Having been deprived of my horses for days, I have nothing to say in my blog. I have been checking out stuff on the internet though and came across this. I like Paul Belasik, read all his books and thought this might be interesting.Trudi, do you think this would satisfy your scientific side. :-)
It's been raining for days and I haven't ridden for days. I have had time to watch my Philippe Karl and Anja Beran dvds. They make it look SO easy. I admire and follow PKs methods but I would so much like to ride like Anja!!
I wish it would, it's been raining all day. The horses spent their first night out last night (who's bright idea was that!!) and it rained buckets. They came in this morning and all except Corky lay down and slept. I'm sorry to say that I had no enthusiasm for the day so stayed in, had a very lazy morning, watched the Formula 1 and then baked (we do have a shed-load of eggs). I've been invited to a choir practice tomorrow, they'll be sorry!!
Another beautiful day today. I took Anky in the school with mixed results. She started off quite good, straight, forward and relaxed. I worked around the perimeter of the school on halt/walk transitions, leg yield, small circles. At one point she was straight and soft enough to ask for a trot transition which was quite good, but then the trot was rushed. As the walk improves, I will start to work more on the walk/trot transitions and work on achieving a slower more relaxed trot. Meanwhile, the other horses had been turned out and soft lad Remy was calling for his mum, which really distracted her. Having had some nice work in the school, I walked her around the field. As we reached the far end and turned for home, I asked for a couple strides of leg yield and as she softened and relaxed I asked her to canter (couldn't resist it!). We were heading home, so she needed no encouragement, made a nice transition and we cantered up the field. Our first canter - it felt good!!
A lovely warm day today and after a tiring day yesterday I went for a ride on Anky with a friend riding Corky. We had a quiet, relaxed ride, Anky behaving very well and for most of the ride was fairly straight and forward. I'm getting a much better feel in the right rein, which is resulting in a more genuine bend to the left, but she does have a tendency to curl down a little as she relaxes to the right hand.
After I put the horses out we had a little play in the field, first, follow the leader
then a little session of "One 'man' and his chucks"
So it's been a week since lightning killed my modem and it's seemed like a lifetime. I'm such a sad case!!
Anyway, I've been working Anky in the school with some success. I've ridden her out alone and even did a little schooling on the edge of a small wood,bending her round some trees. The locals must have thought I was mad, but Anky was quite attentive which is a real step forward.
I've been taking Remy out of the field and spending some time with him, also Bonbon who isn't used to being seperated from the rest, but she wasn't worried by it.
They're all finally losing their winter coats so are looking better.
This is Bonbon after her grooming session. She's 2 on Saturday.
The exercise is started from the ground facing the horse. Take both rings of the snaffle with both thumbs and push up toward the joint between second and third vertebrae following the natural direction of the mouth itself. Push steadily, progressively, strongly if necessary, introducing the strength little by little. When the horse yields (stops pushing down on the bit), relax immediately and drop your thumbs.From your position facing the horse, you must never push the reins towards the horse's chest, it must be an upward movement from the corners of the lips. With regular sessions the horse will start to display the behaviour detailed in my last post, "a behaviour similar to tasting a sugar, playing with the bit and swallowing, then salivating. Not chewing".
When the horse has been educated by this exercise you can then progress to lateral flexions in hand as a base for all the in hand lateral work to follow.
The process would be 1. Mobilising the Jaw and Tongue, relaxing the horse. 2. Controlling the neck, longitudinally and laterally. 3. Flexing the poll.
Well, Anky's had a few days off. She's had a little pain with her season this month, I'm putting it down to her Spring transitional seasons and hope she will improve over the summer. I've had a little play with Remy with the bit which now has the reins attached and he's slowly getting used to the feeling.
Not had much to say really, but the other day I was trying to explain to someone what I meant by flexions and the whole thing regarding mobility of the jaw. Why I'm trying to train Anky this way and, of course, intend to train Remy the same way. She actually said, "well, aren't you just messing with the mouth when you should be concentrating on the back end?"
Well, a few years ago, I might have said the same, but being quite a lot older and perhaps (hopefully) a little wiser, I've changed my opinion.
So, what is it?
Flexion (mobilisation, yielding, call it what you will) of the jaw is a flexion of the temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ), which is found about 2 inches behind the eye, under the base of the ear. Whilst the rider is concentrating on the bit and the mouth, the important thing happens in the head, far away from the bit.
