Improvement Needed!

Rode Gizmo after a week off because of weather and Easter holidays. He seemed exactly where we left off with no improvement like usual. Can't seem to move forward on him. I'm attending a clinic at the end of April and those always help. If it wouldn't be for those I'd probably be still riding in hackamore! Backing is slow but happening, direct turns are still going to to a soft phase four of using rein and sometimes he turns on a phase two, indirect turns are good some days and not so good on others, transitions are pretty good in arena, not as good on trail, figure 8 sucks! My next session I will do passenger lesson for a bit to remind him of how harmony feels then we will do figure 8's. I'm feeling the need for improvement right about now! Haven't done much online lately because I cannot ask for circles online and then expect him to move very much in arena. I've got to keep the edge on him or I'll tire him out. When I do online though, he is very responsive to me. We just haven't made too much progress getting to a higher level. One thing to add is that his saddling at home is sooooo good. When I take him to places, because he goes a little right brained, he seems to be a different horse. I need to really pay attention to this at new places and get him with me more before I saddle him. I need to take the time it takes so that it takes less time. He'll probably see me more as a leader also. Oh, forgot to mention that we are improving on follow the rail. He will try and come off sometimes, but I definately see progress on that pattern. Yipeeeee!

Back to Gizmo Already!

Back to Gizmo even if it isn't his week, Can Do was limping. I'm starting to put two and two together and figured the only reason she is mine is because she probably has some old injury that keeps popping up. Everytime I get going with her this happens. I'm not even pushing her. I'm talking a couple of laps around the arena trotting and loping. Anyway, Gizmo and I worked on sideways with me in z 2, but us doing sideways together, kind of like a stick to me. I think he caught on, but it was just the first day. We also played with straddling the pole which he had no problem with. Then I moved on to the larger pole and it took a little time. After he got it, we moved on. His cod to the left is still a bit sticky. Practiced it just a little today after I saddled him. We rode with the carrot stick to start out. Lateral flexion, stopping on the rail at a walkk, stopping on the rail at a trot. He does good with stopping from my seat so that wasn't an issue. Then I started the indirect turn to the rail without using my reins. He became a little confused but I hung in there. I also was applied pressure with my leg before I used the stick. He gave me some nice turns and some not so nice. I do find him turning with my seat more than he ever has, so we are improving. He is definately my sacrificial lamb!!!!

Carrot Stick Riding

Played with Gizmo a little before riding and he got straddling the pole almost instantly. We did it on a small pole first because I haven't done it in a while, then we progressed to the telephone pole size log. Got it, we moved on to figure eight. Online first, then I took off the lead rope to see what I had. He have me 3 revolutions at the trot at liberty. Not bad, huh? Very proud of that. Our liberty really doesn't exist because I have no round pen. Sometimes I play with it in the pasture. His sideways with speed along a fence would have probably made Pat Parelli fuss me. We rode with carrot stick today because I don't do enough of it. I'm always doing the pattern follow the rail and million transitions. It seems to me that I do that an awful lot and we still don't have it, ha! Gizmo was introverted today. It is funny to me how he changes. We did indirect turns that led to direct turns. He did very nice but very slow. He went into the canter from the trot, but I asked for it while we were walking. More practice on that! Lately I've been asking him to lope for longer periods, like one full lap around the arena, today we went one and a half and I cut through the middle and kept him in the smaller circle. He didn't have any problems with it. He didn't turn with my body today like I thought. I had to go to the phase 4 of the carrot stick almost everytime. I'm figuring he was so introverted today because I saw him and Can Do in the pasture for about 30 min playing dominance games. They were doing a lot of cutting up and running. He was probably whooped from that. Who knows!

