Took Whimzy out for a trail walk away from all her buddies and away from her home. She didn't bat an eye at this, so next time, I'll get on and ride. Small steps.
This is such a huge moment for me. Whimzy is the first horse I've raised from a baby. She was born on our property, and every bit of her training has been through me. Whimzy has always been spectacular and easy to work with, so I can only take partial credit, but the fact that I can safely and confidently put my daughter on her who is a somewhat novice rider makes me feel like pur partnership is paying off in spades.
No big deal just catering Whimzy for the first time. Next step, will be the trails and hopefully some clinica! 🤩 she did so well.
I hope you all had the best thanksgiving weekend!
Not this past weekend but the one before I spent my time at C Double Stables and Man I had the best time. I think EVERYONE should have some one who can coach and mentor them from the ground! I am an imperfect person which of course makes me an imperfect rider and trainer.
When I got my first horse the guy that I got him from spent some time showing me what he had taught the horse so I could be better prepared. I learned so much from this guy and one of the things he said was take the time to learn any where. Watch other people, watch horses watch YouTube, go to clinic just always be present and try to learn something. Even if you see something you don't like at least you know you don't like it. This is one piece of advice I have carried with me close to my heart not just for horses but everywhere. Always be humble enough to learn something new. I am beyond blessed to have C Double Stables who never cease to have something new to teach me. What a great clinic I highly HIGHLY recommend them for anything and everything, horse training, riding lessons and so on.
I love the sound of horses eating. I love watching them. It's so peaceful.
Part 3 k last one for today. See how Sting changed his mind? He was going to hit the fence and bother my camera woman but instead he said.... Nah that isn't usually the right answer I'm going to try something else and walks away instead. LOOK at those wheels turning!
Part 2 this is the beginning of the session that I posted earlier. See how he wants to hang out in the area where my camera woman is? He kinda wants to pace a little and stop, but I keep bothering him until he changes his mind and when he leaves I ask him to rest. Also isn't he cute?
If you can ignore my very fashion forward outfit for a second I'd love to talk about Rhythm!
Rhythm is the very base of the dressage pyramid. (Just a note I am not a dressage lady, I don't really cater to any discipline, rather I try to take a little bit from everywhere, my interest is more aligned with the horse as apposed to a specific sport.) Rhythm is defined by regularity, energy and tempo, and I interpret this as the ability to go forward and come back in a consistent and regulated manner. My horse should be able to continue walking at a consistent pace until they are asked to do something else either slow, stop or speed up.
Sting and I have been working on rhythm and I am going to be honest.... He's been terrible at it 😂.
When I start working on rhythm I don't ask for anything outside of go forward and come back, all of my steering is left for another time I keep my hands nice and light. When we first started I would push sting forward and he would go to the gate and pace back and forth or just try and stop. I have worked on only letting him stop when it's asked of him and only asking him to stop when he leaves his comfort zone (the gate area) and he's gotten good at exploring other areas.
You can see at the beginning he wants to be very slow he would like to stop so I bother him gently with my leg until he picks up a better pace and immediately I release. Once he takes a few steps at an acceptable speed I ask him to stop. He's also come a long ways in his willingness to stop with out a bit in his mouth.
The next time I ask him to go forward he's a lot more willing and at gives a nice pace right away.
I play with this until I get a couple of really smooth transitions and I call it a day. Each session he gets a little better and has already come very far.
Here's the difference.
On the first video Sting is a statue. He is rigid and unblinking, the only thing that moves is a breeze through his tail.
THIS
Is what I am looking for. Sting is still and quiet but his head is low, he connects with the scary thing, he blinks, his ears move his tail swooshes but he is still. He even gets a bit bored and goes to eat some grass and nip at a bug. THIS is relaxation THIS is a safe horse. Please note the lip smacking at the very end that helps demonstrate my point that he is in a calm rational mind.🤩 This guy gets it!
So many people think submission and obedience = sound and safe. My boy Sting here is a perfect example. Most people see how still he stands around the scary thing and think "wow he's really got it together" but the truth is, he is internally screaming! Horses like sting love to repress because 9 times out of 10 that's what they have been taught. If you hold still the scary thing goes away.
This is how people get bucked off, they perceive their horse as a "fear free" horse because they hold still when scary things happen, but the horse has never really changed its mind and decided it's not scary. Eventually this will lead to a blow up if the scary things don't stop happening when they ignore it and hold still.
In this video you can see me go at Sting with a lot of energy and you can see Stings head shoot up and his whole body stills and tightens. This is where most people give release. I would never usually do it this way but for the sake of a video that might help people I decided to push forward. I will usually come in slow to the point of resistance, I will see where they notice it and then draw back once I see some sort of connection or relaxation. That means if they look at it, if they lower their head, if they chew or deep sigh anything like this. This way they learn "if you connect and relax the scary thing goes away." It also teaches them to relax on their own and it helps create a confident horse that feels like they can conquer the scary things in their life by noticing them and relaxing.
