Regardez Moi

(look at me)

I'm still processing some take aways from the clinic but I want to share with you the one that seems to be the most effective for us and fits right into the plan I have built for Carmen.

*****Note that this is my understanding and how I am applying what I am learning. If there are errors they are mine and not the clinicians'. If you are interested I would suggest getting someone who knows it to work with you. ***

During the circle time at the beginning Nikki explained that they do not use the term 'respect' anymore when it comes to horses. She said that they instead use the term 'regard'. And by this they mean that the horse is paying attention to the handler and looking to them for guidance. When a horse spooks and runs over the handler or bumps into them it's not becuase they lack respect, it's because they are not paying any attention to them whatsoever.

I heard a small bell go off in my head when I heard this. When it was my turn I explained that Carmen and I had come a long way and I am working on cleaning up the residual issues. I also said that I didn't anticipate that she would have any concern about the obstacles (except maybe the curtain blowing in the wind) but that she would be concerned about the trees/rocks/birds etc outside of the ring.

Nikki told me to head there with her when it was our turn and she would coach me through getting her focus on me. I brought Carmen up to the corner closest to the piles of wood and trees and began to work on the ground work exercises. She was doing (in my mind) really well with them. Nikki came up and watched for a bit and then said- 'she's not really focussed on you though is she?' 
I looked and saw that, indeed, Carmen was attending to the outside.

Nikki explained that Carmen would tune into me for a brief time and then go back to paying attention to the environment. And that needed to flip: she should be attending to me and only briefly looking outside and then back to me.

The exercise seemed to be pretty simple: apply pressure to do something when she was distracted and remove it when she attended. The pressure would start soft and then increase until I had a response. The goal was that Carmen would be focusing on me and, if distracted,. would come back and soon as I moved or gave a tiny cue.  The simplist is to get her to circle around me bent to the inside. Ask with a soft cue (like moving towards her haunch), to whip or hand approaching, to touching to tapping to strong taps. It was clear that at first Carmen required a strong stimulus. Soon though she would be responding to softest of movement.

Even more interesting is that as we did this she began to soften all over- her eye started blinking rapidly (a cue that they are processing) and then her whole outline lost tension and she stayed quiet and calm.

she chose to walk on the tarp, I did not urge her at all- I just offered it

And pretty much stayed like that for the rest of weekend. With one exception - in the afternoon of the second day we were in a different corner and there was a large white rock. I simply repeated the focus exercise until she tuned back. What was really cool was that as we progressed through the obstacles in hand I no longer needed to 'baby sit'. I could give a length of rope and simply ask her to step on. She could avoid if she chose but instead she would simply go on it.

under saddle- note the attention is on the rock and she's trying
to bend away. I had to up my pressure to get the bend and then relax (PC Donna)

The trick though, was doing this at home although I could see how it would be of great help.

On monday morning I tacked up (I know, riding the poor pony after the clinic, I'm such a meanie!) and walked her up to the ring. I could see right away that she had very little regard for me- her focus was on the tress/grass/birds. So I repeated what I had learned in the clinic. It took a bit, likely for two reasons:
1. This is new and I'm still learning. It's not about the task, it's about the focus. In the past I was happy if she was out on a circle listening to me, now I needed her to be aware of me all the time.

2. this looking around is ingrained and is not going to disappear magically because I went to a clinic. It takes work.

It took about 10 minutes before I could get the response I was looking for in every part of the ring. Then I got on.

total attention while standing in the water box (PC Donna)

I had to repeat the same things riding into the distracting areas- leg on and rein asking to bend keeping the pressure up until she responded (a 'try') and then immediately release. We rested when she gave me a good try.  Honestly it didn't take long and when she cantered through the problem area without a hint of tension I halted her and jumped off.

I repeated it all last night and it happened even faster. Carmen was standing in troll corner with a leg cocked and not because she was tired.

