So today was Sol's day out, the weather kept going from wind and sunshine to slashing rain/sleet/snow! very weird but we were determined to get out. I went out early to play with Sol, my energy was low and he was being a bit dominant, not getting away from me in circle, not circling well and coming in to me to push me about a bit. It started to rain so I turned him loose and went back to the house for a cup of coffee and a rethink!
After I'd rethought things I knew he was doing things because I wasn't being a good enough leader so I went out with Mark with a different energy. It worked as he circled beautifully, at trot both directions and then squeezed over the log with a JUMP!! YEEHAA.
Sol JUMPING log
He's such a clever boy...now we can move on to other things to squeeze over, through etc
Sol riding the rail at trot
Next Mark and I took the horses to be saddled at the house and I played with Sol right up to the playfield. Last time in here he bucked and struck out at me but my leadership must have been better today as he circled a bit on the move without any tantrums. He was good going past barrels and the flags I've put up to denote where rabbit holes are, he didn't bat an eyelid at those!
Sol cantering the rail
So next I try canter the rail...I've not tried this before and it's the first time cantering him at home so I was interested in how we went, went well. I need to get my energy up more for him but he cantered a quarter of my 100' roundpen which was good. He had good impulsion, not too slow and not bolting for home so that's a good start ;-)
Sol coming home
Then we decide as the weather was still on/off rain/sun to do just a short hack around the hill that we've done before. I was wondering how Sol would take the ride out and he didn't stop once. He's only been there once before but he remembered where to go and he didn't put a foot wrong. Apart from the weather it has been a really good day.
He came over and caught me which was very nice. I then played friendly with him and decided that maybe I could mirror him a little to try to encourge him to relax more. I find that when the halter goes on he's ready to have 'something done to him'!! mirroring will hopefully allow him to realise that I can be with him and not do 'something' to him. Quite mind blowing really. lol.
Then I go back to the log and walk up to it myself, walk over and he walks without stopping following me, much more relaxed. I do this one more time with relaxation after and then decide that maybe he can try a small squeeze over it. I stand to one side very close to the log so he can't squeeze through it and again with just a long phase 1 he walks slowly over it! YEEHAA. This is HUGE for him and it was great to see him do it so well.
I walk far away from the log and relax for ages with him, take his halter off and walk off...he follows at liberty! what a sweetie. I play friendly with him more and then walk him back to his mate Stormy and ask him to go to him which he does and I walk off.
Just a very short session but full of big things and very worth going out for. He's coming along so well. Was going to go out and trot/canter the rail in the play field but the ground was very hard today and it was freezing so decided not to...glad I did now, was fun!
Today Mark and I arrange to go out for a hack along another road today. So, once again I go out a hour before the hack to play with Sol. I start as usual checking his LF and porcupine head down, keeping everything very consistent but adding something different at the end every day!
Today it was a bit windy but he was okay with that. His circling needs more work but he gave me some good sends, just need to work on the allow more now. Will do that next week. I also took him to the other side of the field away from the herd and it felt good, he didn't worry about where they were or keep looking for them, our bond is getting stronger.
I decided too that I needed to move him around more when saddling so I took the saddle into the field before going to play and put it on a small log, I now take Sol to that log.
I drive Sol to the saddle so he can sniff and investigate it
I then play more squeeze with him and the log. He improves on yesterday by noticing that he can graze over the log...clever boy that he is! So I decide to take it one step further. After saddling and moving him about a bit with the circling game we go back to the log! Noticed again that by doing the saddling in three stages he didn't once try to bite at me, often he would try to bite when first putting on the saddle but today he was pretty good.
Neck and Foot...
Sol learning to trust me, puts his leg right over the log, using the yo-yo draw that we've been practising. I've been teaching myself true patience with this task as it would be so easy to push him over the log and believe me so easy to just smooch him over, I was biting my tongue and just waiting, waiting, waiting....quite a hard thing to do is 'nothing'! lol. But like Pat and Linda teach it maybe nothing but it's EVERYTHING!
Whole body squeeze...Sol walks over log...yeehaa!
