In Which Carmen Makes a Bid for Boss Mare

Don't worry she fails. 

I've noticed a marked increase in her confidence level. She leaves Irish to graze and doesn't seem to care when she's in the barn with me and he's outside. 

Carmen is also listening much better and not so worried about what's going on around her. Yesterday I was lunging her before the rain started and it was quite windy. She was going along and then suddenly slammed on the brakes and ran backwards a few strides before stopping. She looked at me. I stood still. 

'No' I said 

'Something fluttered' she reported

'yes I know. It flutters a lot but if it comes in the ring I will take care of it'

'Okay'

and she trotted right back to work. 

Now about her bid. I was doing my night time chores and her hay rack was empty. I was dealing with Irish first and this did not impress her. As I walked by I heard her snap her teeth at me from behind. 

I stopped and looked at her. 

you better not have done what I thing you've done

She looked at me ' wasn't me. It was probably Irish'

Irish 'do not bring me into this -I know better'

I stood there for a minute and she poked me with her nose- she didn't open her mouth but it was 'bite like' I responded immediately by sending her out of my space. She backed right off. I carried on with my tasks. This morning she tried to move me out of her space in the stall and I sent her off again. 

I truly don't mind that she's testing boundaries. I look at it as part of her growth in self-confidence. 

However, I am boss mare. 

Period. I will not tolerate rudeness in anyone and that includes my horses and dogs. I prefer to respond to the mild cues so that it doesn't escalate. I find horses send a million signs before they escalate to something dangerous. Sometimes it's easy to miss. I may very well have missed a couple. The trick is to react quickly and then move on. I don't need to send her away and then cuddle her and nor do I need to over react with anger. 

Tonight, her manners were perfect. I suspect that there might be one or two more tests that I don't intend to fail. 

Life Lessons

Discipline is based on pride, on meticulous attention to details and on mutual respect and confidence. Discipline must be a habit so ingrained that it is stronger than the excitement of the goal or the fear of failure ~ Gary Ryan Blair

This is the life lesson that I am learning with Carmen. She is smart, sensitive and reactive. I have always considered myself to be disciplined. And that is partly true. What I am is driven. That has worked for most of my life. Now it's time for me to figure out how to be disciplined with Carmen.  I have to put my excitement aside and take it one step at a time.

I am learning to trust my instincts in how we progress and it's paying off. What I am also learning is that when I'm with her she must have 100% of my attention. She knows the instant my attention wanders and does not like it.

What I realized yesterday is that I must also ride her with a plan for every stride. Otherwise she makes decisions and then becomes annoyed if I disagree. That makes sense to me. Learning to do it in practice is hard but coming along.

 I was very happy with our ride yesterday. I rode her without Irish in the ring and she was so tuned into to me that it was clear to her when my attention wandered and she made it clear to me that she did not like it. Not that she did anything bad but she would become tense and rushed. As soon as I focussed she relaxed and listened. It was so black and white that I'd have to be dim to not recognize it.

Our confidence in each other is growing:

• We seemed to have formed a truce with the trolls in Troll-Corner. While not perfect she was willing to accept that they may not leap out and eat her at any second. 
• She was able to stand quietly in the cross ties without having to see Irish
• After I took her out to hose her off and she had her drink from the hose- it's quite comical to watch 

So that is my new code of conduct: focus, attention, patience. 

bed head

Third Time's the Charm

Working with a talented, sensitive mare is not for sissies. I'm learning that working with Carmen is a game of inches. I've been working on making small, progressive steps and being satisfied that I'm on the right path and that learning to go slow is good for me. 

I've also realized that I need to work with her much more often and consistently. It's been hard- between work and the weather- to schedule ring time. I've decided that I need to be more playful about it. This requires me to look at the weekly weather forecast and my weekly schedule and plan what days I'm going to work with her. My goal is for it to be5-6 times per week. Even if it's just 15 minutes of lunging.

Which brings me to the title of this blog post.

Tuesday I rushed home from work and ran into the house. As I came downstairs in my riding clothes Ed looked at me and said 'what about supper?'.

