Training Annie and Claire

Claire is back home

2009-04-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Claire is back home. Long story short, I went up to see her at the horse trainer and I was very dissappointed to see her in the pen with no water. All the horses had no water. I was resigned to the fact that people do not care for horses like I do, so I thought I would see what he had taught her. He got Claire out and moved her around on the lunge line, demanding her respect by getting her to yield her hindquarters. He then rode her, trotting and posting very fast. I already could and did that very well and then he tried and succeeded in getting her to pick up her left lead. I got on her after that, and I was very surprised what a different horse she was. She was very stressed and I could not get her to slow down. She was very nervous and reacting to my legs very quickly and not in a good place. I got off her, thanked him and told him that she was visibly stressed and nervous. I could always get Claire to slow down before, and in fact, I was training her for Western Pleasure. I left, went home and got my horse trailer and went back and picked her up 2 weeks early. I knew I couldn't leave her there any longer. I am a firm believer in horses learning in an optimal atmosphere- just a little stress to push them forward, but not to much that they are hyper sensitive and nervous. I am glad to have her back home. I have been riding her lots-- about 3 times a week, and I just love this horse so much. I went back to the clicker training and now I click when she picks up the right lead on the lunge line. I have been able to get to take the left lead a few times, but I am going to have to go back to the basics and strenghten her shoulder and weak side. I so wish she was naturally leaded, but it is obvious that she is so strong in the left lead, that she never wants to pick up the right lead. This will make a better rider out of me and I have ordered two videos to help me with this problem.

Annie-- I have ridden her about 5 times now and Hillary has ridden her once. She needs lots of work and showed some resistance the other day when she did not want to move forward. I had to pop her, and then she moved off my leg. I realized that I do not have the time to train her, especially with Claire needing so much work on the right lead. I have put her for sale and hopefully I can find a good home for her that will take her to her potential.

Annie is a sweetheart!

2009-03-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday:
Okay yesterday was my first day to work with Annie. I lunged her and then flexed her really well. I got her to move away from me at the shoulder. I saddled her and then lunged her with the saddle. I put her in the round pen and got on her. She just stood there, totally relaxed. I got on and off her several times, and petted her all over. Afterwards, I left her eating grass in front of the barn wearing the bit, (no reins) so she could get use to the feel of the bit. I had so much fun working with her. I am much less nervous working with Annie, because she reminds so much of Poco when I broke her. She is very calm and relaxed.

TODAY!

I know I said the same thing about Claire, but Annie is so much more calm and trusting than Claire. I have absolutely no fear when it comes to riding Annie. Here is what I did today.
1. Lunged her for about ten minutes. She hates to be out from me and the first chance she gets she is always trying to run in the circle to be next to me. When I say 'whoa' she stops really fast and then hurries and trots in to me. It is hard for me to keep her working, because to me she is still such a baby. (She is weeks away from being 3)
2. I took her back and saddled her and then did some driving with her. I ran the driving lines from the bit, through the stirrups and walked behind her teaching her the 'whoa' and how to back up. She stopped really well after a few times running into the bit, and of course I taught her to turn using the direct rein on the snaffle bit. I even trotted her and lunged her in a circle.
3. After that, I took her to the round pen and got on her. I kept fanning my legs and finally she took a step forward. She walked around the round pen with me on her. I worked on her turns, her stops and her backing up. She did really well for the first time, and I had absolutely no fear of her bucking me off. She flinched once when she noticed the goats, but the she just dropped her head and kept walking. The one thing that suprised the most is that Annie really drops her head when she walks. She is very relaxed and her ears were back the whole time really listening to me praise her. I petted her alot and reassured her telling her what a good girl she was. I rode her for about fifteen minutes then unsaddled her.
4. Next I fed her some oats, but left the bit in her mouth, taking off the reins. I let her wear the bit for probably another 3 hours, then I went out and took it off.

It was a fun day today, and I have to say that I think she will be much easier to train than Claire. She seems to be less spooky and more willing to please. Hurray!!

Spurs, and no right lead canter

2009-03-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Alot has happened since I last wrote. On Tuesday I had another rider-- a rodeo guy-- come out and ride Claire out. He rode her mainly in the round pen and got her to pick up the canter departure with no problem. He did well on her-- but had to spur her alot. I didn't enjoy watching, but I wanted to see what she would do. He tried and tried to get her into the right lead in the round pen and she picked it up one time and then changed. All the other times she cantered around in the wrong lead. Very disheartening for me, but I knew that it was me who couldn't get her in the right lead canter.

On Wednesday I drove her up to a horsetrainer in Scurry Texas. He is going to work with her and when I told him about the lead problems, he suggested for a chiropractor to come out and look at her. I left a blank check for her to come out. We will see what will happen. I plan on leaving her there a month and then getting her back in time to go to the first ETHSA horse show. I will get her back before April 18th, the day of the show. I am going up for two lessons-- the first in two weeks. I will be anxious to see what he has taught her. All I really want is for her to be picking up her right leada and to have a nice canter departure.

I am starting to work with Annie today. I figure I have 30 days to get her started, before Clarie comes home. At least by then I can have Hillary riding her. I think I might try the Clinton Anderson method. We will see.

Small Victory-- Big Insight

2009-03-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

Today I rode Claire. I did lots of flexing, and yielding the hindquarters. I rode her and found that she is developing the habit of balking or stopping when she doesn't want to do something-- like go forward. She was acting a little skitish, and her mind definitely wasn't on me so I decided she needed some round pen work. I led her in the round pen and surprisingly she didn't offer to buck or kick out. She walked, trotted and cantered on comand. At the time I didn't realize what a great victory it was until later. I took her back into the arena and began riding her. She trotted and I rode her in several circles, yielding the hindquarters. She kept wanting to stop and I was getting frustrated, so I tied her to a post for about 20 minutes and took a break. I went back out and this time Poco was walking around freely in the arena. I walked and trotted Claire and she was less spooky. I also cantered her and again she was so entirely lazy, that she kept wanting to stop. All I had to do was think stop and she was there. I have to say that I didn't realize it at the time, but she picked up the canter departure pretty nicely most of the time. This is great, considering that yesterday, all she did was trot faster, when she was asked for the canter departure. I got a little depressed today, because she did not pick up her right lead at all in the canter. I never cantered her very far, and so I have now hired my horseshoer's son to come over for the next four days and ride her for about an hour. He is a very good rider, and more experienced than the boy who came a few days ago. I needed someone who could tell right off that a horse is in the wrong lead. I have two goals for him: Get her past her present resistance for working hard, and get her to take the correct lead. He is coming for the next four days-- and I am excited for the possibilites. I need to start on Annie, but I need someone else to get Claire past this hurdle of being too lazy. We will see what happens tomorrow.

P.S. I know that Claire will be a good pleasure horse, once she gets past all this resistance she is giving me. I believe it is time to get a better rider than me who can ride the hide off of her-- or at least canter her for about 20 minutes-- a full ride out at about 45 minutes.

Small victory--- knows what a canter departure is

Big insight-- I need a different rider to push her past her resistance.

New rider on Claire!

2009-03-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today I had a young man, (age 15) ride Claire today. He is trying to make it as a horsetrainer, and has a good seat in the saddle. I was a little nervous, because nobody else has ever been on Claire except me. He did well on her, and walked and trotted her around the arena. It was very, very windy today and she only spooked once. She kinda jumped a little sideways, but then she settled right down. The biggest thing we discovered is that Claire did not remember the cue for the lope. I think she was just acting lazy, because she got to where she didn't want to go forward any more and would just balk. First we tried the clicker and then found that she needed more negative reinforcement like a small riding crop. He had a lot of trouble getting her to go, so I hopped on and got her going right off. After riding a few times around and asking for the lope, she decided she was tired (I'm guessing) and refused to go. I had to turn her and spank her several times to get her going, but she eventually went forward. After that, I let Lane back on her and told him to get five lope transitions going in both directions and then we would call it a day. I was riding Poco too, and Hillary was riding Spencer. He had tried and tried before I got on and she never broke into a canter for him, so his legs were a little tired. He did a great job, and got five transitions both ways, but I saw that Claire did not pick up her right lead at all. This was a little disheartening for me, and I concluded that I need to go back to the trot and practicing moving the hip over, and I will probably need to take her to a trainer. I have one in mind, so hopefully things will work out. Afterwards we rode out, and she did fine-- no spookiness around the house. I was very proud of her for not bucking or acting crazy. Once we get her over this resistance, she will be an awesome horse! She is pretty lazy by nature, but that will change this year. Great Day! My butt hurts--- I haven't ridden in so long!

First Day Back on Claire!

2009-03-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Spring Break and I decided to get back to riding horses. I had a great day on Claire and she was such a sweetheart. The whole cracked hoof thing is all resolved and the horseshoer came yesterday and took off Claire's front shoes because the crack is now gone!! Yeah! I lunged her in the round pen and she bucked a few times, but after that she settled down and did great. I saddled her and rode her for about twenty minutes. We walked, and trotted and she did great! She lowered her head and flexed very softly. I used the clicker and 'clicked' everytime she lowered her head. After we rode we walked around the arena ending on a very good note. I fed her some oats and brushed and petted her and I know she knows I love her. The only thing that makes me nervous is sometimes her head will shoot up when she hears a sound and I wonder if she is going to buck or something. She didn't do that when I was riding her so much, only when I was leading her. I have a young boy coming tomorrow that I am going to talk to about riding her out and really cantering her and getting her to move to the next level. I just might do it myself, but I am not sure at this point. The one thing I really need to break her of is trying to kick all the other horses when I take her to a show. I know this will be a problem for her, so I have to figure this one out. I am going to ride Poco this afternoon. Good Day Today!!

At the Show

2008-10-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well, we had our first show. Good and bad stuff happened.

