Swishing Tail to Loose Lips

Things I learned today:
- Sometimes you need to just push the horse a little for them to progress
- Bliss is alot calmer than I give her credit for

Things Bliss and I accomplished:
- Walked in straight lines along a big box I mentally mapped out until she quit trying to go back to her mom and was focused on what we were doing
- Worked on neck-reining on the right (to the left)
- By the end, Bliss was walking with her head down, responding to just neck rein on the right and leg pressure to turn Left

Why this title? (And other principles learned)

It was proven to me while I was home in January that if you've got an irritated, tail-swishing horse, just take them out and work with them - make them move, stop, turn, go and go back. At the end of the session, your tail-swisher will have loose lips and a relaxed (even bored) posture. While my sister was taking graduation pictures of me on and with Justin my horse, he was being so antsy and moving around and tossing his head and just throwing a fit. Well... if he was acting up, I would make him behave, and my sister wouldn't let him step into her space and backed him up every time he tried to walk over her. At the end of our one hour shoot, Justin was standing stock still, was paying attention and even looked bored.

Today, Bliss did the same thing. When I first got on, she had her ears back and was swishing her tail, but I just rode her quietly and firmly. I didn't want to ask too much of her because a) I didn't want her to be confused and b) I wanted her to realize that being ridden isn't this difficult, horrible, arduous process. So, I mapped out a mental box in the field next to the stable yard/area where her mother was at, and we rode that AT A WALK until she stopped swishing her tail, had her head down and was walking steady. The box was very far down the pasture though, so she wasn't near her mother, and I was surprised at how good she did and didn't pay too much attention to her mother.

We worked mostly on introducing the neck rein going left, leg pressure and just staying on a straight line. It was good practice for me to KEEP MY EYES UP, which I have the worst time doing, and Jace wants me to work on neck reining with her. Bliss is so sensitive and smart that she was responding to the neck rein just a little by the end of our session. She'll pick up on it quick. I intend to ride her every day this week, so I imagine she'll be pretty darn responsive to it by the end of the week.

Bareback.

Things We Accomplished:

- Bliss accepted me on the fence above her, and standing on a bucket, driving, circling, yo-yo'ing and rubbing her from that position

- Bliss accepted my feet, arms, legs, hands and body on her back today....bareback!

What we did:

Pretty much just worked on getting on her bareback today. At first, I got her haltered then sat on the fence above her head and rubbed her, got her comfortable with me standing above her body and got her to stand

Yes! See? I'm actually on her -- bareback!

parallel to the fence while I stroked her back with my hand, arm, leg, foot, etc. Then I took her into the small round pen area (it's alot smaller than a round pen, but I use it for liberty work and desensitizing to the saddle so she can't get TOO far away from me) and started kicking around the small white bucket I would be using to mount her from.

Boy! That white bucket, if you didn't know it, it is a HORSE EATING MONSTER!!! It's amusing to me how many things she's afraid of and unnerve here because my horse, Justin, is unphased by most things. Of course, he is the horse who had four wheelers doing donuts in his tiny paddock, so he got used to it and started chasing them when they would four-wheel. So I threw the rope over her back, which surprised her so she bolted, then she calmed down and I started kicking the bucket around and rolling it with my foot. She was pretty nervous, but it wasn't until I started kicking it towards her that she took off running circles around the small enclosure. I thought it was hilarious! Bless her little heart!

After awhile, I tried to get her to come up to it and put her nose on it. This happened with a little success, so then I just stood on it and played the circling and yo-yo game while I stomped around a little on the bucket (the noise was obviously the sound of an approaching CARNIVORE!). She eventually got more comfortable with it, so I started prepping her for mounting. I leaned over her, rubbed her sides, rubbed and laid my torso on her butt, back, hung on her a little and shifted around to get her used to that and even brought my knee and leg up onto her back. At one point, after doing this several times on each side, I had my leg on top of her back and WOULD have jumped up on, but I wasn't sure how she'd take the jumping/shifting onto her back, so I got off and went back to the fence and climbed up above her. 

Five minutes later of doing the same desensitizing stuff, I was on. I probably rode her for less than 3 minutes. She's still super young and inexperienced and very VERY green-broke, so she didn't want to move very

A side view of her face while I was on
her back - fairly calm/relaxed.

much and was swishing her tail alot and had her ears back. Tail swishing, wrinkled nostrils, and flat ears are a sign of irritation - it's very much an adolescent thing to do when they've not gotten used to cooperating. Bliss hasn't gotten used to cooperating and responding to various pressures and signals yet, so I wasn't surprised. With time, she'll trust me more and will stop being irritated when I ask her to MOVE under saddle (or under butt...I WAS riding bareback) and be more compliant and happy. 

