Max's Horsemanship Journey

2010-07-25T08:57:00.000+01:00

Pat Parelli:

"4 things you need to be, to be successful in this programme as to be successful in life. 1) Attitude 2) Loyalty 3) Dedication 4) Ability, which is Talent and Skills."

Focus and release

2010-07-24T07:38:00.001+01:00

A "one to keep" note from Linda Parelli in her blog about Fran Latane's lesson.

"Focus on what you want to achieve, and hold that picture in your mind. That way you’ll know when your horse makes the slightest try in the right direction. Pressure motivates and release teaches, so becoming more accurate with your timing of when you release is key. When you first start learning this, you tend to release once your horse actually does what you want, and usually some seconds after he does which is realistically too late, but it’s a good start because most people don’t understand the concept of release, let alone the effective time to release. As you advance you become able to release the moment he starts to do it. Then when you see him thinking about doing it – you can read his intention. That’s why learning to read horses is such an important skill. But it’s a learning process and most people aren’t interested in becoming that savvy. It takes a lot of study, time and effort – that thing called never ending self-improvement."

12 things we need to be able to do with excellence...

2010-05-25T00:30:00.000+01:00

Haltering
Picking up all 4 feet
Saddling
Trailer loading
Bridling
Mounting (and dismounting)
9 step back up
Soft feel at halt
Lateral flexion
Direct rein
Indirect rein
Supporting/fixed rein

Sutton Park Sport Endurance Ride

2009-06-10T23:27:00.001+01:00

Just found this video diary of a ride we did at Sutton Park not long ago !

There are a couple of shots of me, Arch, Bryan and Harley.

It was a lovely day and a super ride !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEuf_DZa6mA

Max
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Proud of my pony today

2009-06-06T21:03:00.001+01:00

Actually proud of me too !

We have been with Dave Stuart for the day today and despite a wet morning it was really good.

We did some things this morning to get our horses moving out better on line, and some exercises I have done before to have the horse bend in his ribs on a circle.

We also spent some time on roping their legs. He had us wrap the ropes round both front legs to have the horse feel more down to his feet - Arch looked a little worried the first time he had both front feet roped up but then understood the situation and was able to take small steps confidently - it's much the same as you would do to teach a horse to hobble. He has to feel down to his feet rather than trying to panic and run through the pressure.

We also played with lifting the hind legs. He prefers to see us able to pick up a hind leg and then hold it and be able to put the toe down and have the horse turn loose prior to leading by the hind leg.

All this was done in the rain !

In the afternoon it brightened up and we saddle up and played a little bit on line then mounted up. He had those of us who were ready ride the field boundary at trot for 10 mins each way. He is very much a believer in taking the horse out on the trail and letting him find his own rhythm in trot and maybe trotting for 5 miles. It's good to know how much good it will be doing our two to be doing endurance rides - but he did stress you want to be trotting non stop for that time and we don't often do that - we'd probably do it if we were competing though. It's something we could probably do on the Pennine Bridleway if it weren't for gates !

Anyway I was really pleased that the hard work we've done with our follow the rail pattern paid off - we set off to do that around the field boundary and it was so much easier to have him follow my focus and stay straight and on the rail / trail. Helen had to pass me a couple of times as Paris was really trotting out but it was all fine and we maintained gait and direction.

We then did a lot of work on getting more bend in the horse ridden - so small circles moving the HQ and asking for bend from the withers backward as well as withers forward - using carrot stick in the outside hand to move the HQ or ask z1 to move.

We then turned these into serpentines which was harder at walk and easier in trot once Arch was moving forward again.

We then watched part 2 of what amounted to a colt start with Nicky and Toby. Dave had helped her saddle and she had been playing with him on the ground for a while then he had her mount and ride some fig 8 patterns. They did really well but you can see she either has a long journey ahead or the horse needs restarting properly. What was good to watch was Dave manage to get everyone riding safely by the end of the day.

Both boys were glad to get home to their field for some grass !

Max
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Dressage Today article

2009-05-22T23:29:00.002+01:00

Here's a link to Walter Zettl's article in Dressage Today.

http://www.zinio.com/pages/DressageToday/May-09/416078683/pg-30

Bridleless is so cool !

2009-05-22T08:18:00.002+01:00

This past week we've done a few different things.

Bry brought H back into play on Monday after his month off and we decided to start with a ride around the tracks between showers !

It's been rainy all week but we've been lucky to miss it all and not get rained on much !

We played a bit of leapfrog on the trail and I played with asking Arch for different speeds within the gait. We're getting to where we can do a fast extended trot if I add more energy from me and if I ask for less forward and more up energy we do a slower more elevated trot. Piaffe here we come. I do pick up the rein for the elevation to add a "don't go forward too much" which enables him to use his energy to come up. Feels good !

On Tuesday I rode in the school for a bit while Bry took H round the xcountry. It rained on Arch and I for a short while - enough to make us want to put our backs to the wind for a minute or two ! We just did some simple follow the rail and then I jumped off and we headed to meet Bryan coming back from his ride.

Popped the first two logs on the xcountry (hardly a challengefor Mr A) and then met Bry and H. Bry said they had found a lovely big deer antler near the triple jump so we went back and I got off and carried it home while they rode. It was too big and too spikey to carry on horse back without the risk of stabbing myself or Arch !

They did a great little jump of the tyres - walk up to the jump, back up, then go forward and pop it in trot - very nice !

Wednesday we decided on a longer ride so we headed off to go via Ingelby Toft down to the river and back via Stanton by Bridge. A good ride with lots of chances for Bry and H to play in puddles ! We got back in the dark at about 9.45. I love riding in the dark !

We spent all of last evening in the school. I had a lively play with Arch who went into stallion mode when he saw Emma fixing up jumps in the jump paddock so boy did we use that life ! The canter circles are really coming on now. He's getting the don't break gait message - I decided I was going to use changes of direction on a break to trot and that is working better than resending or trying to tag him / principle number 5, because then he gets claustrophobic of being between me and a fence even at long distances, and he keeps himself out at the end of the line to be out of tagging range !

We also did some more barrel jumping. He's not in love with jumping a barrel ....yet !

Then I mounted up and did a lot of carrot stick riding in trot for a while - follow the rail, circles (getting good at those now), cloverleaf and question box. We got one super canter transition in the question box - spot on right where I asked for it.

I love riding bridleless !

I then asked Bry to watch my canter transitions because each time his ears flick back and I can't work out what is going on in front of them.

What he said was that he flicks his ears back to ask the "did you want canter?" question - not being snotty. He did also put in a couple of snotty faces too. I think I am now getting to where I can read the difference - I also listen for a tail swish which is a sure fire way to know !

MY big issue in cantering in the school is having to unlearn keeping him going. I HAVE to do better at keeping my life up and riding canter in my body but keeping my legs OFF other than maybe to push him ribs over !!!!!

Hey I just remembered one cool thing we did do is a swing the shoulders off the rail and a transition to counter canter on the left lead going right. Didn't do that for too many strides but it was cool to get it.

When we got home and were snuggling up in bed to go to sleep Bry said that he thought that Arch looked a totally different horse to even a year ago and it was cool to watch us ! Nice to hear that - I always forget how far we've come from the horse who'd buck you off in the school to riding him confidently with no bridle.

Who wouldn't want that !?

Where to go....

2009-05-20T08:03:00.001+01:00

I just picked this up from someone on the Savvy Club.

I have seen it before but she'd typed it out all neatly so I am stealing it ! It's a good summary of how to progress !

1. Patterns Level 1 Online, Success 7 Games & Horsenality, Video Vault L1 Online, L1 Online Self Assessment, audition online L1

2. Patterns Level 2 Online, Video Vault L2 Online, L2 online self assessment, audition online L2

3. Patterns Level 1 Freestyle, Success Safe Ride and Fluidity, Video Vault L1 Freestyle

4. Patterns Online L3, Video Vault Online L3, L3 Online self assessment, audition online L3

5. Patterns Free Style Level 2, Success Calm Ride and Ride Out, Video Vault L2 Free style, Self Assess L2 Free Style, audition freestyle L2

6. Patterns Liberty Level 1, Success Natural Attraction and Beyond the Round Pen, Video Vault Liberty L1

7. Patterns Level 4 Online, Video Vault L4 Online, Self Assessment L4 Online, audition online L4

8. Patterns Freestyle Level 3, Video Vault Freestyle L3, Self Assessment Freestyle L3, audition freestyle L3

9. Patterns Liberty L2, Video Vault Liberty L2

10. Patterns Finese L1, Success Natural Collection and the Secret of Lead Changes, Video Vault Finesse L1

11. Patterns Freestyle L4, Video Vault freestyle L4, Self Assess Freestyle L4, audition freestyle L4

12. Patterns Liberty L3, Video Vault Liberty L3, Self assess Liberty L3, audition Liberty L3

13. Patterns Finesse L2, Video Vault Finesse L2

14. Patterns Liberty L4, Video vault Liberty L4, Self Assess Liberty L4, audition Liberty L4

15. Patterns Finesse L3, Video vault Finesse L3

16. Finesse L4, video Vault Finesse L4, Self Assess Finesse L4, audition Finesse L4

Max
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inspirational videos

2009-05-15T13:17:00.001+01:00

I picked these up from Kris Hughes on KIN.

Awesome audition videos.

Her name is Sylvia and as you see below she got 3++ in everything!

Congratulations!! Your Freestyle Savvy is level 3++! You are well on
your way to level 4! Great job!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s38w25KHWQ&feature=channel_page

Congratulations!!! Your Liberty Savvy is level 3++!! Wow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKbVhJwkOq8&feature=channel_page

Very nice!! Your On Line Savvy is level 3++ also! You are very close
to level 4!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XvafAyUrOA&feature=channel_page

Great !

Today is a gift. That's why they call it the present.

2009-05-14T13:25:00.001+01:00

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart.

To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.

Anger is only one letter short of danger.

If someone betrays you once, it is his fault; if he betrays you twice, it is your fault.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

He who loses money, loses much; he who loses a friend, loses much more; he who loses faith, loses all.

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

Friends, you and me. . . you brought another friend. . . and then there were three. . . we started our group. . . our circle of friends. . . and like that circle. . . there is no beginning or end. . . yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift. That is why they call it the present.

Eleanor Roosevelt

getting the hang of the 45ft line

2009-04-25T09:14:00.001+01:00

posted this to someone on the SC forum who asked about how to get on with the 45 ft line.

Thought I'd keep it.

I was shown a few things to do for getting the hang of the 45ft line !

The first thing I did was to take it for a walk and find a big tree with lots of tough bark. I then spent a while rubbing it back and forth on the tree to soften it up ! I had a friend who tied hers to the back of her car and drove up the drive to her stables with it trailing.

Then the next thing I did was to take my horse out on line to somewhere nice he could graze and while he grazed I practiced throwing the coils away and coiling it up again.

I had a friend who had said she'd set herself a target to do that a number of times and I thought that was a cool idea so I did that.

The other thing I did was to make sure my horse saw the 45ft line as a friendly thing. I knew that at some point I would get it round his legs and mine and I wanted to know that he would not panic so we played lots of friendly with it and I taught him to yield to pressure from it on all four legs.

I also made sure that our HQ disengage was really good so that if he got tangled in it I could stop him dead and either bring him in or have him wait for me to come and detangle him.

I also got better at using my peripheral vision to keep an eye on where the rope is when I am playing.

Ali Jones advised me not to get into the habit of carrying it on my arm and not to get into the habit of leaving it coiled in the ground where I or a horse could get a foot in the coils.

My habit was to be to uncoil it as soon as possible and have it trail out uncoiled.

I also practiced dragging with it so that if I let go for any reason and my horse runs away and it is dragging behind him it does not panic him.

I have seen a horse run in panic from a trailing 45ft line and it was pretty hard to get him stopped even in an arena.

I also had a great session one time with an instructor where we played at using leverage from solid obstacles to teach a horse to yield to light pressure on the halter so that if he snags the rope he will yield to the pressure and turn and face the rope.

We did it by sending the horse around a huge bail of straw and using the bale for leverage - you can do the same by sending the horse around a tree. It's pretty hard for us to have enough leverage on our own to teach a horse to yield to pressure on the halter but this really worked and now my previously heavy leaden horse stops and turns to face the rope if the rope snags on anything.

So, lots there to think about to prepare your rope, yourself and your horse for the delights of playing at 45ft !

Thoughts on playing with a horse at liberty

2009-04-23T13:18:00.001+01:00

I was asked a question by someone on the yard about what is involved with playing at liberty. They were interested in using the round pen and wanted to know what was involved.

I put some thoughts down for them and this is how it went.

When we think about liberty the word that comes to mind is TRUTH !

When we take the halter and line off a horse then everything the horse does with us shows us the truth about the state of our relationship.

Liberty is all about having what we call "natural attraction". This means that the horse is attracted to us and wants to be with us. There are a lot of things we can do to have the horse naturally attracted. The horseanality chart and the strategies for each horseanality tell us that.

Horses are attracted to their leader and want to be with their leader. The leader is someone who inspires confidence and trust and who shows leadership - makes good decisions, offers some discipline and has clear rules and boundaries of behaviour.

Remember that with horses this does not always mean being "nice".

A leader in a herd is the dominant horse. Horses can be dominant in different ways but being the dominant horse does mean setting clear rules about what behaviour is and is not tolerated, and making good decisions.

The leader is the one who controls the food and water supply, disciplines behaviour, decides who is going to get to interact with whom.

In a normal wild herd situation the lead mare goes out in front and the stallion leads from behind.

When Archie is out and we are riding with a herd he prefers to go behind because his instinct as the dominant male leader he believes himself to be, is to be at the back driving everyone forward. He expects the lead mare to make the decisions about where to go, and he will follow but he will be driving the horse in front.

When I ride Archie out I put him in front as often as possible to overcome that and to prove to him that I am the lead mare and as I am sitting on him he needs to go where I want to go and that means being in front. When we are in front I usually make the decisions about where we are going to go. I say usually because sometimes I offer him the choice of which direction to go when it doesn't matter which path we take.

Archie is very dominant with Harley - he bites him, he chases him, he won't let him drink from the trough with him unless we are there (because as herd leaders Bryan and I allow both to drink at once and Arch knows that) and he will drive him away from the hay in the field if we are not close enough to do something about it. Yet Harley WANTS to be with Archie and will follow him anywhere and he neighs for him when he is gone. That tells you something about what horses perceive as good leadership - and it is different to what we perceive. We could look at that situation and say that Archie is mean and nasty to Harley, but then you when you think that Harley craves Arch's company you have to start to think more like a horse to understand that.

Arch can come up and rub his head on Harley and Harley tolerates it because he knows he is underdog. He could walk away and Arch would probably not go after him but Harley would NEVER think of rubbing his head on Arch. You just don't do that to the leader. This is horse etiquette !

So the first thing to understand is that we need two things to be in place for the horse to want to be with us and for the horse to therefore do what we ask at liberty.

So, number one is Love - also known as Rapport - which comes from having trust - and a horse that wants to be with us because he likes us.

Number two is Leadership - also known as Respect - from a horse that thinks we are the herd leader and he should do as we ask without argument or opposition.

The other thing we need is Language. We need to be able to communicate to the horse in his language, what it is we want him to do. So he needs to understand that the friendly game means do nothing, that the porcupine / steady pressure means move away from that pressure and that the driving game / rhythmic pressure means move also in the direction indicated. So we need that language to be refined to the extent that we can move the horse's feet where we want them to go.

Without each of these in place, attempting to play at liberty with a loose horse is not going to be that successful one way or the other. In fact now I think about it if any one of those is missing or weak then doing pretty much anything with a horse is not going to be that easy !

So I need to be able to direct the front of the horse and the back of the horse and I need to be able to move the horse from side to side, backwards and forwards by touching him lightly AND without touching him at all.

