What to do on a beautiful day? Why, ride of course. The morning started with a session with Josie and Shayla working in the round pen.
A short session with the flag, and a few other tools for sacking out and it was plain that Josie remembered her lesson on changing eyes.
After that it was saddle time- she is pretty good with being saddled, doesn't seem to have any issues there at all. Remember Kai and how reactive he was to being saddled? They are all so different!
Before we really get to the riding part of Josie's training, we want her to be pretty solid in her ground work- and there's no hurry, she is still pretty young. Today it was about Josie learning the difference between cues and random movement. In this next video, she worked on teaching Josie to move her shoulder or hip over when cued, and not to invade her space with her head- which is a very Josie thing, she always sticks her nose in things. Shayla made it clear that any unwanted behaviour would earn her a disciplinary tap as compared to the clear cue to move the desired body part, which in turn was a separate feel from any random waving or movement of the stick or your body. She learned the difference between all three. And the reward of a rub made it clear when she had got it right.
The afternoon was spent riding the trails, I hauled Clancy up to ride with Shayla on her palomino mare Allie, on the airport trails. I am happy to say that Clancy is really getting with the program for standing still for mounting- one tiny little hip move today and then she remembered that, oh yeah, it's ok to stand still. But she did walk off too much when I got on- she did have to step to rebalance herself, but walked out of that, so got to stand for a minute before we headed out. And what a lovely day for a trail ride!
Clancy goes well either in front or behind, and she was so nice and relaxed today.
The fall colours are starting to pop. This has to be the loveliest time of the year. We found a nice spot to pose for pics.
Gotta have the dogs along too!
Wearing red because it's hunting season.
Once we got off the trails we took a tour through the neighbourhood on the way back.It sure is pretty out there, I'd love to have a place tucked away in a corner there!
It was an interesting session with Josie yesterday.
We worked her here at home, no getting on her this time but worked more on sacking out. This little red head has a lot to tell us.
She takes about a half hour every session to go from reactive to soft, and I think it's just her immature mind, and possibly her defensiveness in the herd- after all she was raised with bossy big brothers which strengthened her flight instinct. Clancy too is boss over her.
Tight mouth and worried look- but at least her feet are stopped.
Where we really found the issue- and made the breakthrough- was when one of us would circle her with a "scary" object while the other one held her with the desired result of having her stand still. For the story, visit this page for Shayla's blog post on this.
When you think about it, as riders we always give our horses a chance to see any potential scary objects, for example a vehicle or dog coming up behind them, by either tipping their head or turning them, and this sacking out work is no different. Once she figured out it was ok to just turn her head, and once we figured out that changing eyes was the issue, we made much better progress!
Next up was putting my saddle on her instead of the little training saddle. It is a bit heavier, and has lower stirrups and straps to flap around. She did get a bit worried the first time she felt the stirrups bump her sides, but came back nicely.
This next video is of her getting used to the feel of weighting the saddle- much different than sliding on her from a mounting block, bareback.
She had such an intense session with the groundwork, and made such good progress that Shayla decided not to get on, but we did do the training for getting on from the fence which I had learned in the Buck Brannaman clinic. She learned to parallel the fence, and Shayla could safely put her weight in a stirrup without actually getting on. All in all it was a really good day!
Finally- that soft look!
Ideally you are supposed to keep one foot on the fence, but with three rails this fence is not quite suitable- I can do it but my legs are much longer. 4 rails would work better.
Really looking forward to the next session- I bet all this will have sunk in and it will be a really good day.
Today I hauled the mares up to where Shayla is training from, (and soon will be living there ) a lovely place with a round pen, small outdoor arena, access to trails and the awesome backdrop of the Skimmerhorns. While she worked with Josie in the round pen, I rode Clancy. Her desire to move her hip away during mounting is much diminished, more like a token protest. Shayla did bodywork on her the other day, she had ribs out and vertebrae in her neck out, and today I think she had a little muscle soreness from actually having to work her body yesterday in an unaccustomed manner (insert smirk). I did a lot of circles and serpentines with counterbend, and lots of trotting and got some moments of nice softness. We did some sidepass work as well. I was pretty happy with her, especially as there were a lot of distractions with a number of horses in the next pen over and a (gasp!) mini horse pacing the pen not far away. But she was a good girl and ignored them once I started to work her.
