Back to Short Sessions...

***Click back to the first few posts to read how Max and I started using RFD TV’s Clinton Anderson and his Downunder Horsemanship training method.  We've made great progress! 

BACK TO SHORT SESSIONS…

For the last couple of days I’ve returned to short sessions for my training.  Like I mentioned in the last post, Max and I are still on Clinton Anderson’s Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground – Series 2 – disc four.  We have three more exercises to go in this series:  leading behind, leading beside and turn and go.

We’ve been practicing side-passing and lungeing for respect-stage 2 in the afternoons this week.  We’ve had short sessions each day of 30 minutes to an hour.  It seems to work well for us like this. 

I’ve only had one ride this week though.  That won’t do.  I like to ride four to six days a week.

This week Max was reluctant to begin lungeing when I pointed and clucked, especially to the right for some reason.  So, we worked on it.  It took many tries, over a period of a few days for him to remember to "go" when I point and cluck.  But we’re getting it now about 90-95% of the time.  The other 5-10% of the time he gets it with slight encouragement.  So, that’s progress.

Clinton Anderson says you probably shouldn’t be doing lungeing for respect-stage 2 if your horse doesn’t “go” when you point and cluck in stage 1.  Max used to “go” when I pointed and clucked.  He just needs a refresher.  We had that couple of weeks in which we weren’t able to work, so he got a bit rusty.

We are working, slowly but steadily, on lungeing for respect-stage 2.  We’re really sloppy at it, but we’re correcting mistakes as they happen, then trying again. 

For example, Max and I are having a hard time with when we want to change direction, him stopping and getting his front end around quickly enough.  He wants to ignore me and the whole quick change of direction thing, so he keeps on in the same direction just trotting a little bit slower, and looking at me the whole time like he knows what I want, but wants to see if I’ll do it his way this time.  

Of course, I won’t, so I stop him, back him up by wiggling the rope because by this time he’s moved in closer to me, yield his hindquarters and start him in the other direction while keeping his shoulder out and away from me.

Like I said, we’re really sloppy, but we’ll keep practicing.  We’ve both got the time. 

Side-passing is going a little more smoothly than before.  We’re still on the fence and he’s still moving up to the fence frequently so that we have to back up and then continue the side-passing to the right.  To the left, he’s doing quite well.  Again, we’ll practice a little everyday.

I need to watch disc 4 to see how to do the last three exercises.  Hopefully, we can start those next week.

The short sessions are working for us again…

Have a good ride

Greenhorn

Longer Sessions...

            See how Max and I got to this point using Clinton Anderson's methods by reading the first few posts.


LONGER SESSIONS...

             Max and I had a good, long session on Saturday.  On groundwork, we’re well into Clinton Anderson’s Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground-Series 2. 

We worked on backing with me lifting the clip under his chin and him backing.  He’s doing well with it.  We also backed with the touch and rub on the nose exercise.  He’s doing well with that one, too.  They’ll both require steady practice to get near perfect, but we’ll do the practice and make the grade.

We did changing eyes, we lunged a little.  We practiced side-passing slowly, slowly along the fence all the way down, then the other side all the way back.  (My arms were killing me half-way down the fence line.)  Again, it’s not perfect, but it’s a start.    

We practiced the touch and rub on the ground.  I’ve got it now.  I’m glad I stuck with it.  I was feeling so awkward in the beginning with this exercise.  No wonder Max wasn’t getting it.  But I’ve got it now and we’ve made great progress.

Our groundwork session lasted a litttle more than an hour.

Then, we had an hour-long ride.  It doesn’t sound very long, but it was for us.  I’m trying to slowly increase our training time both on the ground and in the saddle.  It'll take us a while to get into better shape and do really long sessions.  When under saddle, Max has a tendency to want to stop before I’m ready to stop, so we’re going to have to get over that.  And right now I'm thinking slowly increasing riding time is the way to work on that.

We practiced trotting and posting, we cantered and we practiced backing. 

We also yielded hindquarters at the standstill.  Since we’ve been doing the touch and rub at the hindquarters on the ground, we’re making much better progress with it in the saddle.  It's definitely worth doing on the ground.  The connection from the ground to the saddle is happening. 

