Guess what I did today...my horsey adventures
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Another good day with Opal.
Last week, I thought I'd try something different. In all of my previous lessons, I'd follow what my instructor told me to do.
"OK, walk around the arena, and once you've done it a couple of times, change direction and walk around the arena another couple of times."
I found that boring, and I have little doubt that Opal found it boring as well, so, last week, just to mess with Opal's head, I decided I'd do things differently. After all, there's no reason why, during our "warm-up" I can't ask her to get interested in me, pay attention to me, etc. So, I decided to "mess with her head." Once we had gone about half way around, I asked her to walk down the center of the arena.
"Whoa, nobody asks me to do that! Who the hell are you?"
"I'm George, and I'm going to ask you to pay attention to me today, rather than zoning out and phoning it in..."
"Well, then..."
As I mentioned, I had a good lesson last week, so today, I pushed her buttons even more.
During our warm-up, we did all kinds of crazy things, like backing up (do you have any idea how difficult it can be to ask a horse to back up?). I asked her to go across the arena. I asked her to make circles, I asked her to do all the weirdo stuff that I've never done before during warming up.
So, once I had the feel that she was good and ready, I asked her to back up, and then, from there, "C'mon, girl! Gimme a trot!"
And she did.
Link to videoSome horses put their weight on their front quarter, and getting them to move into a trot can be difficult. By asking them to back up, you ask them to shift their weight back, making it easier to move forward.
Just by asking her to pay attention to me, I was able to convey what I was asking her to do, and there was no reason to use a crop today - at all.
She was soft, compliant, and attentive to me.
Then, toward the end of my lesson, we did some more stuff. As I said earlier, I'm nowhere near where @jodi is, and I never will be, but I asked her to move sideways at the walk, keeping her body parallel to the rail while moving sideways. This requires her to almost cross her rear legs while "sliding" to the side. Having accomplished that a couple of times, I asked her to turn 90 degrees from a stand. Again, this is an exercise that "loosens" the horse, and gets it to understand what you're asking. Think about it - if you put your leg on the horse, the horse will naturally respond to that pressure and move away from it. But, in this exercise, you don't want it to move forward at the same time, so it's a conversation between leg and rein. The leg says "move," while the rein says, "yeah, but not forward. Swing your horse's ass around.
Link to videoA very good day today.
At the end, my instructor said, "Excellent."
I'm good for the week!
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Well, I'm glad y'all had a fun day. I said y'all, because I'm guessing it was a fun day for the horse, too.
Do they ever do anything like trail rides, etc?
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@Jolly said in Guess what I did today...:
Do they ever do anything like trail rides, etc?
Nope. Some of the boarders might take their horses off the property, though I doubt it. Besides, there aren't any trails in the area.
Also, getting a trail ride business going is a big deal. You have to have a number of reliable, steady horses who know the drill, regardless of who's on their back. You have to have a few guides, because it would foolhardy to let a bunch of idiots out without supervision. Then there's the legal bs, not to mention liability (It's Illinois, you know).
This barn is almost 100% English riding, and beginners would be hard-pressed to ride in an English saddle (no horn for them to hold onto). So, the expense of buying Western tack would be sky high. Used saddles go for $300 and up; bridles, bits, etc can easily double that cost.
The last time I did a trail ride was in 2019, in Denver. There were around 10 of us, and the guide was explicit that on this 90 minute ride, we are going to do nothing but walk. "If I see you trot or lope (canter), I'll pony you up for the rest of the ride."
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Always interesting, George! I always thought horses that were well-behaved and seemed to sense what to do, were simply horses with high horse IQ.
Does a horse ever get mad, or have a bad day? Is your horse glad to see you, or is it like "damn, this guy is going to push me around, and I hate that..."
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@Rainman said in Guess what I did today...:
Always interesting, George! I always thought horses that were well-behaved and seemed to sense what to do, were simply horses with high horse IQ.
Horses need to be trained. The biggest thing in training is to gain their trust. Being prey animals, they have an instinctive fear of anything on their backs (like a cougar), and they had an instinctive need to be in a herd (safety). Getting a horse to trust you is a huge endeavor, and can take a long time. Usually it's done in an environment where the horse realizes there's no "getting away" from a human. Being herd animals, the horse begins to understand that being near the human is a source of comfort. From there, one progresses to getting the horse to accept a halter on its face. Then, one teaches the horse that something on its back, like a saddle-pad, will NOT eat it.
It's all about trust, patience, and never EVER fighting with the horse.
Does a horse ever get mad, or have a bad day? Is your horse glad to see you, or is it like "damn, this guy is going to push me around, and I hate that..."
I'm not sure if they actually get mad, per se, but they can have a bad day. If something's hurting, or if something is just not right, they can object, usually by refusing what you're asking.
The process of training is to ask the horse to do something by applying the least amount of "pressure" possible to get it to comply. So, if you're sitting on a horse, and you want it to move forward, the first thing is to increase your "energy". Usually you'll tighten your butt muscles, and the horse might pick up on that and realize that something's new.
"Hmm, I'm standing, and now there's a new sensation. Maybe if I walk, it'll go away."
If the horse walks, you're done. You can release the stimulus. If not, you up the stimulus. A squeeze of your thigh or lower leg will up the ante. If no response, perhaps a quick kick (only one). If that doesn't work, a tap of the crop on the shoulder will.