As for miss Josie, well, I think I'm still grinning. Shayla worked for about a half hour on getting her to be less reactive to sacking out with the stick and string, she needed to remember the difference between being sacked out and being asked to move.
Shayla says: "We worked on sacking out from the standstill and then once she had that we worked on sacking out with her feet in motion, but she was only allowed to walk. Lots of yielding the hind quarters but not changing direction right away.... sacking out instead."
After that, it was time to see how she handled someone draping over her back.
No problem on that side....
or on this side.....
and once again, I'll let the video tell the story.
Josie has been so good, it was time to expand her horizons. Hauled her and Clancy to the big outdoor arena, along with Shayla's palomino mare Allie, who is a really good mare for ponying colts from.
We warmed up the 2 big mares first, then Josie got worked. There are little pens attached to the arena, so she got to chill out in there for a half hour. Then it was her turn.
Such a scenic arena!
She did really well ponying, didn't seem to mind anything even though this is all new to her. Then it was time for saddling.
It was all about review, only on a bigger stage. First the saddle blanket....
Then the saddle uncinched,
Letting it slide off a couple times and putting it back on. All good! (I had the best seat in the house arena).
Then cinched up and longed at the walk trot and lope.
Right about then my camera ran out of battery. :o(
Josie did get a little ramped up doing the trot work but with patience and persistence she came around, and did get a bit goosey with the first lope but again, not a big deal and Shayla worked her through it. Then it was ponying saddled up. Overall I'm really pleased with the way she handled the new environment. She's a good girl!
I worked Clancy on softening at the walk and trot, with a little bit of lateral work too. She gives her head but the softness doesn't continue through her body yet. I asked Shayla to ride her too, and she gave me some insight on what to work on; getting her freed up in the shoulders and ribs, and then the softness will come. She tends to dive into everything. from the bit to turns she always seems to want to just give any old response and then see if she gets left alone. It may have worked for her previous owner, but not for me.
Lots of work to do on her, but she did start to get softer by the end of the session- and we are doing it all over again tomorrow, only at a different arena in that area.
This is Clancy's favourite activity. I don't think I'll have any problem with ground tying when we do the cowboy challenge!
Saturday was my brother's memorial service, it was very good, a big crowd of people showed up to honour him and support his wife. It was nice to see all my siblings who could make it there and all their children.
We're a big family!
Then last night was the super moon/harvest moon/blood moon/eclipse. I was happy that it was in eclipse as it rose over the mountain as last time I was up most of the night taking photos.
This one was all done early.
The landlord weaned the calves yesterday, and the cows remain here; it was pretty cool standing out taking photos of that big ole moon rising and hearing the cows mooing to the moonrise.
These last few days, Shayla was at a Jim Anderson clinic, and another girl I know was riding in it on the big blue roan horse. It was a good clinic, they both got a lot out of it.
Hannah on Blue- they were working on keeping him true in a circle and speed control. Blue has been known to buck at the lope, but he was really good at this clinic. Last week was the first time they had been able to get him to cross a bridge, and look what he could do by the end of this clinic:
Shayla and Rose did well and learned a lot too.
Rose is an Arabian/Quarter Horse cross.
I think the plan for her is a future in Cowboy Challenge.
There are more videos of them at the clinic on Shayla's blog as well as lots more info on what she learned at the clinic.
Today we are hauling Clancy and Josie up to Canyon Arena, it will be Josie's first time at a big arena. Should be fun! I plan on working on Clancy's sidepass, gate manners, and turnarounds.
I'm getting a little behind on my Josie posts.
She is coming along nicely.
In this video, it shows that the desensitizing to the stick and string and the flag from the lesson before sank in, and we introduced a rope around her barrel to simulate the cinch. She took it all quite well.
The next day, we tried something different with desensitizing. I noticed how reactive she was when I was "talking with my hands" when I was explaining something, so Shayla did some work on that, and also we introduced the little military saddle to her. It wound up being a pretty good session.
