Frustration Galour!!!!

Today, Friday, Hillary and I went out to work with our horses. Once we were in the arena Spirit started out really good and we went through the different obstacles set up way easily. He was responding to me small ques and willing to go. Then we tried to lope and things started to fall apart. It all went down hill from there to where I couldn't trot, or walk. I became so frustrated but when I got bigger he didn't understand. So that frustrated me more because I was not being clear to him. I know he was trying but for some reason I just couldn't get through my own mental blocks and think of what the right thing to do was. But then I really started to think hard and I think I was pulling his head in a weird way and not using my feet enough to direct him. When I would use the reins I would tell him to turn but when I did I was pulling back and telling him to turn at the same time. I think that is what got him confused at the beginning and it became worse as I went along trying to fix it. Although Hillary got on him and she was having similar problems to. When I got on Poncho though I was noticing he started to ask the same way as Spirit. I need to cue with my legs better for sure and then be more aware with my hands.

Learning

So on Thursday we did the race in class and I still had a problem with Spirit going forward and picking up a trot. Brother Twitchell showed me how I need to increase intensity. There apparently are two ways to do that. I can either kick hard which doesn't work for me, or I can kick faster. The kicking faster works so much better. So once I started to get the hang of that Spirit and I were doing just fine. Although I still feel like I am missing something and not grasping the technique completely. For me because Spirit is usually a dominant introverted horse I can't always read him very easily. I am not good at knowing when to give him a release. I also am not good at getting big with him. The big I have to get to is what I am not use to. But I will just keeping working on it and hopefully he will be having a good day on test day.

It's getting closer to final judgement!!!!

Today I met with Sylvia at the livestock center and learned a lot about what I need to do with Spirit. I wonder if we are suppose to be perfect at this whole training thing or if we are allowed to digress as much as our horses tend to? Because, seriously from watching Sylvia I feel like I have digressed from what I once knew or for some reason I can't put two and two together anymore regarding reading a horse. Sylvia's overall advise was to get much much bigger faster and while riding remember my releases. I should know that duh! Its so nice to have someone watch you because you get so sucked up in your problems and what your horse is doing that it is hard to see the big picture. Maybe that is why dancer always dance in front of big mirrors so that they can see what they are doing and then have instructors. Now for the more specific instructions from Sylvia regarding the problems I was having. First off to keep Spirit going I need to go back a little in my instruction and reward little movements in the right direction. For instance he always wants to go to the other horses because he doesn't feel comfortable or interested in going to the other side of the arena. So where I have just been kicking and kicking what I should do is kick until he takes a step forward whether it be to turn the other way, it doesn't matter. Then just keep asking for little things and rewarding so eventually I can ask him to move in a forward direction and it won't seem like I am a mean person asking him to go work. Then with the lope I should expect him to be able to lope two circles but again start out with just asking him to lope. Next, I need to make sure I only ask when he has messed up not when I think he is about to mess up.
     See all of these things I knew before but for some silly reason I have forgotten to apply them now. Ah, I frustrate myself so much!!!  All in all Spirit did really good today as Sylvia rode him and I learned/ was reminded a lot.

Work Work Work and Then What?