When we first got there Claire was very calm. I immediately saddled her up and got on her. I could tell she was not really listening to me, so I rode over to the round pen, got off her, and lunged her a bit. She did pretty well, even cantering in the right lead occasionally. I got on her after that and rode her in the arena. I kept her feet circling as I could tell she was a little nervous. She spooked at the far end of the areana by the chutes and I kept her there for a awhile-- both circling and standing still. Brian was in the arena riding Poco, so that helped. Claire is very attached to Poco, and relaxed when she saw her in the arena. He left the arena and rode Poco out to go to the trailer to help Hillary get ready for the show. Claire started to get a little nervous, so I kept her feet moving and then we eventually left. I went over to the trailer a little peeved at Brian for leaving without telling me, but I got over it. I rode Claire with Hillary riding Spencer over to the round pen, and I rode her in there awhile. She was still a little spooky, but had moments where she dropped her head and was really listening to me. Later I rode her in a class and there was only one other person in the class. Claire has a very bad habit of when she gets near another horse, she starts to back up and wants to kick them. I stopped that real fast, but I never got real close to another horse after that. I went into my class and she did not want to go in the arena by herself. She reared a little and then I just corrected her and made her do the greenhorn horsemanship class. She had to trot and walk and back up. She also had to back into an L, which she did horribly. We got last place out of two, but I was satisfied I made her do it. Once when I was sitting over in the warm up with her and was flexing her side to side, she whirled around really fast, ( she was getting spooked about what was in the woods) and I fell off. I immediately got back on, more determined than ever to make her mind and settle down. She really did okay considering it was her first show and everything was new and all. I need to go back in my training and train some more for the head down cue. She did not do well when she was nervous about coming down into the bridle, -pushing through the bit---but I am determined to backtrack and really work her on that. I have got to push through some of this resistance that she has shown me in the past about working, because that is a respect issue more than anything else. I am beginning to realize how much work a 2 year old is, and I am wondering if I should send her to a trainer who can ride her out at shows and get her over all the spooky stuff. I was proud that I started out so brave, but I wasn't real excited about riding in the Walk/Trot class with a bunch of other horses, because I wasn't sure what she would do, and I didn't want to get bucked off. I thought I signed up for the class, but they didn't call my number so I didn't go in. I hope I am doing the right thing by training her. I have to get a lot more strict about any resistance from her on the ground. I have decided I need to ride her longer, and start loping her once I get the hip over at a trot down. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Another Great Day of Riding

2008-10-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

I rode Clarie again today. I lunged her first with the saddle, and she did fine until she was asked to canter. We had a little bit of a rodeo with bucking, rearing and backing away with a refusal. I popped her and kept her going and finally she cantered in both directions without having an all out fit. I stopped her as soon as she cantered with no resistance. I can't figure her out with the loping. She does the same thing in the round pen without a saddle. I just have to figure that she is plum lazy. We had a good ride after that. I trotted her in several large circles with her keeping the same rhythmn and cadance. I wore big ball spurs for the first time and she responded bettter. I will definitely keep wearing them. I am trying to get her ready for the show. I will try and ride her tomorrow, and hopefully Friday as well. I will try and get Brian to take a short video of me tomorrow! She is a dream horse-- aside from the bucking on the lunge line!! She is picking up the right lead now, but it doesn't seem to be her favorite side to travel on. She picked up the the left lead on the right lead circle, but then switched to right lead. I have decided to stop worrying about it. I am going to be working on trot, walk transitions and arena exercises starting tomorrow. Now that I have a watch-- I will time my rides to at least thirty minutes!

Wonderful Claire!

2008-10-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

I have started back riding again. I have ridden now 3 times after taking a long break. The best news of all is that Claire no longer has a problem wiht her right lead! She takes it naturally in the round pen. She is wearing front shoes now, to keep the crack from getting any worse. I have to conclude that her problem before with her heistation to take the right lead was because of the crack in her hoof. Yeah! I am taking her to a horse show this Saturday just to get her used to the surroundings. I am a little nervous as I am sure she will get spooked, but I have to do it sometime. I have decided to leave the 'clicker' behind in my training, now that we are getting serious about working hard.

Here is what I did yesterday:

1. I trotted her in big circles and really put my weight in my seat bones and leaned back off her front end to get her off the forehand. She did wonderfully! She kept the same pace in a nice slow trot. I was very pleased. We went several times and in both directions and I occasionally asked her to lower her head and come into the bridle. I am going to start working on more collection this week.

2. I rode her out around the house and she was a little spooked. She runs out when she gets spooked and I just turn her when she does that. I rode out with Hillary and her friend. They were riding Spencer and Poco.

3. I am going to start doing some light cantering this week-- I think. I might just work on trot circles and on some more arena exercises. I hope to ride her at least three times this week.

I really love this horse-- but it is time to start working with Annie!

I will post a video this week on our trot circles.

Back in the Saddle Again!

2008-08-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well I am back in the saddle! I didn't realize just how much I missed riding until I was riding Claire yesterday.

Here is what I did:

I saddled Claire yesterday and I could tell she was perfectly happy about riding again. She moved over to me when I hoisted the saddle on and she acted really happy to be riding again-- that is until it got a little hotter and maybe she got tired?

I walked her mostly, but did trot some. It was really neat because when we started trotting she immediately put her head down and tucked her nose in. I clicked after she held it for awhile and it was neat to see her remember it from almost a month ago. There is no doubt in my mind it was the clicker training that taught her to lower her head when trotting. I rode her for about 15 minutes, and after that we worked on turning on the forehand (moving the hauches around) and a little on sidepassing. She did a little step on sidepassing, but I am really premature on this because I have not done counterbending enough (walking her forward and sideward at the same time.) She was fair on moving the hauches over and seems more stiff on one side.

Here is what she did for the first time. She just stood there and wouldn't move! I think she was trying to tell me she was tired? or wanted to join the other horses grazing in the back? After several tries I knew I needed a popper. I got off and took off my breast collar and used one of the leather straps for an aid. I got back on and asked her to go forward, she refused, and then I popped her on her butt. That woke her up and she started to move. I was beginning to feel a little guilty but I wasn't about to end our training session on that note. I wanted her to move off of pressure willingly and without having to get popped. She did and we worked through it. It is really the first time she has shown resistance in wanting to move forward.

I should add that the horseshoer came a few days earlier and put shoes on her front feet in an effort to stop the crack on her right foot from getting any worse. I rode her another 10 minutes and we quit on a really good note.

After I put her up, she charged like a wild comanche to the back to get to the other horses, and that told me it was not pain she was avoiding, but was showing me a little attitude.

So later that day I worked with Annie on the lunge line. She loved it, getting 'clicked' for taking the canter departure. I didn't keep her in in it very long, just long enough for her to get the idea of what a canter departure is. Anyways, after that I decided to work with Claire. I lunged her in both directions and she showed me the resistance again when she would stop and back away from me and the lunge whip.

I popped her on her but, (after I could get behind her) and she didn't really give me any more resistance after that. I used my 'clicker' to signal and reward for taking the correct lead. She took the right lead 4 times out of about 7 times. I didn't lunge her in the canter very long, but I think several sessions of clicking for the correct lead will hopefully teach her which lead to take in a circle.

I should add that after I finished with Annie and put her up, she raced up and down in the back pasture because she wanted to be in the arena still training and getting treats. Pretty funny.

Annie is not lazy at all, like Claire, and will be a different ballgame when I get her undersaddle.

A Long Journey for Answers

2008-08-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have not been on for awhile giving Claire time to rest and me time to find out exactly what is wrong with Claire.

I have consulted 6 vets with the xrays: two online vets, two in person, one via email, one over the phone. This is what I found out.

My orginal vet (the one who took the xrays) said don't worry about it, the rough areas will round out in time. (Dr. Thoni)

The Texas ATm vet said nothing is unusual. (Dr. Honnas)

The Vet in person looking at the xrays said nothing is unusual. (Dr. Cannon)

The online vets both said something looks amiss-- time will tell. (Dr. O, and Dr Dan)

The vet over the phone said nothing looks unusual and time will heal whatever rough spots there are. (Dr. Hicks_)

So I have to conclude that it is the large crack in her hoof that is growing upward every day on her right foot that might be causing the lead refusal, or maybe it is just a training issue. In any case, I am putting her on two supplements for her hoof, and not riding her till the hoof gets better. I am picking up a pair of hoof testers to check for soreness. I will begin riding her in two weeks, but only at a walk, providing the crack is better. I will not begin trotting again till October or November.

I miss riding her, but I have to take every precaution. I have decided to hone my skills on Spencer since I can not ride Poco till January.

I hope to start training up again with Annie and Claire in two weeks.

Claire's right knee

2008-08-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the x-rays of Claire's right knee. I am off her for 6 months. Can anybody see anything? She has pointy bone spurs behind knee? I don't see anything, but of course I am not a vet.

Time Off from Riding to Heal

2008-08-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

I have decided to cut back almost completely on riding Claire. Here is what I found out from a vet on Horseadvice.com

Welcome Jennifer, Without seeing the radiographs and examining the horse I cannot comment on what your veterinarian is talking about. In general bone spurs, called osteophytes, will remodel a bit in time but the gist of what the second veterinarian said is accurate: they don't "smooth out" and then this indicates things are alright. Osteophytes occur do to stress in the joint so are fairly common and though they don't always correlate with clinical problems they are associated with osteoarthritis. I like the idea of the bute test for lameness causing the lead problem but wonder if the early onset of an osteophyte may indicate a bit too much work too early.

So, I have decided to work with Claire 3 days a week-- 2 days on groundwork and one day just walking around the arena and around the house. It will be just a walk, mainly she won't forget the saddle. We will work on a 3 step walk, stop, and then softening of the face into bridle with impulsion from the legs, and then a release. I read about this exercise from a John Lyon's trainer and I like it because it teaches the horse to drop his nose, and supple for all transitions.

So, I guess I will keep the blog, but it will be mostly short and mostly boring. Same o' same o'.

I did post Claire's video on a horse forum to get opinions on her movement and what she would be suited for. Surprisingly I got back many responses in favor of reining and HUS.

Interesting.

I do think HUS would be a good thing for Claire. In any case, it will be just walking until January or February.

Oh well, maybe I can teach to do so much on the ground before I continue to do the sidepassing under saddle.

Have a great weekend!

