You Betta Think....

Could it be I'm actually learning lessons and retaining information as I work with Miles? I would never call myself a horse trainer in a million years, but I might just be competent enough to train one horse in particular.

*Note to Universe-the previous statements and all statements to follow should in no way imply that I know what I'm doing at all; in fact I still need your good karma on my side. Still very humble, just so we're clear. Thanks a bunch.*

So, today was a really nice fall day-sunny, about 55 degrees, with some wind. Now, this "wind" is nothing at all like we've had this past week, but it certainly was enough to make Miles a bit fresh and me a bit wary. I especially loved it when the air was very quiet and then a 40 mile an hour gust came rushing up out of nowhere, usually when we were in the skeeery side of the outdoor arena. But I digress.

I was determined to ride outside no matter what today, so of course that meant out came the lunge line. There was a little fun show at our barn last Saturday, and naturally to make things more interesting a bunch of poles, jump standards and barrels were stacked in one corner of the skeeery side of the arena. No matter, I figured, we shall lunge past it until he realizes this is no big whoop (his eyes were just glued to that corner as soon as we walked into the arena, which was my tip off he was going to have issues).

I started off lunging him in the "safe" side of the arena, which also has SO much better footing-I have no idea why, but the other side is very deep, like we're going to be having reining competitions down there or something. Anyway, Miles starts off fine, but of course as we move closer and closer to the other end of the arena and the Jumping Equipment of Death, he gets more and more agitated. He starts dropping his inside shoulder as he gets near the equipment and doing his infamous bolt and buck-not every time he passed it, but enough.

Fine, I say. Miles, I shall walk you up to the corner of doom my own self, like you're a wee baby. He snorted a bit, but he sniffed everything and stood placidly after he realized these inanimate objects were not, in fact, going to attack him. Super, I think, let's do a couple small lunge circles in each direction down here and we will be good to go.

Sigh...at this point I think Miles was just enjoying his "drop-shoulder -run-away" hot move when he got to that corner, so that's exactly what he did, again.

Can I just say how happy I am that I have other tools in my arsenal for times like these? I learned the "sending exercise" from Clinton Anderson....basically I point with one hand, indicating Miles to move in a certain direction, and urge him on with my other hand holding the whip. After he has been "sent" past the corner, I say "whoa", yield his hindquarters, and repeat in the other direction.

I know, it sounds simple, right? Maybe I'm just slow, but before I learned this exercise, I would have NEVER thought to do something like this. I might have either continued the fruitless lunging (and Miles is naturally lazy for the most part, so that might have worked eventually), or I might have led him back and forth past the corner myself multiple times. The problem with that is I'm right there with him; I can lead that horse pretty much anywhere and he will follow me. It's when he has to go somewhere on his own that things can get sticky.

Anyway, he immediately relaxed after the first couple "sends". And what do you know, after that I certainly could lunge him past the corner with no shoulder dropping or rushing at all. I don't know exactly what it is about that exercise (maybe the yielding the hindquarters bit?), but it was just what we needed. I also backed him up quite a bit prior to starting the exercise, which I think helps all horses when they're feeling silly.

The best part was this was all done at the walk, and there wasn't a drop of sweat on Miles...his behavior change was not due to fatigue. I also didn't feel irritated or frustrated with him once, even before we started the sending exercise.

What do you know? Brains win! We went on to have a great ride, and a great day. Say what you want about Clinton Anderson or some Natural Horsemanship, but after riding for 20 plus years under many different instructors, I never was taught anything like this to get a horse past something he's scared of. That's not a knock against any of my instructors, just some praise for CA, and the fact that as riders we CAN work things out on our own...as long as we stop and think.

Sweet Miles, teaching me not to be so dumb for over a year now.

yay. fall.

This time last year, I was taking my first rides on Miles. He was finally settling into his environment, behaving himself in the barn and lunging well in the arena. We were also working on Clinton Anderson exercises, mostly lots of desensitizing, the sending exercise, lunging for respect, backing up and yielding the fore and hindquarters. All that groundwork helped me take the leap of faith to get on his back, which of course was pretty much a non event, thankfully.