What it means is that if I am going to be successful at liberty then I need to be able to do everything I do on line, with the belly of the rope on the ground. So if I ask the horse to circle he puts slack in the line - I do not need the rope to keep him from running away. If I squeeze him between me and something or ask him to do a fig 8 pattern, I need to be able to do it with slack in the line the whole time - so that if I took the rope off the horse would still do that pattern for me and not think about leaving.

So, it means getting your on line really good and not taking the rope off until you can do everything with it on but not need to use it to keep the horse with you !

Easy then !

At last !

2009-04-20T09:59:00.003+01:00

We have a round pen !

It just goes to show that good things come to people who wait and DON'T complain !

I wonder if people will eventually twig that when you are appreciative of what your yard owner does for you and say thank you for the small things, she offers to do more, and when you complain...she offers to do less !

Someone wrote a snotty anonymous note on the board months ago about feed prices going up. It really upset her as she does that as a service and makes little out of it. I'd be surprised if she covers her time and diesel costs delivering it.

When I managed to find one of our supplements for a lower price on line I simply stopped ordering it from her. She asked me why one day and I told her I could get it on line for less by buying in bulk and that I thought it would be cheeky of me to expect her to match that price as the supplier can clearly do it for less due to buying power. I was bowled over when she offered to match the price. How cool is that !

Now I wonder what would have happened if the folks who did the snotty note writing had considered approaching her politely and asking her if she could match the price they are getting elsewhere? She would probably had said yes. Instead people now go and spend precious time and their own diesel getting their own feed. Silly really. It's what you might call cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Anyway there is a moral to that story ! Ask and you will receive, complain and you won't.

Anyway we didn't ask for the round pen but she suggested it some time ago about 2 years by my recollection after people complained that we mess up the school doing Parelli.

Whether that is true or not does not really matter because now due to someone else complaining she got us a round pen ! Hurrah !

And what is even better is that because we some people had a go about us not putting jumps back up in the jump paddock once only she said we could put some obstacles in the round pen too.

Hurrah. Just goes to show how one person's complaint can be someone else's improvement.

We played in it yesterday and it was perfect - we got the dimensions just right !

Arch can canter in it fine and having somewhere to play without corners in is perfect.

Bryan had a cool session doing fig 8's and Arch and I played with jumping the barrel and transitions and change of direction.

I had a lovely hug from Mandy too when she got back from her day at Eden Lodge. Thanks for that !

After our play in the round pen we went for a super trail ride through Robin Wood.

I decided to let Arch choose the route home once we were in the woods. He chose a tricky track which was muddy and slippy in places but we had fun negotiating fallen trees and found some logs to jump. H did great too.

He chose to come back via the back of the cross country at Knowle Hill and then through the gate past the pond.

Both of them were chilled the whole time and we had an awesome ride which is why Bryan decided now is the time to rest Harley for a month.

It is hard for him to do that as H is going great but that is why it is the best time to do it.

So the little yellow horse is going to be chilling for a few weeks !

It's sunny and beautiful today so I am going to play with Arch again in the round pen and then maybe go for a little ride.

Lots of fun ! It just gets better every day.

Miller Magic on assumptions...

2009-04-16T07:57:00.002+01:00

One of my savvy Eagles and I have been having a discussion about Principle Number 2.

His thoughts are as usual insightful !

"To share my conclusion about Anticipation vs Assumption: I concluded (defined?) anticipation can be linked to positive qualities whereas, in Parelli land, assumption is usually associated with negative things.

Here are some of the connotations I made:

Anticipation as being associated with offfering suggestions; being 'tuned in'; 'try'; partnership; cooperation.

Assumption as being about 'tuning out'; 'I know that' attitude; non-thinking; often associated with an unconscious habit.

Does anyone ever make an assumption in advance; as part of a plan? Careful planners (including scientists) will declare their assumptions up front but is this a presumption?

<Exits stage L in order to check dictionary>

Dammit! Apparently, the online dictionary makes no distinction between presume and assume?! I was ASSUMING (ha ha ha) that the 'pre' in 'presume' was a prefix as in 'pre-existing' etc. So, no tidy dictionary definititon!

In summary;

Assumption = Tuned out in the sure knowledge that you already understand.

Anticipation = Offering suggestions. Tuning in to question whether you have understood; recognising that the need / goal / leader's instructions might change.

Anticipation = Trying to get the right answer; trying to understand.

Assumption = Knowing you have the right answer; that you have understood.

Oh, and let's not forget that "Anticipation is 9/10th of the pleasure!". As Pooh said when asked by Christopher Robin what was his favourite thing and he initially replied, "Honey. No, wait. The thought of honey."

These are just my associations and they took some time to weedle out! I am not sure that there IS a definitive answer but I will be sure to ask Dave Stewart when I next bump into him.

NLP teaches that words, even plain nouns, hold a myriad of personal associations.

When I mention the word, 'beach' do you think of;

Golden yellow sand, blue skies, pure white clouds, aqua green/ blue seas, the taste of ice cream, the look and feel of sandcastles, the warmth of sunshine, light breezes, the sound of the call of gulls etc

Or, can you imagine someone else thinking of;

Cold, wet sand seeping into every bodily crevice, high winds, black clouds, rain, arguing parents, tar (or worse!) on your feet and swim costume, sunburn, sand in the sandwiches AND the sun tan cream etc.

In truth we have probably all experienced a bit of both - but I, for one, remember the positive version.

I am now starting to think that if a simple noun like 'beach' is that complicated, 'anticipation' and 'assumption' might well prove more complex. The lists I have above are the associations I, as an individual, have with each word; yours may well be different. Perhaps this is also an aspect of the answer?"

Great stuff huh (she says wriggling her toes at the thought of sand in the shoes !)

Playday !

2009-04-15T06:42:00.001+01:00

We had a fab playday on Easter Monday thanks to Lynne's suggestion !

Playdays are hard work and it was well worth it considering how many of the study group turned out - almost everyone who could !

Bryan and I spent a couple of hours on Sunday clearing the play paddock of debris. There were broken jump wings. bits of broken poles, fillers that had been left lying on the grass all winter, buckets, a pile of rusting jump cups left on the ground where any horse could have stepped on them. Half of the stuff lying around had screws or nails sticking out of it or bits of sharp metal hanging off.

We had a great time piling up all the broken stuff in the corner and then we fenced it off with some orange barriers that Eileen said we could use and which had been lying all over the yard since we came here years ago - so that any horse that is put in there to graze is no longer at risk of standing on something and getting injured.

We then set up some obstacles including an ingenious trailer loading simulator with some of the orange barriers, a sundial, a jump, the bridge, a tyre and poles ready for a tarp.

On the Monday morning Paula and Charley came up and helped put out chairs and the other bits and pieces.

A bunch of people arrived about 11 and we had tea in the kitchen and then mosied up to the paddock.

Paula could not stay for long but she left Topsy with us for people to play with which was awesome of her ! Thanks Paula !

We had a bit of a play session for an hour or so and then sat down so we could explain about some simulations we had planned.

Everyone got going doing those - the first one on personal space and bubbles and the second on harmony / matching and mirroring while I took some pics and some video.

After lunch we played with our horses and I saddled Arch up so that Clive could have a ride in the Natural Performer. He had a nice ride - Arch offered him some canter so he got to feel how it was to canter in the saddle and on Arch !

Then Jane decided to get brave and sit on Arch and before long she was doing fig 8's round the barrels.

Bryan got the other spectators going with their halters and ropes practicing a phase 4 on the fence. The fence survived but I didn't see it back up at any point !

Bry had a little ride on Harley and by the end was jumping bareback (he is a daredevil !).

Everyone had a great day and I think there were a few big learning moments from the simulations.

Arch was definitely in play mode - with an audience he was pretty keen that everyone got to see his pole walking game !

Quote from the "Intender's Bridge" via wyldehorse63 on SC forum....

2009-04-14T07:07:00.001+01:00

One of the great lessons of your lives is that you attract to yourself, and must live out in your everyday experience, that which you oppose.

You must learn to allow others to go through life without your interference, and know that your unwanted experiences will cease only when you have finally relinquished your tendency to resist them.

Your opposition to anything, be it a person or an institution, always makes things worse.

www.intenders.org

When is a pattern not a pattern ? When it's a habit !

2009-04-10T21:14:00.001+01:00

This was a question a friend of mine posted to Parelli member support, together with the answer she got !

Great answer !

"I have a steep ramped, side loading horse box. My horse willingly goes into the box and travelling is no problem. I can stand by the front wheel and send him up the ramp and into the box without any problems. However, he then goes into the squeeze game pattern, turns in the box and stands with his front feet on the ramp and waits.

..... I don't want to make him feel wrong because he is giving me the pattern I have taught him. In fact this pattern is so ingrained in him now that on occasions when he has spooked when out on a trail ride, he has turned to face what has frightened him. He used to be extreme RB, so this pattern has been a fantastic tool to bring the left side of his brain into gear....... "

The reply;

"How can you change your horse's behaviour so that it isn't about the trailer? Can you play the YoYo game into the trailer? How about Sideways?

If you can change your communication so that it is more about communication and less about the obstacle, it will be perfect. You also have an established Pattern. Patterns are great, but the difference between a Pattern and a habit is whether or not it can be changed. Habits are difficult to change; Patterns are a foundation for variation.

Does that make sense?

My suggestion is that you start to play Seven Games with the obstacle and develop the ability to be particular without being critical."

Q&A's I admire !

2009-04-10T07:20:00.001+01:00

This question was posed by a student on the SC forum.

I wanted to save it because I think the response is awesome !

"Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or tips on what has worked; how do I politely ask people not to cluck April on when I am playing and catching, not to go up to her and pat it in a 'traditional' way and not to barge in and interupt us?! I'm the only person who uses natural horsemanship on my yard & although they all think its interesting I think that they think I'm abit weird & don't really want to know why I do things the way I do, so I'm struggling to get these 3 messages across politely! Any suggestions would be welcome!"

Claire said:

"How about seeing these challenges as a test of yours and your horse's emotional fitness together in partnership. She is so focused on you that other people clucking means nothing, your focus and balance is so strong that their clucking does not interrupt your thoughts or intention, your horse's emotional fitness is so good that a pat from a well-meaning human means nothing bad, its just a human thang! And how about creating an air of strength and energy that people don't 'barge in' but if they do, you are able to calmly, without getting frustrated or mad, ask them if they would mind allowing you some time with your horse and you'll get back to them later.

If you start trying to control everything else around you, you could be on a fruitless mission that could detract from your journey of self-improvement. Its a boundless universe of distraction if you look hard enough."

Chill time

2009-04-08T22:46:00.002+01:00

Went up for some chill time tonight and ended up helping Carole with Sox at feeding time.

Very straightforward - she is dominant as you like but easy to persuade she's not the leader !

Arch and I then had a little less time together so we went grazing and chatted to Eva.

I think he is ready to be out at night as he wanted to go exploring !

Canter circles on line

2009-04-08T07:22:00.002+01:00

We are working up to achieving good flying lead changes on our change of direction on a circle and 10 - 20 laps of canter on line at the moment.

I am particular about the quality of the canter now also so playing around with rewarding (and bringing him in) for:
- change of attitude - meaning quitting when he is making effort in the canter
- relaxation - when he stretches forward and down but maintains effort
- nice direction changes

I am persisting in having him understand that it is his job to maintain gait and direction which with an LBI - canter combination is challenging ! As you might expect circles have been our weak spot throughout this journey !

The challenge is proving to be one of obedience now. He knows what I want and he tests to see how much I want it. So my job is to convince him I am serious about him achieving good canter circles and that I will wait for him to find relaxation, rhythm, balance and impulsion.

So I am experimenting with getting his life up before I ask for circles, improving my send, principle number 5, and persistence !

Last night we achieved 10 laps in canter. The first 7 or 8 were fast and furious but not snotty although he had a paddy when I corrected his third break of gait and shot off like a bullet from a gun !

Bryan asked if I actually wanted gallop !

I decided to leave him alone to charge along on the circle for a while and turned away from the fence to take the pressure off him because he was speeding up between me and the place I had headed to on the fence when he broke gait.

When he breaks gait I quickly come out of the centre of the circle and head to the place on the fence where he broke gait and smack the ground hard where he was when he broke gait. That usually gets the message across !

Anyway I left him out there going pretty fast in canter /gallop to work out what he needed to do to relax and slow down to the kind of pace and attitude I wanted.

That took him 10 laps and I clicked and brought him in the MOMENT he slowed to the pace I wanted and lowered his head and softened his expression. Until then he'd been pretty elevated, fast and furious !

I keep Honza's words in my mind that the horse learns from the release - he learns that what you want is what he was doing when you quit asking him to do it, or when you ask him to quit doing what you had asked.

This is why the moment of release it is so important and why I use a bridge signal of the click to say "that was the moment buddy !"

We had some nice canter the other way and then Harley helped us out !

Bryan had been playing some awesome liberty - he'd managed some circles and fig 8 - awesome and lucky Carole got to watch his circling while she was talking to me.

Anyway Bryan used up his draw and Harley trotted over to where Arch and I were circling at canter.

He came inside our circle as Arch was coming round the corner and a clever Arch stopped and turned and face me as the rope went around Harley's HQ. H was not worried but Arch actually just felt the pressure on the rope and yielded to it and stopped so I could move Harley.

Arch is SO sensible when things like that happen. He kind of works out what the best thing to do is and asks me questions. He looked at me as if to say " I know I was meant to be circling but I thought it might be best to stop so you can disentangle Harley...is that OK ?"

Another time Bryan was circling H the other end I was circling Arch in canter and they kind of met in the middle, Arch broke to trot, swerved to avoid H and picked up canter again of his own accord. That got him a click and a break ! He showed me that he understood his responsibility - to keep cantering but made a clever decision that that did not include mowing Harley down in the process. He showed me that he was looking where he was going and he made a smart decision to take evasive action. That is exactly what I would want him to do if I was on board so that got him a lot of brownie points !

So the canter circles journey improves !

Oh and I forgot ...we got a couple of awesome barrel straddle jumps. He got it !

Learning new things

2009-04-04T06:56:00.002+01:00

Last night I taught Arch to straddle jump a barrel....meaning, he jumps with barrel with the front feet only and then stops.

He found it pretty hard !

It was a big squeeze for him to have pressure behind to go forward and pressure in front to stop.

I've also recently taught him to jump a single barrel in an open space (i.e. not using the fence for support) and so he is quite keen to show me he can do that !

He tried to jump between me and the barrel and at one point he spun around and tried to leave. I could tell he was a little bit in between saying "I can't do this !" and "I won't do this" so I had to play with the horse that showed up moment to moment.

He managed to do it once and calmly so I quit there and we had 5 mins or so scratches, treats and an ear rub. The flies were bad so he appreciated me keeping them out of his ears.

He was a little fired up after that and we got some awesome canter on the 45ft line - to the extent that he did not want to come in - so what does that tell me ?

I lost some draw teaching him to jump the barrel and when I played with him to achieve the canter.

The trouble is that if I shorten my rope to bring him back in he goes faster ...he is thinking "she is shortening the rope so she can get me closer to spank me if I break gait so I had best keep going !"

I guess what I am saying here is that we have to work on the drive / draw balance the whole time.

Sometimes I need more drive, and then I might need to improve my draw. Sometimes I have too much draw and then I need to improve my drive.

Mostly these days I need to improve my draw.

After that we had an awesome 2 and half hour trail ride with Bryan and Harley through the woods. H was ace - he walks on water !

ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME

2009-04-03T11:31:00.003+01:00

Principle number 2 is Make and Teach no Assumptions

At our last study group Clive bravely presented on this topic. He'd researched some of the assumptions people can make about horses:

- Horses are safe and simple !
- If a horse has been ridden, it is rideable no matter what
- The same technique will work to train every horse
- If something goes wrong it's the horse's fault
- If the horse did something one day he will do it the next
- Horses think the same way as us
- Horses value the same things that we do (praise, recognition and material things)
- That a horse will not hurt people, other horses or himself if he feels he needs to save himself
- That bigger bits = better brakes

We also discussed some of the interesting ways in which people think about horses...
- That horses do things to show us up in public
- That a horse that is scared of a trailer when he is outside of it will be better when he is inside it
- That spurs are useful tools to get impulsion from a horse

We also looked at ways in which as people we sometimes teach horses to make assumptions and train patterns which then prove undesirable, such as:

- As soon as I get on we ride off
- We always trot / canter / gallop in the same place
- It is OK to walk into or run over people
- It is OK to walk or run off with people when you are being led
- It is OK to break gait (up or down) and to stop or take off without being asked when ridden
- It is OK to invade the human's space
- When I lead you in from the field at night, we never stop and there is always food in your stable when we get there
- When I lead you out to the field we never stop on the way.
- When we get back from a hack out you always get food and a rest
- When I come to your field and catch you at any other time than bedtime, I take you somewhere to do some WORK !
- You will panic if you step on your lead rope

Often by the time we realise we have made these assumptions we have a problem !

We then discussed whether there are any GOOD assumptions you can teach a horse ?

Clive started off by saying how about "when we are riding, assume I want you to walk unless I say otherwise"

We refined that to say "When we are riding, what ever gait I ask for, stay in that gait until I ask you to do something different".

Sam had a great one...she wants her horse to always assume that he must stand still to be mounted and not move off until asked to.

So, then we moved onto the subject of what happens if a horse starts to learn from the assumptions we teach them ? Well we concluded it means that the horse is taking over the leadership and not seeking direction from their human leader. The horse is in charge of the situation and making the decisions.

This can even happen if we teach something desireable !

Janey and I told the story of how I asked her to stand on a block to circle Arch so that it helped her to keep her feet still. Trouble is I have taught Arch to come to me when I stand on a block so that I can get on !

So I have taught Arch to ASSUME that when someone stands on a block he should come over and stand next to them so they can mount.

Of course Janey did not realise this so thought Arch was trying to push her off the block - which actually he probably was 'cos he is naughty like that when he plays with someone new - he likes to find out what they know !!!!

Very funny at the time but it helped me to see I had taught an assumption. I'm not about to unteach it because for me at this time this is an assumption do I want him to make - a bit like Sam saying she wants her horse to stand still, but I do vary which side I get on so he asks the question - "which side this time ?".

We then discussed ANTICIPATION !

Often people say "my horse is anticipating" when actually if they didn't prevent the next move the horse would actually just go right ahead and do the thing he is anticipating.

So really anticipation is not anticipation it is assumption.

We decided that anticipation is when the horse asks the question..."I could canter here if you like ?" or "would you like ME to trot now" or "what would you like me to do with this barrel ?"

For example when I ride out with Arch he has learned that when we don't change gait until I ask for it. So we can walk behind another horse, the rider in front can ask for trot and I almost always leave it a few strides before I ask for trot. Arch will often almost always cock an ear back at me and tell me he is prepared to trot but he will carry on walking until I start to trot in my body and then he will join in.

We are training that in canter too - so Bryan might ask Harley to canter off in front and I will stay in walk or trot behind.

So a horse with fantastic anticipation is the hover-craft horse who says "Apart from standing still, I could go forwards, backwards, left, right, up or down at any given moment in any direction and in any situation...which is it to be ?????"

Make no assumptions, teach no assumptions !

Clive's finale was a quote from a poster on the boardroom wall of a rather large corporation, whose MD was an ex navy chap...

"Assumption is the mother of all f-ck-ups !"

Cheers Clive !

Nice evening ride

2009-03-31T07:27:00.002+01:00

eek but what flies !

We decided to make the most of the new British Summer Time (light nights !) and go for an after-work ride.

I took A up to the jumping paddock and we played briefly on the 45ft line - enough to get his saddle cinched. He was pretty good - found his way nicely over some scattered jump poles.

The jump paddock is a mess though - broken jumps all over the place and people seem to think it is OK to leave jump cups lying on the ground - I wonder what would happen if anyone's horse stood on one !

I think Bry and I might have a clear out up there sometime and collect some firewood !

Anyway we had a nice play but the flies were awful so we came out pretty quick, hopped and set off towards the woods.

Both horses were calm and chilled as you like right off the bat. When we got to the entrance to 7 spouts we noticed that they have planted some trees - tiny saplings - to obviously make a hedge at right angles to the road as you go through the gap in the hedge.

Arch noticed too and needed to spend a minute looking at them to decide what they might be !

I sat on him and stroked him on the other side of the road while he worked out if they were safe. He thought about turning for home once or twice but I faced him back at them and sat and relaxed while he took them in. I asked him forward once gently and he said "Not yet - give me a moment" so I did and waited a little longer. He cocked an ear back at me which was my cue to say "It's OK they are safe we can go now" and I asked him forward with a little more leadership.

We strided through - not confident but curious and he had a good sniff at them and concluded they were harmless.

Harley followed through a moment or two later and got so curious he pulled one of the saplings out of the ground ! So B got off an replanted it and we set of again.

As we came down onto Warsick Lane we noticed a tree that had fallen completely across the track - there was no way through so we took a path into a field following some hoof prints and rode around the edge of the field, until we were almost at the other path at the far end.

Which is when I noticed that Harley had lost a boot ! Damn ! Hey ho, so we turned around and retraced our steps and found the boot just at the place where we had come into the field.

All 4 boots were a bit loose because we'd just put new pads in the bottom and they had compressed. So B had a boot faff, and we made our way home via some nice grazing spots.

Arch was chilled the whole time - being good at keeping his distance from H and happy in front or behind. He noticed a Pheasant in the cover in the field but considering we were in new territory in the field and at dusk he was super calm and relaxed and he was cool to when we set of back on boot quest. I KNOW he likes to feel like we have a purpose to our rides.

I remember once riding around the cross country looking for Andrea and Midge one time they had come over for a playday. He knew we were on a mission and he was in a great mood. We didn't find them as they had come back already and we didn't catch them up but I enjoyed the ride !

Its great to have this extra daylight !

Trailertastic

2009-03-30T15:14:00.003+01:00

Had a great day playing at Clive and Jane's.

Of course we have a charmed life so once again it was sunny and warm !

We started off indoors and I had an impromptu NLP session with Jane - thanks Jane very useful !

While we were doing that Clive and Bryan carted all the stuff over to the field and Arch and Harley enjoyed some unexpected grass in the field.

Bry and I then played at liberty with Arch and Harley for a while then we headed for the trailer.

To my surprise Arch loaded at liberty really happily ! I kind of asked him to stick to me and headed for the trailer and he hopped on. Cool horse.

Bryan got some great video of us practicing our L3 load and Arch was cool. I even managed to turn him around on the ramp and back him in twice - at liberty and on line.

Not bad given that we don't have a trailer !

Then I went in the school, saddled up and did a little riding, some jumping and some trot the rail.

I then sat on Arch for a while and helped Clive to do an ace trailer load with Jazz. He was doing great but got frustrated about 2 minutes before they had a breakthrough. I encouraged him to keep going and within 2 minutes later he had Jazz loading like a pro. So the rule for Clive now is - just when you are ready to give up, look at your watch and give it 2 more minutes.

By the end of it - I would say within 45 mins Jazz was doing a Level 3 trailer load...standing way away from the trailer and sending the horse on off a circle. VERY Cool !

Then we helped Jane with Jack. Jack was running off with her in trot and her tendency was to prevent him. So we made a rule that she was to use 1 rein only, and she could only pick up the rein if he broke to canter. As long as he trotted - no matter what speed she was to leave him alone and just ride whatever trot he offered. If he stopped she'd ask him to trot again and if he cantered she'd bend him to a trot then go forward again.

Jane also needed to push on his neck more to keep her bum in the saddle - her tendency is to tip forward which made him faster. After about 5 laps of this - with her going with his fast trot and on a loose rein, he blew, relaxed and adopted a nice calm but active and much easier to ride trot. They both needed to go through this and they got a nice calm trot on a loose rein and he stopped being a runaway ! Cool day.

The boys then got to graze a while while we ate a late lunch - very late....like about 5pm kind of late!

Great day though and lovely weather !

Birds of a feather

2009-03-30T15:08:00.002+01:00

Just listening to a DVD about Pat Parelli's mentors - Tom Dorrance, Ronnie Willis, Ray Hunt, Troy Henry.

I like this quote ...

"Birds of a feather flock together. People who are truly seeking horsemanship will recognise each other. "

One for my savvy eagles !

3 adages from the samurai, on the spirit required to know the Way

2009-03-29T07:40:00.001+01:00

1. Don't ask, practice.

Some questions no one can answer but yourself. Practice properly and the answers will come to you in time. The only route to understanding the Way is through your own experience.

2. Seven times down, eight times up.

If you slip in your training, get up. Even should you think defeatist thoughts--'I can't learn this,' 'My hands aren't strong enough,' 'I'll never be any good'--never voice them aloud. Burn such thoughts from your mind before you make a single utterance.

The famed martial artist Bruce Lee was said to have done that exact thing: Whenever a negative thought came into his head, he would visualize writing the words down on a slip of paper and putting it to flames.

Apply this thinking to your own training.

3. The only opponent is within.

What matters on the path of Zen is not the obstacles we face but how we respond to them. Master your reaction to the unforeseen and unfortunate circumstance, and you will master the Way of Zen ."

Thanks for that Cathy !

Power House

2009-03-26T08:00:00.002Z

We did a pleasure ride on Sunday at Sherwood Pines.

First real one of the season with Anne and it was great to have her there as my endurance riding buddy.

Arch was a good chap from the word go. Sometimes I get him out of the stable and I know right away we need to play hard for a short while. Sunday didn't need to do that at all.

We got suited and booted and loaded up easy. When we got there we left them on the lorry with the back door open while we went and checked in.

Trot up was good - he led nicely to the vet, and trotted up with nice energy along side of me - bit of adrenalin but that makes for a better trot !

Tacked up nice and easy and moved his feet a little so I could get the cinch done up and then off we went.

He had plenty of go from the outset which was good but the trot was mostly calm and the walk was very calm.

The trouble is these days he trots a lot faster than he used to - we now have some GO !!! And he can do it most of the time without getting impulsive and emotional. He just goes along like a steam train. Trouble is Tara gets emotional at speed - what she needs is to be allowed to go at speed in trot without breaking gait and on a loose rein until she calms down but if she is held back she just gets worse because she fights and it is no fun for Anne if she throws herself around.

She actually needs to trot a very big rail in an open space for a few days !

Anyway we swapped positions a few times and Arch was fine in front or behind - he will stay behind and keep a distance and it is not so difficult for Anne if she is in front I think. He is also Ok if horses come up fast from behind and trot past so he is more use to us if we are behind as Tara will tend to want to follow the horses in front.

We did stop and let a lot of people pass us who were clearly racing so we lost a bit of time and were over time at the finish (like we cared !)

A few times I asked him to trot slower by lifting my rein and boy did he lean on the pressure ! So I had to wait a while with my arm lifted until he yielded. We need to work on that at speed - something we can do when out with Bryan and Harley. I guess I have not done it for a while now I think about it but it needs to be super light. The trick is to hold passively until he softens.

Tara did come up his behind once and he actually flicked up his hind end at her so I helped Anne by getting my string and waving it behind me and that helped Tara decide to keep a distance.

When we got back they were angels - we trotted up and collected our rosettes and then turned them loose when we got back to the lorry - they will stay grazing near the lorry with their ropes on the ground and they don't leave so they can relax and we can relax and eat lunch.

I got chatting to some people with two Icelandics who were from Spalding. They had only done 3 rides with them ever so they had done well ..I gave them Sportendurance details as they had found the EGB folks a little snotty at times.

They commented on how calm our horses were that we could just let them loose in an area with lots of other horses and people milling about. When i think about it it's easy - just do a 10 mile ride at speed and your horse might just want to stand still and eat !

And the lady doing the timing commented to me how much she liked Parelli - she said she had had a lesson with Dave Stuart a few years ago and he had taught her how to back her horse - she said it had come in very useful once when she had had no option but to back her horse out of a difficult situation.

I also got a wave from someone crewing who said "hey a Parelli person !" and waved all friendly and some one else flew past me at speed and said "nice set up" whatever that means ! I think she liked my saddle !

As we were collecting our rosettes someone behind me in the queue (I had Arch with me) said "you need to just be careful your horse is going to stand on his rope"

I said "thankyou but he is fine he does it all the time", whereupon he stood on his rope, felt the pressure, came off the pressure, lifted his foot deftly off the rope and carried on eating. Oh yes and he grinned at her.....

The law of attraction

2009-03-25T22:32:00.002Z

A lot of what I am doing in my horsemanship is to do with personal development.

Once you realise that the only way to change the way your horse behaves with you is to change how you behave yourself then that's a pretty almighty thing to discover and to own !

A lot of people give up on Parelli once they reach this realisation because it is a very difficult thing to accept and it is MUCH easier to blame something or someone else, or to blame the horse for the way a horse is.

All the time I hear from people who say "it's not working because" or "my horse doesn't like this" or "this does not work for me".

Sometimes I ask "so what could you do differently ?" or "what more information do you think you might need to help you change that". Often people say "more horse doesn't understand ...." as if it is the horse's responsibility to make more effort to understand and not ours to make more effort to work out how to communicate with the horse.

The simple question of all is "what do you imagine will happen if you carry on doing what you have always done ?" and eventually the person might arrive at the conclusion that nothing will change and then by and by realise that the only way to change the horse is to change themselves. But that is VERY tough and not everyone can hack it.

Anyway back to the self improvement business.

Parelli defines itself as follows :

You know you are a Parelli student when you....

1) Put the relationship with your horse first (and that means having respect and trust)
2) Play with your horse and study horsemanship in 4 ways - on line, at liberty, riding freestyle (aiming for bridleless) and riding with finesse.
3) are dedicated to never ending self improvement.

So we need to work on all of these all at once.

Now the self improvement malarky works also on 3 dimensions. Mental, emotional and physical.

So how can I improve my brain, learn to control my emotions and get fitter and more athletic.

I expect those things of my horse and my horse deserves that also from me. Why should I expect my horse to be calm, brave, smart and athletic if I am not calm, fit and balanced.

So, what is hardest for the human ?...because if we work on the principle that you only improve what you practice (and if you don't practice something it won't improve) then we need to practice the one that is hardest.

In my case my biggest area of self improvement is emotional fitness.

There are a number of angles to come at that from but one I am looking into at the moment is the concept of self-limiting beliefs and the law of attraction.

The law of attraction says that people's thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) dictate the reality of their lives, whether or not they're aware of it.

In short...you ARE what you think. I remember as a child somehow working out or maybe I read somewhere that if believe something about yourself - good or bad you tend to act in a way that makes that a reality - in other words you make it happen.

It's all to do with affirming for yourself your own beliefs - or put more simply - proving yourself right. Wierdly enough we do this to ourselves whether those beliefs are good for us or not !

Yes OK sometimes bad things happen but then the evidence suggests that people with positive self beliefs profit from and recover quickly from bad things happening whereas people with negative self beliefs get worse.

My friend Mrs P can be REALLY good at that ! We broke down in the lorry a couple of times last year. She spent most of the time going "well at least we have x and at least we have y and at least we aren't in this situation or that situation". She is an "oh boy" person and guess what she has lots of friends, met a lovely man within weeks of her divorce and her social life is a whirl.
She has a totally bad time in the last year with personal troubles but she has bounced back because she is essentially a positive thinker who finds something positive to say in really bad situations.

