tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43559914963094283622024-02-07T15:16:35.280+11:00Bundy & Sante's Parelli JourneyA weekend by weekend diary of my Parelli journey with Sante, and our progressthebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-56940278688010160062011-04-25T11:12:00.006+10:002011-04-27T20:01:02.748+10:00Jumps Racing in Australia - Its a KillerI haven't updated for months I know, but I've meant to - there is so much going on for Sante & I right now - and its all fantastic! We're having a blast. But I want to write about something else. Something I need to get off my chest.<br /><br />Its the Jumps Racing Industry in Australia.<br /><br />The flats / jumps season has just started and already there four deaths and countless other falls.<br /><br />Jumps racing is only legal in two states - those being Victoria and South Australia. All other states have banned it- deeming it cruelty to animals.<br /><br />On Saturday Java Star suffered a burst aorta, plunged through a jump and broke his neck. He died instantly<br /><br />A week earlier Squire Rex fell in the hurdle trials and was "humanely euthanised. a further two horses fell in that race.<br /><br />A week previous to that Hammerblow fell in a hurdles race in South Australia<br /><br />And the first death of the season happened in Victoria just overa week before that.<br /><br />This is hot on the tale of RVL's promise to end jumps racing at the end of the 2009 season, only to backflip due to pressure. The wrote themselves a brand new rule book including KPI's on how many deaths / injuries etc they had to stay under within a season.<br /><br />Last year they failed 2 out of 3 of those KPI's.<br /><br />This year isn't looking much better, and the season has only just started.<br /><br />So what't the problem with jumps racing? Why all the deaths?<br /><br />Most people don't know this but trainers / breeders don't "breed" jumps racers. The jumps racers are all throw aways from the flat racing industry. Horses that have either fallen in a flats race. Or shown inferior skill, stamina and speed on the flat. So the racing industry will tell you they give them a second chance by giving them a start on the jumps track. Whereas, any logical person can see its a last ditch effort to recoup lost money on the animal. I ask you - how is it logical to put an animal with prooven inferiority of stamina, speed and skill, into a race nearly TWICE the distance of flats racing, with jumps!<br /><br />The Jumps enthusiast will argue that they are doing them a favour by saving these animals from the knackery, but Australia's racing industry is responsible for sending over 18,000 horses a year to the knackery. You can't tell me their doing any favours by prolonging the life of around 200 odd flats racers to risk certain death on the jumps track. what about the other 17,800 horses their still killing? They need to come up with a better plan me thinks!<br /><br />The Jumps enthusiast will argue that horses LOVE to jump, its what they're DESIGNED for. Its not actually. Horses aren't designed to jump. They are the only jumping animal with eyes on the sides of their heads. They cannot see the jumps infront of them. Showjumping & Cross country is different - the speeds are slower, they have time to sight the jump - and the injury rate in these sports is comparitavely low.<br /><br />Jumps Racing horses run at a jump at a flat gallop, with a rider who is whipping it. The horse is in full flight or fight mode - he's surrounded by up to 8 other horses all galloping, and any rider who has been on a group ride when one horse starts to run, knows the herd mentality is to keep up. Horses don't race because they love it. They race because all the other horses are, and their instinct tells them there is danger - don't be last!"<br /><br />The jumps enthusiast will tell you the fact that horses lose a rider and continue to jump the jumps race without the rider is evidence of the fact they love to jump. This is not the case. They continue to jump in a blind effort to keep up with the herd and their perceived safety. There is a video on youtube of a horse falling, breaking both its legs and continueing to TRY to run after the other horses. This horse loves jumping? I don't think so?<br /><br />People TELL themselves horses love to do this so they can sleep at night. So it makes them feel better.<br /><br />While we're on it - let talk about whipping. Racing Victoria will tell you there is nothing wrong with whipping, that the horses can't feel pain from the padded whip. We are talking about animals that are so increadibly sensative, they can feel a single fly land on their back. A single fly. And RVL want to tell us that they cannot feel pain from a jockey whipping them absolutely full throttle with everything he's got? The stupidity of these people is astounding.<br /><br />Moving onto the injuries. In a 15 year study FUNDED by racing victoria. It was found that jumps racing horses were 18 times more likely to suffer a catastrophic injury resulting in their death They were 120 times more likely to suffer a fatal cranial or neck injury, and they were 3.5 times more likely to die of sudden death (heart attack etc) than any flats racing horse.<br /><br />Those numbers are disturbing. And yet, Jumps Racing continues.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-24406829626046196802010-02-26T18:14:00.003+11:002010-02-26T18:31:36.904+11:00The soothing tones of progressSo, I'm a bad person who didn't update her blog last week.<br /><br />But it was all fantastically awesome. I swear!<br /><br />Saturday - I was feeling all super charged about my weightloss (So I haven't mentioned that yet, but thats another post) that i decided to walk Sante at liberty down "Steve's Trail" and into the valley to play around and see the sights.<br /><br />It didn't start out well... turns out the increadible liberty session we had from last weekend was purely a one time thing. He refused to come forward and kept trying to go home after we finally got started - and I got the feeling he was beginning another one of his usual avoidance strategies that he has. I ended up putting him on the 22ft line and long reigning him from z5. The second i put the line on, his attitude changed - I could see the try. He kept doing his trick of walkign about 20 metres & then stopping, I eventually got him to the point that when he stoped I gave the command "Walk on" tapped him gently, in z5 with the carrot stick, and then went straight to phase 4. After a while, he just stopped stopping. Which was what I was going for - the trail was a good 5km, and it took us well over an hour, Sante did really well - once we got into the valley, we sat in a field of long grass and Sante grazed for a good half hour.<br /><br />I realized that not bringing lunch with me was a bad idea, but saddling Sante was a great idea! Being to hungry to walk, i jumped on and rode him into "mill paddock" to play around.<br /><br />We played online for about 15 minutes, and after that I jumped back on to practise our patterns.<br /><br />Can't tell you how awesome the change in him was. After about 20 minutes under saddle, i had perfect 30m circles in walk & trot, freestyle. Just amazing! The try from Sante was increadible. His confidence was up, and he was really "with me".<br /><br />We rode from Mill paddock up to the main agistment yards, where Sante promptly fell asleep. I beleive the mental exertion for him finally took its toll, and decided against riding him back to spelling.<br /><br />The next day, I put the long reigns on him in the round yard. I'm determined to keep our sessions in the round yard (with long reigns) as short & successful as possible. Collection isn't easy for him, and i don't want him feeling trapped or claustraphobic. We did about 20 minutes in the round yard - with about 15 minutes actual work time, the rest was just rest times and reward time for him.<br /><br />Huge improvement in the long reigns, practically offers the correct frame in the walk, and falls into it a lot easier in the trot. As soon as i could see that he was "softening" to the idea, I quit and left it at that.<br /><br />Gave him a good solid hour grazing (spent overnight in a dirt yard so was a bit hungry) and then saddled him up to do a little work in the arena.<br /><br />We only did half an hour in the arena, but honestly, it was the singly most successful session we have ever done under saddle.<br /><br />He offered me everything. All i had to do was suggest, and the collection would come in both walk AND trot. Sante & I have never had any success under saddle with collection at the trot, and after last weeks session with Alyce, and then the sessions on the long reigns, he finally got it. It didn't take him long to remember how much more comfortable it felt, and he started offering it - practically an entire LAP of collection at the trot. I could sense everytime he was getting to the end of his ability to hold it, and would offer the release, which then in turn caused him to offer the frame again. The session was so successful, and I really felt that we had turned a corner when it comes to our under saddle woes.<br /><br />He then blew my mind on the ride home - its only a 2km ride home, but its usually a very long 2km, full of arguments and frustration.<br /><br />Not today.<br /><br />He walked home like a confident thoroughbred, not once did he stop. Not once did he shy. Not once did he argue. He was alert, he was confident, he was responsive - and we both enjoyed a peaceful lazy walk back to his waiting girlfriends.<br /><br />I can't wait for tomorrow - I intend to follow the same "game plan" Solid ground work before the ride - build his confidence up on the ground, and then shift to saddle.<br /><br />Let you know how it goes.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-84718974627635235602010-02-14T19:34:00.002+11:002010-02-14T20:00:48.722+11:00Progress?!So - I haven't updated last weekend (or the weekend before that i think) because - I didn't think we'd made progress.. Ok.so thats no reason NOT to update, I'm supposed to do it regardless, but I was pretty depressed, and didn't feel like updating.<br /><br />But this weekend - was magic.<br /><br />Something changed. I don't know what it was, but all I know is Sante got his game on.<br /><br />I've been long reigning him every weekend for the last 4 weeks, in the round yard, out of the round yard, on trails - just getting his confidence up, while staying in zone 5, and also gettign him used to contact, and the concept of "getting on the bit" or getting his hind quarters involved.<br /><br />He's done OK with the long reigning - we've had a few arguments where he's been defiant, damn near flipped over & killed himself, I've beaten myself up second guessing myself and whether I'm reading him right or wrong, wondering what the hell I'm doing wrong, and why we just arent' getting along under saddle.<br /><br />Tried riding him last week, for hte first time in a month - the month off didn't change anything. He was argumentative, defiant, stubborn, and generally frustrated the absolute CRAP out of me.<br /><br />I tried reverse psychology - let him put me in teh bushes, and then went bush bashing, let him turn and go home, and then asked him to CANTER home - to no avail, there was no change, no common ground, no connection.. And after a 2km ride, that ended up taking 2 hours - he ended up extremely sore the next day. Got a friend to ride him - she got as far as getting on him, and he just about sat down! All of this simply from arguing with me!<br /><br />So yesterday, I went back to ground work - just working on cantering online and simple transitions. He blew me away!! all the long reigning has done wonders to his topline! He was going around "in the halter" - not pulling on the line like he normally does, and his canter wasn't rushed, he gave me a nice slow canter, with the correct bend, and generally look nice & left brained about it!<br /><br />So today, I thought I'd long reign him over to the main agistment facility (by ourselves) and see how he fared.<br /><br />Took me 10 minutes to catch him - which was not the start i was looking for, but his girlfriend was in season and he wasn't in the mood.<br /><br />Finally got him out of the paddock, and decided to take away a few of his liberties - no grazing while saddling - which he wasn't very pleased about but got over - it became his responsibility to stand still while saddled.<br /><br />When i was leading him through the paddock full of horses out to the back trail, he did his usual trick of stopping for no particular reason at all, so I simply got him backing up.. .. at a trot.. only did it three times, then realized that he didn't want to trot backwards anymore, so walking forward was the key.<br /><br />He got out on the trail, and i set myself a rule - DO NOT GET INFRONT OF THE SADDLE. it was my task to stay in zone 3 - and simulate the riding position. After a few hundred metres, it became clear to me that I should have brought my 22ft leadrope.. the 12 foot didn't give me enough space to get in zone 5, the trails were very wet & boggy, and if sante happened to lose his footing & slip, he would have come straight down on me in z5 (which was where i was trying to stay for as much of the trail as possible). I ended up throwing hte leadrope over his back and just walking behind him.<br /><br />We did the ENTIRE TRIP from Spelling to agistment (about 2.5km) at liberty. I stayed in z5 for the majority of the trip over, and never once did infront of z3.<br /><br />He didn't argue.<br />He didn't try to go home<br />He didn't trip once<br /><br />He was perfect. Just perfect!<br /><br />SO.<br />How. Interesting.<br /><br />WHY??????? WHY is he so perfect when i'm on the ground, and yet - the second i get on his back we argue?!?!<br /><br />Gah!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />In the afternoon we did some arena work, and I got a friend to ride him - I can't explain how awesome he was. How much he offered. And i also can't stress the importance of long reigning. It really is a fantastic tool. This last month I've been working on getting him in a "good frame" and using his hind quarters, getting him "on the bit" at the walk & the trot, and today, for the first time ever - he trotted under saddle on the bit.<br /><br />At first he was greatly apposed to the idea, but my friend was passively persistant in the proper position and finally he dropped his head for a stride. The release came immediately. And he licked and chewed. A few strides later she asked again, and shortly after he offered again, and immediately the release. After a few more minutes of this "ask", "offer" "release" conversation they were both having, Sante started offering the correct frame without my friend asking.<br /><br />After 20 minutes, he was trotting a quarter lap of the sand arena with a very gentle contact.<br /><br />This is my high headed bracy uncoordinated, pidgeon toed knock kneed thoroughbred we're talking about here, travelling around the arena like a show pony. And all with a minimum contact, soft, relaxed, and zero force.<br /><br />The entire session lasted 20 minutes, and everyone ended the day feeling like a winner.<br /><br />We decided to end the day with a float ride back to spelling, something that Sante has been struggling with for the last few months. He experiences major anxiety in the float, I've had to overcome a hell of a lot of his "avoidance techniques" in order to get him thinking about the try - and all what I thought were miserable trailer loading sessions have paid off.