a good ride!

Nicole and I are managing to stay focussed, despite the heat. we played a short game of tennis after dropping the kids at school (yep, she won! but i have learnt a really cool way of putting her off her stroke, i just mention her next riding lesson and she falls apart!!) anyway..... then we came home all set for a ride.
i really want to get a bit of a pattern going for tallic, let him know that his life of work has begun! so, even if it's only a short session, i reckon we're better off doing something than letting too much time lapse between work-outs. afterall, that's how it was for him at the 'breakers', and i think he needs the repetition to get some stuff/rules established.
well, the float's away (back in the shed where it belongs), so my ground work is in the arena now, although, of course, it starts from the moment i go out to him.

• tal was looking rather 'down trodden' and even depressed when i went out to him and boo in the stable this morning. i actually was wondering if he was crook. head down and sad looking. earlier on i thought he just looked tired, but i popped his halter on and left him standing with boo, didn't tie him up until i got the saddle, and he just looked so quiet. i don't think he copes well with the heat. he had a gobful of mineral lick on him too which made him look weird!!
• tied him up to put the saddle on. i got snapped at a couple of times, even though i do the girth up so nicely for him. ungrateful horse! carried the bridle out, decided to do some ground work in the halter and lead
• went out to the arena paddock, nicole and joe arrived, so we did the gate twice (good practise for our yields)
• took him over to the noisy neighbour's side of the arena, ready for the spacco dog to come flying out at us. thought i'd rather deal with it on the ground first this time (considering the little sod made tallic take off last time i rode him there) he didn't show until later when i was on - friggin typical hey!
• tallic was SO MUCH more forward and responsive today. had him trotting from tap tap on his side, i pretty much circled him so i didn't wear myself out running this time (unlike yesterday - i was pooped). i could lengthen his stride and quicken it at the walk, and then up to trot - NICE.
• had a go at pushing his quarters out by tapping on his flank, seemed to work. not so good on the shoulder (this is at walk and trot). managed not to crash into joe and cole, and he was fine working with him in the arena (seems to prefer it actually)
• bridle on, girth up another hole (i def. need a shorter girth, i've only got one hole to go, and that's on the all purpose saddle - dam - but, it does mean his weight is good.) speaking of which, i've added sunflower seeds and a bit of soy to his meagre ration now he's in work. his coat is rather dull since the rain scald, poor baby
• got him to go sideways to the round yard for me to get on, but when i had my foot and weight in the stirrup, he walked off sideways, not handy! decided to get on the 'normal' way, first time with no block/rail and no-one holding the stirrup leather. much better! stood well.
• ride was good! walking was more forward and responsive, steering wasn't even too bad!
• managed to quicken pace and also lengthen stride (i think, am having lesson tomorrow so norm can tell me!!)
• trotted - yay - no humpty dumpty, no rearing, just trotting (and only an occassional head shake into it - much better attitude) did several transitions, went full arena and some circles
• didn't need to tap tap very often, mostly responded off correct leg aids
• practised some indirect turns in corners where he was falling in
• practised some shoulder and hind quarter turns around corners

overall, very happy with the session!

still treating tal's face for rain scald and back pasterns for mud fever

washed PJ so i could put his summer rug on and keep some of the march flies away (thought they were going to carry tallic away when we started! have been covering him with musca-ban. i love the way he is quite happy for me to wave the whip over his hind quarters while i'm riding him around! i got bitten thru my jods - rotten mongrels

A walk in the round yard

I decided to have a quiet ride in the round yard today after giving Nicole her lesson. Joe was tied-up on the outside again. I saddled Tallic up in the corral this time, lots of fly repellent on so that the nasty march flies didn't get us, and no blue coloured anythings!!

