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!

Energy...

It a pretty wild and windy weekend here, so we didn't get any horse play in. But I did go up and watch the horses in the bush for a while before I fed them last night. I have Ruby and Ripley, Pete and my horses, in 'babysitting' the 2 year olds. And boy are those 'youngens' giving ours a run for their money!

Last night they played and played! Ruby voluntarily raised a sweat! I was impressed.

And most impressive to me was Ruby's go button. If you watch the very start, she is standing quietly with me watching the others fool around. Then she decides to join in...

"Savvy Horse Transport"

I had a nice afternoon this afternoon.  I helped Anne move two of her young horses home to the mountains after their stay on the coast.

I have posted a blog previously about how I get so confused about my horsemanship goals.  I put so much time and effort into caring for my horses, and increasing my knowledge, and to what end?

Having a couple of hours in the car to ponder this afternoon, I thought maybe I should become a horse transporter!!!  I enjoy carting horses around.  Long drives don't worry me.  And after recently watching a few episodes of Parelli's "The Horsemans Apprentice", www.thehorsemansapprentice.com the thing that got me the most excited was the impressive horse trucks, goose necks and pick ups!!

Surely there is a market for personalised horse transport!

Pete and I already have a reputation for moving donkeys around here.  Some people contacted us once and asked if we could move a donkey for them.  After that the word got around and we had several requests to move donkeys.  It seems to be something that poses quite a challenge.

We went to one place to move two donkeys and the owners were amazed that we calmly had them on our stock trailer in next to no time.  Apparently the previous time they had to move them they had contacted a horse transporter who had come out with their truck, they couldn't get them on after several hours, so they went and got another truck or trailer of some sort.  After several more hours they still wouldn't budge, so in desperation, after spending the whole day trying to get two donkeys to go on a truck, they called on a neighbour with a tractor and they lifted them in with the front end loader!!!  So I understand why they were so surprised when, with a little Natural Donkeymanship, we were able to get the donkeys moved stress free!!

So maybe their is a niche there for me.  Teaching horses to load on floats is one of my favourite things.    How can I get this to work for me?

Seeing results!

I am still really enjoying trimming our own feet.  Well, our horses that is.  It took me so long to have a go at it.  In fact I avidly avoided it!  Partly because I thought it would be 'hard' physically, but also because I wasn't confident to attempt it.  Having a masters degree in Analysis Paralysis with honours in procrastination, I just didn't think I had the knowledge to do it, and thought I might do damage to my horses.

But there were things I could see weren't right with their feet, and bodies, even to my 'uneducated' eye.  So I finally took the plunge and decided to get educated.  Now I am obsessed!  I pick up every foot on every unsuspecting horse I come across!

Their is still so much to learn.   I am only on my second round of trimming our horses (there are a lot of feet in my paddock!), and already I can see changes!  It is very satisfying to see frogs spreading and walls growing down.

I have Pete Ramey's Under The Horse Dvd series.  http://www.hoofrehab.com/  It is 16 hours long, and most of it theory, and I am watching it through for the second time.  Something to keep me entertained when I go to bed with my cup of tea at night...