Welcome Sting!
Sting was once a chuckwagon horse and is now owned by lovely woman who sent him into me for some touch ups. Sting has been rode quite a bit by the sounds of it but has tendancy to trade his rational thinking brain for a chaotic fight flight freeze brain very quickly.
Today we worked on, you guessed it, connection. You can see in this video Sting is doing his job going in a circle and he's even at a walk, a lot calmer than he was when we first started. his eyes are trying to stay on me even though he is still a bit concerned about his new fan base on the other side of the fence. This was a huge success for today even though it's not perfect he made big progress.
I hear a lot of people talk about how lazy their horse can be and so I wanted to talk about that a little bit today.
I don't doubt that their are horses out there that don't want to do the work, but I think it's important to ask yourself "Is this laziness? Or is it that my horse has shut down?" When a horse shuts down they will tolerate what ever it is you're doing until you give up and go away. Often this is because they don't know how to answer the question you're asking. It is so critical that when we start asking our horse a question we don't jump to the end. We start with 1+1 before we leap into 128x518¹(7÷2).
We have to set our horses up in a way that not only gives them an easy win but in a way that keeps them wanting to look for answers. All of this means again that we have to listen and look for the signs of acknowledgement and understanding in our horses. We have to celebrate the attempt before we can celebrate the win!
If you ask your a question and they give you the wrong answer and then they get yelled at for it eventually they will stop trying and instead of looking to you for answers they will start looking anywhere else for them.
Imagine going to work in a foreign country where you don't totally understand the language, you try your best with what you have but your boss is asking you to do something new and you give it a go but when it's the wrong answer instead of making it simpler or walking you through it you get cuffed upside the head. After a while you'd throw your hands in the air and say well I can't do anything right so why try 🤷🏻♀️ and when you stop trying you get told you have a poor work ethic. What a world that would be!
Have compassion when asking your horse new things take your time, be patient, it will come.
This is another one of my favorite videos ☺️ Whimzy exploring her new world! Already getting into trouble.
3 yeas ago today I was blessed with this beautiful girl. Whimzy has always been in a league of her own. Where other foals might cower away from new things and big sounds Whimzy has always gone out of her way to investigate mouth first! This video was taken only a few hours after she was born and I feel like it really speaks to who she is at her core. She is so full of love and life I am so excited to for what's to come on our journey together! ♥️🌺
3 years ago today I was blessed with this beautiful little girl. Whimzy has always been in a league of her own. Where other foals might cower away from new things and big sounds Whimzy has always strived to be right in the middle of thing investigating mouth first. This, I'm not sad to say, hasn't changed. She is so full of life and love I could have asked for a better first foal. She has taught me so much and I am very excited to continue with her.
This video was taken only a few hours after she born 😅.
I was giving a lesson the other day and the lady said, "I feel like I've only ever had a one sided relationship with my horse." I feel like this is how so many of us are taught or raised. The horse is a tool, and they are often treated as such, we want our tools to do the job they are supposed to do with out fuss. So when they start to malfunction or act up we struggle to understand why, and it's because OUR engagement with them isn't there. We can not expect our horses to connect and engage with us if we don't attempt to be attuned to them.
I talk a lot about connection and engagement and I love this video of Aly and Whimzy because it shows just that. Whimzy is a horse that LOVE to connect, almost to a fault. With out a lead rope with out any treats, Whimzy will engage with Aly because she has always felt understood by the people working her, she's figured out that being engaged is a good place to be and now strives to be there.
Rene is doing so great! His engagement has vastly improved! I wish I would have taken a video in the pasture, there is minimal avoidance and he even goes so far as to follow me. Time to start riding! Way to go big boy!
Rene has been working on connection. He will happily avoid me or pretend I am not right in front of him. This exercise I've been doing with him is going to open him up to welcoming me with out shutting down. If he can't engage in an area where he is most relaxed and comfortable it is unfair for me to expect him to connect and engage meaningfully in an area that he is not comfortable in, like in the barn for instance.
With this I am letting him know, hey I see you, I see your discomfort, and when you connect with me in your discomfort, you get release. This way he learns that hanging out with me is a really good thing for him, and not something to be concerned about.
Working with horse and owner is always very exciting! This is her first time riding her big guy and both did excellent! I love being able to show the owner all of their horses new accomplishments! I can't wait to take Apollo even further!
Apollo is doing great under saddle! Great to see his progress from halter broke to being rode! So proud of this big boy.
