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

Ground training today

Short video of Sunny stretching at the walk on 12/18/16

Today I arrived home from work early, with just a few minutes of daylight left on this darkest day of the year.  I jumped and took advantage of the short time to play on the ground for a few minutes; always fun to do and sometimes hard to squeeze in between conditioning rides and dressage.  Sunny seems to enjoy the play and is enthusiastic.  We have a pattern of games we are currently working on and today we started with backing over a pair of low cavaletti. He has done this a few times now and reverses right on over, carefully pausing between each pole awaiting his good-job cookie.   I then throw in backing by the tail between each obstacle/game.  We have practiced backing by the tail a fair amount at this point but he still gets a bit confused.  If I am by the rail or a fence Sunny understands to back immediately off of light pressure, however if I am in the middle of the arena he tends to turn circles  (yielding the hindquarters) for a minute while I just go with him, maintaining 'the question' (ie light pressure on the tail) when the light-bulb abruptly clicks on and then he smoothly offers backing up.  I think more calm repetition will solidify this game.

I then upped the ante to regular backing onto a small platform, this is much harder than backing over a pole. We had a successful end game after walking forward off of it with only 3 feet, leaving a single hind foot on the platform.  The hind foot remaining on the platform gave Sunny enough confidence to easily back-up to standing on the platform. What a good boy, he tries so hard!

Next we briefly (as it was getting dark already!) played with going sideways about 15 feet between 2 barrels. I place a small treat on the barrel and ask for sideways yielding from 1 barrel to the next.  This is his 3rd or 4th time playing this and he is figuring out the goal.  The change is fascinating, when we started I had to somewhat micromanage him to the next barrel, asking him to go sideways with a lot of don't go forward, etc and then he was totally baffled when he reached the barrel and found a surprise cookie! Today he took responsibility and initiative when he aimed himself to the barrel, eagerly offering sideways to arrive at the next barrel-cookie.  I love the partnership and engagement that comes when the horse starts to figure out we are playing together.

We moved quickly onward to a the circle game. I currently play it with a 12' line and move with him, resulting in a larger circle at faster gaits. I find walking with him creates more connection than standing still and having him pass behind me (thank you Theresa!).  I have been playing with circle game basics for a while now, but this is the 3rd or 4th time I have asked for canter.   I set the transition up the same way each time, creating a learning pattern, and have been using the rounded corner arena rail to support him for the transition. Picking this particular spot in the arena sets him up for the correct (balanced) lead; the rail also prevents any outward drift which in-turn prevents accidental pulling on his head which would give mixed signals as I encourage him in the upward canter transition.  

Several sessions ago I asked for the canter for the first time by leading with the line, angling my body, verbal kiss, and then slapping the ground behind him with the training stick if needed (my normal signals for upward transitions). In response Sunny threw up his head, slammed on the brakes, and spun the other direction. Well that wasn't what I (or he) expected, LOL!  So we went back and practiced more walk to trot transitions which he did understand well.  So then I returned to the canter transitioned and pushed a little more, always asking for the canter transition in the same spot. After a few circles of this he offered a few strides of a canter that was so horrendous and unbalanced I thought he may fall.  I then ended the session and told him he was absolutely the best, most amazing horse in the world.

Fast forward to today, only 3-4 sessions later,... he had a prance in his step, was eagerly offering nicely balanced trot circles with inside bend on a loose line, and even started to offering extended neck stretching too!  When I kissed to him and asked for a canter to the left he immediately picked up the most beautiful grand-prix dressage horse, light, completely balanced canter I have seen. I think his withers grew 6" higher than his hindquarters!  He easily cantered the circle and then I brought him in for loads of adoring praise and admiration. Wow!! I can't wait to ride THAT canter!    We then practiced to the right as well, which is his hard direction.  His right canter was eager, willing, and much improved but didn't quite have the same balance as the other direction; right bend is physically harder for him and he tended to fall onto his inside shoulder and lean a little more.  But it was still wonderful, 200% improved and I told him, once again, that is the most amazing horse in the world.  (I will have to start watching his ego, LOL!)    What a great session, I can't wait until we get to do it again :)

