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Weekly Lesson Neep: Feel the Heat
Jun. 5th, 2004 02:13 pmSummer is here in southern Arizona, which everybody in the area has taken due note of. This means that the weekly lessons are suddenly A Challenge. We start early, but since it warms up fast, somebody has to end up in the hot slots. That means we alternate starting at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
casacorona and here, and everybody gets the (relatively) cool slots every other week.
This week I got the hot slots. The horses didn't seem to mind. I'm not adapted yet, so three hours out in the heat was a bit challenging.
Even so, we had good lessons. Keed had his weekly Teacher Torture. This week his canter wasn't its usual self--he was in "my stifles are too short" mode, which is part of his growth pattern (his bones grow faster than his soft tissues). His attitude was great and he was taking contact much better than before, and he had some moments when he was tracking up nicely and rounding quite well. He's a hoot to watch: he's so expressive that most of the time you can see the thought balloon over his head. "Hey, this is cool. Wait, this is work. I don't want to work. Phooey. Crap. Badword. Hey! That's not so bad. Getting boooored now. Wanna spoooook now. Crap. She wouldn't let me. OK, I'll work. Work is fun. Damn I'm good. Aren't I good? Look, Mom, see what I can do!"
Joni said he decided on his own that the best way to stretch his stifle ligaments is to use them, so he was asking to do shoulder-in in walk and trot down the long sides. There's your hardwiring for you--how many horses do you know who volunteer dressage movements when they want to be more comfortable? Still less engaging and collecting movements?
He got hosed off thoroughly after his lesson, and he was a very happy pony. He loves his Teacher Torture.
While he was working, I brought out Camilla and put her in the grooming area and gave her hay. She was eager to come out, wanted her turn. She hadn't had a lesson in three months--we'd been waiting for her to ask in just the right way. Last week she was so mad about not getting a lesson that she snubbed me for the rest of the day. That's what we want: active demand for work.
Her session was all about her. The last round, we were trying various conventional methods, backing and starting her, doing pony rides, free-longeing her, doing groundwork. She hit a wall when we started asking her to move forward under saddle. She had a bad spook (not a boredom spook, something went by outside the arena that blew her mind), yanked the reins hard in Joni's hand (I was on her, Joni was holding her), and gave herself a jaw cramp. The next ride, she was hunting us down and trying to kill us, expecting to be noodged and pushed--when we didn't, she was thoroughly nonnplussed. She ended up with Anxieties about the whole thing. I had the chiro work on her jaw--now when she starts to grind her teeth I massage her and she feels better--and gave her time off to think and recover.
Camilla is as sensitive as Pooka, which puts her on the far upper edge of horse sensitivity. As a result, you can't use the usual methodologies. "Show him who's boss." "Be the alpha." "If you ask for something, he has to answer immediately." "Don't let him control the ride, you have to control it." "You're the brain, he's the body." "He should be perfectly submissive to your will." "The horse is a reactive organism, not a reflective one." "If you ask and he doesn't respond, keep asking again more strongly until he gives you what you want."
Uh, no. Not with these guys. If you try to dominate them in any way, they fight back. Pooka will leave, at speed. Camilla will freeze, then stalk and kill you. You can't tell them anything.
What you can do is ask. And negotiate. And set up a situation where they think it's entirely their idea. With Camilla, we tried the standard methods for getting her to move forward. They made her mad. In the process we learned that she has to have time to stop and think. You can't just say Do That. You have to say, "This is what I'd like you to do with me," then give her time to think about it, during which time you put no pressure on her at all. Just let her be. After a few seconds she makes up her mind and does it. She has to understand what she's doing (see below re. Pooka, too), and she has to agree to it. It's very important to her to have that much autonomy.
Fact is, if we do this (which is totally not the usual training methodology), it takes very little time. Whereas if we do the usual whip from behind, rein from the shoulder, leg in the middle deal, she shuts down and won't move at all. (She will move off from the whip in hand, easily and nicely...if you give her a minute to think it over).
