Day eleven
18 February 2009 03:34![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronToday we rode more horses and it was cold.
For the morning session, we got set with our horses ( I was riding a little palomino who I've not sat on before ) and did a bit of work getting them used to the roping dummies who were still up in the school from Friday's adventures. My horse did alright but Fred, who was riding Daisy the little Apaloosa, had real problems approaching the dummy. Martin pointed out that although Fred was thinking in the right way by trying to keep the horse's attention on the object that was bothering her, he was being way too restrictive on her movement- every time she started to go left or right Fred was stopping her to keep her facing the scary object. Pretty soon she was backing straight away from it. Martin pointed out that you can't direct life that you don't have ( "life" in this context meaning movement from the horse ) and that by pulling on her mouth every time she tried to offer forward movement Fred was teaching her not to go forward. By allowing her to move left or right and get her feet moving they started to get bits of forward that could then start to be directed in the right general direction. Before long they were touching the dummy. We talked over this later during dinner and it became clear that almost any horse that does not want to go forward has had this experience- they offered something, but not the exact thing the human was looking for and got corrected for it. In an anxious situation a horse can feel very constrained by the rein, so that is another reason not to use it more than strictly necessary.
After that we went outside to the pasture where we did a bit of work moving the cattle around, driving them through a couple of gaps between gate sections that Martin had set up there. Some horses, mine included, hadn't really seen cows before, so we had to do a little bit to get the horses accustomed to them, but pretty quickly everyone ( but Kay's haflinger ) was quite happy to approach them and push them around. My horse I think had cattle in his genes because he very quickly cottoned on. A smart little guy and fun to ride.
We also worked on getting the front feet turning without the hind feet. To start with this involves sitting right back on your hip pocket on the opposite hind foot to the front foot you want to move, tipping the horse's nose and being ready to close the rein a little if they start trying to go forward. I found that when I got the weight right ( which certainly wasn't always ) it was a really nice smooth movement.
We went out for an early lunch with Jack Brainard ( probably not a familiar name to my friends at home but something of a legend over here ) and a few of his students, talked about halter showing and listened while Jack and Martin discussed the history of the west coast cowboys. Apparently part of the initial difference between the California cowboys and the Texas ones derived from the fact that the mexican army was posted in the east, so the riders who came north into Texas were more military in training, whereas those in the west were not. That and the later Spanish land grants in California created the initial division between the two traditions, the Californio one later travelling north into the Great Basin as the cattle ranches moved that way following changes in the law on open ranges in California. Or that was what I could follow of it anyway...
After lunch I was riding Maji, another of the palomino "pleasure" horses and mostly working on trying to get him to do anything other than gravitate to his buddies in the arena. The task was to make an accurate circle and maybe we got some of those, assuming that eggs are circular from side on, but mainly I was just trying to work around his need for his herdmates and trying to get his mind a little with me.
Last up I was riding Duncan the little dun, who was also tending to gravitate to his friends but a little more willing to go forward away from them - we worked a lot on straightness because he was wanting to wobble around and not go in anything more than the general direction I asked him to. Rather than restrict him too much I just asked him to go faster, which helped us get straighter too. At one point a hay truck went past and we had a couple of horses spook, one of them ( the little bald faced horse I was riding the other day ) had a real panic and ended up throwing his rider off, which was unlucky. Martin later observed that probably Pierre ( the rider ) pulling on the rein had worsened the bucking- the horse had been afraid anyway and then got his mouth pulled on which scared him more and prompted the bucking. "If you have more than three bucks you may as well hold on to your saddle horn and drop the rein."
For the morning session, we got set with our horses ( I was riding a little palomino who I've not sat on before ) and did a bit of work getting them used to the roping dummies who were still up in the school from Friday's adventures. My horse did alright but Fred, who was riding Daisy the little Apaloosa, had real problems approaching the dummy. Martin pointed out that although Fred was thinking in the right way by trying to keep the horse's attention on the object that was bothering her, he was being way too restrictive on her movement- every time she started to go left or right Fred was stopping her to keep her facing the scary object. Pretty soon she was backing straight away from it. Martin pointed out that you can't direct life that you don't have ( "life" in this context meaning movement from the horse ) and that by pulling on her mouth every time she tried to offer forward movement Fred was teaching her not to go forward. By allowing her to move left or right and get her feet moving they started to get bits of forward that could then start to be directed in the right general direction. Before long they were touching the dummy. We talked over this later during dinner and it became clear that almost any horse that does not want to go forward has had this experience- they offered something, but not the exact thing the human was looking for and got corrected for it. In an anxious situation a horse can feel very constrained by the rein, so that is another reason not to use it more than strictly necessary.
After that we went outside to the pasture where we did a bit of work moving the cattle around, driving them through a couple of gaps between gate sections that Martin had set up there. Some horses, mine included, hadn't really seen cows before, so we had to do a little bit to get the horses accustomed to them, but pretty quickly everyone ( but Kay's haflinger ) was quite happy to approach them and push them around. My horse I think had cattle in his genes because he very quickly cottoned on. A smart little guy and fun to ride.
We also worked on getting the front feet turning without the hind feet. To start with this involves sitting right back on your hip pocket on the opposite hind foot to the front foot you want to move, tipping the horse's nose and being ready to close the rein a little if they start trying to go forward. I found that when I got the weight right ( which certainly wasn't always ) it was a really nice smooth movement.
We went out for an early lunch with Jack Brainard ( probably not a familiar name to my friends at home but something of a legend over here ) and a few of his students, talked about halter showing and listened while Jack and Martin discussed the history of the west coast cowboys. Apparently part of the initial difference between the California cowboys and the Texas ones derived from the fact that the mexican army was posted in the east, so the riders who came north into Texas were more military in training, whereas those in the west were not. That and the later Spanish land grants in California created the initial division between the two traditions, the Californio one later travelling north into the Great Basin as the cattle ranches moved that way following changes in the law on open ranges in California. Or that was what I could follow of it anyway...
After lunch I was riding Maji, another of the palomino "pleasure" horses and mostly working on trying to get him to do anything other than gravitate to his buddies in the arena. The task was to make an accurate circle and maybe we got some of those, assuming that eggs are circular from side on, but mainly I was just trying to work around his need for his herdmates and trying to get his mind a little with me.
Last up I was riding Duncan the little dun, who was also tending to gravitate to his friends but a little more willing to go forward away from them - we worked a lot on straightness because he was wanting to wobble around and not go in anything more than the general direction I asked him to. Rather than restrict him too much I just asked him to go faster, which helped us get straighter too. At one point a hay truck went past and we had a couple of horses spook, one of them ( the little bald faced horse I was riding the other day ) had a real panic and ended up throwing his rider off, which was unlucky. Martin later observed that probably Pierre ( the rider ) pulling on the rein had worsened the bucking- the horse had been afraid anyway and then got his mouth pulled on which scared him more and prompted the bucking. "If you have more than three bucks you may as well hold on to your saddle horn and drop the rein."
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no subject
Date: 17 Feb 2009 10:27 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Feb 2009 13:42 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Feb 2009 15:46 (UTC)And hmm...I agree that making the horse more claustrophobic when he is already frightened worsens a situation...but drop the reins completely? I think I'll go for lots of slack...;)
no subject
Date: 17 Feb 2009 19:16 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Feb 2009 22:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Feb 2009 12:18 (UTC)Did the lady with the haffie ever get her to approach the cows, or did she (the pony) throw her toys out of the pram and flatly refuse?
no subject
Date: 20 Feb 2009 03:32 (UTC)