River

River

River’s First Rides

Posted on October 3, 2012 by horsegirlonajourney

River had her fourth ride today, if one counts “rides” the way people tend to talk about them in the horse industry. She has carried passengers before (including me!) and had a lot of practice with mounting and dismounting. But now she is learning to follow leadership from the person on her back and according to her teacher Erin Murphy, River is doing great.

River was recently featured on Erin’s website. See “Slow and Steady Start” at Equine Partners, Inc.

I helped Erin yesterday, adding a little bit of pressure from the ground to help River if she didn’t respond to the rider’s cues. Today, I went out there, but was not needed even one time. River is already going, stopping, turning, and backing based on cues from Erin in the saddle.

River is a little sticky, which is no surprise, as she can be like that on the ground too. She was also bracing a little bit, physically, but not emotionally or mentally. Both days, I saw her put a lot of effort into learning, and she improved from yesterday to today.

River is a little nervous about zone 4, so Erin made sure to mix a lot of friendly game in with the steady and rhythmic pressure.

Tomorrow we are taking a field trip to Maple Leaf Stables where we will get to play with a mechanical cow. I’ll have River on the 22-foot line and play with her on the ground. It will be fun to see her cutting horse instincts have a chance to come out. And hopefully I’ll get some good exercise out of it, while learning just how much “cow” *I* have!

Categories: Freestyle, River | Tags: parelli natural horsemanship, penn valley | Leave a comment

Don’t just do something, stand there!

Posted on December 18, 2011 by horsegirlonajourney

River gets sticky and tends to lag on-line, not just walking 12 feet behind but kind of dragging on the halter at times. To instill a new pattern of cooperation — walk with me, not against me — Erin taught me how to teach Stick to Me on-line, with an eye toward future Liberty.

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Rocky sorta kinda always wanted to stick to me, and in fact looking back, I can see that Rocky taught me how to play Stick to Me game — at Liberty, no less. I didn’t teach him nuthin’.

With River, I’ve had to learn how to be particular about her finding the sweet spot, able to flick behind instantly when she lags or to use the stick in front if she surges forward. The stick, not the lead line, as at Liberty I wouldn’t have the lead line.

We did well the first two sessions but on the third, I felt like I was getting after her constantly, and that every walk turned into several flicks or a turn to the inside hindquarter yield. I didn’t want her to think that being with me means being flicked all the time. Embiggening my phases just made her less willing, so I had to think about what else I could do. I thought … well, she’s lagging, so what if we walk v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Not just step and pause, but actually moving our feet in slow motion.

She loved it. Her ears came forward, she looked at me, she matched her steps to mine, and I slowed us down even more. Then we rested and licked and chewed. After that, I could alternate among stealth walk, normal walk, jog, and trot, and she would stick to me.

We had varying success in the fourth session yesterday. We are taking today off. In the next session, I want to combine Stick to Me with Point to Point. I’ll hide cookies, apple slices, and other goodies around the ranch — guess I better put the donkeys away first — and we’ll practice all our gaits and find treats everywhere we go.

That should work on two levels. One, she won’t get so obsessed about the idea that I might have cookies on my person that she can only think about mugging me and not about anything else. Two, she will find new interest in Stick to Me because we’ll put the principle to a purpose.