<br /><br />Today he took a few steps on, then I asked him to get off. When i asked him to get on again, he took a few steps more, then I asked him to get off again, we continued this for a few more minutes, and then suddenly he was loaded. No brace, no fear, no trembling, no stress, no calling out to imaginary friends. He was loaded & calm.<br /><br />The float ride back to spelling took a grand total of 3 minutes ( a trip that has previously left him sweating, trembling uncontrollably, and higly stresse), He stood calmly and waited to be asked to back of the float, even after the tail gate was swung open and nothing stopped him from getting off. He was 100% left brained.<br /><br />We had the most awesome day that we've had in a very very long time. I've really hated myself for the last month, thinking that I was being cruel, that i was reading him wrong, but I think my change in strategy is paying off, I have his respect & trust back and I can't explain how awesome that is.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-78181389213352176072010-01-25T18:22:00.002+11:002010-01-25T18:48:23.529+11:00A very interesting two daysWell, Sante never ceases to amaze me!<br /><br />I began yesterday, walking through the paddock with the friend that was with me the day before, both going to catch our horses. We got within about 20-30 metres away from our horses, and my friend called out to her horse - who's head immediately shot up, and she wandered over. I continued walking towards Sante, and was saying to my friend "See, we just don't have that anymore - he knows I'm here, he saw me before, and he's ignoring me" I took a couple more paces forward and called his name - Sante's head immediately shot up - and he nickered at me.<br /><br />Don't ya just LOVE being prooved wrong!! When its like this - I'll take it any day :D<br /><br />He started wandering over, NICKERED AGAIN and walked all the way up to me with a "You took you sweet arse time!" Look on his face. He was interesed, and ready to go.<br /><br />We wandered out at liberty, and so began the plan for the day.<br /><br />I'd previously decided with my friend that she would ride from the spelling paddocks, over to the main agistment facility (about 2.5km) - I decided to long reign Sante - I was thrilled at having the opportunity of someone else who is into natural horsemanship, have a look at Sante, and give me a second opinion.<br /><br />We got within about 50 metres of the gate way out the back of the paddock, and Sante started with the avoidance behaviour. My friend was riding ahead - and continued so as not to interfer. I did a little tit for tat - Sante tried and tried to do his own thing, but having the long reins was brilliant, i just turned his bad behaviour into a circling game and asked him to trot until he wanted a second shot at behaving. His tantrum lasted a minute or two, and then he decided to leave the paddock.<br /><br />Interestingly: All the spots he usually shies at didn't give him any bother today. I know we were riding out with someone, but they were well ahead... Sante should have been anxious to catch up, but he wasnt.<br /><br />After a little way - We swapped positions, so that Sante was now leading, and my friend behind.<br /><br />Sante's behaviour immediately changed, his pace slowed, ears went from being half back / relaxed to forward and alert, head came up and confidence dropped. We took it nice and easy, I let him stop, asked him to back up a little, and then got him moving forward again. His unconfidence passed quickly, and the head lowered, walk became nice and relaxed, slow swish of the tail, and nice slow blink.<br /><br />He stopped a little, so each time he did i decreased the amount of time i let him stand.<br /><br />Generally he did really well! At one time, I got one rein stuck in a branch of a tree, I asked him to "Woah" and "Stand" he did so immediately and i was able to unhook him. - The whole trip over was pretty good.<br /><br />Once over there, i took everything off him and just let him chill out for a while.<br /><br />I then put him in the round yard and hooked everything back up to him, with the intention of long reining him in the yard, and trying ot work on a little contact / collection.<br /><br />My plan was simple: keep a contact on the inside rein and "play" with the outside rein until his head lowers & tucks. The SECOND that he felt the pressure and lowered his head, i released. I've played around with this idea once or twice before, but today i was trying to get 4-5 strides with his head lowered, using his hind quarters.<br /><br />He pretty much mastered it in the walk, and we moved onto trot, at first he was not happy, kept throwing his head up, and trying to shake out of it, I kept up the contact until his head lowered and then immediately stopped everything.<br /><br />As soon as he tried what I was asking I took the contact away and stopped the game. I was thrilled when every so he would look at me, and the look on his face was "Was that good? Can i come in now" I didn't deny him - and let him come in each time he asked. As a consequence, he offered more, and within 15 - 20 minutes, we were trotting half a lap in the round yard, with a lowered head carriage and REALLY using our hind quarters.<br /><br />Again, I took everythign off ,and then just to see what I had - asked him for a few laps of trot at liberty.<br /><br />He was strething out, nose to the ground, shaking his head and blowing out nice & relaxed. His trot was nice & slow, and I got the feeling he was quite relaxed, and enjoying having a stretch out.<br /><br />Anyway - the trip back over was pretty uneventful, I only had to correct him once, when the rein became wrapped around my leg and he wouldn't stand still - but other than that he lead the whole way home, and was completely relaxed.<br /><br />Observations:<br />Overly Left Brained the whole time<br />Vey very rarely tripped or stumbled, unlike when he's ridden, he's always falling over his back feet.<br />Rarely argumentative.<br /><br />How interesting.<br /><br /><br /><br />So today i turned up - not quite sure how he would be - yesterday we'd done 5km - I'd long reigned him in a bit, and I wasn't sure how he would react to that - So i turned up (had the dog with me) and whistled out to him to let him know I was there - I could JUST see him on the ridge of the first hill in the paddock (bout 50m away) I tied the dog up, got her some water and wandered over to the gate - whistled out to him again, and called his name.<br /><br />He nickered.<br /><br />And walked over the whole distance without stopping. When he was about 15m out, another horse ran over, ears pinned to try to run him off, but Sante just weaved around him, never once taking his eyes off me and pretty much marched purposefully up to the now open gate, and went through without so much as a "Got cookies?"<br /><br />WOW. WOW WOW.WOOW<br /><br />We did absolutely nothing but chill out. Gave him a brush, and a bit of feed. The dog rediscovered her detestation of horses. Sante attempted to make friends on a number of occasions, but after being severly reprimanded for trying to bite Sante, she decided that if she couldn't see the horse, he didn't exist. Thus, she sat in the car with her back to him, refusing to come out unless he was no where near the car.<br /><br />Well...... there's a new challenge!thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-10817644346883710812010-01-23T13:19:00.003+11:002010-01-23T13:37:45.840+11:00Don't Assume!!!!!So, today i arrived at GV early - it was due to hit 40 degrees (celcius) today, and i had no intention of playing in that heat.<br /><br />On the way to the valley - I was contemplating whether i should cheat and ride him over to the main agistment facilities (he's in spelling paddocks at the moment - no arena, no round yard, no wash bays, nothing) and leave him there for the 4 days i have off.. I was even contemplating leading him over htere, so that i didn't break my promise, when i recalled that last week, I hade completely unpacked the car - and as such didn't have my saddle, bridle or reins in the car in order to ride. "Ha!" i thought to myself - now you CAN'T cheat!<br /><br />This of course caused me to realize that "completely unpacking" the car meant - no halter, leadrope, carrot stick, string ... .. feedbucket.. *sigh*.<br /><br />So I resigned myself to the knowledge that Sante was going to be completely at liberty, and totally given freedom to do whatever he wanted.<br /><br />I pulled up thinking of the possible scenarios... he sees me and ignores me.. he sees me and runs off... he sees me and runs me over? .. .<br /><br />Imagine my surprise!!! He saw me - NICKERED AT ME and wandered over.<br /><br />Say what?<br /><br />I fed him the carrots I had in my pocket, and turned to walk off.. he followed.<br /><br />Woweee!!!<br /><br />All i did today, was give him a choice - I didn't groom him, i gave him scratches, I rubbed his face, i let him explore my pockets, I checked his feet, - all at liberty.<br /><br />I broke up a packet of carrots into little snack size bits, and surveyed what i had...<br /><br />A content horse who had his head in the grass ignoring me - by doing a low energy version of the catching game, i got his attention and when he gave me his eyes, i rewarded him. It only took a few goes of this, and suddenly i was more interesting than the grass.<br /><br />All i did was a few minutes of driving game at liberty, stick to me (at walk and trot) and we even managed a few bows - all at liberty.<br /><br />After about an hour of chilling out (picking grass for him) a friend that was with me leant me her stock whip, and I put sante back into the paddock with his friends (more running room, and he's happy cause he's with his mates) - its amazing how his attitude changed - He doesn't hate the stock whip, but he respects it, if that makes sense - we started with stick to me, and when I gently flicked the whip way out behind me, he tucked his chin, and trotted up on my shoulder, collecting himself, and looking - lets face it - HANDSOME!!<br /><br />The presence of the whip bought up his energy - not fear, not unconfidence, but his life.. He was like "oooooooh what are we doing"<br /><br />We ran! Like loonies! When he got in front of me I'd throw in a change of direction and run for it - he'd spin around and run after me, snaking his neck, and bucking his ridiculously uncoordinated thoroughbred bucks.<br /><br />In the past I introduced him to the idea of turning the "stick to me" game into a kind of send, and sending him out in front of me, then disengaging the hind quarters from a distance, and getting him to run back to me - We tried it today - the SECOND i lifted my leading hand - he bolted in front of me -After a few seconds, i stopped, disengaged him and ran off in the other direction - he came bolting after me - bucking and snaking his neck.<br /><br />I accidently cracked the whip, and sent the whole paddock of horses bolting across the paddock - Sante saw them running and shot off the mark. - When i caught up to him he was like "hi!!!! Now what!?!?!?" and we ran ALL THE WAY BACK to the gate (with his girlfriend in tow). The entire day, from getting him out of the paddock, to running all the way back to the gate - was done without a leadrope or halter in sight.<br /><br />We finished the session sitting in the grass, grazing, i picked grass for him, he nibbled on my shoes -and, well.... we made geniune progess on the "fun" mission.<br /><br />All is not as bad as what it seems.<br /><br />He appears to still love me *sigh*thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-55358409419804429002010-01-22T19:11:00.004+11:002010-01-22T19:22:57.303+11:00Back on the net, new commitment to the blogI know -- Its been way way to long :(<br /><br />I haven't updated in nearly a year! Can't beleive I've let it go that long. So much has happened!!<br /><br />I moved out of home, moved sante to my new house and saw him every day - had to move back home and return sante to his former home, the paradise of Glenworth Valley. We've been doing lots of riding, most of it by ourselves!!<br /><br />Less than a fortnight ago, we completed second "ride out" since i've owned him - we went to the Snowy Mountains, and rode with the wild brumbies - totally awesome experience.<br /><br />He can now canter on a circle outside the roundyard - I had to become assertive, and show a lot more leadership than I ever thought i would need - but in the end- his "issue" ended up being dominance, and a knowledge that he controlled the outcome of the game. Once i learnt to beat him at his own game, he found cantering on the circle a lot more fun.<br /><br />We are now in teh process of changing our focus back to ground work. I've got the feeling that with all the focus I've had on riding, Sante has really lost interest. Our catching game sucks :(<br /><br />So, I promised him that when we returned from the Snowy, he would get time off, and we would concentrate on nothing but groundplay, and "simulating" rides - that is - long reigning him down the trails, in order to work on his confidence issues.<br /><br />He's been really argumentative under saddle. In the beginning it was fear & unconfidence, whereas now its just because he plain well doesn't want to!<br /><br />When we DO start riding, the plan is to give him complete control (within reason) of where we ride - he has the wonderful habit of refusing to walk down a trail without trying to head off into the scrub. SO, I'm goign to start playing the "Sure! We can go that direction.. .. .. but at a trot" game with him - that is - every time he changes direction and goes bush bashing, I allow it, but increase gait to a trot. Hopefully, eventually he'll figure out that its if he wants to walk... stay on the trail!!<br /><br />Thats still a little way off - I have to do something about our relationship first! I need to change the look on his face from "Oh no" back to "Oh boy!" - Concentrating to much on the riding has really ruined us - but we're about to change all that back!<br /><br />Onto other stuff - We have learnt to bow! He can even stay down now (only for a second or two), and last weekend, he actually bowed with someone on his back!! How awesome is that!!!<br /><br />So - I promise to update a lot more reguarly - twice a week!! (although I might bve able to squeeze in more updates since i'm seeing him every day for the next four days.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-83341458233838353042009-03-23T18:35:00.003+11:002009-03-23T18:45:20.262+11:00Level 1 AssessmentWell!<br /><br />I finally did it! We recorded our Level 1 Assessment yesterday.<br /><br />I think i might have to do it again, as BOTH times we did "put your nose on something" it wasn't in view of the camera -<br /><br />Oh well, perfect practise makes perfect!!<br /><br />Have a look at it:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrP5mg7Ngdk"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrP5mg7Ngdk </a>and tell me what you think!<br /><br />In other fantastic news, Sante and I had THE BEST CANTER EVER yesterday, it was long, it was on a loose rein, and it was sllloooowww.<br /><br />I had ot control myself, because i wanted to go yahooing up the hill, it felt that good!!<br /><br />More soon, but in a bit of a hurry.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-72208081998215815612009-02-24T18:37:00.005+11:002009-02-24T19:27:38.361+11:00A beautiful weekend<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_mfN2WGZWM0YBKhxBSqNCqFwdQp_0G8NqVPaKshv6MXFBn80In-Q6sT8PeSivHX5achw8_BjvKUj17NGzx-mcikdDuHui6dW94gOnMO04io5vRNe3HrmX-zWvMWmb0UCkK-3P00KQxArl/s1600-h/Photo0045.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_mfN2WGZWM0YBKhxBSqNCqFwdQp_0G8NqVPaKshv6MXFBn80In-Q6sT8PeSivHX5achw8_BjvKUj17NGzx-mcikdDuHui6dW94gOnMO04io5vRNe3HrmX-zWvMWmb0UCkK-3P00KQxArl/s320/Photo0045.