Is Your Horse Afraid of Water or Mud?

What do you do when you are outside riding, and there is a small amount of water to cross, or even a small stream? What about just mud? Why does your horse refuse to cross?

Actually, I think crossing mud is harder. Horses start to sink as they walk into the edge of a muddy hole as compared to walking across the hard footing of streams.

Today, I worked with a training horse who does not like the sinking feeling of mud. I took advantage of all the rain that we have had. My one horse lot has a couple of low spots where the water is laying. I moved some horses around and put some horses out on the grass to graze. The training horse was put into the big lot to become accustomed to the lot and the terrain. He ran around for awhile, as he could see the horses on the other side of the fence, grazing, but he couldn’t get to them.

Putting the training horse on a lunge line, I lead him to one of the wet areas. Water had made a large water hole in one area of the lot. I sent him out on the lunge line, asking him to get closer to the wet area. Actually, there was only a moment of hesitation and side stepping away from the water, but the next time he came around on the lunge circle, he went right through the water! The area was a little mucky, but he didn’t act as if he was scared. He didn’t act like he wanted to jump or refuse. This is going better than I expected.

He did get excited, though and tried to lope past me and into the lot. I put the chain over his nose for further control. The next time he circle around me, and tried to keep loping past me to get to another area, I pulled him sharply towards me. He didn’t try to run past me after those 2 attempts.

I turned him on the lunge line, to circle him from the other direction into the water. He tried to evade the wet mud and go around the water. The next lunge circle he went through the water. We circled the wet area from both directions and went through the water 3 or 4 times each direction.

I moved over to an area in the lot that is more mud than water. The training horse seemed scared to move into deep mud, and had sidestepped an area in the area that had a lot of wet sand. He seemed light on the front end, and I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to be scared or try to bolt. He went through these muddy areas well, with no hesitation. I circled him on the lunge line from both directions. He was listening well and stopping when I asked him to.

Tomorrow, I’ll saddle him and lunge him through the wet areas. If he is good, then I’ll ride him in the muddy areas and go into the tree area. I want to be riding him around the trees and through the brushy areas.

I hope I don’t get muddy tomorrow!

Training Tips: Ground Manners

On my chat group, Horses Are Our Lives, last week we discussed Training Tips on Ground Manners. Below is some of the discussion.

Let's talk about ground manners. We should have lots of ideas to what we do with the horses. There are many, so just pick one to talk about each day. Today - how about the beginning. I would like to start with bonding with the horse. I love to free lunge to get the horse to bond with me. This not only teaches the horse to bond, but also shows the horse that I am the leader. Horses want to have a leader. They want a horse to alert them to danger, to take them to water, to let them know what it is ok to rest. I want the horse to look at me to be his/her leader and to trust me. With free lunging, ground manners start as it teaches the horse respect. To have good ground manners, you need the horse's respect.
What do you do to bond with your horse?

Discussion followed, with my answers:

Yes, I think we all should do things a little different with each horse, as they are individuals also.

Terri, as I respond to your email, I am just going to answer as if I'm talking to the group, not to you specifically. I'm just going to talk about some of your thoughts! Thanks for your insight!

Some horses can take more pressure, some can't. And pressure comes in many forms. As you work with your horse, watch that you don't give your horse too much pressure. Watch for when your horse becomes uncomfortable as you are doing anything, and if you see that discomfort, back down to something easier.

I like that - loving energy in my hands. I also rub a horse at certain times during training. I can't say at a specific time, just at a specific "feel". I sense when the horse relaxes/is comfortable/wants a buddy, and that is when I rub between the eyes.

I'm sorry you were off today. Something was different today for you. Yes, it is important to center yourself, and that is one lesson that I have really learned this last year. I have found a calmness, but it hasn't stayed with me every day. Remember, as women, we do have hormones to deal with, and when I'm feeling off, I take a step back to find out what is going on inside my body. Maybe we need to do the same things with the horses, when they are a little off??? Something to think about.

Definitely listen to your gut. Even when conditions aren't perfect, we can ride, but stay safe. Sometimes, I forget that I can get ahead with slow work just as I can condition a horse with fast work.

You had a bonding ride with that filly. That was neat. Building trust is important. I'm sure the next ride is going to be even better. Once your own the road where everything is going right, it just keeps spiraling upwards. That's because we know when not to pressure the horse, but keep it easy for the horse to succeed!

