other horses.

I was pretty happy with that response. Until yesterday when it got even better! I took him out to the smaller paddock and Pete was out there playing with Ripley. They were cantering around online and Split was finding this all a bit overwhelming and exciting. I was letting him move his feet, and directing him to a few obstacles as he moved, then I felt him pull towards the float. I ran with him at the end of the 22, taking a punt, and not wanting to shut him down, and he cantered straight in to the float!!!! This is the kind of horse that when we had 'had to' get him in, he planted his feet and said 'you and who's army?'. I was so so excited I was yelling out to Pete to see if he had seen it, and ran up and gave Split a hug!

He must have know he'd done something right, he stood there for a minute, then came out, and we went off and did something else for a few minutes. Once he was circling around me again, I could see him look at the float again, so I did the same thing, started running toward it and he cantered to it and straight on!

I had to check that he wasn't just falling in, so let him rest and bought him out another time or two. Then put him on, got in with him, and slipped the head collar off again. I was happy for him to come out whenever he was ready, game over, and went and sat and watched Pete and Ripley for 10 minutes.

Splitty stood as quite as a mouse on that float, leg cocked, and showed no inclination to hop out. Pete bought Ripley over and loaded him in beside Split, who was still standing in there un-haltered. He put Ripley on and off a couple of times, and Split stayed put. I thought that was a pretty good test for a young horse. I went in, put his headcollar back on, and backed him out. He didn't rush out, got off as cool as a cucumber.

I have had a few really big 'light bulb' moments the last couple of weeks with letting the horses find the answers themselves, as apposed to us trying to 'teach' them something. It is so much more powerful a lesson, and they really get it, and I think now I really get it too...

Harmonious Honey.

Honey modelling for a hat band photo shoot for Harmonious Horse...

Big lessons...

Little Fly had a huge day today!!!  Her new owner, Ann, came out for the day and we played with float loading.  Fly, as always, was hilarious!  She had no clostraphobia issues at all, she just couldn't co-ordinate picking up all four feet in the right order to step them up in to the float!!  The front ones weren't a problem, they would walk straight in, then she would pick up the back ones and do a big step, but if she missed, she then couldn't work out what to do!

She was very willing, and tried so hard.  Once she had the right idea I helped her out by picking a back foot up and putting it in, then asking her to put her weight on it.  The other one would then just automatically hop in.

After a long float loading session, ending in Fly being able to stand in on her own, pick at the hay, open and shut the back door, and pick up all four feet while calmly standing in there, she was then brushed, and had her feet trimmed!  So by the end of all that she was exhausted!!!  She thinks that being a big girl is darn hard work!!

Fly's first, rather unco-ordinated, attempt at putting her back feet in!

Take away the brace!!!!

I had breakthroughs with two horses yesterday!  And both in relatively short sessions.

The first was Ruby.  Since she hasn't been getting ridden much, and is spending a whole lot of time hanging around getting fed carrots, I've noticed that Ruby makes herself 'unavailable', when she sees the saddle come out.  Hmmm.  I don't want that.  So today I restarted my program of making wearing the saddle a pleasant experience.  I saddled her at liberty while she was eating her breakfast, then let her carry the saddle around the paddock for several hours while she grazed and I did other jobs.

After a while she was back at the house following me around while I picked up poo etc, not hiding in case I was going to ride her.  So then it was time to ride, when she invited me too.

I had a plan for what I wanted to achieve in my session.  Ruby's confidence with riding has improved tremendously with me 'holding her hand'.  But she still has a lot of brace when I ask her up a gait.  (See the photo of Angela riding her below).  Going from a walk to trot, as soon as I think about trotting, she gets stiff in her body and the ears go back.  It can take her several strides (like half a lap of the round yard!) to finally make it up to the trot, then once she is moving forward, she relaxes and the ears come forward again.  She is getting stuck in the transition.  She will also push out sideways, through my leg, instead of moving forward.  I know asking her 'harder' by going up my phases just confuses her more, anything that she sees as more pressure fries her.  I had tried to help her by asking her up, and not worrying about direction, just let her go where she wants and reward the try.  It hasn't worked. Precision has helped her so far with her confidence, so I have been thinking that maybe that will help her trot transition...

Being me, I haven't ridden her, I have stewed over this until I came up with a plan!  I decided it was time to tackle this brace.  My first thoughts were that I need to keep working on our precision.  Straight lines are going really well.  I can maintain a strong focus on a distant object, hold a soft feel on the reins, and feel Ruby move a hair off my focus and put her back.  She gains confidence in my leadership and relaxes.  Circles are another matter... she pushes out, then rushes in, and it is a mess.  So I needed a circle I could 'see', so I could be more precise for her, I think my circles out in the open are round - she thinks I'm on drugs!  So out came a bag of flour and a 22 foot line, and I 'drew' a perfect 44 foot circle on the ground!  At first Ruby followed me around eating the flour as I sprinkled it out, thinking this might be interesting after all...

It was perfect!  I could feel her pushing me around, and help her stay perfectly on that circle.  If she drifted an inch, I would pick her up, put her back, then go again.  Without criticising, just saying 'Hey, I noticed that!'.  She was starting to relax, so I decided it was finally time to tackle that bracey transition, and played a game with it.  I had a very clear picture in my mind.  It was that she could gently go up in to a trot, and maintain her direction on the circle.  

If I asked her up to a trot, she would push in to, or out of the circle through my leg. When she pushed out either way, I would stop her, put her back on the circle, and ask again.  Previously she would push on my leg, I would try and push her back over, she would feel it as more pressure and brace harder.  This time she had nothing to brace against!  I didn't push her back over.  Instead of getting in to an argument with her, I would stop, back her up, put her back on the circle and gently start again.

I rewarded every effort she made to stay on the circle, and trot softly.  She even offered a trot I could sit to!  Unheard of!  It wouldn't have taken 10 minutes before she was able to do this!!!  Another thing that has been holding us back for years addressed!!!  What a good feeling!!!  And it is all about me trusting that I have the skills to fix the problems, being confident that she could do it, and changing the plan to suit the situation.   Hmm, how interesting...

I asked Angela to ride Ruby so I could get a good look at what was going on.  Here Angela asks Ruby in to a trot, and gets her typical reaction - notice the tight lips, eye, tense neck and body.

Flying Fly

Check out the draw on my 3 year old filly, Fly!

I drove up the driveway, then stood on the back of the bike and called her. I think this answers the question I am often asked, why we called such a nice little girl a name like "Fly", this is why!!!

I sold her last week and she goes to her new home tomorrow, so I am really happy to have got this video before she goes...

Please excuse me rousing on the dog...

Sarah & Woody: Parelli Level 4 Liberty Audition

I just wanted to share this level 4 liberty audition I found on youtube. The zone 5 driving is cool. And a great trailer load at the end!