'Save some for me' I said and headed out to the barn. I brought the horses in and tacked up Carmen. I wasn't sure if I would actually ride but I wanted to be ready. In the end I didn't ride. The wind was wild and Carmen was not impressed with the blowing leaves and branches. I decided that the day was about helping her to relax despite the 'dangers' around her. She wasn't so sure that this was a good goal but I persevered. There is this one corner that she's convinced is occupied by trolls.
Carmen: "invisible, underground trolls. those are the most dangerous and you don't appreciate that I'm trying to save both of our lives"

The trick is to work her gradually closer and not feed the trolls fear. By the end we were better. Not great. But better. I decided to be happy with that.

Wedsnesday, Cynthia came down to ride and spend the night. We tacked up the horses and headed up to the ring. This time she was much better with the troll-corner. After working with her on the ground I mounted up- after repeating our mounting block exercises from Sunday. I worked on steering and getting her to go to more places in the ring and still listen to me. This required me to be steady in the saddle and steady with my aids. Not easy with a wiggly, squirmy, looky horse. But I persevered and we got better. At the end I was walking her out with Irish and I wanted to get her to walk by the troll corner. I figured that Irish could help settle her. And she did well- we walked right by. then something caught her eye from behind (Carmen: it was a troll- it was coming at us) and she scooted forward, spooking Irish. He was not impressed. After we rode we untacked the horses and let them graze on the grass at the edge of the ring. That was Cynthia's brilliant idea to get Carmen feeling more comfortable. And it seemed to work. However, overall Wednesday was much better than Tuesday.

After feeding the horses we went out to dinner in Lunenburg. I had some of the best scallops I've had in a long time. A good dinner and a good glass of wine ensured that I had a great sleep.

Thursday  morning I awoke bright and early. I had the day off and wanted to sleep in but I was wide awake at six a.m. After coffee and breakfast we got the horses ready. I could see right away that Carmen was feeling relaxed and mellow.  And this mood carried over to the ring. We did our ground work and troll-corner was much better. I could actually get her into the corner without a battle or distraction. Her trot and canter on the lunge were very steady and relaxed. She wasn't completely tracking up at the trot but I liked the rhythm so much and how relaxed she was I left it alone.

I mounted up and we walked off. I could feel right away that she was tuned into me. For the first time I felt like I was actually schooling her. I could work on bend and transitions. She resisted our first walk-trot transition but I just kept asking her and we steadied out. The next time it was just from my seat. We did figure 8's and changes of rein. I even asked her for a canter and it was lovely. I was able to just sit there and ride the motion. After a while I brought her back to trot and then walk. For the first time I felt comfortable enough to give her the full rein to stretch out. Up to now I've kept a bit 'just in case'. She stretched out and walked along. She doesn't stay long and low  for long but it'll come.

I finished by asking her her to spiral in on the circle and leg yield out at the walk. She wasn't sure what I wanted but I kept it low key and we got some beautiful leg-yield steps. I immediately stopped and hopped off. I untacked her in the ring and let her graze for a bit.

I was so happy- for the first time I felt like I was actually training and not just working on keeping her calm. It's clear that she's enjoyed it as well. After, when I turned her out, she stayed hanging out with us as I did some barn chores. It reinforces my thought that she needs regular work with me and we'll be fine.

Steady Improvement

After my ride Friday I was excited to ride on Saturday. Mother Nature, however, had other ideas and she brought in steady and drenching rain. I thought that I might just take Carmen up to the ring after the rain stopped but I ended up getting upset by something and thought that it would be a bad idea to carry that into the ring. Instead I brought her out into the cross ties and we did a beauty session.

As I brushed her and took the tangles out of her tail I found myself getting calmer and calmer. I even tried french braiding her mane. I've been letting it grow out and it's almost long enough to do her full neck. As I was braiding her I saw that she was just standing there, one leg cocked, soaking up the attention and realized that that was success too.