After that, the next session we changed it up a bunch. She was introduced to having someone above her, with Shayla climbing up on the barrel and asking her to move her hip over as if she was going to get on her. That had varying degrees of success.....
Then Shayla thought it would be a good idea to take Josie for a walk, to give her something else to think about. I had Clancy saddled, so off we went.
We also ponied her from Clancy- that went really well. We had actually ponied her from Beamer when she was a lot littler, and she must have remembered some of that.
Of course, we had to pose in front of the beautiful back drop of the Skimmerhorn mountains.
We switched out and Shayla rode while I walked Josie, she rode ahead while I held Josie back to see if she would get worried, but she was really good.
In this little video I love how relaxed they are and their tails swinging in unison.
Then today, we hauled Clancy and Shayla's mare Rose to the outdoor arena. Since Clancy coughs when she is around dust I didn't work her too hard, but did come up with a few things I need to work on, like getting her united in the side pass, she tends to be slower with her front end than her hind instead of stepping evenly. I also need to work on her turns on the forehand and on the haunches. She is a little uncoordinated with her right hind; she doesn't lift and place it as smoothly as she does the left hind in lateral movements.
This arena is at the base of those same Skimmerhorn mountains- such a beautiful setting.
Clancy is improving in standing still, but she committed the capital crime of trying to bite me when I was saddling her today. I heard her open her jaws as she swung her head to me as I was adjusting the saddle position and just before she could connect I turned and yelled "Don't even think about doing that!" I didn't hit her but I scared the pants off her, she set back and the saddle came off and danged if she didn't get all respectful and yes ma'am after that. I think she got away with lots of stuff before I got her and she is testing me to see what her limits are. Her crimes are this attempted biting thing, not standing still for mounting, and jigging when she gets anxious. She is actually getting better at standing still and once again, sometimes I have to get after her for swinging her hip away or stepping back because she darn sure knows by now that she is required to stand still. It's coming, but she is still testing a bit. I think there will be other ways she will test that I'll find out as we go along, but in the end, I'm sure we will have a good partnership.
I visited my brother yesterday.... his time is very close. But meanwhile, life goes on. Josie had a couple more sessions with Shayla this week. Here are a couple of videos from Tuesday, which was her 3rd session.
This one is where she learned to do inside turns. She had been running several times around before she was asked for a turn and would turn her butt and do an outside turn, but when it was shortened up and she was asked for a change of direction on a half circle, she started to do proper inside turns.
I took this video just after she had a really big reaction to the stick and string- literally galloping a 10 ft. circle. Still pretty reactive but coming along.
We ended the session by using the lead rope to do the same thing, and once she was quiet with that, called it a day. Gave her lots to think about.
The next day, I took her and Clancy to get their teeth floated, they both loaded in the trailer no problems- only the 3rd time Josie has been in a trailer and only the second time she has been hauled. She loaded and unloaded like a pro, of course, Clancy set a good example for her.
Today's session was really good.
Those 2 days off must have given Josie time to let things sink in.
Worked her over the poles too, to get her thinking about where her feet are.
She did ok, after a few rounds of stepping on them and banging her toes on them she made it around without nicking any and that's where we stopped.
This time, I started in the round pen with Clancy, sent her around a few times to remind her that I can control her feet and direction, then brought her in to the mounting tub. She did a couple of half hearted attempts to back and swing her hip away, but on the third ask she stood still for me. Once I got on, I could see that the cinch was too loose, so back we went to the tub. I got off, tightened, asked her to walk out a couple of steps and then got back on and she stood still- good girl!
Then we did the gate. In increments. Unlatch, stand for a moment, then walk away. Open it, stand for a moment, and walk away (in the pen). Then ride through.
All the mullein plants are popping back up after the hay was taken off.
In the afternoon, Shayla came over to work Josie. I have decided to have Josie trained by Shayla instead of doing it myself, for a couple of reasons. 1; I wrenched my foot and cracked a bone in it so all that ground work in deep sand hurts like a sonofagun, 2; that little filly is darn quick! Too quick for this old cowgirl and 3; I would like her to be shown and Shayla is the one to do that. At least for her first couple of years. After that I will decide if I'm keeping her or selling her.