I found out how truly relaxed and lazy he could be in the spring and summer. Now that the weather is turning brisk, though, I'm finding I may own a spirited thoroughbred after all...he's not done anything naughty, but I feel like it's just there, below the surface. That "sitting on a powder keg" feeling is there more often then not these past couple weeks. Miles has also been tested by other things lately, besides the weather...giant farm machinery appearing at random times, dogs running amok (Ugh, this is getting old I've got to say. And I love dogs!), busier than usual arenas with horses cantering endless circles feet away from Miles and me. LOTS of new horses at the barn. In short, it's not just the weather. And deer season is right around the corner. Joy!

It's also not all bad. Of course I don't expect our environment to always be serene and perfect. Both of us must learn to relax and deal with distractions and new stimuli. So I guess that's good:)

Still, must it all happen while we are also riding in 50 degree temperatures with random ridiculously strong wind gusts? Tonight we faced almost everything I mentioned, plus it was cold. Miles was unfocused, but kept himself together, though at times I could feel he was just barely able to check himself. I gave him lots of praise and support throughout our ride for being so good (his self control under saddle has really been great), but we also didn't get much done. We worked on lots of direction changes and trot/walk transitions, but no cantering. He would probably have been fine, but I just didn't want to risk it. The final straw was when yet another horse came into the ring and did a small rear as we were halted 10 feet away. Miles is a good boy, not an angel.

It's a little frustrating to be limited by our environment right now, but that's OK...again, it's good for us in the long run. I just miss our big canters around the arena, that's all. Maybe we go to the indoor arena next ride...we will be getting very familiar with those fluorescent lights again soon enough anyway:)

Happy Bastille Day!

Tonight was my first ride on Miles since last Monday, over a week ago. The heat was unbearable last week (well, for me; we've established I'm a wuss, yes?). Then, Miles became Studly Do-Right over the weekend, as a new (very active, very small, very cute) Paso Fino arrived at the barn, and a new mare was introduced to the pasture next to him. Boy oh boy, did we have some fun times! I can't tell you how much I love that screaming whinny in my ear...like music, I tell you. In addition, the bugs have been bad, and I think that's been contributing to his "heightened" state, if you will. He wasn't horrible to work with, just distracto-man, so I did lots of ground work and lunging. It was actually good, and needed. I haven't done much lately and it really is fun to see his attitude change, his brain relax and his attention turn to me. Thanks Clinton Anderson:)

Today was still fairly warm, in the mid-80's, but I suppose we are in mid-July. Miles and LaShore have been switched back to their old pasture, which is great because it gets him away from the mares, and he was 100% amazing. Relaxed in the barn, and honestly the best I've EVER felt him under saddle. He was forward, happy to work, straight, relaxed, submissive, attentive, with no tension in his neck or back-I'm really not exaggerating, he was my lil' superstar. I don't think I'll be switching to the bit anytime soon, as I could bend him and do circles and serpentines, stops and rein-backs with no issues whatsoever. There was no teeth grinding and chewing or twisting of his neck (his favorite move when he's anxious and I'm asking him to stay on the rail, particularly to the right). We only worked about 20 minutes, because it had been so long since our last ride, and we were both hot. It was certainly long enough to make me grin ear to ear though, and bestow upon him many pettings and treaties.

What a good boy I have. I don't know what I did to deserve it, and I really am sorry if I sound, I don't know, like I'm bragging? Look, I know we have so much to work on, and if anyone saw us today I'm sure they wouldn't see what all the fuss was about. I just could FEEL such a difference today, and it was lovely. An excellent Bastille Day ride!

As for the weight issue, it turns out Miles hates soaked alfalfa cubes, siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. He doesn't mind them dry, but will stop eating them after about half a scoop. So, we're going to do a scoop of soaked beet pulp mixed with his SafeChoice grain (which is now up to a scoop and a half) every day. This is in addition to the FatCat supplement and a little oil, plus upping his hay a bit; I feel really good about this strategy. If there's no difference in a month, there WILL be reinforcements in the form of vets and dentists marched in. Honestly though, especially after his attitude today and our amazing ride, I can't believe there's anything wrong with him, other than a lack of calories. Oh Miles, if I could give you the fat off my ass I would:)

Anyway, that's where we are now. It feels pretty good, I don't mind saying. Thanks for the ride, Bubs.