While he usually gets it to the left, he doesn’t want to yield his hindquarters to the right when I’m in the saddle.  He tosses his head like crazy.  (It’s a bit unsettling.)  I’m not exactly sure what’s causing him to toss his head so much.  I try to make my signals clear and direct so there’s no confusion about what he’s expected to do.  I’m hoping this is just one of those examples of, “sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.” 

We both could use more long sessions…

Have a good ride

Greenhorn 

Things To Remember...

Make sure your signals are black and white, no gray areas.  Don’t nag.  Success is usually right around the corner.  The problem is that most people quit right before the turn.  Sometimes things get worse before they get better.  Reward the slightest try.  These are all things Clinton Anderson says when discussing horse training.

These are all concrete instructions to remember as I’m working with Max. 

Today we made new progress in two areas.  First, the touch and rub exercise continues to improve.  We got two steps with Max crossing that hind foot over.  We kept at it for quite some time today and it was worth it.  We’ll try for three steps tomorrow.

We did a lot of backing today.  He’s backing much better in his new halter.  We practiced the four methods of backing, plus we practiced touch and rub on his nose.  He was reluctant at first, but got the hang of it.  He tried tossing his head and lowering it to get rid of my pressure on the halter knots, but I stuck with him, and we were successful.

We also practiced sidepassing on the fence.  This is out of order according to the presentation of the exercises in Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground-Series2, but I wanted him to cross those front feet over in a new exercise.  And he knew both the steps involved in the exercise.  There was no nagging.  No gray areas.  He’s not perfect at it, but we worked our way slowly down the pasture fence line.  Both ways.   The slightest try was rewarded.  And it showed up again that he was not as fond of crossing his feet over to the left.  But we kept it up anyway.

We had a short ride again.  We mainly practiced backing, trotting and posting and cantering.  It went well, just brief.  After practicing touch and rub on the ground, I flat forgot to practice yielding hindquarters in the saddle.

I’m going to work on increasing our riding time little by little.  We both need longer rides…

All of the above…worth remembering…

Have a good ride

Greenhorn

Still Practicing...

               If you’re a first-time reader, I’m a life-long horse-lover, first-time horse owner who loves to watch the horse-training shows on RFD TV.  In order to train me in establishing control on the ground and re-gaining confidence in the saddle, I’m using Clinton Anderson’s dvd series.  So far, the directions have been clear and direct. 

 I’m very excited about the progress my horse, Max, and I have made since beginning the training series.  Look back to the first few posts to see how I came to use Clinton Anderson’s approach…

Today was a beautiful day.  For once in quite a while (all summer) it wasn’t scorchingly hot.  It was more like a spring day, oddly enough, seeing as how it is September.  So, I decided that Max and I would review most of our groundwork exercises.   

We hadn’t done much when a big, fat bumblebee appeared and wouldn’t leave Max alone.  Max and I took turns swatting at it, but it was way too persistent for us.  I got the can of bug spray from the barn and directed a stream right at it.  It worked.  I either got it, or it didn’t stick around.  We both relaxed and went back to work.

In a few minutes, when time came to bridle Max, a gigantic fly buzzed around and really tormented Max.  Even though Max had a light coat of fly spray on, this fly would not give up.  Max tossed his head and moved around.  I backed him up.  He did it again.  I backed him up again. 

This time he stood still, put his head down and even opened his mouth for the bridle.  The fly kept coming at him.  I have to hand it to Max for not going totally nuts with this super huge insect constantly harassing him.  This fly looked big enough to bite a hunk out of Max’s hide. 

I silently hoped it didn’t happen while I was on his back… 

Anyway, I shook off that thought, mounted and off we rode.  We were okay for only a few moments.  Our respite from the fly was short lived.  Max soon suffered constant attack by the big bug.  Max held it together fairly well, but both of us were having a hard time concentrating.   We were verrrrrry distracted.  No progress was being made.  

That was it.  Done.

Next Day:

Another pretty day – I gotta admit I was on the lookout for flying insects.  I wasn’t going to be run off by bugs today.

