The Sun Is On My Side

Finally, daylight savings time has reversed (or however that works) and I have time to spend with Gambler. The sun doesn't set until 5:20ish, which gives me at least half an hour on school nights.

Gambler in his stall tonight. 

I went out to see Gambler again on Sunday and today. Both days we had really good sessions. Right now I'm leading him primarily from the right (off) side because he prefers the left. He's catching on fast. I'm discovering just how in tune to my emotions he is. If I watch him to see how he's reacting to me or am unsure of myself he puts up a fuss, but if I just do my thing and expect him to be okay with it, he complies.

In the cross-ties on Sunday.

He's continuing to improve with regard to picking out his feet. I can pick them all out without anyone holding him again, but he kicks out and moves around a lot. He's the worst with his front right foot, but I'll say more about that later.

Playing around with the bridle. 

He's been quite energetic. I can't say I'm surprised, since he's coming back into work after a month or so off. There has been much kicking up of the heels when I longe him, but I don't mind. He's been respectful of my space and listens to my commands, so he can throw in the aerobics if he wants to.

I've continued to put the bareback pad on every day and right now he isn't reacting to the cinch much if at all.

I've also done a good bit of mounting prep with him. I'm trying to find the balance between moving slow enough for him to be comfortable, but fast enough that he can't get bored. So far, so good, but it's only been two days.

There is one issue which I need to address. When I ask Gambler to yeild his forequarters - something dominant horses are notoriously bad at - he flips his head, pins his ears, strikes with a front foot, and if I keep pushing, rears. He is worst when I am on his right side, which is the foot he doesn't like me to pick up. He is also more rude during mounting prep when I am near that part of his body. That one issue is a roadblock in most of the areas I've been working on. It's definitely my next subject of focus.

Merry Christmas

I had to laugh to myself, while posing for these pictures. Just a few months ago I was reading other people's old blog posts and laughing at their snowless Christmas photos. Well, here I am, posting snowless Christmas pictures. Do I live in Wisconsin or Florida?

I arrived at the barn today to see a very photogenic Gambler. 

Everyday that I go to the barn he walks up to the fence to meet me. I think he just wants his food.

Gah, those gorgeous white eyelashes . . .

You can see his double-swirl here. One in between his eyes, the other up and to the right.

Kezi, are you coming?

But when I stood him in front of some pretty trees (the horse-eating trees to be specific) and stuck a bow on his head, we could not get a good picture!

He wouldn't hold still for the camera to focus.

He wouldn't stop yawning.

Hiding my face and licking the lead rope.

If the yawning wasn't bad enough, I have a ridiculous look on my face.

I love him anyway.

"Would you just stop it? Seriously?"

Then we got to work. I started by putting the bareback pad on Gambler. He was much better about the cinching process today. He didn't move around (as much), grunt, or bite. He didn't even put up a fuss when I tightened the girth later. I'm never sure what to call the cinch/girth/thing on the bareback pad, because it doesn't look like a cinch or a girth.

I led Gambler around, because he needed refreshing. I want him to get really good at walking when I walk, turning when I turn, and stopping when I stop; on and off line. He used to be good at it, but we haven't played that game recently.

Creepy flash eyes.

I dragged a couple poles out of winter storage to make things more interesting. Twice when I hopped over the caveletti, Gambler jumped it too. He didn't have to jump them, they were small and we were only walking over them. He chose to follow my body language, which is exactly what I want him to do.

Another thing that I have been planning to try is walking with him with longeing him. Normally I stand still and ask Gambler to circle me, but I realized that I want more control of his body, which can only be done when walking beside him on the circle. So today I started following him while he was longeing. At first he was confused, but he figured it out and I think that he'll catch on quickly. 

I asked Gambler to trot over one of the cavalettis a couple times. He didn't want to and he kept tripping on the frozen ground, so I let him walk for the rest of the day.

After that, I did some mounting prep. At first Gambler was really relaxed, more relaxed than he has been in a long time. He was licking and chewing even when I was leaning on his back. You could almost hear him saying: "Oh this, I can handle doing this again."

When I jumped over his back sideways his reaction was more like: "What is this? I didn't say you could cross that line!"

 One step forward, two steps back. But he is did much better today than the last time we tried. He is improving every day.

Another Rambling Post

 I've now had Gambler for eight months. He has come a long way from the awkward four-year-old who had been sitting in the pasture. I've built a relationship with him that I have never had with another horse. But we still have a long way to go. Even though I know the general goals that I am working towards, sometimes I get out there with him and I cannot think of anything to do. So I'm going to write down some things I need to work on. I hope that writing them down will help me remember.

So what do I need to focus on with Gambler? I need to gain control of his feet on the ground. Not just in circles (which is boring and detrimental to his joints) but in lines, shapes, figures. I need to work on yields in a way he thinks is fun. I'm going to try using yields to turn. He might like that. I really want Gambler to learn to side-pass and spin from the ground. It will help a lot when trying to teach him from the saddle if he already knows how to move. We've started on it a little, but he doesn't enjoy them. The last time I asked for a side-pass I got a rear.