I also have people who I tend to avoid - because I don't want to be around them - who constantly have disasters, are ill or have accidents, seem to be in a permanent state of moving from one crisis to another and seem to revel in it. They are not great people to be around because their beliefs that they are unlucky, incapable, disorganised, chaotic, prone to accidents come true all the time. They are "poor me" people and they attract problems like moths to a flame. It is interesting how women with low self esteem tend to attract men who affirm their self belief and they get into a cycle of abuse - they actually choose men who are going to treat them the way they think they are - worthless. Its harsh I know to say they bring it on themselves but to an extent this IS what happens. If you believe you are worthless then you allow yourself to be treated as such because it proves you right.

So what it comes down to is this....the world and what happens in it is not the way it is. There is no absolute truth about an event. The world and what happens in it to us is determined by who we are and how we think and respond.

Essentially if you really want something and truly believe it's possible, you'll get it. Likewise if you focus a lot of thought and attention on something you don't want you will probably get that too. So in simple terms you attract the kind of people, the kind of events and incidents and the kind of life you think about.

“I don't have very good balance”, “I don’t get on well with women”, “I seem to always pick the wrong person to fall in love with”, “I am not very good with money”, these are all examples of self limiting beliefs. We are all guilty at times of saying or thinking these types of things about ourselves.

A self limiting belief, is a thought, a belief that we hold, one which we own, which limits us from doing something. It is our belief, not someone else’s belief, it is ours. We say it over and over to ourselves. We own the self limiting belief.

Yes, we may have received this belief from a comment some authority figure made in our life, however, we are the one who chose to accept the belief as true and make it part of our selves.

The great thing about self limiting beliefs is that, because we own the belief, we can choose to change the belief! How cool is that?

So what I have to do now is to work out what my self limiting beliefs are. That will involve listening to myself to catch myself the next time I say "I am not good at" or "I don't do" or "I find x frustrating" or "I can't be doing with..." or "I'll never be able to".

So I need to work out how to replace those with positive self affirming beliefs that match the way I would like life to be !

Where do I start !

Ray Hunt

2009-03-16T08:30:00.002Z

Ray Hunt died last week.

He was a great Horseman and one of Pat's teachers. We had a great day at Steve and Sue's yesterday and Steve lent us some of the Ray Hunt DVDs we don't have. We watched one last night and were sad at his loss.

He has so many great words of wisdom.

I especially like

“I’m trying to get my idea to become the horse’s idea. It’s not like turning a dial that is going to work today. It’s what led up to today that you need to change. It’s the little things that make the difference".

When horse won't load or runs off with you or runs away from you, or paws the ground while tied or won't stand still to be groomed, saddled, mounted, or bucks, rears, pulls back, etc etc we have to really think....what is it that I have done or not done that has led up to this and what do I need to do differently to set the horse up for success.

At the end of the video we watched last night Ray says ...."it's not the horse that needs to change...that horse he is fine just as he is...it's the human that needs to change what he is doing".

He then did this lovely big grin !

Too true Ray and thanks for that reminder !

Picnic ride to Calke

2009-03-16T08:04:00.003Z

Saturday we decided to make the most of the great weather and go to Calke.

Arch was great - he had lots of opportunities to be a partner especially waiting patiently while H opened gates and learned how to stand on the blocks of concrete along the lane in Ticknall.

It is SO interesting to watch him flick from unconfident to dominant. From "I can't" to "I could" to "I won't". Bry has to switch tactics each time and play with him as he is in the moment. Adjust to fit the situation moment to moment literally.

He managed to stand both front feet on each block and walk calmly over. They did the same on the way back too.

H was VERY good walking through the village to the park entrance - there are a lot of potentially scary places there - people coming out of houses, dogs, cars, general people going about Saturday morning business. His life was up but he was a cool horse and went in front a lot of the time.

We went via the stone trough and they both had a good drink and then it was through the park.

At the big pond there were some men working - they had a generator going, and a lot of orange barriers and tools and vehicles and there were a few people around - so a general scene of mayhem for horses.

Anyway I went in front and Arch stopped to take a look but then he told me he could go forward so that's what we did - the chap turned the generator down but not off - I don't think it would have mattered either way. I let Arch find his own way through on a loose rein rubbing his neck and he sauntered through between the orange fencing.

H brought up the rear and Bry said he was totally calm.

We could have probably asked H to go in front but there are sometimes situations where you don't want to test your leadership and this was one of them. I think that maybe had there been fewer people about we might have gone back and through it a few times but we didn't want to hold up the workmen (who were very friendly !)

Everyone was in a good mood ! Lots of people chatted to us at gates and things for some reason, commenting on my saddle or asking what colour Harley was - I guess you don't see that many palominos around. Once chap said "that's bay isn't it " and we disabused him of this notion and explained some of the different colours.

I think he described Arch as Stewbald or was it Spewbald ? Anyway it wasn't Skewbald.

We cantered across to some tree stumps near the car park. As I was slowing Arch I heard Bryan go "oh shit" and his saddle had slipped again but he righted himself laughing. He is getting better at riding one side of his horse and fortunately Harley stops nicely when they get out of sync!

I went off to the kiosk to get some lunch - very nice chicken and lemon mayo roll with crisps, choc chip cookies and tea.

We ate our lunch while the horses grazed happily ! H is getting the hang of this go somewhere, eat for a bit, go home routine and approves completely !

On the way back we cantered / trotted across the front of the house. I did lots of canter, trot canter transitions up the track from the house into the woody bit.

We mosied through the hilly bit by the road and did some more canter, trot canter up to the middle lodge. Arch took over momentarily in the canter up the hill - as much as anything because H had caught him up and come a little along side - so I bent him until he softened and then we went again.

On the way home, I asked Arch to help me open and close the gate next to the new fence while H grazed. He was very interesting. What I realised is that I have taught him to make assumptions about opening gates.

So he was busy trying to help open a gate I was trying to close. Hmmmm. So we fixed that - pretty easily. I had him stand along side the gate and parallel to it without pushing it with his nose. We moved forward and did some more of standing by the open gate without moving it.

After a little while he could help me CLOSE the gate and had decided it was good to wait to be asked to open it...which he proved he had understood at the next gate !

The next one was a weighted hinge so it swings shut. He is very good at opening that one and holding it open as we go through - he even gives is a good old swing with his nose and then catches it if it swings back.

Well when we got to it he immediately did not assume I wanted it open. Good boy ! We stood next to it for a bit and then I asked him to open it with his nose. He pushed it with his chest a couple of times so we backed and I asked him to lower his nose and use his nose. Hey presto.

So we can now open and close gates without making assumptions and taking over. Cool.

I taught him to make that assumption along the way somewhere so I need to take responsibility for unteaching it !

The rest of the way home I asked for some collection in walk and in trot. Wow I got some very nice collected walk along side Harley and the the same with the trot. I picked up my reins, as much rein as he had to offer and started to trot a little bit in my body. He joined in for a nice few strided of collected trot - then I gave him the rein again. We did a few strides of this - transitions to collected and then a relaxed long and low trot. VERY nice !

Friday night ride in the dark.

2009-03-16T07:58:00.002Z

Done so many things since I last posted so here goes with the ones I can remember !

Friday night went for a little ride with Bryan in the dark ! It was cool. We headed towards Ingelby Toft which presents some good challenges for Harley. They did great.

Bryan has been helping me keep Arch from riding up Harley's rear end by using his string to create some commotion behind him if Arch gets too close. Well that worked pretty fast and now A keeps a nice distance away and H does not feel driven by A and I don't need to bother A by asking him to stay back. Mind you we are still playing leapfrog because it really worked when it came to the beach ride.

So H can trot off in front and A does not even consider trotting. He asks me if I want him to trot with H and sometimes I say yes and ask for trot and sometimes I stay in walk and so does he.

H managed a lot of muddy puddles and the squeeze through past the troughs at the end of the lane at the Toft and he was very cool pony.

As we headed back it went dark and they were both cool - Arch was in no hurry to get home and would have quite liked to eat grass !

Peachy on the Beach

2009-03-12T06:45:00.002Z

Saturday last - 7th March ? we took Arch and Harley on a Sport Endurance pleasure ride to Formby Beach. No one I tell has heard of Formby so I guess you won't have either - it's up the coast from Liverpool not far from Southport UK.

We were due to go with Anne and Tara but Anne pulled out a few days before so we spent an hour considering whether Harley might be ready to go. We decided he was. He is definitely up for it mentally and emotionally - our only concern was distance - it was 8 miles - and his feet. He is barefoot, his feet wear out fast and we were faced with mixed terrain that might make barefoot boots impractical.

Anyway all options were possible, we knew we could adjust to fit the situation so we decided to go.

I won't bore you with the journey but it was an early start, and it was quite crowded when we got there.

We left them on the lorry while we checked in and they were fine but it was surprising how much heat they had created in the back just standing still eating in a short time. They had been cool when we first arrived.

Arch walked off the lorry and went "oh oh ...an endurance ride I had best eat all the grass I can get now !" and put his head down as he stepped off. H was more interested in what was going on around him and all the other horses and people and lorries going by and what not but he soon took Arch's lead to eat.

We saddled up and Bryan put H's boots on and had literally just mounted when a lady rode by - I now recall her as the lady with a rather dominant pushy horse who unsurprisingly had not responded to her shouting at him last year at Sherwood Pines. I think she also beat Anne and I in the rather disorganised competitive ride we did where everyone including our cycling companion Bryan missed a ground marker which had been obliterated by horses hooves and mud.

Anyway she recommended Bryan do it without the boots due to deep sand so he hopped off, debooted got back on and we set off. H was very good from the start. He stood still to be booted and mounted and could stand still easily once Bryan was on.

Arch and I played around with our lateral flexion, back up and some little finesse moves while Bry and Harley finished getting ready. It's always nice to do a little finesse with him when his life is up because he is really light !

We set off down a rough track past some houses, a rather grotty school with some windturbines in the playground.

There were a lot of horses going past and coming the other way and H handled them really well and was really not bothered.

We decided to pull over and wait to let a few riders through when we got to a horse stile - the sort you have to step through. We both wanted to take our time with this and not to hold any competitive riders up or have our horses feel crowded so we stood aside to wait until they could walk through with no pressure.

Super job.

As we approached the dunes we could see why we'd had the advice to take the boots off ! The sand was really deep ! All the horses found it hard work - some people sort of trotted but it was more of a bound ! We walked most of it up and down the other side of very steep dunes. My goodness was THAT a workout ! Bryan told me that apparently Liverpool Football team train in these dunes because they are such hard work to climb. No shit !

Anyway as we crested a dune we could see the beach ahead - including some big ship, and big wind turbines off shore. They really make use of the wind up there !

Both horses were superb on the beach. We decided as we arrived to first see if we could stand still. Stand still is greatly underrated !

First thing you should do before you mount your horse is to see if he can stand still - and don't get on until he can. First thing you do when you have mounted your horse is .............nothing.

So many people get on and immediately ride away. Is it any wonder their horses can't stand still when there is a rider on board ?

So we practiced our stand still for a bit and watched people come down onto the beach and ride off, some in control and some not !

We then did some circles to test our impulsion - we circled in place around each other until we were happy that the horses were following our leadership and that we had whoa and go equal.

Arch is so predictable a short horse....as soon as you circle he slows down massively !

Then we decided it was time to go so we headed off down the beach - we trotted for a bit - Mr Archer long legs was faster than Harley so I did the odd circle around them or away from them to keep from going too far ahead. The brilliant thing is that all our work on leapfrogging paid off.

H was not impulsive to keep up with Arch so after a while I was able to go ahead in canter while B just passengered a bit to see if H would offer canter to keep up. He trotted fast but was not ready to canter yet and not worried about keeping up either.

I had a few nice canters - I love the sound of hooves on firm sand ! and then we headed for some water ! H has been a little but unwilling to get his feet wet and muddy so we have had a few little times playing with water and puddles when we've ridden out. We found some patches of water and streams on the beach and it was great to have lots of space to play in with the water.

Arch splashed through it happily and H said "can't" and "won't" a few times. Bryan just persisted - kept him facing the water, walked up and down along side a few times - cow working style and then asked him to walk through.

He put his nose to the water to check it out and said "yep I think I can !" and walked through. They did that a couple more times calmly as you like and then we headed off for the rest of the ride.

It was a fig 8 ride so we came down on the beach a second time over the same dunes and this time went the other direction.

This time when I asked A for canter Bryan did too - very lightly and they picked up a lovely lopey smooth canter pace. I turned around to look back and they were just behind me and Bryan had this huge grin on his face.

They have cantered before a couple of times out hacking but with boots on and dodgy surfaces it is hard to know really what his true canter gait is like.

They came back to a trot, changed leads and we cantered the rest of the length of the beach.

Bry took H in front too and he cantered ahead with Arch bringing up the rear.

Veeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrry nice !

H was tired walking back the last mile and a half and although there was not much road his feet were quite worn so we probably would have done better to maybe take the boots and put them on and off but he is OK - sound as a pound, and he recovered pretty quickly.

Arch felt like he could go round again !

It was nice to graze them for a while when we got back - we decided to give them an hour and a half to recover - eat, graze stretch and what not before asking them to travel home.

It had taken about 2 and a half hours to get there and was about the same home including p and coffee and fuel stops.

A fab day - we were very proud of H and A did a great job looking after the little fella too !

Happy yellow horse again !

2009-03-05T21:46:00.001Z

Harley is better !

Did a bit of research and decided he has reacted to the flu and tet jab he had on Monday. He was a lot happier last night and tonight he was completely normal. I gave him some Echinacea last night but it probably made no difference and he's himself again !

Played briefly tonight and then did some stuff with the bridge. Arch not happy backing on to it with Harley there - but he could step on and off and leave the back feet on it.

Should get a day to play tomorrow weather permitting !

Sulking - do horses ?

2009-03-04T19:01:00.003Z

I got to thinking after the way Harley was yesterday whether horses sulk.

We know for sure that humans do! I remember as a child sulking for days one time I felt I had been misjudged by my parents. I was badly in trouble for doing something I knew was wrong but I did not really understand why it was wrong in the first place. It was all to do with not going into our local park. I know now my mum was afraid of child molestors but obviously could not explain it - it was just forbidden. Well guess what happens when you forbid something without explaining why....I went in the park with some friends got found out and in trouble. I was filled with resentment because I did not understand why it was so bad even though I knew I was not supposed to do it.

I remember how hard it was to sulk and not speak for the few days I kept it up and how it made me feel no better at all.

It got me thinking and I did some research into sulking - what it is, why humans do it and why they think horses do - because for sure people seem to think that horses do !

I found a funny article on how to sulk successfully !

Then I looked it up on Wikipedia and other places.

Sulk the verb means "to be silent and moody as a way of showing anger or resentment"

Sulk the noun is "a mood in which one shows anger or resentment by being silent and moody".

Wiki says sulking is a response to not getting your own way or the attention you believe you deserve.

It seems its a pretty understandable response in children but not in adults. It represents an inability to manage emotions. So it all comes back to emotional fitness again !

What a sulk looks like in terms of body language is a lot of 'humfing', deliberate ignoring of conversation or people and an 'atmosphere' of discontent.

The person doing it might hug their body, fold their arms and pout. In extreme cases they will become withdrawn and moody, crying, shouting or lethargic and depressed.

Sulks can last for hours, days, weeks or worse for years.

Sulkers are control freaks. By withdrawing communication the sulker believes they are punishing the object of their sulking and have 'won', when in fact they only hurt themselves and make themselves miserable and they get a reputation for being sulky, difficult and resentful.

Sulking stems from and has roots in anger, jealousy, hurt, loss, and fear.

Children and teenagers sulk because of lack of experience in managing their own emotions.

When adults sulk it is an indication that they have yet to grow up and mature emotionally.