Luckily, the bugs were a no-show.

I didn’t introduce any new skills on the ground today.   We worked on getting good (at least a grade B) at the skills we’d already learned.  The yielding forequarters to the left is really slow-coming. 

I’m back to thinking maybe something hurts in his shoulder or leg or somewhere so that he can’t or doesn’t want to pivot on that back foot and really cross that front foot over time after time until he’s through the 360 turn.  But he has no visible signs of physical trouble, standing still or while moving. 

I think he’s just real heavy on his front end.  So, if it’s just that it’s going to take a long time and a lot of practice on this side, that’s okay with me.  I’m not in a hurry.  I’m looking for quality in executing the exercises.

His lungeing was pretty good.  His canter still seems pretty rough to the right, but I think it’s improving.

We practiced the Changing Eyes exercise again.  It’s on Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground – Series 2.   Clinton Anderson says to do this exercise slowly.  We’re really doing it slowly.  We may be going too slow.  I need to watch that segment of the dvd again to see if we need to speed it up.

We struggled again with him standing still to be bridled.  I think he remembered yesterday and wanted to see if I was still serious about him standing still and dropping  his head.  I was.  I backed him up once.  His feet stopped moving, he dropped his head and opened his mouth.

Our ride was good.  We didn’t make a lot of progress, but we practiced trotting, cantering, yielding hindquarters at the standstill and backing.

I haven’t been nearly diligent enough in doing the touch and rub exercise.  By now, we should have made more progress in the saddle yielding hindquarters at the standstill.  I need to do touch and rub daily for a while right before riding, and then yield hindquarters when we first begin the ride.  I think that will help keep yielding to the steady pressure fresh on his mind.     

Still practicing…

Have a good ride

Greenhorn

Gaining Respect and Control - 2!!!

(I posted this out of order.  It happened before the previous post…Progress on the Ground)

We officially started Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground-Series 2!  We’re still working on yielding forequarters and Sending on Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground-1, but we’re moving on to Series 2. 

We worked on the first couple of exercises, Changing Directions and Run Up and Rub.  Max is already doing these pretty well.  I really only did changing directions in the barn.  We’ll do it in the arena tomorrow.  He knew what I wanted him to do though.

We worked on Run Up and Rub in the arena for several minutes.  I probably “ran up and rubbed” about 8 times.  He was standing still by the 6^th time.  He didn’t really get too upset about it and only moved back a step or two right from the beginning. 

So, Yea!  We’ll review tomorrow.

Next Day:

Today we did about 30 minutes of groundwork.  We worked on yielding forequarters, lungeing, sending and run up and rub.  I didn’t have my list with me, so I forgot to work on touch and rub. 

Note to self:  Leave list at barn…

In the saddle we worked on yielding hindquarters at the standstill and I could see that a little work on touch and rub on the ground would have helped.  But Max must have remembered a previous lesson because he didn’t do too badly.

I drew his head around, put my foot back.  When he didn’t move, all I had to use was my hand, so I tapped his hip and he took a couple of steps.  I released my foot, then released his head when he “gave”.  We did this several times on each side.

When I draw his head around and he starts to move his hindquarters before I put my foot back, I just wait until he stops moving, then put my foot on.  And proceed with the above.

Okay, I’m really getting more relaxed while riding.  I cantered a few times today! Yea!

Two Days Later:

I did some barn chores today.  I got out there rather late.  We only did Yielding Forequarters, and he had improved.  We’re at 360 degrees with consistent crossover steps to the right 99% of the time.  He’s pivoting on his right hind foot.  Way to go, Max!

I rode just a bit today.  It was too hot to do much.  I’ll have to get out earlier tomorrow morning.

Late Evening, Same Day:

I went back out to work with Max.  We lunged for just a few minutes.  He’s doing pretty well! 

We did some Sending.  I gave him a bigger gap and I kept the pressure on.  He oomphed! it up into a little trot for a few steps.  He yielded hindquarters on the other side of the gap.  He was more reluctant to trot back the other way (away from the gate).  We tried it a few more times each way and he was trotting pretty consistently through the gap each way. 

