A Weekend Indoors

April 16, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

We’ve had a lot of storms these past few days, though I suppose we are lucky that we only had to deal with strong winds and some mild thunderstorms. It was never storming actively when we got out to the barn the past three days, but things were usually cold and damp so we elected to ride inside.

When Bear doesn’t come to me from a decent ways off, I make sure to spend a few minutes applying some pressure. Maybe this will change things for the future, if not it sets a nice tone for our rides.

Friday and Saturday were interesting rides for Bear and I. Some parts were great, and some parts were not so great. I think the most annoying thing was Bear’s inclination to come off the rail. I often wonder if he doesn’t see so well sometimes, because he shies away at odd things. He also tries hard to crane his neck around and look at things out of both eyes (almost always when the “offensive” thing is on his right side). With all the wind blowing he was not too excited to be right on the rail, so I made a game of just keeping him there. If he came off or didn’t want to go into a specific spot, I would just back him into it or sidepass him over. I got a ton of practice with these minute maneuvers. It was good for me to have something to think about other than getting kind of mad because he wouldn’t do something that appeared so simple to me.

With all the sidepass practice, I decided to try something we’ve never done before. Gates. We have a very light and easy swinging gate to get in and out of the arena. So I just stepped us right up to it, and went about opening and closing it. Bear was suspicious at times, and it was not the prettiest opening and closing, but we did get it done. We went from both sides and never had any problems. Of course, I did tell him that if we had cows around we surely would have lost them. He didn’t seem to care.

Another not so ideal moment occurred when Robin and I were practicing the routine. We had gone through it once or twice with no real problems, then we decided to add the lope. That was interesting for both of us, and it must have stirred Bear up a little, because when we came back together he was charging to the right to cut off Steen. I pushed him back left, but he didn’t listen very well, so I asked a little more with my spur and he got really pissed. He kicked out at Steen once for sure, maybe twice; It was a little hard to tell. I just felt a bunch of hops, but before I knew it I had reined him into a stop pretty hard. We walked a lot of short-serpentines and I made sure he was bending exactly how I wanted him to. He wasn’t happy, but he seemed to get over it. When we did the routine again there weren’t any problems.

After our early Saturday morning ride (there was another show at the barn, and we wanted to be done before that got started), we drove up to the Kirkwood Equestrian Center to audit part of a Jeff Griffith clinic. In the morning we watched the second half of the colt starting class. It was really fun to see so many different riders putting what was probably just the fifth or sixth ride on their horses. Some looked good, others not quite so good, but they were all making progress with their horses. It was nice to see. I have never seen colt starting in person, and it made it seem a lot more doable than it did in my head.

In the afternoon we watched the horsemanship class. Jeff rode a gorgeous little four year old buckskin that was so unbelievably soft. Many of the things in the clinic were not new to us, but it is always helpful to hear how a good teacher helps others work through problems. But I think the best thing for me was watching him ride. I read an article the other day about good clinicians and not so good clinicians and how to tell the difference. So much of course comes down to personal preference and how you want to ride, but the article concluded that if they show you a taste of how good you can get your horse, then you’ve probably gotten something out of the clinic. I hope one day I can have a horse as soft and responsive as his.

We didn’t spend much time getting pictures, but at least here you can see some of the relaxed softness in his horse.

Today we rode inside with a few other people. Some out-of-towners had stayed over for the show, and when we climbed on to ride there were six of us in the arena along with some barrels and cones and a big ball. We don’t have a huge arena, so it was a little cramped. A few riders left early on, but we still rode in traffic for a little while. I remember when I used to hate traffic. Mostly I was just not confident enough in controlling my horse or in the ability of others to control their horses. Now I feel good about the former issue, and it lets me not worry too much about others.

One of the other big things I took away from the clinic was to not hang on the horse’s mouth. I know this. I think I’m OK at it, but really, we all know this and think we’re OK at it. I looked through a ton of pictures this morning of me riding and I realized that I am actually OK at it. But I could be a whole lot better.

So as Bear and I meandered around obstacles and other riders, I kept my reins as loose as possible (I actually lengthened them a little bit) and just steered with my legs as much as I could. I have been making good progress there lately, so that is nice, but the big difference I noticed was when we started doing this at the trot. I kept the super duper loose rein and really concentrated on my legs, and for the most part, he went exactly where I wanted him to go. I few times I could see him searching for the rein, which just told me that I have in fact been using them more than I should, and when he didn’t find the reins he just continued to relax more. We had no speed control issues today, and I don’t think that was a coincidence.