This morning my goal was to do whatever she agreed to--as long as she had a soft eye and happy expression. If she got anxious or aggravated, I was going to back off and try something else. We found that she was delighted to come out and be saddled, happy to free-longe--sometimes following me, sometimes interacting with Joni, and she was having fun switching back and forth. (Pook went through the same thing--learning to focus on more than one person. It's hard for a one-man horse to admit that there are other humans in the world.) Eventually she went to the mounting block and let me know she wanted to do something there. I climbed up and lay over her back--and she got very anxious: teeth grinding, eye a little wild. The prospect of being sat on worried her. A lot. So I went up and down, lay over her back, petted her, fed her treats, came down to stand at her head, and talked to Joni a bit about how to proceed. Just as we were agreeing that I need to do this on my own, every other day, Camilla came and presented herself. "I'm ready to do this now." So I got up on the block and lay over her back and she experimented a bit with moving around, and she wasn't as anxious and her eye was softer. And that was it for the day. Lots of treats, praise, and the hose.
Then she didn't want to go back with the herd. She wanted to keep doing it. Good, we said, and praised her some more--then convinced her to go into the paddock.
Five minutes later, as Joni was getting Gaudia out to play with her--she oozed out behind them. She was bound and determined to come back and have another lesson.
And that is exactly what we want: we want her to want More. We are all very happy with the outcome of this session. I'll be practicing with her for a while, then when she says she's ready for me to sit on her, I'll book her another lesson. Though I think I may bring her out next week when Joni is riding keed, so she feels as if she's getting a lesson. She really wants to be a part of things now. She's ready.
If I'd been riding anybody but Pook next, I'd have let Camilla stay out (she would probably have followed us and imitated the figures--she does that when I school in the evenings), but Camilla is in heat and, uh, no. Camilla had to stay in with the Girlz and mom, and Pook got his usual solo session. He was up for it, the heat didn't faze him in the slightest--and it was hot. Let's just say, black saddle. Ten minutes of free longe in the sun. Yowch. Forget tall boots--they would have been Too Much.
We worked mostly in walk, first checking the outside-aids homework (we're getting there), then doing the "accordion" exercise. We had an interesting interlude in between, after we had stopped to talk over the next exercise, and he decided we were working on moving sideways off the leg. It took a couple of minutes to convince him that we were supposed to be expanding and contracting the neck while keeping the back up and round. Once he got it, he heaved a big sigh: "Oh, I get it!" and then he was right in the groove. (I was talking above re. the fact that these horses have to consent freely and with understanding to anything you ask them to do. Well, there you are. They will also volunteer work, and tell you what they want to work on now--q.v. keed with shoulder-in.)
I have things to work on. I was collapsing my left side. And I don't quite get it about keeping the midsection toned while allowing the hips to follow his very expansive movement. I was worried about constricting him, so I was 'way too loosey-goosey in the midsection, which actually was making it harder for him to move up and through in the back. Next lesson, I'll go on the longe for a bit and work on this concept. Meanwhile I have a floor exercise to do, to help me separate the abs and hips, and get the sense of how to move. Well, actually two. The first one is to walk in riding position with my hands on my hamstrings right at the top of the thighs, and feel how they flex and what happens if I lock glutes or stiffen the hips. This is the basis of the forward aid of the seat. The other is to lie on the floor, back flat, knees up, and while maintaining the abs in tone, clasp a knee in each hand and rotate it with my hand--keeping the abs flat. One knee, two knee, rest, repeat. This is supposed to free up my hips and show me which muscles and joints need to be doing what.
Then I'll get on the horse on the longe and get educated as to how to apply all this to a horse who logs enough air time in each stride to qualify me for my solo license.
We ended the lesson today with some trot work--asking for a balanced transition up and down. He had moments of actually being in the center of the aids, instead of crashing against one or more of them, and he was coming up off the seat rather nicely. Crucial to this was me keeping my outside rein stable (for now, it was OK to set my pinkie on the saddle so the hand didn't wander around), my abs toned, and not locking the hips.
A further note on rein aids: At the start, during the work on outside aids, I discovered--well, realized, having been told this endless times--that if the outside aids are in place, and the horse is green and needs help, and the inside rein is not pulling back or locking, it's perfectly fine to apply the rein with a soft ask-release to help him come around on the circle or turn. So we're getting a better sense of how that works. Thumbs up from Joni, and a comment at the end that we're both improving from week to week. I'm pleased with that.