I should have stopped then.  Clinton Anderson says to stop when they’re being successful.  But I decided to let him do it the right way a couple more times. 

Mistake.  He refused to go through in the direction away from the gate.  I kept bump, bumping the lead rope and putting pressure with the stick, and he stayed stuck.

I resorted to just backing him up and trying the Sending again. 

Didn’t work.  He was finished.  I don’t blame him.  He had done it right.  And I had pushed it.  It was a bad call on my part.  It was getting dark. 

I backed him one more time so we wouldn’t end with him getting his way and we lunged a couple of circles to the left, then right, then quit. 

Far away from the gate…

We’ll try again tomorrow.  It’ll be interesting to see how he handles the Sending tomorrow…

(So…Progress on the Ground…the post below…happened next.  Then, I’ll be back in order…)

Have a good ride,

Greenhorn

Progress On the Ground...

Max was great today.  He lunged at the canter more smoothly.  His canter seems a little less clumsy.  He knows to accelerate from a trot to a canter when I lift my hand and point.  I love that.  He takes the correct lead when he takes off 99% of the time.  Good Boy!

We worked on Sending.  I pointed, clucked and waved the stick with energy near his head and neck.  He didn’t move. 

So, I rotated the stick and string as if to start lungeing.  And whattayaknow?  He moved.  He trotted across and yielded.  Yea!  I guess he didn’t remember our struggle last night, or else he doesn’t hold a grudge! LOL –

What I discovered is this.  In the segment of the Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground-1 dvd about Sending, Clinton Anderson says with most horses you don’t need to move the stick in that big rotating motion to get them to move across in the Sending exercise.  He says usually, unless they’re really lazy and hard to get going, you’ll only need to create some energy with the stick near the head and neck.

Well…that’s us…lazy and hard to get going. 

I happened to remember this part of the instructions out in the pen when I realized Max needed more pressure to get moving.  And he did it. 

I also have to wiggle the rope for him to back up when he goes too far around me or gets too close.  I’m very proud that he moved his feet at the trot during the Sending.  It was great to know I was trained well enough to get him to do it!   

We worked a little on yielding forequarters, of course.  I don’t think there is ever a day that we don’t.  But I heard something interesting about Max.  The friend who guided me to Max in the first place mentioned that no one had really been able to get him to cross his feet over.  Wow!  That made me feel better.  No wonder it was taking so long.  But now… he’s pivoting on his right hind leg and crossing over his front foot to the right. 

To the left…still not so much…but it’s getting a little better each week.  I think he knows I’m not going to let it slide.

I continued to work on Clinton Anderson's "Run Up and Rub," and I did a little “Slap and Tap”.  These are both on the Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground – 2.  Neither of these exercises bothered Max at all.  He just stood there.  Good Boy.

Too hot (100+degrees-again) to ride today by the time we got through with groundwork exercises.

We continue to make progress on the ground…

Have a good ride,

Greenhorn

No More Excuses...

              
             With lots of help, I moved the arena (Still a verrrry loose use of the term, arena.)  Now I have no excuses for failing to progress from cruising at the trot to stick to the fence at the trot and on up to cruising and stick-to-the-fence at the canter, all riding exercises on Clinton Anderson's Riding with Confidence-1. The ground is a bit unlevel in some spots so we’ll walk it several times to get used to it.

Next Day:

Max and I took our first ride in the new “arena” location this morning.  It’s not quite as level as the other arena was, but Max seemed more relaxed.  (Therefore, so was I.)  We walked the perimeter first and then trotted it.  We rested in the only scary place left and he didn’t bat an eye.  So I can’t do anymore whining about the “spook” element of the arena.  Maybe I’ll be able to make some progress in the saddle at last…

Next Day:

Max is pivoting on his right hind foot when we yield forequarters to the right!  Woo-hoo!  We’ve worked on it just a few minutes, most days for a couple of months, and he can finally do it to the right!  Good Boy!

To the left…not so much…  We’ll keep working on the left.

Love the new location of the arena.  We had a relaxed ride today.  We mainly trotted. 