• did some ground work in the halter. remembered to use the whip to rub him, making sure he stood still unless told otherwise. forwards and backwards, shoulder and hip yields. he was quite soft and resonsive all directions.
• did some trot work with him; he's still grumping and pulling faces in the trot. the only time he didn't pull faces was when he stretched his head and neck forward and down. brakes were good though.
• put the bridle on and hopped on. he had one go at stepping backwards, possibly because of rein pressure?? then stood nicely.
• just walked around today. he was very lazy and reluctant to go forward properly. i remembered to use my voice and praise any good responses. i didn't nag with my legs or push too hard, used the whip to go 'tap tap' when necessary.
• overall, okay response. found he started to move off a little better when i kept halting him and backing him up (he does that SO WELL!)
• next time i might try adding in some forhand and rear yields. might also put some poles out to walk over, and perhaps in the arena instead of the round yard.

float loading

did some more float loading (in the paddock)

• have been taking the passenger side breeching door out so that i can walk up that side
• tallic finds it easier if i walk up with him, but he can then reverse without me which isn't so good. it's hard to keep the tapping going when you're in that position. i either have to brace myself and hope to hold him, and bring him forward again with just the halter pressure, or, if that fails, get out and chase him forward with tap taps!
• had a good change in his attitude today, it was like he went all soft and gooey. got to the stage where he actually put himself in the float with me standing on the ramp. he definitely liked me telling him how clever he was, and giving his rump a good rub!
• he did a good job of going back and forwards on halter pressure and with 'walk on' and 'back'. sometimes used the whip to tap him forwards when he started to back out.

Back in the saddle:)

• started off by tying tallic up to the float (which is still in the paddock due to the house reno's) whilst giving nicole a lesson on joe (who did very well today: steadier/more stable leg position, concnetrated on keeping her hands together and bend at the elbow. got that left canter lead happening by doing lots of serpentines across the arena, lots of change in bend/direction and keeping her hands together, partic. at point of canter deaprt)
• did some float loading to follow-on from yesterday. not quite as good to start with. need to concentrate on making sure he is straight and correctly aligned for entry. took the passenger breeching door out to give me better access. improvements when: talking to him; on float with him; backwards forwards repetition got lightness.
• got tallic to go backwards and forwards within the float today. if he goes out of his own accord, tried to keep the pressure on, i stay in float and hold til he comes forward off pressure
• learnt that light tap taps work well, but will beef them up if he's running backwards or being rude
• tied him up to the float again and went and got his saddle etc. learning to stand at float ok. nicole said he had one go at pulling back, then gave up. paws ground occassionally.
• saddles up well, went over to round yard for some ground work. tied him up in there and got my riding gear.
• had a practise of walking and trotting with bridle. made sure his 'stops' were good. fwd was good, but cranky at trot (march flies are terrible!!)
• nicole held my opposite stirrup and i mounted him. walked off well, stopped well.
• trot - well, what can i say - cranky pants decided to test my bronc riding abilities didn't he!! we started with some humpty dumpty work, and followed it up with a rear!!! i think poor nicole might have gained some grey hairs today - sorry! darren saw it from the office, but wasn't fussed because i seemed not fussed, and, tallic didn't continue with this crappy behaviour, we went forward on onward:)
• NEED TO REMEMBER NOT TO KEEP SQUEEZING HARDER IF HE DOESN'T GO FWD! I NEED TO GO 'TAP TAP' INSTEAD. i think tallic gets grumpy when i squeeze, i must remember to use light aids, and if i don't get the desired response, tap with the whip.
• tallic responds to use of voice, so he got growled at when rearing and bucking, but told 'good boy' when responding appropriately
• did a few laps each way with some walk trot transisitions. stopped on good note. he HATES march flies etc, but will let me wave the whip over his butt - how cute!!

bit and bridle

Woohoo - we hit a bit of a milestone today. I lunged Lutallic in a bridle!
About a month and a half ago, I started trying bits and bridles on Tal.
I tried Boo's good Hubertus bridle on him, accidentally, three times............. Is it still an accident by the third time? Possibly not! But I was trying it on him for fit, and obviously I had to adjust it, so, I'd pop it on, work out if it needed to go up or down or whatever, take it off, adjust it and so on. Turned-out I got it right on about the 3rd go!
We were standing in the corral, no headstall or lead or anything, and I still had the reins attached. I can't remember for sure, but I had taken a bit from Saddleworld to try on for size, so that might have been on it. I had thought I would get Tallic a gold KK Trainer, and Kerry had the equivalent stainless steel one in stock, so that's what I was trying. It was a 5" bit, and turned-out to be a little bit too small (no punn intended). For some unknown reason, bits no longer come in 5 1/4" sizes, so a 5 1/2 is needed.