The same thing applies for just about anything. If you're standing near a horse, and you want it to move it's butt away from you, you push on its ass. If it moves, you're done; if not, continue pushing, perhaps harder. Once the horse lets you know that it'll comply, release the pressure.
That's the basis of it, and there's more, a LOT more, involved, obviously. The dialog that you have with the horse using your leg, butt, and reins all come into play. A horse will sense your shift of weight and turn with you doing nothing other than looking where you want to go.
Link to videoIn this brief video, you see that I'm not using the reins on Opal at all, simply turning my head to my left, and she follows my lead and walks to the left. You might notice, as well, that I'm resting the right rein on the right side of her neck, and she turns to move away from that pressure. This is called "neck-reining," which is used in Western riding. A vaquero (cowboy) needed to have the reins in one hand and a riata (lariat) in the other to rope cattle. Using two hands for reins was impossible. We think Opal had some Western training.
It becomes pretty remarkable, really.
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
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@Mik said in Guess what I did today...my horsey adventures:
I love the joy you get from these Sundays.
Yeah, indeed. It's good for the head, too.
Mrs. George has a "church thing" next Sunday afternoon, and with only 1 car, I can't make it out to the barn for a 12:30.
Still thinking about how I can finagle a ride out there (Uber?) and back (perhaps lean on one of the kids...).
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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(Just indulge me, okay?)
Having spent some time trotting around the arena, making small circles (difficult for a horse to do at the trot if they're older), we changed pace and did some exercises involving moving one part of the horse vs another.
You can see Opal cross her front legs and her hind legs, effectively "crabbing" to the side as she walks. She was really good for me.
Then we did some turns, while not moving - just spin yourself around 90 degrees, please.
Link to videoFun.
And, yeah, you guys are going to have to put up with me regarding this for a while.
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Another day on Opal.
I took advantage of my instructors "laissez-faire" attitude from last week. Once I mounted Opal, we warmed up with one round around the arena at the walk. Having gotten the "stiffness" out, we started doing some less boring stuff - cutting across the arena, making an unexpected turn for a circle.
All of this was to simply let her know that we were going to be working this afternoon, and she needed to start paying attention to my requests. It's so easy for a horse to "zone-out" and just start doing what they've been doing all along without active interaction with the rider.
After about 7-8 minutes, just as I was thinking it, Janet said, "OK, ask her to trot." I had to laugh because I was thinking just before she told me, and I was beginning to ask her for the trot.
She was really good. Getting her to trot was almost no effort at all today. I say "almost," because I did have to encourage her with a couple of gentle kicks with my leg. Of course, once she responded, I stopped. I did not need to use a crop at all today.
Interestingly, I found her to be really inconsistent with speed. At times, her trot was so fast that I had to post it; and at other times, sitting it was no problem at all. This seemed to be more of an issue going clockwise than in the other direction.
All horses are "one-sided," but Opal seems to be REALLY one-sided, preferring to go counter-clockwise. She's much more consistent in speed and staying straight in that direction.
We didn't do much in terms of turns on the forehand, etc today. Just basic stuff.
All in all, not the best day today, but far, far, from the worst. We didn't struggle, and we connected.
Our connection seems to get better every time I ride.
I wish I could have gone for another 30 minutes. Half an hour, once a week, is not nearly enough. With Simon, it was an hour and a half thrice a week (granted, 30 minutes of that was grooming, etc). Still, all that time builds a bond, which I miss.
No. No video from today - you can thank me later.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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All horses are "one-sided," but Opal seems to be REALLY one-sided, preferring to go counter-clockwise. She's much more consistent in speed and staying straight in that direction.
I used to do plenty of figure eights with my horses for that very reason.
“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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@Renauda said in Guess what I did today...my horsey adventures:
I used to do plenty of figure eights with my horses for that very reason.
What size?
Opal is a large girl - about 16.2 - and at the trot she always slows down at the corners, or when I ask her to turn.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Good question. Certainly close to width of the arena to start then slowly and progressively smaller until the horse would start having issues with lead changes. The mare was a little too hot to do small 8s consistently without losing her leads - or on occasion, her brain. The gelding cow horse though was much quieter and athletic so hard workouts and stock horse training was much easier.
Both horses were not much more than 14 hands.
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A good day yesterday. Opal was "in a mood" last week, and not particularly cooperative. Just didn't want to get going, and preferred to just walk around the arena. So, we didn't push, and just did some slow work.
Yesterday, however, was better. It was brisk out (in the 30s) and the arena was on the chilly side. When it's brisk, horses get "frisky" and Opal was much more energetic than last week.
As I mentioned, horses tend to be "crooked" and they prefer going to one side in a turn rather than another. @Renauda said he used to do figure-8s to get his horses to "bend" and loosen up. Opal definitely prefers going to the right around turns. At a faster pace, she will slow down going into a left-hand turn while, going to the right, she'll keep up the speed.
So, yesterday, as part of an exercise, we decided to to some serpentines at the trot. Basically, it means going across the arena and then turning and going back and forth. Her trot was slow enough that I could easily sit it through the turns. Her friskiness on the straights made sitting impossible and I had to post the trot.
Link to video -