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306267356715625298" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We had such a lovely weekend!!<br /><br />Sante was such a character! I visited him on Thurdsay to take his rug off - Due to the rain & cold temps last weekend, i had put his winter rug on him, in an attempt to help his lameness, On Thursday, the sun was shining, and it was a very warm 30ÂșC. So, I made the 45 minute trek down to see him.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGwfAaxcpgO1XG4wwbVzfz7JwXrSRKzUC5CFELh9qoSCFYFc8e12xOZDxSQnThtzXRm4kcVQ_ZdVLF3ehoEMqP_je6qWaMOBaVwUwQOyInLzBxL0PZV2qW7QkznYxk24eSEDLunjbyeC-/s1600-h/Photo0046.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGwfAaxcpgO1XG4wwbVzfz7JwXrSRKzUC5CFELh9qoSCFYFc8e12xOZDxSQnThtzXRm4kcVQ_ZdVLF3ehoEMqP_je6qWaMOBaVwUwQOyInLzBxL0PZV2qW7QkznYxk24eSEDLunjbyeC-/s320/Photo0046.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306267360524740642" border="0" /></a>He was quite happy to see me, which was nice~ quite happily came out of hte paddock! We just mosied around, and I eventually put him back in the paddock in the early afternoon, and managed to take some happy snaps. It was just lovely, because he was in no hurry to leave, and just wanted to be with me. His paddock mates were well and truly within eye sight, and still, he stayed.<br /><br />The top two photo's show him moseying up to an embankment, and rather than climb down the embankment, Sante, does his usual trick of<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfG3uIHrbV5G2k_nNkF0uXaKrbgUJBzM5oHeP9TDvAHA9y_eshcYNj5eeBoOrW4f4DQ7ExMzQM1rECS68t-0WJ5IjfOzxHc7uflk1zxrU3u86lrHEd7Q6163hD4l9L9VjoIgeMuA4WSL1Y/s1600-h/Photo0044.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfG3uIHrbV5G2k_nNkF0uXaKrbgUJBzM5oHeP9TDvAHA9y_eshcYNj5eeBoOrW4f4DQ7ExMzQM1rECS68t-0WJ5IjfOzxHc7uflk1zxrU3u86lrHEd7Q6163hD4l9L9VjoIgeMuA4WSL1Y/s320/Photo0044.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306267352541916402" border="0" /></a>expending the least amount of exercise possible, by moving the front feet only, and not bothering with the backs. Bare in mind, while this is happening, all that can be heard is blissful groaning. Whatever he did, must have stretched a tight muscle in that great big body of his, he was in his element.<br /><br /><br />I also managed to get updated photo's of his feet! Yes, I know, it's been far to long. It's been four months now, since i pulled the shoes off. He's got a few minor infections, but other than that, everything has gone swimmingly! his RHS still looks a lot worse than the LHS, but eventually they will be perfect!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNArvKEFt19u7UJcJPhvHa_vxz4fviEUcXJ0Hai6VOvxKCTDbV_EZU_gAVuBdkObf3rFobgCexyRH5SN0xqTqNRBF6nwRyrqbG7K0eCo4oNhKySel1LASvvz5NwuudQW-pJz4zi1j0EBZJ/s1600-h/Photo0031.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNArvKEFt19u7UJcJPhvHa_vxz4fviEUcXJ0Hai6VOvxKCTDbV_EZU_gAVuBdkObf3rFobgCexyRH5SN0xqTqNRBF6nwRyrqbG7K0eCo4oNhKySel1LASvvz5NwuudQW-pJz4zi1j0EBZJ/s320/Photo0031.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306277357266997410" border="0" /></a><br />So you can gauge our improvement, I posted updated photo's on his feet in November - <a href="http://parellichick.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-manners.html">Click Here!</a> to check them out. Major difference hey!!<br /><br />Anyway - On to the fantastic weekend we had. I arrived on Saturday, and when Sante saw me, he nickered, and wandered straight over. I was just thrilled!! With all the riding that we've been doing, I have noticed that ou<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDw0tCjcDFkGCwkfxMbwgwfhmJW7gu0xW0D385JVHSk5yaaM97CWuFB5moQLEQ-A0_4dcAyv56JJTiO9FRJ-AJ6KBHqgcQXG_s7dK8qo4dSpkb67rOoz2ctLZwiHoi9vU4IG9axhGmNij/s1600-h/Photo0030.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDw0tCjcDFkGCwkfxMbwgwfhmJW7gu0xW0D385JVHSk5yaaM97CWuFB5moQLEQ-A0_4dcAyv56JJTiO9FRJ-AJ6KBHqgcQXG_s7dK8qo4dSpkb67rOoz2ctLZwiHoi9vU4IG9axhGmNij/s320/Photo0030.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306270032478676754" border="0" /></a>r catching game has been, well.. sick. So to see him so happy was just brilliant! We mosied out of hte paddock at liberty, he got a good feed, and groom, and i asked him for a few light circles, to ascertain that he was still slightly sore. It was so slight, i was considering the possiblity that he might be ok tomorrow. Anway, I spent most of the day talking ot people about the Parelli clinic. There is a lot of interest, and I think its fantastic that so many people are looking for a more natural approach to their horsemanship.<br /><br />I really didn't do anything more with him on Saturday than spoil him rotten, and put him back in the paddock. We did a little bit of work on Stick to me - so that when i lift my left leg, he lifts his left leg etc etc, he is getting VERY good at it.<br /><br />On Sunday - he just blew me away completely!!!!!!!!!!!! He MET ME AT THE GATE! He is in a massive paddock that accomodates 50 horses, and he was standing at the gate, waiting for me. He was so happy to see me! I of course, giggled like a school girl, fed him all the carrots I had ,and flew back to the yards on a wave of euphoria :D<br /><br />We again, had breakfast, and got a very nice grooming, but this time, i decided to do some light games in the grass arena just to enourage some light movement.<br /><br />We worked on the patterns - Figure of eight at the walk, and imagine my surprise when we got it at the trot! He still needs a little bit more practise at it, he tends to fly past my right shoulder without taking the turn, I just interrupt the pattern, and gently redirect him, and he kind of says "woops, my bad" and continues as if nothing happened.<br /><br />After a couple of goes at the figure of eight, for giggles, i took the leadrope off and did a little stick to me. We did walk & trot transitions, stop & backup, as well as "lift the leg". He is such a champion!! I threw in a few oversized figure of eights to test the game when it comes to changing direction, and i was thrilled when he decided to stick to my shoulder, instead of running away. He even threw in a cocky head toss, when i gently flicked him for slowing down :)<br /><br />After a few minutes of that, we went back to the figure of eight, and had a go at liberty.<br /><br />He did it!!! Just at a walk - but it was awesome! After a few of those, silly me, was supporting the shoulder through one of the turns, and didn't release the pressure soon enough, imagine my surprise when sante veered of course and found another rubber tyre (there were tyres scattered through the arena, we were using two for the pattern), went around it and came back to me, our game ended up being a kind of weave aroun the triangle pattern, All the while, he kept his ears on me, and never once did he stop asking questions.<br /><br />I was so thrilled with his efforts, that we stopped the session right there, and i put him back in his paddock, with his mates. I had my pockets stuffed with carrots, so we played a little more at liberty until all the carrots had run out - which was timely, he was offering these beautiful close circles which i was just drooling over. A friend of mine entered the paddock to catch her horse, and when i was satisfied that Sante was now happy to be with his mates, i turned to leave with her, only to feel that beautiful sensation of horse breath down my neck. He followed me back out!!!<br /><br />I sat with him, at the gate, just moseying, picking grass for him, and patting him, until finally, 20 minutes later, he was happy to rejoin his friends.<br /><br />Such an awesome day!thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-13038590287634901372009-02-18T20:27:00.002+11:002009-02-18T20:30:31.717+11:00Organising a Parelli Clinic 101Ok - So I am both excited and petrified!!<br /><br />I have been asked to take over the organising of a Parelli Clinic!!<br /><br />I have never been to one, let alone had the opportunity to put one on, I can't wait to get into it, and at the same time, i don't know where to start<br /><br />aaaagh!!<br /><br />So much to do, so little time, the clinic is in May, the Clinician is Fiona Darling. And anyone in the who is willing to get to the central coast of NSW is more than willing to come!!thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-48945460841034144582009-02-12T19:16:00.002+11:002009-02-18T20:30:31.717+11:00Featured letter on Daily ParelliI'm tickled pink!!<br /><br />I received an email this morning from a fellow Savvy Club Member, congratulating me on the fact that a letter I had sent to the faculty had been posted on the Daily Parelli Blog.<br /><br /><a href="http://heartanddesire.typepad.com/heart_desire/2009/02/the-best-parts.html">http://heartanddesire.typepad.com/heart_desire/2009/02/the-best-parts.html</a><br /><br />I had posted the letter on the forum in reply to various negative reactions being expressed by Savvy Clubbers in response to the release of the New Patterns Program & Self Assessment / Auditions process.<br /><br />I really wanted Pat, Linda & the Parelli team to know that I understood why it was they felt the need to redesign the program. I wanted them to know that I understood, and appreciated, AND thought that the new program was FANTASTIC.<br /><br />There are a lot of savvy members who haven't responded well to the change, and its not for fellow students to criticize, but I appreciate that they are upset. I hope that after they calm down, take a step back, and perhaps reassess, that will realize the Parelli program has not changed, not one bit, its simply been streamlined. And its been done for the better.<br /><br />I am going to be a better horseman because of the new program - and I can't wait!<br /><br />Thanks again, team Parelli -<br /><br />Jane & Santethebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-66615409931160563342009-02-09T15:47:00.002+11:002009-02-18T20:30:31.717+11:00Undemanding timeThe last 4 days have been really stressful - We have had a lot of bushfires ablaze in New South Wales, and Victoria.<br /><br />Sadly, Victoria's death toll is well over 100 and expected to rise.<br /><br />There has been a substantial fire burning about 10 kilometres away from where Sante is agisted, which has been causing me nothing but greif & worry for the last 3 days. Temperatures have been around the 40 degrees (celcius) mark, and with the road closures and smoke, I haven't been able to go down and check on him.<br /><br />The news of the bushfires has been very traumatic, its been quite horrific in victoria, and all we are hearing are heatbreaking story after hearbreaking story - I decided that today i would get down and spend the day with Sante, to clear my head.<br /><br /> When i saw in on Friday, he was lame - I wasn't surprised - I'd just put him back into the paddock with the rest of his buddies (he's been out due to injury) so I'm not suprised that he got a bit excited..<br /><br />So I went to see him today - and lo & behold, still lame.<br /><br />The day started out badly - little bugger wouldn't have a bar of me - didn't acknowledge my prescence until i tagged him on the backside - even though i was call out, makign noise and generally letting him know i was there! We wandered out of the paddock at liberty, and he decided that he liked me a lot more when he saw the feed bucket :)<br /><br />So, gave him a feed, and spent the whole time rubbing him, brushing his mane & tail, talking to him, and just "relaxing"<br /><br />After that, I trimmed his feet, which were in need of doing. He was REALLY GOOD about it, normally he plays little games "Lets see how many times i can take my foot of the hoof stand before mum cracks the shits" and the like..<br /><br />Today, he just stood there and let me do what I needed to do. I gave him lots of rests, and spoke to him the whole time so he was good.<br /><br />But I discovered a really large splint on the inside of his cannon bone. I don't remember seeing it before. I'm starting to doubt myself "has it always been there, and i've never noticed... if so, you ought to be ashamed that you've never noticed it before" and "That wasn't there before, its SO BIG surely I'd have noticed it"<br /><br />It didn't feel hot, i poked and prodded it, and rubbed it, and it wasn't sore. Its not the leg that he's lame on - he's lame on the other front leg, but I'm thinking that, he's actually sore on the leg with the splint, and he's over compensating on the "good leg"<br /><br />One more thing for me to worry about... Thanks Sante!<br /><br />Anyway, I took Sante back into the paddock, and just did friendly, and helicopter games (am working on my New assessments) after a few minutes, i sat on the ground and just let him graze.. After a while of that, he started to wander away, so i got up to go over to him. Not quite sure what happened, but he spooked and ran off.. with his 12ft lead rope trailing behind him.<br /><br />He's in a paddock the size of about 10 football fields put together, complete with hills, fallen trees and lots of obstacles... I was slightly worried..<br /><br />But i calmly walked after him, calling & whistleing to him in a calm manner.. He periodically stood on the leadrope, and he had to think about which foot to move to get himself unstuck, which i'm proud to say, helped him go Left Brained, and not launch into a full Right Brain Extrovert episode. I got within about 30 metres of him, and was able to disengage his hindquarters and get him to face up. He locked his ears on me, and waited for instructions.<br /><br />I laughed at him and wandered over with my hand outstreched, and he was quite happy to let me approach him (normally he fears that he's "done something wrong" and loses confidence.. the approach I use never ceases to blow his mind). I rubbed on him a bit, and took a really deep breath, exhaling with a big slow "snort". Sante followed suite. Niiiice. :)<br /><br />So we stayed where we were. I took his halter and leadrope off, and sat in a patch of nice green grass, and picked grass for him for the next 10 minutes. It was really awesome. After a while of that, I just lay down and decided to let him wander off... but he didn't.<br /><br />Normally when i put him back in the paddock - even when i try to do undemanding time, he wanders off - its like "Thanks - see ya later" and off he goes, but today he was just happy to be around me. He even got to a point where he grazed a certain distance, realized he'd gone to far, turned around and came back! He did this for about another 20 minutes.<br /><br />Eventually i got up, gave him a big rub, and left the paddock.<br /><br />It was just a really beautiful session for us. And i really needed to spend some undemanding time with him, not so much for his benefit .. but mine.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-37054966761286260582009-01-29T13:51:00.002+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.997+11:00Taking the time it takesIts been a while since I've posted, and I feel terrible about it!<br /><br />Terrible because quite frankly, Sante and I have been making the most increadible progress, and I really should have been documenting it all. There has been so much to tell, I have kind of put off writing the blog, and now its snowballed.<br /><br />There is so much to say!!!!!<br /><br />Where do I start?<br /><br />Probably where i left off is as good a place as any - cantering!