May 11, 2011
Prince and I had a great session today. I have been licking and chewing over some of the major things that I have learned from the colt start over the weekend. Most of them aren't exactly from the colt start specifically but things that triggered other things a couple are...
- Put the relationship first in everything, think about what it means to put the relationship first with your horse, what is in it for him? Safety? Comfort? Food? Play? How can you make it more interesting and fun for him?
- Offer lightness but be firm if necessary. Also offer the best deal first.
- How can I set Prince up for success so that he gets it and it makes sense?
- Patience! When things don't go right keep on going and give it time and stay calm, cool and collected.
- Go at Prince's pace at first but don't stay there.
I read this blog recently: http://parellioz.blogspot.com/ and two things jumped out at me. Haltering! I don't think I normally do it rudely but am I making a effort to cause it to be enjoyable for Prince? I am not putting a whole lot more time and making how I halter more important. Even if it is just spending a little bit of time afterward scratching Prince and hanging out before we continue on with our session.
I got to thinking about how I would like it if someone, one of my parents or siblings, came into my room while I was doing something I enjoyed, such as watching a movie, and came in, said hi, then grabbed my by the arm and told me that we had to go do something. Even if I enjoyed and liked what we were about to do I would be a bit flustered or upset that they didn't care enough to ask me. Now if somebody came in, sat down, said hi asked what I was up to and then asked if I wanted to go do something than I would most likely be more than happy to join in and do something together. It sets us up for success.
So then I though to myself, do I do that with my horse? Even if I go through the motions of seeing where he is at when I get there do I truly mean it?
Another thing I have been thinking about was giving my horse my undivided attention while we play. When we are playing I want to treat him like the most important person with whom I could be having a conversation.
One more thing! Many times when Prince would bring his head around to me for a rub I would rub it but he would turn it away half way through the rub. I thought that maybe it was that he didn't necessary want to be rubbed but that he was just checking in with me. Well today the thought crossed my mind that it was probably my energy. Even though I wasn't rubbing him with a lot of energy before I was still to much for Prince. So the next time Prince brought his head around I rubbed it really slowly, still with feel but with very little energy. It worked better but Prince still turned his head away, be he kept it there longer. The next time I did it even slower and Prince kept his head there the whole time.... How interesting!! It was really cool to see the feedback!!
There were many more things but these were some things that I have knew but they are meaning new things.
Prince and I started with mounting from almost the ground. We were up in the riding ring so I picked a rock that is sticking out of the ground. Now I was thinking, how can I put the relationship first and put something in it for Prince because really there is nothing in it for him. Me being able to mount from the ground is for me, my physical fitness and never ending self improvement. So Prince being a LBI likes food, scratches etc... so I made sure to give him lots of scratches on some big itchy spots as I lay across him. He was already much better from last day and had a more positive attitude about it which was great to see.
Then I saddled. But as I saddled I realized that yes I was doing everything politely but I was doing it all subconsciously as I was talking to Mom about something. Sure Prince was standing still and wasn't bothered by it but I wasn't there with him mentally, what if for some reason he was bothered by something and I missed it? So from this point on in the session I made sure to give Prince my attention and if I needed to talk to somebody or they wanted to talk to me I made sure to finish up with Prince, even if just for a short amount of time, so that I could be fair to both Prince and to whom ever I was talking.
After we saddled we did some Figure eights at the trot and Prince was had the rhythm, relaxation and connection right away so we did three complete Figure eights and then ended. No need overdoing it right?
This went really well and by the end Prince was able to canter a complete lap in each direction from a walk-canter transition. Each time Prince would break gait I would ask him to walk for a couple steps and then ask him to canter. It took a while because Prince would either go into the canter for a few strides and then break gait into a really fast trot, or he would just trot really fast and not canter, in which case I would bring him back down to the walk and start again.
I think the consistency of the pattern really helped Prince and he had a big lick and chew afterward. Then I put my hackamore on and mounted!
I only had one pattern that I wanted to play with this ride and that was the Bowtie pattern. We haven't ridden that pattern in a while and the last time we did it Prince had other ideas... he thought we should be playing Point to point and that he should get a rest at each barrel and not have to be picking up the canter ;) So we left that for a while and concentrated on getting the correct leads on Follow the rail.