We did get some practice at the lope all three days, and it was mostly just OK. Bear was again inclined to lean in hard and charge through the corners, so I continued with my tactic to sit back and deep and use the rein to remind him to stay back on his haunches and bend through the turns. Jeff had a nice analogy that worked in situations like these. He said if you don’t want your horse to go somewhere you put up a wall to block them. If you were to run into a wall, you would just hit it once, you wouldn’t keep banging into that wall. So many riders at the clinic would continually get on their horses in hopes of stopping something, but really they were just getting their horses used to something uncomfortable. Instead you should go in, make your correction, and then leave them alone.

I kept thinking about that as we were loping around. I kept a longer rein than I usually do when we lope, but when he got chargey and started dropping his shoulder, I just firmly reminded him to stay up and back. It totally worked. He started recognizing when a correction would come and then he’d think about it and soften through his body. Because of all the traffic I didn’t keep this up as much as I would have liked, but it is always nice to leave things for another day.

All three rides were quite difficult for both of us, but I think we made a lot of nice progress. I really think the reminders we got from the clinic and the experience of watching Jeff’s super soft hackamore horse will help us in our goals.

Another Day in the Hackamore

Brian

April 12, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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I rode in the hackamore again. I wasn’t planning on it. I thought for sure we would ride in the snaffle again and that Robin would be using the hackamore. She has talked about getting back to it a little more regularly. But she also got some new boots for Steen, and she wanted to have a ride where they really loped a lot, and she’d feel a lot more comfortable doing that in the snaffle.

So knowing that I had an awesome ride in the hackamore yesterday, Robin offered it to me. And I accepted.

Of course we didn’t have nearly the good ride we had yesterday. That is how these things seem to go, right? But all in all, it was a rather decent ride. And in many ways I pushed him much harder than I did yesterday. There were more distractions (mostly in the form of Steen), and we did not spend nearly as much time just hanging out and getting the feel for the hackamore. Today I moved in and out of exercises at a pretty rapid pace.

The one thing that was consistently awesome today and yesterday was our stops (actually, our backs were amazing, too). Bear is generally quite good at stopping, but with the hackamore on it seems that he is even more willing to stop. This would make perfect sense in that one can apply an awful lot of force to a rather tender spot on the nose. But from the walk and trot I was asking for a stop just with my seat. I knew I could possibly pull too hard on the reins, so I didn’t even bring them into play.

You can see I am using the reins a little more here. Coming down from the lope I would pick up a soft feel before the stop.

Our flexes, serpentines, and circles were all tremendous. And just like yesterday, he was extremely sensitive to my legs as I directed him around the strip. So where were the problems, you might ask.

Well, he was less attentive to me overall. He seemed just a little spacey. More inclined to check out. And then there was the loping in the hackamore. We didn’t lope yesterday. Today I decided to try it for two somewhat opposing reasons. One, he was exceptionally quiet and almost felt sluggish at the trot and I figured he’d give me a nice, relaxed lope. Two, he was sluggish and inattentive and I hoped the lope might serve to wake him up.

Lucky me, I got both outcomes. We started with a super relaxed lope. Both Bear and I were very comfortable. I had him on a loose rein, and he was having fun and listening to my legs.

Then things went a little downhill. For some reason he started to stiffen up and stop listening to my legs. On a few occasions he started running right down the strip instead of turn in the nice oval-ish pattern we were running. It was not like he was running away with me; we were mostly controlled. But he was stiff and not listening, and it was a significantly bigger and more disjointed lope.

After a few not so great minutes of loping I decided to end it. I thought I might get back to it later, but we never did. Instead we went right back into doing serpentines and circles. I wanted to get him listening to my legs and not making his own decisions. He was totally great with these. We moved back into some trotting in various patterns, and again, he was great.

So overall it was a pretty good hackamore ride. I guess it was just that yesterday’s was so much better. But I am in no way discouraged by how things went. If anything, I want to keep getting back out there with the hackamore. I’ve read of a couple people who have had great success livening and softening up older horses with them. Bear and I have been doing well in that regard these last few months, but perhaps moving into the hackamore a little more regularly later in the spring or summer could be a good challenge for both of us.

