Source : TED Talks – Simon Sinek : How great leaders inspire action

This is a great opportunity for the training of my two, and I cannot express how rewarding it is to connect with close friends who you “get” and vice versa.

I took Jobi over earlier today and the two of us rode for a while before being joined by one of her young students who is also participating in the Mustang Challenge training her first horse ever. Afterwards I drove back home and picked up Aligarh and deposited him safely into the barn for the evening, although his interpretation of safe may differ from mine – he was calling nervously between munching hay when I left for the night.

2012 Horse Training Goals

Spring is coming fast, and with having enjoyed such a pleasant winter I am eager to get both of these boys moving along. Jobi & Aligarh have very different issues needing address so I will be bounding from one side of the spectrum to the other.

Jobi

Returning to work, Jobi and I will be working on regaining his physical conditioning, communication and connection through the reins and responsiveness to the legs. He has taken on the habit of resisting against the reins and ignoring the legs from being ridden heavy handed and legged. Forward, forward, forward is a major element to working through these issues.

Aligarh

Mr. Greenie is just beginning his riding career, coupled with working through his issues of anxiety and nervousness. He learns very quickly and tries hard so I see him moving along with few bumps in the road.

Horse Weekend

I’m taking the opportunity to begin acclimating Jobi to the double bridle starting this weekend. He is a long way from using the curb of the double, but getting him comfortable to wearing the second bit is not jumping the gun.

If Aligarh is still alive in the morning and has not suffered an anxiety inspired heart attack then all will be right with the universe! ha ha

The benefits of riding without stirrups go beyond the traditional hour long longe lesson. There are a number of subtleties present communicating to the horse with your hands, legs and seat and by separating the aids (i.e. hands without legs, legs without hands) you clarify to the horse your exact intentions as well as simplifying the work you do. Riding without stirrups immediately makes evident just how much you balance on the stirrups and the reins just the same as riding with one rein gives away how much you are correcting your one hand aid with the other hand.

Have you ever known a rider, or been one yourself, who has had an awkward moment on their horse resulting in losing a stirrup and either directly or through trying to regain their lost stirrup they come unseated and end up on the ground? I’ve witnessed it and nearly made it there myself before. Relying on the stirrups can put you in a dangerous position and in order to move on to more advanced riding it is important to remove as many obstacles and chances for failure or injury as possible. The same for removing as many distractions as you can which can impede communication with the horse. What does it say to the horse when we struggle to maintain or regain our foot’s placement in the stirrup during a ride or press into them side to side to maintain our position in the middle of the saddle?

I was riding Jobi last night, ponying Aligarh with Jason aboard when I began thinking about this out of the blue. At some point I recall realizing that riding with stirrups now feels more awkward than riding without, a large reason why I only reach for them when I’m faced with a 12 mile trail ride consistently largely of trotting. An honest confession – although I have the capability of posting and two-point sans stirrups I am not self-loathing enough to force myself to do long periods of either unless necessary.

I was also thinking about the initial trepidation I felt with the thought, “I won’t have my stirrups to fall back on for security,” in 2005.

What might your thoughts or reservations be if you were faced with the idea of never riding with stirrups again? Do you think that you would be more willing to do it if some circumstance were different (if you were a teenager, if you had a quieter horse, if you rode in an enclosed area only, etc)?  I’m not sure I would have been so open minded to relinquishing my stirrups were I faced with the decision today vs seven years ago – but then again I also had a fellow friend and rider to keep me motivated in doing so in the beginning. Love to hear your thoughts…

• Ponying accustoms both horses to being in close proximity to one another and helps to desensitize each other to being bumped by another horse and having their personal space more closely occupied.
• Ponying builds your skills as a rider to manage control and direction of two horses simultaneously – encouraging a greater use of the voice to communicated with the horse being ponied and having to develop more subtle aids in directing the horse you are riding.
• Ponying can be effective in teaching both horses to take turns being the leader and the follower on rides just by adjusting the length of your ponying rope periodically, encouraging a more relaxed atmosphere during group rides.
• Ponying can be used to maximize the quality of physical conditioning during periods of limited riding time. If you are a rider with only a short block of time to exercise several horses in a day and find it increasingly difficult to give each horse the best physical routine ponying can help supplement this by doubling the length of exercise vs. time available.

