Ruby and I are now at EQUITANA Melbourne !
If you are visiting this year, come say hi! You can find us at the Breed Village 🐴
***SOLD***
Beautiful Daisy is still looking for her new 🏡
*Listed on behalf of a client*
Daisy has just completed 2 weeks of training with me and has proven to be a very clever girl and a fast learner. She will only continue to flourish with the right person by her side.
Video of Daisy available here:
https://youtu.be/-iyfmh96ftg?si=0k3KjRiH3p3xEDoy
Daisy is a gorgeous mare who was trained in English style (not trained by myself). She has potential in sporting, has a rocking horse canter and makes a lovely trail horse. She is fun to ride, with 3 nice paces however can be a bit forward, so needs good communication with her rider. However with correct riding she stays well focussed and is easy to do everything with.
She is a 14yo, 15.2hh solid Tb flea-bitten grey mare with gorgeous looks and a lovely temperament.
Daisy is fun to ride on the trails, I have ridden her alone on several trails and she has been on beach and road rides and she was very well behaved. She was previously ridden for pleasure and low level dressage and jumping.
She does not buck, bolt or spook but can be forward so needs someone with good 'feel', so she is not suitable for beginners.
Daisy would excel at dressage with further education, or suit low level eventing or trail riding, and would make a great all rounder for a capable intermediate or experienced rider.
She currently has some seedy toe which is growing out well and will continue to do so with adequate hoof care.
Aside from the past 2 weeks of training and a handful of trail rides over the past couple of months, Daisy has just been spelling with my horses, so is ready to find her new home.
Price dropped on behalf of her owner due to current market
$2🥕🥕🥕
If you are interested in Daisy, please PM me with some info about yourself, your experience and what you're looking for so I can give you an idea on whether you would suit one another.
I have grown fond of this lovely mare and so am offering 2 free on-property le
"You can never rely on a horse that is educated by fear. There will always be something that he fears more than you. But, when he trusts you, he will ask you what to do when he is afraid."
- Antoine De Pluvinel
It doesn't matter how long it takes at the start to build trust and connection, because once it is there, everything else is easier. If trust, safety and connection, above all else, are the consistent and solid foundations, you have earned the right to offer guidance.
Ruby's first time seeing steps, and she followed me straight down ❤️
CopRice
Australian Brumby Challenge
Today marks 2 weeks into my journey with VBA Ruby for the Australian Brumby Challenge.
It's easy, from the outside looking in, to think that Ruby has readily accepted each new task, was accepting of me approaching or touching her or is just naturally quite fearless, but in reality, this is not the case. It has taken careful tact every step of the way to ensure that the negative behaviours and reactions possible for an unhandled horse never have any need to surface.
I think it's expected to see a wild horse tearing around the round yard, bucking and kicking and fearful. But instead of letting her reach the point of such big reactions that would happen beyond her threshold, I need to make sure I am acutely aware of the tiny signs and signals that she is giving me. The tightening of a muscle, the change of her breath, the look in her eye, the twitch of an ear, a shift in weight..
If we notice these very early forms of communication, we will know when to stop, when to back off, when to change what we are asking or break it down even further. Always removing pressure, never applying it during this trust-building stage.
This is the key to connection- listening to what she's saying, acknowledging immediately and responding in a way that lets her know she's safe with me. That I will consistently have her back.
After building trust and connection at liberty, Ruby and I had been working on the halter for several days, rewarding each correct attempt on her behalf, and I not applying any pressure. Only when I knew she was ready for the next tiny step would I increase the criteria for reinforcement.
I didn't try to touch her, all I wanted from her was to join me in solving the puzzle that is self-haltering.
Self-haltering is a method using R+ I devised and began using a few years ago with unhandled rescue colt, Topaz. It worked so well on building trust and connection between us, that I now use it with all unhandled, shut down or hard-to-catch horses.
Positive Reinforcem
Freedom and joy are always the goal. The magic will appear on its own 🖤🤍
Thank you to #scootboots for Dream Catcher's new kicks 👟
What seems like a complicated behaviour is just a combination of other easier behaviours that have been joined together and established under a new cue.
The following is how I taught Phantom "sidepass toward".
First, we established positive reinforcement and created a solid conditioned reinforcer. This gives us a language, where I can tell him exactly the moment he performs the desired behaviour.