And the Wind Blows

Brian

April 10, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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It was a pretty, sunny day, but we also had 30+ mile an hour winds out of the northwest. So it was a cold wind. Warm sun and cold wind always make a strange combination.

Robin had a lot of work to do this afternoon, so I had a rare solo-outing to the barn. Bear was thrilled to see me. I’m sure it helped that I was carrying some chopped hay to give to Steen. Still, the whole time we hung out he looked content and happy.

With all the wind and being alone, I was kind of planning on a quiet ride. I’m still reading little bits of Bill’s book every morning, too, and he is always talking about slowing down. I had a lot of things to think about regarding foot-fall and posture. Since I knew it would be a quiet ride, I made a last second decision to try Robin’s hackamore. I have used it four or five times with a slight increase of success each time, but the last time I used it was over two months ago.

We rode out on the strip and Bear was a dream. He continued to feel happy to be with me, and he seemed to enjoy the challenge of the hackamore. The only thing that tripped him up and made him a little upset was when I asked him to back in circles. I guess he just isn’t used to that type of pressure yet. But I stuck with it each time I asked for the back circle and rewarded the slightest try, be it a break in his pole in the right direction or stepping over.

I could tell I was riding so much better than I was two months ago. On these last few rides in particular I have been working a lot at effectively using my legs on serpentines, circles, and figure-eights. Today it really showed. I was able to stay very light with the reins and steer him through whatever shapes I wanted. He would still get stiff at times, but I could just wrap my leg a teeny big firmer around him. I never once needed to give a sharper kick or pop on the reins like I often do. Well, I don’t do it often. It has been decreasing, but I’m not sure if I’ve gone through a ride where I didn’t need to firmly remind him to listen to my leg.

As we rode he kept getting softer. Soft feels got better, flexes got better, and though we couldn’t get any leg yields in the beginning of the ride, in the end he starting yielding to the right beautifully. I wish I had it on video so I could see what he looked like. It felt better than it ever has before. His neck was relaxed yet arced, and he was reaching over much further than he normally does.

And then I went left and that wasn’t so good. It was odd as left is usually our better direction with those. So I spent a few minutes really breaking down in my own head what I was doing. It turns out it is a much more natural motion for my hands when I ask for a leg yield to the right. I also move him off my left leg, which is stronger and has better mobility. But after thinking about these things for a few moments, I was able to make some adjustments and get a passable leg yield to the left.

I ended the ride on that note. I know I have a lot to learn before we’re going in the hackamore regularly, and I can’t wait to see how we do moving back to the comfortable terrain of the snaffle. Still, I kind of find myself thinking about getting my own hackamore set up. I wonder what color mane hair mecate would look good on Bear . . . .

Motoring at the Walk

Brian

April 8, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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Today we went out for a fairly long (for us) trail ride. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We received a little cold rain yesterday, and that helped green things up some. But today was in the low 60s with a bright, blue sky.

As soon as I hopped on Bear I knew he was feeling good. Actually, I thought he was feeling good earlier, but sometimes he feels better when we’re doing stuff on the ground than he does under saddle. Not today. He was soft and attentive and just felt strong. As we walked down the drainage and over to the second strip he was walking faster than I’ve ever felt him go. It was really fun, especially since he was also very relaxed. Usually when we’re walking on the trails I’m practicing keeping his walk lively. It doesn’t help that we have to keep up with Steen, who is a really fast walker. But today we spent a good portion of the ride even out-walking Steen.

This week we have not ridden a ton. They had two days off early in the week and another two days off in the end of the week. During our last few trail outings the weather has been warmer, and the guys have been somewhat worn out from long rides all week, so today it was great to see how well behaved they could be even when they felt fresh.

We walked and trotted on over to the salad bowl and then spent some time working. I also had the camera in my pocket, so I hopped off to snap a few shots of Robin before handing the camera off to her. We got a lot of great shots.

I always have fun watching Robin ride. She was doing so well even Bear was interested.

His interest only lasted so long; it is hard to pass up the grass in the salad bowl.

