Journal: Keeping At It

There a lot of things I want to change about myself in these photos… But the progress that Robbye has made is just STAGGERING to me.

Early this winter, when the weather was horrible, I was still trying to get over a horrible fall, Robbye seemed to be stagnating once again, and riding just plain wasn’t any fun, I made an ultimatum: if we weren’t making any progress by spring, I’d put Robbye up for sale.

The thought of doing that now makes me want to cry. The fact of that matter is – six months ago I didn’t like Rob very much. She’s obstinate, dominant, and not very affectionate. She didn’t seem to have any desire at all to work.

Kim, Newton, and Julie

And then we found Kim. Kim had new words and new ideas for us. She made me throw away the equitation I’d worked so hard for, and forced me to maintain dominance over Robbye.

And it’s funny – now that the mare and I have a more “horsey” relationship, I like her a lot more. I know that I have to kick her ass once a day or so. But that’s okay. The same thing would happen if she and I were both mares in the pasture. I can love her and be her boss. In fact – I’m realizing I need both in order to attain either.

I won’t be selling Robbye this spring. We’re finally making progress, I like her a lot more, and I think she’s starting to enjoy work, too.

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After my learning to longe lesson, Robbye was instantly more compliant. That’s one of the great things about longeing – I think – it’s work that directly translates to under-saddle work, but it’s also an inherently dominating exercise, where I can really make Rob work the way I want.

I had one ride where I longed – and made her work – then immediately got on and made her work under saddle. This was a great ride because I made her work past her mental checkout point! She’s not a baby anymore – working for 40 minutes is NOT going to hurt her, as much as she thinks it will. I’d been treating her like a three year old even as she approached six.

We had a lesson on April 28, and Kim could not stop gushing about how well we had done our homework (YAY!). Robbye was much more forward (!!), and we spent the lesson learning how to add some nuance her new frame – mainly, by re-installing bend. It was tough for both of us to think past the frame, since that’s all we’ve been working on for so long, but it felt SO good.

I also need to work on a few equitation pieces, now. I need to re-install the toes forward/heels out position that’s so hard for me – I think this is probably something I’ll struggle with my whole life. I need to ride with my thumbs on top – a habit I’m working on establishing now. It’s easier now that I see why we ride with our thumbs on top.

Not sure what her expression is here, but I like mine!

Saturday, Zeke came to the barn with me and took some great videos. I saw some things I need to change in my position, and am excited to practice them. Robbye was in a great mood, and gave me two canter transitions without inverting herself – something she’s never offered under saddle before. Longeing for the win!

We’ve been working on my new jumping position a bit too. I’ve been jumping a lot – and even jumped a log that was laying outside of the arena, which I was proud of. Then, I did as many laps around the arena as I could in 2-point. (This was an activity Robbye really enjoyed – all I asked of her was that she continue trotting at a nice forward pace.) A few rides after, we ventured out to our largest grass field, where we did trot and canter sets. Robbye loved this activity too – it was a nice change of scenery for her, I think! That ride informed almost all of May; I’ve been doing very little dressage-in-the-sandbox.

This is the life.

The next week, I move some (very small!) jumps into the same field. Robbye thought it was fairly boring, but it was scary for me, and that’s what I’m trying to get past. By the end we were both bored, so that was a win!

I’ve been riding less than normal – about four days a week instead of six – but I’ve been proud of the progress I’ve made. I think I’m gaining a bit of my cajones back – I rode down the road one day, the jumps are getting back up to my “normal” height, we dragged Newton across the creek one day (which, by the way, Robbye was great at. She really showed her draft disposition that day – not something I see often). Yesterday, I rode bareback and we “hacked” around the farm – every time she let her attention leave me, I’d ask her to round and work. I’m determined to teach her how to work even when she wants to be distracted.

Kim says it’s time to get back to showing. I’m scared, but I also think she’s right. We’ve worked too hard not to show it off 🙂

Wordless Wednesday: Desensitization Clinic

A few weeks ago, we hosted a ground desensitization clinic at our farm. I didn’t feel like it was something Robbye would particularly benefit from, so I decided to photograph instead. I hadn’t had my big camera out in probably a year, so I was definitely rusty. But boy, did it feel good to be behind the big thing again – and for three hours!

 

Clinic Recap: Ground Desensitization

The barn where Robbye is boarded is a small, private farm about ten miles outside of the city. I am so lucky to have an incredible facility: indoor and outdoor with great footing , impeccable care, no drama, and a clean and safe environment. But we only have 11 horses total, and my club of three compromises a full half of the boarders.

So weird to see our indoor fill up!

What I’m trying to get at is that we don’t get the kind of bustle that a big barn does. We had, until last week, only one trainer, who usually comes once a week. We don’t all haul to shows together. Usually there are only one or two of us riding at a time, or even in the barn at a time. And we have never hosted any events.

That made last weekend even more special: my club-mate, Kathy, and our barn owner, Carolyn, organized a clinic at our farm!

Robbye didn’t participate, so I photographed instead.