Next, we established movement at liberty - walk, stop, turn and back up. All with no pressure, just rewarding each tiny step to each new behaviour until the cues were well understood. This creates connection and deeper understanding between us and teaches him to understand my body language, as well as I learning to understand his.
Then I reinforced movement of the hindquarters towards, and then clockwise movement towards, while his forequarters stayed in place.
A new cue was introduced to flex his head to the right, to make it easier to shape behaviours and change his direction/ focus for movements from his front end.
So the combination of behaviours "hindquarters towards", " forequarters towards" and "focus/ flexion right", creates the behaviour of sidepass towards. A new cue was connected to this behaviour, and the movement was reinforced repeatedly and shaped into what you see here.
Each one of these steps was broken down into tiny, achievable mico-steps, reinforcing each correct behaviour, setting him up to succeed each tiny step, and if any confusion was presented, going back to his comfort zone and breaking things down even further when necessary.
Once you have a good foundational understanding of the training concepts, both within your horse and within yourself, you will be able to break down any goal and piece movements, thoughts and actions together to create any behaviour you desire.
When I was a young girl, I used to take my Arab mare Roxy to the sand round yard, take off her halter and run with her from one side of the arena to the other. Once we reached one side, I would look at her, she would look at me, and we would tear off together to the other side. High energy, hearts connected.
We would play at liberty, long before I ever knew that Liberty was a form of horse work, or of all of the possibilities that lie within.
Now, nearly 20 years later, I always connect with new horses in training, through Liberty. Whether high or low energy, unhandled or extensively trained, developing a relationship through groundwork at liberty is always hugely beneficial.
Dream Catcher has only recently begun his Liberty journey, but he loves to dance with me and share this pure joy ✨
Foundations Of Bridleless Training (Part 4):
(Begin by reading Part 1 below)
G
Now, at last, we have reached the ground floor.
It might be enticing to begin here, but look at all of those foundations we built beneath us! The below ground floors are the key to success. Without them, those elevator cables could snap at any moment (presenting as confusion which will stifle progress or cause distrust through misunderstanding).
It might take a week to reach the ground floor, it might take a year. It depends on every single horse and human as an individual, and it can not be rushed.
The ground floor can have many different appearances, depending on the horse's prior education, but regardless of that, every horse on the ground floor is ready to begin, thanks to our work underground.
There are many different methods and cues that can all be successful, but for the purpose of this post, I will explain the goals without the method. I personally use positive reinforcement training methods which work incredibly well for bridleless training, alongside previously established cues if the horse knows those already (eg. light pressure on the right rein, the horse flexes right) which will be phased out and replaced with the new cues (eg. You touch the left side of the neck, the horse flexes right, or you move the neck rope right, the horse flexes right).
Note that if you use positive reinforcement methods, R+ MUST be established with your horse beforehand. You can not establish this while teaching a horse to ride bridleless as it's too big a step. Remember, breaking things down into tiny steps is one of the most important keys to successful training.
Just as I would when starting a horse undersaddle, I begin by having the horse be able to stand relaxed, then to stand relaxed while being mounted, stand relaxed while being asked nothing for longer and longer durations of time, and stand relaxed while being dismounted. These are end results to many tiny steps to reach each goal.
Bridleless training: Flexion
Teaching a horse to ride bridleless follows the same concept as training any other behaviour. The aim is to give a que (ask a question), and the horse understand that cue and offer a behaviour in response (give an answer).
Simply, communication.
There are many different methods of training that can reach the same goal, and many different cues that can be established. The main thing is that the horseman is clear and concise each step of the way, and the horse is able to communicate whether or not he understands, without fear of punishment.
This is Dream Catcher, the newest permanent member of the Free Rein herd.
After 2 weeks of connection-based training, liberty groundwork and then a week of re-introduction to riding from the ground up (Dream Catcher was previously started undersaddle, and has been mostly spelling for the past 5 years), he has now begun bridleless training. Today was his second bridleless lesson- beginning to understand how to respond to the cue for flexion using a neck rope. This video shows what he learned by the end of this short lesson.
Like this post and let me know in the comments if you are interested in an explanation on the foundations of bridleless training, and if people are interested I will make another post 🐴
The best way to get to the pub for lunch 🐴