Well, today I wanted to work on just trotting around in the arena in a good circle. Spirit again had a lot of energy at first so I decided to use that energy while it was still there instead of see if I could stretch it out like last time. So we walked around some then got into trotting. I found that Spirit can keep good gait and direction when he wants to. I think that is why I sometimes get frustrated with him because I have seen what he can do and when he just won't try it is hard to understand. So we went over trot polls and just tried to go on the outside of the arena. He kept stopping in the middle or whenever he came to another horse. I would kick and kick then try and use the end of the reins as a savvy string. It some what worked but when I used the end of the reins he seemed to get confused as to which direction he should go. We did this for a while and then went outside to cool down with Carlee and Cowboy. I noticed that Spirit gets a lot more energy when he is outside in the open and we can work so much better. So this makes me think that in the arena he get bored and see no point in trotting and trot polls. So what I have concluded is that Spirit is for sure a left brain horse but he switches from extrovert to introvert and back according to the situation. He is perfectly content to just stand and calmly walk around. He doesn't mind if I jump on his back bareback, stand in the saddle, jump off of his back to the ground, or be somewhat loud. That is if we are in the arena, but when we get outside he seems to feel a little more free and more fearful. When he gets scared he is very dominant and will have fits of jumping, little bucks, and pawing with his front feet. This is when he is extrovert but I know that he is not doing it to be mean he is just scared. The funny thing is that when he is scared in the green barn if I feed him some hay he gets a little calmer so that is how he can show some of his introvert left brain while being scared but it is mostly extrovert. So when I stay calm during the times that he is scared then allow him to move his feet in a positive way and feed him he does okay. From observing these things I think that is why doing these simple arena things get frustrating because I know he has energy and can do them but chooses not to. I am still learning so much about Spirit and his personality. Although, Sylvia had good advice for me today which was to stay consistent in how I ask him to trot so the kicking and reins is probably confusing him. Then she said think about him and when he has decided it is enough. That way even though I think he can go further I need to reward him for what he thinks he can do. Then slowly I can build up to what I know he can do. I will try that tomorrow. Maybe this will help him enjoy these simple things in the arena. Also when I do want him to go and he is just being stubborn or lazy I need to get bigger. Oh boy how I hate trying to figure out how to get bigger.

Only the best will survive . . .

Today when I went to go work with Spirit it was freezing cold but it seemed that he had tons of energy and I was excited to work with him. We went into the arena and walked around to familiarize everything. Once of the things that we did was go over to the west end of the arena and walk around the poles on the ground and the bridge. He did so good at following what I was trying to tell him because he jumped up on the tall side of the bridge with only one time of questioning. Then when I went to bridle him he just stood there waiting for me and he even ducked his head so I could reach the top. These little things make me so excited. We practice the different task again. Spirit is a short horse when it comes to duration and he use to be really short but now he can go longer than before which is good. Although, I wish he was a long horse because there are things that I need to practice and see a contrast in but he just wants to stop. I don't know how to help him go for a longer period of time. I know that he needs breaks but times like today I get the feeling that he does have more energy and just is being lazy. So I had to work really hard to have him even trot a little bit after a time. I have seen him work a lot harder than he did today and at least walk for me. So I guess today was a lazy day which we all have. I just wish I knew how to encourage him to go a little further or to get excited when he has lazy days.

Understanding (most of the time)

Well Spirit and I are still doing well. We still get about four or five hours in a week. We were doing so good before the Thanksgiving Break. The things that I was really excited for was Spirit was reading my energy level a lot better, I was focusing my energy into always positive direct energy, I was getting better at helping him familiarize himself with new things, he stands still a little better for me to get on, and he was maintaining a trot for at least three laps. We were working on a lope before I left for the Thanksgiving break and he would at least do it without me using a savvy string. Now that I am back I went to work with him today we got almost an hour in. There was Hillary, Carlee, and myself out there. I thought that it would be faster for me to just catch him and work either on the ground or ride bare back. Also they were working with a bob cat in the arena so I thought Spirit would be a little difficult to engage. So I went and go him from his pen and when I came up to his pen he was standing by the gate waiting for me. I love those moments when he wants to go play it makes me feel so good. Then we went into the big scary green barn, well that's the way Spirit sees it.
      Oh did I mention that Spirit is freaked out about the barn, but I think I figured out a way to help him. Spirit loves to eat I have found because on the way from and back to his pen he is always trying to stop and eat the hay laying on the ground. So I decided that if I pick some up and take it into the green barn with us then feed him it once he is tied up. By doing this I am hoping the green barn will start registering in his head as somewhere where he can get a treat. Thus far it has helped. He is not completely calm yet unless there are other horses with him but at least he hasn't freaked out again.
          So back to today. Well I just had a halter on him and we went into the arena. I went in not paying attention to the workers and bobcat and just started to ask him to do things. He was doing amazing and was not scared in the least from the workers, noise, or open door. So, I jumped on bareback and started to ask him to go around barrels and poles. He had a fabulous bend and was so so so soft around the barrels. Well, okay he wasn't perfect around it but he was softer than he has ever been. I tried to focus a lot on being precise in my ques and using my feet and hands correctly. Then we went up and down the bridge and worked on the front yields and back yields. He does them so well with just a little bit of hands and kinda a lot of leg. I think there is potential for both of us in that area. Then we worked on trotting which was harder for me because I am not that good bareback. Spirit seemed to be okay with it and kept a nice gait. I figured since he was doing so awesome that I would try a lope. The first couple of times I asked he did not want to do it. Then he did for a little distance. So, we just repeated this pattern until he was tired. We rested a while and then tried again. He seemed a lot more willing to pick up gaits. Probably because he wanted to go back to his pen and be done. He volunteered a trot and went for a longer time in a lope. I was so excited and it was great for me because I practiced sitting the lope since he has a weird one for me to stay with. So all in all today was another successful day and bareback was scary sometimes but a good choice for both of us.