I use his inquisitive nature and his wanting to graze to my advantage and after a while he just walks over the log, calm as anything. Lots of licking and chewing went on after that, great breakthrough for him and me.
Saddled, relaxed and ready to go
Mark has played with Holly, saddled her and we set off together on our hack out.
Out on the hack, Sol and I look towards home
Sol leading hack
Sol posing in front of Forter Castle
We go quite a way today, right along the Cateran Trail to Forter Castle, cool huh? The ride home was good, pace was good, cars went by no problem and we really enjoyed ourselves. Really enjoying this lovely horse.
Saturday 16th February
Today Mark and I decided to go out for a hack on one of the lanes up here so I went out an hour before Mark to play with Sol before going. Having the hour before going out really helped me not rush Sol with playing and it was good.
Again started with friendly all over with rope and hands. LF and Porcupine head down, all very good. DHQ and move FQ, each day getting better and my phases more and more subtle.
I played a bit of yo-yo asking for ears forward which was good and then I played a bit of circling. Circling to right okay, to the left he kept stopping and checking in with me so it helped me practise my send and allow more. lol
Then I asked him to go up to the log again. He really doesn't seem to know what to do so I broke it down into sections for him...
NOSE...
NECK...
MAYBE THE FEET
I left the stump on that good note and I know one day he'll think about jumping it, when he's more confident.
I then decided it was time to start playing with the Sideways game so took Sol to the nearest fence and half circled him to one side and asked for one step of sideways. He did it very well considering I'd not done this before, so I asked him to half circle again and go sideways the other side, again a couple of steps and I left it there. This is one of the hardest games to do here as there is barbed wire on the top of the fence, always catching on the rope and being a pain so I have to be careful not to let the rope swing forward as if it catches the horse thinks I've asked for stop or the rope gets a huge pulled thread in it! pain! ;-0
Then Mark came out and played with Holly, today I was taking Sol away from the herd before Holly was ready and Sol behaved wonderfully. No tantrums or thresholds. Good boy. We saddled loosely and walked up the drive making sure to tighten in three girthings as he is a little cinchy, not a problem if I take the right time for him (if I don't do this he has a tendency to bite when girthing! Something I will work on at one of our play sessions).Then I stood on a wall and mounted. I will work on sideling to a gate at another play session! lol
Sol has trouble standing still so I hurried up and relaxed and asked him to do the same, it took a while. He also seems to maybe had trouble with the bit and bridle as the first thing he does is pull on the reins to take them out of my hands...he must feel a difference as my reins were totally loose and long enough for him to do this without any restraint. I hope he stops this as we continue through the program and the issues he has with his mouth are gone!
So, off we go, on our hack on the lane. I don't really know what Sol will do today. Never had him in traffic or near tractors etc so I use my 22' line as a hackamore and bring my CS and SS in case I need to get off.
Luckily we meet no traffic at all along the lane, only the slightly bigger road nearer home and Sol was perfectly behaved much to my relief.
DHQ
Sol has a threshold and turns to go home, I take his idea and make it my idea by turning him further and moving forward in the direction of the hack! I think he wondered how he got in that direction! lol
He has a few thresholds which I just sit and wait out, he doesn't back up which is good but turns a few times and I just do as before quietly and calmly and he carries on following Holly. He seemed to get a little unconfident when the road turned a corner and he could no longer see the way ahead so will keep that in my mind when we go out tomorrow. He goes through a puddle again which was great as previous owner said he didn't do puddles, well chuffed with him, how he's growing is fab.
He did very very well, and I turn him for home when he was going forward well (my idea not his to turn keeping it in my favour!) and he stepped out nicely for home, leading the way too which was great.
Looking cool in Holly's sweat rug ;-)
When we get home he is a little sweaty so although it was a sunny day I put on Holly's fleece to make sure he doesn't catch a chill as the wind was cool today. All in all a successful hack out. Sol has lovely gaits and we're both getting more confident about going out and about together which is fun.