Do I need a trainer?

2008-08-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a little discouraging for me and I can't put my finger on it. I guess it is because I had more of a problem today rating Claire's speed and she seemed to get faster the more I trotted her. We did start the morning off at the beginning of a rainstorm and then had to wait it out in the barn. Maybe the wind and intermittent sprinkling while we were riding had something to do with it. I thought today for the first time in a long time that I might need a trainer to finish her out, but it is so hard to get someone that I could trust.

Here is what I did:

1. Lunged her (after the rainstorm). She resisted by backing up fast at times, but I really kept my cool and made her move off from me. She really didn't want to canter at all, but I 'clicked' for picking up the correct lead. To the right she got it two or three times. I only 'clicked' when she picked up the right lead (correct) and when she picked up the left lead going to the right, I just said, 'no' and broke her down to a trot. I am pretty sure it hurts her to go to the right, but I have decided to just spend a few minutes every morning 'clicking' for only the right lead on the lunge line. I will not canter her very far, -- only a few strides. I don't think this will hurt her, and maybe it will get her through working that small bone chip out.

2. Trotted her alot. I worked on transitions and circling when she gets too fast. She wasn't greatly consistent with her headset today and so I have decided to spend at least 3 days back in the biting rig, with it tightened more. I probably won't even ride her on those mornings, but I feel I really need to get her responding more to the bit.

I really wish I had a trainer that would come over and tell me what I was doing wrong. I feel my love for Claire 'overshadows' my judgment and I wonder if she might be getting some 'lazy' habits. I really need an objective opinion. I know one thing for sure--- she is not any where near ready to show. I know that when I take her to a big arena her head will pop up and she will be very nervous. I think the rainstorm proved that to me. I plan on taking her to the Athens show and just riding in the practice pleasure. I know it will probably be a harrowing experience, but I have to get over sometime.

Oh well, not every day can go great . . . . . . .

A Tribute to Spencer

2008-08-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so now I have a new addiction-- in addition to riding horses---movie making! I just spent all day making a movie of clips of Spencer and Hillary.

It can be found on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmHGKP0Xu8s

I did not ride Claire today. I have decided to ride her no more than 3-4 times a week. She really wanted to go with me today. When I was leading Annie out to the arena, she got between Annie and I and backed into Annie and was ready to kick her to keep Annie from going with me.

Here is what I did on Annie:

1. I tried to work her in the round pen, but she and I got very frustrated. It got to the point where she was not listening to me at all, and was running like a wild comanche around the pen and not even stopping when I said, "whoa!" Finally I got the lunge line and went back to basics just working on 'whoa!'

2. I was successfully in reteaching her what 'whoa' meant, but not without alot of jerking her the lead line when she would not stop when I said 'whoa.' Yeah, I kinda regret now not working with her more. I think she just got very worried when I started moving her around in the round pen at a canter. She is definitely more high spirited than Claire.

3. I tied her up for about 30 minutes while I took some video of Hillary. Afterwards I worked at despooking her with the big blue exercise ball. I bounced it all around her and against her. She wasn't concerned in the least. I then took my lunge whip and slapped the ground hard on both sides her. That caused her at first to want to move out, but she finally calmed down.

4. I really got the most frustrated on trying to get her to move out of my space and move to the right when I was standing at her left shoulder. I really got to frustrated with her because I ended up having to tap her harder on the neck with the lunge stick than I wanted to, to get her to move off her shoulder. Finally she took a step.

I learned a hard lesson today. I tend to be more impatient with Annie than Claire. I will change this. I spent along time afterwards just combing and brushing Annie. I am determined to start over with her and establish a good working relationship. I think Annie just doesn't want to leave me and is very insecure traveling out on her own and having to work. I will make this work!

30 Day Video of Claire!!

2008-08-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

I have been on vacation for a few days, but I am back and ready to start riding again! I FINALLY figured out how to post this video and here is the link to Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0sUsN6Rx4I

Please tell me what you think of Claire's movement!!

I did ride today. Here is what I did:

1. Introduced the trot to walk transition.

2. Worked on speed and head carriage-- much better than what is in the video.

3. Made her take all the trot poles-- Much better!

4. A little on sidepassing-- she is still not getting it.

5. Backing-- But I need to work more on remembering to say "whoa."

She on the whole did much better after having a few days off. I think I might start riding her every other day and start working more with Annie. I can't ride Annie till January, but I do need to start ground driving her. And of course there is always Spencer. The vet said to lay off Poco for 6 months because she has a tendon injury. I will start riding Annie and Poco in January.

30 Day Video of Claire

2008-07-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

I tried all day yesterday to post my 30 day video to either Youtube or to my blog and it didn't work. VERY FRUSTRATING! I had to use my old video camera because Hillary has my new one in Houston. It was also a very frustrating day yesterday because Brian and I had poor communication during the filming (He thought it would take 5 minutes) and so that was a stressful thing for me.

I am taking a few days off from riding enjoying family, but I woke up this morning dreaming of Claire. Yeah, it is pretty much of a love affair between her and me.

Here is what I learned from watching myself on the video:

1. Claire travels very nicely, and mostly consistently down the rail. She swings her hip alot and so creates a bouncy trot.

2. Her head level is low, but her nose bounces around. I know it will take time, but she is really not responding well enough when I ask for her to move into bit. I was reading some more of Doug Carpenter's book and I have determined to take some more time in the biting ring. I will probably take only 10 minutes each day, but will do so for about a week or two.

3. Rating her speed exercise is working wonderfully. When I take the circle she really slows down. I treat the rail like it is a reward.

4. Her trot departures are very nice and getting better!

5. I need to wear a very small and gentle rowel spur to get her to move off my leg better. Claire is such non reactive horse-- unlike Annie-- who kinda moseys along in everything she does. It is time for her to give immediately to pressure and I don't want to create any bad habits and I need that extension of my heel.

A BIG WORRY!

1. I tried several times yesterday to get Claire to pick up the right lead. I had cantered her around in the left lead with no problem. I tried everything, but she completely would not let me pick up the inside shoulder or push her hip over (I need spurs)
I know it is because of that bone spur, and I am not going to canter her until Sept. like the vet said. I was just doing it for the video. SO, I am wondering if I should be riding her at all, or if I should take her to another vet for an opinion. UGH!

2. She has this persistent crack in her hoof that I noticed is making its way up and around the small hole my horseshoer put in the surface to stop it. UGH!

Okay, so I will post the video on Sunday if I can get my brother-in-law to help me.

Rating Claire's Speed

2008-07-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

I was going to make a 30 day video today, but I decided I needed one more day to help Claire to rate her speed. I am going to have Brian film a 30 day video tomorrow of what I have or (haven't) accomplished with Claire. I will definitely have it ready to post by noon tomorrow, and it will probably be too long to download on my blog, but I will give a link to youtube where I will post it.

Here is what I did on Claire:

1. I did some more lateral bending and some more of Stacey Westfall's shoulder out exercise. I tried it at the trot, but Claire doesn't understand it well enough to have enough forward movement to complete the circle without me pulling on her mouth too much. I need to watch the video again, and ask for a little bit more tommorrow.

2. Lots of trotting-- I probably trotted her for a full 20 minutes. I tried taking a circle when she got too fast and that seemed to slow her down. I treat being at the rail as an absolute reward and when she slowed down really nicely, I stopped her and petted her. I 'clicked' for a few slow trots, but more so for head lowering. It worked well, but at first when I got on her, she seemed extra excited and wanted to trot fast. I think I am going to do some light groundwork from now on-- moving her hindquarters and maybe some ground driving with me walking beside her-- before I just hop on her to ride.

3. Sidepassing-- Yeah! She took 3 steps today and I really used my clicker for that. She still has a long way to go. Sometimes it is tempting to want to put spurs on, but I am trying to remember that this is a slow process, and if I take my time, I will not have a horse that will become ill or sour because I ask for too much too soon. I hope I am not making a mistake on this.

4. Cantering-- Claire wanted to canter today, so when I was ready-- we cantered a little. She canters and then after about 1/2 length of the arena, she wants to stop. I don't know if she is just lazy or is learning to carry someone on her back-- again-- I have some more studying and reading to do on this.

5. Backing-- Yeah she backs really good when she gets in the right frame of mind. When she braces against my hand I learned in my reading to turn her right and then left to unlock her, and then she will be more supple to back. I tried this and it worked well.

6. Mounting and dismounting on the right side.

My Plan for Implementing the Western Pleasure Jog:
(suggestions welcome!)

Groundwork:
1. Lots of turning on the forehand and moving the hindquarters over to get the strength in the hindend. I was using the clicker for this, but I feel she knows this well enough, that I will only 'click' occasionally for this. I was reading in the Horse N Rider magazine, that you should always turn the head to you knee to stop forward motion when you ask for the hindquarters (under saddle) to move over, and that this an excellent lateral exercise to build strength in the hindquarters and to build collection in the Western Pleasure jog. I will probably do at least 5 hindquarter moving on both sides before I ever get on. The author said to do this on the ground, you stand at her shoulder holding the lead rope, and then walk towards her hindquarters. If she doesn't move her inside leg, lift her nose in the air and she will step over. Build on this until she is moving her hindquarters over in a full circle. Claire is already doing this really well. One interesting thing that I have found true is that the author said not to use your hand to try to stimulate the feel of your leg to move the hindquarters. It is too hard, but to just walk toward her hindquarters and lift her nose. I have found this to be very true.
After this, I will mount amd do 5 more hindquarter yielding, with lots of flexing the neck and bringing the nose to my knee.

For Departures:

1. Take hold of the reins with the slack out, and 'feel' her mouth. Give slight pressure from my legs, the clucking noise and then move her into the bridle. When she gives to the pressure from my hands, release.

2. Use my 'clicker' and my pressure and release of reins to get her to lower her head.

3. If she gets to fast, take a trot circle out, making the rail a reward and a place where I will stop her when she gets and maintains a slow pace.

4. Never ever bump her with the reins, unless her nose dives down to ground. I will not 'jerk' or bump to get her to lower her head. Instead if she raises her head, I will take ahold of her face and drive her into the bridle, releasing at the first thought she has of lowering her head.

