Putting the Plan into Practice

Thursday was a rainy fall day, so I didn't get a session with Gambler. I did, however, get a tack chest! I don't remember exactly when I got it, but it was sometime this last week. My mom found an add on craigslist: an antique chest that a woman was giving away for free. We drove thirty minutes to pick it up. I was not disappointed!

It isn't fancy, or extraordinarily beautiful, but it is well-built. I don't doubt that it will keep my various horse supplies clean, safe, and contained. It's better than a 20 dollar plastic bin from Walmart any day!

Today I tried out my "old new plan." I don't have any pictures, but my brother might take some tomorrow. I know that if he's behind the camera I'll have several good pictures and videos to show you. 

I started out with desensitizing exercises. I tossed the stick and string over his back and smacked it on the ground several times on both sides. This is old stuff - I've been doing it since day one - but Gambler is still unsure of it on his right side. That is his weak side; he is unsure when seeing things out of his right eye. I started a new phase of the desensitizing today, one that I haven't done before. I led Gambler forward (or asked him to circle me) and tossed the stick and string over his back while he was walking. It became immediately apparent that Gambler doesn't understand the difference between motion and motion with energy. This is probably my fault, I am guilty of laziness and lacking energy. Though it will take time, I want to teach Gambler that the stick and string are equally harmless at the walk and the halt. 

Sensitizing is just as important as desensitizing. If your horse is completely desensitized, he'll never do anything. I want Gambler to know that when I give him a cue (with energy) I want him to respond and quickly. So I played with moving the forequarters and hindquarters, paying specific attention to when I gave him the release of pressure. If my release is immediate, his response will become immediate. 

I also spent a lot of time on the circling game. I used the 12' lead line as a longe line, because I wanted to establish boundaries. I want Gambler to circle outside of my bubble, but I want slack in the rope. I also want him to bend on the circle. No counter-bending or haunches-in allowed. There is one other thing. I've noticed that every time I ask Gambler to stop while circling I let him come into me. That has to stop. I have always made him stop a few steps away until I invited him into my bubble, but now I want him to wait out on the circle until I ask him to come to me. He is used to just coming in, but by the end of the day, he was starting to understand what I was asking. 

Then I brought out the mounting block. I stood on the mounting block with Gambler facing toward me. Step by step, I asked him to stand closer to a position where I could get on. At first he pulled all the tricks that he was used to using when Mom was holding him and I was leaning on him (or vice versa, it doesn't matter who is holding him, that method just doesn't work), however, when he misbehaved, I sent him out to circle at the trot. We ended the day with him standing calmly while I rubbed his back - something I couldn't do with someone holding him. 

I want to make it clear that it isn't Mom's fault. The problem is that when someone is holding Gambler, he is being forced to hold still. This makes him feel claustrophobic and panicky or grumpy and obstinate. But today I held the line loosely. If he wanted to leave, I drove him away. In the end he decided that he would rather stand than trot. Because it was his decision, he didn't bite, or move around. 

Note: I also introduced disengaging the hip while flexing laterally, which is one of the first things I will do when I start riding him. 

I Rode My Horse! (First Ride)

The title says it all. After six months of hard work I got to ride my horse for the very first time.

I started the session by longeing Gambler in a figure-eight shape around two barrels. He caught on to the new exercise quite quickly. Next I sent him over a jump once or twice, because I know he loves that. It is really difficult to send him over the jump from the ground though, because the rope gets caught on the jump standards. It will be easier to play with jumps once I can ride him comfortably walk/trot.

Then I longed him for a while, and realized that while I've been focused on other things his transitions have gotten pretty gross. When I asked him to canter he just jump-bucked into one or two strides before falling back into the trot. When I increased my pressure he fell back into his old habit of stopping and backing up. I was going to pressure him to go forward, but then he started backing up toward the horse-eating trees. Aha! Instead I asking him to keep backing up and then we played the circling game right underneath the scary trees. Granted, it wasn't a windy day, but I say that's a huge step in the right direction.

After that, I asked Mom to hold Gambler while I did mounting prep. I set up the camera at this point, but afterwards I found out that it ran out of memory and stopped recording only a few seconds in. I started out like I have before, standing on the mounting block rubbing Gambler all over his neck and back. After leaning over his back and then jumping up and laying over him sideways; I finally jumped right up onto his back. The first time was so smooth and perfect - I don't think I touched his flank with my foot at all. I caught Gambler (and myself) by surprise. I didn't even know I was going up; it just happened. So weird. Anyway, I sat up there for a little while rubbing him on the neck and rear and then I got off. I got on two more times (at least once on both sides). The last time I asked Mom to lead him just a couple steps forward because the light was fading and I didn't have time to put a legitimate first ride on him. He was a little grumpy, meaning that he turned his head around and tried to bite my foot, but he didn't spook at all.

