30 day riding post

Here's a couple. There is one more that I am having trouble uploading...

I've been calling her Lady Bug because of her super sweet personality. Chad thought of it and I pondered a day of two. Then we went on a trail ride and after I got back I took her boots off and under neath was ....well...a lady bug! So I figured it was a sign. No longer will I call her Sophie, or Beastie or 'the mare'! She's earned her stripes and now I need to decide what to do....sell her or my horse Cowboy. My husband says we need to get rid of one and the decision has been weighing heavily on my mind. I have grown attached to this little girl, as I am with my own horse. This is the hardest part of horse training. It's taking a partnership that you have forged and selling it to someone else. Maybe I'm not cut out for this...I'm a pretty big softie when it comes to my ponies.

Trailer Loading and Tarp pictures!

Hey everyone! It has been awhile, but I just wanted to post an update! Next Saturday will be ride #30 for Miss Sophie, and then.....my goal will be complete! 3 months, 30 rides and she's feeling more broke and relaxed every day- Next week I will be posting a video covering what I accomplished with her including- picking up her feet, trailer loading, sacking out with a tarp, accepting a saddle, obstacles, rotating around her front end, rotating around her hind end, stopping, backing, going at all 3 gaits....etc! It has been an exciting journey and I am glad I could share it with you! Thanks for reading!

Here we go! I start by asking her in from the ground

I taught her to wait in the trailer- not rushing out backwards- not freaking out and trying to turn around- but to wait for me and my cue for her to come out

It took awhile and a lot of repetition to get her to where she accepted a) being in there b) the sounds and feeling of the trailer ! c) what was expected of her (to stand still and relax and wait on me)

Closing the doors- she has her leg cocked, which is a good sign!

Ta-da!

And I cue her to back out..

So we can do it on the left side! It was a big deal to do it on BOTH sides of the trailer. This got her used to seeing different things out of both eyes, and you never really know what side you are going to have to be in anyways

The tarp has been a fun exercise, and really beneficial to Sophie- especially for tying. In my opinion, getting over something REALLY spooky helps their general view of everything. It gives them some perspective.

Also, it's good practice for if I ever had to blanket her

Silly Pony!

I would also like to mention that the trailer and the tarp were HUGE hurdles for Sophie and I am very happy with her progress. I worked every day with the tarp for weeks, I kid you not.

And the trailer? About a week straight. Sure, I had her going in and out of the trailer at an early stage but there is a difference between getting them in the trailer and having them accept it. If I were to have loaded her up, slammed the door and drove off on day one sure I would have gotten there, but she would be covered in sweat and a nervous wreck. And loading the next time? I know from experience that that would not have been a walk in the park.

I happen to have one of the spookiest trailers on the planet, and I figure if I can get them confident going back and forth with my *cave on wheels* then any other trailer in the world probably won't be a big deal. I would also like to mention that Sophie had a huge fear of trailers going into this whole thing. When I first got her, she had slipped and fell and injured above her eye. I don't know how much easier it would have been without this happening, but regardless it was still a challenge (everything with horses is a challenge though, right!)

Happy Trails everyone!

9th and 10th ride-34 TTD

So the last couple of days have been exciting out on the trail. We started off going down the fence line and I kept her attention by doing lots of changes of directions and one rein stops. She was scared of the tumbleweeds in the neighbors yard, and one particular tractor tire that probably was going to eat her alive (HA!) And we just took it in stride. I got her relaxed and using the thinking side of her brain and then we could lope along with no problems.

Today was pretty much the same except I went down a different fence in the pasture and got her used to even more spooky things. One particular puddle was a problem. I had to laugh when she went to drink the nasty soupy mix- I think she was trying to also perceive how deep it was with her muzzle. After getting a mouthful of mud she finally got the confidence she needed to try it out. Then we repeat 10 more times...
Loping along the backstretch there was a section of fence with tall sagebrush on one side and tall weeds on the other that made her nervous. So guess what we did? We went back and forth baack and forth until she gives me that heavy sigh and I can feel her muscles relax a bit. Then we move on.

It'll probably be a pretty boring blog from here on out because it's hard for me to drag my camera people out on location (aka my husband and or mother-in-law). I'll try to post weekly now unless something really cool pops up.

A few more things I want to get accomplished this month before I put her up for sale include-

a) putting as many trail miles on her as I can
b) roping the dummy and
c) dragging logs

If I can get all these done - I think we'll both be happy campers and I will feel confident selling her as a green broke horse. I kind of feel sad about it now...because she is a pretty nice girl. I just hope I can find her a wonderful home that will keep going with her. 

8th ride- 32 total training days-Hittin' the Trail

I found these illustrations on the eclectic horseman webpage (http://eclectic-horseman.com/pyramid-of-training-for-the-everyday-horseman-part-1/) Followed by a very informative 4 part article by dressage rider Terry Church. I highly recommend this article.

