The day the arena became home to a circus...

March 11

Chickadee
Played a little with the ropes today, this time asking Chickadee to unwrap herself from the 12' line (my walking behind her bum to her other side - at her head - and applying pressure to the lead, asking her to "follow the feel" to do a 180 turnabout and face me). At first she was a little leery about the rope around her hind end yet but she quickly settled down and played the game on either side three times. Her driving, yo-yo, and porcupine games were alright (she tested me a bit by trying to walk off at the driving and porcupine games but all in all was good). I played a little of the switchback exercise with her (where I have her doing switchbacks back and forth in front of me at the trot) to establish a higher level of respect, and we did all our regular circling game expansions - the traveling circle at the trot (where I walk down the arena and she continues circling), spiraling in and out at the trot, directional changes, even some canter - all on the 22'! Her sideways game was great and we even did some squeeze game over the barrels! She was a little bit resistant at first but did not try so hard this time to come over top of me to evade the barrels (lol) - with a little encouragement she popped over the barrels nicely twice in either direction. Well done on her part!!

By the time we got to the patterns though, we had two riders come in separately but one after the other. The one man was leading a foal at his mare's side while the other rider, a barrel racer, was ponying another gelding of hers in the arena. The problem was that little barrel rider (not so little either, say in her 30's...and wearing spurs with a tie-down and huge-*** curb bit on her horse...) had no control of her own horse, never mind the one she was leading! The gelding she was leading got away twice on her (after putting up a fuss that definitely got Chicka's attention lol), and she seemed completely unable to catch him on her own horse, basically just following the horse around as he darted about the arena, trying to chase down the other rider's foal he was leading. At one point (when the barrel rider's gelding that she was leading was acting up), Chickadee threw in a few bucks during her circling game. By this point she was saddled so I was just circling her to tighten her cinch, but I was a little worried about riding a freshly started, green mare in an arena where one horse kept pulling away from his rider and wreaking havoc! That horse was intent and pretty disrespectful towards the other horses in the arena when he was loose...last thing I needed was to get hurt (or for my horse to be injured!).

Mounting up, Chicka was a little right-brained but she quickly re-focused after we did some patterns under-saddle (just working through the barrels and such). We did some walk and trot, working on transitions and small circles on the rail...little back-up and figure-8 patterns as well. She actually did very well and never once offered to buck. I was very impressed. This was her first time working with other horses under-saddle in the arena, and "strange" horses too, to boot! There was the odd time she wanted to visit but at those times I allowed her to stop (the first couple of times) so as to regroup and re-start out. Eventually though she was willingly trotting past the other horses. An awesome session, especially for it only being her second solid and official under-saddle session!

Chickadee (or Dee, as her owners call her), will be staying an extra month after some talk with the owners. She's making excellent progress but I feel that her owners would be more comfortable with some more miles under her cinch so that she does not return to them so green, considering they are relatively green themselves.

Link
Did well today, even completing the weave and figure-8 patterns on the 12' with a friend of mine, so great job with him as well! His knees, which he's been banging on the roundbale feeder and bruising nicely (as we finally surmised), were in great shape today too, which was fabulous to see.

Koolaid's "attack-of-the-vet"...and on balancing respect and trust

March 10

Chickadee
Not too much exciting today, except that I spent a nice while following Chicka around in -24 weather, freezing my *** off trying to catch her! Definitely an LBI and as an LBI we are lazy. No, we do not appreciate work in any way, shape or form, and we especially do not appreciate having to leave our buddies for said work! LBI's, or any LB so far actually, I find take longer to get to the point in a partnership with them where they want to hang out with you... though Chicka does have a fairly healthy level of "draw" overall. At first playing with you is a bit of a novelty, so they don't mind being caught, but as the novelty wears off (and since a firm solid partnership is not yet fully established, it's still in the works) they become harder and harder to catch, especially if you are playing a lot of "drive" exercises (such as where you drive the horse out and away from you, establishing respect, such as the switchbacks, driving game, circling game, etc)...until you firmly establish that partnership to the point where they want to work with you. So, we're in the mid-phase, haha.

