Winter Update

It has been a busy month with the start of spring semester but here is an update of how things are going. Winter in Georgia is definitely my least favorite season; the large amounts of rain that are typical in winter result in even larger amounts of mud. The mud has the obvious disadvantages of really dirty horses and poor footing but it has also resulted in an ongoing war against thrush. Treatment for Cal consists of White Lightning soaks but I have some work to do with Eclipse before I want to attempt attaching a saber tooth bag to his feet. The news is not all bad however and as much as I hate to admit it, winter does have some benefits. The lack of sugar and slower hoof growth has allowed Marian and I to make some headway on their toe cracks. Cal had one on his left hind when I purchased him (over six years ago) and Eclipse had one on his right front when I rescued him (approximately five months ago). Both cracks have improved dramatically over the past several months and I am optimistic that they will grow out completely in the near future.

Despite my crazy schedule and the winter weather, I managed to have my first ride on Eclipse a few weeks ago. Since he is still skeptical of plastic bags, I decided to do the friendly game with it to boost his confidence. Recently, I have incorporated clicker training into the usual desensitization techniques and have seen amazing results. In addition to using basic approach and retreat, I now have Eclipse target the plastic bag and as a result his general opinion of it has completely changed. After the desensitization we did some circling. Eclipse is much more left brain and is even trying to stop behind me now (typical LBI!); this is quite a difference from our first experience where he ran around like a bat out of hell.

When I got Eclipse, he was very RBE in humansville and although he had become much more left brain online, he still showed some RBE tendencies the first few times under saddle. On our first two rides, Eclipse started off very tense but after a few minutes at the passenger lesson, he did a lot of blowing and stretching. I have now ridden Eclipse half a dozen times or so and with each ride I am seeing a more confident horse. He is getting more comfortable with saddling and seems to really enjoy the Myler comfort snaffle. The horse that "needed" to be held for mounting is now doing a wonderful job of standing on his own. Also we recently did our first trail ride and he was an absolute star. There was some slight hesitation at a mud/water crossing but when I gave him the time he needed, he would do anything I asked for (including some jumps!). I am absolutely thrilled with his progress and can't wait to see what his full potential is.

Christmas Ponying

Well I am now on winter break. In theory, I should have plenty of free time to play with the boys, however my job and the winter weather seem to have their own agendas. Barn visits have been few and far between and so I was really looking forward to spending some time there on Christmas. I woke up yesterday morning and quickly realized I was sick with a sore throat and fever. With this latest realization it started to feel like there was some conspiracy keeping me from the barn. I was very disappointed but thought it would be best if I took things easy and stayed at home. That idea lasted a few hours and somehow I found myself driving to the barn; I just couldn't stand it any longer.

I didn't have a plan but when I arrived I discovered that Calatar and Eclipse were both covered in mud from head to toe. After thoroughly grooming the two of them, I decided to tack up Calatar. A nice ride would be the perfect Christmas present to myself but as I was tacking up, I started to feel guilty. I knew that I should really spend some time with Eclipse and that I would be exhausted after riding. It dawned on me that now would be the perfect day to pony Eclipse and I could kill two birds with one stone. We started off in the ring and it was an interesting experience to say the least. Calatar is very sensitive and Eclipse is not. When I tried to play some of the games with Eclipse, Calatar responded and Eclipse didn't. It took some time for Cal to settle and realize that the energy that I was putting on the rope was not directed at him. Eventually Eclipse became more responsive and I felt comfortable riding around the farm for a cool down. 

All things considered, the two of them did exceptionally well. I plan to do some ponying simulations with Calatar to get him more comfortable and I now have a new respect for Magic. Her ability to distinguish what energy is directed at her versus another horse is amazing. I think back to demonstrations where Pat was using her as his legs and have a new appreciation for how difficult that is. I am excited to continue developing my horsemanship skills and playing with two horses simultaneously has opened a new frontier. 

Patch of Heaven

Unfortunately it has been a long, boring, and horse deprived week. I have been visiting family in Kannapolis, North Carolina and there is just not a whole lot to do here. After a few days of sitting around, watching TV, and hanging out on the Savvy Club Forum, I decided to take action. I have been active on the Savvy Club Forum since July of this year and I started following Mariah Helms' blog around the same time. She is truly an inspiration in that she has only been doing Parelli for three years, is well into Level 3, and oh did I mention that she is just now turning 17! Knowing that this very talented Parelli student was in the area, I sent Mariah a message and asked if I could come for a visit; thankfully she said yes.

When I arrived this morning Mariah was brushing Sundance aka Fabio, a stunning sorrel APHA. After our initial meeting, she introduced me to Bebe, a bay AQHA, and my play mate for the day. We started off playing in the arena and I had so much fun working with Bebe and watching Mariah and Sundance. After warming up on the ground we did some ring riding before embarking on a trail ride around the farm. Our ride ended with a venture into the pond that Bebe thoroughly enjoyed. I had such a wonderful time and have made a great new friend.