Anyway, back to today......... I finally went and bought the SS bit; it's a lovely small style, not fat like the Horseland ones. Apparently they could get a finer one in, but I get sick of having to order everything. I'd been looking on the internet and discovered I could buy the bit I wanted from there, but in the end I decided to give the good ol' stainless steel a whirl. (I did put Cruiser's old bit in his mouth, and I had a really good laugh. They really are like chalk and cheese those two!)

So, today I decided to attach the new bit to a bridle (I think it's Flame's; no reins, no noseband). He threw his head straight down onto the bit and into the bridle (after I removed the throat lash from his gob!!) He had a really good chomp and lots of little head-tosses, but allowed me to adjust the height whilst on him. I put it on over the top of the rope halter. And off we went....

We walked on up to the round yard, and he was a little bit surprised by the wheel barrow that was sitting up against the rails from where Darren has been working on a new drain near the shed. No big deal, but I got him to circle around me and walk forward again.
We walked a lap of the round yard, did some yields and to-ing and fro-ing, bit of trot, and then I swapped the lead for the lunge rein and lunge whip. I decided I wanted to work him on a longer line so that if he decides to do his little bucking thing I've got a bit more room and a tool to move him away from me. Turned-out I needed it too!
Tallic tends to have a run around with his nose along the ground, which, I realise is good in terms of him stretching his back, but not so good in terms of safety (I DON'T want him putting a leg over the rein) and I'm also not sure how 'with me' he is when he does this. Therefore I tend to try to bump his nose back up when he's doing this. He also likes to go around with his nose poking to the outside. I dont' like this because I feel too much pressure on the rope, plus, I don't think his attention is on me when he does this (and his bum faces in towards me a tiny bit. I know that's 'fussy' but it doesn't seem right). Therefore, I find myself bumping his face back towards straight or inside. When I do this, he sometimes mistakes it for a slowing down signal, so the whip is handy for saying "no, go forward, I just wanted your face". I'm not sure whether I'm going about this the right way, but I'm not sure what else to do.

Overall, I think it was a really successful lunge session, with bit!!, and I think he'll get used to working with it on very quickly. I just need to be doing more of it.

Right, now I better go back and do the posts that belong before this one. I would have sworn I had done more than one since Nicole and I started our playdates, but where are they?

Post Script: Christine and I went to look at bridles at Horseland and then Saddleworld back when I was going to send him off to the breakers. H/L had one on sale that I thought I'd get, but after measuring better quality ones before I found the sale item, I realised I just can't stand the idea of buying yucky Indian leather (even though its usual price is $100, it left black crap all over my hands - yuek)
When we were in S/W, we found a Kieffer bridle made out of synthetic material. It was a hanovarian style, and I want a cavesson noseband, but I love the concept of having a bridle that's good enough to compete in and doesn't need cleanig, oiling and creaming the night before. I've since been looking into getting a weymouth bridle in the same style, called Seku, but cannot find a photograph of one anywhere. I think I shall persist in my endevours to find one, as it's my first preference.

But wait, there's more! I also decided to give Tallic a mini-wash after his little work session. I go the old purple shampoo of Cruiser's out (there's almost 5 litres sitting there) and gave his mane and neck a good scrub. He loved it, I think he's been a bit itchy from some dandruff, so that should feel better now. It's funny how well he handles these little adventures. I hose his lower legs after I remove his work boots, and that's also no drama, so I think all these bits and pieces I'm doing with him are adding up to a well handled neddy!