<br /><br />We did our first canter session outside the round yard on Monday. He did really really well. We are to the point where he KNOWS that I'm asking for the canter, but i have to be so careful HOW i do it, It seems he is so sensative about it, that If i ask to loudly, he freaks out - but I am really happy to say that we have been working it out and having more successes than failures. Even yesterday, I managed to get 4 laps of canter (on a 45 ft line) without him going RB.<br /><br />The change in tools came about after carefully considering my options with him, I decided giving him more drift would be a savvy thing to do, and it seems to have paid off - He only went RB twice, but came back to me with an INCREADIBLE draw, to eventually figure it out and stay with me, the fact that he is so willing to come back to me is awesome, because he is starting to realize that even when things go wrong, there are no consequences - I am still the safe spot.<br /><br />We have even started working on our canter under saddle - he has a tendancy to rush in the canter, and I am starting to realize its a combination of bad riding on my part, and lack of confidence on his part. I changed my saddle position again, and have spent the whole of the last 2 sessions we've done concentrating on staying on my balance point. I had no idea i was pitched so far forward - even when i thought i was sitting back - I wasn't. Everytime i asekd him for a trot, i would come forward.<br /><br />I spent all yesterday sittign on my thumb, asking for the trot transition - what an increadible difference!! Canter was a little more difficult, but he began to pick it up - a fwe more sessions and we will be well on our way. I started asking him for 45ft circles under saddle, and this has done wonders in fixing his impulsiveness. I have also found that by trying to stick to Linda's fluidity concepts, trotting & cantering in my body when asking for the transitions, he actually picks up the correct LEAD. WOWEE!!!<br /><br /><br />Another major breakthrough that we have had over the last 4-5 weeks - is that we have started riding by ourselves!!!!!<br /><br />I truly never thought I'd get to this point - Everytime i thought about riding out by myself, i had an immediate fear reaction - anxiety, stress, and then never did it.<br /><br />I started realizing that my problem was I was saying ot myself "We are going to do a ride by ourselves" and when i thought about " a ride" I was thinking about a 10km ride through the valley by ourselves - and that 10km seemed mammoth - i was so worried that sante wouldn't be able to stay LB for the entire time.<br /><br />It came as a blinding flash of the obvious when i realized that i was the only one putting pressure on me to complete the whole 10km. And that even if we only got into the valley and turned around and came back - that in itself was freaking awesome.<br /><br />Having alleviated that major burden we set off - All the while i was saying to myself "You have permission to get off, you have permission to turn around and go home if either of you don't feel safe"<br /><br />I cannot tell you how much of a difference that made.<br /><br />My major goals on our first ride were to be calm, in control, enjoy myself, and make sure that sante did the same.<br /><br />It was sooooooooooooo awesome. Sante OFFERED to head down the trail, he was so much happier to be with me - the last time we had attempted to ride alone (well over 12 months ago) i had to fight him all the way. Every time he hit a threshold we would retreat. About half way throughe the ride, it dawned on him - He WILL NOT be pushed through his barriers, I WILL give him the time it takes, he has NO REASON to be affraid. And he changed. i could ask him to stop at P1 - even when we were retreating, he would quite happily stop, wait, turn around and then reapproach.<br /><br />We have done about 6 rides by ourselves now - and they have all been successful, completely Left brained the entire time - BOTH of us.<br /><br />I have become a calmer more confident rider - all of my actions and requests of him are done "on valium" even when he gets panicky - I remain calm, relaxed, and its increadible how quickly it transfers through.<br /><br />I finally feel like a good rider!!!!!<br /><br /><br /><br />The other major "event" for us is that just on three weeks ago - Sante got kicked on the front leg, about 10cm above the knee. Opened him up like you wouldn't beleive!!!<br /><br />YUK.<br /><br />Its times like these you thank Parelli for prior and proper preparation.<br /><br />He stood still while i hosed his wound<br />He stood still while i stuck my fingers in there and cleaned it out<br />He learned to stand still while i sprayed Iodine on the wound<br />He stood still while i bandaged it.<br /><br />He was moved to a "single horse" paddock, to ensure that there was no there risk of injury, and also to make it easier for me to treat him.<br /><br />He has become more confident - just being isolated! AND the other major major major plus to this injury - our catching game has taken on a whole new dimension. He see's me and meets me at the gate! I never had problems catching him previously, but in a paddock with 50 other horses and lush green grass, you can't blame him for not being overly thrilled when i arrived to remove him from his paradise.<br /><br />Everything is so fantastic at the moment - We are really enjoying the journey.<br /><br />Savvy on!!thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-43110797421782126322008-12-17T19:33:00.002+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.997+11:00How Interesting!Doesn't it feel fantastic to make progress? To have a hunch on something, and give it your best go, and to come out the other side?!<br /><br />I was happy to find Sante at the front of the paddock today, not right out hte back like he normally is, and when he saw me, he busied himself with trying to impress me.. by picking up sticks and hiding behind trees... it was a very funny catching game this morning.<br /><br />Anway, we started with lots of extreme friendly, I was wondering whether the carrot stick in Z5 was freaking him out when he is on adrenaline, and spent a good 10-15 minutes standing in all his zones and playing friendly, mixing it with a little bit of extreme friendly here and there.<br /><br />He didn't even blink!<br /><br />I have decided that for the time being, all circling game involving the canter will be done in the round yard... to save me rope burn, its not the ideal, but I have a feeling that Sante isn't so much afraid of the roundyard... more.. doesn't want to do anything involving using adrenaline, because he doesn't know how to act on it.<br /><br />So - Forward into the fray! We did some sideways, and lead by the tail, lead by the leg, hind quarter disengage towards, lots of "other stuff" so it wasn't about the circling game.<br /><br />When I did start circling, he was mildly RB, not sure what put him off, it was a bit breezy, and he was a bit jumpy, so I just sent him on the circle and did change of directions until he calmed down, bought him in, and he was completely LB again.<br /><br />So, we did lots of transitions, got him thinking - walk to trot, trot to walk to stop, all of that, with lots of rests and friendly inbetween. I am trying really hard to not stress the canter, I don't want him to see the round yard as "the place where i go crazy because mum makes me canter".<br /><br />When I did ask for the canter I was AMAZED at the results. My phase one, was lift my leading arm, he IMMEDIATELY picked up speed, so I gave him half a lap of that, then I flicked WAAAY out behind him with the carrot stick and - canter!<br /><br />He didn't maintain it, so I had to ask again, but WOW what a difference, it wasn't a "climbing the walls trying to get out" canter, it was much more controlled, fast.. but controlled. The first few times I asked for the canter he had a LOT of trouble maintaining it, so I found myself following him around the circle and "clucking" him on to maintain gait.. .not something i really want to do.<br /><br /> I ended up with the carrot stick in Z5 and half "lunged" him round, but also found that I could take it away, and THEN ask for a downwards transition and he would respond. It only took a few goes, and he was able to maintain gait..<br /><br />Once I started asking for the canter, we were only in the roundyard for another 10 minutes... I was able to firmly establish the canter cue, I then gently put pressure on his nose, encouraging him to keep his nose tipped to me, pushing his shoulder out to put him on the correct bend, then, my next goal was to ask for a downward transition before he broke gait - Which I did! We managed a trot to canter, canter to trot, trot to canter, and then canter to trot, all using nothing more than a phase 2, and with that, I bought him in, heaped the friendly on him, and left the round yard.<br /><br />The roaring success of our session today, gives more credence to my beleif, that I really don't think Sante knew how to canter on a 22 ft circle.<br /><br />When I asked, his body was all wrong, bent completely the wrong way, nose out, shoulder in and practically climbing the wall. My problem was I was misreading it as a RB fear response 'to much pressure" "can't handle it" and to be perfectly honest, in the early days that may well have been the case! But on Sunday, each time I asked for the canter, and then bought him in, he was Left Brained! I spent 10 minutes TEACHING him how to bend on the circle, nose tipped towards me, pushing the shoulder out with my carrot stick. He then had three days to think about it, and I got the fantastic results today.<br /><br />I only had to remind him today, to tip his nose in.<br /><br />I am so proud of my boy, for what he has taught me.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-18183513990669572792008-12-14T19:22:00.002+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.998+11:00RBI is now a LBII am about to do my head in~<br /><br />Does anyone else find that you you don't have a problem reading horses, until it comes to you own?<br /><br />*sigh*<br /><br />My horse has been a RBI since I got him. So I've always done the "slowly slowly" approach with him...<br /><br />I have been able to notice when he is obviously LB and such, have been able to give a little more pressure when necessary, and correct minor dominance issues that pop up, all without damaging his confidence, and keeping the relationship in tact.<br /><br />As stated elsewhere in my blog, we've never had much success cantering online. I have tried in the roundyard, and freaked him out, I have tried in a grass arena, and nearly got rope burn. The only time I have success with cantering online, is when he offers it! (twice in two years), so after watching Pat & Linda at Equitana, Pat working with a RBE and Linda with a RBE, I decided to turn things up a notch between Sante and I. They can do in an hour and a half, what has taken me two years to do, So I figured that I might try applying a little more pressure here and there to see what happened (ensuring that i read the horse correctly - See, I've been having problems identifying when Sante is being completely LB, when he has been RBI for soooo long)<br /><br />I have noticed that Sante can't handle his adrenaline. Once he starts doing something that involves high energy, he throws his popcorn in the air, he just CAN'T think on adrenaline, but I watched how Pat & Linda have been able to work with RB's that have the same issues as Sante, and with Savvy, have come out the other side.<br /><br />So, I've been playing lots of extreme friendly, and doing things like playing stick to me, and putting a little more pressure on him when he falls behind (usually when he's on my outside shoulder going into a turn), as long as I carefully balance this with the friendly game, he's been OK. Yesterday I gave frequent rests when he "got it" and caught up to my shoulder, and today, I tested what we did yesterday, and he had retained it, which was great.<br /><br />So, after getting a nice case of rope burn last week, when testing whether he was able to canter online (something i haven't done in quite a few months) I decided that I was going to have to go back to the round yard.<br /><br />I haven't wanted to work him in the round yard because its:<br /><br /><ul><li>only a 22ft yard</li><li>high walled</li><li>to claustrophobic for him</li></ul>But I feel like I don't have a choice. I'm bordering on teaching him to shoudler out, chuck a spastic and run off everytime i try the canter... Not a good outcome.<br /><br />So today, we went into the roundyard! Having been laid up all week with a torn neck muscle, I've been watching LHB over and over. So I made the resolution to be clinical and unbiased in reading my horse and not giving him the benefit of the doubt, and wanting to upset my "little angel"<br /><br />Some surprising results!<br /><br />I put him in there, did some other games, like lead by the tail, spanish walk, and LOTS and LOTS of friendly, then moved onto the circle game.<br /><br />I raised my leading hand and waited " he looked at me like "hmmmmm i think i know whats coming" So I lifted my stick and he dawdled off on the circle. Now, a RB horse would be like "I think your asking for a send, right? Where as a Left Brained horse would be like "Oh...... I suppose so..... * sigh*" The only difference was , He had his ears locked on me...<br /><br />So off he went.. at a dawdle, and then turned away from me, into the wall and showed his backside...<br /><br />How Interesting! This is the part where I assume he's not confident, but I decided to read the horse: Head low (not intro) relaxed tail swish, lick and a chew, and thought "got a 50/50 chance here" So I tagged him!<br /><br />He faced up and locked two ears on me, So I politely asked him to go again.... Half a circle later he stopped, so I did it again, he continued to circle without incident, doing two full laps until i bought him in.<br /><br />I played around with walk to trot transitions, and change of direction, taking note of the playful dominance he was exhibiting in the change of direction, reading this as all good signs that I could ask for the canter, and expect him to stay confident.<br /><br />So, after a few difference cicle games, (giving lots of rest and reward between, and also changing it up with different games so he didn't get bored) , I decided to ask for the canter.<br /><br />As soon as I put more pressure on in the trot, he fell into a running trot, I let one lap of this before i shortened the rope, and brought the cue in quarter of a lap behind his z5. He stopped, faced away from me, with his bum in my face.<br /><br />...... How interesting?<br /><br />I tried to get him to turn and face, but he thew his head in the air, and the rope rose over his back, and i lost the ability to turn him, he turned and faced of his own accord, with ears locked on me - I was even able to swing the rope ( from 22 feet away) in a big arc, so that it flew over his head, and off his neck, thus giving me back my control, and he did NOTHING.<br /><br />No right brain explosion, no miscommunication, ears locked onto me "What now?"<br /><br />So I bought him in, and literally said out loud "Ok, now, what have I got"<br /><br />I check his ears, all soft and "floppy"<br />Mouth loose, he was actually licking and chewing on his way to me<br />Gentle swish of the tail<br />No miscommunication when i played the friendly<br /><br />Hang on a tic!!! Thats Left Brained!<br /><br />So, after a little while, I asked again, and got the exact same reaction, and when I bought him in, Left Brained.<br /><br />So this time, I changed direction and asked again, he tried to do the same thing but I felt it and shortened his rope, I was giving him to much rope, he was doing this ridiculous spastic canter on the wrong bend, and was able to throw his shoulder at me, and "check out", So I got the canter, and he tried to break gait..