The Old New Plan

Do you remember the new plan? It was a good plan. I thought it through, did the research, formed the plan, told everyone the plan, and then never followed up on it. I tried it once (or maybe twice) but the plan revealed that Gambler and I needed to refine our groundwork. So instead of retracing my footsteps and cementing that foundation, I switched back to the "faster" old way of doing things. I asked Mom to hold Gambler while I layedd over and jumped onto his back.

Let me tell you now, faster rarely means better. In fact, with horses, faster usually means much, much worse. There was a reason that I came up with the new plan: the old plan wasn't working. That has only become more apparent as time goes on. Sure, I did sit on my horse and ride him a few steps using the old method. But that only happened once, and in the process Gambler learned several bad habits.

So I'm going back to the new plan, with a few improvements.

Overall Goal: To ride my horse? No. My goal is to play dominance games with Gambler to prove to him that I am a leader worth his trust and obedience.

First Step: Sensitization and Desensitization

Sensitization is all about energy. I want Gambler to learn that if he follows a feel he will get an immediate release. This one is on me. If I don't release pressure at the right time, Gambler will be slow to respond and require a lot of pressure to get a result. If I slowly build up pressure, however, and release as soon as he does what I'm asking, his responses will become quick and light.

Asking Gambler to yield his hindquarters.

Specifically, I want Gambler to longe with slack in the rope. I don't want him pulling on me or counter-bending. Instead, I want to see him relax, lower his head, and bend his whole body in the circle. Snappy transitions are a must. I want him to read my body language and longe walk, trot, and canter without the stick and string to push him forward.

 This is a little more slack than I'd like, but it gives you an idea.

Desensitization is a reminder that motion isn't scary. When I ask Gambler to do something I make it clear with my body language and vocal cues. The stick and string or the end of the rope are just tools to back up the cues. Every once in a while, I am going to take a break and toss the rope over his back or smack the stick and string on the ground to remind Gambler that I'm not going to hurt him. I don't want him to act out of fear.

My body language is neutral to show Gambler that I'm not asking him to move.

Very clear body language telling Gambler to move his butt.

Second Step: The Mounting Block

Now you will see why I wanted Gambler to longe well before I got to this point. My mom has been holding (or trying to hold) Gambler for me while I've been doing mounting prep, but it hasn't worked well. Gambler just moves all over the place and bites at her. For the most part, he has gotten away with it. Which is why I'm going back to doing mounting prep by myself. When I ride him, I'm going to have Mom hold an "emergency line" in case something goes wrong. Nevertheless, I'm going to prepare him for his first official ride by myself. 

The plan is to ask him to stand nicely next to the mounting block while I lean over his back. If he moves away or tries to bite or kick, I will send him out at a trot or canter around the mounting block. When he comes back we repeat until he realizes that standing nicely to be mounted is relaxing. If he stands nicely for me to lean over him on both sides I'll start asking him to flex laterally while I'm standing over him on the mounting block. The next step is to get on. 

There are a few more miscellaneous things that I want to do with Gambler. I'll make a short list here (more for my sake than yours).

*Saddle up western because we haven't done it in a while

*Introduce disengaging the hip while flexing laterally since that will be my emergency brake when I start riding

*Flip the 22' line over his back so that he has to give to pressure to unwind himself from the rope

*Practice picking up his front and back legs with and without the ropes

*When I'm longeing him and ask him to halt he should not come in to me without permission.

So that is the (old) new plan. When I wrote it out I realized it is a little tedious, but writing down my plans helps me formulate and remember them. And if anyone else is in a similar situation, maybe they will find my lesson plan helpful.