Mounted Games and Lessons with Theresa

Sunny and his amazingly hot weekend girlfriend, Koi

Sunny and I just returned home from a wonderful 3 days of lessons with Theresa and a fun day of Pony Club Mounted Games.  This was my first session with Theresa and Sunny, but for the past 5 weeks I have been teaching Sunny what I previously learned from Poptart and Theresa.  Here is the link to my post about my first session with Theresa:  http://poptartthearabian.blogspot.com/2016/08/clinic-with-theresa.html

We woke up dark and early on Thursday morning and were on the road just as it was getting light so we would arrive early enough to enjoy loads of learning each day.  I am very pleased with how well Sunny does with loading and traveling, he is relaxed enough to eat it in the trailer and doesn't paw, weave, kick, etc -- just rides like a champ!

Initially, after Sunny had some time to settle-in, we played with saddle fit (as I have been riding him bareback for 5 weeks!)  The DP saddles fit him well, but need to be adjusted on the narrow side for his lean build, I just had to figure out what model I preferred! I really like how you can adjust the width of the tree angle for the entire tree, it gives you lots of options for fine-tuning fit.  The rock of the saddle seemed to fit him nicely, it did not bridge or rock and had nice even contact along both panels.  Overall, I ended up preferring the Quantum Sport model, which is best-suited for endurance, and they even happened to have a red/black model in stock!  I think my current woolback pad, and girth will work for it now, though I may want to upgrade to accessories that fit a little more precisely in the future.

During each session we started off with ground exercises and then proceeded to riding once Sunny was soft and relaxed.  I am going to split what I learned over the entire 3 days into 2 sections, groundwork and riding.

Groundwork

From the session in August

  "Stretch and lift the back: Raise the head by lifting up at the halter nose buckles pointing towards the ears. The horse should raise his head and shift his weight to the hindquarters. Follow this by next bringing the head and neck down and forward.  Repeat by raising the head then take 3 deliberate steps to the side (with the head up) and then ask the horse to lower his head while bent to the side. Repeat each direction. Eventually this is done while riding when the back is stronger."

We still start with this, but then refined it having me stand to Sunny's side and use the reins to ask for the same movement.  This also has progression, I start re-teaching him standing just by his head to help him understand this is the same 'game' as before but we are just asking in a slightly different manner. As he understands I slowly work back to his shoulder and change to using the reins as when riding.  This was hard for Sunny and we need to practice -- he thinks he should turn when using the reins versus lifting and stretching, but he did start to understand -- and boy, he does REALLY love the stretching!  When he understands this more thoroughly from the ground I will then ask for it under saddle. 

We then once again built on my previous session's:

"lateral disengagement - (similar to a '1-rein stop, but actually bio-mechanically correct) - Lift the inside rein/lead with the fingernails up to heaven and point at the hip. The horse should bring his inside hind leg in front of the outside hind leg.

Follow the lateral disengagement with a reverse bend shoulder arc. Lift the inside rein/lead (with the fingernails up) and step into the shoulder. The horse should softly cross his front legs and move over softly.  Reward/praise and repeat on the other side. Continue until horse is relaxed and warmed up."

From the basic lateral disengagement we progressed to asking for every combination of bend and body movement -- basic shoulder-in and reverse arc circles, walking straight while maintaining bend, counter bend while walking straight, and walking straight with counter-bend then asking for a draw towards me on the diagonal maintaining counter bend.   With these exercises I stand close to his head initially and as Sunny learns I drift back to his shoulder to make a better transition to under saddle.  He was fantastic, but needs more practice (a lifetime of learning!) as these movements are basically like Pilates for horses.  As he learns and practices he will becomes softer, stronger, and more relaxed and supple. 