5. To warn her that I am about to take a trot circle-- say 'Easy' and take hold of my reins-shoving my legs into my stirrups. If that doesn't slow her down, take the trot circle.

6. Try to stay off her forehand and keep my butt in the saddle. Claire has a very, very sweepy-- bouncy trot, so I am working on sitting deep in the saddle.

7. Take lots of trot departures, where we don't trot off very far until I stop her, back her and let her rest.

Okay, well a pretty good ride today. Something funny happened when we were riding around the house. My dog ran out of the garage and Claire 'spooked' in place, my thumb was on the clicker and 'accidently' clicked it when she 'spooked' in place. I gave her reward and I thought my accidental timing was perfect!

On a worried note, I am taking Poco to the vet today. I am really nervous I am going to get some bad news on her lameness. I hope it is not navicular.

Look for our '30' day ride tomorrow!!

Sidepassing, Moving the Shoulder

2008-07-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here is what I did with Claire:

1. I worked some more on the Western Jog. She is still too fast, but pretty much keeps her head down the whole time. I tried today to loosen up my reins a little and let her have more of a reward with lots of slack.

2. Lots of backing. Sometimes she did great with hardly any pull, and sometimes she wouldn't back at all. She definitely needs more work on this.

3. I tried for one step in sidepassing. It was a little frustrating as she had no idea what I was asking. She stumbled onto the idea almost by accident, but by the time we finished she was taking one step. I will be very interested after having tomorrow off, if she is any better on Monday.

4. I measured the two sets of trot poles and put them at 3 feet apart and she took them at a trot without avoiding them most of the time.

5. I worked a little on Stacey Westfall's favorite shoulder out exercise. I planted inside hand (left for left circle) on my hip and bent her keeping her going in the circle, and then I would take my right hand out to 3:00 (perpendicular to the horse) and guide her shoulder and feet out, while her nose was still bent to the inside. We did this about 3 times (circles) on each side.

I found a great website: http://www.horsetrainingschool.com/ that has Western Pleasure training videos. One of the ones that is over the canter departure suggests using a 'marker' or 'clicker training' to get the right canter departure. I was pleasantly surprised and love the author's ideas on how to train for Western Pleasure. She believes in lots of repetititons and working in small steps and in the stop being the reward. I am going to incorporate a few of her ideas into my training. I have already seen Claire depart slower for the Western jog when I stop alot and reward her. I think it has taught her to gear down.

I rode Claire out today and one bad habit is forming. Before I let her eat grass out by all the scary objects to help her calm down, but today she was always trying to pull the reins out of my hands to get some grass. I pulled her up every time and then let her have some grass when I decided, but I am going to have to rethink letting her plunge into the grass when we ride out after her arena work. I also tied Claire today for about 45 minutes while I worked Annie. She pawed a little, but was mostly quiet.

Here is what I did on Annie:

I am starting to work more on Annie. She loves the clicker, but I can see an impatience developing on her part to get to the treat. I have to be patient with her and know that eventually she will understand to listen to me and not anticipate or get impatient say if I work a longer time without 'clicking' to reward her. This is a learning process.

1. Ground driving by walking beside her and guiding her. I got her to walk over all the trot poles and to serpetine through the long row of trot poles and cones.

2. Lunging-- working on trot to walk transition using the clicker. She has it perfectly. We also worked quite a bit on the canter departure and she got it most of the time. We did however end on a really good note with her picking up the canter departure immediately when I asked for it.

3. I tied her for about an hour this morning wearing the bit and halter. I had no reins on the bit. She was mostly quiet, with very little pawing.

I am going to make a 30 day video Monday of Claire. I am not sure if I have ridden her exactly 30 days, and never very hard at that, but I want to keep a record of our progress.

Trot Poles and Western Pleasure Jog

2008-07-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here is what I did on Claire:

I had an absolutely fantastic day with her today. The 'clicker' training is working beautifully and I never have a fight with my horse. We are working as partners and every ride is very non stressful for Claire or me. Brian, my husband noticed a huge difference in the head set from yesterday to today. He thought she traveled around very nicely with her head low and working on a slow Western jog. Claire was very eager to keep her head down, and only occasionally dove down with her nose trying to pull the bit down. He was surprised in how much better she had gotten in just one day. I have learned that small steps in training and always ending on a good note is the way to go, because often the horse will come back the next day so much better than when you left on from the day before. We cantered a little, and she picked it right up, but didn't want to canter for too long. I kept her going with my legs past some resistance in wanting to stop, and then quit on that. I really want to do some shoulder in and shoulder out exercises with her and some sidepassing before I really do some serious canter work, and I want to be easy on her joints.

Here is a quick recap:

1. Worked on correct headset and starting off slow in the trot. I 'clicked' everytime she carried her head correctly and when she started off with a slow departure and coming into the bridle.

2. She trotted over 2 sets of trot poles (I painted them yesterday) and did them beautifully without breaking cadence or hitting a single pole. I had 3 trot poles approx. 4 feet apart and two sets of them.

3. Serpentines crossing a line of trot poles. I put cones in between the poles set up in a long vertical line. We practiced jogging in and out of the cones and poles. I put the ends of the poles too close together so the turns were kinda of tight. I might move them further apart tomorrow.

4. Cantered about 2 lengths of the arena.

5. Lots of flexing, and moving hindquarters over.

6. I began work on moving the shoulder over. Very small steps over and then 'clicking' for that.

I will make a 30 day video clip and post it on Monday. I want to work on her Western Pleasure jog a little more tomorrow.

I am really pleased with her attitude and her willingness and eagerness to ride everyday. I think the 'clicker training' has made the difference.

Head Set with the Clicker!!

2008-07-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

Great Day with the Clicker!!

Today I decided to use my clicker along with the side pulls in the round pen with Claire, as I want her to learn to consistently carry her head in a 'Western Pleasure' head set down low, and her nose slightly tucked in. In the show ring, she must travel along like this on a loose rein, and this is one of the hardest things to teach a horse, AND have them happy about it at the same time. I have seen so much abuse and wearing down of 2 year olds in people trying to force the 'right headset.'

Well, I could never do it on Claire or any other horse for that matter. I love her too much and we both have a great bond of trust. I was receiving minimal success in the the last three days on the sidepulls, but she wasn't carrying her head down for very long even though getting the release from pressure was a little of an incentive, I wanted to speed things along with the clicker.

I put her in the round pen and decided to 'click' everytime she lowered her head. At first she lowered just a little and I clicked. Before long she caught on, and then I had her carry it longer and longer until I 'clicked.' It worked great!! The best thing about using clicker training for establishing a head set is she was very forward and wanting to travel into the 'pressure' knowing that was the means of earning a treat.

Afterwards, I saddled her up and practiced doing a Western Pleasure slow jog with the right head set, and after 10 minutes she was doing great! She would travel along about 1/3 of the arena keeping her nose down and almost tucked. We just worked about 15 minutes and I know that by taking our time, she will be doing a Western Pleasure jog keeping her head down, and enjoying it all at the same time!

A GREAT DAY WITH THE CLICKER!! I am so excited!!

P.S. I have paint on my pants because I had just painted my trot poles that I am going to use on the trail course.

More Clicker Training with Spencer

2008-07-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

More Clicker Training with Spencer!

Today my daughter rode Spencer with the clicker and he did great!

Here is what she did!

1. Western Pleasure jog. He went around the arena very quietly and consistently. She 'clicked' and then kept him in the jog until she stopped and gave him a treat.

2. Western Pleasure canter. This is where the clicker is making the biggest difference. He picked up his right lead (he usually evades this lead until he is really worked) and cantered very slowly, flexed at the poll, and framed up perfectly! I was so proud of my daugher using the clicker and she really noticed the difference in his eagerness to pick up the right lead. She cantered him, clicked, and then kept him in the canter at least half the arena and then stopped and gave him the treat.

I think she is now sold on the clicker training. I will post a video on Friday of Spencer riding with the 'clicker.'

Here is what I did with Claire:

1. I put her in the sidepulls and took up the slack until she now travels carrying her head almost almost flexed at the poll. I was proud of her as she walked, trotted, and cantered without bucking out at me, or showing much resistance. She didn't really like it, but she learned to flex downward to escape the pressure. I am going to give her the day off tomorrow, and then put her in the sidepulls for one more day.

I will make a 30 day riding video on Monday showing what she has accomplished using the 'clicker' and 'release from pressure' riding method.

P.S. Thanks for new comments I have on my blog! It is so exciting to hear from other riders!

Clicker Trainig with Spencer

2008-07-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today I worked with Claire and Spencer.

Here is what I did on Claire:

1. I put Claire in the round pen and put the sidepulls on and worked the sidepulls up to notch 9. Yesterday she was at notch 4. So she really had to give today and by the time she was finished she was traveling around mostly without fighting the bit. She is still not flexed to the perpendicular yet, but almost there. I walked, trotted and cantered her and I was so pleased to see that she took the right lead most of the time! Yeah! She did very well, and didn't offer me any resistance- and was listening to me the entire time. She is such a dream to work with and I just scratched and petted her today alot to let her know how much I appreciate her. She didn't receive any treats or clicker training in the round pen. I wanted her to learn to work into pressure and give to the bit without having the clicker. I figured the sidepulls and pressure was enough of an incentive. I did try to ground tie her -- in other words getting her to stand with the lead rope down at her feet. I used the clicker on that, but it wasn't really working because unfortunately we have let her get away with walking around in the barn too much. I am not sure if I will continue to try to train her to ground tie-- I don't want the clicker to lose it's value as a teaching tool. Tomorrow I will spend one more day in the round pen and take the side pulls up two more notches.

On Thursday or Friday-- I will post a video to show the results of 30 days of riding on Claire. It was funny when I went to the back pasture with all my gear, Claire came up to the gate and was waiting for me when I got there.

Clicker Training on Spencer!!

Well, I wanted to try out the clicker today on an already trained horse and see if it would really make a difference-- and it did! I have been reading alot out of Doug Carpenter's book on training the Western Pleasure horse and I really like his ideas.