We ended up having 11 horses and half dozen or so auditors for a three hour clinic on desensitization. The clinician was a local trainer named Helge (pronounced like “Helga”), who is a trainer popular with the trail riders because of his natural horsemanship-inspired trail rides. He emphasizes confidence above all else while riding, which many re-riders obviously appreciate.

Lizzie and Kathy tackle a pipe with empty, rattling cans attached.

Other than the bad rap it gets on CotH, this clinic was actually my first experience with natural horsemanship. I have to say: I was very pleased with Helge. Generally his techniques lined up with what I have learned from dog training (I have much more experience training dogs than I do horses), which I found particularly interesting. The parallels between training predator and prey aren’t usually that obvious, in my experience.

This horse was particularly tolerant.

At one point, he was teaching the clinic how to back their horses. The ask happens in four steps, Helge says:

1. Hold the lead rope slack in one hand the the training stick in the other. Face the horse’s chest and ask for the back by waving the stick between your hip and chest.
2. If the horse doesn’t respond, move to tapping the slack portion of the lead rope with the training stick.
3. If the horse doesn’t respond, move to tapping the metal snap of the lead rope with the training stick.
4. If the horse doesn’t respond, move to tapping the horse in the nose with the training stick.

If at any point in the process the horse backs, there is an immediate release. And, Helge emphasized, the transitions between the steps have to be abrupt and obvious – he believes that faking out the horse, or failing to commit to an ask, is not fair to the horse.

“This tarp is NOT scary!”

He also understands that of course no one wants to hit their horse – or even tap him on the nose. His rebuttal is that he’d rather hit the horse once and teach the lesson, never having to do it again, than ask half-assed every single time. One, assertive, dominant ask.

Horses fail to react while Helge’s assistant shot a gun inside.

Helge used many different “toys” to demonstrate desensitization: a giant ball, a bull whip, balloons and flags, a firing gun, a pipe with empty rattling cans, and more. The approach to familiarization was the same for each toy, however. First of all, the handler must always be calm and confident. Second, if at all possible have the horse follow the scary toy. This makes the toy less intimidating, since it’s not chasing the horse, and also encourages the horse’s curiosity. Finally, a release is always granted immediately after the horse moves toward or accepts the scary situation.

Hoola hoops aren’t scary either!

I think my main takeaway lesson from this clinic is that horses are a lot less flighty than we expect; in a comfortable environment with a calm, confident handler, even something that we, as humans, expect to be scary to a horse is really…not a big deal. There were zero equine freak outs at this clinic. Several miniscule spooks, a couple of hairy eyeballs, but no drama. Even at the gunshots.

Scared of the ball, but not being dramatic.

The clinic was an excellent example of a horse taking his behavioral cues from his handler. If these handlers could replicate their demeanors in a saddle and in a strange place, they’d have virtually bomb proof horses. This is a lesson I’ve been trying to learn for three years now, especially since I’m an anxious person with a mare who is particularly sensitive to me. This clinic was incredible proof that the lesson is valid.

(And it was a great party, too – I can’t wait to have another one at “home”!)

Sur Isaac

My aunt’s OTStB, Yogi, is in this blog quite a bit. He’s Robbye’s buddy, he goes on most of our club adventures, and is quite a character. He lives at the boarding barn with the rest of the club.

However, Julie also has another horse: Sur Isaac, or “Newton” is a ~2008, probably full-blooded Arab. We think he was bred for western events, and we think he was shown in halter at some point. Beyond that, we don’t know a lot about him. He lives at Julie’s house for now, and has a really great set up with a shed stall and small run. She eventually wants to do Combined Driving Events with him!

Newton sneaking into his tack room garage.

Besides being very…opinionated, Newton and Robbye are complete opposites. Newt is hot hot hot, reactive, and clever. He’s dainty and extremely agile. And he’s PONY SIZED.

Newton’s first time in this second life of his carrying a rider. I seriously doubt he had ever had a rider before us. (Sorry for cutting off his adorable head! Julie was afraid he’d bolt off if she walked too far away. This was pre-professional training.)

We don’t think he was ever ridden before, and we had difficulty breaking him to the saddle and to a rider. Julie tried breaking him to a cart and harness, and he resisted that too. For that reason, Julie sent Newt to a trainer for 60 days this November/December. Hailey did an incredible job with him, and a couple weeks ago Julie rode him for the first time.

Adorable.

He was incredibly well-behaved. No bolting, no silly spooking, and no jumping into laps. He was a little hesitant at first about the increased weight (Hailey is tiny!), but he was willing to walk forward, bend, and accept some contact. What a change from two months before.

Hard to believe he and Robbye are the same age. What completely different horses.

Julie has been paying our barn owner a small fee to trailer over and use our indoor, so hopefully I’ll have more successful Newton stories in the future!

2014 Photo Dump

(Sorry for some of the spacing and formatting issues. Photos and captions didn’t import over from Blogger very well!)

Clip from early 2014

Little brother riding!

 

Bareback and bridleless 2’6″!

Zeke and Paul grooming 🙂

When Robbye was recovering from her bout of lymphangitis this year I went on a couple of trail rides bareback.

Spent a week cold hosing and hand-walking…

The best selfie one can accomplish with such a big head!