Sometimes it is hard to get Bear thinking again after I let him snack, but today I just moved his feet a few times, asked for a flex, and hopped on. He had no time to eat. We headed off at a trot and all was well.

Except Bear really, really wanted to run. Before the ride I was thinking we might try a lope when we were out and about, but he was so energetic I kind of changed my mind. But when I could feel him offering me what was going to be a nice lope, I decided to just push him into it.

Once we got going he wasn’t so keen on keeping it up, but I made sure we got a few good laps in. At one point he really started digging in and cutting hard like he did last weekend, but I was able to keep him relaxed by sitting deep and just bending him with my legs. I decided not to push my luck, though, so we didn’t lope for very long.

The rest of our work in the bowl was mostly at the trot: medium serpentines, figure-eights, and leg-yeilds. The whole time I just concentrated on riding well and guiding him with my legs.

I think it was working well, because he was very responsive. He stayed at a really nice pace, and I think I only doubled him once. And it was a very, very light doubling at that.

We calmed down with a few short serpentines and whirly-gigs and then walked home. He wasn’t walking quite as fast on the way home, but it was still significantly faster than his normal walk.

When we got back to the strip Robin and I each took a turn doing a little loping. It is nice to take advantage of their slightly tired state, and we also like the idea of reminding them that they still have to work and pay attention even when we get home. Bear and I started off with some decent lopes to the left. He was trying to get out of it a few times, but eventually I got to where he would keep going in a soft manner.

Going to the right was different. It was amazing. Right is our bad direction, but today we had the best loping to the right I’ve ever felt. He never tried to drop it, and he was very soft to my legs guiding him into a larger oval or a smaller circle. We didn’t do much, because I wanted to end on that great note.

Distractions

Brian

April 7, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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Today our barn was having a practice show for anyone who wanted to brush up on their showmanship before one of the bigger spring shows. As showing holds absolutely no interest for Robin or myself, we decided to get out early and see if we could get started before other people arrived. We timed it about perfectly as we just finished tacking when some trucks and trailers started pulling up.

Bear was watching my approach from a long way off. I always stopped when he was looking, but he isn’t coming to me from that far off yet. Today, though, he came from at least 30 yards away. Perhaps the longest yet.

We rode in the treed pasture again. It was free of horses, and we all had fun in there during our last ride, so it seemed an easy choice. Bear and I warmed up by walking the perimeter and ‘checking fence.’ He was really looking all over the place, but I didn’t mind too much because he was paying a lot of attention to his feet. The treed lot is full of downed branches and stumps, so in certain areas we all have to pay a lot more attention than usual.

Unfortunately, the other things he was paying attention to never stopped distracting him. With the show there were lots of people around, horses getting fed, horses calling, trucks pulling in and out, and Bear wanted to watch all of it. He did not strike me as alarmed at all, just really curious.

Despite the distractions I was feeling very positive about everything. I was able to use my legs very effectively (getting better circles and serpentines than on our last few rides), while staying light with my hands. I also decided to use all the distractions as teachable moments. When Bear would raise his head and look off I would increase my leg pressure or use the rein to ask him to tip his nose back in. If he didn’t take the good deal he got a much firmer boot in the side or a light but sharp pop in the mouth. I do hate doing that, but we did make some progress as the ride progressed. I don’t believe he ever stopped getting distracted by things, and I wish I could say he was coming back to me from the nice asks, but what was mostly happening is he would feel the incoming kick or pop and very quickly get back with me. I’d reward that try by pulling my kick and giving him some light praise. Then we’d continue on with our exercise.

I was also encouraged that we had absolutely none of the chargyness or shoulder dropping we had last ride. We spent a lot of time trotting circles and figure-eights and just meandering around the pasture. A few times he got a little jumpy, but a soft feel on the reins would always bring him right back with me. I decided to use these nice trots to my advantage and practice making the nicest transitions I could between trot and walk. I’ve let these slip since we’ve been riding outside more. In the indoor arena it is an easy exercise to work on, but when we’re out and about I don’t think about it enough. They mostly went well, but we’ll need to keep on them regularly.

The only part of the ride that was kind of bad, and also baffling, was when we were riding across the pasture from one tree to another. During so much of the distractions we were working on bends, so I decided to see how we handled the distractions by working on going straight. We’d walk or trot to a tree, hang out for a second, back a half turn, and then go to the other tree.