I especially liked his lope transition cues and what to do if a horse falls in. Spencer does this alot because he does not like to take his right lead (he has arthritis) and tries to avoid having to take it. So I used very quiet hands and held my outside rein to my thigh and lifted his nose as I asked for the canter departure. I usually do this, but I also kept my inside leg on him when he wanted to fall in and I kept lifting his shoulder when he wanted to fall in.

Here is what I clicked for today:

1. Trotting really slow and collected. I 'clicked' when he kept framed up and kept a consistent trot. At first I stopped him immediately after I 'clicked.' He loved this of course. After I felt like he was trying to repeat what the behavior that earned the click, I clicked and then kept him going after the click, until I stopped him. He was highly motivated to work using the clicker and so I think it helped. He is already so trained and I did a good job using my seat and legs to keep him framed, I think the clicker was an added bonus.

2. I felt like the biggest difference I made with the clicker was on the right lead. He was very excited to pick up the right lead, once he saw that I only clicked when he picked up the correct lead. By the time I finished, he was cantering slow and collected, taking both leads and learning to work past the 'click' before I stopped and rewarded.

I have to say that the clicker training makes a big difference to the seasoned horse. I feel it gives them a reward and wakes them up in their training. I am sure it is the first time Spencer has ever received a treat under saddle.

I was using an O ring snaffle and so I am anxious to see if riding one handed in a shank bit, using the clicker will make a difference in his gaits and willingness to pick up his right lead. Very fun ride today!! Spencer is a great horse!

Sidepulls with Claire

2008-07-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

Sidepulls with Claire-- Setting her Head!

I have taken a few days off from the blog as I left for the weekend to drop off my niece and nephrew and pick up Hillary and David. In the meantime I have been reading lots of different books on training horses. Some of the books I have been reading are:

"True Unity" by Tom Dorrance,
"Become Perfect Partners" Kelly Marks,
"Getting to Yes-- Clicker Training" by Sharon Foley,
"Western Pleasure: Training and Showing to Win," by Doug Carpenter.
"You can train your horse to do anything!" Shawana and Vinton Karrasch (clicker training)

I have lots others I am waiting to read, and so I am truly trying to gather best of what I can from the experts,and those people who believe in being gentle with horses.

Here is what I did today with Claire:

I put her in the round pen and put the side pulls on her for about 15 minutes. I walked, trotted and loped her around with the sidepulls. She mouthed the bit, but not bad and started to develop a nice headset. She would plunge down in the bit quite a bit to try to escape the pressure, but then would come back up. I put it on the fourth hole and so it was fairly loose with slack. I will take it up tomorrow to the fifth hole, and maybe more until I have her nose a little past the vertical and will keep it there until she can travel around in a walk, trot and canter accepting the bit.

I plan on doing just the sidepulls for the next three days, and then on Thursday-- if she is really giving to the bit, I will begin riding again.

On a sad note, Poco is terrible lame. I am worried because I think it is in her shoulder and it happened from our ride at Tarrants. I have a vet appointment next Monday.

Great Day with Claire!

2008-07-17T08:59:00.001-07:00

Gosh I had a great morning with Claire! First of all, my sweetheart (for my anniversary) rigged up a ATV pull behind watering tank that works on 1. generator in back of ATV 2. PVC pipe with sprinkling holes 3. a submersible pump that sits in 100 gallon water tank that pulled by the ATV and sits in a lawn cart-- and it works! I watered the arena today-- almost 2 full tanks and it was so nice to have a more solid surface and less dust flying everywhere.

Here is what I did on Claire:

I decided to use the clicker a little less often and especially keeping her in the gait after the 'click' until I decide to stop her.

Today on Claire:

1. We worked on backing. I neglected to back her any over the past few riding sessions, and she acted like she completely forgot how. I really worked on this-- using the clicker-- for each step-- until she could back on a loose rein and without much pull. I ended on backing her at least 10 steps and then clicking. Yea-- I will definitely not let another riding session go by without doing lots of backing.

2. Lots and lots of trot transitions and head lowering. She trots very nicely and with mostly a level head. I worked on getting her to do a slight jog and not taking off so quick when I ask for the trot. I clicked when she took off collected and slow. She did very well this morning and I felt all my head lowering exercises had paid off for today's ride.

3. Some serpetines-- she turns very nicely following her nose, and some haunches work.

4. The best thing we accomplished was I was able to 'click' when she got the right headset and then keeping her in the trot for 1 whole pass around the arena. She did want to stop when she heard the 'click' but she responded very nicely to my legs and kept the trot until I stopped her. She is keeping in the trot very nicely now and I hardly have to ever keep going. I was very proud of her trying so hard to listen and to please.

5. After we rode in the arena, we rode out in the front and the back and I was really proud of Claire. We rode down by the lake and then by the new swing with the green awning that she was very scared of. Her head really shot up and she was scared. I nudged her forward and with each step toward the 'scary' object I clicked and gave her a treat. It only took a few steps for her to reach the object and put her nose on it. It took several clicks but she learned to face her fear with the clicker and live through it. This why I love the clicker training so much because it gives you a tool on the saddle that really works!

We went back in the arena and trotted the arena 2 laps and then stopped. Yeah-- great day with Claire!! I really love this horse!

Annie:

1. I worked with Annie on canter departures on the lunge line and she still needs more work. I worked with the clicker, but I am not sure if she got it yet. One thing I have learned in this endeavor with the 'clicker' and in horse training in general is, that if you just keep at it and don't get discouraged-- or more importantly-- don't get mad at your horse-- and if you are consistent and patient enough-- you will eventually reach your goal.

Great day--- I was initially a little down this morning-- but now I feel great. I do love riding these horses!

My Anniversary! 26 years!

2008-07-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today the horseshoer came this morning and so I was only able to ride Claire for about 10 minutes to show her what I had accompished on Claire. She thought she was very gentle, but needed more bit training-- like the sidepulls she had suggested that last time she was here. I am going to get some sidepulls and let her learn to give to the bit by putting her in the round pen for about an hour as she learns some more about giving to pressure. I will then lunge her wearing the sidepulls, and hook the lead rope to the halter. I might use some draw reins after that

Here is what I did today:

1. Trotted and clicked when she gave to the pressure and lowered her head.

2. Cantered-- she wanted to stop after one pass around and I had to keep her going with my legs. She is wanting now to stop when she hears the 'click' and I will really work on this by not letting her stop and keep her in the trot or canter, even after I "click" and then decide when she can stop.

We (Cole, Frank, Jenny and I ) gave all the horses a bath today in the backyard under a big shade tree. It was fun and all the horses loved the attention. Man, I love my horses and my niece and nephews!!

I am mad my camera is out of batteries-- I will get some pictures tomorrow!!

I almost forgot-- Today is my anniversary--- 26 glorious years!! I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband who supports me in everything I do!!

My wonderful family!

Giving to the Bit with Claire

2008-07-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

I did not ride yesterday because I was in Houston dropping Hillary to go to Girl's camp with my sister Melanie and my nieces, and I brought back my nephews, Frank, and Cole and my niece, Jenny to stay with me for a week. Yesterday we saw the greatest movie--Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D and so I took a break from training.

Today I rode Claire for about an hour. I really tried to work on getting her to give to the bit when I take out the slack in both reins, but she is still wanting to root way day to the ground. Any advice on this??? I have decided I need to lunge her in side pulls to get her to soften more to the bit, but at the end of the day I was getting her to lower her head in the trot and hold it there for several seconds. It is going to take some work every day, but I have truly come very far with her in just three weeks of riding. I trotted her alot today, and I am going to start using the clicker not so often, teaching her not to stop with each click, but to continue on with the aids.

Here is what I worked on:

1. Lateral yielding

2. Yielding the hindquarters

3. Lot of serpetines.

4. Trotting with head down-- working towards collection.

5. Following her nose and arcing her body to follow.

I feel like I really need some more direction and some goals because I am jumping around to so many different things, so maybe I will just start workng on transitions and forget about collection for awhile. She was very gentle today and didn't get upset when Annie was racing in the back pasture against the fence and 6 army helicopters flew overhead.

I did teach horseback riding lessons to Cole, Frank and Jenny today on Poco. They all did well, and I fed Poco treats after each ride. She was very happy about that! Tomorrow I will try to post pictures of Cole, Frank, and Jenny riding-- if the 4-wheeler doesn't completely win them over!

Serpertines with Claire

2008-07-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

I had a great day training with Claire, incorporating the Clicker training completely under saddle today. The day started out kinda of on a bad note. First I got Annie and tied up her wearing the bit. She, by the way, managed to completely untie the intricate knot that I fastened her with while I was riding with Claire. Very frustrating! Annie is very smart and can untie herself EVERY TIME I tie her. I really need to address this as she is learning a very bad habit!

Anyways I took Claire to the trailer as her saddle and bridle were in the trailer. She was calm until I tied her and she heard the weed eater (she couldn't see it) on the other side of the trailer. I went around the trailer to ask Brian to stop weed eating, when we heard a long bang and she had pulled back and broke the lead rope. Yeah she was pretty shaken, but I calmed her down, and saddled her and lead her into the arena for our ride.

Today we worked on yielding the hindquarters (clicker training) and trot to walk transitions by using my seat and voice. I clicked everytime she transitioned down by just using my seat and voice. She completed it about 80% of the time. The only problem is her trot really isn't smooth and part of it I believe is the deep sand in the arena. I am going today to see if I can come up with a pump spray for our water tank. Brian is going to rig up some type of water tank I can pull behind the 4-wheeler to spray down the sand.

Here is what I worked on with Claire:

1. Lateral yielding

2. Yielding the hindquarters

3. Trot cue (she does is very nicely!)

4. Trot to walk transition (yeah-- she needs more work)

5. Serpertines with gently swinging her head and keeping it low in the serpertine.
I tried to ask for her nose with as little as pull as possible and to just get her to follow her nose with her body.