Today dawned sunny and clear so once Cynthia arrived we headed out to get the horses. This time Carmen walked up and sniffed the sand pile (of death). As she sniffed it she seemed to be saying 'oh this isn't anything'

In the ring we started with our in hand work and she immediately relaxed into it. Not that she wasn't spooky in places but she was so much more settled and focussed. She snorted and blew and just seemed to be understanding and relaxing into the work. We lunged up and down the ring and she was very good.

We walked over to the side of the ring and I slipped off her halter and put on her bridle. I then walked to the middle of the ring and did some work on getting her to yield to the bit. She does much better on the left than on the right and I thought that I would try some carrot stretches later to see if she could learn what I wanted.

My next task was to tackle standing at the mounting block. I don't like it when horses walk off as or right after I mount. I decided that the best way to work on this was to not worry about mounting (I know, I know, I can be slow sometimes). So what I did was ask her to walk to the block and stand. I then gave her some pats and then we walked off. After repeating that a few times I introduced the idea of me positioning her at the block- I used a dressage whip so I could stand at her head but ask her to yield her quarters over to the block. Then more scratches and we walk off. After a few of these I stood on the block and then put my foot into the stirrup. She began to walk off. I simply hopped off and we repeated the above. Then I put my foot in the stirrup and mounted. She stood there. I reached forward and scratched her on her favourite spot. She wiggled her lip. Cynthia looked at us.
"ta dah" I smiled. And then asked her to walk off.

The next step was for me to be ride with clear intention so she knew what I was asking. What I figured out is that if we disagree- say like when she wants to follow Irish and I say no- she gets tense and then she's far more likely to find something to spook at. I can feel her looking around. I don't think that it's deliberate -I'll show you- kind of thing, but more that when she's tense she's far more reactive. Keeping her mind busy and my body relaxed seems to be the key to working through that. When she's not sure about going forward I find small, short aids work better - she does not like to be squeezed.

I worked on riding her around the ring and keeping her with me. At one point we were trotting and she picked up a canter. Rather than argue I decided to go with it and rode it a few circles and then brought her back to the trot. Then we walked and halted.
okay we're done
umm, no. we're not. 
yes. I walked, I trotted, I cantered. We're done. 
I think we can do more. 
Really? 
So I asked her to walk off. I even gave her a long rein- this is the first time I could trust that she wouldn't spook on me.

I was smiling as I dismounted.

We're getting there.

Changing the Topic of Conversation.

Carmen and I did some work yesterday in the ring. I haven't been able to work her since Monday because of weather and work. It's not ideal to have long breaks and I'm going to work out a plan so that doesn't happen too often. However, sometimes it cannot be helped.

I got her tacked up and we headed up to ring. This required us walking past the sand pile (of death). I thought that there might be a bit of an issue because of how close we had to go to it but she besides a brief hesitation she walked right by. She stopped twice going up to the ring but I let her know that she was to keep going.

I started as always asking her to walk in hand and listen to me. Her attention came and went. There's this one corner that she spooks at and today was no different. As we walked by she tried to bolt past. After a few pa
sses I realized that I was just telling her 'no' and usually too late. I needed to change our conversation from 'Run AWAY'  'No!' to something different. I thought about what I do under saddle- and that's to address the behaviour not the spook. With the spook she would drop her inside shoulder, change her bend and try to cut me off in her desire to get away. So that's what I addressed. I didn't worry about the speed as such but rather that she needed to bend away. It took a few passes and I won't say that she magically improved but she got significantly better.

We then lunged for a bit and she was good. So it was time to get on. The first time at the mounting block she walked off. So I brought her around a few times asking her to just stand. Once we had that I got on. The first little bit was 'interesting'. She was more interested in choosing the pace, direction and everything else. I felt like I was constantly arguing with her.  Once Cynthia came by and heard me growl at her and asked 'oh is she being ADD?'
'No' I said. 'She's quite clear what she wants to do. It's just not what I want'.

And then I realized- all I was doing was telling what to not do but I wasn't letting her know what I wanted her to do.  So I decided that I needed to change our topic again. I began to ignore everything and focus on being clear on what I wanted- which was steering, brakes and gait control. And things got better after that. Not perfect. But better. A few times she sped up her trot and I did my level best to keep my posting slow so that she would come back to me. I realized that if she was all over the place I needed to be the steady centre for her find.