Principles Learned/Practiced:

When you have an issue with a horse on the ground, it will get worse in the saddle. Also, when you have an issue at the walk, it will get worse at the trot; an issue at the trot will get worse at the lope/canter, etc. Before I got on Bliss, I wasn't doing much with her so she was being a little pushy (rubbing right up against my legs when she moved past me for me to get on...which I needed her to do, or I would've had to LEAP from the fence to get on her, but it wasn't the best idea - she was entering my space which is disrespectful), so she wasn't asked, nor being, super respectful and responsive. Therefore, it was no surprise to me that when I got on her back, she was unresponsive and being disrespectful by throwing a teenage-hissy fit when I asked her to move forwards: the tail swishing, nose wrinkling, ears back thing.

OH! I also got her to pick up all four feet with BARELY any pressure! I ran my fingers down her leg and then squeezed in a rhythmic-like way on her tendon above her pastern and she lifted her foot and I held it for a second then put it back down!!! WOOHOOO!!!! She's getting SO good at that! :) I'm so proud! 

Will have more principles/goals/aims to share later that I wrote down during one of my classes today. :P

R-Squared

Bliss learning to ground-tie

Accomplishments Today:

- Bliss stood still while I threw the saddle onto her back from both sides, several times.
- Bliss is beginning to understand that if I drop the rope on the ground beneath her chin, she must stand still and not move.
- Picked up her feet almost as soon as my hand reached her pastern, responding to the signal of the weight of my hand running down her leg.

Repetition and Rhythm. 

Horses do best with repetition. They also calm down quicker if you do things in a rhythm-like pattern. Today, I knew that I couldn't just throw the saddle on her once, I had to put it on and off, on and off, several times. Also, with calming her down, I pet/rub her neck in a rhythm and throw the rope over her back in a rhythm to desensitize her to it.

Horses are creatures of rhythm from their hoofbeats to the rhythm of their habits. 1-2-3-4 goes the walk, a choppy 1-2 goes the trot, a flowing 1-2-3 goes the canter, and a quick 1234 goes the gallop. Their head bobs up and down as they move in a rhythm. Also, I think that the rhythm calms a horse because it knows what to expect; rhythms are predictable and therefore comforting. Horses don't like to be surprised by something new or unexpected.

What Happened:

I arrived, got out the saddle, pad, halter and put it all on the fence then climbed into the pasture. Bliss was interested in seeing me, but she played hard-to-get today and walked away from me at first. I was a little disappointed, but there are those days so I put it from my mind, snapped my fingers and she turned to face me. Walking up, I rubbed her all over, rubbed the halter over her face, threw it on and off of her on both sides and then haltered her. The rhythm and repetition of tossing it all over her helped her to calm down and be desensitized.

We almost immediately started with the saddle and she was a little bit better, a little calmer around it. She stopped moving around more quickly and got quieter quicker. The saddle was still a little scary, especially on her right side, but I got to where I could walk on either side of her and swing it all around and shake it a bit
and she wouldn't be too nervous.

Finally, I threw it up and gently landed it on her back on the left side. She didn't move. I took it off and did it again. Then, I went to the right side. She side-stepped away from me at first, but I just followed her quietly and petted her till she stood still. After she stopped, I swung it up and down and made noise so she would be expecting the saddle to swing, and then I landed it gently on her back. She started a bit, moved a little sideways but then stopped, so I petted her, took it off and walked away.

Well... I repeated this several times and then threw it up and on, down and off, up and on, down and off - on both sides I did this until she stood stock still for it. She was still nervous, but that's okay. She'll eventually realize that is NOT a horse-eating monster and she can be calm around it.

So, things went well! Tomorrow will be much of the same; I won't start cinching the saddle till Thursday probably and Saturday we'll do the same and start doing some saddle-desensitizing with it on her back (shaking the stirrups, whacking the saddle with the lead rope, etc).

Flopping Saddles

I went to work with Bliss today. She's a bay quarter horse, around 3 to 4 years old, and is owned by my old roommate's husband. Her and her mother, Mesa, live at his parents' house while he and his wife (my old roommate) are in Utah at college. He, Jace, lets me do whatever I want with the horses and they need a job to do. At first, I was going to work with both of them, but it's easier for me to spend my time working with just one of them. Plus, I'm in school full time AND I have a job, so in order to make it out there everyday to work with them, I only have time to work with one.

Introduce the horse.

Bliss was quite flighty and pushy when I met her. She wouldn't let me NEAR her in the pen/field and would put her ears back and turn her butt to me. Instead of letting this bother me, I began to work with her and discovered a couple of things.