6. I really worked on getting her to respond to a slight pull on the reins by both hands to see if she would lower her head to asking for her head. I 'clicked' every time that she lowered as a response, but I was a little confused because sometimes she would root way down to escape the pressure. I clicked the first few times for this, but then she started rooting down all the time, I defintely don't want her take the bit down like that. So I have to do some reading on this.

7. I cantered her a few times and she got it about 50% of the time. She picked up the left lead everytime.

I rode her out of the arena and got off her at the place she spooked by the trailer.

Annie:

I worked with Annie today on the lunge line. She has the trot to walk transition down about 80% of the time without me having to pull on the lunge line to get her to break to a walk. We
'clicker' trained on that and on the canter transiton on the lunge line. She got that about 50% of the time. When she just trotted faster after I asked for the canter, I just said no and brought her back down and then usually the next time when I asked for the canter, she picked it up and then I 'clicked' and gave her a treat.

Poco:

I worked with target training with Poco, and she has it most of the time. She is the most impatient with touching it, and that really shows her impatience to learn new things. I can really see that she has an impatience with learning new things. She is however, my most trustworthy horse.

Great day of training!

Annie target training

2008-07-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

2008-07-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

Target Training!

Today I trained Spencer, our 15 year old gelding to the target, to introduce that a certain behavior will produce a 'click' which leads to a treat. Here I am explaining the target, the clicker and the treat. I also worked with Annie on Target training-- her third time. She definitely remembered the 'target' and immediately touched it to get her treat. I worked with her on the lunge line-- working on the trot to walk transition. I have a video here of her doing it, but actually she got tons better after I worked with her some more-- getting her to stay in the walk longer before I rewarded with a treat. I love 'clicker training" because the horse is always searching for the right answer and is highly motivated by the 'reward' to do what you want. It took Annie a little bit to figure out that I wanted her to break from a trot to walk, when I said 'walk.' I could always get her to do it before if I pulled hard enough on the lunge line, but I wanted her to do it immediately without even a slight tug, and to trot and listen to me at the same time. I could tell she wasn't really listening to me when I trained her before the clicker-- and she was extra wound up. Using the clicker taught her to really listen to me. An important thing to remember when 'clicker' training is to work on very, very small increments of behavior. I read that the 'long way' in training is always the 'short way' in learning. She has had minimal lunge line training before today-- maybe a couple of times.

2008-07-10T11:26:00.001-07:00

Riding out at Tarrant's Ranch!

Today I went riding with my daughter Hillary and niece Briana out at the Tarrant's Ranch. It was a landmark day, because I took Claire out riding on a trail ride for the first time! She had been ponied out there about a month ago, but this was the first time to ever ride her off of our property. She did great. I was a little worried because when we first got there, she was snorting and blowing a little. I walked her around and showed her the gigantic wood pile and the scary green tractor. She was most interested in the cows grazing by the pond several hundred feet away, but she calmed down somewhat after I let her look at them. I walked her around and let her graze while the girls saddled their horses.

I forgot to mention that I used my clicker training earlier when Claire got in the trailer. She usually stomps and paws in the trailer, and in fact had a little resistance going in the trailer. You can tell she really doesn't like being in the trailer. Anyways, she was standing quiet in the trailer, (she was tied and the door was shut) I 'clicked' and then gave her treat. I did it several times after that, as she did not move a muscle after I rewarded her for standing still. It really worked wonderfully, as she was a perfect angel the entire time she was in the trailer and after the trail ride, I put her and then clicked once she was standing still. Yeah, it was really neat to use the clicker to 'talk' to and reward my horse.

Okay, so we got saddled up and everyone got on their horses. Claire was a little nervous and was at first bothered by the flying up moths that were in the grass as we walked through it. She had her head high and wanted to trot, but I kept her at a walk.

We walked in the open pastures for awhile and then went into the woods taking a marked trail. Claire was second and kept walking up on Poco's rear, till finally I pulled aside and let Claire lead. She walked alot more gingerly while she was the lead horse, but it was good for her to lead and to look at all the 'boogers' in the woods.

We had two creek crossings-- she was scared but the the second time we kept the horses down in the creek and and just sat on them so Claire could see that it was okay to be in the creek. I used my clicker while she was standing calmly in the creek, and then rewarded her with a treat.

We rode for about 2 hours and 15 minutes and I was very proud of Claire and I think she enjoyed it. My confidence has grown tremendously and I pretty much no longer afraid that she will run off with me or buck me off. I am appreciative that she is such a kind horse and wants to please.

I am giving her the day off tomorrow, and will work with Miss Annie tomorrow!

2008-07-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

Claire: Cantering for the First Time!

I cantered Claire today for the first time! Actually it was so funny because when she saw me put the fanny pack on around my waist, she figured out that we were going to do some 'clicker training' from yesterday and she practically jogged to the arena. Normally she stops several times and I have to pull her to the side to get her out of her, "But I don't want to go!" mood. When I got on I flexed her several times and then went right into moving the hindquarters. I clicked each time she responded with moving her hindquarters, and then rewarded her with a treat and she loved it! At first I wasn't sure if she was making the connection, so I decided not to get impatient and move onto something else. The funniest thing was when we started moving out and trotting, she immediately went into the canter, and I think it was because I worked her so much yesterday in the canter transition and with the clicker training on the lunge line. So I just brought her down and worked on the canter departure. She took the canter most every time-- and sometimes immediately-- and of course I used my clicker and 'clicked' and then let her lope a little and then rewarded her with a treat. After the first few times of stopping her after she picked up the canter, I decided to wait a little longer and 'click' after she cantered for awhile. It worked beautifully, and now Claire absolutely loves to canter. In fact several times, she would want to take off with a fast trot-- (I am assuming to work into a canter) and I had to gently remind her who was in charge. It was alot of fun to see her working so hard to earn the 'click.' After some canter work we rode out (no other horses) in the front and back yard. She walked a little faster than normal, but on the whole was very calm. After that we walked back in arena and I used my 'clicker' to ask her to lower her head with me taking the slack up off of one rein. Everytime she lowered her head, I 'clicked' and then stopped her and gave her a treat. She did understand, and got better, but this is something we will work on everytime I ride her. Teaching her to lower head and keep it below the withers. If you notice her loping, she is carrying her head low and though she is not at all collected, she did great for the first canter.

Problems:

The only problem is that Claire is not wanting to pick up the right lead-- on the lunge line or under saddle. When I took her last week to get her knees x-rayed, Dr. Thoni said she had two bone spurs on the knee from a previous injury. I called him today and he said they will eventually round out, and not bother her, but to not ask for the right lead or lope in right lead circles for 90 days. I will do this and probably put her on Lubrysim-- a supplement I have Spencer on.

Annie:

Poor Annie she wanted to come out and play so bad, that she kept trying to open the gate with her head. After I was finished with Claire, I worked briefly with Annie on target training and the 'clicker.' She is probably the smartest one so far on picking up the target training. She remembered from the day before and would reach high, low, around to her side,--- all to touch the 'target' (swimming pool noodle) and then hear the 'click' and then she would look to me for the treat. She is the most motivated I have seen to get a treat. I even put the swimming pool noodle down on the pavement and stepped away. She walked over to it, touched, (then bit it) and then turned around to me when she heard the 'click' and was rewarded with a treat.

First Day of Clicker Training

2008-07-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

I sprained my ankle yesterday jogging with Hillary and Briana. I was so afraid Teddy, my golden retreiver would trip me (I jog with him) but actually it was my own clusminess that caused me to come down and twist my ankle. Yeah-- I can barely walk without pain. However, it did not stop my dedicated self (my clickers arrived!) from trying it out on the horses. Here is the low down:

Claire: Very smart!

Annie: Very smart!

Poco: Dumb as a doornail!!!

Spencer: Jury's out-- we haven't tried him yet!

Okay, it was a little awkard at first, but here is what I did. I took my Clinton
Anderson stick and put on 1/3 of swimming noodle-- blue foam. I tried Claire first and she caught on pretty fast. I could put it over her head, on her side, on the ground, and where ever I placed the noodle, she reached out to touch it. I clicked and gave her the treat. I need to get my fanny pack for the treats, because it was kinda of awkward to keep digging in my pockets and have her waiting. I did 2 ten minute sessions on her and 2 ten minute sessions on Annie. They both caught on pretty quick and I will do 2 more ten minute sessons today with both of them.

Tomorrow, I will take Claire out on the lunge line and clicker train her to the canter departure. Hopefully it will make a difference in her quickness in picking it up. I plan to ride tomorrow, -- maybe Brian will ride with me since he is off.

Annie did well too with the foam noodle, clicker and treats. She would reach out to touch it, and even walked over to Hillary who was holding the foam noodle and touched it to get her treat. I know they need lots more practice, but I will be glad to use the clicker on specific training issues.

I need to work with Annie again, and I probably will in the round pen tomorrow. Claire is having some issues on leading away from things she wants to stay at, so maybe I will use the clicker on the 'come' cue.

A big thank you to the comments I have been getting. I have decided to wait on tying
Claire's head. We will see what I can do with the clicker training.

Poco I don't think ever figured out to touch the foam for the treat. She hit it a few times, but most of the time it would be right in front of her and she would just try to find the treat from my hands. I will try again with her tomorrow!

Jennifer

Riding out of the arena with Hillary and my niece Brianna

2008-07-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

I had a good day with the horses. My niece Brianna Taylor is visiting, so Hillary, Brianna and I rode today. Hillary and Brianna saddled their horses, Spencer and Poco, while I dragged the arena with the gravel rascal. Claire behaved beautifully today riding with Poco for the first time and the third time with Spencer. I trotted her out today several times and always away from the other horses. The wind was really blowing and she didn't seem as spooked at as she normally is with the wind blowing. She has gotten tons better in being calm under saddle. The funny thing she does is that when I stop her after we complete something hard-- like trotting out from the other horses, she flexes around to the left and touches her nose to my boot and I just pet and scratch her . She holds it there for a few minutes and I think she likes me reassuring her that she did a good job. She stopped once in the trot but I kept her going with my legs.