Gizmo's Week

We played online and Gizmo was sooo introverted, however, I did get the trot on the figure eight. It was such a beautiful, cool day and the sun was so warm. I was actually feeling kind of lazy myself. His change of direction going from the right to the left needs a little improvement. I really like how he is letting me halter him and bridle him. He is seeking the bit with his lips. Guess I'd do it too if I liked molasses. This was all in preparation to ride. I cannot do too much ground work as far as circling game when I want to ride because he fizzles out. I have to save that energy for the saddle. After saddling, I took it very slow. I wanted to do a follow up from yesterdays ride.We did phases at the walk and trot seeing how little I could do to get him to turn when I wanted. At first, he was not so great, so I picked up the carrot stick. This seemed to bring him more life just knowing that I had it. Soon after, his life came back down. Not sure what that was about! It was just a small bit of life anyway. After making some turns around the cones, he started to turn with just my body. I only did a couple and got my happy butt off of him. Didn't want to drill him. I'm hoping that this will make my ride better for tomorrow, right Linda! Forgot completely to do backup, but did some indirect turns leading into a direct turn and he did it, very slowly I might add! Oh, I forgot to mention that we worked on fig. 8 at liberty. He did it! I need to incorporate more liberty into my program.

Reading Horses

After watching a savvy club dvd at our camp this weekend about patterns, I've decided to actually log (like they tell us to do) how many days in a row that we do it. And really stick to it (like they tell us to do)! I'm guilty of starting and never completing this. I am very scatterbrained but i'm working on it. Today I helped Can Do with fig. 8. I used concepts from Mickey and think I may have made points with her. We did both sides and I got tons of licking and chewing. I tried to keep my body calm and to give a phase 1 of a phase 1, as sometimes that is all she needs. Very sensitive sometimes! Her ears are what really needs work. She lays them back frequently then pops them up as fast as they went back. Hard to read for me because before I can correct her they are up again. I will continue with this schedule and see what happens. We also worked on not changing gait and look where you are going. She is very clumsy. I laid down some pilings about 6 in in diameter and sent her in a circle. At first she went down to a walk and made it through. She did this a couple of times. I tried to be non reactive with her but kept my "you need to keep going" posture and look. Low and behold, she started to walk the first couple of poles and trot coming out on the last couple of poles. Not long after that she really tried hard to keep the trot. She did it! I stopped her and gave her scratches and rest. Then we did the other side. Same experiences. Feelin very savvy! We then went to freestyle.

One Funny Horse!

Gizmo is a riot! Today when I went to get him (he was at the gate) the phone rang and it was my son's school. So as I talked to his math teacher (who had bad news), Gizmo proceded to do a spin in front of me for a treat. It was hilarious.Gotta love them LBI's. After that we played sideways on a log and the circling game. His circling game was a bit boring (my fault of course) so then we moved to fig. of 8. It was so so. He would not maintain gait. We then saddled up and moved on to the arena. We started with a passenger lesson at a walk, which he has done lots of times. It went well even to the degree of trotting and our first canter passenger lesson. Hardly took anything for it to happen. We didn't do much because I didn't want to make it work for him.We did lots of transitions and he respected me entirely. Then we moved on to follow the rail and 4 corners. Gizmo did not stop great in the corners at first. It took a little repositioning and then I let him relax when he was lined up with the fence. I did feel like he was trying for me and we ended on a good note of moving around the haunches for a half circle in both directions. I have noticed that when he does not understand me he shuts down. I have to keep that in mind sometimes when I feel him not responding. Is he being a LBI or is it unconfidence in what I'm trying to ask him to do. It is definately me and my actions and I know this!

Horse is out of shape

Well, not riding Can Do for so long has caused her to gain weight. Her weight gain is causing problems for her feet. She is always lame! This past week I have decided to do something about it. She and her friend will be getting a grazing muzzle. At first I thought they were cruel, but now I do not have a choice. I have started to work with her again and today we played the circling game. She was so LBE that I had to laugh at her. She would stop on the circle and rear and change direction on me. I matched her energy and soon I had her behaving. It was so interesting to watch her throw the tantrum. She is the best. I only wish she were younger!

Can Do

Played online today. We havent' done that in a while due to the dew on the ground. My ropes get so heavy and I don't think it is very productive. My handling skills with the 22' rope were in need of practice, has it been that long? We played with backing by the tail, hind end towards me, touch it, circling game, which led to fallen leaf, and figure eight. Her fig. 8 needs lots of work. She can't make it around the barrel without stopping and pinning her ears. I worked on sending her around the barrel and using the carrot stick to lure her to me for a treat. It helped, but it doesn't fix the problem. I need to do this more consistantly with her. She flips between right brain and left brain dominant in a nano second. Are all horses challenging? or do they have some that just go with the flow? It seems to me that they all have some kind of hang up somewhere, could we just combine all positive quallities into one horse and make a super horse, lol!