<br /><br />I ended up having to follow him around the circle, and everytime he broke gate I corrected him, flicking pressure in his zone 5, I then experimented with keeping the rope short enough so that his nose was tipped towards me, but I held my carrot stick horizontal to his shoulder pushing his shoulder out.<br /><br />This worked! He cantered a whole lap until i disengaged him, and he came into me without hesitation!<br /><br />Just incase he was a little RB I walked away from him, gradually drawing him in.<br /><br />Did all my checks - checked ears, mouth, tail, and decided that YES, I still had a LB horse<br /><br />What the hey?<br /><br />So We went onto other stuff, and next time I played the circle game, I asked for walk and trot transitions only. I don't want him to think that its all about the canter...<br /><br />After a few minutes of that, I asked for the canter again. I still found that I had to assist him in keeping his nose tipped towards me, Now, I don't read this as a Right brained "facing out because its to much pressure", more like a complete and total inability to hold himself correctly!, I judged this because each time i finished the game, he came to me, no worries and licked and chewed on the way in! He was a little blowy, but he was left brained!<br /><br />I actually found that I had success if I kept the carrot stick in zone 5 and kind of "nagged him" somewhat around the circle. Once I have the fact that "this is a canter cue" ingrained, I will be able to stand still, in neutral, and just let him go.<br /><br />I then tried a couple of transitions, trying to encourage him to go down to trot from canter from the cue, rather than letting him brake gait. This worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />I was actually able to get him to do the full range of transitions, albeit, I did have to apply a LOT of pressure asking for the canter.<br /><br />But I am totally confident that I was dealing with a Left Brained horse, and not a right brained, as previously thought.<br /><br />I still beleive that innately, Sante is a right brained intro when it comes to new learning experience, but we've been doing circling game for two years.... I just don't think he's previously had the ability to canter, or he's had bad experiences in his younger years, either way, He HAS been Right brained about it, but has come to the realization that he gets away with it, and has therefore gained confidence in the fact that I won't force him into it.<br /><br />now that he has confidence, I can apply a little more pressure.<br /><br />WOW.<br /><br />My savvy Journey just got so much more interestingthebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-268317953087590212008-12-10T19:04:00.002+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.998+11:00Because! Thats the way its always been done!I'm nursing a very sore neck, so I'll try to keep this short.<br /><br />I started a new job on Friday, working at a Quarantine facility that imports / exports horses. Basically I am employed as a groom, who looks after a set number of horses for the quarantine period (normally three weeks)<br /><br />I was so excited about getting this job, It was such a great opportunity for me to work with different horsenalities, and to sharpen my horse handling skills, I was sooooo looking forward to it!<br /><br />So I arrived on Friday, well aware that I lacked hands on experience as a groom, but able to make up for it with my horse handling skills and my willign to learn.<br /><br />What a shock I got!!!!!! - I learnt that apparently I don't know a THING about horsemanship.<br /><br />I saw Pat Parelli every day at Equitana Australia last month, and it really started to hit home, when he spoke about traditional horsemanship being a mixture of miliary tradition, ego and bullshit, in equal doses!<br /><br />My first day on the job, I am assigned 10 horses including 5 warmbloods, a thoroughbred colt, a peruvian colt, a filly weanling, and a mare and foal (which should have been weaned already).<br /><br />I discovered that I was expected to lead around these monstrous warmbloods using a 4ft leadrope. A FOUR FOOT LEADROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know the ones, the shitty plaitted ones that you get from Horselands for 5 dollars! The ones that are so light weight there is no feel in them, the ones that stretch! In this day and age, where "Occupational Health & Safety" is the catch cry of most companies, I cannot fathom why you would consider it safe to lead a 1 tonne creature around on a 4ft lead rope!<br /><br />God forbid they horses actually throw their heads in the air, because I am 162cm tall (thats just over 5ft for the Americans), and would have found myself launched off the ground.<br /><br />I tried as best I could, to be as natural as possible, however was criticized for the following: (reasons in brackets)<br /><br />Using rhythmic pressure to keep a horse out of my space (That will make the horse headshy! and also cause him to rear)<br />Clapping to interrupt the RB behaviour of the filly that was about to run me down (Don't make loud noises around young horses!!!!)<br />Talking to the horses (Its unprofessional)<br />Leading on the RHS (You'll get killed!)<br />Rubbing a colt on the face (He'll bite your face off)<br />Waving my rope to drive the horses front end as leading by the snap left me no options to direct the horse (Waste of time)<br /><br />I had to use what is called a shiftney to bring in the warmbloods, the ridiculous amounts of grain and corn that they were on (being confined in a stable at night and a dirt yard by day) cause them to be jumpy, therefore a shiftney was prescribed to stop them jumping or rearing.<br /><br />I was leading one of the warmbloods on the LHS, when he started shying at something out of his right eye, picture me, standing under this warmblood, holding him by the snap, elbow in his neck (which is doing nothing because he is MONSTROUS!) , so I decided to do the savvy thing and stand on his RHS, so if he decided to jump to the left (away from the fright) I wouldn't get trampled. I got yelled at by the head groom saying "Don't stand on the right! You'll get jumped on"<br /><br />Jumped on????????? Um, Standing under a warmblood on the end of a 4ft leadrope, while hes going spastic is gonna get me jumped on!<br /><br />The colt that was going to "bite my face off"? I went into his stall to take his temperature and pick his feet out, didn't put the leadrop on him, I draped it over his back, and let him chew on the end of it. When i turned my back to pick his feet up, he spun around to give me a nip, I "accidently" waved my elbow whilst asking him to pick his foot up, he straightened up and had a bit of a lick and chew. As I picked his foot up, he tried again, so i waved my elbow, again, he straightened up. I was in the process of picking his foot out, and he tried again, I saw it coming and decided to pick my foot up randomly, impacting with his incoming nose - The cold swung around, picked up the lead rope and continued to chew it for the duration, allowing me to pick up all four feet without argument or any more "grooming sessions". I was passively persistant - he got the message.<br /><br />I tell you what, I was CONCERNED for my safety every time i led a horse from their stable to their yard and vica versa.<br /><br />I would have preferred a 12ft line, a rope halter and a carrot stick, but the chances of that happening were buckleys and none! They use standard PVC halters, and combined with the fact that we basically had to wrestle the horse from point A to B, we were teachign them to push against us!<br /><br />What I don't understand is how can people still be living in the dark ages? How can you call this common sense? Honestly? I don't get it! Get a longer line, get the horse out of your space, its not difficult! I was having a massive rant to my mother about all this, and she said to me "You just have to realize that not everyone has the TIME to do it your way, professional horse people have a job to do, they don't have TIME to do Parelli"<br /><br />I replied that that statement was so untrue, all it was was a change in tools, a change in mentality, a change in thinking, there was no extra TIME involved in leading a horse at a safe distance, all you required were the correct tools, the leadrope, the halter and the carrot stick. These people treated horses the way they did because its how THEY were taught, they never actually thought about WHY they were doing it that way, its just the way its always been done! God forbid you ask them why they do it that way, because I don't think they could tell you.. their answer would be "Because!"<br /><br />Its all bovine Faecal matter as Pat likes to say.<br /><br />Military Tradition, Ego and Bovine Faecal Matter.<br /><br />And I hate it.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-58634791347044149472008-11-25T20:33:00.004+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.998+11:00Equitana Australia 2008Alrighty!! I'm back!! Having survived my first plane trip, i have returned to write my review of equitana.<br /><br />The plan trip scared the shit out of me. Our flight got cancelled, then moved forward an hour, we then got that flight cancelled, and eventually were put on a flight leaving 3 hours later than the original flight. Not a good start for a first time flyer. Turbulance was BAAAAAAD. The travel sick tablets helped *a bit*...<br /><br />Anyway. Day one of equitana, We saw Pat!!!! He entered the arena on two miniature ponies, and proceeded to give a talk to people about WHY we do the things we do to horses, and how we got this way. He talked about military traditions, ego, and "bovine fecal matter" It was a really good talk, and i was really looking forward to the clinic that he was holding the following day.<br /><br />We also managed to see a few other Natural Horsemen over the 4 day, Guy Maclean, Greg Powell, and Wrangler Jane to name a few. Guy & Greg spoke highly of Pat, and praised the students that were studying under his program.<br /><br />I thoroughly enjoyed their clinics, Guy did some FANTASTIC liberty work with his buckskins, If you haven't seen him, get onto youtube and google him. It will blow your mind.<br /><br />When greg first held his clinic on the first day, he told us that his best horse, his favourite horse would not be performing, as two days before equitana he had suffered a puncture wound to the fetlock. He had bought the horse along, but was on strict stall rest. On the final day however, the vets cleared him to bring his horse out. Greg dropped the bombshell that this equitana would probably be his last equitana. I couldn't beleive it, I'd only just met the guy, and already he was moving on! he went on to say, that when his best horse hurt himself, he was seriously worried, he was worried about what he was going to do at equitana, and how the show would go, how the clinic would go, and whether his other horses would be able to "step up to the plate" so to speak. he went on to say that, he had taken his horse for a leasurely trail ride, instead of training to let him relax before the big trip, when he hurt himself. So when it happened he was pretty shocked.<br /><br />He then went onto say, that it wasn't till a while after that he realized what he was saying. He realized that when his horse hurt himself, his FIRST thought was "Aw shit, what am I going to do for equitana" When it should have been "Aw shit, is my mate going to be alright", and that that realization had caused him to take a step back and re-evaluate his priorities.<br /><br />Very powerful words. Very powerful words indeed. He went onto say that it had been a long 4 days, he was tired, his horses were tired, they had performed SO WELL over the equitana long weekend, and that he had to take responsibility for the fact that they were tired, and deal with the horses that showed up.<br /><br />He managed to put on a spectacular show that never once encroached on the dignity of the horses. We laughed our heads off at the different horsenalities of his horses, and how they interacted, the relationship they all had was just fantastic! I found both Greg and Guy (who are incidently good mates) to be very honest and decent horsemen who put their horses needs and feelings first.<br /><br />Pat Parelli held his main clinic on the second day of equitana. Both Linda and Pat were presented with two "trouble" horses. Both shyed a lot, and were generally tricky horses. The audience voted, Pat got the RBE and linda got the RBI. It was a brilliant 2.5 hours. By the end of it, BOTH managed to get their horses to jump a jump, walk over a tarp, stand with the big green ball on their backs and trailer load. The changes in the horses were amazing just in that short amount of time. There was a very very very funny moment where Pats horse saw himself on the bigscreen. he started calling out to himself, and was totally engrossed in this "other horse" it was very funny and had the audience in stitches.<br /><br />Pat suggested that his next two talks would include the horse he was working on, the RBE. The next day, he told the audience, the horse met him at the stall entry and couldn't wait to come out. The change in the horse was alarming. He was so much calmer. Just in that short amount of time, he asked very little of the horse, just ensured that the lessons that were learnt yesterday had stuck (which they had). The horse, who nearly left the planet the previous day every time someone applauded, seemed a lot calmer every time we applauded.<br /><br />On the final day, he bought the horse out again. He was practically left brained the entire time. It was amazing. I also noted the progression in Pats talk he was having with the audience. Over the previous 3 days his message was all sugar coated, all about what Parelli was about, and the how and why of horse tradition, he spoke about reading horses, and the horses dignity, and made everything all happy happy joy joy.<br /><br />On the final day, he got down to business. He mentioned that after his clinic on Day two, he had seen a seven year old girl, on a small gray pony, complete with bridle, martingale and drop nose band, kicking the SHIT out of this horse and SCREAMING at it because it wouldn't go forward.<br /><br />Pat said his heart broke. That such bad habits and "tradition" were being taught so young.<br /><br />He went onto say that he had seen more hardware per horse head than he could imagin. Horses in double bridles with martingales, tied downs, drop nose bands, tieing the horse down, tieing his mouth shut, shutting him up in a tiny little box. I can't remember the exact word he used, but he said that it was something like revolting .. but stronger. At this point a few people left, there were a few infront of me that turned their nose in the air and wandered off. The person behind me filled in for Pat, and muttered the phrase "its like watching rape". I turned to her and said "you're damn right"<br /><br />Pat went onto say that the first person had been jailed recently for cutting his horses tongue off, all in the name of winning. The people behind me gasped. I told them that it was the truth, and that they needed to watch the Liberty & Horse Behaviour set. Pat basically put it out there, that this behaviour was unacceptable and needed to stop. He challenged people to use the following filters from now on until forever when looking at the things we do to horses:<br /><br />1/ Would the trainers / riders mother be proud of them watching their son / daughter<br />2/ Would the HORSES mother be proud watching his son / daughter being trained?