I am probaby going to go to split reins so I can 'spank' her a little when she gives me a refusal. On the whole she did great. After we rode in the arena for awhile, we rode out-- first in the back and then in the front around the house. Claire was only a little hesistant in the back by the scary trees, but I was surprised to see that she didn't mind leading out with the other horses following behind. She raised her head a little in the front, but I asked her to lower her head and she did. My confidence level is really going up and I am not as nervous any more that she is going to buck me off. I really need some advice on whether I should tie her head down to the saddle in the round pen. My horseshoer says that will set her head if I do it slowly--- tying it down gradually-- leaving her alone to find out that the release of pressure happens when she lowers her head. Any suggestions? I am downloading several videos. One is of Hillary cantering Spencer in a circle-- she does it beautifully! Two of me trotting out Claire.

P.S. I forgot to add that I worked with Claire in the round pen before riding and she joined up with me and was so attentive the entire session! She stayed closed to my shoulder and moved several turns with me until she stopped to say, "What's going on?" I was very pleased with her progress and the improvement in her willingness. Also my clickers arrived today--- I will start target training tomorrow!!

Day Off-- More about Clicker Training

2008-07-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today I am taking a day off to drive to Houston and help my sister move. The horses went a little wild last night with the fireworks and I intended on getting outside before dark to feed them and put them up, but I didn't. I felt bad because when I got out there they had been running and were shaken a bit. I fed them and even gave them all some hay and stayed out there with them until most of them were over. I noticed that my two nervous ones are Spencer and Claire. Poco could care less and was more interested in stealing Annie's food, and Annie wasn't concerned at all-- except how to get her food back! Poor Annie! I usually keep them apart, but I was tired and didn't do anything to keep Poco from stealing the rest of what Annie had not eaten. They graze all day and all gloriously fat, so the hay was an extra bonus.

More about Clicker training!

I am very excited to start this the more I read about it. Basically clicker training works on positive reinforcement all the time and gives the horse something to work for and figure out. It is literally a way to speak to your horse.

First you target train by getting an orange cone (soccer) or some other object and you make it very easy for the horse to touch it with his nose. As soon as he does, you 'click' the clicker and then give a treat. The treat is giving away from your body to encourage the horse not to come close to look for treats. You do this several times and probably over several ten minute sessions until the horse figures out that his behavior (touching the cone) is related to the clicker, which leads to a treat. You move the cone all over until you have the horse leaving you to touch the cone and then he hears the 'click' and come backs for the treat.

After you have established target training, you start using the clicker to teach movement, head lowering, ground tying, canter departures, -- any number of things that you can say 'yes' to your horse at the exact moment he does the behavior-- you 'click' and then reward with a treat.

It turns your horse into a learning and asking machine and works totally on positivie reinforcement. I hope this goes well. I think my first plan for Claire is to reward with a 'click' when she drops her head when I ask for the 'calm down cue.' After that I will work on trotting with dropped head and then maybe canter departures.

We will see. I will be glad when my 'clickers' arrive.

Happy weekend to all!

Trotting Out Claire

2008-07-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today I only worked Claire. Here is what I did today.

Claire:

1. I saddled Claire this morning and didn't lunge or work her in the round pen at all before I rode her. She was calm as usual but stepped back a little when I started to put the saddle on her. I checked her over and then proceeded to finish saddling. I flexed her for about 3 minutes, several times after I got on her. I read from someone this is a good idea to do when you first get on, so they don't get used to taking off. After that we rode around with me asking for the 'baby give' several times from my John Lyons reading. We did several turns and and I worked with her moving her hindquarters over some more today. I would ask for her head and flex her nose over to my boot, and then when her feet stopped moving, I would ask for her hindquarters to move over. She did much better today, but to help move them more quickly, I had a leather strap, that I gently slapped against her flank to reinforce my foot aid. We trotted quite a bit, and she only wanted to stop once, but I nudged her to keep her going and then stopped and got off her in the scary part of the arena. We walked over trot poles and trotted about 6 lengths of arena. This is the most she has trotted so far. I would say I rode her about 20 minutes. She did great and I am working on getting her to lower her head by just picking up one rein and giving pressure until she drops her nose. It is sometimes confusing to her because she wants to flex around, turn or back. We are working on it.

2. I unsaddled her and then went back to the arena for some lunge line work. I took some treats to reward her for her canter work. I am little worried that her right knee is bothering her as she does not want to pick up the right lead and the vet said she had a two small bone spurs on her knee from an earlier injury that I was not aware of it. We found this out when we had her knees x-rayed to see if they were closed. It could have happened as a weanling. When she picked up the canter departure, I let her go a few strides and then stopped her and brought her in for a treat. I did it several times in both directions and she improved dramatically after the treats. To the right she did give a refusal and I immediately backed her up hard and let her stay out and think about it. No treat. After that she did much better and I rewarded her again with praise and a rub-- no treat. I actually lost the last treat in the arena sand.

3. I put the tarp on her and let her walk around with it flapping. I completely covered her and I tried to cover her eyes but she got a little nervous. I retreated and will work on this tomorrow.

Just as a note, my clicker training books have arrived and I am really studying them. I believe I will use clicker training to help get more of the behavior that I want. I am waiting for the clickers and I am exicted to use this method in addition to the John Lyons method I am already using.

Claire was a dream today and behaved beautifully under saddle despite the dogs fighting/playing in the arena while we were riding.

Happy July 4th!

2008-07-03T12:22:00.001-07:00

This is a video of me driving Claire in the front yard. She is doing well, but still mouthing and pulling on the bit a little bit. We are at a trot. Later I asked for the canter and she did it a few strides and then stopped. We corrected that right away, and as soon as she could go without stopping, I stopped her.

It was hot today, but I had fun workng with both Annie and Claire. Here is what I did today!

Annie:

I worked with Annie first today and she was so excited to come out of the stall and go to work. I keep her and all my horses up at night in a stall and run, and let them out in the morning to graze.

1. I decided to work with Annie in the round pen. I have only worked once or twice with her before and never for very long and never felt like I accomplished much. Boy today was a different day! I have been watching Sylvia Scott's method of round penning and really liked using a rope and point better tha the lunge whip. Basically I taught Annie outside turns and got her to turn and face me and do inside turns.

First I send her off in the round pen, looking her straight in the eye and squaring my shoulder to hers. Then I cock my head, point to her head and then send her around with a sling of the rope. She caught on real fast, and then we worked on inside turns. For inside turns I had to stop her and get her to face me, relieve the pressure,-- step away from her -- and then turn back around for an inside turn.

The neatest thing of all, is by the time I was finished she had joined up with me and would follow at my shoulder wherever I would go. I could point to her hindquarters and she would move them over me. Really neat! She was very eager to be next to me and not be sent off to the outer circle of the round pen.

She kept saying, "Please let me come in with you! Please!"

2. After that, I worked on driving her while walking beside her. She did great and we walked over several trot poles and around some cones. She needs more practice on this, but for her second day doing this, she did great.

3. We ended with flexing her to side to side.

Problems:

1. Annie is not as relaxed as Claire, but is much more forward moving which is good. She over anticipates sometimes and does not want to make a mistake. Her flexing is funny, because she kind of goes down and then over, and not a straight over to the side flex.

The best thing that happened today was I found out that Annie will be much easier to train because she is so forward moving. I fell in love with Annie today!!

Claire

1. We worked first in the round pen today and I found it much harder to get her to do what I got Annie to do. She was SO lazy-- I almost found myself charging her to get her to canter. She didn't clue into me as much Annie did at the beginning, and when she would stop, instead of joining up with me, would go down to graze on grass. I found myself getting frustrated. I sent her off several times at the canter and kept her there, but she kept wanting to break down to a trot. I got her to do outside turns and maybe one inside turn, but I need to re-watch the video again to see what I am doing wrong. I did get her join up with me, but she did not stay with me through all the turns like Annie did. Basically Claire was barely stressed in the round pen, and Annie was saying, "Oh please, let me be with you, Please!"

2. I ground drove Claire without saddle and just walking beside her. She did very well, taking all obstacles like a champ. Her biggest problem is not moving away from me when I move toward her shoulder.

3. The rest of the time, I took Claire in and saddled her. I ground drove her all over the property-- in the front, by the pond, by the back porch, in the front yard and in the back pasture. I trotted her and she has a very slow trot carrying her head down most of the time. I practiced on stopping and backing her and she does pretty well. She is still wanting to nose out some, but getting much better.

4. I drove down in her scary spot in the back pasture and unsaddled her there. I wanted her to have good feelings in that spot.

Problems:

1. Claire's biggest problem is not wanting to go forward. I smooched her into the canter and she took it for a few strides and then stopped. This is the same thing she was doing last week on the lunge line and it was very frustrating. How I solved it last was backing her fast-- making the choice of stopping uncomfortable-- and then going back and asking for the canter and then stopping her as soon as she went a few strides. Over the next few days, I worked on that until I could get her to come several laps around me. And so I thought it was cured, until today. This could prove to be a very big problem in the future and so I will do some studying and thinking about this. I have ordered the clicker and clicker training book, and as soon as I have Claire 'target' trained, I will probably use the clicker to encourage her to stay in the canter.

Working with Claire

2008-07-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures today because as usual I was out there by myself. So here is what I did today.

Claire

1. I saddled her and she stood calmly. I took my Clinton Anderson stick and took off the lunge string. I tied a plastic bag to the end of the stick and I did some ground driving using Sylvia Scott's method in her video on Natural Horsemanship. Basically I stood behind the drive line (horse's shoulder) and walked along side her as I drove her forward. This is a good method to use to get your horses through gates. She didn't have any trouble other than not wanting to go at first.

2. The next thing I did was tap the saddle with the stick and bag hard while Claire was walking around me. I also did a window wiper wave above her head while she was walking around me. This will get her used to anything flying over her head while I am riding-- hopefully! I increased the intensity with the plastic bag making all kinds of noise. Every so often I would stop her and rub her all over with the plastic bag at the end of the stick to let her know not to be afraid of the plastic bag. I also did a big wave first touching the ground ahead of her while she was walking and then behind her while she was walking around me. This seemed to bother her the most as she would see the big stick coming up over her head. She hesistated a few times, but eventually she was able to walk head down while I was doing all of this--- waving above her head and in front and back of her. I did it from both sides.