It's all about us regarding each other- it's not about the birds or the leaves or the grass that rustles. If  Carmen and I can stay together when another horse is pushing a flintstone car behind us and another is throwing a tantrum in front we can totally get this.

We're off to a show this weekend at Carol's.  I'm really looking forward to addressing all the spooky areas. That is my goal for the tests: to have her focus 99% of the time. And to get it back the other .1%.

on the moving platform- NBD (PC Donna)

Cool, Calm and Confident

I am back from a most wonderful weekend.

Carmen and I were off to an 'Ultimate Trail Clinic'. We did one last year and had a blast (well except for the food poisoning). This year my friend Cindy (not the one who rides Irish) brought her pretty cremello morgan mare. I stayed at Cindy's and we brought the horses to the clinic each day. That allowed them to stretch their legs in the field in the evening and be close to home. Summer finally decided to show up this weekend and it was hot. 

I really enjoy playing with obstacles and I was excited to attend the clinic again. I really like how Mike and Nikki approach training. It's all about rewarding the 'try.'

The morning of the first day we all talked about our goals and then worked on groundwork. Nikki helped Carmen and I work on establishing 'focus'. The idea is that Carmen was to have her attention on me and not on all the things that could distract her.

That afternoon we practiced the obstacles in hand. The second morning we reviewed the in-hand work and then did it mounted.

look how hard she's concentrating here

This platform rolled when you walked on it and off it.
she didn't care at all

I was blown away with how well Carmen was. Like totally blown away. She was completely calm, focussed and willing. She enjoyed the obstacles so much and as the weekend progressed began to 'hunt' them. It helped that we used them as places to rest, not just things to practice. Even the tarp curtains blowing around were a non-issue.

Here's Mike explaining how to make the obstacles a great place to be.

So once we established how to do the obstacles I would 'work' in the ring and seek out one of them to 'rest'. Once when Carmen and I were standing on one I asked her if she wanted to step off . She started to and then said 'no thank you. I'm good'.

Her favourite thing was pushing the flintstone car. She really liked making it move and watching the barrels turn. In the far corner there was a 'well'. It was a barrel with a winch attached to a bucket. In the bucket were fake flowers. I would turn the winch and Carmen was intrigued. Then she tried to inspect the bucket. She was sure that there must be a treat in there. I was afraid she would pull out the flowers and wreck it so I quickly lowered it back down. Carmen looked at me:
Hey, bring that back!
No, you are going to eat the flowers.
There's something in there, I tell you. Bring it back, I can find it. 

yes, we are pushing a car past a blowing tarp towards trees

There was a man with a lovely chestnut mare who had a melt down in the ring. She was quite determined that she wasn't going to one end of the ring and nothing was going to make her.  I watched the man ride her and (with a ton of help), deal with her. After I went up to him and explained that Carmen had presented with all the same things that he had dealt with. He looked at me in surprise. I think it gave him hope.

 What I realized is that Carmen is no longer the spooky, uncertain horse she was. She was confident and happy and really relaxed. Despite being in two new places. The location of the clinic was next to a mill- full of equipment, machinery, piles of wood and strange contraptions. She didn't even blink. What she did take exception to was a large granite rock outside the ring. (she still is Carmen after all).   That's what people saw.

On Sunday afternoon we all did a mock show. I asked someone to video our ride. I was surprised to see that it was just 2 minutes- it felt a lot longer. Carmen and I tied for third. :)

I am so happy with both of us right now.

The Not-Obvious Gifts for Horse People

I think that Ed is beginning to believe that horse people are weird.

Or maybe he just thinks that I'm weird.

I'm not talking about the gifts that seem logical- like saddle pads, brushes or gift cards for tack stores. I'm taking about the ones that seem to be less exciting to non-horse people.

Over the years I have asked for some gifts that at first glance may seem a bit 'odd'. I know this because when I share it with others they get this look that says 'and you were happy to receive that?'