Well at one point Bear was not at all inclined to back a half turn in the direction I asked him to. As far as I could tell there was nothing in the way, but he was extremely bothered. He kept dancing around and going every direction except back and to the left. For a while I was just sitting there asking as calmly and consistently as possible for the back. I figured he would work to get out of the pressure eventually.

But he didn’t. Things were actually getting worse. And at that moment I remembered something I read from Bill Dorrance the other morning. He was talking about how a fella would get to recognize signs that his horse was getting pushed more than it could handle, and instead of pushing on through, that fella would get his horse feeling of him and work on something else. I love the way Bill writes. Or talks, rather. It is almost like you can hear him coming out of the book.

So I took this moment to practice keeping my horse ego in check. We relaxed, I asked him to turn around in a different way, and then we walked off to meet Robin. In the middle of the field I asked for another back turn to the left and he gave me a really soft one.

It was almost a year ago that I read True Horsemanship Through Feel for the first time. I thought it was excellent at the time, but so much of it was over my head. I think I got about 15% of what Bill was getting at. But this year I’ve learned so much about this style of horsemanship. I’m now slowly working my way through the book again, and I’m noticing many passages that totally tripped me up last time are now starting to make perfect sense. I know reading through the book was a huge reason why I was able to ride through all the distractions today and stay in a good frame of mind.

Riding Well Always Matters

Brian

April 5, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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On Sunday the guys got their feet trimmed, and then we took them out for an easy ride in the fields. Lately we’ve been doing some longer trail rides on Sundays, but for some reason neither Robin nor I felt like going out and about, so we stayed closer to home.

It was a fun, relaxing ride. Partially due to the heat; it was almost 80 degrees and very, very muggy. It felt more like July than April first. We took advantage of the sluggish horses and worked on some long trotting up and down the second strip and enjoyed some work in the three hills. After a while we got to one end of the strip and I thought I would try to lope a few easy circles. Bear had been great up to that point, and it seemed like a good time to try it since we had never done it before.

He picked it up just fine and gave me a few nice strides, but after that he was running circles like a mad horse. Digging into the corners, throwing his head a little. I really had no idea what was going on, but he felt good and strong so I just resolved to ride through it until he settled a little.

That never happened. We went both directions and had nothing but crazy running. In the end Bear was a dripping mess and my legs were actually quite tired for riding through all his antics. When we weren’t running he was his normal, totally relaxed self. We walked back to the barn with no problems, and he listened to every small request I made.

It was very odd, and I spent a couple days feeling bad about how that portion of the ride went. I think more than anything he was just confused, but I have no idea what was making him confused.

Wednesday was the perfect April day. Sunny, sixty, and quite windy. We rode in the treed lot and both Robin and I had ambitions of working on circles and figure-eights and getting our horses to bend in as a relaxed and ‘perfect’ a way as possible. It was just the kind of slow yet demanding work that can reset a less then ideal ride.

I have no idea how much time Bear and I spent walking in circles and figure-eights, but it was a lot. And it was really hard on me mentally. Since all I wanted was a ‘simple’ circle, it was so easy for me to get mad at Bear’s infractions. I did do a good job staying relaxed, though, but that is where all my mental effort went.

It did help things. After a while I was using my legs a little differently than I normally do. I could feel the inside of my legs getting a little tired and my glutes were working in a way they normally don’t while riding. At the same time Bear was much more with me through the patterns. We still had our slip ups (I think the wind was particularly distracting for him), but we could always overcome them.

Since things were going so well at the walk I decided to work on getting some excellent circles at the trot. I figured it would also help us work on some of our speed control issues, which have actually been getting much better. The first few circles we had some regression, but after just a few laps we were able to hold a very consistent bend and pace. It felt great. We switched directions and had no problem going either way.

It is possible I should have ended the ride there, but I didn’t. Ultimately I’m happy I didn’t, but we ran into some new problems when I decided to move from trotting relaxed circles to loping relaxing circles. Bear gave me a little stretch and head toss when he picked up the lope, but once we got moving he was extremely balanced and collected. It felt so good we kept going for a few laps.

And that is when things deteriorated. Bear started digging in deep, leaning hard, and kinda running around all crazy again. At times I actually thought he could throw in a buck, but thankfully he never did. And just like Sunday, whenever I would bring him to a stop he would be his normal, relaxed self.