As far as Sophie- well we took our first baby trail ride yesterday! I can tell I am going to have to do a lot of work building her confidence on the trail. I probably won't go back to the arena for some time, because I need to get her confident with this new environment in which everything is constantly changing. I'll keep working on building her foundation- training and constantly engaging and challenging her mentally and physically. My hope is that after every ride she will come back with a little more know how and that will eventually make everything else start to become easier for her. I have noticed that I really have to be careful how much I introduce to Sophie- she is easily overwhelmed and I need to establish a can-do attitude.

4th-7th Ride- Cruising, Serpentines, One Rein Stops and more!

Today was day 7 for Miss Sophie- as you can see we have progressed to riding in the sheep pasture. We have been working a lot on 3 things in particular- One Rein Stops, cruising (aka setting the gas pedal and making sure it stays), serpentines and today was our second lesson with backing.

So after I knew I had good hind end control and could moderate her speed, I knew it was time to keep running forward! One rein stops (aka emergency stop) are similar to the hind end control except it really reiterates the concept of stopping with one rein- if she were to buck, bolt, spook, or run off I need to know that I have a way of slowing her down and getting her to stop.

Once I knew I had a clutch (hind end control) and a brake- I knew I could start working on my gas pedal. I start slow at the walk and get her to just walk when cued. Meaning- not jogging-not bolting- just walking. Once we are good at the walk- we go to the trot. Here it is important that I don't progress until she is trotting on her own at a good relaxed trotting speed. In fact, if they jog here I don't get too picky. Especially because she is more nervous, I don't want her to really feel wrong and get frustrated with me. She needs to feel relaxed with me- this predator on her back. It means a lot to them to just let them get used to that. Finally, I start working at the lope. From my video, I hope you can see that whenever she got speedy at the lope- I just calmly shut her down and went back to that one rein stop. Then I calmly get her going again. Chances are high that when she is running at any point- it means she has stopped thinking and started reacting. My job is to get her thinking again....which leads me to another thing that we were working on-

Serpentines! Buck Branaman starts with a lot of serpentines, as does John lyons and countless others. It's very similar to a lot of the ground work exercises I do in that there is a) lots of changes of directions and it also gets her bending and giving and it also helps them relax.  With Sophie, it felt a lot like I was riding this crazy little slinky. She would go one way, then another when I asked her to say go right. This will get better with practice! She needs to develop the muscles and the know how, it's just one of those things that I will probably work on every day for quite awhile. It's a great thing to start off with because it gets them thinking and relaxed.

Finally, we went to our second lesson with backing. This is another thing that takes practice...it was the first time I put her in a bind with the bridle and I let her figure out that it was attached to her feet. I had to just hold pressure on both reins until she discovered that the only time she gets a release is when her feet go back---but it starts with little itty bitty tiny baby steps. And when she hints that she's moving one foot back- I give her a total release and let her soak.

Someone once told me that horse training is a lot about putting a horse in a bind and letting them just figure it out. From my experience, nothing is further from the truth.

3rd Ride: Intro to cattle and the big boy pen- Day 28

Today I repeated what I did the last couple of days- basically walk, trot and canter in the round pen. Then I took her to the big boy arena where my husband's weaner calves are living. I got her to track the calves around the pen calmly at the walk- it was a really good introduction to steering around the pen and desensitizing to the cows too! In fact, she was more worried about some pallets that were pushed up against the fence than she was about the calves. Not too shabby! Pretty soon we'll be hitting up trails. I'm not sure if she has just lived in her pen her whole life or if she has had any kind of exposure to pastures or what...it'll be interesting to see how she reacts to everything! I am pretty excited. If she keeps going this good, well. I might decide not to sell her! I might sell my goof ball of a horse instead. He's a good horse too, but I am having a blast with this one!

Day 27- 2nd ride with some review

Well today we had our second ride and I did exactly the same thing as I did yesterday, except I spent some time really getting her to flex. I got her going at the walk really good, then I went up to the trot and then the canter. Every time she broke gait I made sure not to pressure her because that wouldn't have done anything but worry her, so I just eased her on back up. I just needed to check that my gas pedal was working good. Now it's time, and I think tomorrow we will move up to a bigger arena. She is going confident and relaxed. At certain points she even offered to stretch her neck down and I felt her whole body just chill out. Wow, I love that! Now I need to keep going with this great momentum we have. Pretty soon I'll start working on getting her stop cue. Up to this point I have only offered to guide her with one rein or another, then to gently disengage her hindquarters to get her to stop. I need her to practice going left and right but also eventually she will learn to do one rein stops and to stop and back up with one rein. I don't start using two reins until she really understands these things.