For example, this is the best ring I ever received (and no I don't view my wedding ring as the best one because the best gift from that Ceremony was Ed and our lives together not the symbol).  Ed and I installed the footing ourselves. He put the fence (with help from a friend) and painted it because I was going to be backing a young horse and wanted a barrier.

 put a ring on it.

A few years ago, shortly after we moved to the farm Ed asked me what I wanted for my birthday (he doesn't like to guess, it stresses him out). Without hesitation I said 'a tool box and my own tools. Including a power drill and attachments'.  He looked at me for a few minutes and then said 'is this a trap?'  Nope, it wasn't. I was thrilled with my tools and love doing small repairs around without bothering him to do it. He used to look worried watching me go and would ask if I needed help. Now he doesn't - he knows I will ask if I'm unsure (but I'm sure he checks out what I've done after). 

Other gifts that have excited me include: 

• Jump standards and poles
• A retractable hose (I'm terrible at winding up hoses without tangling them beyond hope)

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• Letters and a mounting block for my ring: 

love letters 

it's been perfect

I would have said that Ed has gotten used to weird requests but I surprised him yesterday. He came home from work and had a lot of stuff in the car. I was helping and reached for a box. 

'that's heavy' he said

'what's in it?'

'pylons'

' you bought pylons for me?!'

'yes. I bought you pylons'

'oooh THANK YOU! How did you know? I don't remember telling you.'

*silence*

I turned and looked at Ed who was staring at me with a quizzical look on his face. 

'You honestly thought I bought you pylons? And you were excited?Those are for the fire department' (Ed is chief of our local volunteer fire department). 

My face fell. 'Oh. Right. I totally missed the sarcasm.'

I then brightened up 'if you bought new pylons for the deparment that does that mean you have old pylons?'

He sighed. 'If you want pylons I will get you pylons.'

Notice that he didn't even ask why. 

What about you? Have you asked for/received any gifts that might seem to be unusual? 

'

Staying Inside the Box

Friday I had a lesson with Shanea. It was the first time riding since I was away. I warmed up before Shanea arrived and Carmen seemed pretty mellow.  However, right after Shanea arrived and we started the lesson the wind picked up and there was a sudden gust that sent a  little dust devil in the arena. Carmen took exception to this sudden mini-tornado in her ring and decided that was the area that we were never ever ever ever going.

So, 'yay?'

At least that gave me a chance to work on the idea that we go places and while I'm willing to support her, I'm not willing to let her make those choices.

When we were walking down towards the area she tried to balk, then to spin. When I kept riding her forward she leaned back on her haunches and spun away. I can quite appreciate the athleticness of the maneuver.  Shanea even commented that she was being a bit 'difficult'.

What Shanea noted was that when Carmen was being resistant she was throwing her shoulder against me and then I over-correct which puts Carmen all out of alignment and both of us are unbalanced.

My Task was to keep us inside the box: essentially her shoulders and haunches aligned and underneath of me. Even when she's flinging herself around. It's not easy - she's getting fitter.

But so am I.

Here we are are heading through the 'nope' corner. See how her neck retracts? This is what makes it hard to not ride with a super short rein.

Shanea was talking me through using shoulder in as an exercise to help with this. It allows her to be 'away' from the scary place but use herself.

 And it does work. This is us a while later riding towards the area where the little dust devil erupted.

It was a 'hard' lesson both mentally and physically. I had to keep my self aligned with my seat relaxed. Mentally because I had to be aware of Carmen's attention but not buy into it or fall into a self-defensive posture. 

But it was so worth it. 

I could feel her relax and come to me each time things went a bit awry. There were definite discussions but each time we came together.

We then went on to some canter work. My task was to keep Carmen straight under me. Which is really really hard, especially going to the right. She tends to throw her haunches in. Shanea had me canter down the quarter line and stay straight. Carmen headed over to the rail and Shanea said 'no, don't leg yield, stay straight!'. 