Opening the jaw itself is not only what is looked for (although it's part of the process). The aim is to relax the TMJ, as the French say, 'decontracter', to prevent it from being contracted.
In the flexion of the jaw, the horse "lets go" of the bit. The tongue goes up and down, several times, and as Philippe Karl says "a behaviour similar to tasting a sugar, playing with the bit and swallowing, then salivating. Not chewing". I really like his DVD's :-)
So she asked me how to get it. Well, I try to follow PK's method which I'll try to describe in my next post.
Was what we had this morning on our ride out. We even saw the sun. A friend rode Corky and Anky was very good. Little jumpy as usual, but not having ridden out for a while, I really noticed the improvement in her responses. She was much more responsve to the leg, we had some lovely leg yield, and even though she was quite distracted at times, her response to the hand was better. We had some nice active walk, with good stretch out to the hand. So, a good ride, perhaps the work in the school is having a positive effect.
Lazy day today. I had arranged to ride out but we didn't go as the weather was miserable. I put Remys bit in for a few minutes and he was fine. We have a stray cat in the barn, we've named him Tiger Cat, he's very beautiful, but wary. Jim and Thomas started putting the posts in for my school fence so we're getting there slowly. We need to work on making something to level the surface now. Bonbon and Remy were together in the field today, I can't believe it, she's nearly as tall as him. Still croup high though.
Well, not so bad as the title suggests, just feel a little like that after my session with Anky today. I wonder if I'm going in the right direction, or indeed, if I have the patience to find it and the knowledge to know if it's the right direction or not. I think perhaps that I need some eyes on the ground (please Trudi, if you're not too busy?) just to clarify things for me. Anky was a little calmer today and I feel (i think) that we are making progress. The left rein is more genuine, flexions on the ground are improving, although not as successful when ridden, but better than they were. She is yielding easier to my leg , we achieved reasonable leg yield today, but she is not "with me" for most of the time. Today it was the monsters in the wood, the bottom end of the school was a no-go zone and when I did take her down there it was zero communication and spook-jump-spook, back to the other end. In order to get any calm work I stayed at the top end of the school and we did get back to some reasonable work, but it's very hit and miss and I cannot keep her on the aids long enough to walk a straight line. I think that I need more structure to my schooling sessions, I think that I also tend to lose focus and become a little sidetracked. No real reason to feel down about today, but somehow I do, perhaps it's approaching birthday doom and gloom syndrome. Perhaps it's a longing for a perfectly trained, well grounded, balanced horse!! LOL
My mum and dad have been married for 50 glorious years (my words not theirs!!)and have just returned from their anniversary treat to the States. They had a stop in Las Vegas and my mum persuaded my dad to go on a flight through the Grand Canyon. (she wanted to do it the last time they went over to America, but he wouldn't fork out!!)
Anyway they had a great time and my dad just emailed me these pics. I'm so looking forward to seeing them next month when they come over.
Exactly what I got from Anky today. I wasn't sure what to expect after her few days off, I was hoping she would be nice and relaxed, but I thought she might be jumpy. She was! I did a few flexions in the barn before getting on and taking her up to the school, she was very jumpy on the lane going up there and then snorted at the posts laid out around the school for the fence. I started working on halt-walk-halt transitions, but realized that wasn't going to work, she was too distracted, so we worked on small circles and figure of eights. This calmed her a little and we tried some shoulder in on the right rein which seems to be coming better. We had one or two nice turns around the forehand on the left rein. I was pleased as she has been quite resistant when I've asked for this. She is becoming straighter on the left rein with a much more uniform bend. Having settled a little, the halts were better and we managed some reasonable halts with immobility so we then practiced the ridden flexions at halt which were quite good. Having been quite settled, she then saw the neighbours dog in the little wood so, obviously, that was very frightening and every time she had her back to the wood, she tried to leg it up the school. I managed to settle her again by doing small figure of eights, achieving quite good change of bend. As a final exercise I walked her around the perimeter of the school on a longer rein allowing her to stretch (why did I do that???)but, just as we approached the little wood, a dove flew up out of the trees and we were back to jumping and snorting. The walk back to the stable was done on tippy toes, but we managed some reasonable leg yield up the lane.