Since I didn't get any good pictures or video, here are the gorgeous fall pictures I took at the barn on Thursday. I will try to get good videos/pictures of Gambler's official second first ride.

Autumn Evening in Motion

I didn't have much time with Gambler today before the sun went down, but we managed to have some fun. I worked on his canter transitions and did a little jumping. My brother got a few really good motion shots. Sadly most of the pictures were blurry due to the fading light.

Autumn Winds

Today was a beautiful Autumn day. I was planning on finally riding Gambler, but once more, the weather stood in my way. It was insanely windy. I don't even blame Gambler for being spooky, because when I was standing on the mounting block, the wind blew me off balance once or twice. Although I didn't get to ride, I still played around with the mounting block some so that he doesn't think that he can get out of work by being spooky.

After that, I let Gambler out into the pasture and got some really great pictures of him and Kezi against the fall colors. They were pretending to graze, but they were really sneaking closer and closer to me and my mom.

A few hours later we brought both of them in for their evening grain. Kezi has to have medicine for a tick bite that swelled up hugely, but she refused to eat it, so the barn owner had to make a paste and give it to her like dewormer. 

The lump that is Kezi's infected tick bite.

Here are a few gorgeous fall pictures that I couldn't help but take:

The Best Laid Plans . . .

By now you (and I) should have recognized a pattern: every time I say that I have a plan, God reminds me that I don't run the universe. So no, I didn't ride my horse today. It rained on and off so we just fed the horses and did chores. I also got some fall pictures. The lighting wasn't great, so hopefully I'll get better pics this weekend. 

Gambly was an absolute sweetheart today. For some reason his left side was really itchy, maybe bugs, I'm not sure. When I went out to get pictures he followed me all the way into the far pasture, even leaving Kezi behind, which I though was really sweet.  

1 Day-2 Posts (Part 2)

Today is a an absolutely gorgeous fall day. Remember that post about how much I love fall? Well today is one of those fall days I was talking about. The air is crisp, the leaves are starting to change, the wind is blowing . . .oh. The wind. Gambler's favorite weather in the world world-not!

I was sure I'd have a spastic-crazy horse today. In fact, I was tempted to put off the western saddle another day, but the truth is: if you wait for the right conditions, you'll never get anything done. I'm not sure where I saw that, maybe on Pinterest somewhere. The point is I just have to keep moving forward with Gambler's training, regardless of the inconveniences.

So my mom and I brought in the horses, fed them, and then set up the arena. Since I didn't have anyone to fix jumps/poles for me (usually my brother does that), I had to set everything up in different places. Instead of longeing Gambler in one place and switching out the poles/jumps I set up jumps in different places so that all I had to do was move the circle. The system worked exceptionally well.

I warmed Gambler up by walking and trotting him over poles. I also cantered him over a single pole-an exercise to prepare him for cantering over jumps. So far I have only trotted him over jumps, but I want to try them at the canter soon. When I first got Gamby, I thought that I wouldn't be able to do any training until I could ride him. How wrong I was! I already have a good foundation of dressage and jumping, before ever getting on him. He always picks up his leads, he is exceptional at bending in circles and figure eights, and he is figuring out his balance over jumps too. That being said, I need to stop procrastinating and focus on the riding part of training him.

Once he was supple and listening to me, I groomed him and put on the western saddle. As I tightened the girth, he grunted and my heart dropped. That is what he did when he colicked a few weeks ago. However, he was acting like his cheerful self and had just pooped in his stall, so it was unlikely that he was colicky. My conclusion is that he wanted to see if I would take the saddle off. I finished tightening the girth without any more grunting, which affirmed my conclusion.

Once the saddle was on, I walked and trotted him over a pole in both directions. He was a little racey per usual, but he didn't buck once! The trot pole and jumping work has really paid off, he didn't throw his head up ewe-neck style today. I saw a lot of licking and chewing too, which shows me that he is starting to relax and accept the saddle. I had to go earlier than I would have liked, but overall I am very pleased with his performance today. Even though it was an incredibly windy day--even by my standards--Gambler was calm, relaxed, and responsive!