<br /><br />Very poweful words.<br /><br />I might also add that I was exposed completely to the things that Pat spoke about over the weekend. I have watched the LHB set, and heard Linda talking about displaced behaviour, frothing mouth, tongue sticking out of the mouth, swishing tail etc etc.<br /><br />I saw it everywhere i looked. Everywhere, except the natural horsemen horses. It was very disturbing.<br /><br />At the showjumping displays, horses rushed jumps. Horses with their tongues sticking out. Tails swishing in time with their strides. EVERY SINGLE HORSE FROTHING AT THE MOUTH.<br /><br />It was sickening.<br /><br />One night they held a rodeo, it was falsely advertised as a "Western Spectacular" We thought we were going to see reining and the like. But no such luck. Horses going down in their chutes, steers and bulls going down in their chutes, Horses being chased by the bulls, and the horrific results that had on the horses mentality.<br /><br />The total and utter lack of respect for the horse, and the lack of ability to read the horse.<br /><br />My friend and I couldn't bear it, and left by 10pm.<br /><br />Overall, I was impressed with equitana, I bought some great deals, and I was able to meet two fantastic natural horsemen, BOTH from Australia.<br /><br />I got to see Pat & Linda, and was able to meet Pat. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad for the experience. I just hope that more people were exposed to the Natural Horsemanship message and are considering making the change.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-18137158725394548152008-11-16T19:15:00.004+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.998+11:00No Manners!<span class="postbody">Well,<br /><br />Today started very badly.<br /><br />I got there at 8am to help set up the cross country course, and after asking a friend to catch my horse for me, got to work setting up the course, I asked her to simply put Sante in the paddock that the gymkana was being held in and I would look after him.<br /><br />The paddock is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE. When Sante was put into the paddock, it contained myself, my friend, and my horse. No other humans or horses.<br /><br />When Sante was being caught, i was watching through the trees, and i could see sante, trying desperately to stick his nose in in the rope halter, I had a chuckle and kept on with what I was doing.<br /><br />Anyway, when sante was put in, he wandered over to me, and i was able to see that he was having a MAJOR halter malfunction. The nose strap had become a cheek strap, his nose was in the chin strap, and somehow they had got the neck strap done up correctly. The look on his face was like: "FIX ME NOW!"<br /><br />So I took the halter off and let him wander around, he busied himself with obstacles, and i left him to it.<br /><br />Not to long afterwards, the agistment manager came into the paddock, I said to my friend " I wonder what he wants" She replied "I bet he chats you about your horse being loose" I replied "No way, he's in the paddock"<br /><br />He came up to offer his assistance to set up the cross country course. When he saw Sante (who by this stage was hiding in the trees trying to escape from the flies, He said<br /><br />"We can start by tying up the loose horse, For Gods sake, why do you make me say it? Just follow the rules and keep your horse tied up!"<br /><br />My friend replied out lout "Told you" And he replied "Well, why do you make me say it! You know the rules"<br /><br />I didn't even comment. I just walked a few steps and whistled to Sante while slapping the ground with his lead rope. He faced up to me from about 30 metres away, I just gently called out and told him to come here, so he wandered over. As I haltered him and wandered off, I was thinking to myself. "Hope you saw that, moron"<br /><br />It made me soooo angry!! Seriously! We are being picked on because we are different. I am seriously considering moving my horse because of this crap.<br /><br />We ended up having another fantastic day. I was helping my friend (who was scoring) check all the scores, we were set up in a horse truck, and I had kept Sante hard tied to the outside of the truck.<br /><br />I spent the majority of the day, sitting on the tail of the truck, with Sante' s head on my shoulder checking scoring sheets.<br /><br />He did so well! I was so proud of him, again!!<br /><br />Also, as promised a fe weeks ago, I now have updated photo's of his feet.<br /><br />Ignore the slight wall flare! I can't trim it properly until next week as I am buying a hoof stand this week (waiting for the bargains at equitana),<br /><br />I cannot beleive the improvement! The crack on his left fore is starting to grow out completely, while the crack on his right fore still looks a little messy, but is actually starting to grow out, there is still a minor crack there, but it has started to grow "together", I think a few more weeks and it will turn into a hairline crack, and then it will be like the other one, completely sealed up and healed.<br /><br />You can see the top centimetre of growth is all since i have been trimming him.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuMmm01jTrsU53POEfp-GGcyWAZEkFgXVIRorQMdjwB1zw3fc6_MlUZxHI6BvFSvFfLfMKQKC7t8bVNedaK6Lufe9B524uXinHcDzPPRksQIJLFP94-NH9HMEwXUO3sb4qdTDvQrE9XDj/s1600-h/Sante+barefoot+week+6+16.11.08+004.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuMmm01jTrsU53POEfp-GGcyWAZEkFgXVIRorQMdjwB1zw3fc6_MlUZxHI6BvFSvFfLfMKQKC7t8bVNedaK6Lufe9B524uXinHcDzPPRksQIJLFP94-NH9HMEwXUO3sb4qdTDvQrE9XDj/s400/Sante+barefoot+week+6+16.11.08+004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269167309905810866" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUL0jOil4q0nWq986l4BAEMkG4QS9gg3y9oKkEMZQr_p4IjvlUovWfV_4FZ4DNqncjPcd8TdsaAmQQWhJ8kMvM1Xecv1ymrhGWMNTnJlC1HmK3xVVphqeMe2zkYsdly9LJT3n8SzQhObWS/s1600-h/Sante+barefoot+week+6+16.11.08+008.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUL0jOil4q0nWq986l4BAEMkG4QS9gg3y9oKkEMZQr_p4IjvlUovWfV_4FZ4DNqncjPcd8TdsaAmQQWhJ8kMvM1Xecv1ymrhGWMNTnJlC1HmK3xVVphqeMe2zkYsdly9LJT3n8SzQhObWS/s400/Sante+barefoot+week+6+16.11.08+008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269167045654662482" border="0" /></a>thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-58776918291986385072008-11-15T17:56:00.002+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.999+11:00No Bit. No Stop!You know, when I started Parelli, I read on the forums about fellow parelli students having "altercations" or "run ins" with non parelli people, be they horse owners, yard managers etc etc.<br /><br />And I always thought "Sheesh, I'm pretty lucky, I don't cop any of that".<br /><br />Well.. I've joined the ranks of the persecuted.<br /><br />It all started with the going barefoot thing a few weeks ago, my previous two posts go into detail about the wonderful conversations I've had with my Agistment manager, but today really took the cake.<br /><br />Today, we held a gymkana at our agistment facility. 40 odd horses with riders of various ages and experience levels all competing in a set number of events over two days.<br /><br />Sante & I were not competing, having been lame over previous weeks, and only just being considered sound I didn't think it was fair to force him to tear around a course, so we decided that we would assist in course marshalling and running duties, and I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for us to work on one rein riding, single carrot stick riding, and encouraging sante to respond to me seat first, before having to use my legs or reins, I was really looking forward to it! Sante's feet are starting to look fantastic, and the cracks are really starting to grow out nicely.<br /><br />Well, the gymkana started with the usual welcome meeting, the rules and all the formalities were done, and people started to get into their age / experience groups for hte coming events.<br /><br />While all this was going on, the agistment manager came over to me and infront of 10-15 other people came out with the following:<br /><br />"Just so you realize, the first horse that goes nuts here and bolts off will set your horse off, and if your horse goes, there will be no stoppign him, you should be riding in a bridle, you won't be able to pull him up, no bit, no stop"<br /><br />I couldn't beleive it!!!!!! In front of all these people! I just smiled and said "Na, thats Ok, no worries" He replied "Its your safety"<br /><br />He then came up to me a few minutes later and added "Look, I'm not picking on you, but its safety first you know, its your safety" I replied very nicely with "Its ok, I get it, you do what you've got to do, you're the yard manager and there are certain guidelines you have to go by, its ok".<br /><br />A few people came up to me afterwards and asked what the hell that was all about. When I told them it was because i was riding in a rope halter they couldn't beleive it!.<br /><br />I just want to state here and now, that I have NEVER been so proud of my horse.<br /><br />We had a huuuuuuuuge electrical storm here last night, thunder, lightening, driving rain, you name it, it was INTENSE. The weather today was very overcast, with scattered showers forcast. It rained until about 9am, and then was very cloudy and threatening.<br /><br />The horses are kept on spring pastures that are in really good condition, and as you can imagine are a little full of themselves.<br /><br />It was BEDLAM. Three people came off before lunch. Horses were bucking, rearing, pigrooting (cow kicking), bolting and just generally misbehaving.<br /><br />I was getting to the point where i was considering riding back to the yards and playing with my horse, because i couldn't stand watching the disgusting displays of horsemanship. People screaming at their horses, swearing at their horses, kicking the living crap out of their horses all because they are refusing jumps, shying at obstacles they have never seen before and just generally having issues.<br /><br />There were horses trotting sideways, there were people who's reins were so short, they shouldn't have bothered putting any one, cause they were holding them by the bridle. It was disgusting. Just disgusting. I could not beleive it, sitting on horseback watching these horses silently screaming and no one gave a shit.<br /><br />And you know what Sante did? Stood their and watched. Occasionally he would swing his head around to "check in", to which i would give him a huuge rub on the neck and an "its ok buddy" But other than that, i rode a completely relaxed rein the entire day, he acted like a partner the entire day, and we had a beautiful day. There were three occasions that out of control horses BOLTED past sante with owners literally hanging on for dear life, faces screwed up in blind panic, and sante, didn't even bat an eye lid. In fact, he yawned, blew out, and went back to eating grass.<br /><br />I sat there thinking "And I'm the one who gets the "Safety first" lecture.<br /><br />Yeah Right.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-78445922271510501662008-11-08T19:18:00.003+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.999+11:00What is wrong with shoeing horses? An UpdateWell! Sticking to my guns has certainly paid off!<br /><br />Sante is NO LONGER LAME!! I pulled him out of the paddock today, and he was fine! trotted him out, and he was perfect!! I am fairly certain that i was right, the lameness was not caused by the crack / infection in the hoof, I think he was either kicked, or strained a muscle a fortnight ago in the run in.<br /><br />I am absolutely astounded at the hoofs ability to heal itself! On Thursday i went to the valley to check on him, and treated him with another dose of peroxide. When nothing happened to the hoof, i thought I'd stuffed up the dilution, so I did it again with a stronger dose, and STILL nothing happened no bubbling at all!<br /><br />Today when i checked on the foot, it didn't even LOOK like Sante's foot. The crack has kind of, contracted on itself. I will have to get photo's tomorrow and post them on the blog, but its increadible, you can see the new growth is growing straight, and narrow, and the entire hoof wall has kind of "pulled itself together". Thats another thing. His feet are growing SO QUICKLY. Its increadible, its like the feet are making up for lost time or something.<br /><br />I felt so much better today. Like as though I had stuck to my guns and been vindicated, i could breathe easy knowing that I'd made a call and it had worked out.<br /><br />Its interesting watching peoples reactions last week though. Everyone is so quick to offer their advice as "fact" when in reality, they admit they haven't got a clue what they're talking about, its what their farrier told them, or a friends farrier who told their friend who told them. Noone questions WHY.<br /><br />WHY would you put a shoe on a horse, when you are trying to get the load off the outer wall?<br />WHY can't the horse fix himself?<br />WHY don't wild horses need shoes?<br />WHY will a brace fix my horses foot?<br />How come I'm putting a shoe AND a brace on my horse, but his toe is so long? Isn't all the force on the outer wall coming from the fact that his toe is so long? Aren't we bandaiding a problem at not actually fixing the root cause? Wouldn't the solution be to shorten the toe?<br /><br />No. We put a shoe on it!<br />Horse is lame? Put a shoe on it!<br />Horse has wall seperation? Put a shoe on it!<br />Horse is tender on the rocks? Put a shoe on it!<br />Horse has hoof wall cracks? Put a shoe on it!<br /><br />NO, NO and NO!<br /><br />People need to start thinking about how the hell horses did this stuff in the wild. Quite frankly, horses didn't sit in half acre paddocks munching on green grass all day. They moved over rocky, sandy hard terrain in search of food and water, and all their movement caused them to trim their own feet. If people actually researched wild horse hoofs and saw how DIFFERENT they look compared to our domestic horses, they'd start to get the drift.<br /><br />Surely to goodness the horse has the ability to heal itself. If we just set them up for success! Keep them trimmed correctly and reguarly. Feed them correctly a balanced diet with all the minerals they need in order to grow strong healthy feet, and get them out of their paddocks and on the trails!thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-89679928748188793842008-11-07T09:38:00.002+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.999+11:00The Cardinal Sin of Going BarefootI've been meaning to write this blog all week. But, my life this week has been nothing short of hectic to say the least. I resigned from my job on Tuesday, and finished up on Wednesday, but thats another story....<br /><br />As some of you know, about 6 weeks ago, I decided to take Sante barefoot. I knew that he would be very tender and ouchy, and those flatfooted thoroughbred feet of his would have to be booted in order to ride, but with all the reading i've been doing about shoing, I decided that I was prepared to make the change.<br /><br />So! Six weeks ago the shoes came off!<br /><br />A little background on my horse: came to me as a 16.2h malnourished thoroughbred with bad feet featuring two full length vertical cracks running from coronet to toe on both front feet.<br /><br />After four months, I decided to put shoes on him "to take the load of the outer wall" 18 months later, the cracks look deeper, and there is absolutely no sign of them growing out.