Achieving a “lope”
Morning all! Over the last few weeks of having Tank back in work I’ve been asked numerous times “how can I make my horse lope!?” … so I put this together yesterday for those wanting a little better understanding on the preparation involved… have a good week!
Working on a circle
Demonstrating how we work on a circle and basic aids used
Lateral work
Tank working on some laterals and leg yielding!
Murphy had her very first look at a float today., with the whole loading session taking approx 20 mins. Unfortunately, the sound didn't work on my recording, so I've had to do a voice over ... let me know which you prefer.
Show prep continues
Murphy had a quick refresher today, more work on her lungeline and then a small amount of work on encouraging a better shape to build strength and topline! See the full length video over on Patreon
A snippet of todays session Maccas Tray
Maccas Tray helps the horse to tune itself into your own body cues. It’s a great tool to have in your toolbox! The full length is over on Patreon, link at the top of the page.
Murphy being responsible for Murphy!
Murphy was a bit foot sore from a trim the day before, so I kept the work slow and easy for her in this session.
All she had to do was maintain some form of a 2 beat trot … I only corrected her by re applying trot cues when she falls back to a walk, this gives her a job to do and makes sure I’m not nagging!
The end result is she drops her trot back to a jog thinking she’s cheating me by putting in as little effort as I’ll allow slip by … but essentially this is what I’m actually wanting to achieve 😜
This was the end of the session, to see the full length process head over to Patreon.
First day of a new life for Frankie
Frankie is an approximately 10yo, 13.3hh Brumby gelding who has had limited and somewhat sporadic handling since being brought into captivity. I will track his journey this is the shorter version to see the full length session please go over to my Patreon account, it’s completely free and only takes a minute to join!
Quick overview
A quick little snippet of what’s going on over in my Patreon account… lots more detail in the full versions, it’s totally free so head on over!!
Training halter and leads
A short talk about my choice of training halter and leads. If you’d like to purchase a set please send me a message. Halters are expected to arrive in the first week of February
Meet Murphy
Follow along with Murphys handling from learning basic fundamentals to being show pen ready for yearling Lungline & in hand Trail classes. This is a short introduction, to see her first session working on desensitising head over to my Patreon account www.patreon.com/SoundStartHorseTraining
It’s free to join and I’ll be posting all my longer training videos there!
Eta: Sadly Herbie's training has been put on hold due to soundness issues. Hopefully his mum and her vets will be able to resolve the issues so he can continue on with his training at a later stage.
Day 3 & 4 with Herbie, we were really unlucky to get two days of consistent rain in between day 1 & 2 and days 3 & 4, however we will make up for that over the weekend while the sun is present!! I realise a lot of this is very repetitive, but this is where the "magic" happens and you set solid communication pathways as well as build trust ... there are times in the day 4 footage where Herbie wasn't quiet "with the program" and was a little worried .. if you don't watch carefully you miss the little cues he gives ... its all part of his journey.
Day 4 was first saddling and first time someone put their weight on him and it was all very text book! Herbie is being the perfect student so far ...
A new face arrived late last week and started his journey with me Monday.
Herbie is a 4yo Appaloosa cross Arab and will be with me for 6 weeks breaking. Below are his first two session, starting with “join up” and then progressing through the fundamentals.
At this early stage each exercise is simply planting an idea. Each day we start at the very beginning, repeat the exercises done the day before and then introduce a few new ones, then wash and repeat! It’s usually a minimum of three sessions before the horses first lessons really start to click, so we look for a little more improvement in each exercise as the horse grows a better understanding and gets more confident.
Below is the first few days. I’ll continue to record and upload Herbies progress every few days so those who are interested in the process can follow along. 😊
Ride 8 for Ava and she is just going from strength to strength. Some focus work today for her starting to create more of an arc, more softness, drive and rhythm!
A little update on Ava’s progress, today was ride 6 for her. Each ride she is getting more confident and comfortable with the tasks at hand. She’s gone from a unsure drunken sailor to now confidently moving forward in walk and trot. So early on, forward and softness is always the focus, as is building confidence by rewarding every try and shifting focus on unwanted behaviours. I don’t like letting my horses move hollowed out through the back for too long, I like to encourage a healthy, strength building shape as soon as possible! Ava really is running “ahead of schedule”, so today I planted the seed to see if she would lower and soften today to help her achieve a softer, less resistant forward … and as I suspected, she showed interest and we now have a little bit of growth in the right direction.
The canter will take a while to really establish so not a main focus right now, I just need to know she will step up when asked, the stronger she gets the better her canter will get 😊
I don’t think I’ve introduced Ava (Sheza Lazy Zip) here yet. She’s a just gone 3yo Paint Bred filly who is bred for Western Performance ie; pleasure, trail etc..
I started working with her probably 8 weeks ago, got her to the point of 3 rides in the round pen before the weather got really bad. So she has been out for 6 weeks being a lady of leisure! I brought her back in this week, first day we went through all the ground fundamentals (1st part of below footage), she came back like she hadn’t had a break! Day 2 we rehashed all the same stuff and added a few checks in the bosal before her first ever ride in the arena(second bit of video). We took it easy, she was a little lost for direction BUT she flowed my cues and did amazing!
The method works, even if you have to break it down more for yourself or the horse to keep it positive and moving forward.
I hope you enjoy the video 😊
Romeo is really starting to understand his job now, along with understanding comes confidence! Today we tackled the trotting poles and tarp under saddle. Romeo is very good at these two obstacles with me on the ground guiding him, but as you can see, was a little unsure of the tarp with me on board. With a little bit a calm guidance he overcame his worries… this little guy is making me really sit back and listen, making me take my time and it’s paying off.
Romeo will be looking for a new 🏠 in the next 4-6 weeks. If you are looking for a fancy dressage pony prospect that will also be your best mate, send me a pm. He won’t be suited as a kids pony, but will do extremely well as a small ladies competition horse, will need a kind, firm but fair hand.