So how do we avoid being a sulker?

Think about why you chose to be offended by the person who 'triggered' your sulk. They might have had no intention whatever of offending you.

Tell the person you feel has offended you about how you feel and ask the person to discuss their motives in an open and honest way.

Look for patterns in your behaviour as a sulker. Think about the times you have sulked and ask yourself where did it get you in the end? What did you achieve through sulking? How do you think the other person(s) feel? Put yourself in their shoes.

If you sulk because you cannot have something/someone or because you think someone has done you wrong then ask yourself why you cannot 'survive' without this object/person or their approval ?

Look for alternative methods of satisfaction. Consider your sulking as 'ammunition' for the other person(s) to use as an excuse for ignoring you; or leaving you to your own devices.

Ultimately the person who sulks will render themselves alone because they will be seen as difficult, touchy and controlling. Hmmm sounds just like a teenager !

So, how does this apply if at all to horses ? I am simply not convinced that horses sulk. I do not think they have it in them to bear resentment or to want to punish another creature emotionally.

For sure I think that the effect we have on them can be such that we can do things that cause them not to want to be with us because we lose rapport AND / OR because they do not regard us as interesting because we lose respect.

So a horse may be disinterested in us because we are boring, a pushover or have nothing to offer them emotionally and mentally or they may keep away from us because they are afraid of us and do not feel safe near us.

I think it is a mistake to anthropomorphise and think that horses try to be as mentally and emotionally manipulative and controlling as humans who sulk.

So my conclusion for today is that I don't think that horses sulk. I think they let us know they don't respect or like us but I don't think they try to punish us by being withdrawn or moody or by keeping their distance. I think it is too easy to ascribe human behaviour to them as a way of avoiding facing up to the fact that some days we aren't attractive to them as we'd like ...and guess what... the only way to change how our horses respond to us is to change ourselves !

Play time in the rain

2009-03-03T23:09:00.002Z

Indoor play tonight as it was raining !

I decided first to spend some undemanding time with Harley. He had his teeth done yesterday and the vet suggested doing them with no sedative. H is cool and calm and he seemed OK with the gag even though he is not used to wearing a bit - the vet was impressed.

He commented that he did seem to be a calm unbothered little horse and I mentioned that we do Parelli. He seemed to actually and for once to know something about it !

There are plenty of people who think they know all about it from watching one or two DVDs or from seeing a demo. This guy seemed to actually know a little more - he said things like how it is good for people to learn how to do things according to the horse's timeline and take more time about things - to relax and not be in so much of a hurry around horses.

He said he thought it was a nice balance between being kind and gentle with the horse but firm when necessary. Interesting ! He actually really understood some stuff.

Unfortunately Harley did get a little bothered when he needed to rasp the very back teeth - he didn't put up much of a fight but he did try to get away a little it did make me think that I would rather he had been sedated.

In fact now I know it would have been better. When we were done I felt like we had done what we did TO him and not FOR him.

There is nothing more we could have done to prepare him for it - and he was pretty good but all the same it did not feel right. I think the vet realised he should have sedated him a little - he said it was more that his mouth and jaw were tense than anything and that it would have helped if he could have been more relaxed. H was good and brave but I'd still prefer him not to have had to go through it.

I know it had an effect on our relationship because when I went to get him in in the evening he did not want to come in. I squatted down to take the pressure off and he did come to me fairly quickly and I stroked and haltered him but he really dragged his feet coming in - I think he just wanted to stay out really and eat.

Tonight he was quite subdued. He did not want to put his head over the stable door - I wonder if he has nipped someone and been punished for it - as he was not at all keen and a little RB about putting his head over the door. He kind of stood with his nose on the door latch in the corner like he wanted to look out but daren't.

When I took him his feed he just stood over it and did not move until I picked it up and offered it to him and then he ate.

I decided to then just spend some time with him - I think he has a slight reaction - a bit of bruising to his neck where he was injected with his booster flu and tet- he has a raised area which is swollen - does not feel like fluid but he was a little sore there.

Anyway I hung out with him stroking his face and neck and did some healing with him for a little while and then I retreated and squatted down and sat against the wall for a little while.

He came over to me, sniffed me and nuzzled my hat and my jacket. He licked and chewed a little, yawned a lot, stood next to me with his bum leaning on the haynet and his head over me.

I remember Linda telling a story on the L&HB DVDs about going to some high level dressage competition with Pat and Pat getting up really emotional and asking to leave after a little while.

Linda had until then not realised quite how much Pat could see when he was reading horses and their behaviour and could not really understand why they had to leave. On the way home a very angry and upset Pat told her than what he had seen being done to those horses in the name of competition was nothing short of rape. He said words to the effect that if horses could scream the sound would be deafening.

That image sticks in my mind. It always does when I am thinking about what I am doing with my horse and whether I am doing it TO him or FOR him.

I think Harley would tell you that what the vet did to his teeth was done TO him. I don't think he would feel it was done FOR him. I have some work to do to rebuild the trust of the happy little yellow horse. I think he will forgive though - horses are GREAT at that. Far better than humans.

Sorry Harley - you were very brave.

Different horse

2009-03-03T22:59:00.002Z

Went to Calke Park on Monday ...it's a local historic house and grounds - huge - that we have permits to ride in.

Arch was cool ! Played briefly - enough to saddle and make a little progress on the canter circles - which was good. It's all about knowing when to stop with him - and to stop soon - as soon as we get the relaxation, obedience and attitude.

Got all of those quite quickly so I headed out. Well really he was cool ! I am trying to get him to where he is as cool on his own as he is in company - in fact better really.

When we are with other horses there is always that distraction - of another horse he has to think about dominating usually !....although we have made real big progress playing the leapfrog game with Harley so I am chuffed with that.

Anyway it was a nice ride - I am playing around with getting some different speeds within the gait - usually when we are going away from home he is slow and coming home he is faster - which is natural enough. I am playing with seeing if we can change speed within the gait whatever direction we are going.

We had a nice canter across the front of the house in Calke and I practiced swinging his shoulders - which was pretty easy to the left. I didn't ask for any kind of lead change - just a swing to the left and then back to the centre.

We then had some nice canter up the hill from the house and up to the middle lodge.

We did some trot circles from the middle lodge to the main gate and he really had the druthers towards home so they weren't really very round circles !

As we crossed the road to head onto the track with the concrete blocks I asked him to cross the block and he popped it - took me by surprise and I burst out laughing ! I suppose it made sense to him to just pop it - but he did it from more or less a standstill. Cool horse. No bother !

Halter on - Halter off

2009-03-01T15:13:00.003Z

Went for another cool trail ride with Bryan today. We played first and I decided Arch was "in the mood" so I mounted up, did 2 laps of follow the rail and decided to go naked !

Took the hackamore off from his back, tied it to my saddle and set off to do some more follow the rail in trot. Very nice ! Nice corners, few corrections, came down to halt on my breath - turned nicely - now the other way.

Nice both ways ! COOOOOOOOOOL!

Then I also decided I could put the hackamore back on from the saddle.... and I was right !

I asked him to bend his neck towards me with my hand, put the reins over his head, asked him to bend again while i reached down and passed the halter to myself and then the little angel put his nose in the halter and stayed flexed while I tied it.

So, it just gets better every day.

I need to shift up a gear now and get all of that in canter.

Then we went for a lovely trail ride to the pond at the back of the riding school and back. Bryan did a big gate opening training session with H while Arch had some grass.

B also pruned the hedge around the gate so it is easier to get too !

H did great !

This is what Friday nights are meant to be like

2009-02-27T19:46:00.002Z

When I was working full time I used to like to get out early from work on a Friday and do an after-work ride on Arch. The idea was that it would set me up for the weekend. Usually it didn't. He might be a little spooky or a little dominant or we'd have an encounter with something that did not go do well.

I used to wonder why I bothered doing it - I looked forward to a wind down ride but often it wasn't.

Tonight I had a perfect Friday night ride. We had a short play during which Mr A was responsive and offered me some lovely canter circles - maintained gait and kept going.

We also jumped a single barrel - twice with effort !

So I got on and off we went into the reservoir. They have been laying new hedges on the drive so there was some stuff to look at there but basically he just took a look and kept going and he was fine. He chose to head for the reservoir - sometimes I let him decide which route we will go and that was his choice.

Well he was keen, but obedient and soft and light for pretty much all of the ride. We did transitions on the way along the long track and back - and they were good ! He had a nice up hill trot and could come back to a nice forward walk in a breath.

When we got back Bryan was about to go out on Harley to ride round the cross country so I walked down the drive with them past a scary tractor pumping the sewers out (stinky or what !) and then came back and took Arch to mosey up to the cross country. By the time I got there they were back so we went into the jumping paddock. I let Arch off to graze and helped Bryan get Harley across a water jump tray - he was not keen on putting his feet on it. We realised it was to do with Bryan's leadership on board (H was more or less happy to follow me onto the tray but not to follow Bryan's direction from up top) so we kept at it until he was able to ride over it OK and then he jumped off.

He flips between unconfident and dominant very fast so you have to read him all the time and switch tactics all the time. Very good horseanality learning !

Time out

2009-02-27T08:28:00.003Z

I have recently purchased a book by a lady called Kayce Cover - which is about bridge and target training - a more advanced form of clicker more or less (sorry Kayce I know that is oversimplifying!). One of the points she makes is about the value of time out from playing.

Taking time out during which you cease interaction with the horse helps the animal to realise the value of interacting with you and helps the animal to understand how valuable play is to him.

I am really oversimplifying here so if you want to know more google her and buy the manual ! For me the essence of it is that the animal becomes motivated to play because he works out that playing with you is how he earns positive reinforcement. No play - no positive reinforcement.

Sometimes the animal will try things to get our attention and to initiate play and if it is the kind of play we want then we can choose to interact. If not we can choose to take time out and ignore the behaviour of the animal.

It works on the very simple principle that what you reinforce becomes more likely to occur and what you don't reinforce is more likely to decrease.

So sometimes people get into trouble when the horse starts to offer things that he has learned will earn him positive reinforcement but they are offered without a cue. So.....the horse offers to go and stand on a tarp or a pedestal but they are doing it without being asked. This is the horse making the assumption that if he offers the behaviour he will earn the positive reinforcement.

Sometimes we don't want to teach a horse something until we know that we can have him do it on cue....and ONLY on cue. Take sideways towards you, laying down, rearing, bowing, all of that stuff. Great if you can ask for it on cue.....not so great if the horse offers it without a cue.

SO the relationship - rapport and respect are essential as are the framework of obedience, motivation, calmness, trust. These all need to be there but we want to have behaviour that is mostly available on cue.

This is different from the horse asking if you would like something "I could canter now if you wanted" rather than going "look at me cantering !" and expecting positive reinforcement for it.

We ideally want our horses to be ready to do anything we ask but not to do stuff without being asked ....which is very different.

So....be careful what you teach ! The horse may offer it when you don't ask for or want it.

One of the simplest things we learned about collection was this.....collection is when the horse is ready to go in any direction (up, down, forwards, backwards, left or right) you ask for at the speed you ask for it at any given moment.....and with lightness. The horse is light, responsive, obedient. How many of us have that ! The perfect hovercraft horse - floating in the air and ready to follow instruction in an instant.

So back to the value of time out.

Last night Arch and made sure we were still Level 4 with the pedestal.

All 4 feet on - great. He was asking questions. He had his own ideas about how to get the four feet on but that was OK with me.

Having got them on and earned a treat we took some time out.

Now he got a little frustrated then .....and started pawing the pedestal. This is Arch getting ahead of himself and going - hey where are the treats !

So we took some time out. I turned away a little and ignored him. He quit pawing. I kept ignoring him. He started looking at me with the "well what should I do then ?" questioning expression. Cool - that's what I want .....I want "what would you like" and not "here's what I can do now give me the treats".

So once he remembered that his role is to find out what I want we were back on track. "What I would like is for you to step off the pedestal with your front feet". So I slowly combed the rope and drew him forward. He knew what I wanted and for a moment he thought about getting frustrated again. So I slowed down a lot and just drew him a little bit.

He decided that he'd like to step off a little sideways, did so with both front feet, leaving the back feet in place and stood proudly looking pretty pleased with himself for having worked out how to motivate me again !

It is really hard to ignore a horse that is trying to get your attention for the wrong reasons but so valuable for them to learn that when they offer the behaviour you don't want, then you withdraw yourself and take time out.

Obviously this depends on the behaviour .....there are some behaviours that need to be shut down or redirected but in the case of the horse offering to do things he thinks you want then the time out is a great tool to have the horse a) more motivated to play and b) motivated to play in a positive way.

Kayce's stuff is awesome and contains masses about animal psychology and learning.

Also worth swotting up on all the behaviour modification theory first as she will make more sense if you understand that too.

Enough for today !

Told you it would only take a couple of sessions...

2009-02-25T15:21:00.002Z

Last night both Mr A and Harley proved they are Level 4 horses ! Or that we are Level 4 students ....I can't decide !

Bryan played with H on the pedestal / bridge thing we rescued and managed to have him walk on with all 4 feet then step off with his front feet leaving the hind feet on the pedestal.

We swapped and Arch and I did the same. The key was to ask them off very slowly.

Arch earned a pile of treats for that - without the 50p this time - did I mention that? On Saturday he earned a handful of treats for jumping a single barrel and there was a 50p piece mixed in with them. He spat that out thankfully !

I also played some circling - we are working up to being able to sustain several laps in canter now on the 45ft line which is a tall order for an LBI at the best of times.

What I noticed is that he felt blocked if I faced the fence at any point - so he felt squeezed between me and the fence - so i changed my position to facing the far end - so with maximum distance between me and the fence and things improved - and his circles got smaller - i.e. he chose to come closer which is cool !

We need a bigger space really - will start using the paddock when the nights get a little lighter.

Got to clip him again soon as he got pretty hot !

What James had to say

2009-02-24T07:57:00.001Z

Apparently what I am seeing with Arch is common when horses first wear the theraflex.

He said it can be common, especially with introverts to show this behaviour when he first uses the theraflex pad. It only lasts a few rides, but here are some things he does to help the horses with the change of feel.

1. Put a towel between the horses back and the pad.

2. Do up the cinch for the first time, let the air out, and then do the cinch up again a hole before moving the horse off for the first time of your three stages.

He says he has found it is the unsecure feel to begin with that they worry about, so as they get more confident with it, the behaviour will go. I guess it is the fact that with the air between the saddle and pad the saddle feels insecure.

He also gave me some things NOT to do ...he advised me not get quieter with the saddling with my horse. It will make him worse in the long run. He said to get louder, and ensure the horse always knows what I am doing. If we are doing it FOR for them, not TO them, we are doing it right! Our instincts will tell us to go slow and quiet, but that's because we are predators! Don't get sneaky!

So great advice and it came back in minutes so I obviously got hold of him at the right moment. James is the best.

Second trail ride with Bryan and Harley

2009-02-23T07:41:00.004Z

Sunday morning we had a quick play and then went for a ride into the reservoir again.

Arch was very very good to play with. I saddle up, put the 45ft line on and simply asked for some circles to just get his saddle cinched up and check out his mood.

I have noticed that when I use the airpad he goes introverted when there is too much air in it for him. His expression changes - he collects his body up but his expression is "not with us" as I put it. He looks like someone when they are really thinking hard about something and they are staring into space but you can see they are not seeing anything. With him he doesn't even look like he is starting into space - he looks like he is staring INSIDE himself. Hard to describe.

His ears go forward too whereas normally when he is moving on a circle he either has one ear on me and one forward or his attention and his ears wander to something going on elsewhere.

When he does this introverted thing his neck arches and his ears both go forwards and he keeps moving but he looks introverted. One or two times I have seen him go to bronc which is why I think it is to do with his saddle pad. Anyway I use that as my signal to let more air out and then he is OK.