I think if I keep myself in a high-energy, playful mood when I am with Gambler he will feed off of it and enjoy himself more. For instance, I want to try running with him when I ask for an upward transition, or seeing if he will “cut” me like a cow. If he learns to enjoy imitating my body language, I can teach him to carry himself through example, like a mother teaches her foal. I should also wrap him and do the exercises/stretches the chiropractor gave me in July, which help with self-carriage.

The feet are priority right now, as well as the cinchiness/mounting issue. The whole mounting thing . . .I have mixed feelings. Part of me says to take it slow. The other part of me says Gambler is only acting up because he's bored and if I just jump up there and show him it's not so bad he'll progress faster. Maybe I'm moving too slowly for him. But if he can't hold still to be mounted, how is he going act when being ridden?

I also need to work on leading from the right . . .ugh I've been so lazy with that, it's not okay. Gambler is less comfortable with me on his right side, and I've only made it worse by not addressing the issue. Another thing I've been lazy about is teaching him to trot next to me. I think the problem has been that when he gets ahead of me I stop. I need to keep going when he gets ahead, and maybe turn to the inside or something like that that redirects his motion, instead of stopping it. I need to lead him at the trot for several minutes. It would be good exercise for both of us.

I think using two lines while I longe him will prepare him for ground driving. He needs to learn that all pressure on his halter doesn't mean back up though. I've done the exercise where you wrap the rope around him and ask him to unravel himself, but for some reason he never has figured it out. If I don't give him the answer by yielding his forequarters in the right direction he just backs up rapidly. My theory is he needs consistency. I'll try to do that exercise every time I see him. Along those lines I need to regularly practice lateral flexion.

Well that's not all of it, because you can never run out of things to improve, but it's a start. A lot of things things rely heavily on good footing/weather conditions, so I'll have to see what happens. The weather today was insane. First, it thunderstormed. Then it thundersleeted. Then it thundersnowed. Then the sun came out and melted everything. Finally, it started snowing again. Who knows what else will happen today. I can't say that I mind. I think the bipolar weather makes life that much more interesting. 

Lessons (Never) Learned

You'd think by now I'd know that whenever I plan out my session with Gambler something will cause it to go awry. But that is a lesson I never seem to learn. Today I thought it all out. If the ground was frozen, I'd stick to picking up his feet and mounting prep. If the footing was okay, I'd play stick-to-me on line. However, when I got to the barn Kezi and Gambler were in the weirdest mood. Think playful and grumpy; spooky and chill. I guess they just didn't like the cold and the wind.

Watching me through the window.

Zoooooom!

Having an argument.

Anyway, I tried to lure them out of the arena into the pasture with a little handful of hay so that I could close off the arena (in case anyone is wondering, the arena is part of the pasture that can be sectioned off). Usually this works, but today instead of eating the hay, they just followed me around bucking, kicking, squealing, pinning their ears at each other, kicking each other. You name it, they were doing it. I would have just asked my Mom to hold them while I shut the fence, but she was running a quick errand. Instead I decided to bring them in and feed them. I could take Gambler into the arena if I still had light afterwards, or just pick out his feet in the cross-ties. 

I prepared their grain and opened the gate to let them into the barn. The way the barn is set up, the one gate opens straight into the pasture. Each horse knows where his (or her) stall is so all I have to do is open the door. Well today Kezi and Gambler ignored their grain, trotted all the way to one end of the barn, then spun around and trotted all the way back out. They would have come back in again, but I shut the gate and told them sternly, "You have to stop acting so ditsy first!"

So I stood there and waited. They seemed to lose interest in getting fed. They just stood stock still looking out to pasture. To give you an idea of how still they were (like horsie statutes) I got several pictures of Gambler's face in focus, even in the bad lighting. On most occasions it is very hard to get a good picture of Gambler's face because he never stops moving.

Check out those dapples. I'm excited to see if Gambler will grey out any more, or stay this color permanently.

Abruptly, Kezi and Gambler headed out into the pasture. Then they came back again. I got a really nice video of Gambler cantering back, but the camera spazzed out because of the cold and it was lost. 

When they got back I attempted to let them into the barn again. This time they just stood there and looked at me like I was crazy. "Why would you possibly want us to go into the barn we always go into at the time we always go into it and eat the grain we always eat?"

Then my mom got back. Of course, when she opened the gate they walked into their stalls like perfectly normal horses. I see how it is!

I asked my mom to hold Gambler while I picked out his hooves so that she could back him up when he misbehaved. I picked out three of the four today! I was very happy to see that his back feet weren't nasty, because I haven't picked them out for weeks and I was starting to worry about thrush. I had no reason to worry. Both back feet look fine and the one I picked out hardly had anything in it. Gambler will now let me pick out his front left foot without complaint and his back left and front right foot with complaint. That one foot, the back left, is his worst. He still does not like to have me pick it up and has a tendency to kick out. 

All in all, it wasn't a bad day, even though it didn't go according to plan. Gambler is improving and I am enjoying myself. Really, that's all that matters.