We also did yielding hindquarters at the standstill.  He’s a little sticky, but with a reminder (a tap on the hip) right at the beginning he gets it.  I seem to be getting more coordinated with the teaching of this skill, and the timing of it, the more we practice. 

At first, I had to really slow down and think about each individual step.  I had to think through each step as I did it:  draw his head around, correctly place my foot, release my foot when he moved correctly, wait for him to “give” and release immediately.  It’s becoming a smoother movement now.  The smoother I get with it, the smoother he seems to move.  We’ll keep working on it.

And get this.  I cantered about three times today.  One was a really long time!  I was so impressed with myself for letting him go with it that I forgot to count how many strides I hung in there for.  I was really trying to get the feel of it.  I’m trying to build up to a few strides more each day.  I didn’t have much control, but I was so wrapped up with the fact that I was cantering, I didn’t think a lot about it.  Max stopped anyway.  Good Boy!  LOL!

His canter is still a little too fast for me to be totally relaxed with it.  But I think we’re making strides (no pun intended) with that, too, on the ground.

I’m going to have to re-watch the cruising and stick-to-the-fence episodes on the Riding with Confidence-1 Series.  Not really to learn the method of teaching it so much as to use the episodes to build up my confidence. 

It helps me to review the lesson and remember things that Clinton Anderson says in the lesson like, “Any time you get uncomfortable, do a one rein stop.”  I really need to get that embedded in my head for when I can finally take on cruising at the canter. 

And we’ve worked more on the ground lately than we have in the saddle, so I may have to relax, slow down and just review trotting with Max in the “new” arena, then work up to the canter. 

Uh-oh, was that just an excuse???

Have a good ride,

Greenhorn

Speaking of Slow...

                By the way…for those of you just joining us, I like to watch the horse trainers on RFD TV.  I think they’re all pretty darn good.  I’m a “beginner all over again”, and right now, I’m using Clinton Anderson’s methods on my first horse ever.  I’m hoping he can train me on how to handle Max.  Take a look at a couple of my first entries to see how Max and I got to this point.

Back to speaking of slow…

I began working on the Sending exercise a few days ago.  I don’t know if it’s my signals or what but he’s about to go to sleep walking in front of me.  Also, he doesn’t go all the way across the gap between the fence and me.  He goes about half-way and turns and yields his hindquarters.  Help!

I’ll be studying that segment of the dvd tomorrow morning before I go out.

He’s trying though.  He’s looking at me and really paying attention.  My actions must not be clear.

Next Day:

I watched Yielding Forequarters again.  There’s something I’m not doing right for it to take so long for Max to go all the way around.  And I got it. 

I’m not being forceful enough driving him back when he goes forward instead of stepping across.  I’ve only been backing him a couple of steps, gently.  I’m not aggressively driving him back so he’ll remember the mistake.  Clinton Anderson says it’ll take forever if you do it like I’ve been doing it. 

He’s right.  Now I get it. 

Sometimes I have to re-watch the segment.  After I get the basic idea down of how to teach it, I have to re-watch so I can pick up all the “little” things that I don’t do at the beginning.  I watch the segment a couple of times.  I go out and introduce the skill to Max.   

Then, I come back and re-watch the segment, sometimes a few times, looking for answers to the questions I had while I was out doing the introductory lesson with Max.  So far, I’ve always found the answers right there in Clinton Anderson’s lesson.  Then, I go out to teach the skill to Max again, fully armed with the knowledge I need for Max to be successful. 

It’s normal.  It’s difficult to absorb everything after watching a lesson segment one or two times. 

And it helps to go out and do it, then come back in with particular answers to look for while re-watching.

Also, at the end of the segment he says don’t worry if it’s not perfect right now. The rest of the exercises will help this along.

Get across the main idea of crossing that front foot over the other one for at least one good step.

I’m also going to re-watch the Sending exercise segment.

Next Day:

            I re-watched Sending.  There must be something I’m missing.  I kept the pressure on as he crossed through the gap, and when he sped up I released it.  He was starting to trot, but was not really at a trot.  I want him to take off with some energy at a trot and continue to trot through the gap till I signal him to yield his hindquarters.

