Ninja (Sixteenth Ride)

Gambler and I had another exciting first today!

Playing the porcupine game to disengage his hindquarters.

Playing the circling game over a low cross-rail.

Longeing over jump standards is a pain, but Gambler loves to jump so I'll survive. :P Hopefully I'll be riding over them some day soon.

Since Gambler was jumping calmly instead of being a crazy critter like last time, I upped the height. 

Then I put the saddle on Gambler for the first time in a week or so. I tried a different saddle pad, which I think fits the saddle and Gambler's back better.

We played the circling game under the trees.

Then we played one of Gambler's favorite games, where I ask him to make half-circles, switching direction half way through each circle. Usually he jumps into a canter with each change of direction, but today he was worn out. Earlier Marguerite had ridden Kezi and Gambler spent at least half an hour running around the pasture.

That's more like it!

Because Gambler was so calm and worn out from his earlier exercise, I decided to ride him. Throughout our session he didn't buck with the saddle at all. I lowered the jump to a cross-rail again and sent him over it with the saddle. When even a jump didn't cause Gambler to buck, I mounted up. I still had Mom holding the longe line, and I had gaming reins attached to the halter. 

At first we just walked around the circle and changing directions and halting now and then. Gambler is definitely starting to relax and listen to the riders cues. Once I felt him relax I asked for the trot. For a few steps (about a quarter of a circle) he trotted without and issue. Then he bucked a little. I pushed him forward. Then he bucked a lot. I don't remember much, and what I do remember is in slo-mo (because that's how the mind works when adrenaline is rushing through your system), but I tried to pull him into a one-rein stop. I lost my hold on the reins and fell backward out of the saddle onto his butt and then landed on my feet behind him. 

After giving myself a once-over to make sure that nothing hurt in a dangerous way, I took the longe line from Mom and told Gambler to canter for several circles, changing directions often. I don't want him to learn that bucking means less work. Then I mounted up again. I didn't trot, because the bucking is an issue that only comes up at the trot and I need to form a game plan. I don't think rushing into battle without a plan is a good idea. But I'll have a post about that soon. 

I talked to Mom afterwards and she said that Gambler bucked and I came forward on the saddle, then he reared and spun, going one direction while I went the other. It sounds pretty much like all the bucking fits I've seen him have on the ground. My only injuries are a small bruise on my thigh from the saddle and a blood blister/rope burn on one of my fingers. 

Mom and I have been worried that something like this would happen and it would destroy Gambler's and my confidence. I would argue that it has just strengthened it. Like the first spook under saddle, the first fall is bound to happen, especially with a green horse. Now that it's over with, I feel that I will be able to ride more confidently in the future. 

And can we just take a moment to dwell on the fact that I landed on my feet!

Happy New Year!

I thought about making some New Year's resolutions for Gambler and myself, but decided against it. I have goals and plans for Gambler already. I don't need more. If there is anything Gambler has taught me, it is that goals are never concrete. When push comes to shove, I'm on his time schedule.

I saw Gambler just long enough to pick out his feet. He and Kezi had already been fed and turned out to pasture with hay so I just haltered him while he was eating. I tossed the lead rope over his back and picked up his feet. He let me pick out all four like that. That shows definite improvement. Right now I want him to let me set his foot back on the ground. Gambler would rather put his own foot down. In itself, it's not a big deal, but it's a power thing. I know from past experience that Gamby will take every once of control I give him, so we will continue to work on this until he finally gives in.

Mirror Mirror on the wall . . .who is the grouchiest girl of them all?

*Not My Photo*

We've all heard that horses reflect us, and anyone who has spent a decent amount of time with horses knows it is true. Horses can "sense" how we are feeling. Now I realize that there are scientific explanations. Horses know when we are upset because they can feel our heartbeats and read our body language, ect. ect.  But I don't really care how or why it works, it fascinates me. Being prey animals, horses are extremely sensitive to our every mood and it shows.

Sadly, this wonderful mirror thing can be a real pain. Especially if you're a wonderful person like me who gets incredibly, unreasonably grumpy when she hasn't eaten enough. Did I mention this person didn't eat breakfast, had a small lunch, and was in such a hurry to go see her beautiful horsey that she forgot to eat supper? It was a recipe for disaster. 

Most of the time I try to keep my moods cheerful and energetic. I only get four days a week with Gambler on average, so I can't afford to lose time over an emotional breakdown (almost the entire month of July). That being said, I am human and a teenaged girl so every once in a while I'm gonna have a bad day. 

 My session with Gambler wasn't so bad, nothing horrible or dangerous happened. I just wasn't feeling it (translation: Jenna was so grumpy not even Gambler wanted to be near her) so of course, Gamby wasn't either. That being said he was very good. He popped into the trot with a pointed finger and two clucks. The canter is still a little rough around the edges, but he cantered on cue as well. I tried some liberty work, but when you're grumpy and your horse knows you're grumpy, he isn't gonna want to hang out with you. 