So was Pook. He had a soft eye and a big smile on his tongue, and he was relaxed and happy. Which is always our goal for the end of a lesson. If the eye isn't soft and the horse isn't happy, something's not right. It's our job to figure out what, and fix it next time.
casacorona and here, and everybody gets the (relatively) cool slots every other week.This week I got the hot slots. The horses didn't seem to mind. I'm not adapted yet, so three hours out in the heat was a bit challenging.
Even so, we had good lessons. Keed had his weekly Teacher Torture. This week his canter wasn't its usual self--he was in "my stifles are too short" mode, which is part of his growth pattern (his bones grow faster than his soft tissues). His attitude was great and he was taking contact much better than before, and he had some moments when he was tracking up nicely and rounding quite well. He's a hoot to watch: he's so expressive that most of the time you can see the thought balloon over his head. "Hey, this is cool. Wait, this is work. I don't want to work. Phooey. Crap. Badword. Hey! That's not so bad. Getting boooored now. Wanna spoooook now. Crap. She wouldn't let me. OK, I'll work. Work is fun. Damn I'm good. Aren't I good? Look, Mom, see what I can do!"
Joni said he decided on his own that the best way to stretch his stifle ligaments is to use them, so he was asking to do shoulder-in in walk and trot down the long sides. There's your hardwiring for you--how many horses do you know who volunteer dressage movements when they want to be more comfortable? Still less engaging and collecting movements?
He got hosed off thoroughly after his lesson, and he was a very happy pony. He loves his Teacher Torture.
While he was working, I brought out Camilla and put her in the grooming area and gave her hay. She was eager to come out, wanted her turn. She hadn't had a lesson in three months--we'd been waiting for her to ask in just the right way. Last week she was so mad about not getting a lesson that she snubbed me for the rest of the day. That's what we want: active demand for work.
Her session was all about her. The last round, we were trying various conventional methods, backing and starting her, doing pony rides, free-longeing her, doing groundwork. She hit a wall when we started asking her to move forward under saddle. She had a bad spook (not a boredom spook, something went by outside the arena that blew her mind), yanked the reins hard in Joni's hand (I was on her, Joni was holding her), and gave herself a jaw cramp. The next ride, she was hunting us down and trying to kill us, expecting to be noodged and pushed--when we didn't, she was thoroughly nonnplussed. She ended up with Anxieties about the whole thing. I had the chiro work on her jaw--now when she starts to grind her teeth I massage her and she feels better--and gave her time off to think and recover.
Camilla is as sensitive as Pooka, which puts her on the far upper edge of horse sensitivity. As a result, you can't use the usual methodologies. "Show him who's boss." "Be the alpha." "If you ask for something, he has to answer immediately." "Don't let him control the ride, you have to control it." "You're the brain, he's the body." "He should be perfectly submissive to your will." "The horse is a reactive organism, not a reflective one." "If you ask and he doesn't respond, keep asking again more strongly until he gives you what you want."
Uh, no. Not with these guys. If you try to dominate them in any way, they fight back. Pooka will leave, at speed. Camilla will freeze, then stalk and kill you. You can't tell them anything.
What you can do is ask. And negotiate. And set up a situation where they think it's entirely their idea. With Camilla, we tried the standard methods for getting her to move forward. They made her mad. In the process we learned that she has to have time to stop and think. You can't just say Do That. You have to say, "This is what I'd like you to do with me," then give her time to think about it, during which time you put no pressure on her at all. Just let her be. After a few seconds she makes up her mind and does it. She has to understand what she's doing (see below re. Pooka, too), and she has to agree to it. It's very important to her to have that much autonomy.
Fact is, if we do this (which is totally not the usual training methodology), it takes very little time. Whereas if we do the usual whip from behind, rein from the shoulder, leg in the middle deal, she shuts down and won't move at all. (She will move off from the whip in hand, easily and nicely...if you give her a minute to think it over).