I then decided to move things on so that he didn't get bored with me, so we did a couple of yo-yo's and then onto the circling game. He went better to the right, got two circles at walk, stop and relax and then two circles at trot. Going to the left he stopped behind me a couple of times asking questions so I drew him in and fussed him, then sent him out again. He managed a circle in walk so brought him back to me and then we got a circle at trot. I left this game on a good note.
I next went over to a small log in the field. I used the squeeze game and asked him to try to put his nose on it. It took a few tries but he did it. Then he managed to bring his right front leg up towards it, this was all going to the left so when he did that I walked away on a good note again.
I want to be a good leader when I let him go too so I stopped, he stopped, I asked him to LF and took his halter off. Then I fussed him and walked off..he followed! xcellent. I took him to the stream and he drank while I stoked him all over his neck, back and flanks and then I left him there.
Lovely day, actually feel much better about playing with him, our bond is slowly growing and I think his confidence is getting better too. I should be playing and riding him tomorrow and will try my best to take care of his thresholds and unconfidence in new places.
Ears forward please! Excellent ;-)
Today was quite cold so I wrapped up warm and went to find Sol. He was grazing with the other 4 horses but he turned and came to me which was lovely. I decided to put the halter with 22' rope on him just kept him from wandering off with the herd.
Firstly I did LOTS of friendly with him, with the rope, with my hands and with the CS and SS. He was focussed on me but would turn to see where the others were a few times so during the session I moved towards the herd so that he didn't feel unconfident without them close by.
Firstly I asked for LF, both sides and after the first two times this was great. Then I asked him to porcupine his head down from phases behind his ears which he got the hang of well too.
Next was yo-yo as this is a game I need to strengthen with him. I made sure I used my phases well, it took a few attempts but I think he was happier about me using better phases with him. I did all this quietly and very slowly so as not to cause him to be unconfident or to go internal. He also porcupined with the CS on his chest which was good.
After this I played lots of friendly again, helicopter SS around head, hitting ground hard and then over his back gently. He did very well and my emphasis today was to do things with his EARS FORWARD so that he learns this is what I'm looking for and I stop doing anything when I see those fabulous black tipped ears on me. Cool! ;-)
Near to Holly was a large log lying on it's side and I went over to that and sat down on it. Solly stayed close but began nibbling again, getting my cap off my head which made me laugh so again I played with his mouth and then moved him from my personal space a bit so he couldn't do it anymore. This quietened him down and I just left him there for a bit. Then I got him to draw in at liberty to me for a small fuss and then back out again where he was comfortable.
The sun started to get quite hot and Holly nearby was dozing so I thought i'd follow suit and just sit and do nothing. Solly cocked his back right leg and dozed too, eyes almost shut and peaceful, lower lip very soft and relaxed. Very nice nap we took together.
I think Sol enjoyed just 'being' with me and I want to try to get our bond better so will be doing 'something' with him everyday....undemanding time, play, ride, mosey, trim feet etc. Something but not always big stuff. Think this will definitely help us to get under eachothers skin more.
So, today has been very interesting. Firstly because I realise how complex Sol's horsenality is and also because I realise that I'm slowly beginning to learn how to deal with his horsenality.
I learned to try to do friendly outsmarting with him and to take the horse that certainly shows up, he goes from LBext (let's go) to LBint (why should I go) and just as quickly to RBext (I don't want to go) and sometimes RBint (I'm somewhere else).
If I do the wrong thing in LBext, farting sometimes striking out or bucking (not under saddle luckily)he plays BIG so I try to play but with a very long phase 1 so he doesn't feel critized or get offended, if I do the wrong thing with LBint he can buck and turn his head and try to get away from me so I've learned to keep him aware of me at all times and to take notice, two eyes mostly and if driving never past Z3. If I do the wrong thing in RBext he can come at me all panicky so I've learned to keep him away from my personal area and if I do the wrong thing with RBint he shuts down, head on the floor, ears back in a very unhappy submissive place so I've learned not to push him there and do plenty of friendly all the time.
I know that his RBext will go when he becomes more confident in me, in new things, places and as a learner so that's great. Also that his RBint will become less as I learn how to help him with that by not putting him there in the first place.