           

I’ll re-watch the segment.  I think I’ll also widen the gap.  Maybe he needs a little more space right now. 

He’s still trying…

Have good ride,

Greenhorn

Do We Make the Grade?

A few Sundays ago, I watched an episode on Clinton Anderson’s Downunder Horsemanship show on RFD TV.  He was grading a student on the Fundamentals section of his horse training program.  It made me think about how Max and I are progressing.

Upon reflection, I had to admit that Max doesn’t really show energy in his take-off and his lungeing at the trot seems sluggish most of the time.  And I must strive to be more consistent and project high energy with my body language. 

The student he was grading was worried about her horse yielding hindquarters and giving two eyes.  She was concerned that he wasn’t doing it fast enough. 

Remember, I was concerned earlier about this and decided to work on it.  But on this episode CA said that if the horse is getting that backend around and looking at you, it’s okay.  That when you go through future exercises that require him to yield his hindquarters in order to do the exercise, he’ll get better and better at it, so don’t just work it to death.  Okay.  I’m good with that.  We’re moving on.

I know I need to project energy in my body language in order for Max to get energetic.  He’s a lazy type (and I can be, too), and he can get an attitude if not kept in check.  He decided to demonstrate this today when I wanted to work on the energy part.

I went to the barn with the intention of seeing what kind of grade we’d get on Lungeing, Stage One.  I wanted to project energy so he would take off with some snap.  We began, I projected and he snapped all right. 

He snapped loose from me as I attempted to point and cluck him up to a more energetic trot.  He went through the open gate and out of the pen, and when he got to his stall he yielded those hindquarters with energy and gave me two eyes.  He cocked his foot and licked his lips.  I laughed out loud!

I went and got him, neither scolded him nor soothed him, walked him back into the arena (closed the gate!) and took up where we left off.  We practiced, both of us with energy, for a while with no more incidences.  Maybe by the end of our practice we could have pulled a B…

Monday I did an evening workout with Max.  I was surprised by his light take-off when I pointed and clucked.  His whole trot seemed a little lighter and more energetic.

               I pointed and clucked to get him up to a lope.  I used the stick and string the second time I pointed and clucked.  On the left lead he tossed his head kind of like, “I don’t know if I’m going to do this without showing you I don’t like it,” but he stepped it up. 

On the right lead when I pointed and clucked, and then pointed, clucked and used the stick and string the second time when he didn’t lope, he tossed his head and wanted to kick out and got a bit snarky.  He tried to jerk away, but I held him and kept the pressure on while he acted silly.  We worked through it. 

He went a time or two more at the lope, then I brought him to a trot for two circles, then stopped and rubbed him and rested just a moment.  We started again in the same direction and had no problem.  Thanks, CA.  Good instructions.

Lungeing Stage One had definitely improved.  More energetic take off, better change of direction.  We might get a B on that.  Don’t get me wrong. He’s not stopping and rotating around on his hindquarters and taking off in the other direction. 
He’s stopping.  He’s giving two eyes better and understands, most of the time, to go the other way when I point in the other direction and cluck.

I’m thinking that I should even go back to the four backing up methods.  On some days I think we’re definitely B material.  Then again, when I tapped the air today for Max to back up, he looked at me like, “What?”  

I did the yielding hindquarters and backing and he stood still after yielding.  I don’t think I was clear on my signal to back up on this one.  We hadn’t practiced it in a while and I was clumsy with the cues.  But no B today.

We continue to work on moving forequarters.  We can do about 180 degrees until he wants to step forward instead of across.  No B on that one.

Do Max and I make the grade?  I’m afraid that right now, we don’t rate a solid B on several exercises in Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground – Series I.  The episode reminded me that I must keep my expectations for both of us high when training Max.  We can do it...    

            Have a nice ride,

            Greenhorn

Love That "Try"...

              Okay-So I had to completely change Max’s routine today because I had a meeting at 9:30 am, so we could not “work out” this morning.  I decided to do a little ground work this evening because I’ll be gone this weekend and won’t get to work with him; which isn’t all bad, and will probably be good, because a routine needs a little shake-up every once in a while and everyone needs a day or two off every once in a while to keep everyone fresh. 