It was raining this morning so I worked in the barn with Anky, flexions at halt. We now seem to have very good flexions to the left, whilst to the right, which was the better side it's now not so easy, with a little reluctance and resting on the hand. Anky seems to be ok now, so tomorrow I will ride. Played with Remy again with the bit, no problems. Like his mum, he's very food orientated and a treat at exactly the right moment works wonders.
Horses had a day off today, I had a nice lunch out with Thomas, so a nice easy day. The horses all had a good roll in the rain and they are very muddy. We have lots of frogs on the yard from the pond in the field and two stray cats hanging around, one of which is staying in the barn. We have so many animals around the place, after the rain today we're thinking of building an ark.
Anky had a day off today, she's coming in season and still a little subdued and stretching, so I had a little play with Remy.
I put the bit in and he started to play with it. He was very relaxed, quite happy, moving the bit around nicely. Jaw relaxed and moisture on his lips.
It's hard to believe he's 3 already, I remember the moment when he was born. Anky was taking her time and he was halfway out when she started to get restless and leg it round the stable. Jim settled her at the front and I held on to him and he turned and looked at me with those beautiful eyes just before she gave a final push and i lowered him to the ground.
And now he's grown out of his short trousers and he's ready for the big wide world.
Another day in the school today. Anky started off quite restless, but soon settled. We had some very good halts with responsive walk transitions. She was much better on the left rein today and strangely , the flexions today were better to the left than the right. The leg yield from the left leg was much better than our last session and we had some good shoulder in on the right rein. All in all a good session.
The wood for my school fence is all treated and today Jim and Thomas took all the posts up to put them in position for our friend Pascal to push in with his machine.
Anky's coming in season, so was stretching a little this afternoon. I'll see how she is in the morning, I may give her a day off.
Thomas is my nephew and he has come over for a few days. He's growing up so quickly and it's so good to see him. Jim has lots of jobs to keep him busy. I didn't have much time this morning, lots to do, so I didn't ride Anky but did some flexions in the stable at halt. I can't believe how relaxed she was, very active in her mouth and some very good flexions to both sides. I think she's really starting to get it now.
Beautiful day today, sunny and warm. I took Anky in the school to continue from yesterday. For the first time I felt that we were on the same wavelength. She was calm and listening. She felt much more relaxed and flexible. The walk was much straighter, fairly good soft halts with good walk transitions. So, I am happy. We managed some leg yield on both reins. A better feel, yielding away from my right leg, but a definate improvement yielding to the right from my left leg with a much more genuine bend.
Before I took her up to the school I worked on some flexions at halt on the yard, she got it almost immediately. It seems to have transferred to the ridden work and I'm hoping it has sunk in. She was very relaxed at the end of the session so I took her down the chemin, but her ever so slightly neurotic alter ego took over ;-) She gets very on her toes, and I do quite like her like that, she becomes very mobile and flexible, but I do wish she wouldn't spook quite so much when she's on her own!!! Anyway a good day, one or two eureka moments.
I had a very good ride out yesterday with a friend riding Corky. Anky was jumpy, but behaved very well. She was fairly forward and relatively straight. I enjoyed it.
This morning, taking Trudi's advice, I dug the camcorder out of the cupboard and headed off with Anky to the school. Anky was, as usual, quite distracted, took some time to settle. We worked on walk- halt-walk transitions, some good, some not so good. We had two or three quite soft halts without shuffling and then she lost focus and started to hollow into the transition. I worked on small circles, turns on the forehand which settled her and we had better transitions to the halt. If she settles in the halt, the walk transition is good with quick response to the leg. Again, better results with more genuine flexion on the right rein. On the left rein we have the same resistance stated in last post, but slightly better today, glimpses of more genuine flexion, not as set against inside leg, quicker to yield. She is sticky on the turns on the forehand, which is obvious on the video showing a lack of suppleness in the crossing over. But, all in all a good session in that I am learning more about her each time.
This afternoon, I took Anky into the picadero (bottom of the garden :-)). I wanted to try some work in-hand. I started, holding the reins near to the bit and asking her for turn around the forehand, easy, slow steps not letting her rush and once she settled we got some nice relaxed crossing on both reins. I then asked for flexions at halt. This is something I must work on , it is the key to all the work to follow. I was happy with one or two very good flexions on each rein, quite relaxed in the mouth with light froth. I don't know how to post the vid as yet, I'll have to open an account on youtube, but Jim took one or two pics of todays session.
This was a fairly good halt transition, but she settled a little too much on my hands.
The crossing over doesn't look too bad on this pic.