I have not seen him do it in the airride (which has no air in it !) pad so I am sure it has to do with the air.

What interests me is that he does not have his ears back - he is not "listening" to the saddle or showing opposition reflex to the saddle - it's that introverted look. I might email James about this. I bet he's seen it with colts.

....right I am back now after emailing James. Will see what he says.

Anyway I asked for a big circle on the 45 ft line - we got some straight lines on the circle - along the long sides until he reached the end of the rope and remembered it was meant to be a circle and as he came round in front of me he came closer - and then went further away again when he was behind me ....how interesting !

He also stopped behind me once or twice when he reached the fence. A couple more sends and he worked out that he needed to circle, keep going and not change gait. Hey presto - and we got about 3 decent laps of relaxed canter with him maintaining all his responsibilities so I quit !

I mounted up while Bryan finished playing with H and we went and played the leapfrog on the trail game again - very good !

Denby with Clive and Jane

2009-02-22T07:15:00.004Z

Saturday saw our first outing of the year with the boys to Jane and Clive's in Denby. They are Level 2 students each with a coloured horse and a lovely house and outdoor school. Clive makes fab soup and puddings too which is a key attraction !

Arch started the day what I would call "opinionated". In his opinion he should have been out in the field well before 9 which is about the time we got to the yard. He let me know that as I was haltering him in the stable. He needed to move his feet tied up outside - pawed the ground a few times - which is a good sign a horse wants to be someplace else ! Might only be a few feet from where they are tied but when they feel they need to move then their feet move !

He could not stand still to be groomed either, and then when the lorry arrived the adrenalin came up to add to his opinionated state. NOW his opinion was "cool we are going somewhere ...so let's go !".

He loaded like a dream as he does now, I can just direct him toward the ramp and he goes up - no stick needed to add any pressure behind even. He just makes the decision and clambers up and into position. I LOVE Parelli. No-one knows more about how to incentivise or have horses become trusting enough to load themselves. If only people would follow the programme and realise that loading is not about the trailer but about the relationship. They would gain so much more than just a horse that is easy to load. Sigh. Will stop that train now or I'll be back to the "they don't know what they don't know" theme if I am not careful.

Anyway I had some fun with Arch - he was still a little opinionated ! Played on the 45ft line for a while because we had the school to ourselves while Clive went to get a bale of haylage and Jane got their horses in. Arch did a nice stallion mode when their herd came in from the field - which game me chance to play falling leaf to regain his attention - cool though ! I wish someone was filming when he does that - he looks awesome !

Amongst other things we played at backing up to their tiny pedestal. He could put a toe on it but I agreed with him that it was not the most stable of obstacles to stand on with your back feet so we settled for putting a toe on it.

We also played at jumping a single barrel. To start with he said "no". He knew what I wanted though ! I persisted - just kept squeezing him between me and the barrel - directing him toward the barrel. After about 8 or 9 goes he decided his best option was to make an effort to jump the barrel - which earned him a rest and a handful of treats and we went off to to something else.

When Clive and Jane came in we did some of the stuff from Honza's again - parking horses in the middle of the school at liberty - walk away and then see how far away from the horse you can move the HQ. Arch was pretty good - and I clickered to help him understand when he had got as far as being a perfect 90 degrees to me.

I did some riding - decided to FTR - we got good going to the right - and then swapped to the left and that was good right away so I jumped off. I did pop a jump but not very elegantly in the middle of all that.

Then I helped Clive with his Follow the Rail for a bit. Jazz is great once Clive keeps his focus and gives the horse responsibilities. He understood going round the cones really quickly !

Then I helped Jane for a bit with Jack. What we learned is that he is leaning on the halter pressure - so when she is out riding she has no brakes in the halter because he has not learned to yield to the pressure. She also has a tendency to pull on both reins if he tried to leave - which is a natural predator reaction ! When they bought him they were told he was strong.

Normal riders answer to this is usually a bigger bit. If the horse is strong you get a stronger bit. And then the horse gets strong in that. So horses just get stronger and bits are no use for control when used with two reins. This is how come people manage to split horses mouths open with bits. If that horse has learned to push through the pressure of the rider pulling on the reins then when he is afraid and running away FROM something real or imagined (which can include the person on his back) or running away WITH you through dominance ("I'm going whether you want to or not") then they will lean on whatever you are trying to use to control them no matter what pain it causes. It's a natural instinct.

So what I can see from Jane's reaction is that she pulls on both reins. She has not a cat in hells chance of controlling him with two reins. He is bigger and stronger and once he is going in a straight line pushing through pressure on his nose or mouth you have had it. No brakes. Most normal riders are in this situation all the time. Many are just lucky that they just don't have terribly spooky or dominant horses. Some of them seem to think it is funny to just let the horse go when he pulls. I used to ride with someone like that. When I say used to ...I did it twice and then said never again. She used to say "I am really sorry I can't stop him" and both overtake and then let him gallop off leaving everyone else to control their own horses so they did not take off too. No fun riding like that. What if you met someone on foot coming the other way ? What if your saddle slipped and you could not get the horse stopped without riding into a hedge ?
Crazy and STOOOOOOPID to ride a horse knowing you are out of control.

Anyway we worked mostly on having Jane understand the problem she has and then on the lateral flexion. What she realised is that her lateral flexion is faked. He looks like he is flexing and in his body he is but he is not flexing in his mind. He is not yielding to her mentally and emotionally. As soon as she releases the rein he snaps his head back and shakes his head in frustration.

He bends his neck but he does not give her his mind and emotions. So we did more of that until we got one really nice one and then I asked her to get off him and we went in for soup.

The programme for her now is to practice lateral flexion until she gets it perfect in walk. So she needs to walk and ask for a bend to a halt until he does it with his mind and his feet every time.

Then she can improve it in trot.

We also discussed some other things that need to be good - lots of z1 yielding and porcupine, haltering etc etc.

The boys had some hay while we had soup and we loaded up to go home - like a dream (sorry but Arch used to be so hard to load I still can't get over it !).

A great day and some good learning all round.

Update to leapfrog on the trail

2009-02-21T06:46:00.006Z

In the leapfrog on the trail post I noted that we had been overtaken by some other riders on that trail ride.

It's been pointed out to me by one of these riders that she felt criticised by the description of them as wanting to push through. She interpreted this as "push past" and believed I was suggesting she was rude. This was not how I interpreted her actions at the time so I did not think she was rude at the time - just had a different agenda to us. We were training our horses and not in a hurry to get back. When we thought it was safe to do so, we had set off behind the runners who were using the trail on that day.

We trotted and caught some of them up and then Bryan decided to walk for a while. He's riding bareback until we can reasonably fit a saddle to Harley who has no withers yet ....and he does not trot for long periods.

The two riders behind asked permission to go past us which we granted gladly. It gave us no problem and it gave the riders passing us no problem and for me the encounter was positive and over in that moment. They did a perfect overtaking maneouvre ! I did not think any more about it.

It gave me an opportunity to make a point about what CAN happen if you always hurry which I am sure she doesn't. Her horse showed no signs to me of being impulsive and unable to walk at that moment. The decision to carry on in trot looked like her decision - and one with which her horse was happy to comply, not a decision her horse was making that she could not control.

For me when I wrote this, "push through" meant push ON or press on, which meant keep going and make more progress towards home, faster than us. So I intended no judgment on her behaviour.

If I had thought she was being pushy or rude I would have a) said so at the time and not brooded about it and b) I would have written that in the blog.

Laura did not like the comment and fed back to me on Facebook that she had not appreciated the comment and then she told me off about making negative comments about people who don't do Parelli.

Apparently all the people who think Parelli is no use don't make negative comments.

It did make me wonder though how she knows these people think it is no use - if they don't make negative comments ? Well I am not going to wonder about that for too long !

I'd LOVE to know that no negative comments were being made. Mostly though one or two friends at the yard tell me that there are lots of negative comments made and the yard owner often tells me how people complain about us doing Parelli and asks us nicely to be discreet about it. She is SO supportive and lovely and just wants a quiet life.

Anyway - those of you who do do Parelli will know that we are all pretty used to people having a go at something they have actually not studied at all so we are kind of thick skinned about that now. I care ONLY about what my horse thinks. Why would I take notice or get bothered by what someone thinks of something they don't actually know anything about ?

I know next to nothing about horse nutrition so I don't feel qualified to tell people how to feed their horses or to comment on whether what they are doing with their feeding regime is any good. If people ask me about it I usually refer them to Sarah - she has really studied this and she has experimented with different feeds and done lots of research. If people talk to me about feed I usually recommend they talk to her because she knows her stuff. She has studied it and I haven't.

I guess we are kind of used to the fact now that we have been studying this programme now for over 5 years yet there are lots of people who haven't studied it at all who know WAY more about it than we do !

Anyway I am grateful for Laura letting me know what she thought. It will help me to think about who might be reading my blog and to word what I say more carefully so if you are reading this thanks Laura - you've helped me in my journey to being a better horseman, and I really genuinely appreciate it. It is not easy to give people this kind of feedback so thanks for making the effort to do that.

I've also asked her to help me in the future by interrupting any signs she sees of a pattern of me making negative remarks about other people - whether it is to do with horsemanship or not. I hope she will help me ! It is not going to help me be good with horses if I am judgmental about what other people do with their horses. I don't want to be making negative comments and if I can enlist the help of people who think I do to help me stop then that would be fab !

What is it Kristy and Carmen would say ...."if you want to be good with horses you need to put your ego aside and learn to be non-judgmental around horses. You can improve that by learning to be non-judgmental with people. What other people are doing may look wrong to you but usually they are just doing the best they can with what they know. They don't deliberately train their horses to behave badly. They just don't know that this is what they are doing and they don't know what to do about it. Focus your energy on what YOU are doing and on your horse and simply set a good example by what you do with your horse and by your relationship with your horse. "

What other people are doing with their horses is none of my business unless it puts my safety or that of my horse at risk or the horse is clearly being abused.

So - a great learning opportunity for me in this ! I could do with some help in minding my own business.

This episode in my journey also made me think that it is a great example of the difference between horses and humans. For horses things are over and done with in a moment. They don't brood for days and days about an incident or a word that was said that was over in seconds last week and they don't ruin the present for themselves by going over and over it in their mind and rehearsing what they are going to say next time they see that horse who offended them last week.

They live for now and take each moment as it comes. Sometimes now can be a pretty anxious place for a horse who thinks he is going to be eaten at any moment. Mostly though horses just eat grass, hang out with other horses and get on with their lives.

Horses are masters of not worrying about what anyone else thinks of them !

Horses would not survive long if they lived in a state of permanent anxiety or let things niggle away at them and wind them up because they would be unable to eat. What is principle number 6 - Horses teach horsemen and horsemen teach horses ? We have a lot to learn about horses when it comes to living in the moment and letting the past stay in the past and not ruin our present. That is why it is called the present - because it's a gift !

I'd hate to think that someone was spoiling their day by being peeved about what I said about or to them last week. I'd hate to think that someone was going over and over something and winding themselves up and rehearsing how they were going to let me know I offended them when they got the chance, when there was really no need for that.

I try REALLY hard not to do this to myself ! It is a recipe for stress and all that goes with it.

Life can be so miserable for people who take offence easily, wind themselves up about something that they think someone said or did and live in a state of umbrage. I love that word ! What I love most is that the phrase is "take umbrage" and not "give umbrage". Off to look up what the heck it means now.

I watched a programme about the landing of the airplane on the Hudson river the other night. For many of those people that near death experience was life changing. They were standing on the wing of the aircraft or in that cold water knowing that they possibly only had minutes left to live.

They had a lot of time to imagine what might have been and that life is short and precious. Many of them made life changing decisions about job and family after that.

I want to get better at being like a horse and living moment to moment and enjoying NOW. If I am going to do that I need to be more like horses, forgive and forget and move on and plan to make the next encounter with everyone a positive one.

Thanks Laura you taught me some great lessons and really got me thinking !

I am SO sorry you took offence and if it spoiled a single moment of your day !

Love
Max

Lots and lots of good stuff - feeling like Level 4 !

2009-02-20T08:13:00.002Z

Last night I had a 30 minute play session with Arch - I had had a great session also on Tuesday. Very calm responsive obedient "with me" horse.

Well last night he was really really cool. I can only think that the stuff I have done since the Honza course has brought us more back to the centre of his graph. I think there at times due to his dominance that he has been more towards the scared end of the scale and I've realised I can bring him back to the centre, if not cross the line over into the dominant quadrant now.

So I've been working a lot on our draw and it feels like maybe that has made the big difference.

I played on the 45ft - circles, transitions, change of direction, and popped some barrels on a circle and squeeze. Got some lovely canter travelling circle - barely any corrections. Relaxed horse, blowing on the circles and finding relaxation there. Did some short range circles at canter with friendly game (stick and string over his back) and some trot and canter stick to me.

Quit while we were ahead ! Awesome session - I felt like I could have been playing with an instructor's horse (oooooooooooh).

He cantered to me off the circle a couple of times too with the ears forward and happy.

Happy sigh.

Now the question is do we risk it all by getting out the video !!!!!!!

Level 4 friendly game

2009-02-19T08:33:00.002Z

Tuesday night is school night - we book the school from 6.30 - 7.30 and as usually no-one else wants to use it after that we carry on until our or the horses tummies rumble !

I finished work early so got up to the yard about 5.30 and decided to play some more with the bridge. Arch clambered easily on to it with all 4 feet but at the moment when I ask him off he has not yet got the confidence to keep the back feet on there. He will though - give me a couple of sessions ! So, I decided to see how well he could back onto it. Now this is not a new pattern for him - he backs happily into the school - it's pretty slow and careful but it's good - responsive and confident. So we tried backing on the bridge. Well was he trying ! He was really really cool - totally LB and obedient the whole way through. He slowly moved a back foot to work out where the bridge was then positioned himself so his right hind foot was close to the bridge and lifted the left to feel where the top of the bridge was. Once he had put his left hind toe on there I quit asking (and by asking I mean I had a little energy in my body - no stick waving - just some life up to let him know to keep moving), but there he was still thinking - he looked just like he was saying - "it's OK I know what you want and I am going to do this I just need to get into position" - so he kept on trying all by himself and then hey presto shifted the weight put it on the left hind on the bridge then lifted the right hind to follow, stood still, licked and chewed and took in the scenery. Whole sequence was light, responsive, left brain, slow, careful, determined and done by feel.

Cool !

oh i forgot - we were in savvy times today !

2009-02-16T21:18:00.000Z

I wrote an article about the patterns and how they had helped us and it got published along with pics of both of us and the boys. Cool !

nice ride

2009-02-16T21:07:00.003Z

Had a day messing at home today - not a lot accomplished I guess but a few little things progressed.

Went up to the yard about 2.30 and had a short play with a slightly snotty Arch and then went for a ride. We did fig 8's at trot and canter and he was pretty good - I still need more draw so back to the Honza stuff tomorrow.

Then we went off towards the pond on Warsick Lane. I decided to play a lot with thresholds today and with follow my focus. So....each time he veered off my focus we did a small circle in that direction - more or less a HQ disengage really due to the width of the track !

We had a nice trot to the puddle corner and then a lovely springy canter up the sandy track.

Near the road by 7 spouts he has been spooky a few times lately so we rode up and down that short bit of track a few times until he relaxed and then grazed - for quite a while really.

Carried on to the pond at 7 spouts - a little bit jumpy near to the houses as the garage doors were open but not for long - just a little adrenalin.

We had a calm ride to the pond and I decided to see at the pond what he wanted to do - so gave him the choice - go straight on (nope), go up to the back of the xcountry (nope) stand still ? Yep !

So we just stood and looked at the pond for a bit - it was nice and sunny and there were some ducks and all. Then headed home - a nice trot and transition down to walk on my energy and breath - that got him a big treat because after all we had just turned for home.