For me, ponying first became a habit on solo trail rides. My goals were to a) condition two horses for 25 mile rides, and b) train a green horse to become a reliable trail horse. My dilemmas were limited time and the fact that I could not consistently rely upon other riders to join me when taking my green horse out on the trail. To solve the problem I turned to ponying off my experienced trail horse, which allowed my green horse to become comfortable outside of the arena, familiar with differing terrain and new stimulus on the trail, and to build muscle without the stress of a rider initially. Once it was obvious that the ponying routine was working effectively for my green horse I began switching horses for the return ride; riding my experienced horse out to the half-way point, changing tack and riding my green horse back to the trail head. Since my green horse was already in a state of mind to be relaxed about going down the trail and having some miles under him before we switched out he was more than happy to mosey back to the trail head in a relaxed state of mind, while also becoming comfortable having to take over the lead of ponying another horse down the trail.

Now, that green horse of mine is the experienced trail horse ponying young horses.

I am writing this post under “Project Horse” as well because this evening marks the first genuine ride, not just sitting in the saddle, of Aligarh. Things have settled down after a particularly busy holiday / new year season and with the graciously mild winter weather starting this week I had it in my mind to get some ride time with both Jobi and begin it with Aligarh while the mild temps remain. I have a particular distaste for starting youngsters when the temps are too much below freezing – my hands don’t handle the cold well so I have a tendency to lose grip strength.

Aligarh did well, I have not ponied him before so spent some time walking and trotting around the arena with him, changing directions, speed and moving into his space to get him accustomed to being directed by the lead horse, in this case it was Jobi. He was a true natural at it and after 15-20 minutes my boyfriend Jason marched out donning his helmet (standard attire around here for any rider, worth the investment of $30), went through the routine of patting the saddle, making noise with the stirrups, moving the saddle back and forth a bit, jumping up and down, weighing each stirrup and then finally getting on board.

There are some horses that after a time you get a feel for how they are likely to react when first ridden. I have always known in the back of my mind that Aligarh is the sort that will offer a few bucks, not so much out of fear or lack of preparedness, but based on his personality. He is the sort of horse who bucks when he plays, when he is challenged, when he is presented with anything new to his body, when a blade of grass blows in the wind or if the temperature is just cool enough to feel crisp. We got a few walk steps in and then he offered 4-5 bucks, not major, then he stopped. Everyone okay, safe and sound, Jason still soundly aboard and feeling calm about the situation. So we proceeded walking around the arena, changing directions, looping around some intentional obstacles that have been set up for some time. We asked him for some calm halts and then returned to a nice forward walk. As soon as he gave a truly “this is a comfortable thing for me to do” walk and halt I had Jason dismount and that was the event of the night.

I want to come back to what ponying offers when working with the young horse and starting a horse under saddle. I like to compare it to lunging a horse and using leading as step between catching the horse and teaching him to lunge. If you have a young horse who has never been taught to lead you would not expect to catch him and begin teaching him to lunge without first teaching him to be led in from the pasture. Ponying can be like that – a bridge for communication when transitioning from leading/lunging the horse to sitting on his back and giving direction.

A big hurdle for some in training a young horse under saddle is to go forward properly and to respond to the aids quietly and lightly. Ponying allows the horse to be guided in the proper direction and speed while the rider implements the aids they wish to use to communicate these things to the horse. Slowly the rider begins to direct the young horse more and more and the lead rider less and less until the green horse is able to understand clearly what the rider wishes from them. Lunging the young horse with a rider up can also be very effective in this way if the horse has been trained to walk, trot, canter, halt and change directions on the lunge before putting the rider up.

Out of curiosity – do you use ponying yourself and if so how and what benefits do you find in it? Any that are similar or different from what I’ve expressed above?

All of these things are against the nature of the horse. To stay in the saddle best is to sit upright or slightly behind the vertical which helps to plant you in the saddle rather than creating ripe conditions for a catapult when you lean forwards. When we squeeze our legs it helps only to push us out of the saddle than to hold us in it. And when we pull backwards on the reins we incite the horse to move into that pressure by leaning heavily on the bit and to move on the forehand.

Every action of the hand must be executed with intelligent thought because without it we are left only to our ape-like instincts and to pulling backwards on the reins.. or pulling sideways. The most effective actions of the hand are: left to right, right to left, up to down, down to up. Executing these directions in a circular motion only helps to increase their efficacy and to relax the mouth of the horse when he is tense.

My first horse was a Paso Fino, and he loathed the mounting block. Likely because it meant that I would be hoisting my kid body aboard him resulting in some lengthy amount of work and the good chance that he would have to encounter something terrifying (which usually meant just about anything on a given day). I would stand atop that wooden edifice hoping that today would be the day he would finally stand still.

Alas, it was not to be had. I received lots of advice from my instructor and trainer, from other boarders at the barn and so on. Nothing seemed to work. I tried walking him up to the block from the ground and if I could get him lined up sideways with it he would inevitably scoot away and point his head at me once I was actually standing on the block. Moving the block closer to the wall of the arena only meant that he would bolt between the narrow space rather than it working as planned – to prevent him from swinging his butt, and access to the saddle, away from the mounting block.