Bliss' Profile:

- Right-brained Introvert: This means that she's prone to run before she thinks about something that scares her. It also means that she doesn't move around a whole lot and bottles things up inside. A right-brained introvert tends to get scared inside and then bolt when they can't handle it anymore. Luckily, Bliss doesn't seem to hold things inside too long and just bolts immediately.
- Is afraid of the saddle: I originally thought that she didn't like to be caught because she didn't like being ridden. This is not the case. She didn't like to be caught because she didn't want to be ridden because she was afraid of the saddle. Wonderful! This is something we can work on and fix!
- Loves having her forehead rubbed and scratched: This has become our "okay Bliss, let's sit, snuggle and calm down" cue. I'll stand by her head, put my arm on top of her neck to have her lower her head and just rub up and down and through her forelock. She calms down and relaxes.
- She's incredibly intelligent: After a couple of times seeing her, she already knew the cue IN THE FIELD WITHOUT A HALTER to turn her butt AWAY from me and turn and face me. I would look at her hip, snap my fingers and walk towards her hip. Despite walking away from me, she would obey this command and turn to face me....then I would go up to her and she'd let me catch her - warily.
- At first, she was nervous of the rope halter: Once I realized that she was sensitive about the halter, I began desensitizing her to it. I threw the rope all over her body, rubbed her face with it, and sometimes would put it on her and just sit there petting her, instead of moving/doing anything with her.
 - Is very much left-sided: She prefers things to be on her left-side and, when I've presented her with "scary" things like plastic bags and saddles, she tries to keep me in her left eye as I try to get on her right side and right eye.

So, I have taken some steps with Bliss over the past few months and just recently, over the past week and a half. I have a goal to go see the horses everyday (except Sundays and Fridays I have no time while its still light out). Here's what we've done/accomplished:

Accomplishments:

- Bliss comes up to me in the pen now, I don't have to chase her anywhere. She even puts her own nose in the halter when I go to put it on her and shows no hesitation.
- Bliss lets me touch her all over: in the nose, in the mouth, in the ears, her udder and even lets me rub the underside of her tail (horses clamp this when they're angry, scared, etc. so its important to be able to lift their tail w/o them clamping it).
- She follows me on a loose lead, walking when I walk, trotting when I trot, and stopping/backing when I stop and back. I don't even have to pull on her head, she just watches and follows.
- After about a 20 minute session, she will now let me wave a plastic bag around on a long dressage whip around her head, over her face, and on/down either side of her neck and shoulder.
- Bliss respects my space, doesn't step into me (and when she does, I wiggle the lead rope and she backs away), and has JUST stopped putting her ears back at me in the pen.
- TODAY: She'll let me carry the saddle all around her while shaking it, swinging it high in the air and making lots of noise with it.

I have many more goals for Bliss, but we're taking it slow. Bliss is still very young and needs to build her own confidence, which I am helping her do, little by little. Eventually, she will be alot more bombproof and comfortable in a variety of situations, as it should be with a young horse being trained. SO.... onto today!!!

Bliss taught me about flopping saddles.

Today was the second day I brought out the saddle to work with on Bliss. Well... things didn't go any better than the day before. The western saddle is large and rather heavy, so to get it on the back, I have to swing it up and let it settle gently on the horse. I can toss the saddle pad on Bliss, but the saddle is another story. After putting it on and off several times (and having it fall several times) I realized that A) I was getting frustrated and B) Bliss was still scared. I backed off and assessed the situation and it came to me!!! She was scared of the jangling, flopping, FLYING saddle that came like a horse-eating monster to settle on HER back with all of its noise and strings!

So I threw the saddle pad onto the fence, grabbed the saddle, let the lead rope lay on my arm and started walking away from Bliss (she was following behind me) and I tried to make as MUCH noise as possible with that saddle! Swinging it around, shaking it, letting all of its parts wiggle and make noise and move. I walked alongside Bliss on each side, pulling her nose into me on a loose line so she wouldn't run off, and kept walking and shaking it until she stopped. Once she stopped moving while I was shaking the saddle, I stopped moving. I petted her, let her sniff the saddle and then walked away from her, leading her behind me again.

Eventually, she would let me on both sides. I then dropped the leadrope to the ground and shook the saddle in my arms as I walked a couple of circles around her, both ways. Then, I stood RIGHT next to her left side and SWUNG the saddle high in the air, and let it come back down with a loud shaking noise (not dropping it on the ground, but throwing/swinging it without letting go). Did this several times while she stood there, and then did it on the right side. She finally calmed down! I walked her around then and repeated it and then threw the saddle onto the fence and took her for a short walk and practiced picking up her feet.

So, today was good. Bliss is the EXACT OPPOSITE of my horse, Justin, who is a left-brained extrovert, so it's fun seeing how the polar opposite works and how I need to adjust my training to help her.