The last time I was gone for a couple of days worked out fine.  Max and I were glad to see each other and he seemed ready to work and so was I.  And we made progress.

However, this evening is another story.  I think I have totally confused Max.  You know, we’ve been working on yielding his forequarters for weeks.  Well, he’s getting pretty good at it, but it seems like every time I make a move he starts yielding his forequarters. 

It makes me wonder if he’s been taught this some time in the past because one day when he kept yielding his forequarters I gently tapped his hip and he yielded his hindquarters a couple of steps so he kind of did a little side pass.  I tapped his forequarters again and he yielded, so I tapped the hindquarters and he yielded. 

              

              I know I probably shouldn't jump a little ahead.  I don't want to really confuse him.  (But he did it pretty well!)

For example, I went back to yielding hindquarters because I feel like he’s not always getting those hindquarters around straight and giving me two eyes when we’re lungeing and I ask him to stop and yield.  So, I lifted my hand up by his eye and tapped the stick 1,2,3,4 in the air, and he started side-passing toward me!

I wasn’t going to stop and make a big deal out of it, so I just kept on and his hip ran into the stick and his rear end jumped around to yield.  We had to do this a few times.  I think I’m going to have to go back and do a little of this when I get back. 

I’m probably not being clear on my signals.  I’ll pay closer attention to exactly what I’m signaling tomorrow morning.  I feel like we’ll work out of it if I’m just patient and stay the course.   
And I love it when Max shows that “try”!  Before I started working with Max and I heard all the RFD TV horse trainers talk about a horse having "a lotta try" or you can tell "he's/she's trying", I wondered how you could tell if a horse was "trying." 

Well, I can't express it in words today, but you can definitely tell that they "try."  I think that's one reason horse lovers are horse lovers.

I think Clinton Anderson addressed confusion in one of his videos.  I think he said to keep the pressure on until the horse finds the right answer.  Then release right away.  And I think I did okay.

(I must admit though, I was a bit nervous with those big hooves side passing right into my toes!  I was stepping lightly there for a minute...)

Have a good ride,

Greenhorn 

My Training Begins...

Like I said in the previous blog post, someone must have trained Max well.  (I wouldn’t have him if he wasn’t.)  And, like I said previously, I don’t know if his trainer used Clinton Anderson’s “method” or not.  I understand that pressure and release methods are what many trainers use.  

I could tell Max had been desensitized at some point.  Neither the rope nor the stick and string seemed to bother him.  I could also touch, pat, rub all over his body and head.  He was a little sticky with his ears, but after watching Clinton’s approach and retreat technique on an RFD-TV episode, and trying it out on Max, he was soon okay with his ears, too. 

Max is pretty easy to catch.  He just about always comes to me and lets me put a rope or halter on him.  I’m working on those kinds of things, too.  I have a Clinton Anderson dvd on Problem Solving that I thought might help me gain some confidence in just being in the company of horses while working around the barn, etc.   It has great tips and techniques for handling everyday-type “horse business”, like catching them, bridling, worming, etc.

But, back to our lesson in Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground-Series I (GRCG-I)   

Max seemed adequately desensitized so we moved on to yielding hindquarters.

I watched the segment on yielding hindquarters a few times to really memorize what the teaching looked like.  I wanted to give clear signals.  I followed the directions as exactly as I could. 

I’m a bit clumsy with the equipment and the movements, but I guess it was clear enough to Max.  He moved his hindquarters.  He was a bit clumsy at first, too.  But we practiced and he got it and he crossed his hind foot in front of the other.  We did one step first.  Then, went on to two steps and three. 

I am definitely not as fast as CA.  But I’m pretty sure that’s normal!  I’m not used to using the tools and I’m just learning about handling horses.  We didn’t perfect it today, but we got a good start.

It’s pretty amazing that if you do what these folks tell you to do just like they do it, it works!  Hopefully, it will keep working like that as Max and I move forward.

I feel a little better…

Have a good ride,

Greenhorn