 Spirit can be the funniest of horses. As you can see in these pictures that were taken a couple of weeks ago he is completely relaxed and almost lazy like. Although this last week as I have been taking him outside, down to the river, and then just in the barn by himself he is so very Spirited. For the longest time I wondered why they named him Spirit and now I am starting to find out why. He can be a very lazy horse and usually doesn't care about much but the times when he gets "spirited" is when he is scared. I have usually been able to work with Spirit in the class time til about 11:30 and then I was able to squeeze in an hour or two on my own time. I found that it was not enough and so I rearranged my work schedule and then one of my block classes finished so I have been able to work with Spirit during class times and then about an hour or so almost every day. By doing this I have been able to try a lot of new things with Spirit and have found the times when he is scared so becomes very dominant and spirited. The times when he is scared is when he is left alone without any other horses around or even when I am not there. He also doesn't care for when we go next to tall things or things that he has never seen. When he is scared by himself he jumps around, moves a lot, snorts, has really tense muscles, and even strikes sometimes.

 

Today he was showing those scared signs to me when we were saddling up in the barn. We were the only ones in the barn because everyone else was already riding in the arena and Spirit did not like it. I tried to stay calm myself and be the leader but I found it hard to be so when he started to pull back really hard and then jump forward and start jumping everywhere. I know I am suppose to be the leader at that time but for me I felt like it was not safe so I stepped back and then when he had somewhat finished his fit I stepped in because I felt like it was safer. Then when he started to be dominant towards me I became big and didn't let him step over me. I am not for sure if that is how I was suppose to handle the situation but in the end I was able to finish saddling him and walk him into the arena. Once we were in there I decided that the best way to have a good experience for both of us was to just do ground work. So we did, and I tried to engage him but going around poles and doing a squeeze game and directing his anxious movements into circles or somewhere else. It seemed to work for the most part and I thought at least he never tried to get away from me or completely forget that I was there. So I considered it a somewhat successful day. On a happier note he has been doing great this past week outside. He is still scared of things but not to where he feels he needs to defend himself. That scared I have figured out how to work through and then he is fine once he has seen it and done the squeeze game. When we were in the outside arena on Thursday he was so willing to trot and even go into a lollop and maintain it for a while. I need to work on being a better rider though, because his lollop is one that I have never felt before where his back end goes up more than his front. Then when we went down to the river he listened to me so well and trotted well for me down there. When he did get spooked he was never to where he wouldn't listen to me or listen to a one rein stop. I love the way he listens to me body and I can cue him into a trot or slow him down. So I think now I need to work on being a better leader when he is so scared he feels he needs to defend himself. So we will see what happens.