After the Splash

Splash! Splutter! I quickly stand up in the knee deep water. The horse I had just been on top of, JJ, a chestnut Arab gelding, about 15 hands tall, is looking down his long nose, his ears and eyes asking “what are you doing down there?” “Errr, I was sorta out of balance when you jumped sideways,” I answered. I gathered up the reins, took a step toward the grassy bank to leave the pond. Then a thought occurs to me. My boots are already full of water, my chaps and jeans are soaked, I’m not going to get any wetter, so why not? Right there in the water, I manage to get my foot in the stirrup of my English saddle, (not so easy when the jeans and chaps are waterlogged,) swing aboard and point JJ toward the middle of the pond. JJ was not thrilled about this idea, but then he wasn’t really keen on the idea of getting his feet wet either. For that matter, nor was I, which is why I had lifted them up a few inches, just before JJ had jumped sideways. I had intended to walk into the water until it was a couple of feet deep, turn left and leave the pond at another spot. Now I figured we would just go straight across. I was guessing there was about 40’ where JJ was just barely going to reach the bottom or perhaps even have to swim. As the water got to the top of his shoulder, JJ started to hurry with a couple of small lunges toward the far bank. Which meant that he actually sank deeper in between the lunges. Water up to my waist as I was riding. As we came into the shallows again, JJ wanted to go out. I wanted him to be more relaxed about the deep water. So we turned around and went through it again. Then once more. About a ¼ of the way through the third time, I felt JJ quit trying to rush. He had figured out that if he walked normally, the water didn’t actually go over the top of his back. This time I let him walk all the way out of the pond since he wasn’t rushing. We rode around the farm for about another ten minutes, then went back to the pond. No hesitation at entering, and no rushing to get out. A very successful learning experience.
This could have been a very unsuccessful experience for both JJ and I. How I reacted to getting dunked made the difference. I did not get angry nor blame JJ for his self preservation instincts. I am the one who wasn’t as balanced as I could have been.
I was able to see a further learning opportunity that I hadn’t planned. Being flexible or being able to change what we are doing when we see a chance to, is a very important skill in teaching horses. For that matter, the ability to change our approach and sometimes our goal is a very important life skill.

Onyx

Onyx is a 3 year old, Running Quarter Horse, stallion. He had not been handled at all until I started working with him. He is at Lacey Oaks Stables where I am also working with several other horses. Onyx was run into a stall from his pasture. There wasnt a good pen to work him in, that was close enough to herd him into, so I started him in his stall. This wasn't my first choice as I would rather start in a round pen or any smaller type pen of any shape. However, one must make the best of the circumstances. It was a 5 day process to be able to put the halter on and be able to lead him outside the barn. I was asked to work with him one hour a day. I was very glad for the knowledge I had of reading horses reactions, being able to release pressure in a timely manner and being able to tell when the pressure was starting to be too much. In a stall there isnt enough room to give a complete release by getting clear out of the horses personal space. I had a couple of gaps to fill in when we were finally able to go to the round pen. Onyx learned to catch me in a much more effective way in the bigger space. The bigger space also allowed him to make more mistakes which in turn helped him learn more. In the stall there wasnt much room for error about which direction I was sending him. The round pen also allowed him to move his feet better, which in turn allowed him to learn to think more.
Starting Onyx and one other horse, Socks, in their stall, was a real good learning experience for me. I learned some limitations of the stall and also that I could get some basic education done. It also cemented my opinion that starting in the round pen is more effective, though it may take a couple of hours all at once.