I found a good note and then dismounted. She stood there with a soft expression and droopy lip. She felt quite relaxed and looked pretty pleased with herself.  Even when Irish left the ring ahead of her she stood quite relaxed.

I've decided that I need a plan for our summer and am working on that now.

what are these plans you're talking about? 

Trust

Yesterday we had a load of sand delivered. I had arranged for the person to just dump it behind the barn and we would deal with it ourselves.  Besides seeing that it was there I didn't think too much about it.

This morning, I opened the stall doors (as per usual) and Irish came out into the small paddock (as you may recall the small paddock has a short corridor that leads out to the grass paddock). Carmen started to come out and then suddenly swerved sideways coming up against the fence.
well that was strange I thought.

Irish looked at her, shrugged (yes horses can shrug but it's more a feeling then a gesture) and moseyed out to the grass pasture. Carmen started to follow and then ran backwards. It was obvious that she was on high alert.

I looked around and then, aha! I realized that it was the pile of sand, aka the horse eating blob that-is-not-to-be-trusted. She couldn't figure out how to get out the field with Irish without going by and she was not following Irish. I was surprised by that.

So now I had a few options to consider.

I could leave her to figure it out on her own. Which she probably would have.

I could halter her and lead her by.

both of those options also could have ended up with her in a total tizzy.

I decided to do something different. As Carmen was heading back into her stall I took a step towards the gate. She stopped and then took a step towards me. I took two more steps and she came right behind me. I made sure that I was taking slow but confident steps. I didn't look at her or speak. I simply walked towards the gate and the corridor to the field. She followed right behind me until we got to the entrance of the field and trotted off. She began to graze but keeping an eye of the new threat. I walked over and stood by the pile and she watched me curiously.

I then carried on with my day.

It was such a small thing- having her follow me by the big scary object with no halter, lead or pressure from me.

But it feels big.

Why I didn't Ride

Today was supposed to rain and I figured that I wouldn't be able too. However, it was clear and bright in the morning so I put on my riding gear and headed out to the field. The wind was gusting strongly and blowing everything around.

Carmen came right up to me and I put on her halter and led her to the barn. Irish gave a sigh and followed. He looked resigned when I put the gate up on the small paddock. I brought Carmen into the barn and she was as good as gold, none of the fuss that she gave yesterday. As I was grooming her Irish came into his stall and hung out.

And then he left. Carmen got upset at that but settled right away. I realized that the wind was going to make the arena a very different environment than yesterday. There are bushes, trees, tall grass etc all of which would be in full motion with the wind. I quickly formulated a plan for our work and then shared it with Carmen:
"the goal for today is for you to learn that even if everything is blowing around that there is nothing at all to worry about up there. K?"
She looked at me but didn't venture an opinion.

Sure enough as we walked up and into the ring it was clear that she was really worried about the way everything was being blown. I started with us in hand and then went on to lunging. There were good and bad moments but I was so impressed with how she would come back to me. I worked on being calm and clear. I'm not sure that I succeeded completely but I was trying so I'll give myself points for that. We alternated with in hand and lunge work. Once something really spooked her and she bolted away on the lunge. I didn't move and spoke softly to her and she never pulled against the line and came back to work like a good girl. However, it was clear that she was highly distractible and tense.  I decided that the riding was not a good idea today and I should end on a good note.

When we finished she followed me down to the barn as calm and happy as could be. She was quite sweaty so I took her out and hosed her off. She's funny about the hose- when it first comes on she jumps (even though it's pointed away from her) but doesn't mind being washed. She was even drinking from the stream.

I turned her out and she had a good roll and then settled to grazing. When I walked over the fence rail she came up to say hi.

So even though I never sat on her, it seemed to me that we accomplished quite a bit. Johanna advised me that you should solve all riding problems from the ground. I used to view it as a failure if I didn't ride but not anymore.

At least that's my story

I want to be sure before I tried to ride this movement :)