<br /><br />A friend of mine organised a trimming clinic, and although i wasn't overly excited when it was first organised (I think i was freaking out about not having enough money, and it got in the way of what the course was all about) It wasn't until about a fortnight before the course that I REALLY started to look forward to it. By the time the course came, you couldn't shut me up, I spent the entire weekend asking questions and trimming Cadava legs.<br /><br />I have since bought Pete Rameys book and Jaime Jacksons books, and am even considering doing a Diploma of Equine Podio next year.<br /><br />But - back to the problem at hand. About a fortnight ago, I noticed that Sante was lame. i pulled him out on the Saturday morning and he was sore, stepping short in his front offside. So, i did a small maintenance trim on him, and measured him up for the ezyboots. On Sunday when I pulled him out, he was still lame, so we had a day of undemanding time and that was that!<br /><br />Well. Last weekend when I arrived at the valley, I could hardly contain my excitement, as Sante's boots had arrived and I was planning on going for a ride. .. Until my agistment manager pointed out that "there was no way i was riding my horse as he was lame" it took me a while to realize that he wasn't joking, and I replied that I had noticed he was lame the previous week and beleived it to be from the run in. He also commented that the cracks on Sante's feet looked terrible, and htat I should be really worried about them. He told me to see Larry (the "traditional" farrier) and get him to put a shoe & brace on him. Although i didn't need an explaination, he went on to explain the shoe was to 'support the outer wall" and the brace was to force the outer wall together so it would begin to grow out.<br /><br />I replied that I had just taken Sante's shoes off, and that they had actually got worse over the 18 months. He got shirty at me, and said "Look, I'm just telling you what I would do... now you know, its your call"<br /><br />It really threw me. I was so confident that I knew what I was doing, and shortly after he gave me "his" advice, everyone else started giving me theirs "Oh definately put a shoe on it, Oh definately the brace, you just can't be to careful, you can't guess with things like this"<br /><br />It made me sooo angry. By the time another friend of mine arrived (a certified barefoot trimmer) i spoke to her and she made me feel a lot better.. .told me to tell them to get f*&ked..<br /><br />I checked Sante for an abscess, nothing. My friend attacked his sole & frogs with the hoof pick and he did not flinch at all.. So I poured peroxide all over the crack, which bubbled like crazy, waited for it to dry out and then stuffed copper sulphate in it, (sealing it in with blue tac).<br /><br />On Sunday I nearly had a heart attack, I thought he had abscessed, but he hadn't, the growth closest to the corinet band had 'collapsed", the outer wall had 'dipped a bit'. So I poured more Peroxide into it, and stuffed it with copper sulphate again.<br /><br />So yesterday, I was able to check on him (what with being newly unemployed and everything) I poured peroxide all over it again, and nothing happened (woot!) and I can just see the beginnings of new growth, the crack is just starting to grow straight and close.. so there is a strong chance that now the infection is gone, it will begin to grow normally.<br /><br />I wish people would stop putting their faith in "tradition" and start questioning why they do things!!thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-66875843206884258682008-10-20T18:24:00.002+11:002009-02-03T12:08:36.999+11:00A most wonderful dayI have been on such a high since yesterday! On Saturday i was helping a friend move house, and didn't get to visit Sante, so I made sure I got to the valley early, to take advantage of the entire day.<br /><br />I turned up and Sante was in the middle of a huddle of horses - a tight huddle. He looked at me when i called out to him, but he didn't come... I walked into the paddock and he was staring intently at me, head up ears both forward, but still he didn't come... So we stood... for about 5 minutes, just looking at each other... neither one of us moving, but neither one of us looking away... ?<br /><br />I started to walk towards zone 5, to help the message get through, and he tentatively took a step forward before a few horses that were surrounding him pinned their ears and went to bite him, he pinned his ears at them and ran for me, just missing them. He ran straight past me and hid, I grabbed my lead rope and ran at the other horses, bopping which ever ones were within reach.<br /><br />I was really chuffed that Sante would make an effort to come to me, even though he probably knew that if he moved the other horses would try to get him, so I gave him 2 carrotts, a rub on the face and we walked out of the paddock at liberty.<br /><br />His feet are starting to look good.. Well. I should say one of his feet is starting to look really good, the other.. I'm not quite sure about yet.. The crack in one hoof is practically a hair line crack, its really thin and i'm confident it will start growing out. The other one I'm not to sure about... I want to get down to the valley this weekend, and attack his feet with a hoof knife.. I THINK he might have seedy toe... not sure.. its just this crack has kind of moved -- its was cracking vertically up the wall nearly all the way to the coronet, but then he's had a few weeks growth and for some reason its cracked horizontally a few millimetres, then continued cracking vertically. It doesn't appear to be getting any shallower. But I'm determined not to panic, I will have a close look this weekend and go from there.<br /><br />I was so excited to be asked to trim a fellow agisters horse yesterday!!! I did my trimming course nearly 2 months ago, and I've trimmed Sante once, and yesterday I was asked to look at a friends horse! Unfortunately with work / family etc he hadn't been to the valley in a long time, and the horse was WELL overdue for a trim, the hoof wall had started cracking in two places, and was growing horizontally. I explained to my friend that one trimming clinic does not make me a professional but i was more than happy to have a look at him.<br /><br />It was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I must have cut 3cm off his toe!!!!! I felt really good, like i was doing something realy good for this horse. It took me just under an hour to trim 2 feet ( I didn't bother with the back ones, because the front ones were the ones that really needed help, and he did have a farrier coming later in the week) I gave him plenty of rests, and only had to play with him once to remind him why standing still was fun.<br /><br />At the end of it, you wouldn't have recognised the horses feet. The cracks will grow out, and after the trim I trotted him down the dirt lane and he was completely sound.<br /><br />I am so excited!!<br /><br />I asked my friend to get some feedback from the farrier, as to what I could have done differently.<br /><br />Sante and I then got to carry on with our original plan, which was to go for a swim. I decided to ride bare back, as I haven't done it in a while, and didn't want to loose the knack.<br /><br />We headed into the "Waterhole" paddock, which has a big dam in it. Sante did really well, we wandered around just moseying, him grazing as much as he wanted, until we ended up at the dam, it was a really really hot day, so I figured he'd be more interested in the water today. He wandered in and started drinking. After he'd gorged himself he turned to look at me as if to say "Now what?" I gently nudged him forward, he walked in until all four feet were in the water, and he had water up to his knees.<br /><br />Thats when it started. He started pawing at the water, at first it was tentative, and then he really got into it. He went nuts!! Pawing at the water, and then thing that cracked me up was the way he held his head, looking at his foot pawing at the water, as if it was disconnected from his body, or he didn't have control.. After a little while of one leg, he swapped feet and started again. I just sat there completely relaxed and rubbed him on the neck. After a while he wandered out of the water and started grazing. so i just sat there and let him do what he wanted. Eventually i got lazy and he accidently stepped over his lead rope (I was riding with one rein) So I jumped off to fix it. After a few more minutes of grazing, I thought we'd get tricky and try the circling game in the water. I waded in up to my knees and sent him around me. He got upto his knees and started playing with teh water again, this time sticking his entire head in it, he was having so much fun!!<br /><br />It was brilliant because Sante has never acted like this around water. I ended wading in up to my bum, and was seriously contemplating swimming across the dam, but decided to take things easy, there are plenty of hot summer days ahead of us. I started to splash water on him, at first he was confused, not sure what I was doing, but then he figured that i was relaxed and laughing so took it as the friendly game.<br /><br />And then he did the most fantastic thing - He laid down in the water and partially rolled!!!!!!!!!!!! Bloody awesome!! WOW WOW WOW!!! He's never done this! He's never shown interest in water, let alone the want to play in it.<br /><br />We eventually wandered out and sat on the grass again to dry out. I half expected him to roll in the grass but he didn't. Eventually i put his bareback pad back on, and decided to walk at liberty out of the paddock.<br /><br />Even that turned into a game. He would stop to eat grass, so i would playfully tag him, and he'd run forward to catch up, and so the game went, until i broke into a run and flicking him with the carrot stick, he ran after me, and then quick as a flash, tossed his head bucked and ran off up to the gate... which was open! I was laughing and laughing at him, he never would have done a thing like that a few months ago. When he got to the gate, he stopped and started eating grass again. As I approached him, he stood up straight, ears & eyes locked on me as if to say "What are we doing now? Whats next? What are we playing?"<br /><br />I rubbed him and told him he was a dork, and we wandered down to the yards again.<br /><br />The HIGHLITE of the day was yet again.... going back to the paddock.. I had 5 huuge carrots stuck in my jeans, and decided that i was going to see what i could get from him.<br /><br />We did lots of stick to me and he did really well! So when we got into the paddock I decided to spice things up a bit. I was still in a completely playful mood, and was quite happy just to see what happened, so I decided to try circling game at liberty.<br /><br />Our liberty in general is very good. He comes to me, does all the driving & porccupine games at liberty.. Yo yo needs improvement.. he doesn't see the point of me sending him out and then asking him to come back. I send him out and he kind of says "Why? I just got here?" And gets stuck.<br /><br />But our liberty circling game has been crap. I can't play in the round yard because he loses confidence (is a traditional yard, high walls, and a bit to small for my big boy) and every time i play in a paddock. we get as far as the send, in the allow he just... keeps going... He will walk off.. walk to the gate, and every time i disengage the HQ, he does it and faces up with a look on his face as if to say "Well.. what now?"<br /><br />Its just been a disaster, so I haven't played it. Until today.<br /><br />I asked for the send and he wandered off, so i flicked with the CS and he faced up, I again pointed with my arm, then supported with the CS, I also had a smirk on my face and said to him "You want the carrot... you know the game"<br /><br />At first he did an entire circle with his body bent in to me, kind of going diagonally around the circle. At first I accepted that and gave him part of the carrot. After he'd finished i asked again, and this time I didn't let him come in until he'd gone around looking where he was going, doing a true send. That got another reward. So we did a bit of backup, and then tried a circle again, out he went, two laps then back again. WOW!!<br /><br />After more carrots, out again and this time i pushed the shoulder out, because he had been doing tiny little circles around me. So out he went, I asked for a trot and he ran off.<br /><br />during this entire session I had been laughing LIKE AN IDIOT. I could NOT beleive that we were doing this, so when he ran off, I casually yelled after him. 'Don't be a donkey!" And asked for the HQ disengage. He spun around and looked at me. He was SOOOO intent the look was like "What can I do now?"<br /><br />I stepped back and asked him to come in. He started to walk. I flicked my stick behind me and took a few jogging steps back.<br /><br />HE RAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE RAN TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />That got an entire carrot!!!!!!!!!! I was practically hyperventilating i was so excited!! He was just being so playful, and so confident and we were honestly just having so much fun!!!<br /><br />After he finished the carrot, I asked for the circle again, he went out about 15 feet from me, and circled, I lifted my leading hand and said "trot". Into the trot he went, whilst maintaining the circle (My brainn was SCREAMING with excitement) Then he pinned his ears (playful dominance not agressive) so i thought what the heck, perfect opportunity to try change of direction. I turned towards him, and ran back, making sure to push my shoulder over to support the new direction.<br /><br />WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!! He FLEW around thew his head and ran past me back onto the circle!!!!!!!!! I immediately disengaged him and bought him in. He was looking at me asking questions, so i gave more treats.<br /><br />We tried again, and he accepted the trot on the circle this time with no ears pinned, So I decided to try change of direction. He did it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this time though he looked at me, ears locked on me, did the change and ran through, all the while maintaining the trot.<br /><br />I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was just giggling like an idiot, I spent 15 minutes just rubbing him all over and telling him he was just brilliant, and we left on a really big high.<br /><br />I cannot beleive we have arrived where we are! I simply cannot beleive it! Who would have thought that my horse could have got to this place.<br /><br />WOW.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-50158614788213176182008-10-04T20:35:00.003+10:002009-02-03T12:08:37.000+11:00We are barefootI finally did it!!! Sante is now barefoot!!!<br /><br />I did a trimming course about a month ago, which was the best thing I could have done for my horse! I had to wait for his current shoes to grow out, and i also had to compete the MS Ride before taking his shoes off.<br /><br />It was 5 weeks today since he was last shod, I could have waited a few more weeks, but to be honest, the nails had started to tear, and i was risking losing a major part of his outter wall.<br /><br />I think we did really well today.<br /><br />When i was doing the trimming course i was kind of worried, I made sure i asked lots of questions, but even after the course i had this thought in the back of my mind "Do i REALLY know enough to do this myself?" And deep down I was a bit nervous about doing it myself.<br /><br />So, I bribed one of my friends (who did the course with me) to oversee.<br /><br />Its amazing, how when you think about something you have to do, you can run a million scenarios through your head and scare yourself to death.. Well, today, I just got into it.