I started off with the switchback game I've been using and also some driving game, as I really wanted to focus on earning her respect. She did well at all 7 games though and remained pretty focused, particularly since we started out with a bit of a bang with the respect games. Our patterns on the ground also went well; we worked on the 22' today with the circling game as well as the patterns and she did well at both. She actually ended up trotting the figure-8! She was a little leery about me being so assertive however she seemed to settle down in the end. Saddling and mounting she was great, and her 3-part maneuver was better than yesterday. We did several laps either direction at both the walk and the trot (still learning to stick to the rail and to move out responsibly, to stay at the pace I ask her to be at) as well as some small circles on the rail, some changes in direction, back-up, transitions, and figure-8's that encompassed most of the arena. Great progress so far; tomorrow I'd like to work even more on her impulsion and responsibility (ie. remaining at a particular pace) as well as clean up some of what we did today (ie. sticking to the rail, small circles, transitions, etc)...I'll also introduce her tomorrow to the cloverleaf pattern. Today we were a little short on time though, but tomorrow we should be all set! We ended on a good note with a calm and attentive partner (following me throughout the arena afterwards lol) so hopefully tomorrow we can start on a better note :)


Link
Wasn't such a sweetheart while Chickadee and I were out playing tag (or so I hear), but he was pretty calm and LB for the session when Chicka and I were there! He ended up even playing the figure-8 and weave and also remained calm for the circling game. Great job buddy :)


Koolaid
We finally took the little squirt in to the vet Monday. After 3 weeks of his leg wound not healing to my satisfaction, I figured it was time to take him in, hopefully just for some antibiotics. When we got there though the vet actually recommended a set of x-rays and an ultrasound, since the wound was so close to a joint (above the right knee), there was so much swelling, and also since his mobility was affected (on a lameness scale he only scored 2, but his flexibility in that limb was definitely compromised). We wanted to see what we were dealing with once and for all. Turns out the x-rays showed a bit of bone calcification in that area and also some arthritis, likely caused by the injury - so he obviously banged himself up pretty bad at the time of injury! Doc says worst case scenario we have to do surgery and clean everything out, including the infected bone calcification, but best case scenario the bone calcification is not infected (which is most likely) and the arthritis goes away as the injury heals. The ultrasound showed us a very thick-walled joint capsule (it holds synovial fluid) - abnormally so, but that the tendon was not inflamed. There was a lot of scar tissue to be seen and it looks like the outside of the tendon (from my understanding) has been scarred a bit however the interior is still healthy. The vet who looked at him thinks that he will always have some visible permanent scarring, but that, with regular physio, Koolaid should have full mobility with no recurring lameness, given time. At the clinic, Koolaid was unable to touch his toe to his elbow, which he should be able to, which greatly concerned the doc. They wrapped his leg, mostly to provide pressure to the wound, and instructed me to give him a daily dose of Excenel (antibiotic) and Bute (anti-inflammatory), as well as to do phsyio exercises with him. Today when I did the physio exercise with him, already he loosened up enough so that the toe would touch his elbow! So far so good then, we'll just have to keep it all up for now (bandaging for a week, antibiotics and bute for another 2 days, physio daily) and see how it goes.

Edited to add: Koolaid healed up just fine and was soon back to 100 percent!

On the subject of vets...I left to go check out the x-ray images with the vet and returned to find my horse had been doped up and a technician twisting his ear...I didn't say anything and instead just took the technician's place, but needless to say I wasn't all that pleased...Koolaid is naturally wary of strangers, but for good reason (obviously!). Whenever a vet or farrier comes around they first off never introduce themselves to him, instead just walking up to him to do what they need to - classic predator-style direct-line thinking. Meanwhile the horse is still trying to figure out who they are and if they should even be allowing this predator into their space in the first place! Koolaid certainly respects me and although he does give me (minor) trouble the odd time, ultimately I can always do what I need to or want to with him (without a fuss). Since I was not there this time, they tried to force him into doing what they wanted (which is only making their job tougher next time 'round) and ended up tranquing him a ton just to shave his leg over the wound! No wonder he doesn't trust strangers when they never take the time it takes (which really is only a minute or two and probably saves you time in the long run anyways!) to earn his trust and every time one touches him it's never for something nice, like a treat or a rub - rather it seems to result in twisted ears, rasps against his belly.....aaah. Ah well, I need to learn to speak up and also to find a clinic (and a farrier!) that practises natural horsemanship (or along that ideology)...which is very rare. For now I just have to settle for knowledgeable and good people skills.

-28C for Chicka's first official under-saddle session...yay...

March 9

-28C tonight...yay!! Or not. Haha. Here I was, bundled up to the nines in jeans, ski pants, scarf, t-shirt, sweatshirt, winter coat, tuque....and I was still freezing my butt off!! But back to Chickadee...definitely recognising the LBI as the RB tendencies wear off!