Riding

Sunny is very forward with a naturally long walk and trot, which is fantastic for endurance and the trail!  With this training we are developing his understanding and muscles for slow and precise work, which will ultimately help him be more balanced, forward and relaxed on the trail.  The dressage and trail training complement each other very nicely. While just motoring down the trail the horse is forward and happy, but often loses the healthy weight-bearing-posture and suppleness.  While dressage develops the back and suppleness, the horse could get bored and lose the forward if you never left the arena. It is lovely to ride a soft, supple, engaged, forward horse down the trail!!

So, at the walk we used the roundpen rail as an aid to help keep his body from drifting and asked for a slow, precise, marching walk with inside bend. This 'school walk' helps teach Sunny, resulting in him lifting his shoulder and bringing his inside hind leg underneath himself with each step.  I actually felt the withers lift underneath me and understood what was happening for the first time!!  I have felt that body lift before, but it generally was immediately followed by very bad things... LOL, but this time Sunny lifted the base of his neck with relaxation! WOW!!  And after each bit of 'Pilates' exercise, Sunny gladly stretched his neck down and out, walking on a loose rein in relaxation -- Yay!!!

We built on these exercises, progressing to shoulder-in on the circle (volte) at the walk, then transitioning to a small circle (volte) of counter bend.  The right is his harder side, meaning his left side is stiffer and it is harder to stretch that side out when bending his body to the right.  The next day we practiced these same exercises and started the trot.  Once again, Sunny has a wonderful 11 mph trot, but the goal is to teach him he also has a slow, balanced trot, and that he can trot relaxed with his head stretched down and out.  He did fantastic (of course!).  He developed a nice, cadenced trot with his head relaxed and seeking contact.  We practiced small circles of connected trot with correct bend, then switched direction (a figure-8) doing a circle with counter bend. This was hard for both of us! I tend to drop my outside hand both directions and Sunny is trying to figure out how to use these new muscles.  This will be fun to play with and practice.  We also got a few steps of shouder-in on the circle to the right that was excellent.  He was tired from using all the new muscles so that was where we ended. 

Mounted Games

The last day coincided with a clinic of mounted games with Bella Pellet, a world champion in Pony Club and MGAA (Mounted Games Across America) and Cora and Kensey, amazing Pony club game champions.  My goal was to have fun and teach Sunny to enjoy himself with relaxation while the other ponies galloped through the game courses!  We were successful :)  At first he was a bit nervous, keeping his head up and wanting to walk, rather than stand relaxed.  After just a few lateral disengagements and a bit of time, he figured out it was much easier to just stand still and chill.   We had fun playing the games at a relaxed walk, he was great with the games themselves. He readily approached the flags, poles, and thought the tennis ball just might be an apple when it bounced in front of him after unbalancing off the tennis racket. He never spooked at any of the music or rattles from tin cups.  He was naughty once, aggressively backing up to and kicking innocent, well-behaved Petey; he got in trouble and we prevented further mishap.  This was the second kick episode he has had with me, so he may be getting a red ribbon in his tail at the endurance rides :( 

I had the most fun learning to vault onto the horse.  Similar to jumping on bareback, but instead of belly-flopping onto the horse, you kick your leg up and swing on.  The accomplished gamers did this at a gallop!  I practiced on a stout 12 h lovely pony and was very successful swinging myself into the saddle (at a stand still).  I then decided I need to be able to do this with 15 hand Sunny.   I was getting decent height but my shin kept banging into the high-cantle of the saddle.  Each time I banged into him and he stood like a statue he got a cookie.  I then got smart and removed the saddle and then successfully vaulted onto him bareback (maybe scrambled onto him...) but we were mounted! He got quite a few cookies and we ended on that note as he was being amazing, was relaxed, and was tired from all his pilates over the past 2 days.   Hopefully I will get to add-in some pictures of the mounted games soon!

I can't wait to keep playing with everything we learned and to see where we are in a few months. I am following the Perseverance Endurance conditioning schedule and we are 11 hours into the 48 hours of trail walking.  Hopefully in the spring we will have some crazy dressage skills and be ready to tackle the No Frills LD or 50!