Fun on the trail

Just some photos of a few great trail rides with Graham this week... Sunny is fantastic and Rogan is raring to go!

Playing in Waites Run! Still having fun even if it is 32 F and snowing..

View from Squirrel Gap Rd parking area, WV

The Big Green Ball (and a little jumping)

After Sunny finished his nap we did play with the big green ball. Obviously this was the first time he has encountered it....

I am also playing with clicker training recently and am encouraged by the results.  I started to help Sunny learn to 'come' to me in the field. While he is fine letting me walk up to him and sometimes decides to come-to-me it is not reliable.  Additionally, he perceives any pressure (such as hide-the-hiney game/disengage HQ) as reason to leave, rather than to turn-and-face me.  I could address this by more on-line and liberty play, but I think it will be fun to a different approach and am optimistic that the positive reinforcement will be more effective in this situation. It is only day 2 of targeting my hand and 'come', but I am encouraged by the progress already!    (he already has been exposed to the clicker since I am experimenting with communicating with horses about blanket choices using symbols,  see  http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-news/2016/09/horses-learn-to-communicate-blanket-preferences-with-symbols.aspx )

Today I starting using the clicker under saddle and clicked for our canter transitions under saddle (which we have just started and they tend to be trot as fast as you can before finally breaking into a canter). I only did 1 transition each direction as we were focusing on other things, and to the right he almost had a walk-canter transition! (Yay!) but I am very interested in seeing if the clicker-treat improves his eagerness for and understanding of the transitions...

Also, I have thought about clicking when he drinks on the trail... would it be an amazing method to teach better drinking or would I have a monster that wants to stop at every puddle... We will find out!

Back to Christmas...

To go back in time.... I finally finished editing our Christmas riding video...from 30 minutes down to 4 minutes of highlights

So my Christmas day consisted of Graham and myself and beautiful warm winter day.  My family was delayed arriving until later in the week so we had absolutely no plans and all the stores were closed. So, of course, I took advantage of the free time and lovely weather and practiced in the arena with Sunny. And since Graham was off he filmed about 30 minutes of video.  The ride wasn't especially smooth or amazing, though Sunny always tries very hard. I felt we were both struggling, especially with lightness and bending at the trot.  Sunny would trot nicely stretched on a loose rein, but when I shortened the reins for more precise communication he became very heavy and kept trying to stretch back down. I would lift a little and ask him to keep his head up or neutral, but no stretching; he was not sure about this and resisted.  To the left he would drop contact suddenly by lifting his head and at times would 'bounce' off the contact -- very uncomfortable for both of us I am sure-- though I am using a bitless bridle that is a little more forgiving of my mistakes.

On the video I observed several things (it is like having a delayed self-lesson, LOL!) --

1. I need to make sure I release the reins all the way when he is stretching, otherwise the slight pressure tends to make him over-bend at the poll (bringing his head behind the vertical) when I really want it stretched out and forward.

2. I need to look up more, instead of down at my horse's head (I have been assured his head is not going anywhere!) I also tend to get behind the motion, especially at the walk.

3. The video showed me all the moments of tenseness and mis-communication that I felt; and actually, they felt much worse than they looked in the video-- Good news? It also showed me the few moments where things started to come together!

After the ride and watching the video I realized I really needed to prioritize relaxation and softness over achieving an exercise (duh! but sometimes as a human I get too focused on the goal instead of the relationship). This has worked very well in our last few sessions and I think we have already had significant improvement in lightness, balance, and communication.   Or maybe, the heaviness and confusion is a normal learning stage the horse goes through and he needs the extra support temporarily while he learns to re-balance his body? I am not sure, but as long as I keep my priorities straight it will be okay!

By ourselves!!

View from Stacks Rock Trail

Due to some scheduling conflicts, Sunny and I have made the jump into riding out by ourselves.  We need to do this for training and partnership building for both of us, but I think we both prefer having a friend along! On Tuesday we trailered about 15 minutes from home to the National Forest for short 7 mile loop. Poor Sunny was so confused, he kept looking for the other horses that 'were coming'.  They never showed up, despite his lovely intermittent squeaks, squeal, snort combination noises for the first mile or so (think little girl excited and squealing! Definitely was not a whinny, LOL!).  Other than the creative singing he settled in and was fantastic.

Video of Stack Rocks Trail with its beautiful views, and at the end you can see the 'big-rock' which makes the trail a little narrow for a few feet.  At times this trail can be bit narrow with a steep drop-off, a little scary when the edge is soft-mud that gives way...