First thing I wanted to focus on earning her respect, so after a minute or two of friendly with the carrot stick, I had her doing quick, clean switchbacks back and forth in front of me as I walked from one end of the arena to the other. Her porcupine and driving games were great, save for the few "tests" she threw in my direction here and there (ie. she'd ignore my aids and start walking off) lol but overall she did well with all her games. We played a little touch-it with all the "scary" areas in the arena that involved patches of snow along the walls/fences/etc as well as the squeeze game in said areas - she did very well, being curious and mostly left-brained. For our circling game we did, for the first time in awhile, all our expansions - spiraling in and out at the trot, the traveling circle (I walk from one end of the arena to the other as she continues circling at the trot), and changes in direction, all on the 12' lead. Our sideways game was fantastic today with multiple steps in either direction (twice each side). After earning Chickadee's focus, we also played around with some ropes!! I tossed the 45' over her rump; first time she shot off and cantered small circles around me (she actually did not even pull on the say 8' of the 12' line I had given her throughout) but after a few moments she returned to LB to the point where, a few minutes later, I was tossing that rope and tightening it all over her rump, even tossing it back and forth from behind (the rope tightened around her hindquarters) like a skipping rope. To play the friendly with the other side actually was a lot faster and went a lot easier for us. Our figure-8 and weave patterns were great, so I threw Chicka on the 22' lead; while we didn't go to the full extent of the line, I did give her quite a bit extra lead and she did well on the pattern (at the walk). She isn't up to doing it at the trot yet, I think I need to earn a higher level of respect from her yet so that she has the impulsion to trot when I ask - right now she basically just ignores my cue for the trot. We did a little circling at the trot and canter as well and she did very well, hiding her hindquarters and thus disengaging nicely when I focused in on the hind and tossed the savvy string in the direction of her rump.

I felt she was pretty focused in on me at the time so we did some under-saddle work. She was great to saddle, standing quietly as I saddled her with the rope looped loosely over my arm. She also let me up by standing quietly and we did, twice each side, our three-part maneuver of bend-to-a-stop, disengage the hind, and turn on the hind (ie. move the forehand around). She was fairly light and responsive. Same as on the ground, Chicky's impulsion is not so great yet, but we did walk several laps in either direction and we also did a total of a good lap in either direction at the trot. It took a bit of work though! Probably Wednesday or Thursday we'll play some more impulsion exercises under-saddle (such as going from one point in the arena to another and obtaining snappy transitions), but today was just allowing her to learn how to move with the added weight and to learn what being under-saddle was all about! Overall though she did very well, no spooks or anything and her focus was pretty good. We also did some back-up (pretty light) and a number of changes in direction and full small circles (as if we were to change direction but instead finished the circle, so very small circles at the walk). We did the weave and figure-8 patterns (with cones and barrels)...she was great going to the left (ie. on the right-hand side of the barrel headed left) but was quite resistant to going right around the barrels and cones (ie. barrels and cones on the inside, to the right). By the end she was lighter but we still have some work to do, particularly in the area of respect.

A great session though and a fabulous start to our week...hopefully tomorrow's session goes just as well! Though apparently, as I write this (actually March 11...), it is -24 or something outside. Oh yay. Sense the enthusiasm...or lack thereof...lol.

The yellow RBI becomes an LBI

Sunday March 1

Quick session with the little Chickadee girl today while someone else worked with Link in the arena. Initially too another rider was also in the arena (our friend the big blue roan draft mare), though they left shortly after our 7 Games. Our Friendly was great until I tried to "wrap" her in rope: it's one of my exercises where I'll walk around to the opposite side of a horse, walking around past her hind end to the other side, thus "wrapping" the horse. I'll apply pressure and ask the horse to "follow the feel" of the rope, to follow the pressure and release - as they follow the feel the horse turns a circle away from me to end up facing me once more. My more advanced horses, I can safely wrap up in a few loops and they'll turn a few circles as they follow the feel. The less experienced horses though I only wrap once (and not fully even), that way if they spook they're free easily and without any safety hazards. I use it because I find it's another tool that teaches my horses to think for themselves, to think through things and solve puzzles. I really notice a difference, for example: when they learn to think things through and say step on a leadrope - rather than exploding, they think through the situation and solve the puzzle. This follows later then into situations such as being caught in the fence.