That is going well now so I want to play with the Bowtie patten, and quite frankly, I think it looks really fun! I went out purposed to put the relationship first and taking the time it was going to take.
We started the patten at the trot and walked the ends. This took very little time to get it going well. I had to remind myself to stop. Things were going very well and Prince was getting it even though it wasn't perfect. I could have kept going but then I was like "What am I doing??" It is fine! Prince is going to get bored if I keep doing this pattern, and I don't want a bored LBI trying to the Bowtie pattern ;)
So we left that and did some Follow the rail at the canter just to make sure that Prince could pick up the correct leads going in both directions and then we came back to the Bowtie pattern and cantered it, getting Simple lead changes so we would trot the ends.
By this time I was falling in love with this pattern because if Prince wasn't completely relaxed when we came down to the trot to go around the barrel we would trot in circles around it until he relaxed and then we picked up the canter, with relaxation and off we went on the correct lead.
It was a lot of fun and I think Prince had fun too. He caught on really quickly and our lead changes were so easy and simple!!
We also pushed the ball around a bit at the walk and trot. Prince offered me such a nice, soft trot and put a lot of effort into trotting after the ball even when it went off the fence.
We had a really short ride but it was so much fun!! We ended an amazing session by spending over an hour of undemanding time. Prince just wouldn't leave me!! Even after we left the riding ring he stayed with me outside the gate and so we spent even more time just hanging out. I guess we did have a good session!!
Eventually I had to leave because it was getting late. Prince followed me over as far as he could and watched me leave... I strongly dislike when that happens... I feel so bad for leaving him ;)
I was very pleased with our session and the progress that we made and the best part was that we were learning and at the same time having so much fun!!
Naturally,
~Keri
After we saddled we did some Figure eights at the trot and Prince was had the rhythm, relaxation and connection right away so we did three complete Figure eights and then ended. No need overdoing it right?
This went really well and by the end Prince was able to canter a complete lap in each direction from a walk-canter transition. Each time Prince would break gait I would ask him to walk for a couple steps and then ask him to canter. It took a while because Prince would either go into the canter for a few strides and then break gait into a really fast trot, or he would just trot really fast and not canter, in which case I would bring him back down to the walk and start again.
I think the consistency of the pattern really helped Prince and he had a big lick and chew afterward. Then I put my hackamore on and mounted!
I only had one pattern that I wanted to play with this ride and that was the Bowtie pattern. We haven't ridden that pattern in a while and the last time we did it Prince had other ideas... he thought we should be playing Point to point and that he should get a rest at each barrel and not have to be picking up the canter ;) So we left that for a while and concentrated on getting the correct leads on Follow the rail.
That is going well now so I want to play with the Bowtie patten, and quite frankly, I think it looks really fun! I went out purposed to put the relationship first and taking the time it was going to take.
We started the patten at the trot and walked the ends. This took very little time to get it going well. I had to remind myself to stop. Things were going very well and Prince was getting it even though it wasn't perfect. I could have kept going but then I was like "What am I doing??" It is fine! Prince is going to get bored if I keep doing this pattern, and I don't want a bored LBI trying to the Bowtie pattern ;)
So we left that and did some Follow the rail at the canter just to make sure that Prince could pick up the correct leads going in both directions and then we came back to the Bowtie pattern and cantered it, getting Simple lead changes so we would trot the ends.
By this time I was falling in love with this pattern because if Prince wasn't completely relaxed when we came down to the trot to go around the barrel we would trot in circles around it until he relaxed and then we picked up the canter, with relaxation and off we went on the correct lead.
It was a lot of fun and I think Prince had fun too. He caught on really quickly and our lead changes were so easy and simple!!
We also pushed the ball around a bit at the walk and trot. Prince offered me such a nice, soft trot and put a lot of effort into trotting after the ball even when it went off the fence.
We had a really short ride but it was so much fun!! We ended an amazing session by spending over an hour of undemanding time. Prince just wouldn't leave me!! Even after we left the riding ring he stayed with me outside the gate and so we spent even more time just hanging out. I guess we did have a good session!!
Eventually I had to leave because it was getting late. Prince followed me over as far as he could and watched me leave... I strongly dislike when that happens... I feel so bad for leaving him ;)
I was very pleased with our session and the progress that we made and the best part was that we were learning and at the same time having so much fun!!
Naturally,
~Keri
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