 I called out "This is not my idea, Carmen is doing it'. Which is a total cop out but honestly it was impossible to keep her on the line. We worked at it and things started to come together. Not perfect. But definitely better.

cantering is easy. cantering straight is hard

Sometimes Carmen would get strong and run through the bridle. When that happened I was do a small circle until I felt her balance back under me and then carry on straight.  It was exhausting but I can feel what Shanea was heading for. And in the end I had a lovely flowing horse. 

look at us go

I rode a twice since that lesson and each time there was a discussion but nothing major. I was able to practice what I needed to. 

Today Cynthia came to ride with us. The husbands were working on a shed down by the barn but this was a non-issue. After a good ride we  headed out into the woods for a hack. I've not done a lot yet because I've been riding alone a lot. And by 'alone' I mean that Ed wasn't home on the farm. I didn't want to head out if he wasn't around. Irish was being a bit tight and spooky but Carmen was completely mellow. In fact, she lead for a lot of it. I just made sure we were inside the box even though we were out of the sandbox. 

Coercive Processes

I've been away for work attending a workshop on developing behavioural support plans for children with Autism. I love behaviour- it was my first area of study so many (many many) years ago. What I often see is how similar behavioural approaches are regardless of the species. I am not comparing children with neurodevelopment disorders to animals. I am saying that we are all animals and respond to behavioural principles.

this is the beginning of her response to going into corner:
upright, tight neck, pricked ears, tight back. See how I'm tightening too? 

As I'm sitting there taking in the information I had an 'aha' moment as it related to my work with Carmen. It refers to a process of mutual reinforcement of a negative pattern of behaviour. And I could see how I fell into that with Carmen's spooky behaviour.

Here's how I analyzed it based on this learning:

1. I ask Carmen to trot into corner       (irritant to Carmen)

2. Carmen resists going to corner        (avoidance response)

3. I increase my ask                             (escalation of irritant)

4. Carmen spins/bolts/stops dead/run backwards/threaten to rear          (strong aversive stimulus)

5. I move away from corner to a work elsewhere       (reinforcement to Carmen)

6. Carmen stops behaviour above                                (reinforcement to me)


You may recall that my initial rides on Carmen were fine and then gradually the spooking got worse and worse until we were only able to ride on the middle circle of the ring and that was even getting problematic.

I now see how we were engaged in a coercive pattern where we were both being reinforced for avoiding the corner. This has also creeped into other areas of training (like when things are difficult).

Clearly I didn't mean this to happen (who does? whatever the process is). And we have made huge gains towards this.

It has been a point of frustration to me that the spooking still pops up. Now I see why the behaviour has not been completely eliminated. Every now and then I reward Carmen (who then rewards me) for spooking at the corners.

Behavioural theory teaches us that an intermittent reinforcement schedule is the single best way to solidify a behaviour.

With understanding comes an ability to make a plan. Clearly we are not starting from scratch. But I need to be more proactive about this if I want it to go away.

So I've drafted a plan (I do love a plan) and we shall see how it goes. 

Breeches Review

So I may be developing a breeches problem to go with my saddle pad issues. Since January I have bought three new breeches that I want to review. Finding breeches that fit me is difficult- I am long waisted and there is a difference between my hips and waist.

1. Equetech Denim F/S Breeches

I fell in love with these from the photo. It's always a crap shoot to buy online but I ordered them anyway. I ordered size 32 but they run big and were way too large for me. I exchanged them for a size 30 which fits well.

Pros:

• made of durable denim so are perfect for riding and barn chores. You don't have to worry about picks or holes (unless you get really carried away with a pitchfork). 
• High waist to hold 'things' in. 
• comfortable to ride in

Cons:

• the denim has no 'give' so can feel a bit confining in the waist. It helps to give support when riding but not so comfortable for sitting on the couch. 
• The hips fit well and are even generous. The waist is a bit tight but it's not terrible. 

If you like jeans you will like these. I quite like them and wear them often. 