So we called it a day, fed the horses, went home, and sat around a bonfire with hot dogs and chai tea. It's a weird combination, but surprisingly it works. 

grooming while ground-tied

eye close up

artsy pic

So adorable!

Playing with a jump.

And the other way.

It's a pity this picture is blurry, because it's really cool.

A moment of liberty before Gambley decided to keep his distance.

Taking off . . .

. . . landing . . .

. . . and tossing his head 'cause that was so fun!

Hey Jenna, did you want me to do something?

Oh look, it's Kezi!

Defeating the Monstrous Trees

Do you remember these:

The Trees

The scariest trees you've ever seen.

Today I was going to begin the first phase of my new plan. I started by longeing Gambler to warm him up like I always do. But since I have ground poles set up in the arena, the best place to circle was next to the trees. Gambler hadn't been acting spooky up until that point, but it was a little windy, so I should've known better. He walked about half the circle, to the point where he started to turn away from the trees, then bolted. It didn't last very long; I just stopped him and asked him to continue at a walk like I always do. He did it again. By this point my hands were stinging. (Side note: I absolutely love the Parelli ropes. Although my hands sting a little when Gamby takes off, I've never gotten rope burn.)

I led Gambler to a different part of the arena, away from the trees. The whole way there he was spooky and crowding my space; he even bolted again. Once we were away from the trees, I asked him to circle at a walk. He was still tense, but he didn't bolt. Since I haven't been able to get much done with Gambler lately, due in part to the wind, I decided it was time to show those trees who's boss. 

So we attacked the trees again. Or they attacked us. It's merely a matter of perspective. Pat Parelli often says something along the lines of "make the wrong answer uncomfortable." Except he says it a thousand times better than that. Recently I watched one of Clinton Anderson's videos and he stressed the same principle. It got me thinking . . . could I make spooking at the trees uncomfortable?

I began by asking him to circle calmly next to the trees. As long as he walked I stayed neutral. But when he broke into a trot (or bolted into a canter) I increased my pressure by 100%. I drove him forward with my body language and smacked the ground with the carrot stick and urged him forward with my voice. The most important part is that I only pressured him when he was on the side of the circle opposite the trees. When he was next to the trees, I dropped my pressure completely. 

So when Gambler rushed away from the trees, I upped my energy causing him to keep that faster gait until he was next to the trees again. At this point he was given a choice: slow down and chill or freak out and keep going. This continued until he got tired of cantering in blind panic and thought, man I'm really tired. It sure would be nice to take a break. Thing is, he couldn't rest on the "safe" side (away from the trees) because that's where I drove him forward. He had to make the choice to relax and slow his gait on the "scary" side (closest to the trees). It was more aggressive approach than I've taken in the past, but Gambler responded to it well. 

The first time I tried it he cantered for three to five circles before slowing to a trot. I rewarded him immediately by bringing him into the middle of the circle for rest and lots of nose rubs! The second time was about the same, just in the other direction. By the third time he was trotting instead of cantering. Eventually, he got to the point where he would walk two full circles without breaking into a trot or canter. We ended there, on a good note. 

After our tree-defeating adventure he stood ground tied while I gave him a nice long grooming session. I could tell that he was processing what just happened. He was completely relaxed, even thought we were in the same place where he had been spooking earlier. He just yawned and yawned and yawned. I'm sure that I haven't seen the last of the deathly trees, but we've taken a big step in the right direction. I'm just sad that I forgot the camera at home again. 

Gambler the Mighty Stallion

I'm really sorry to say that my brother got many, many more videos, but somewhere between his camera and my computer they were destroyed so that you can only hear the audio, without visual. I made the rookie mistake of deleting the originals. I'm really, really bummed about it. The quality was way better on them thanks to my brother who took all my photos and videos. Gambler and I had a very eventful day and thankfully my bro was there to catch every minute of it. Of course, now I don't have much to show for it. At least the two videos taken on a different camera will work.

In the first video that was destroyed, I let Gambler off of the line to go play with the ball. In the clip it is pretty easy to see why I prefer to do that offline. Gambler was even more enthusiastic than usual. It was like watching a little boy play soldier. My little gelding was pretending to be a big bad stallion. I was very proud of him in the end. He cantered away from the "big bad enemy stallion" and then trotted back to the ball to reengage. However, when I asked him to stop and pay attention to me instead, he promptly went from "wild stallion" to loyal friend in a matter of seconds. 

We played a lot with tarps and going through tight spaces, but those videos were lost as well.

Gambler and I played two of the same games we played yesterday: stick to me and catching me.

Stick to me is the game where I ask Gambler to walk beside me and trot, turn, stop, and back up when I say so. Today I really emphasized yielding the forequarters and the hindquarters.

Catching me is the game where I let Gambler loose and play the stay with me game with him until he wanders off. When his butt is to me I add pressure, but when he turns to face me I back off. In the end I found that disengaging his hindquarters work really well to bring him to me.

These are the only two videos I have. I'm really, really disappointed. Not so much because I can't show you, but because now those moments are lost. That and my brother put a lot of effort into them. Oh well, I've learned my lesson!