The ride home was pretty good - relaxed most of the way - frequent stops to graze - and some nice slow trot - ace. He has been a bit fast in trot at times lately but today was good - probably due to lots of transitions.

When we got almost back to the yard he did not want to go home - we mosied along the verge and he just wanted to wander and graze. So..we did ! Sometimes it is good to go with his ideas and do what he wants and not to be in a rush to get home. Today he wanted to stay out and graze and that was fine by me.

When we got back he went to have a look at the new bridge - definitely worth investigating that was. We got both front feet on it with me on board and I asked him to back off again which he did really nicely.

On the ground we got all four feet on slowly and easily. He is still unconfident about hind feet on things but that will come if we make more of a programme of the bridge ! Hope no-one breaks it before we do !

sunday - leapfrog on the trail

2009-02-16T09:36:00.004Z

Well on Sunday I suggested that we take the boys a short ride out into the reservoir. We do a ride which goes along a straight track in the park around Foremark Reservoir, do a loop at the end through the old car park and back. It's good under foot and there are usually things going on which present challenges for the horses which is good.

We both played with our horses and this time I played hard to ride soft with Arch which went well.

Off we went to be reminded that there was a cross country run going on so we were met with some plastic tape, some extra signs posted here and there and lots of cars and people. Both horses took all of that in their stride.

We played a game which Rachel Moreland told us about to help horses that get herd bound when trail riding - i.e. herd bound to the other horse they are with. It is called leapfrog.

What you do is to have horse A trot off in front a little distance while you ask horse B to stay in walk. Then horse A comes down to a walk. After a little while horse B is asked to trot, overtake horse A and trot on ahead of horse A a little way and then walk. Then after a little walk, horse A is then asked to trot and overtake horse B. And so it goes on. To start with Arch wanted to trot to stay with H but after more or less the first go he got the pattern and we gradually made the distances longer and longer. At one point Arch offered to stop and eat while H went off in front and that was my success moment !

It's all about approach and retreat - the following horse learning that it is OK that the other horse is going off in front because we will catch up again - and it's OK to go off in front of the other horse because he will catch up again but you don't really ever ride side by side or one immediately in front of the other because then if you try to ask them to do something independently (one of you has to take a different route home) you can have problems.

It also in Arch's case breaks his urge to drive another horse when it is in front of him as he learns that we don't do that - we are either way behind or way in front or we are overtaking.

It worked a treat. We had to stop to wait for some kids running the cross country run at one point until we were caught up by two other riders who were in a hurry and wanted to push through and keep going. We weren't in a hurry (if you start to ride like you are in a hurry then your horse starts to ride like he is in a hurry too......and then...horses really do mirror their riders !) so they passed us and we carried on playing leapfrog coming home.

So that was a good lesson for both horses and Bry and Harley did really really well ! It was GREAT to feel like we were going on a real trail ride together.

saturday - a change of plan

2009-02-16T09:11:00.003Z

Bryan decided he'd like to ride Arch so I turned Harley out with 2 haynets (that he carried and kept trying to tangle in the fence on the way to the field !) and started mucking out.

Bryan played with Arch but A was giving him some challenges ! He overreacted a few times changing direction and broke gait a few times (up !). Bryan is a classic too slow to respond LBI in these situations where A is being extrovert ! A was playing all kinds of games - go the wrong way, explode in canter and race around, not be able to walk a circle - basically he'd been allowed to be impulsive and was not interrupted quickly enough. He is SO clever - he'll do this "I wonder what he will do if..." thing and then Bryan is too slow to respond when he does it and so he can just get worse and more disobedient. So while Bry went inside to get his gear on I played with him a little more and really got him listening and obedient and interrupted a couple of "race off in a paddy"moments...DEAD! It's a fine line with him between getting a response and getting a reaction and Bry was getting reaction not response.

Anyway that was sorted and the adrenalin came back down and Anne and Bryan set off. Anne felt that Tara was a little lame which she does look sometimes....but then she has done next to nothing in the past few months really so she is probably stiff. She is in her 15th year now same as Arch and I have ridden or played with him probably 5 to 6 times a week for as long as I can think....we've done something most weekends, I've played or ridden Mondays and Fridays and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings so he has been kept moving and is super fit still and getting more and more supple and bendy in his ribs.

Well they had not been gone long before they reappeared - according to Bryan, Tara had spooked, run for the ditch on the verge and braced so Anne could not get her bent, and then bucked - dumping Anne on the floor - and then put her head down to eat. Bryan says he got off and played with Tara and moved her around and then they both mounted up and were heading for home when Anne felt her getting spooky again so got off. So once they were back and we were happy Anne was OK I got the bike out and cycled while Bryan rode ahead or behind (ahead up hills and behind down them usually !) He said Arch was really good - I watched them canter up one hill towards me and then pass me and on up the hill and Arch looked cool - relaxed but going for it like he does on the beach. Nice to see !

When we got back Bry took Harley round the cross country while I finished off the stables. H had a little moment coming out of the school - I think he is unconfident about stepping down from the school onto the concrete while balancing Bryan - he is very careful about stepping down onto hard surfaces being barefoot. Anyway he had a little skip up behind when Bry asked him foward over the plank but then stepped down OK and off they went.

So that was an interesting day ! There is nothing more we can do for Anne or Tara. Bryan knows what Tara is capable of having spent those 3 weeks with her at Stoneleigh and getting a really good relationship going with her so he knows it is possible for someone to do that if they spend the time and do it right. I think that it's convinced us both not to make the mistake of getting involved with other people's horses again - it is too painful when you then see what goes on between them and their owner when it does not have to be that way.

friday fun

2009-02-16T08:47:00.003Z

Well 3 days worth of stuff to post now...so will keep it brief as I have things to do today !

Friday afternoon Arch and I went for a ride - up to 7 spouts, across the back of the cross country at Knowle Hill, across the field (instead of up past the showground) and around the tracks with the big deer gates. We started well but the adrenalin came up as we got further from home as sometimes happens. We did not get chance to play before we left home as someone was in the school and it always makes a difference. When you think that when we turn Arch out with Harley or we put Harley back in the field with Arch, Arch ALWAYS comes over and moves H about. Without fail, he comes over and re-establishes or tests his leadership. It's a serious - "don't forget who is leader here buddy" and it always involves some driving game. So guess what Arch thinks good leadership looks like !

Anyway I had to get off to go through the deer gates. The ground is really badly eroded either side of the gate foundations so now there is a deep puddle either side and a concrete ledge between which forms the gate foundation. It is almost impossible to safely open the gate, hold it open and get a horse across. So I hopped off, went ahead of him and he squeezed through really nicely both times despite not being that keen on stepping in the big icy puddles !

I got off again to cross the road to the bridlepath with the concrete barriers - he had spotted something across the road and was having trouble staying focussed on me, there was a lot of traffic due to the main Ticknall road being closed and it being Foremark School chucking out time so I hopped off again and we walked across the road. I got back on on the concrete block and off we went again.

He was a little impulsive (broke gait to trot) a few times along the next bit of track so we did lots of circles left and right - they got really light - but he still had a fair bit of adrenalin so I decided to do what I should have done in the first place and play on the ground some more ! Did an ace sideways along the new fence at the back of the riding school ! What I notice is that even when he is on adrenalin he is very obedient. He can walk when I do, stop when I stop, go sideways, backwards, back up with me, he will glide in to be mounted, be a team player when opening gates (he pushes the gate with his nose and hold it open and waits for me to get a hand on it if it is one that swings back) - you name it - real responsive and partnerlike but he is still on adrenalin which simply seems to make him want to go faster and makes him more likely to be spooky - but he didn't actually do what I would call spook at any point. He is just hyper alert and aware and ....well not to beat about the bush he is more scared but he can control himself and do what I ask. He can even stand still if I stop for a pee - he's still alert but he can stay put and doesn't show any signs of wanting to run off or leave. So that is ALL cool. Now I need to work on having him find more relaxation. Fact is though he NEEDED to move his feet. I guess a lot of people in that situation would have just decided to let the horse trot or canter out of control to work off the "energy". I know better than to have my horse learn that I do not have control so we stayed in control and moved the feet in lots of different directions and not just forward.

I like going fast but I find no fun on going fast when the horse is on adrenalin....or even worse BECAUSE the horse is on adrenalin and you can't stop without the horse bucking or rearing.

I got back on at the wonky gate at the end of the new fence and from then on it was a lot calmer - in fact it was a calm ride ! We stopped to graze a couple of times and did some more transitions and back up which is getting really good now !

Anne was there looking not entirely cheery when we got back so we had a chat and then I put Arch to bed.

Teaching Arch to retrieve,,,

2009-02-12T22:56:00.002Z

Well I think we have cracked retrieving ! I've been playing over a period of a few weeks with teaching Arch to retrieve a small pink towel. He seems to find it easy to pick up and to see so I stuck with that. I have tried using other objects before but the towel has the right feel for him I think and he can pick it up no matter how it lands.

It has been relatively easy - just building it up slowly each day and adding more ingredients each time.

Well tonight we got 3 in a row - I threw the towel, he walked and fetched it and then walked back to me with it. So now we might start to try retrieving other things...

It was interesting reading Kayce Cover and discovering the importance of time-out and the stages animals go through in their learning. Awesome stuff.

I played around also with a few of the L3/4 checklist tasks tonight - lead by the chin / jaw - he is not surprisingly a little bracy about ....this is zone 1 for goodness sake ! Lead by the ear was better than I imagined it would be due to last year's programme with the ears.

We also managed some canter stick-to-me but on line....need to go to liberty on that once it it solid.

Sideways towards was good and I played some more with the stand still - walk away - move HQ - which got very good - we did a couple from zone 5 tonight.

It was SO COLD though so we did not play for too long - about an hour I reckon.

All good progress and lots of laughs !

What a nice day !

2009-02-10T23:12:00.002Z

I had booked the school tonight - no huge plan other than to try some more of the stuff we learned with Honza mixed in with some clickering to improve my draw.

All I really did was to walk backwards away from him and ask him to follow me - didn't take much of an ask really - I didn't have to apply any pressure. I played around with moving the shoulder but have not got the hang of that yet and I need Bryan to watch me I think.

We managed it better one way than the other - I think at the moment he thinks he is meant to come past me rather than bend - so we just need to do that some more until I get the right feel.

We did that for a little while and Mr Archer kept showing me his itchy spots ! He was very itchy - he is moulting already and I guess that is why ! Anyway I managed to do a lot of scratching for him and he was in ecstacy. I have often wondered that he never tries to groom me when I am scratching him - I guess I put that down to him being introverted. Well ...tonight he actually started to groom me ! Very cute - he was not using his teeth, just rubbing my arm and my shoulder fairly enthusiastically with his muzzle! We kept that up for quite a while because it was so cool - he was quite firm in his grooming of me but also careful. He has never done that before so I was quite impressed that he has come out of his shell a bit.

I then saddled up - he was better about this all round - he has been backing up from time to time when I pick up the pad or saddle - last couple of times I have played more friendly and taken the pad on and off a few times and that seems to have done the trick.

I played briefly with some changes of direction and close range circles just to get the cinch up and then mounted up. He was light from the word go - nice lateral flexion and yields.

So we set off for our follow the rail and he was pretty good from the word go - managed to go deep into all the corners without cones - i think the cones got the message across so now we don't seem to need them as he goes deep into the corners most of the time.

Speed was good too - a nice active trot I had to rise to - too big to sit to which is good - and what I want for the moment - might not if I were bareback though !

He did so well that I did a couple of laps each way and quit and took him out for a serious grooming to get rid of some of that itchy hair. Then we went back in the school to watch Bryan trot the rail with Harley.

For the first time H has been stretching down and forward and he actually blew out a couple of times tonight. Bryan was concerned about what he was doing at first - said he felt his back lift as he stretched ! I said I think he was just using his back more and felt like he could stretch down and relax. His nose was almost on the floor but you could see he was stretching which is cool ! Bry reckons he has altered his position a little since trail riding him on Sunday so maybe he is more relaxed and can go long and low. Anyway it was nice to hear him blow out !

The funniest moment tonight was when I dropped the towel I had been using to dry Arch's legs off. I put it on the floor next to his bucket hoping he would not notice it as I had no treats left to clicker him with if he picked it up. I thought that maybe he had not noticed it or would not be inclined to play but I was putting vaseline on his legs and then he noticed the towel - stood on it with one foot, picked it up in his teeth and deliberately ripped it in half ! He knows exactly how to move his foot if he stands on something so this was SO funny because it looked like he meant to rip the towel on purpose ! SMART HORSE ! He makes me laugh all the time !

A little every day

2009-02-10T07:25:00.002Z

Spent the day writing up and pondering my notes from the Honza course. There was some confusion in my mind about the process for a couple of things - the shoulder-in exercise he did with the riding group but I wrote up my notes and sent them to Steve and Claire for comment - they may be able to clarify !

Weather turned grim so I went to get the boys in. They were both standing at the bottom corner of the field overlooking the school with Maddie so I called them up. They both looked at me for a while and were not sure I wanted them, so I took a few steps to the right and stared at Harley's HQ - he was on the right - and he twigged and wandered up. Arch followed slowly LBI on dope style !

They were both angels at the gate to halter - on best behaviour and waited nicely while I picked up the empty hay net.

Both angels to lead in too - I was able to hang on to Arch's rug to stop myself slipping over in the mud and slush and we all slithered down the hill together.

I have noticed that Arch is starting to mess about when asked to pick up his feet - not sure whether this has anything to do with how Nick does it and it doesn't matter anyway - when I do it he should know the drill and stand still - he's walked backwards a couple of times and snatched his front foot away a couple of times so I decided despite the rain to deal with that. No point letting something small get bigger when you can correct it sooner.

So, when he walked back I put him back forward again (only had to do that once) and then asked for the foot. Took a couple of times before I got what I would call a quality foot offering ! He did snatch it away when I let it go, so I took it back again twice or 3 times until I could put it back on the floor nicely. The right front foot was fine and I did that from his left easily so nothing to sort there. Back feet were spot on. I don't get too particular about which back foot I get first - as long as he offers me a foot that is OK. Interestingly it is usually the right foot when I am standing on his left -maybe because he likes to shift his weight towards me and onto the left foot ? Wouldn't be surprised to discover this subtle dominance game - or maybe he is just being clever, knowing that we do all the feet from the same side ? Now I am wondering whether I do all the feet from the left usually ? Hmmm need to even that up then - I think it is probably being right handed.

Arghhhh I can hear Alison Jones now asking us to list 3 things we will try to do with our left hand (if we are right handed !) and get them ambidextrous. Sorry Ali - will try harder in future!

Then Arch was looking like he wanted to play so we played retrieve the towel. Today was SO cool because he managed to pick up the towel when I threw it across the stable and bring it to me ! Woohoo that was good ! He did get a bit frustrated at one point and pawed the ground a little so I just sat back and waited for him to get over that and then we resumed !

Interestingly I read some more of Kayce Cover last night and she mentioned about how important it is to actively ignore behaviour like that when the animal is trying to seek your attention in ways other than those you are trying to reinforce. Must re-read that and make notes because it has not fully sunk in yet.

I watched one of the savvy spotlights which I thought looked Level 2 at best and Pat gave her a Level 4 ribbon - emailed Steve about it to find he agreed - I wondered if I was being critical but the horse looked like he wanted to leave the whole time.

Maybe Pat was being generous because of what he had seen of her in rehearsals and because the environment was very challenging. The fact is she stayed calm and happy with her horse but he checked in with her very little.

Made us realise how much we may need to look to liberty specialists and those students who have greater ambition for liberty for ideas. Thanks Honza !

Emailed Steve some ideas for advancing his clickering with Jo.

