Working on Balance, Position and Speed

So last Friday, the 16th of March, I didn't bother posting because it was an off day, one of those where if you are relaxed about it, you shrug and go "oh well, maybe next time." Yesterday on the other hand was awesome. We played the friendly game and the yo yo game. He was extremely energetic on the lunge line, I just let him get out some of that excess energy. Instead of using his bridle provided which has a pelham as the bit, we used a loose ring snaffle. I've only seen it pinch one horse's mouth before, I know there is some controversy about it, but I am keeping an eye out so if I need to switch bits again we can. I also rode in my dressage saddle, oh how I missed it! I have a Wintec, which is what I've been riding in. My Wintec is a wonderful all purpose saddle that is made of plastic, so it won't die in the rain. It's an awesome saddle, has always fit every horse I've put it on. I was surprised my dressage saddle is the same, fits most horses, even those hard to fit horses like my last horse, Fred. He was very narrow at the withers and I actually purchased the dressage saddle to fit Fred. Oh, how nice it was to ride in it again though! The difference between the Wintec and my dressage saddle is like comparing a wooden chair to a huge comfy couch that you could sit all day on. But, enough about my saddles. Hobbie in the new bit was spectacular! I have never seen a horse go from a pelham to a snaffle and fight the bit less. He was amazing! I mean, this is what? My fourth ride, and I don't expect perfection, but he is a little miracle horse! I really wanted to do some leg yield because he was being so impressive, but I decided being able to do straight lines is probably more important first. So we stayed on our twenty meter circle and he was very responsive and framed with a nice steady tempo both ways at the trot. We succeeded at a few steady beautiful paces at the canter, and then did some perfect straight lines across the field without fighting or leaning one way or another. I am so proud! I hope when I get my next horse, they are as responsive as Hobbie is. I don't know if I should even put side reins on him or not. I've always used them as an aid to help with horses fighting their frame when riding, but Hobbie has come so far so fast, I don't know if he needs it. I guess a few more rides will tell.

So, balance of you and your horse are very important. This is why my first time on Hobbie, this is all we worked on and all I really have been talking about. When you and your horse are in sync and nice and balanced, it is so much easier to ask your horse to do what you want him to do. I just read an article I found off of Pinterest, I actually didn't like it so I am not going to share, but I wanted to pose my side. The article was about shortening your steps for a more balanced horse and rider, which is good. But it only stated that you use your leg to go and your rein to stop.

Ok. Yes, your horse should know to stop when you use the rein. BUT, you should never just stop your horse by only using your rein. In a solid balanced position, you should be using your whole body to stop the horse and only a very slight pressure on the rein. She has some great exercises and suggestions, but don't ever forget, your reins are only an aid, not your only tool. Your legs and your seat are your first tool. On Hobbie, even only in our fourth week, I always have contact to his mouth, but the rein is light in my fingers and when I ask for something it is with a gentle touch of the reign and more use of my body, stopping my motion and his from the core. Don't ever forget, horses are very sensitive. If you are relaxed and he is relaxed, it should only be slight pressure from your body and aids.

When trainers were trying to teach me to move with the horse, it took a long time and the right trainer to really find my seat. Unfortunately I don't remember exactly what she said, but how I think of it now is using my abbs for that stopping or slowing motion. If your abbs are moving correctly with the horse while moving, left side slightly forward with his left foot forward and opposite, when you tuck your abbs in and hold, stopping the connection of movement with your horse, your horse should respond with a downward movement. It's like taking your diaphragm and pushing down, or kind of almost sucking your tummy in and pushing down at the same time? I am trying to think of different ways to say it because I had such a hard time understanding it when I was taught. I swear I worked with one trainer for years and she never really got it through my head.

So, a good exercise for learning how to do this and getting really awesome downward transitions is to try this downward movement from the trot to walk without using your reins. If your horse slows to a walk, GO YOU! If not, after a few practices, ask with only a touch of the rein to ask him to slow and see what happens. To help you know how little pressure you should use on your reins, think about when you watch the best riders. You can't ever tell their hands are moving when they "talk" to their horses. Transitions are also great to make sure you and your horse have good balance and are communicating well. It sets you up for all the fun stuff you are about to do!

Oh! And, going back to the article topic. You do want to half-halt to bring a horse into a smaller step. If this is what you are asking for instead of a full on stop, you use a step or two of your abbs stopping motion and your half-halt at the same time to ask for this. Don' t forget, tiny touch of the rein. I know no one wants to hear this, but it is a lot easier to feel all of this motion in a sitting trot.

Ok, enough for today! I hope some of this was helpful!

Loving Every Minute

I know, I know....I haven't written in about a week! Work has been keeping me jumping.
Last Friday with Hobbie was wonderful! Because the previous week was so rough with going straight down the fence rail at a trot, we tried again. But we used different tactics. Instead of just going for it and trying to make it work, we did something different. In one of the articles I've been reading, I think it was actually 0n Pinterest, it reminded me that horses do better when they have something to think about. So, we started at the walk along the fence and did transitions to a halt. He didn't spook or try to swivel out of position. Then we tried again at the trot, going first to walking transitions, and then throwing in some halts. I do have to say, Hobbie is impressing me. He was great! Only a few hiccups! He is also going from EEnglish to western position flawlessly. We did some Western reining figure eights at the walk and circles at the trot and he was great.

On Sunday, we worked again on Parelli and lunging with nothing but the halter on again. His tempo is impressive on a free lunge and he is responding really well to my commands, going easily from walk to trot and even down to a halt. I finally got to have him canter on the lunge, and he was great at that to, although a little sluggish. He only broke once. The yo yo game confused him completely for the most part, haha! But we made very slight progress so of course I praised him and gave him treats.

