Today when I brought Kai over to the hitching rail, I was determined that he was going to let me saddle him without having to use the precursor smaller saddle. Tossed the pad up- no problem picked up the saddle- eye got round and hard, he side stepped away, and then swung around in front of me and presented me with his right side. I was having none of that. Brought him back where I wanted, set up the video camera, and proceeded to saddle him. Successfully, although he was pretty flinchy.
By the way- that twine? It's attached to the off side stirrup and I use it to hobble the stirrups together when I use the long lines.
Off we went to the round pen. I asked for some neck stretches before attaching the long lines, worked from the right side first with the off side line through the stirrup and over the saddle. This time he was willing to work farther out, right to the limit of the off side line. Worked both ways, no real problems on his left side.
Then I moved on to having the off side line draped around his butt and hocks, again not much issue, just a little more goosey at first then settled down, a little more worried at first on the left side but no real problems.
Man this horse has a big motor, just like his mama! I did get him to whoa using body language and the reins , both ways, he stopped fairly well. Anyway, not being able to leave well enough alone, I asked him to turn to the fence and reverse directions; now this is a whole new concept because now the inside rein is through the stirrup and the outside rein is free. He did get a little worried, the head came up and he tried to leave, but I got him to stop and wait while I got the line out from under his tail (!!!) and I really liked that he waited for me to get him out of a bind instead of coming unglued- very promising! So of course, I had to do that both ways, easier the second time and quit there once he walked nicely. I might enlist some help tomorrow to help him to understand ground driving.
6 comments:
Its a start, he seemed pretty worried but he was listening to you still
I accidentally let the ouside line get under my horse's tail, and she fruck out completely, bucking and not letting the line loose from her clamped tail, so I had no way to slow her. Then the next session, even though the line was not trapped under her tail, she had a flashback and started running and bucking unstoppably again. All I can do is make the circle as small as possible and wait until the bucking stops.
I am not currently tying the stirrups together, and sometimes they do come up when she loses her balance and has to throw her head up, but I wonder if it's a problem. My trainer says so, but I don't understand why. Can you explain it?
As careful as I can be with double longing, there is always the risk of things going terribly wrong. However I do appreciate the benefits of it - I have so much more control, and can even request backing up and lateral movements, and steer so much more precisely, directly through a little puddle she would prefer to go around. And then there's the tendency for the horse to stretch down, and unlike sidereins, a green horse can learn about contact.
Lytha, perhaps you could do some sacking out - in hand- by deliberately putting something under her tail. I use a stock whip or buggy whip and just start on touching the bottom half of the legs, then gradually move up until you can rub it right under her tail- just your standard de-sensitizing. As far as the stirrups go, I like to tie them together because it simulates your hands- when you are riding and they flip their head up, you don't raise your hands, you keep them in position. If the stirrup goes up and flaps around it can scare them, which is counter productive,.
I can't wait to see how he further progresses. Its neat following horse schooling. Very interesting!
He did great, not perfect yet but it will come! I think he loves your calm voice and takes cues from you:)
Shirley, I've done the sacking out, putting different things under the tail, but somehow it doesn't transfer to arena/moving work. However, my new rump rug has a tail string and although initialy she tried to buck it off, she realized it never hurt her or tightened so she accepts it. The crupper training was a total failure, because she pins her tail down so hard, even loosely adjusted she gives herself a painful rub. I'm not going to give up though, I'll have to get creative about moving from the feeling of the rump rug string to the crupper, in stages, somehow. I wonder if wrapping the tail would help.
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