Anyways, back to the story (lol). Well as I walked around Chickadee with the rope and she felt that rope brush her hind, BOOM she exploded! SO, we've got something to work on next session! She was pretty leery about my foot brushing her bum when I hopped up into the saddle the one time too, so playing some Friendly game with her hind will definitely help in all those areas. Normally though she's been pretty good about some things around her hind, but I think fully desensitizing her in that area - with ropes - will make a huge difference to her trust in my leadership and such. We did a bit this session, but I feel there's a lot more to do in that area. So the plan is to use my 45' rope to play with her...I think if she becomes comfortable with the ropes (she is already with the tarps on her hind, for the most part), that it will be a huge step for us. Porcupine was good, as was her Circling game (did some extensions, change in direction and spiralling), Driving game, Yo-Yo, and Sideways. We did a couple of minutes of Figure-8 (which she did well) but it was about this time that the other rider and horse (and their respective spectators) left, so little ms. sunshine started calling out to her buddies. For the life of me I just couldn't keep her attention on me! Half the time, though she was doing everything correctly for the most part, she'd be looking away and be calling out - aaah frustrating! I wasn't sure how she'd do but I decided to play the Squeeze game with her over some barrels (ie. have her jump the barrels). At first it actually turned into a game of Touch It, because she wasn't having any part of those barrels in a new position (ie. lying down)!! Haha. After a few moments though she got braver and started putting her nose on them. However this was when her herdboundness really started to kick in and she started ignoring me to call out to her buddies outside the arena. I couldn't seem to catch her attention enough to send her over the barrels so we started playing some improvised Circling game - rather than allowing her to circle around behind me, I had her change direction from left to right so that she remained in front of me. The constant changes in direction (and me really upping the assertiveness so as to get that snappy change in direction) forced her to really focus on me rather than things "outside" our little circle. Within a few minutes she was huffing and puffing and really zoned in - all ears on me lol. She tested me a few times doing the Squeeze game to the right (clockwise), trying to run me over to avoid going over the barrels, but she did pretty well, advancing her Touch It to the point where she hopped over the barrels (from a standstill) in either direction. Once we'd finished she was a very calm and focused partner, which was fabulous! She even stood quietly while I worked with Link for a couple of minutes ;)

SO what I learned today (haha always something new every session with my horses!):
Our first number of sessions I was very quiet with Chickadee so as to earn her trust, especially considering her horsenality as a RBI...RB's you really have to focus on earning their trust in your leadership, whereas LB's you really have to focus on earning their respect. BUT. You also have to balance both trust and respect in a healthy partnership. This includes balancing trust and respect in say a LB with RB tendencies, where at times you're really working on earning the trust and at other times you're really focusing on earning the respect, so as to balance each out. So while I was still earning Chickadee's respect with the 7 games in previous sessions, I didn't quite have it 100 percent, which was why she at times walks through my Porcupine game - lack of respect. Also, I find I have to be quite assertive at times even with the Driving game - at times she'll try to ignore my asking her to move around, just a very small "rebelliousness", but a bit of a manifestation of her lack of respect nonetheless. It's also why I was getting attitude on my Circling game with her at times... So back to the point. While still continuing to earn her trust (via Friendly game and various obstacles and such), I feel I really can, and need to be, more assertive with her in future sessions so as to ensure we balance out the respect with the trust. Not that we do not still need to work on her trust in my leadership, but (to an extent), I've got her trust and now need to earn a higher level of respect. You know what, she might be an LBI as I had originally thought, just with right-brain tendencies...we'll see! There are other signs of LB-ness too, come to think of it. Anyways, just thought it was interesting and I am enjoying learning all these new things!! On another note, working on expanding Chickadee's curiosity in things (using Touch It and such) is really paying off, for example: after all our games I took her around the far end of the arena. We have rarely worked on that end and so I wanted to play a little Touch It and Friendly game with her - rather than running around skittishly and refusing to explore things, she actually went up to things on her own! She watched me and took her cues from my body language (one ear on me at all times) while checking everything out. She was ready to spring off, but she didn't and instead was exploratory. A great session and actually a lot of progress!!

The little yellow girl gets about a week off before I return Sunday night. Our next session will be Monday - we'll get in a session each day of the 6 days I have off. I think the key for me to remember will be to be assertive with her and to really gain her focus before getting on her back - if she's unfocused, to get off and get that focus back.