I went back to the walk to work on some bending and he was again listening to my legs nicely, so we went back to trotting and things got bad again. He was chargey in the trot, dropping his shoulder, and often picking up a super short lope. For a little while I thought he might be getting sore, but Robin said his body was moving so unbelievably well that he was almost certainly not sore. It made sense, his lopes felt effortless and strong, even if I wasn’t asking for them.

Bear giving me an energetic and unasked for lope.

But I was at a loss for what to do. I was tired of just trying to ride through things, and clearly the way I was doing it wasn’t working. Robin suggested I work at only the trot. Since he was getting very pushy and dropping his shoulder a lot, she said focusing on that issue alone could be a good way to get him thinking again.

Of course she was right. We went off to do some figure-eights and as soon as he started to lean I just gently pulled him up and back but kept him trotting. I was worried I’d have to yank him around a bit, which I’ve been trying so hard to not do at all, but that wasn’t the case. He only needed a few gentle reminders to stay back on his haunches and listen to me. The trotting felt great, and I could feel the happy Bear expression coming back on his face.

Since things turned around so well I went back to the lope very briefly. It took a few tries to get a quiet lope going, but we did get it. The gait wasn’t as nice as I’ve felt in the past, but it was quite good. And in the end of the ride Bear was extremely attentive to every move of my legs. He was also significantly softer to the bit than he was in the early part of the ride.

Bear is always surprising me. It is so funny to think back on the days just before we purchased him. He was so sleepy and quiet that we thought I’d have him for a year at most and then move on to a different horse. I am nowhere close to needing another horse. Our relationship keeps changing and bringing up new challenges for both of us. After the ride Robin was wondering if Bear is in a place he’s never quite been, or hasn’t been in a long time. He is a dominant horse who is naturally relaxed, so it is possible he has come quite far in his riding without having to surrender total control to a rider before. He is very good at expressing his opinions about what he will and will not do, and for the first year plus of our working together he was always able to get out of things.

But lately I’ve become a more effective rider, and the methods I am using to communicate with him make sense and are also very firm, which means he can’t get out of things like he used to. When we’re hanging around before and after rides he is also quite a bit different. Where he used to fall asleep, now he is constantly looking for me. If I’m picking his feet or currying his cinch area, he’ll reach over and gently nose my back or shoulder. He used to do this in a rough manner, but not now. It feels like he is comforted by my presence and happy to tell me so. If I change my body language, he stops rubbing. He knows his place, and he loves that. Now if I could only communicate so well when our rides get faster in new territory. I think it is only a matter of time.

Doubling

Brian

April 1, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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I’ve continued to read through Martin Black’s book, and I spent quite a bit of time reading about doubling. I’ve encountered it before in his work and by others, but I never fully took the time to understand how it works. I’m certain I haven’t got it all down just yet, but today I put some of it into practice while Bear and I were trotting around on the second strip.

It was cooler than it has been recently, and I was kind of expecting our guys to be a little frisky. That wasn’t the case at all. The guys were a little tired, Bear especially. I don’t think he was sore at all, which is good, but he was definitely stiff when I’d ask him to flex or bend to the right. He wasn’t bothered by me asking; I just had to be very patient to wait for him to respond. He was also just feeling lethargic underneath me. I think some of this will change as they are out in the medium pasture now. This is over a month ahead of what is normal; it has really been a crazy winter and spring weather wise.

I was trying to move away from Robin while she was snapping photos and Bear was giving me a great soft-feel and side pass. You can also see my feet are lower than usual, which mean’s Bear is thinner than normal.

We did some nice warming up on the strip with some serpentines and work at circles. I found a new horse blog the other day, and when I was reading through her stuff I came across a great post about working in a circle. During a few rides the last week I spent what I thought was a lot of time going in circles. Sometimes I worried I was over doing it, but now I feel pretty confident that wasn’t the case.

Then we wandered over to the second strip and worked on our trotting, and when Bear would charge forward more than I wanted, I would practice my doubling. When I first encountered doubling I thought it was just another term for a one-rein stop. Not so, though they are similar. The one-rein stop is more of an emergency brake, whereas doubling involves a similar pull to one side of the mouth, the goal is not to stop the horse but merely take away the drive from their hind end. You don’t even want to untrack the hindquarters (though you certainly could if you needed, to). Instead you want to keep the horse moving forward.