Buddy Day

Today was the first day of Tallic having playdates with Joe!
My good friend Nicole who lives about 1km up the road is keen to learn horsemanship skills and then improve her riding. I've already given Nicole and Joe a mini-lesson at their place, late last year, where we discovered just how green the 'quiet' Joe really is. Nicole and I would love to be able to go trail riding together, but seeing as I decided not to get another riding horse while I wait for Tallic to grow up and be broken in, I thought it might be a good idea to train us together in the meantime.
First expected hurdle was how Tal would cope with having a new horse on the property. He was quite interested when Joe arrived, but stood well to be groomed and booted when they returned to the RY. Leading him into that paddock, he was a bit excited, but walked quite well toward the RY. We stopped outside of it, where I proceeded to get his attention with some corrections, a bit of backing etc while I talked to Nicole.
We decided to work them both in the RY together, but we left the gate open. Tallic behaved REALLY well, doing his yields, changes, backing and standing like a true champ. He required a lot fewer corrections than I expected and stayed a lot more foccussed than I expected too. Looks like the ground work we've done previously has been successful - yay.
Some of the things we did while I was helping Nicole with Joe include:

• backing with wriggly lead
• going out to the left and right, stopping on the circle without turning in
• as above but sometimes facing-up
• swapping from left to right with minimal cues

I'm sure we did more, but I can't remember anymore! and it only happened today.

I packed him away after approx 20mins as Nicole needed some help, and he'd been such a good boy and coped so well, I wanted to quit while all was good.

Overall - very happy with the little man. I think he coped with his first play-date really well.

I'm back!

How slack am I hey! I suppose we all knew it would happen, but as the kids would say "whatever".
The lovely Tallic turned 3 last Friday and I headed off to the Dandenong Ranges to drop Dale off at my parent's place while I went to visit and stay with my friend (and cousin by marriage) Louise. Lou had invited me to share a weekend with her fence sitting a clinic with the marvelous Harry Whitney. The clinic was one of a few organised by her instructor/trainer Ross Jacobs. I always enjoy reading Ross' articles in Chaff Chat and was keen to see their training methods in person (rather than via the phone with Lou!)
So, after a tiring but very interesting weekend sitting in the stalls watching various horse owners and Harry at work, I've come home with a new vigor, interest and confidence in training my own horse!
I have in fact been only moments away from sending Lutallic off to the horse breakers, and have even got an appointment with them tomorrow to go and have a visit and watch Bruce O'Dell working some youngsters. My good friend Christine is coming with me, and it will be very interesting to see the property and find out if Bruce's methods will complement my own ideals. I certainly hope so, and from what his wife Jane has told me in our two conversations I think they will. My farrier is the one who first put me onto Bruce and I have since talked to quite a few other people I know and all reports have been good so far!
Anyway, over to tonight's efforts:
It was getting late, for various reasons, but I figured that I didn't need to make it a marathon, so just 'do it'!!

• After getting the rug off and giving my little fat buddy a groom I began by asking him to back off the wash with a gentle lead wiggle. So far so good! I also made sure when i initially put the halter on that I had his attention and his willingness to do so. I did.
• At the clinic, I was reminded that the horse should be able to go out on the circle with just an indication of direction. I had the feeling that I usually helped the horse out too much by lifting the driving rein as well, so I made sure that I didn't do that. My little star responded beautifully.
• Another point I'd noticed at the clinic was the precision with which the rein was changed on the circle. No stepping in to the handler's space, and only very subtle cues. We did it!! Yay.
• Problems were exactly where I expected them to be: softening thru the neck, particularly backing off lead pressure from the halter (nose) AND leading off. I knew that was going to suck and it did! These are definitely our focus points for the moment. I got him moving forward a little more crisply, but no-where near well enough. The backing up from under the chin is terrible! No 'giving' and softening - yuck. I ended up backing him out of the corral (didn't bother taking him to the round yard as my intention was just to do a bit of training work at the walk). We went into one paddock, and Boo ventured into another. I suppose on the bright side, Tallic did stay quite focused on me.
• Did some backwards and forwardsing, but need to figure out how to get him to soften with the nose pressure. Will do some work in the round yard so that I can get into him a bit more without the fear of him nicking off!

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the session and where he is at.