Sol and I going up the track taking in the view
So Mark and I decided to play with Solly and Holly in their field first and then if all okay to saddle up and go out on a hack. Neither horse has been out hacking here yet so we knew there would be thresholds, maybe unconfidence too but by being together this would help them.
Holly wasn't too bad, she has learned over the years to trust Mark, she had a couple of thesholds which weren't too bad. Solly on the other hand was unconfident a bit in me and in the new places we were going to. I just went really slowly, lots of friendly on his mane and shoulders. Stopping when he needed to stop and remembering to breath out long and slow.
He was all over the place to start with, not keeping to a straight line and trying to turn his head to the right to turn and go home. I realised that my focus wasn't strong, I was looking at the ground in front of his head or at his head SO first thing was to get my focus strong and long. This helped enormously. Then when I wouldn't let him turn but would let him stop he thought up another scheme and this was to start backing up quite fast!! eek I thought. I'm afraid of heights and we were going up a long steepish track and he was going back towards the edge!! do I get off and sort it out, good idea, or do I try to sort it out in the saddle? Well I tried it in the saddle and after doing the phases and smooching and bumping his butt with my CS he moved forward. Whew!! lol
Then he decided that that wasn't good enough and kept going backwards on about the third session! I was a little unsure of what to do and did think of getting off but after I relaxed and thought about it I tried turning him left then right then left again and that stopped him backing up! So, turning him worked and the next time he tried to back up fast I turned him quickly and smooched him on. After that he didn't try to back up again!
Then about a third of the way up his head went lower, not a RBint lower head, and he started to breath evenly...I realised he had learned to trusted me more, was listening to my leadership and was not so unconfident now. This was a great session with Sol. I'm slowly learning how to be the best I can be for him and he truly seems grateful.
He's a lovely ride, not frighteneing, not trying to bolt for home, no spinning or rearing or bucking, just a little unconfident that with good timing and good techniques was sorted nicely and without any tantrums. Fab. Felt really good coming back down the hill, he strode out well but came back to me with just the lift of one rein. I felt confident and he felt confident too what a great day we both had.
Well today has been chilly but nice. I decided it was time to play with Solly in our new playing field. This is one of our grazing fields which we've put aside for training as it's pretty flat and very cool to ride in due to it's fabulous views. I asked Mark with Holly to come too as it's away from the main grazing field and knew Sol would have a few emotional thresholds. Having Holly there helped enormously.
I play with him, mostly friendly, getting him used to things in a different field. I let him graze a bit and mosey around sussing out that things are safe. We had one tantrum when Mark and Holly went out of view slightly and he thrashed out with his front and back legs and I was glad I take him out on the 22' line! ;-) I soon settled him down again but had to twice stop his dominant games later on when in the 100' roundpen. He soon found out that I am a firm but fair leader and I allowed him to move his feet when he needed to but insisted that he did it nicely!
Sol starts to focus on me more, his confidence growing
Looking good. Feeling good
After a while on the ground I feel he is more emotionally collected to be ridden. He's used to being ridden and is a very comfortable ride. I get on him from some boxes in the roundpen but must remember to work on sidling over to a fence later so that this manoeuvre is easier for us.
Riding the railI start off with riding the rail, not worrying really what direction we go in or if he needs to turn and change direction but more about keeping walk nicely. He changes direction a few times, keeping Holly close for his comfort. Not a problem.
Then I ask for trot and to start with his trot is a little fast but he soon realises the game and relaxes into it more.
Sol relaxing
I then change tactics for him and do pushing passenger lesson. I do quite a few minutes with this in trot and he really seems to relax more realising he's in control of direction which I think he appreciates. His trot was lovely and he manages to do a full circle or two and we stop there on a good note.
I ride him out of the field back home to unsaddle and groom but going through the gate there is still a large puddle of water, deep in places and icy in places too, Sol did me proud by walking through it without a fuss! Clever boy!
Sol relaxing, looking where he's going, keeping gait and direction and enjoying himself, me too!