Next topic - leading! I don't like a horse that steps almost on top of me when something spooks it! I want the horse to lead with his head a little in front of me, so that we are eye to eye. I want him over a foot or so. I think this is one of the hardest things to teach.

I have seen trainers who want that horse behind them and they want the horse to stop when the trainer stops. I can teach that, as each time you stop, you turn and make the horse back up. But most of the time I see this in practice, the horse is being intimidated and frightened that if they don't do what is being asked, then will be swatted with the lead rope. And I want to see the horse that I'm leading and not give it a chance to jump over me if something scares it from behind.

A lot of time when you first start leading a horse, the horse is leaning towards you. I do a lot of turns away from me, to the right, so that I am walking around the horse as I'm reversing the horse. This teaches the horse to move the shoulder away from me.

I also start to lead with my arm out to the side, keeping the horse a foot away from me. As the horse leads at that distance, my arm becomes more relaxed and I have some slack in the lead rope.

Then practice walking with that horse! Keeping the horse from jumping on top of the person leading it is a huge ground manners lesson.

Some additional thoughts after some discussion on the chat group: the eye and shoulder are in the same line so the horses head is at or a little forward of this line. For the height of the head, I like my horses to lead with their head also at the shoulder area - not too high or too low. I guess I never thought of exactly where - just an area.

Everyone should consider their bubble and where they want the horse to be and
not be. In Centered Riding, we ride in a bubble also.

Right now, I'm teaching some young horses to lead. What a chore! I just give
and take with the lead rope, to get them to follow the forward pressure on the
lead rope. Sometimes, I can tap behind me with the end of the lead rope to touch
the horse on the side, and that is incentive to get the horse to move forward.
Shaggy does not like that at all. With him, I think it is just going to take
time to get him to move out and walk beside me without hesitating.

How many of us have our horse's face in our face, or their mouth on our arm, or pushing us with their head? Is your horse mouthy?

I don't want my horse to do any of these. We showed showmanship and that horse needs to stand quiet all the time. We start in the stall, tie up the horse (always high, at least at eye level, but I am always tying higher than that). As we groom, and the horse reaches around to touch us with his/her mouth, we gently push the head back to face front. As the horse keeps reaching around, then the elbow is ready to lift and hit the horse, gently at first, under the jaw. The elbow hit becomes stronger until the horse learns to not turn his head. Remember to work equal lengths of time on each side of the horse. You may want to start grooming on the side of the horse that seems harder for the horse to stand still, go to the other side, and return to the first side.

I don't feed treats from my hand, and I don't have trouble with horses being mouthy and looking for treats.

If I'm leading a horse, and he/she turns towards me, I'll use my elbow to bump the horse's jaw or side of head to keep it away from me.

Don't bump too hard with the elbow - you don't want a sore elbow! That horse's head is hard!

What do you do to teach your horse to not be mouthy?

I’ve enjoyed the discussion this week. Come join us at:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives/

Brenda
“Embrace the Journey!”

Centered Riding Group Lesson

Saturday, May 15, 2010

I had an AWESOME Centered Riding Group Lesson today! The 3 hour group lesson had 8 wonderful riders and horses! The horses were well matched, and the riders were enthusiastic!

We began with a 45 minute session, off horses, on explaining the 4 basics, plus the 2 additional principles. I explained Soft Eyes, Breathing, Centering and Building Blocks, as well as Grounding and Clear Intent. We worked on some exercises that explain each of these principles. We paired up with a partner to practice some of the exercises on the ground.

To show the difference between Soft Eyes and Hard Eyes, I had one partner walk around the other person, first with hard eyes to show how far they can see with their peripheral vision, then with soft eyes. With soft eyes, the peripheral vision has an increase field of vision.

I talked about the diaphragm being the largest muscle in the body. As we breathe in, the lungs fill with air, pushing the diaphragm down. If we place our hand over our abdomen, we should fell it move outward as we breathe in.

I talked about the pelvic bone and how the pelvic area is like a vessel. Our center is slightly below the top of the vessel. I demonstrated with a helmet over a garbage can - I had to use the aids that I had. The center is always moving, rolling as fast or as slow as you need the horse to move.

Our body is stacked like building blocks. The blocks need to be aligned in a straight line, with a relaxed back. We did some balance exercises, demonstrating what would happen if our bodies tipped forward or backward, if our 10-15 # head tipped forward or back, or if our neck was not in that alignment.

Clear Intent is basically riding with a purpose and showing the horse that purpose. Many time, when we just go to where we are looking, that is enough clear intent for the horse to follow our aids.