A Confession...and a Question

Ahem. My name is Sarah. I own and ride an OTTB. And I...don't have a trainer.
I know, I know!! It's wrong. It's so wrong.
Here's the thing; the money, it's tight. I want to be able to have a cushion (however small it might be) in case Miles gets hurt, or colics, or...whatever. We also have the aforementioned Herd, a few of whom are geriatric, and I want any extra dollars we might have to be set aside for them. Ugh, I hate money talk, so that's all I'm gonna say about that.
The other thing is...well, things are going well with Miles. Oh sure, I know we may have holes in our training, but we're progressing with no huge issues (omg did I actually write that? We're doomed now:). When I think back to our first rides, and how horribly he would drop his right shoulder, or wiggle and shimmy down the long side of the arena instead of marching in a nice, straight line, we have come So Far. I honestly credit Miles more than myself. Not to mention I've been ecstatic ever since we've been cantering in the outdoor arena...we are a horse and rider pair that can perform all three gaits, whoo hoo! It's the little things:)
Another thing is...I would have to seek out and find a trainer. My last trainer was and is amazing, but she works her butt off out of her barn, and can't travel all the way to mine for one lesson, which I understand. We have no trailer, so I can't go to her. I have a couple of contacts in the area for good dressage instructors, one of whom I adore and have worked with in the past but haven't spoken to in, oh, 10 years or so.
So these are my excuses, which are lame, I know. I KNOW I have position issues to work on...well, everyone does don't they? I'm sure there are things I could be doing to help support Miles more than I am. I do always try to error on the side of caution, and to maintain a soft, quiet position, but I miss those second set of eyes on the ground to help me.
In the beginning with Miles and his horrid ground manners, I summoned and utilized my previous 20 years of experience with horses (give or take;) naturally, but I also sought the advice of my friends at the barn-one of whom is incredibly knowledgeable and generous, and shared with me a TON of her Clinton Anderson information and equipment.
I had never really looked at any of the "Natural Horsemanship" guys before, mostly because they aren't necessarily geared towards the English world (although a horse with good ground manners should be universal in all disciplines!), but also because I had never had a horse who was so damn pushy on the ground before. It was a wakeup call, that's for sure. I honestly had no idea how to deal with this 16.2 hand high blockhead who kept crowding me. I would sort of sigh at him and try to shove him away with my elbow...yeah, THAT was effective (note-it was not effective).
Watching Clinton's DVDs and reading his material was a HUGE help. I'm not going to go into details, but his method WORKED for Miles and me, and definitely brought us closer as I became less exasperated with him and he grew to respect me and trust me.
I will also admit that I thought some of this Natural Horsemanship business (not just Clinton's method) was so much common sense. Weren't Clinton, Parelli, Lyons, Cameron, Cox et al just teaching what everyone knows to beginner horsemen and women? Well, no, not necessarily.
I will say I don't agree with all of Clinton's methods, and do not employ them all. While I love RFD TV just because I will watch any show with a horse in it, I think a LOT of these guys use their air time to hawk their carrot sticks, rope halters, DVDs, etc. Some of their shows are more infomercial than anything else.
Still, I imagine there are a lot of people out there like me, doing this on our own without a trainer. I am lucky to have a background in horses to help me, as well as the awesome people at my barn, but some people don't, or don't have "structured" training (eg taking lessons) in their past to fall back on.
Should that exclude them from horse ownership? In my opinion, not necessarily. In this day and age when soooooo many horses need homes, being a beginner shouldn't stop someone, AS LONG AS they have others around them that are experienced to help, and they are willing to learn. Ugh, it's a complicated subject for another day I suppose.
I also think it's really dumb to ask a question of my audience when I have one (maybe two!) beautiful, awesome readers, but Ima do it anyway. What is your opinion of the Natural Horsemanship trend? Good or bad? Do they do more good than harm, or vise versa? Are some better than others? Are they all selling snake oil? Or are they out there helping Jane and Joe Schmoe in a way that other well-known English trainers do not?
No judgement from me no matter what you say, promise! Unless you're mean to me, then I'll cry.