Wordless Wednesday

Lesson weekend

Shayla and I hauled up to Janice's with Josie, Clancy and a gelding called Tonka that Shayla is working with. We had a 2 hour lesson from Bruce Koch with the mares, working on basic ground work moves with the goal of improving our horsemanship and timing. I find that I really need to improve my timing and improve how I use my energy. Clancy got quite bored, you know how when you have to repeat something you give a heavy sigh and roll your eyes- well if she could have rolled her eyes, she would have. But I got the help I needed. Shayla had an interesting work with the gelding, but that's her story to tell.
Janice's mare Jazz is half sister to Josie, both of them are Beamer daughters  and they sure show it!

Jazz is 6 years old now, and Josie is a long 2 year old.

This next photo is my favourite:

Josie did well at the clinic, her quality shines through, and the good work that Shayla has put into her really showed. We came away from it with some things to work on, and some ideas for what to do next.

Josie day 20, and second ride

Another Josie day- ground driving went really well....

The stirrup hobble came undone so we just left it; no issues.

Then she got head'n'tailed, to help her to figure out how to follow the leading rein. Only 5-10 minutes each side, until she figured out to give to the bit. This is something we'll work on every session until she gets really light right away.
 And then....

it was time for ride # 2!

Here's a rare photo of me, I only included it because it shows how tickled I am with this filly! (Knew I shouldn't have forgotten to wear my hat!)

So there you have it, the first Josie ear cam pics! I led her around for a bit, then sent her around in a small circle both ways. Shayla felt her tighten a bit when she changed directions once but she relaxed right away. She's like her brothers, likes to be ridden; I think she prefers it to ground work. But she has a lot more ground work to go before she will be ridden regularly! The plan is to continue groundwork into next month, then give her time off to grow up and start working her again after her 3rd birthday in March.

Thankful Thursday

My Thankful Thursday: Just a trail ride today, Shayla brought her saddle down and she rode Beamer, I rode Clancy and ponied Josie. Beautiful afternoon with good horses, good friend and a good dog. What more can a person ask.

A good day!

Another great fall day today that still has me grinning.
After a good day at work, I loaded up Josie and Clancy and headed up to Shayla's.

Such a lovely place!

 I did a little work with Clancy on finding the feel for the reaching foot, and steering serpentines with just my legs while Shayla worked with her Rose mare on the teeter totter bridge.
Then we decided that that would be a good place to start Josie's lesson today. She did really well!

Proud of that little mare! I worked Clancy on the bridge too, she did super- a few times of leading her over and then I rode her over. One of the goals for her is competing in Cowboy Challenge so this is a good start.

After that, Josie had a ground driving lesson.....



Then we went for a bit of a trail ride, I ponied Josie and Shayla rode her Allie mare bareback.


I'm really happy with Josie's progress, but I'm even happier with how well I am getting along with Clancy. She is just right for me, a nice sensible mare that I know I'm going to have a lot of fun with.

Just stuff going on

It has sure been beautiful weather here this last week; sure can't complain waking up to mornings like this:

We had a wee visitor the other day. There is a dairy farm the next quarter over, and one of the little calves got loose from there and wandered over to visit my landlords calves. It was across the fence from them, which is hot wire, and they were concerned that it would break the fence and then all the other calves would get out, so we chased it into the pen with the mares. Who of course, thought they needed to boss it around...

 Poor li'l thing had been out all night and was thirsty.

I ended up having to lock up the mares who pestered her a little too much, then we loaded her in my stock trailer and hauled her back to the dairy farm. But not before Josie showed me some working cowhorse moves! Clancy wanted to work her too.

Today Josie had a lesson in ground driving; it went really well.

She sure is looking good. I will be hauling her and Shayla and me and Clancy to a Bruce Koch lesson on Sunday up at Janice's place, I've got some things I'd like to work on with Clancy, getting her to use her body more efficiently, which of course means that I have to improve what I am doing to help her and it will be good to see where he thinks I need to improve.

Sunday Silence

Josie day 17- was a very good day

After 5 days off, yesterday's session started with saddling at the hitching rail (just like an ole broke horse now!) then sending her at liberty around our round pen, she's really wanting to hook on right away now. Have a look at this next video, you will see that Josie has a distance limit to where she will hook on. If Shayla is more than 12 ft. away, Josie loses the hook.
I'm not too concerned about that, after a few more sessions I think she will be connected at more distance.
She did fairly well at liberty sacking out; one spot where Shayla got in her blind spot and Josie got a bit worried, but she is much improved.


Next up was putting a bridle on and teaching her to give to the rein, just sending her around and maintaining a soft bend.



Once she had that figured, it was time for the rein around exercise, again, she handled it well; this is the same thing I have done with the halter and lead rope with her ever since she was a foal, so she understood the concept and it didn't take much to translate to giving to the bridle rein.



After that, Shayla walked beside her and prompted her to go forward, and did some steering exercises.


Next up was stirrup driving; getting her used to the bump of the stirrup as if she was using her legs and bumping as well as getting her used to the flapping of the stirrup leathers.


That was a pretty good session, and by the end of it Josie was giving Shayla lots of snuggles .

It's interesting to see the layers of reactivity and resistance just fade away with this filly. She gets softer and lighter with each session. Can't wait to see her work today! Something new- ground driving.