Full tilt boogie around the pen!
Giving the hairy eyeball at that flag on her leg.
Softening
Zoned in on that flag as Shayla drags it along
Here is a video of some of thework. By the end of the session she was giving her hip and coming across nicely on the front. We ended on a good note and gave her lots to think about.
But it turned into a lesson. Clancy is not standing still for me to get on yet. (Sigh). Had her all saddled up and wanted to go out on the fields and down by the dikes to look for wildlife.....
I use a step, whatever is handy- in this case a log seat by our fire pit. Every time I went to step my foot in the stirrup, she'd back up, and turn her rump away. The other day when we went for a trail ride, I decided not to waste everyone's time schooling her so had Shayla hold her while I got on. But it's high time she got over this, so today's ride got cancelled and off to the round pen we went.
I made her work a bit, and had to get after her a bit when she humped a little when the saddle started bouncing, and she leveled out.
After having to work, (looks like the saddle slid forward) she started looking for relief. By this time, I had climbed up on the half barrel that's in the center of the pen, because I want her to come to me when I'm above her.
Looking back over my shoulder: Still uncertain if she should come in closer..... so I sent her around again. Did this a half dozen times. I'd stay still on my spot and wait for her to join up.
Finally, she came within arm's reach and I petted her and invited her in closer. She took another step and I used the reins to ask her for a better position. She still wanted to back up when I put my foot in the stirrup, so I spent about 5 minutes just weighting the stirrup and taking my foot out when she stood still. Finally (!!!) she just stood there and licked her lips and I got on.
The next thing I need to work on with her after we get this sorted out, is opening gates. She tends to be in a hurry to go through and doesn't wait for me to fully unlatch the gate before she turns her body to go through it. Once I got it opened, I didn't let her go through, but stayed in the pen for a couple minutes before riding through.
This seems to be all pretty new to her; I think the guy who was riding her was the get on and go type who never taught her some of the finer points that I think she needs to know.
Once I got out of the pen, we saw that the little bull calf had escaped into the yard, so we trailed him back to his pen, and called it a day.
My brother is still hanging in there, I'd like to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers.
I have had lots of Clancy time over the last while.
Shayla came over and we rode down to the river....
Really nice relaxing ride. I am using Easy Boot Glove boots on Clancy- can't afford the Equine Fusion ones right now with our dollar exchange rate at 30 % (!!!!!!) and I'm finding that the Glove boots work quite well.
I'm really liking miss Clancy. She suits me just fine!
I have tried a couple of different saddle pads on her, trying to find one that works best for her. She doesn't seem to like my Diamond Wool pad- too scratchy for her I think. Shayla lent me both a CSI and a 5 Star to try out, and the 5 Star was my pick. I found the CSI too fussy to use, and the top pad did bunch under my saddle where the stirrup fenders move back and forth. The 5 Star was a 3/4 inch, and it was just right; the saddle didn't move at all and there were no pressure spots. I used it yesterday when we went on another trail ride- this time a picturesque ride in some pretty country near where Janice lives. She and Dave and another friend, as well as Shayla and I all had a really lovely Sunday ride.
Dave and Skookum (Percheron /QH cross; Jenn on Moxie (Morgan)
and Janice on Jazz, a Beamer daughter.
Shayla putting boots on her mare Rosie, and Arab/QH cross
Tess came along for the ride. She was a happy dog!
There's fresh snow on the mountains in the background.
I let Shayla take some photos of me and Clancy; I was trying to get Tess to come lay besides us here.
There were plenty of hikers in the area and we had one of them take a group photo of us all at the summit of the butte.
It was a really good ride- Clancy was really good in the group, went wherever I wanted, was good in front, at the back or in the middle. Can't wait for the next ride!
The family gathered last weekend to visit my brother, he is in good spirits, even though he knows his days are numbered. But we are a praying family, and aren't giving up hope just yet. He has pancreatic cancer, as well as several other spots of cancer on his liver. I will be visiting him again on Saturday.
5 sisters, one niece and one brother in law. My brother , Lincoln, is 58 years old. He is loved, and has always been a good man.
Please keep him in your prayers if you are so inclined.