It is easy to do, but it is not easy to do well. Ideally you would time the doubling with the moment the horse’s hind foot is coming off the ground so that your pull redirects that foot. I’ve been getting better at understanding where Bear’s feet are when I ride, and I’m consistently nailing my diagonals when I post a trot, but adding in the doubling I think I was only timing it right maybe 60 percent of the time.

The beauty of it is that it works no matter what. Even if the timing is off you disrupt the horse’s forward motion and give them a reason to slow down and think. Doing it with the correct timing makes it work better, and you are also making great strides into keeping your horse soft and responsive. So I am definitely going to keep working on it.

We spent a little while just hanging out today.

I was lucky in that Bear was quite a bit more sluggish than he has been the past month. So I’ll be curious to see how things go when he is a little more fresh.

A Quiet Indoor Ride

Brian

March 31, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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Last night I was reading through a little bit of Cow-Horse Confidence by Martin Black. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I might have found just what I needed to read. I ended up reading a section on balancing with the horse, and of course in that section Black was constantly talking about quiet hands and giving subtle yet confident cues. There were definitely moments during my last couple of rides where I was a little more rough than I should have been, and there is no doubt that when Bear gets a little chargy I am not able to help Bear balance. I think I’ve gotten to the point where I feel set and balanced myself, but it doesn’t really count if my own balance throws off my horse.

So for today’s ride I just wanted to focus on moving with Bear and not getting in his way. I also wanted to be as gentle and consistent as possible. For the most part, we achieved that. If I found myself getting frustrated or rushing things, we just took a moment to chill out.

This doesn’t mean I was easy on Bear. I actually demanded quite a bit. He was not happy to be following the rail for some reason, so I spent a lot of time giving him cues to scoot back on the rail. He didn’t always like it, but he couldn’t do much when I would ask for collection and leg-yield him back where I wanted him. One spot in the arena gave us particular trouble after he got spooked by a black cat jumping off the tack lockers. We spent a lot of time there resting. The first half-dozen times or so he would always come off the rail. I just told myself this was a good time to practice side-passing and backing to get right back where I wanted us.

Our trotting was also quite good. I know it isn’t fair to compare gaits indoors versus outdoors, but I do believe overall his trotting was better today than it was for our last few indoor rides. So despite my frustrations outside, we have certainly made some progress. The toughest thing we did at the trot today were some tight figure-eights with a very loose rein (often one-handed, too). I was paying very close attention to my legs, as I always do, but more than that, I was also trying to notice where the bulk of my bodyweight was. Black suggests one should have more weight on the outside of the horse’s body when it is turning, thus making it easier for them to move to the inside and away from pressure. So if you are turning a left circle, you should have more weight on your right sit bone and stirrup. Black says he’s met a lot of people who don’t agree with this method, but he hasn’t met a horse who disagrees yet. Bear definitely agreed. We had some very relaxed and smooth figure-eights. He was also giving me a nice, even bend through his whole body, so we’ll have to keep working on these, and I’ll have to keeping thinking about our balance.

The last exercise we did was the lope one lap, walk one lap drill with Robin and I trying to keep half the arena between us. This is one of my favorite things to do. I must say, though, it didn’t go as well as it has in the past. Well, maybe it was just that different things were not going well. He was very, very energetic at this point and constantly offering to either trot or lope way too early. He did improve a little bit as he got more tired, but not really that much. So I was working on asking for lots of soft feels, breathing through my nose, consciously using my hips to tell him we were walking, and things like that. The good news about the exercise was that our lopes were awesome. He was so smooth and relaxed while we were running. It might have partially been due to the fact that I was working hard to keep my weight balanced in a way that made the turns easier on Bear.

All in all it was a great ride. We stayed calm, had fun, and did a lot of precision work. The next couple of days are supposed to be gorgeous, so hopefully we will be out and about again and I can get some pictures.

Frustrations in the Saddle

Brian

March 29, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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Bear and I are still working through our little trot issue. Both Tuesday and Wednesday we spent considerable time working in the gait, and while we made some progress each day, it wasn’t much.