Tomorrow we may try to play the porcupine game also, as we have some more time. I'm loving every minute of playing with a horse again.

The Zones of the Horse in Parelli

Before learning the next game in Parelli, we need to understand Pat Parelli’s “zones of the horse” so we can better move the horse in our games. These descriptions come directly from Nancy Allen’s website.
"Zone 1: from the nose band of the halter streching out for a mile and a half in fron of the horse. It physically involves his muzzle and his personal space in front of him.
The Delicate Zone: around the eye area, the zone from the nose band up over the ears to the head piece of the halter. It's a delicate area and needs to be treated with care.
Zone 2: from right behind the ears to the break of the withers, the little dip right in front of them. Essentially it's the neck and chest and the end of the zone makes a diagonal line to the point of the shoulder.
Zone 3: from the break of the withers to the point of the hip.
Zone 4: from the point of the hip to the top of the tail.
Zone 5: from the tail head stretching out a mile and a half behind him."
Never forget, the more we know about a horse, the more connected we can be with them.


The Porcupine Game

This is the second game of Parelli. The point of this game is to ask with less but receiving more from your horse. Starting with moving your horse backwards, you will move your horse in different directions using pressure. There are six different directions.
To first move your horse backwards, place your hand gently on his nose and add pressure until he moves backwards. Don’t forget, any movement in the direction you ask for is right, so let the pressure off. I read a great comparison, keep your hand like a wall, when your horse backs away, your hand stays still. If they push against you, your pressure increases and you don’t back up.
Use this same method to ask your horse to move forward, right, left and movement of the head, up and down. Nancy Allen suggests rubbing the spot where you plan on applying pressure before and after each movement to let the horse know first that you are asking for something and second, that you are done.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Alright! I am sorry I did not post this yesterday!


Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2 tbs olive oil
1 pound diced chicken
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
1 8 ounce can of water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
6-8 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tsp cinnamon
1tsp chili powder
salt and pepper
one to two heads of lettuce
1 cup brown rice

Bring 1 cup chicken broth to boil in saucepan add brown rice, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 6 minutes (brown rice for any occasion cooked this way is very tasty).

Original recipe suggests cooking chicken in sesame oil, I do not like the taste so I use regular olive oil. Cook chicken and ginger until chicken is cooked through.

Add 1/2 cup chicken broth, bell pepper, water chestnuts, spices and carrot and let simmer for about 8 minutes to desired vegetable taste. Add hoisin sauce and about 1/2 cup of brown rice, cook for 2 more minutes.

Place brown rice and chicken mix on large lettuce leaves and enjoy! Brown rice also works well as a side if you desire one.

The Friendly Game

On Friday, Hobbie and I worked on consistency again. He has gotten much better on the 20 meter circle, paying more attention to me and less to the other horses around him. We tried to go in a line to see how it went, that is much harder for him. That was all we worked on because I still don't want to push him too hard. I think lunging would improve his consistency so I think we are going to start lunging some. Oh! We did spend time with Western reining before and after our other work, and I used the proper hand position! Exciting and weird!
On Sunday, we were lucky enough to get to go back to the barn. I believe Parelli would really benefit me as a horse trainer and when I get my next horse so I am reading and watching lots of videos on it. We started with the friendly game yesterday. People have lots of opinions on the way to do these games. I chose to use a mix between most videos I watched with the sticks and whips, Pat Parelli's videos and Nancy Allen's descriptions of the friendly game.
My last horse had really gotten to a bad point with me where he decided being caught was a chasing game. No, I never actually chased him, I'd lunge him in his pastures until he decided to let me catch him, but it was a real problem in a 40 acre field, sometimes taking 3 hours to catch my horse. Patience always won out, but who has 3 hours to catch their horse? I can't let this ever happen again so this is the real reason for all of this. Hobbie ran for a minute on Sunday and you can imagine my fear when I held out cookies.
So, the friendly game that Hobbie and I spent time with was a combination of all I've learned in the last week. I started with simply touching him all over from head to tail, letting him relax and getting used to my touch. Then we picked up the whip and did the same thing that way, praising him when he was good and giving him lots of cookies, ending in a nice lunge. When he was pretty steady in his trot both ways, we went back to hands all over again, and just relaxing before being done for the day. It seemed like a success!

I have a doctor's appointment set up to talk about my health and find out if something is wrong or if I need to change something in the way I am doing things. It isn't for two weeks though. My best friend and I went on a nice hour long walk today. I carried weights today too, it totally works all the muscles I use in my arms for riding, I love it! I am not a gal with upper body strength, so every little bit helps. I've been eating well this past week, but I really need to cook at home some. I'm thinking about Lettuce Wraps, mmmm so good. Maybe I will post the recipe tomorrow when I make them....

Western Position

Ok! Western Riding! I never thought I would even be looking at this type of riding as I am such a Dressage enthusiast, haha! But, this is for the owner’s benefit, I do not want to mess up his horse that he really enjoys trail riding with. So I know as for position, you still have to sit in your balanced, straight seat. I also know you are supposed to hold your reins in one hand with the other relaxed on your thigh. You can also hold your hand lightly clenched in front of your stomach if you want to. Hold the reins in the opposite of your preferred hand. So I am left handed, I would hold the reins in my right hand. Reins are held with a closed fist, if the reins are split, you use your forefinger to keep the separate. Good to know for tomorrow! Usually using both hands, I didn’t know which one to use on Sunday for our Western time.