Today, we were due for a harder ride and climb, so I took the plunge and decided to ride Falls Ridge/Stacks Rock trail by myself.  For those Old Dominion 50/100 riders, it is the big climb before you go into the Laurel Run Vet Check, but using Stacks Rock Trail as a bypass to get back down avoiding the terrible rocks of North Mountain Trail (I know you remember THOSE rocks!!).  I like this trail as it has good footing, lots of exercise potential, and has cell phone service almost the entire trail which is important for safety when riding alone.

North Mountain Trail 

 No weird noises from Sunny today, he was ready to ride!  We even passed 2 other riders returning to Laurel Run parking and he didn't hesitate leave them behind.  The renegade viper hoof boots are continuing to work well, I did have to replace the velcro on the hinds after the last ride and everything stayed put nicely today.  Sunny had fun playing in the creek by Laurel Run, but I have to watch him carefully as he gives every indication he would like nothing better than to have a nice lay down in the creek!  He is drinking better each ride, today he even drank out of puddles several times (yay!!) and he chose to stop and take a few bites of grass (normally he likes to keep going and I have to practice stopping until he takes a few bites).  He is developing a nice 5 mph gait downhill, that became a bit intense on Stacks Rock Trail! We did became bored with all the walking and I decided to start throwing in some trot transitions. I think this was a good idea as he needs a lot of practice with the transitions themselves (mostly the downward, LOL!!!) as well developing a slower, more cadenced and balanced trot.  The trot in the arena is coming along nicely, but on the trail he has a lot of 'forward' and always wants to trot full-speed ahead (think 11+ mph).  My goal is to develop his slower (6-8 mph) trot on the trail, building his core posture muscles, then slowly transition into the bigger trot while maintaining balance. Right now he tends to throw himself on his forehand at the faster speeds, with muscle development and practice he should be better able to stay in a more neutral body balance.  It is also very important to have practiced different speeds within the gait so that we have options depending on the trail (or if I am stuck behind slower trotting horses on single track trail!).  Can't wait to do more!!!  Plan to play in-hand tomorrow pending weather, then some dressage on Sunday and back to the trail next week :)

Dressage in the snow

Uphill posture (in comparison)

Dressage in the snow today...We arrived home a day early from our vacation, and Sunny and I enjoyed a beautiful ride in the snow.

Downhill posture (in comparison)

I like comparing these 2 still photos of our ride. In both Sunny is relaxed and easily moving forward on a loose rein.  However in the first picture he is lifting the base of his neck and his body balance is much more 'uphill' when compared to the second photo. In the second photo his head/neck is extended and lowered which moves his body balance much more on his forehand. I am also leaning forward more in the 2nd photo which may contribute to this as well.  According to Biomechanics and Physical Training of the Horse by Dr. Jean-Marie Denoix, moving with the head/neck lowered and extended exercises the thoracic muscle girdle, developing muscles (specifically the pectoral and serratus muscles) that will later help him lift the base of his neck for improved support and lightening of the forehand when the neck is in an natural position.  Whereas in the first photo he is already using whole body in a better weight-carrying posture.  I find this interesting to analyze and enjoy improving my skill riding so I am better able to help Sunny.

We practiced a little dressage, and as always prioritized relaxation.  I enjoy Sunny's consistent improvement.  Today he was much lighter and more responsive (in regards to contact and aids), and his turns/circles improve with each ride. He is losing his balance less which is especially noticeable when changing directions -- rather than fall on his inside shoulder, Sunny is more routinely lifting his withers/base of neck and bending through the turns.  He is also more consistent about following my body without always needing rein or leg to steer or stop. And his shoulder-ins are becoming much easier! Today I felt we had enough connection that I could consider starting to play with bridleless/neck rope riding soon.  We also did our 2nd arena session of cantering.  Initially he trotted faster but I kept persisting with my canter/go forward request until he tried a canter.  Then I told him he was wonderful and we had a break.  We started with the left hand and he improved with a few transitions and nice bits of canter, but to the right he 'got it'.  He started to go easily forward and immediately into the canter for 1-2 transitions, skipping the extended trot and seemed to enjoy moving out.  His canter is still amazing, like a porch glider, and he did naturally pick up the correct lead each direction.  I am confident in a few sessions we will have lovely canter and can then progress to canter with relaxation and extended head/neck.

I am pretty excited by his front leg extension, this is a small relaxed trot and WOW! Can't wait to see his extended trot develop eventually.

I just like this photo showing the stance phase of the trot, he is not collapsing on his forehand as much as commonly seen (in my other pictures!!) in this stride phase. Plus the snow and mountains are pretty :) 

This posture is more typical of what I see in nice endurance ride photos, of  a horse moving forward eagerly down the trail. However I don't think he is actually lifting the base of his neck better than in the first photo, but the higher head carriage, in general, results in a more uphill posture