To hold a Cat's Tail

I came across a saying attributed to Mark Twain. “If you hold a cat by the tail, you will learn things you can learn in no other way.” Being a cat owner, I found some humor in this statement. It also brought back some memories involving claws and wounded fingers. Mind you, I didn’t set out to hold the cat by the tail on purpose. When one is playing “Catch the Cat” and the cat makes dash from one hiding place to another, a grab is made and somehow the hand wraps around the tail. Let the learning commence.
Besides the literal meaning of Mark Twain’s saying, I also thought of how many times we can only learn by experience, by going out and doing, taking action. Sometimes we just need to plunge right into the task. Other times there is a way to learn parts of the task before we put it all together as a whole job. Much of the learning we do with our horses is like this.
For instance, learning to move with the horse in the trot, sitting or rising. I can describe what to do or how a person must move, but in the end, it is a matter of asking the horse to trot, then bounce around while trying to get our muscles to learn what they are supposed to do. We just have to “learn on the job” as it were.
An instance of learning a task a piece at a time is staying on top of the horse when they spook. How many spooks does it take to learn to ride one effectively? Is there a way to learn to ride the spook with out the “spook”? Or do we just get to “hold the cat by the tail” and learn the “hard way”?
We can learn to ride the spook. I don’t recommend you start by having a friend pop a balloon under your horse and seeing if you can ride the results. No doubt you would learn things by doing this, but they may be things that you really didn’t want to learn. It’s tackling the whole job at once.
Rather have a friend help you by leading or lunging your horse while you ride without reins, otherwise known as handlebars, and without stirrups. Have a friend or teacher lead you along, slowly at first, with your eyes closed so you can learn to feel the horse move. The end goal is to be able to have the horse lead anywhere, with unannounced changes of direction, while your eyes are closed. This helps you get a real feel for how the horse gets ready to move. When you recognize the how the horse gets ready to move you have that much more time to react. Do this in all directions, forward, backward and sideways. Especially sideways, as this is most commonly what the horse does when spooked. You can ask for a complete sideways movement or just a change of direction with a big step sideways from the forequarters. Start out with what is comfortable, such as a western saddle with a “handle “to grab. The goal being to be able to eventually do this on a bareback pad.
A way to accomplish a more effective seat on your own is to ride the horse in a confined area, example a round pen or small pasture area, without guiding the horse. Hold the reins but let the horse go where he wants. Also let the horse stop briefly when he wants to. Then send him forward again. You will learn the feel of the horse getting ready to stop. At the walk, there won’t be as much to feel of as in the trot, but it is a place to start gaining confidence in the exercise. When you ask for trot, you will definitely feel the horse get ready to turn or stop.
To learn the feel a bit quicker, you can close your eyes. This eliminates the visual distractions. If you can close your eyes, then the feel becomes even more pronounced. If you can’t quite close your eyes, that is ok.
When you have worked your way up to 20 minutes of trotting while just riding the horse where ever it chooses to go, you will be amazed at how well you feel your horse getting ready to change speed or direction. One of the main pieces is to just let the horse go where he wants to. No direction from you other than go forward. Just ride what the horse offers, giving no direction in where to turn or when to turn, just keep asking for forward. If the horse offers to go faster then you would like, then ask for the slow down by circling, though eventually, if you can let him go faster, the more you can learn. Slow down by making smaller and smaller circles until you reach the speed you like, then let the horse go in any direction again. You may find yourself doing this many times until the horse realizes he doesn’t need to go so fast. In the beginning, the horse will do a lot of stopping at the gate or a corner, just keep encouraging him forward with a slight help out of the corners if needed.
Our posture while we ride is important as well. We need to be in the most balanced position possible. One thing that happens when a spook occurs, is that our chain of muscles from our toes to our head, gets completely stiff. We become one solid piece with no give to the horse’s movement. We also tend to lean forward as we lose our balance, partly because we are usually grabbing for a handhold and partly because that’s how we catch our balance when we walk. This is a place where a friend can help you learn the difference between being stiff and letting our seat follow the horse. Have your friend slowly pull you off to the side as you sit in your saddle. Feel how your muscle chain tightens to resist the pull. If you stay stiff, the distance your shoulder travels before you “lose your balance” isn’t far. If you give at the waist, you can be bent quite far to the side before your balance is lost. Also compare the difference between “grabbing with your toes” and “grabbing with your heels”. We tend to “grab with our toes” to stay upright. This throws our feet backward and our torso forward, putting us way out of balance. “Grabbing with our heels” or putting weight into them, keeps our torso upright and our feet under us.
One thing I note is that we tend to go about the rest of our daily activities not thinking much about our posture or effective body use. The better we are at having effective posture during our daily activities, the better we will be in our horse activities. Learn to pay attention to how you drive, sit at the table or desk and even how you walk. Becoming aware of our body movement is a huge piece of effective riding.
Next time you see a cat, take a good look at it’s tail. Ask yourself, “Do I need to hold that tail to learn things I can learn no other way”? Or maybe there is another way to learn what we need to know. Sometimes we just need to plunge in and learn and other times we can learn gradually.

Poker and I

I grew up having horses at my home most of the time. I enjoyed riding bareback, seeing where the trail in front of me led to. I had lessons here and there, rode some western and some english style. I was told that I was a good rider. I dont know about that, but I do know I was good at staying on top of the horse. After I was married, there were many years where I didnt ride or spend time with horses at all. I was reunited with this enjoyable activity through Equine Therapy. I had been seeing a therapist who uses horses to help people sort out thier mental and emotion challanges. The farm where she holds these sessions has some ex racehorses. This is where I met my horse Poker. When we met, he was just as emotionally challanged as I was. He was shutdown emotionally from the stress at the racetrack. He was not the horse I used in my sessions, but I had noticed him off in his own pasture. As I was at the farm more and more, I wanted to do something with him. I decided to do one of the excersises I had done with the therapist and another horse. We went into a 70' round pen, moved the horse around, then ask the horse to stop and come to us. This is sometimes refered to as "joining up". At the time I didnt understand what was happening when I let Poker loose and he became a whirlwind around and around the pen, jumping, bucking and working himself into lather in a few short minutes. I now know it was all about how anxious he was. What I did wonder was "what have I done?" Shortly there after, the owner of the farm gave me some learning material to use. It was from the Parelli's. As I went through the information and started to put it into practice with Poker, I became more and more excited with the results. I attended a couple of clinics that were held and the farm and became hooked on understanding and communicting with the horses. Eventually I decided that I would learn enough that I could teach horses and people as a way of earning a living. It is now 4 years later and I am teaching horses and people, part time. The learning is fun. I have a lot of satisfaction in seeing the horses and their people improve thier relationship. I continue my education every day as I watch the horses interact. I continue to take lessons, often, for myself. This journey has changed how I live each day. There is nothing like being with our horses to keep us aware and in the present.