<br /><br />There was a farrier there who kindly took the shoes off for me, When i told him I was trimming myself, he gave me the good advice "Less is more, If you're not sure, take less off! Simple rule of thumb"<br /><br />Good advice!<br /><br />Once I had him barefoot, i just picked up the first foot and started to analyze, cleaned it out, cleaned up the frog a little, cut back the toe (as best i could with a rasp) and put a bloody big bevel on his toe.<br /><br />Being thoroughbred and having massive big cracks in his outer wall, I decided to keep the toe fairly short. I also filed out the splays that were starting to form.<br /><br />I have taken "before" pictures, which i will post tomorrow. I didn't get to complete all 4 feet today, I got 2 and a half done, but Sante started to get a little fidgety (quite obviously he's not used to farriers taking more than half an hour, and i'd been going for about 2 hours?)<br /><br />So tomorrow I'll complete the trim and take "after photos".<br /><br />I plan on taking progress shots at each trimming, I'm really hoping that the cracks begin to grow out...<br /><br />Its also really good for us, I fear that amid all our preperation for the MS Ride and the concentration on riding, Sante has ... lost interest.. our catching game has been a little lack luster in recent weeks.. He doesn't run away from me... but he doesn't come up to me either. So, i won't be riding him for the next few weeks, (he needs a little more growth, and also i need to give him time to adjust to the new posture etc), it is a perfect opportunity for us to fix our relationship.<br /><br />Anyhoo... thats all from me!thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-38898925074507268482008-10-01T18:10:00.003+10:002009-02-03T12:08:37.000+11:002008 MS Horseride -<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3viY2BT8PbuneVeill7Avepht6TnErP7-irMlTlHhXVlBUHcX0ghwXfMhWRojo4F4b30K3ECx9d7R8oVVMLvTwNHhjpLiurgdhp0WotaO_-XHs6vDi0vRmllshUDaSZ-mHrJPtG9daeL/s1600-h/groupshot.jpg"></a>OK!<br /><br />Sorry this is late, but I spent a whole day unpacking & washing, then another day recovering from that, plus a day with Sante, to make sure he had recovered.<br /><br />Shall I start at the beginning?<br /><br />Ok. On Friday the 19th September, I loaded Sante onto a horse transport destined for a wee little town called Gobarralong. I had done a lot of work with him in the preceeding weeks, putting him on a float, or getting him to put himself on a float rather...<br /><br />So when the truck turned up, everything went, well! He walked straight on like a champion.<br />That didn't stop me from fretting for the next 24 hours, having this horrible fear that he might have thought I'd sold him.<br /><br />Anyway, after a 7 hour journey myself, I arrived at Gobarralong, and was told by some friends that had already arrived "Good luck catching your horse, we've been trying for 45 minutes, they're running around like loonies.<br /><br />The paddock was massive.. massive as in about 10 football fields put together massive...<br /><br />I couldn't see all 4 fences to know where abouts he was, so i just headed for the middle, up the hill and started calling out..<br /><br />He found me! the look on his face was priceless. He was soooo happy to see me! I of course was happier to see him!!<br /><br />He dawdled up to me, and we walked out of the paddock without an issue.<br /><br />The following day was the start of the ride - 16km to base camp.<br /><br />I decided to ride in a bridle with a drop nose band. I did this for a number of reasons, namely safety. This was my first trip away from our agistment facility with sante, and it was his first trip away from the valley in 4 years. He has a habit of avoiding the bit (hence all the natural hackamore work i've been doing) so I used the drop to remind him to listen to me.<br /><br />He was a saint! He was a bit excited on the first ride (to be expected!! The scenery was breathtaking), he kept looking around, checking where the other horses were, and being extremely alert, but he wasn't really tense or anything like that. I made sure that I kept him on a casual rein when possible, only getting a contact when he started to jig jog, or rush, then immediately back to a casual rein.<br /><br />After lunch on the first day, i took the drop noseband off.. he didn't need it, and I trusted him.<br /><br />the next day, the ride was 22km! He did SOOOOO well!! We were advised of a severe weather warning, of extremely strong winds, hail & heavy rain. I was seriously considering not riding. But decided that if at any time i felt unsafe, I would simply get off and lead him.<br /><br />We missed the brunt of the winds, they still picked up, and constant rain bucketted down, there was thunder & lightening, and Sante.. .was a gem. I didn't have to get off once. I didn't use the drop, he was just fantastic. A true partner.<br /><br />The third day, we were vetted out, that is, Sante had a sore back, I decided it wasn't fair to ride him, so we spent the day chilling. To be honest, i preferred the day in the paddock to the ride.<br /><br />Sante let me approach him lying down again!! Not only that, but he actually let me lie him down! he was in the sitting up position, and lightly applying pressure to his neck & shoulder, he actually followed the feel and lay down flat out.<br /><br />It was so awesome. I lay down on the grass with him, scratching his nose, face, ears, neck everything! We seriously must have been lying down for at leats an hour I reckon. It was just the best best day!!<br /><br />the next day was a rest day, so we didn't do a heck of a lot, but i had one person point out to me that the injuries on his whithers look like a classic case of injury from a racing pad!! The news that Sante might have been trained for racing didn't come as a surprise, considering how he switches off in the canter some times, and it so very head high.<br /><br />The next day, we shouldn't have ridden! Sante was soooooo bad. I didn't realize that he had been off for two days, and not only was he getting full feed (which doesn't make him fizzy) but he was getting 3 biscuitts of hay a day. (Due to the high number of kilometres we were riding).<br /><br />He was off the charts!! Trying to gallop everywhere, I ended up putting the drop noseband on him, and it didn't help, head in the air, he was a sweating dripping mess. In an attempt to direct his energy, at one stage we were trotting sideways uphill!! I have never managed to get more than 4 steps at a walk sideways (undersaddle). So it was a bit freaky. I looked for the positive, and realized that this was the first time I'd actually been able to stay WITH my horse when he's being fizzy. The last couple of times he'd thown major tantrums, I'd fallen straight off, I'd never managed to sit through the initial reaction, to control him, or cause him to go left brain again, so in that respect, thursday was a great day for us, each time, i managed to get him to go left brained so we could actually go back to a casual rein.<br /><br />the following day, he was just defiant. Plain and simple! He argued with me the whole time. "No i won't go forward, no i wont trot, No I wont stop, I will not stand still, i will not sideways to the gate, I will not not not!!"<br /><br />I realized that i was getting very very very angry with him, and was starting to pull on his mouth, out of pure anger for the fact that he was being such a shit, so I did the savvy thing and hooked my reins back to my rope halter, so as not to damage the mouth I have spent so long making responsive. I was able to be a little firmer using hte rope halter and we managedto ride the last 5km home in relative harmony.<br /><br />The final day of the ride, we were both to tired to care, I didn't even put the bridle on him, we just rode the ride (only 10km) in the rope halter and dawdled the whole way home.<br /><br />All in all the experience was awesome! My confiedence is soaring! I managed to raise $770 for Multiple Sclerosis research, I pushed thorugh the fear boundary with my horse, and I accomplished something i never thought i would have the confidence to do!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3viY2BT8PbuneVeill7Avepht6TnErP7-irMlTlHhXVlBUHcX0ghwXfMhWRojo4F4b30K3ECx9d7R8oVVMLvTwNHhjpLiurgdhp0WotaO_-XHs6vDi0vRmllshUDaSZ-mHrJPtG9daeL/s1600-h/groupshot.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3viY2BT8PbuneVeill7Avepht6TnErP7-irMlTlHhXVlBUHcX0ghwXfMhWRojo4F4b30K3ECx9d7R8oVVMLvTwNHhjpLiurgdhp0WotaO_-XHs6vDi0vRmllshUDaSZ-mHrJPtG9daeL/s400/groupshot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252102986646744818" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3viY2BT8PbuneVeill7Avepht6TnErP7-irMlTlHhXVlBUHcX0ghwXfMhWRojo4F4b30K3ECx9d7R8oVVMLvTwNHhjpLiurgdhp0WotaO_-XHs6vDi0vRmllshUDaSZ-mHrJPtG9daeL/s1600-h/groupshot.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3viY2BT8PbuneVeill7Avepht6TnErP7-irMlTlHhXVlBUHcX0ghwXfMhWRojo4F4b30K3ECx9d7R8oVVMLvTwNHhjpLiurgdhp0WotaO_-XHs6vDi0vRmllshUDaSZ-mHrJPtG9daeL/s1600-h/groupshot.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzg8hD4lP32OqLNhxyCHTNxrPpHlxvVqvNuA4TGVnyHL6IKILgFJqBz92nbwu0tehYvR-nIxEqvDgqu75Oz0BZ8s1nQM6KikhV06iQArTZ-djE92YUaOopT0E6hGHPoFWutOplQyiDudI/s1600-h/start.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzg8hD4lP32OqLNhxyCHTNxrPpHlxvVqvNuA4TGVnyHL6IKILgFJqBz92nbwu0tehYvR-nIxEqvDgqu75Oz0BZ8s1nQM6KikhV06iQArTZ-djE92YUaOopT0E6hGHPoFWutOplQyiDudI/s400/start.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252102988378038754" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUJ13ycHTRM5v8kA7RwhVRO73FdsHwbN-BhhAEyn-ZL9OtIE-ZU9iNakngxae2P-X-8Xm6WveP6qlehWEjlPIWwEyoklvpltovDKuKfaYWS_ztQE3Spj74FHpre5jwqivTmPtVzbNTZzfH/s1600-h/trotshot.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUJ13ycHTRM5v8kA7RwhVRO73FdsHwbN-BhhAEyn-ZL9OtIE-ZU9iNakngxae2P-X-8Xm6WveP6qlehWEjlPIWwEyoklvpltovDKuKfaYWS_ztQE3Spj74FHpre5jwqivTmPtVzbNTZzfH/s400/trotshot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252102991164820914" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOs9fWX4xg-9eJnIx41m2RJV5u-kZSAmdVuL1CmwAlJOCP5UdVrdnECjKj-5lMFyaJ-Ed5Q7cIl5L_cYI9pn2Q4t7ppki72fACYyAkMLN_ZGSS-sN0OOQ4ONTGMaaI_cFp8g_LIR1tU8d/s1600-h/Watershot.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOs9fWX4xg-9eJnIx41m2RJV5u-kZSAmdVuL1CmwAlJOCP5UdVrdnECjKj-5lMFyaJ-Ed5Q7cIl5L_cYI9pn2Q4t7ppki72fACYyAkMLN_ZGSS-sN0OOQ4ONTGMaaI_cFp8g_LIR1tU8d/s400/Watershot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252102995183745010" border="0" /></a>thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-53035779701308978922008-09-28T19:11:00.000+10:002009-02-03T12:08:37.001+11:00We're backWe both just arrived back from Gobarralong (near Gundagai), having survived our 7 day charity ride.<br /><br />Lots to say, lots of pictures, Sante did very very well, I'm very proud of him.<br /><br />Will update you all when I've finished my 5 bags of washing<br /><br />:)thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355991496309428362.post-46748514521933300942008-09-09T19:34:00.003+10:002009-02-03T12:08:37.001+11:00ProgressHmm...<br /><br />Its been a while since I posted, I've forgotten where we're up to... ..<br /><br />I bought the new Patterns program, haven't managed to look very closely at it yet, but from what I've seen, I think its going to be a fantastic tool.<br /><br />Sante and I are busy preparing for the 7 day charity horseride we've got coming up. I feel slightly under prepared ... I haven't done as much trailer loading as I'd like, the last few times i've put sante on, he's walked straight on, but i haven't shut the door & taken him for a short drive yet.. so, I really have to start working on that.<br /><br />The last few weekends (except the one just gone) every time I've walked into the paddock, Sante has been lying down. He's let me come up to him and give him treats / hugs / scratches. We are just having so much time hanging out.<br /><br />The weekend just gone by, was lots of fun. It poured down raining, the whole time, the weather was ROTTEN! It gave us a chance to work on simple stuff - bridling with his head down, bowing, and simple liberty stuff in a small enclosure.<br /><br />Over the last few weeks I've been playing around with Spanish Walk - getting sante to extend his foot forward when I tap him on the front of the leg. Well, last weekend I got tricky! before I tapped him on the leg, I lifted my own leg - As for a "Stick to me" task - It only took him a couple of goes, and wouldn't you know it - every time I lifted my left leg, he lifted his left foreleg, and so on... it was so cool, to think we are getting so subtle in our communication.<br /><br />For the first time since I've owned Sante, he ran up to me in the paddock. When I first got him, I always had to come to him, he never ran way, but I had to come to him, over the months, he would always walk towards me when I got a certain distance away from me, and then more recently, he has started approaching me from the other side of the paddock, and on Saturday - He ran to me.<br /><br />It was awesome - trotted up to me, said hello, got a treat, and then took off with the rest of the mob (the weather was just rotten and the mob were all stirred up, running around etc). I laughed and casually walked after him, when i got within a certain distance, he saw me, and the look on his face was like "Oh! Its you! HI!" And he came up to me again!! He's such a character!<br /><br />But the highlight of our weekend was on Sunday. Due to the rotten weather on Saturday, i was concerned that his Zilco defender rug wasn't enough, it had been raining for 3 days straight, and when i got him out, he was wet. SO on Saturday evening, i put an old fleece rug on him, one of the front chest straps was broken, and one of the leg straps was busted as well, but I figured for one night,it would be ok, and i just wanted a little extra insulation.<br /><br />When i walked into the paddock on Sunday, he saw me, but didn't come up to me. I thought it was odd, considering we'd had such a lovely lazy Saturday - but stayed way from him and just watched him, he was moving slowly and carefully, and it wasn't until he took a few full steps that i realized something was wrong.<br /><br />There was something caught up in his zilco rug, dragging behind him.<br /><br />I was very careful not to panic or get alarmed. I figured that if i stressed out about it, he would as well. So i casually walked up to him, talking to him as I did - He watched me as I approached, and I made sure i had his permission the whole time. I got to him, and realized his fleece rug had broken completely, I don't know how or what but it had come off, from UNDER his zilco, and become tangled in the leg straps, and was now dragging in the mud behind him.<br /><br />And my boy, couldn't have cared less. He was so chilled out about it, I couldn't beleive it! I spent a few minutes saying Hi and giving him rubs, and THEN i went to his HQ and untangled the rug. It took all my strength not to march up to him and head straight for the rug, but I'm so glad I waited, he turned around, looked at me, sniffed the rug, gave me a look that said "FINALLY!!!" and ran off!!!!!!!!<br /><br />Thats gratitude!!!!!!<br /><br />He ran around like a chook without a head, before finally coming back with his "I'm ready to leave the paddock" look on his face, and we left at liberty!<br /><br />All of this from the horse who nearly 12 months ago, got a branch caught in his tail, and in his RB reaction, collided with another horse, threw me off, and bolted for home. A horse who has had trouble with anything in zone 5.<br /><br />Its times like these, I'm so freaking glad I do Parelli.thebundychickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00542879903174146117noreply@blogger.com3