This morning my goal was to do whatever she agreed to--as long as she had a soft eye and happy expression. If she got anxious or aggravated, I was going to back off and try something else. We found that she was delighted to come out and be saddled, happy to free-longe--sometimes following me, sometimes interacting with Joni, and she was having fun switching back and forth. (Pook went through the same thing--learning to focus on more than one person. It's hard for a one-man horse to admit that there are other humans in the world.) Eventually she went to the mounting block and let me know she wanted to do something there. I climbed up and lay over her back--and she got very anxious: teeth grinding, eye a little wild. The prospect of being sat on worried her. A lot. So I went up and down, lay over her back, petted her, fed her treats, came down to stand at her head, and talked to Joni a bit about how to proceed. Just as we were agreeing that I need to do this on my own, every other day, Camilla came and presented herself. "I'm ready to do this now." So I got up on the block and lay over her back and she experimented a bit with moving around, and she wasn't as anxious and her eye was softer. And that was it for the day. Lots of treats, praise, and the hose.
Then she didn't want to go back with the herd. She wanted to keep doing it. Good, we said, and praised her some more--then convinced her to go into the paddock.
Five minutes later, as Joni was getting Gaudia out to play with her--she oozed out behind them. She was bound and determined to come back and have another lesson.
And that is exactly what we want: we want her to want More. We are all very happy with the outcome of this session. I'll be practicing with her for a while, then when she says she's ready for me to sit on her, I'll book her another lesson. Though I think I may bring her out next week when Joni is riding keed, so she feels as if she's getting a lesson. She really wants to be a part of things now. She's ready.
If I'd been riding anybody but Pook next, I'd have let Camilla stay out (she would probably have followed us and imitated the figures--she does that when I school in the evenings), but Camilla is in heat and, uh, no. Camilla had to stay in with the Girlz and mom, and Pook got his usual solo session. He was up for it, the heat didn't faze him in the slightest--and it was hot. Let's just say, black saddle. Ten minutes of free longe in the sun. Yowch. Forget tall boots--they would have been Too Much.
We worked mostly in walk, first checking the outside-aids homework (we're getting there), then doing the "accordion" exercise. We had an interesting interlude in between, after we had stopped to talk over the next exercise, and he decided we were working on moving sideways off the leg. It took a couple of minutes to convince him that we were supposed to be expanding and contracting the neck while keeping the back up and round. Once he got it, he heaved a big sigh: "Oh, I get it!" and then he was right in the groove. (I was talking above re. the fact that these horses have to consent freely and with understanding to anything you ask them to do. Well, there you are. They will also volunteer work, and tell you what they want to work on now--q.v. keed with shoulder-in.)
I have things to work on. I was collapsing my left side. And I don't quite get it about keeping the midsection toned while allowing the hips to follow his very expansive movement. I was worried about constricting him, so I was 'way too loosey-goosey in the midsection, which actually was making it harder for him to move up and through in the back. Next lesson, I'll go on the longe for a bit and work on this concept. Meanwhile I have a floor exercise to do, to help me separate the abs and hips, and get the sense of how to move. Well, actually two. The first one is to walk in riding position with my hands on my hamstrings right at the top of the thighs, and feel how they flex and what happens if I lock glutes or stiffen the hips. This is the basis of the forward aid of the seat. The other is to lie on the floor, back flat, knees up, and while maintaining the abs in tone, clasp a knee in each hand and rotate it with my hand--keeping the abs flat. One knee, two knee, rest, repeat. This is supposed to free up my hips and show me which muscles and joints need to be doing what.
Then I'll get on the horse on the longe and get educated as to how to apply all this to a horse who logs enough air time in each stride to qualify me for my solo license.
We ended the lesson today with some trot work--asking for a balanced transition up and down. He had moments of actually being in the center of the aids, instead of crashing against one or more of them, and he was coming up off the seat rather nicely. Crucial to this was me keeping my outside rein stable (for now, it was OK to set my pinkie on the saddle so the hand didn't wander around), my abs toned, and not locking the hips.
A further note on rein aids: At the start, during the work on outside aids, I discovered--well, realized, having been told this endless times--that if the outside aids are in place, and the horse is green and needs help, and the inside rein is not pulling back or locking, it's perfectly fine to apply the rein with a soft ask-release to help him come around on the circle or turn. So we're getting a better sense of how that works. Thumbs up from Joni, and a comment at the end that we're both improving from week to week. I'm pleased with that.
So was Pook. He had a soft eye and a big smile on his tongue, and he was relaxed and happy. Which is always our goal for the end of a lesson. If the eye isn't soft and the horse isn't happy, something's not right. It's our job to figure out what, and fix it next time.