From dust to dusk

I had planned to haul to Canyon arena today, to work Clancy and pony Josie. It was such a beautiful afternoon that I decided to forego that dusty arena and just trail ride Clancy at home instead. I waited until the late afternoon, and it was an absolutely beautiful ride.

Heading west out onto the fields. They plowed under this field after taking the barley off.

So peaceful, not a breath of wind, I could hear the geese overhead and the seagulls in the plowed field.

Not many geese moving yet, another couple of weeks before we start getting lots of them.

The long evening shadows, creeping towards the Skimerhorns.
I worked Clancy a bit out in the fields, she is getting handier all the time. Nice to see improvement in her every time I ride. Love that mare! And what a great way to end the day, watching the sun go down from the back of a good horse.....

and accompanied by a good dog.

Only thing missing was good friends!

Sunday Silence

Around the pen and down the trail

The first session in the round pen took quite a while, while Josie processed what was required of her. Youngsters like to test the boundaries and will give a few wrong answers but with consistently rewarding the correct behaviour they soon come around.
This video was taken near the end of the first session, and you can see her giving some wrong answers (trying to stop and turn into the fence and change directions).
Check out Shayla's explanation of her round pen work 



Yesterday took a lot less time; I think less than 5 minutes and Josie was soft from the start, wanting to come in and hook up right off the bat. It was also the first time for sacking out at liberty (Thanks for the tip, Tara!)



Her reward was getting to go out on the trails for over an hour, with Clancy and me, and Shayla on Allie this time.

Allie is a really good mare to pony from on the narrow trails that we took, as we found out- the rope got under her tail a couple of times and she didn't care at all- good girl Allie!

Notice Shayla has the reins dropped on Allie's neck

There was one instance where some grouse burst into flight as we went by- all 3 horses just kind of had a little startle, like a spook-in-place, but when Shilo the dog jumped into the bush after them Josie did scoot forward in alarm, but not too bad, just jumped so she was beside Allie. I think it's great that she gets to experience the trails with two such calm horses, it helps keep her relaxed and helps her learn to handle different situations without stressing or panicking. 

Photo credit Shayla

Such a beautiful place to ride! On the way back we had to travel along the road- it's a paved backroad. We encountered a few vehicles and I'm happy to say the Josie handled it just as well as the other 2 horses. She also wasn't concerned about the dog that came out barking or the activities of people in their yards.

Side note- all the horses are barefoot, and Clancy has completed the transition to barefoot- she can walk on gravel now without being ouchy. (big grin).

From the pen to the trail

Day 15 with Josie 

Every lesson, we introduce something new. For this lesson I hauled up to Shayla's so we could use the bigger round pen. Started off by saddling her at the hitching rail, then into the round pen where she was turned loose and worked. She did quite well, no bucking or silliness. Boy that filly can move! She has a stop and turn that bode well for her future in working cowhorse, which is the direction I think would suit her the most. But- she also has speed, so maybe a side career in barrels - hmmm!

Anyway, she was pretty happy to get out and stretch her legs and worked up quite a sweat- she doesn't get much opportunity to gallop at home as I have no pasture turnout for them, although her pen is 100 x 50 so she isn't too confined. 

Hooked on

I did take a video but we are working her again the same way today so I'll put it in the next post.

After that it was time for a trail ride- I had Clancy, and Shayla rode Rose and we took turns ponying Josie.

Josie did really well, and Clancy is really good to pony from, as is Shayla's horse. We took a trail that led up to a viewpoint that overlooks the valley with the Kootenay River winding through it.

So pretty at this time of year. It was a cloudy day so the fall colours don't really pop.

Taking in the view

There is smoke in the valley from yet another forest fire in Idaho.

Looking north- the Kootenay River flows north out of Idaho and empties into Kootenay Lake.

I was really happy with my horses on this little tour, and I'm really looking forward to doing it again today. This is the best thing for young horses, getting them out in a safe manner so they can learn to handle terrain, their bodies and their minds.

Heading back- Shilo the dog really blends in with the fallen leaves. 

I like the format of some round pen work and trail riding, I think it will keep Josie's mind engaged and keen to learn, as well as building her fitness. 

Josie day 14

It was time for Josie to start getting saddled at the hitching rail, and she handled it very well. This is only the 3rd time she has worn my saddle, and she did so well with being saddled in the round pen that we figured it was time to step it up.

Good girl, Josie!

Next was on to round pen work, with review on moving her shoulder and hip with a cue and keeping her head out of Shayla's bubble. Compare this with the video in the previous post and you can see a big difference.

Much better! She's getting really nice pivots too. Then we moved on to another first, loping under saddle. This is the time when, if they are so inclined, they will buck, but I think our slow approach is paying off.

She is really settling in to her work routine, I think the light bulbs are coming on (grin). She still has  her reactive moments but they are becoming much more manageable and less frequent. We keep in mind she is still a baby and don't worry too much about it, just keep the structure of the lesson going and she figures it out.
We finished off the lesson with a review of getting her to come to the fence for mounting. She really picked that up quickly.

Overall I'm quite pleased with her progress.

A perfect fall day

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!

A lesson learned

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.

Josie Day 11- first backing

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.