2. Horze Kiana Women's Full Seat Breeches

Another impulse buy (honestly, I can't be trusted in the winter when I cannot ride).  I ordered 32 and they fit perfectly. 

Pros: 

• the silicone gives a great grip without being over the top
• I love how they look
• sightly wind/rain resistant (which is key when you ride on a breezy hill). 
• They give a bit of slimming effect with the lines. 

Cons:

• This is picky but I wish the waist was a bit higher but it isn't that bad. 
• I wish Horze made a matching shirt. I bought one thinking it would match but it's a different shade of blue. I think if a company is going to make colourful breeches they should have tops that go with it. 

I would definitely recommend these breeches (perhaps in more traditional colour) and will probably buy more. 

3. Fits Flex Full Seat Zip Front

When I was at the show I visited Bits N Bridles in the morning to check out the sales. These were marked down significantly and there was no tax. I tried them on (large) and was surprised at how well they fit. I had some concerns about the seat as it felt quite slick. 

Pros: 

• feel like yoga pants. 
• despite that they don't show all the bumps and bulges. 
• The waist is perfect- it hits just at the sweet spot of the belly button. 
• despite my worries the seat is not slippery at all. I would rate it as more grip then suede and less than silicone. Even when Carmen is bouncing around I don't feel that I'm going to slip out of the saddle. 
• I rode in them in heat and in cold weather and felt comfortable both times. 

Cons: 

• not really a con- I'm not sure how well the fabric will hold up- we shall see. 

So there you have it. Three reviews of three different styles. 

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Focus

Thank you everyone for you kind words about our show experience. I have found that the real outcome of the show is a leap forward in our self-confidence.

 I also learned that I need to be clear right from the beginning about my expectations and not back down if she's freaking out. The other day I had just started our ride when she began to really lose it down the far end of the ring (far from troll corner). I don't know what set her off but rather then back off I just rode her around the corner. When she started to escalate I simply raised the inside rein and kept it there while pushing her through the corner. It only took a few trips before she was totally fine.

It probably helps that I'm not worried about her 'explosions' anymore. I simply roll my eyes and go back to task. As I've been chipping away at things with Carmen things are really starting to solidify.  One thing I noticed at the show was that what I thought was a good vs not-so-good leg yield was not the feedback I got from the judge. So clearly I wasn't feeling things correctly.

I asked Shanea if we could work on that our lesson on Saturday. I need to have a good feel otherwise I will end up practicing incorrectly.

You will notice that Cynthia is in the background of some of the photos. Remember how she totally abandoned me moved to Whitehorse for few years? Well she's back for a far-too-short visit. Irish was really happy to have her back. She was visiting with me so rode Irish while we had our lesson.

Anyway back to the lesson.

After our warm up we did a lot of leg yielding at the walk. The goal was to have Carmen understand about going over and not over bend to the inside or stiffen. As we worked I would really feel her soften over her back. I also discovered that I'm over weighting the inside which contradicts what I'm asking her to do. I need to weight (just a little more) the outside.

over bent to the inside. damn you left hand! 

We picked up the trot and we worked on getting it forward and flowing before asking for leg yields. 

I lost the shoulder again at the trot and really had to focus my attention. Shanea said that it would be easier to 'feel' at a sitting trot so I went to that. I know that Andalusians have the reputation of a really smooth trot but Carmen's has a lot of push and it's not always all that easy. Within about 10 minutes my abs were screaming at me.

but cannot deny results

Before I knew it, the lesson was over. It was great to have a lesson just focussing on a few key things. It was great that I kept my focus in the ring and cantered on what I wanted Carmen to do. And it was interesting how she kept her focus on me. 

If you were watching the lesson it would probably look really boring. But it was one of those where things just seemed to gel and it left me happy all day. 

Interestingly enough this memory popped up on FB: 

It's easy to forget how far we've come. And it's more fun to plan about where we're going. 

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