But I should be happy with where things are at. I was telling Robin how I don’t remember such issues last summer and fall with the trot. She pointed out that I’m asking an awful lot more of him now. Also, when we used to trot I would really hold him in quite a bit. So in reality, we are getting places.

Tuesday we had a tough ride on the strip. At the trot we had lots of bends and zig zags and a few one-rein stops. Bear has gotten good at not picking the lope up, though. I can see him think about it and then stop. Or he will pop into it but before I can react he is back to the trot. Unfortunately it is a very rough trot he gets back to.

Action shots from the other week. Thankfully when we do run it is fun and collected.

Wednesday we started things out really easily by walking out to the second strip. We walked up and down the strip and over into a section we call the ‘three hills.’ The guys were great. There were tractors and piles of brush and birds squawking all over the place, but they just took it all in and kept walking.

When we got back to the second strip we decided to do a little trotting. This is where things were not so good. I bounced my way down the strip and managed to get things under control at the far end by getting back to some tight and controlled figure-eights. I was doing a good job of not getting mad at Bear. Sometimes I truly think all this is the fault of my own riding, and when I can be relaxed and give steady cues things do tend to improve.

We then walked part way up the strip and turned around to trot back. This is where I know I screwed up. Things started out so nice and easy. We trotted over a small hill on a loose rein, and the whole time I was thinking I should stop him now and praise him. But it felt so good that I just kept going. Big mistake. Things deteriorated quite quickly.

The one good thing about all this is I’m getting quite comfortable moving in all gaits, doing tight circles, sitting deep when Bear hops into a lope out of a turn, slams on the brakes and goes the other way. In some ways it is almost fun, but it is nowhere near my goals.

So I’m not exactly sure how I will proceed with working on the trot. I know in the future if I get a good, relaxed trot with an open road in front of us, I’ll let Bear rest and show him I appreciated that. But I might try the old school approach, too, and just let him run. That is what a cowboy would do, right. “You want to run? Fine, we’ve got to cover many miles to get to the herd, go ahead and run if you want. But I wouldn’t recommend it.”

We’ll see. It is all one, big, fun experiment for me.

Back to the Salad Bowl

Brian

March 25, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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I figure I should provide an update on the game. It has been two weeks since I started using the game to get Bear to come to me in the pasture. Every time I’ve gone out I’ve used it, and I keep seeing improvement. He is not coming to me right away, but he does come after I give just the slightest pressure. Yesterday he stopped eating to pay attention to me. I was pretty sure he was going to come until two horses started playing around and got between us.

Today started out just as promising. As soon as I got into the lot he took his head out of the bail and started watching me. They moved the bale rings a few days ago, so they are pretty far from the gate now. Too far for Bear to come to me just yet. So I marched up to him, stopping a few times to release the pressure when he looked at me. When I was about 20 feet away he swiveled and walked right up to me, just like he’s been doing for days.

But this time I started walking backwards as he approached me. I usually take a few steps back when he comes, but today I took about 20. Then right when he was about to get to me I turned my back to him and started walking to the gate. He just kept following me; it was pretty cool. I was planning on going all the way to the gate but some of the other horses were playing around there. I didn’t want to lose this connection, so I haltered him up before we got there. I’m hoping this new technique will encourage him to come from farther out. We’ll see.

The plan was to ride out again, but I wanted to work on a few things first. We did some serpentines and backs (backing counter clockwise was perfect today, so maybe it was just a kinked back or something) and then moved into a really relaxed lope for a couple laps. Then we marched down the drainage and over to the second strip.

The weather could not have been more perfect.

It was the same ride as last Sunday, but we did a fair bit of trotting and spent a whole lot more time in the salad bowl working on various things. The guys were both great the entire ride. No spooks and no expressions of their opinions, either. Well, a few times they tried to graze on the lush grass. I always feels a little bad riding them over their favorite meal but not allowing them to eat it. Especially this time of year when the grasses are coming up and they are still predominately eating bales. But still, it isn’t too much to ask for an hour of their time. And it isn’t like we don’t spend time with them grazing before and after the ride, when they are not out in the pastures we always do that.

I felt significantly more relaxed on this outing than I did last Sunday, and really, I thought I felt pretty good last Sunday. So things have been going well for us, and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the riding season goes.