Kayce Cover is good ! What can I remember .....

Two things we need to be able to train animals....
1) The ability to communicate what it is we want them to do
2) A way to motivate them to want to do what we ask them to do

Enough - my brain hurts !

More fun in the snow

2009-02-08T22:29:00.004Z

Bryan's cousin came over on Friday night and we all went out on Saturday. I rode Arch and they all walked with Harvey the dog - who was a very very well behaved chap !

Arch was a little bit snorty today - it was snowy everywhere and I could not play with him much before we went because the school was so snowy. He was pretty cool most of the time but hyper alert and on occasion a teeny bit impulsive. We really had to walk most of the time due to the ground conditions and I felt as if the whole time he was saying "I could really gallop now if you wanted !". He even broke gait a couple of times which is unusual. Playing with walk to back-up yoyo did the trick - he is getting pretty good at this now !

Today was even better - Bryan came out with us on Harley - we did a couple of laps of trot the rail which was tricky as the surface was dire and then we headed out towards Ticknall via some big icy puddles to graze under the big tree.

They were both good - although Arch got a little herd bound to Harley on the way back - need to play around with that leapfrog game sometime.

It was good to get out both days when others have been worried that it was not safe to ride out - this just wasn't true - the ground was fine once we got down the drive. Mind you I know that Arch and I are in control so that makes riding him out a bit easier on the mind !

Snowplay

2009-02-06T18:31:00.002Z

I finally got some time to play with the boys in the snow - I was going to take them on the cross country but someone was using it to graze their horses so instead we stayed in the jumping paddock as it is known. Both horses were hard to photograph to start with - everytime I got them lined up facing me and stepped back to take their picture they followed me ! Nice problem to have but funny - both kept trying to put their noses on the camera !

They had a lot of fun playing, rolling and digging for grass. They worked out that if you moved the poles or barrels there was grass underneath so a lot of things got moved about !

H went for a little hoon about and slid around a bit - Arch made a token effort to run about a bit too!

It's funny I realise that Arch keeps an eye on me all the time in situations like that in case I might be going to ask him to do something - Harley just pootles off and then checks in now and again !

I took zillions of photos so will post some favourites in here and do the rest as a slide show.

Hope I can ride tomorrow - even if it is on the roads.

Oh yes I spent this morning printing off the new assessment stuff - looks like Finesse is Level 4 !

Mosey tiger !

2009-02-05T23:26:00.002Z

Mr Archer is Mr Mosey at the moment. Have not been able to do much the last few days due to ice and snow but he is into moseying big time. Problem is his feet fill with snow which packs hard and I worry about him slipping and falling.

Anyway I brought him outside his stable to bathe some bits of mudfever and he wanted to drift off and go for a wander around the yard - so I went with him off round the barn to the other end. I SO wish I had had more time and was wearing more clothes because I could have mosied with him for hours but it was freezing.

He wanted to stand and stare into the distance - i think because everything looks so different and bright. We just stood together for a few minutes and watched the sky and the hill above the school. He was into exploring and spooked Harley when he started to clamber on a pile of poles behind H's stable. He wanted to go through the little gate into the paddock that surrounds the school but it's just not safe - steep hilly bank and covered in snow - not a good combination.

I think that tomorrow if I can get to the yard (depends on snow conditions !) I'll take the camera and wear about 14 layers, and go for another mosey and see what happens !

Tonight we did some prep for the study group - on principle number 1. I got 3 pages of notes and a structure so we are ready !

Bed now !

Snowday

2009-02-03T23:33:00.003Z

Decided to play in the school with Arch tonight to see what came up.

It was pretty snowy in there and he grew a hand as big chunks of snow compacted in his hooves so he was walking about on platform shoes and wondering why I was getting smaller.

We played with some of the stuff from the Honza course and I decided to experiment with clicker training him to follow my hand as a target.

It was pretty easy and soon enough he wanted to follow me everywhere. He got distracted a couple of times by the barrels (could there be treats up there ?) but otherwise he was locked on !

It got a bit too tricky though as he kept falling off his platforms so after a little while of having him stick to my hand we wandered out of the school. We played a game of banging his hoof on the board to dislodge the snow but it didn't really work that well !

He was keen to mosey around the yard tonight and hang out out there sniffing piles of snow and mooching so we did that for a while until I decided it was a bit too slippy so I invited him to come back inside - wish it had been safer to just mooch and hang out together !

Actually come to think of it I guess we could have just mosied from the word go as we did not really do a lot other than mess about with some liberty stuff. Maybe tomorrow eh ?

I think he likes exploring in the snow - I think if I had opened the gate we could have mosied all over the yard but it was too icy !

Need to call it a night now - too sleepy !
Max x

Sunday Funday

2009-02-02T22:01:00.002Z

On Sunday we raised around £130 for The Brooke Hospital by running a fun Treasure Hunt day for everyone at our yard. The theme was "Love" and some of us dressed up accordingly. We were inspired to do it by LizC from KeepItNatural who did one at Christmas.

I made them all heart shaped rosettes and everyone got a rosette for something - with categories like "calmest horse", "bravest horse", "your horse is your treasure", "best photo" (they had to take photos of local landmarks on the route) and for those who collected the best treasure.

They had to do a trail ride for the first part then do some obstacles in the school for the second part.

Bryan and Harley and Arch and I did a demo first in the school and then everyone had a go.

The winner was a girl on a horse she passed Level 1 with in 2004 but then retired a year or two later due to chronic lameness. She had not ridden him in about 3 years and she rode him bareback in his rug ! Literally pulled him out of the field and did the obstacles on him and he was a star. She did the trail ride part on her other horse.

Arch helped me score people and helped a couple of horses to do their obstacles by making himself attractive to them in the proper position !

Everyone had a great time, we had a brilliant lunch and were blessed with some snow to make all the photos look nice !

My best trail horse

2009-02-02T21:34:00.002Z

Wow I missed a few days and do things catch up with you so here is a quick summary.

Arch and I went out for a trail ride into the reservoir and back on Friday afternoon - nice after noon and he was in a good mood for most of it.

He can sometimes be a little jumpy riding down the drive from our barn so today we did some approach and retreat with a couple of thresholds and it seemed to work. There has been a problem with the drains and there was a big pipe coming out of the gate half way down the drive so we went back and forth past that a few times until he said "bored with this, please can I eat the grass by this pipe ?" So we ate grass for a minute then off we went. He was noticably calm straight away even riding past the two houses next to the road where he normally feels the need to be on guard for predators.

Each time we ride past these houses something has changed - so it is a place of some discomfort for him - as it is always new and different and worthy of his attention - just in case. The kids that live there used to occasionally burst out of the front door or jump and spook horses for fun and there are usually a lot of toys and rubbish on the lawn and usually something happening so he has some expectations of what might happen there, so I usually need to get him really focussed on me as we go by then he doesn't have time to worry about being worried. Anyway on Friday he was cool - unconcerned and relaxed as we went by - COOL ! Whatever I have been doing must have worked.

We had a nice ride around the reservoir but coming home he was way too fast for my taste trotting along the long track. I could feel the emotions coming up with the speed so we did a little lateral flexion each side and some suspension rein to ask for a slower trot. It wasn't working all that well and he was bracy so I bent him to a stop into the fence about 3 times and waited until he softened completely before we carried on. He does this thing where he does what I call "fake" lateral flexion. He flexes and puts slack in the line but is still tense. I can sit and wait and after a few seconds he will try and snap his head back again. So I just sit and relax and hold the rein for him. Sometimes it just does not work and he gets more bracy from claustrophobia so then we move the feet a bit in a circle to help him and he can usually really relax then.

It is hard for him because this is a dead straight track of about a half mile long and it heads straight for home, so it is really hard for him not to want to zoom along it home and I have to help him with that. It is also hard to do circles other than really small ones so when he gets too much go we have to play with other things. Right now back ups are our thing - because it SO changes his mind about playing. We are doing back ups with no rein consistently good now. So if I can't put in any circles to slow him down a little then we glide gracefully to a halt and back up and it takes his mind off rushing home and focusses him on earning some treats !

So that was a good session ! When we got back I decided (as I try to do when he is impulsive coming home) to do a few laps of follow the rail. We got some nice laps both reins and I quit and got off. I felt like we had had a good and productive ride !

On Saturday Arch and I went for a ride with my friend Anne and her horse Tara. Accompanied by her new man Pete on my bike and Bryan on his.

We did a ride we both like which takes about a 6 mile route around Foremark Reservoir. Varied hilly terrain a little bit of road and a nice long rail to follow along a track back home.

Arch was cool from the word go. I played with him briefly and provocatively for about 10 mins before we went - mostly pre-flight checks and cinching routine but got his life up and down a few times and some nice canter stick to me (on line as I was sharing the school).

Mounted up and off we went. He was very good for all of the ride - his life was up as it was exciting to be going somewhere but he was calm and obedient and we had a lot less of him trying to drive Tara.

We had a nice reponsive and uphill canter (we were going uphill and he felt uphill in his canter too which is always nice !) and then trotted the track past Bondwood farm (our version of Southfork Ranch and named accordingly).

He misses our grazing stops when I ride with Anne - she is an impulsive person and ...guess what ....she has a horse to match !

Saturday after noon he did a job for us - demonstrating to a friend who is thinking of bringing her horse to the yard that you CAN get a big horse into what appears to be a small doorway into an awkwardly positioned stable !

Then I titivated the poor chap by clipping two heart shapes out of him for Sunday !

Relaxation trotting the rail

2009-01-30T09:59:00.002Z

I think Arch has finally "got"the TTR pattern.

I have passengered a couple of times recently to see what he would do - he trotted in a straight line across the arena and then chose to stay on the rail ! Awesome ! this is what I want at the moment - that he can see trotting the rail as comfort and relax there.

He's also been a lot more particular about cones - ooh here comes a cone I need to be ......erm.....THIS side of it. I noticed him think about the cone and where he needed to be.

Cool.

Have to be careful not to ask too much finesse with practicing the treasure hunt obstacles as he will get fed up !

Draw

2009-01-28T07:49:00.002Z

Went to a 2 day course with Honza at the weekend. Awesome and very interesting. Learned a lot of NEW stuff which is cool, both about liberty and riding. I like learning new stuff !

Some real challenges to the idea of sending a horse away if he leaves. He is very anti join up and anti catching game. He was teaching the circling game a very different way - i.e. not sending the horse away at the outset but having the horse learn to stay connected with you first then doing that at longer distances until the horse can circle you at long range but be thinking always about coming back.

The idea was that when circling you teach the horse to stay with you first so that the circling game is about keeping the horse out until you want him to come in.

Also a lot of stuff on how to do that starting with the horse facing you then moving the shoulders so that the horse stays in an arc towards you then moving to being by the shoulder with the horse curved around you.

Am going to have to write up notes !

It was great to see Steve and to hear about his perspective on it too.

On Monday we played a little bit with this with A and H. It has made me think I might not circle Arch for a while - and focus on games where we can keep his z1 towards me.

We played around just with having him follow me as I walked backwards away from him and not letting the nose drift.

Also helped Harley cope with Arch leaving the yard while he was tied up - he did really really well - we need to make a programme out if it though. Did it again last night and he was really good.

Bry did some TTR (Trot the Rail) with H last night. They were pretty good ! He got mounting with the feet in a hula hoop perfect !

Experimenting

2009-01-24T22:28:00.002Z

Well this is my entry for Friday 23rd Jan - didn't make it to the keyboard last night !

Busy day Friday - practicing emotional fitness helping a student with his horse. The student has a lot of blockages to his own progress - lack of observation of his horse and a lot of self limiting beliefs. I felt the need to be firm and provocative with him - just felt like that style might work better and it seemed to.

Anyway I then played briefly with Arch - had to share the arena and the light was coming down so I played enough to do pre-flight checks and check his saddle then mounted up and rode out. We headed for a usual late afternoon ride that we can do in the dark - as I only need to cross one road. Almost from the get-go he was mildly right brained - snorted at a big drain hose on the drive and stayed snorty for a lot of the ride. I gave him lots to think about - snakey bends, lateral flexion and a few steps of back up on the way out.

We met a friend coming Eva coming back from her ride and although he was very happy to stand while I chatted to her, he would have quite liked to stay with her and her horse. He wasn't nappy just disappointed not to be hooking up with them. We continued on to the pond where I decided to ask him to stop and relax a little while. He was OK but tense and as it was getting quite dark I decided to turn around and head for home. Naturally enough he was more impulsive heading home and still worried by the environment but not overly spooky - just very alert.

He did - unsually for him - break gait to trot coming up the hill from 7 spouts farm so we did a couple of circles where we could (on their lawn) and circle up to the road.

As we crossed the road and onto the straight track he was more impulsive again - meaning he was storming along in walk and very tight. Bending him here is not helpful - he gets more claustrophobic and the tracks is narrow with hedge on one side and tape fence on the other. So we did go sideways for a little way both ways.

I realised I needed to do something more to get him back with me so I started to ask for halt and back up with no reins.

Before long he was focussing hard on doing that and got some treats for his effort - which was very good. He has a tendency to walk on as soon as the treat is given so we practiced waiting until I asked him to walk on and that got better.

So the rest of the way home we did a few strides of increasingly slower walk and halt - back up - halt - walk forward.

Of all the things I did to get his focus on me the back up worked best. Note to self to remember that for next time.

As we came home he offered to stop for some grass at a place we have grazed a few times. Today I said "thanks for asking" but we carried on as it was by then dark.

What I notice is that he can be snorty just in the past few weeks when we ride out alone (which is what we mostly do) but if I am on the ground and Bryan is riding - even if I am quite a distance away he is a lot calmer.

Bry rides him out so little on his own (I like to bike with them) so I am not sure what he would be like with Bry.

When we got back we did a little turn the forehand in the yard and then Eva came to have a sit on him to try my saddle. He was ace for her - she was unsure he would stand still while she got on and off - I think most horses she's ridden are not used to standing still to be mounted) and impressed how easy it was to stop him !

Anyway my lesson for Friday was back up - I reckon I did a lot to keep his focus on me but I need to do more and he finds it harder to think about other things when we are backing.

This weekend we are watching Honza teach at Ingela's in Bromsgrove so not much play time today !

Today is the first day....

2009-01-23T08:17:00.004Z

...of the rest of my journey. So here goes. Arch and I are playing in Level 3. We passed Level 2 about 10 months ago in March 2008. What a milestone that was ! It has been a tough journey. When we passed Level 1 our instructor commented "He is a challenging horse" ! She knew her stuff.

I'm not sure I knew what that meant at the time but I do now ! There are times when those words helped and times when they didn't. It can be easy to say "well this is so hard because he's challenging" and if you aren't careful it starts to be an excuse. These days I know he'd probably say the same about me !

Anyway we followed our pass of Level 2 with a Level 3 course in stormy Wales with Ali Jones and 3 other students which was a great kick start as I was feeling a bit "do I really want to go through all this again in Level 3" at the time.

It was great to have Ali say .....right now you all MUST do Level 3 !

What this next leg in the journey is meaning for me is ...well it's actually not about Level 3 anymore. It's about making sure that we have everything solid - and then Level 3 will appear.

Mostly for me it's been about ME. If you have been in the programme for more than 5 minutes you will know how frustrating some things can be. I am learning patience, persistence, self control, how to be fascinated and intrigued, subtlety, and the power of positivism.

I'm finding that I'm taking everything I know to a new depth of understanding.

That's enough for today ! My plan for today is that I'm off to help a student at our yard with his horse for a while - in exchange for having borrowed his trailer a few times !

Then I will play with and probably go for a trail ride on Arch and play with a little finesse on the trail while helping him stay LB. He can sometimes go RB on the trail and we're working on keeping him focussed and his mind busy so he does not have time to worry. Will see what happens and what we learn today !

Max x x