Grounding is always a fun exercise. Grounding our feet continued once we are on the horse. We found our “bubbling spring”, that area on the bottom of our foot, right behind the ball of our foot, which is the wide part of our foot. When we tap on that area, we feel anything from a slight thud to a tingling sensation. We need to ride on our bubbling spring and stay grounded.

We took a short break then got on our horses and rode. I went through each of these areas and after each one was explained, the riders practiced. We started with grounding our feet and hip releases. The riders all thought that after their feet were grounded, their legs felt longer. With hip releases, some of the riders were able to get their legs underneath them. Others will need to stretch out their hip joints and work on continuing to open up their hip area to allow their leg to come back underneath them. We worked on a few exercises to relax the ankle, knee and hip joints.

The riders rode the area and focused on soft eyes and deep breathing. I had them be aware of how much more they could see, and to breathe when they started to focus on one area too long.

We worked on finding our “Neutral Pelvis” with 2 different exercises. Once we found the correct position, the riders went back out to the rail to work on trotting and the 2 point position. I had the riders remember to feel grounded, as well as working on soft eyes and breathing. Then we added in the exercise “Dancing Knees”. As the riders rode in 2 point, they were to relax each leg joint and feel the movement in each joint. Relax and "allow" the movement in their ankles, knees and hips.

Centering is about riding from your center and moving the horse from your center. As we became aware of where we should sit, we walked the horse, feeling the movement of the horse. This is the “Following Seat”. As the riders asked their horses to increase the walk through spinning the ball within their center, the horses extended the length of stride at the walk. As the horse’s stride improved, so do the ability of the rider to move with the horse’s movement.

By the end of the lesson I was beaming. The horses were more and more relaxed as the day went on. The riders were more relaxed and were able to allow their bodies to move and change.

I had such a good day. I had riders who were there to become better riders. I had horses who were happy and content. And I learned from my riders as well. They showed me how their bodies responded. They should me where they had difficulty and where I can help them. They gave me excellent feedback, as well as helpful suggestions to their own specific problems or areas that they want to change.

Centered Riding is a journey. The riders who rode today have begun this journey. That makes me so happy that I was there to help them!

“Embrace the Journey!”

Centered Riding Topic: Centering

We discussed this on my chat group, Horses Are Our Lives. You are inviting to come chat with us!

Centered Riding is about being centered. No biggie there. How do we center ourselves when we ride?

First, we find our "Neutral Pelvis". As you sit on the edge of a chair, rock your hips forward and backward. Keep rocking forward and backward, but a little less each time you rock, until you are not rocking forward or backward anymore. That is your neutral pelvis and that is where you should sit when you ride. You will be sitting on the correct part of your pelvic bones. When you are sitting in the saddle, try this exercise. Another way to find the neutral pelvis when you are on a horse, is to lift a leg to the pommel and lower it. Lift the other leg and lower it. You should be at the same point on your pelvis as when you were rocking. If you have a holder for your horse, try lifting both legs, one at a time, until they are both on the pommel, then lower them.

Also, remember to keep your back relaxed. and breathe. We will talk about the other areas of Centered Riding soon: breathing, soft eyes, building blocks, grounding, centering, and clear intent.

More on centering next week. Let's practice with finding the correct position to ride. Your body may not be used to this, so ride this way a little bit, then go back to what is comfortable. Whatever you do, remember to have fun!

Also...how do we remain centered in our life? Think about centering yourself before doing a task, if you are feeling stressed, before you go to catch and halter yourself. Practice centering yourself throughout the day this week.

Centered Riding Topic: Dancing Knees

On the Horses Are Our Lives Chat Group, I talked about Dancing Knees.

I love this Centered Riding exercise. As you are trotting, go up into 2 point position. You will be 2 pointing with relaxed knees, allowing the knees to move with the movement of the trotting. As you are relaxing the knees and going with the movement, you will soon realize that your ankles and your hips are more relaxed. You will be able to ride longer periods of time without any joint pain or tiredness or achy knees.
Let me know how it works for you and have fun with this exercise!

At first, you can have a lot of movement. I had asked this very same question! "ALLOW" your body to move with the horse. When you get comfortable with the exercise, your body starts to do the movement in the knees without effort from you making the body move. This may take months. The key is to allow the body to move, then slowly don't help the body to move. I left my body move all last summer, for 3 months, then slowly started moving less. I am going to an update clinic in June, and I will let everyone know if my movement is too much at this point, a year later.