Eight laps and First Canter

Got eight laps online with 22’ line so that is definately an improvement. Before that, he went a little nuts playing the circling game. All I did was ask him for the canter and I got all kinds of bucking and body positions. The back legs were going all over the place. I really think he was just blowing off some steam and enjoying the cool front that had passed through. He was far enough away from me that I didn’t feel like it was directed at me. I just laughed an went along with him like it didn’t bother me. It was fun because he mostly so introverted. I think I like extroverted horses better. He also jumped only 3 barrels lined up instead of four. My goal is, of course, one barrel. He had trouble going to the left, but after 3 attempts, he jumped it and then looked at me with that "can I stop now" look.
    I think all day about how the session went and have come to the conclusion that Gizmo is just being a left brained thug when it comes to riding. By this time he should know what is expected of him and I only get 75% from him. I sometimes think it is because I don’t know what I’m doing, but maybe he does know what I want. He must have had trouble turning to the left yesterday because the inside of my right leg is so sore. Maybe I went more than four oz. of pressure with that leg. i wasn’t kicking, just putting pressure. I think I’m going back with Linda’s savvy DVD that says don’t argue, just go along with it and shape it into something you want. Even though I watched it, I thought it was at a more advanced stage than I was. I did canter with Giz for the first time on purpose. His canter is so much better than his choppy trot. It was very controlled and I liked it. We only did one lap in both directions. He stopped with my seat the best at that gate, hmmmm how interesting. I’ll start cantering every time I ride now. I was always worried about cantering because it always makes the trot so fast and out of control (in my past anyway). It was easy to get him to go into it also. I was impressed. It was like he was saying, "thank you for asking me to canter".

All In A Days Work!

 Got 6 laps on the circle with the 22’ rope with one correction one way and two corrections the other way. We also played with stick to me when I hop over the piling and just stop. It was wishy-washy with him, but it was just day one. We also did light as feather. This is where I see his improvement from when I first started. He was such a dud! Gizmo did well with riding yesterday. He was pretty willing and I just felt like he is understanding my requests. I’ve been concentrating on my riding position and getting him more confident with trotting. His old training came out when I was trotting the rail and asking for direct turns at the end of the arena. He kept coming off of the rail on the short end of the arena so we hung out there for a while. Soon his trot hot fast and his turns different. Same thing when I tried trotting the weave. Its kind of like they were training him to run barrels. Also, he speeds up when I touch him with my heel as a phase two of the turn. He is getting better on that one though.

A Perfect Day

Can Do is improving! Me and my friends, Sandy and Nancy, had a play day today. We started about 10 and finished at 3. All three horses jumped over the barrels. Can Do was still unconfident about it, but I gave her an "A" for effort. Sandy's horse, Tuff, went over it like he had been doing it for years. I didn't see much pinned ears the entire day from Can Do, she "caught me" every time I wanted her to be haltered, and her draw is improving. After lunch we saddled up and went for a trail ride. The horses behaved so well. The weather was as perfect as you could get. What a perfect day!!!

Trail Walking

Giz and I went for a trail walk today. We started out with driving in zone 3 and it turned into a yah-hoooo party. All I have to say is that I’m glad I was on the ground. This is the second time in a week that this big-time lefty turned into a right brained maniac. How interesting! So, I played with the horse that showed up and we were off again behaving, with a little munchies every now and then. It turned out nice and pleasant. At the end we were doing figure 8’s around trees and gait changes. Good, but still needs a little work. One more stop at the log on the way to the barn was rewarded by a jump. He really put effort into that for me.

Can Do

Freestyle and online today. I made a new game by putting 3 telephone posts radiating from a center. We played circling game, maintaining gait and direction, change of direction, stop at the pole, straddle the pole then sideways off of it. She did well, still a little clumsy. We did a very short figure 8 and weave. I'm trying not to get the ugly ears. She is starting to understand some of the patterns better. We did the question box for the first time since clinic. I went slowly and stopped in center for a while then tried to mix it up. She got it, then she didn't. We never got into a trot, but that is okay.