As a kid the mounting block was more luxury than necessity, and considering the short stature of my horse as well I eventually gave up on the hope of getting on from the mounting block.

Now I know better the benefits of using the mounting block and just how kind it is on the horse… but convincing them of that fact might be something altogether different. The horse who changed my mind on approaching the mounting block was Kitty of Project Thoroughbred. I used the mounting block because she was so tall, in order to rub her back down. She had TERRIBLE muscle pain all along her back and hindquarters and really this was the only effective way to get to those areas.

Initially she was not keen on the mounting block, but as soon as she found out it meant a back massage she was all for it! This is how I tackle all mounting block endeavors now. It all starts with a back massage, a much better association with the mounting block than the idea of work..

Besides, when is the last time you refused a back massage?

On some of my youtube videos posted showing me longing Aligarh his very first time a couple years ago I receive a LOT of comments asking questions on how to fix various problems that show up for people when they attempt to longe their horse. Most of them come back to the fact that the proper walk has not been developed when the horse is being led, so of course it is more difficult to create it from scratch at a distance on the longe – and it is the walk which will correct most of the basic problems that show up. A vicious cycle.

Walking drives the horse’s attention back to you, helps to calm him and promote straightness… when done properly and that is the key. What is proper walking anyways? It isn’t just a lazy stroll through the pasture, it is walking with a purpose. Akin to speed walking but length of stride being more important than speed. It all goes back to the all important tracking.

A proper walk cures a horse of being spooky, distracted, hesitant or insecure, inconsistent, both dullness and being hyper-sensitive and I’ve found it also makes a great activity to bond over with a new horse. Essentially it is like an apple a day, helps keep the doctor away in regards to training problems… go ahead, take your horse out for a walk. I just got back from one!

This still happens? I imagine the result of this training to be a horse who is unattached to humans, works based off repetitive cues rather than the conversation with the rider, and that avoids being caught to go for a ride. And I’m not certain the purpose of having her jump over a barrel when first being started under a rider, is it the prevention of bucking?

Wait, she’s a competitor in the Extreme Mustang Makeover competition, quality must be sacrificed for the sake of time in order to win the cash prize… can you tell I am not a fan? The horse has to be the priority, and here it is clearly money first and horse second (or third).

I work a lot of horses on the lunge, which has been my primary endeavor this week, and it also happened to be a rare situation in which I was glove-less. I have been using riding gloves EVERY TIME I work with a horse for the past 6 years, no exceptions, until this week. I managed to lose one glove, threw the other away only to find its missing match a few days later when it was too late. No time to make a run to the tack store in the meantime and horses in need of being worked.

Handling the lunge rope and the reins without gloves felt, well, awful. It simply did not run freely through my hands at will as they had when I wore gloves. My fingers seemed to almost stick incomprehensibly to the reins or the lunge line at the most inappropriate times, truly compromising the signals I was attempting to make. The fumbled and fought against one another in an effort to the correct the sticky fingers problem to no avail.

Then, I wandered humbly down to Wal-Mart in a moment of quick desperation. Still no time to make a lengthy drive to the tack store and unwilling to wait for them to arrive in the mail, I did the unthinkable – I bought a pair of softball gloves in lieu of the real McCoy. Do they work? You bet. Are they as nice, no way. But the $12 price tag will make up for the over-sized wrist adjustment. They don’t have to look pretty, just get the job done. (And they certainly beat out the cost of my last pair at a whopping $70 + shipping.)

Ideally I will admit, a pair of golfer’s gloves. They are far less bulky around the wrist and tend to have a very buttery soft leather that lends itself to tactile sensations. The softball gloves are still thin enough to feel through, just that awkward velcro strap at the wrist will likely bug me for the better part of another two weeks. Still, my Super Wal-Mart only had left-handed golfer’s gloves in stock.

Magically, my hands returned to their former self. My horses were eternally grateful as well as they immediately responded with consistency and lightness once again. They were no longer being jabbed in the face with my sticky fingers.

Gloves, in my opinion and experience, are a vital piece of equipment despite their diminutive size. They allow your hands to freely manage the reins or lunge line or lead rope while providing extra grip if and/or when needed. Mentally for the rider I believe they also inspire a confidence that can be lacking without them. You no longer need to worry about whether you will ever be put in a position to receive rope burn, or if you’ll be able to grip the rope/rein as it slides through your hands. You exert less effort and in return your hands can work more delicately and promote further lightness in the horse.

This is a great example of how playful horses are naturally… and definitely the best alternative to watching the gory display of a bull fight.