3. On the ground, I took the stirrup and placed it against her flank and kept it there until her hindquarters moved. This was difficult at first for her, as she didn't want to move, but I kept the pressure there until she took a step. I did it on both sides several times.

4. I rode her flexing her alot and practicing the one rein stop. I would trot or walk her down the arena and then reach down for one rein pulling it softly to my hip and her head would come around and she would eventually stop. She needs a lot more practice on this.

5. I trotted her more today and her trot is very bouncy. I hope she gets better. I trotted 3 lengths of the arena ending up at the scary spot and then I got off of her. I wanted to reward her for her trot effort as once she started trotting, we were bascially in cruise control until I asked her to stop.

Problems

1. Today Claire was being a little resistance in not wanting to leave the barn or would stop and refuse to go when I was leading her into the arena. I finally had to pop her with a leather strap, and then I also backed her when she would not come forward. I need to work on her response time.

2. I need to do alot more trotting and I can't figure out what to do with her head set. I feel like I have no control over her head that bothers me. I am not sure if I should even be worrying about her headset right now.

I didn't work with Annie because I got a late start today. Annie was so cute she wanted so bad to come and be with me. She was nickering at the gate wanting to come out when I put Claire up. I rode Poco yesterday afternoon and worked on Canter departures. She did better, but she gets so stressed when my leg goes back and over anticipates like mad.

Look for a video tomorrow of me riding Claire!!!

2008-07-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

This was taken at the Open Show Hillary and I both rode in Jacksonville. Hillary did very well taking 4 first places and one second. It was best show yet, and I took a second place in English walk trot and I have never had a second place yet! It was cool relatively, and we had a great time together. Hillary is on Spencer and I am on Poco.

Claire being tied

2008-07-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

I was really proud of Claire. She stood tied for nearly 2 hours while I worked in the arena with the tractor and worked with Annie. She hardly pawed and that is a miracle as it was a BIG problem in the past. She would almost dig a hole to China with her pawing. Yeah for Claire!!

Annie learnng to trust me

2008-07-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

This will help her later should something cover her eyes when I am riding her and she will have to listen and trust me. Horses hate to have their eyesight taken away. It can produce the 'flight instinct very quickly.'

Annie desensitizing to tarp.

2008-07-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

Annie was not very bothered at all by the tarp. We had put a tarp in their stall and weighted it down when Annie and Claire were babies to get them used to it. I rubbed her alot with it before I left it on her. She did great!

Tarp and lunge work

2008-07-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Annie had no problem with me leading her over the tarp. Lunging was a different story. Though she didn't give great resistance, we worked at it until the minute she could trot over it calmly and without hitting the poles. It took her about 4 rounds in each direction before she got it. We stopped with her first successful trot over without hitting poles and resisting. We will work more on this tomorrow.

Arena after tractor work--soft and mostly level!

2008-07-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Arena after the gravel rascal. It was really fun to ride on and not worry about footing. It is a little deep-- about 2 inches when the fillies are loping, but will very soft should I ever take a tumble!

2008-07-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Our gravel rascal with teeth and a leveling comb is behind the tractor. Brian added a three point hitch that makes it tons easier when you get too deep or too much grass roots clogged up and you need to pull it up. This is the before picture. That is Teddy next to the tractor who very dutifully follows me around when I mow or am on the tractor.

2008-07-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Annie tied to post with bit in mouth. Notice the circle of grass missing around fence post. That is from all the 'pawing' that she has learned not to do.

Groundwork and Trotting

2008-07-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up ready to start another day of training, but first I had to do some tractor work in the arena for about an hour. Brian had started it on Saturday, but the arena dirt was too wet. We bought a new arena leveler and drag called the "gravel rascal" a few weeks ago. We had let the grass take over our arena and it has taken many days to get it back to dirt. I hired Juan, and he raked up the grass roots while I dug them up with the gravel rascal. It was a lot of hard work, but it is so nice now to have arena that is soft and mostly level.

Here is the training I completed today:

Annie

1. Tied Annie for about 90 minutes while I dragged the arena. She pulled back when I was spraying her with fly spray and got a little spooked but I said 'whoa' and she stopped pulling. I think she got spooked when she heard my Ipod playing through my earphones. There is nothing like listening to Joan Jett, "I like Rock n' Roll" when you are doing tractor work.

2. Lunged her at the walk, trot and canter. She was much better on transitions and was very eager to listen to me.

3. Lunged her over the tarp and poles at a trot and a walk. She resisted at first going over at a trot, but as soon as she was able to go through smoothly at the trot without hitting the poles or resisting, we stopped. I firmly believe in stopping training when the horse gets it right. They will remember the reward, far better than drilling it in over and over.

4. Put the tarp over her and walked her around while it flapped around her. I pulled the tarp over head several times and she didn't like it much, but we stopped as soon as her resistance went down.

5. I led her a few steps with the tarp over her eyes so she could learn to trust me even when she couldn't see me.

6. Worked a little on flexing and turning the hindquarters.

7. She wore the bit the entire time and was able to do all lunge work without mouthing it.

8. Worked on backing on a loose rope. Much better today.

Problems

1. She is very young and immature and wants to please, but likes to crowd into me when she is unsure or nervous. I kept gently backing her off of me, but I will get a little firmer tomorrow if she persists in trying to lean into me when I bring her into the center of the lunge circle.

Here is the training completed on Claire

1. Claire stood tied to today probably for about 2 hours and 15 minutes. She only pawed a little bit and I was amazed at the progress she has made in standing still being tied. This proves to me even further that simply time and patience is the best teaching tool for training young colts. I could have hobbled her in the beginning, but she has simply learned that pawing does no good in being tied. She did not offer to pull back at all, even when she was left all alone while I worked with Annie in the arena.

2. Lunged her at the walk, trot and canter in several places in the areana. She is the most spooked in the corner by the tractor so we worked there until she could lower her head and do all transitions calmly. She really did fantastically and has come a long way in not being spooked by what is out in the pasture.

3. Walked and trotted her today. I noticed that her head would shoot up sometimes when I was riding her and this is the most nervous time for me because I know a horse with a high head is a nervous horse. I simply would give her mind something to think about and would turn her alot, until her head would come down and she would forget about what she was seeing out in the pasture. She seemed particularly bothered by what was in the neighbor's yard. I felt very good about her trotting and going forward. She offered very little resistance in going forward today and was tons better than she has been in the past. She actually seemed to prefer to trot which was amazing to me. I worked on trotting her in a straight line once she did it calmly I got off in the very spot she is often spooked at. I decided to make that the spot I get off so she will not dread going down to that part of the arena.

Problems

1. There were no problems today at all, other than being a little distracted at times at what was going on in the pasture. Tomorrow I plan on trotting her alot more and in more straight lines. I might set a cone up in the middle of the arena and practice spiraling her in and out at a walk and a trot.

2. I need to start disengaging her hindquarters while under saddle.

I am posting some pictures of Annie under the tarp and Annie and Claire tied. I also am posting some 'before' and 'after' pictures of the arena, and of one taken a horse show Hillary and I both rode in on Saturday.

Purpose of Blog

2008-06-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know me-- I love horses! I have had horses most of my life, but the reason I am starting this blog is because I am attempting to successfully train Annie and Claire, my two year old paint fillies. I am constantly searching my 'new ideas' and 'methods' so that I can accomplish this. First and foremost, I have raised both of these fillies since 4 months of age. Annie was actually rescued by me at 8 weeks of age when she was abruptly taken off her mother. (Long story) I bought Claire at 4 months of age 2 days later, when my family could not get Annie to eat anything. I had been looking at Claire over the internet before I knew about Annie, so two days later I decided to go and get Claire and bring her home to be a buddy for Annie. So that is how all this started. Now Claire is nearly 29 months old and Annie is 26 months old. I usually get up every morning and train at least one of them, and so the purpose of this blog is document my success and failures in trying to effectively communicate with both of my fillies and get them to do what I want them to do. My ultimate goals is get Claire (registered paint) to compete at a Paint Show with me riding and to be safe and place in something-- maybe a pattern class or Hunt Under Saddle. Annie is not registered and so the best I can do with her is to compete in an Open Show. I am actually wanting Annie to be my husband's horse to compete on.

So here is what I have done so far with each filly:

Claire-- My registered Paint, and I must say my personal favorite.

1. Last year I entered her in several lunge line classes at an open show.

2. She walks, trots, and canters well on a lunge line.

3. Ground training and desensitizing to tarps, umbrellas, ropes and plastic bags.

4. Saddled and ridden about 6 times.

5. Trotted just the length of the arena and once in the round pen.

6. Driven with surgingle and saddle at the walk and trot.

7. Lunged her around at different places around my house.

8. Ponied at Tarrant Trails behind Spencer and Poco, our two big horses. Claire was able FINALLY to walk somewhat calmly through water on the trail.

9. Tied and trailer trained-- but needs work on being more relaxed in the trailer!

Things Claire needs to work on:

1. Going forward.

2. Trotting on command

3. Being less spooked at the wind and other stuff.

4. Not pawing in the trailer or when she is tied.

Annie-- Sweet and Kind, but a little behind Claire in training and in physical and mental age. We had both fillies knees xrayed and the vet reccomended waiting to start riding Annie in January.

1. Working on lunging. Not great at transitions, but she is trying.

2. Lunged around the horse.

3. Attempted to drive her, but she didn't really get it.

4. Ponied at Tarrants Trails, and right by a skunk hiding in the trail grass waiting to spray us!

5. Has worn a bit just a little bit.

6. Tie trained.

7. Trailer loading great!

Annie needs to work on:

1. Lunging

2. More groundwork and flexing

3. Driving

4. Taking the saddle for the first time.

Okay so what I plan to do is blog everyday who I train and what I do. I really love waking up every morning and working with them and I need some help or comments if anyone has anything to add to help me train my own horses!!!