Hoof Dissection

This past weekend was part two of Marian Figley's natural hoof care clinic. My original plan was to attend both days of the clinic which would include trimming (Saturday) and dissection (Sunday) however due to limited finances I decided to forego the trimming. The tools for the dissection were nippers, box cutters, and strength. As it turns out, even unhealthy hooves are pretty darn tough and it was a real workout removing the sole and hoof wall. After that, the work was less physically demanding and consisted of more intricate cutting with box cutters. I had a really good time at the dissection and learned a lot.

Dan Thompson Clinic

I can't believe it has been almost two weeks! It's taken me this long to write because things have been extremely busy with school. Anyhoo, I had a wonderful weekend in Fort Valley, GA at the Dan Thompson clinic. This was Eclipse's first trip with me and he did exceptionally well. We left on a rainy Friday afternoon and thankfully he loaded nicely. The drive through Atlanta was surprisingly smooth and just when I started to get the feeling that it was too good to be true, we got stuck in stop and go traffic south of the city. As it turned out, there was a bad accident and so we were slowed down for a little over an hour. The rest of the drive went well and Eclipse unloaded smoothly. I got him settled into his stall and tried to contain my excitement so I could get some sleep.

The morning started off with everyone introducing themselves and stating what their clinic objectives were. I believe there were six participants including myself which seemed like a good number. The clinic format worked really well for me; Dan would give some information and then allow everyone to do their own thing. During the first session, the goal was to use an obstacle as a focus point while driving backwards. I chose a barrel and quickly realized that I had not yet worked with Eclipse on driving backwards. Once I slowed thing down, he picked it up quickly and definitely became more aware of my focus. The goal for the next session was to create a sweet spot and use it to your advantage. I knew I wanted to use the car wash obstacle for this! In Eclipse's eyes the car wash was a fire breathing dragon and so this strategy would be a great way to get him more comfortable around it. We made our way closer to it and his eyes grew bigger with each step. I decided that I would play the circling game and then allow him to stand only if he was near the car wash. Eclipse developed a sweet spot and his confidence level increased dramatically. He would still move away if the wind blew it towards him but all in all, it was a big improvement for this "crazy" horse. After lunch, there was one last session using the figure eight pattern. Eclipse was doing well at the walk and so I decided to ask for a trot...and I quickly discovered that my draw was broken. I did some trouble shooting and played with the yo-yo game. His draw would improve so I would go back to the figure eight and then it would be broken again. At this point, I called Dan over and he did a demonstration with Eclipse with some tips for improving draw. 

The clinic was a lot of fun and gave me some new ideas for working with Eclipse. I now realize how quickly you can bring a horse through the levels when you have the savvy. I am doing my best to stay provocative and not bore him, especially since Eclipse is showing that he is innately a left brain introvert. He is not near as sensitive as Calatar and although finding an effective phase four can be a challenge, it's all worth it because I love seeing him progress. 

Preparation for Thompson Clinic

Today I decided to have another session with Eclipse since I am taking him to a Dan Thompson clinic this Saturday. On the release form I said that we had achieved Level 1 and since I would rather not make fools of ourselves, I thought it might be a good idea to work with him a time or two before we get there. The session started with games 1-4 which we went through fairly quickly. Although Eclipse needs a little refinement with driving and yo-yo, he seems to be a quick learner. 

The circling game was an interesting experience, to say the least. I started to ask more of him in this session and decided to see what he would offer if I asked for the canter. On the left lead he tore off the first few times but eventually offered a softer transition.  I realize it might take a little while for him to feel comfortable circling, as it appears that his previous experience consisted of being chased around on a lunge line. While going to the right, Eclipse was looking out when we started but made some improvements and I decided to ask for the right lead. When I did, I discovered that I have yet another horse with right lead issues...oh boy! Initially, he would make the transition but would cow-canter a few strides before switching. I did not want to end on a bad note, so we worked on trot-canter transitions until he picked it up correctly and then we stopped. I know that this is going to take some time but all in all I think he did well.

After circling, it seemed like the perfect time to introduce the saber tooth tarp. As it turns out, the saber tooth bag was good preparation for the tarp and this turned out to be a lot less uneventful than I was expecting. I was able to send him over the tarp within a matter of minutes. It took a little longer to convince him that the tarp was not going to eat him if I held it beside him but all things considered he did very well. The session ended nicely and I was able to place the tarp on him and rub him with it. He stood still and showed some slight skepticism but it was a huge improvement from "*SNORT*,What the hell is that thing!?"

Natural Hoofcare Clinic I

Today was part one of Marian Figley's natural hoof care clinic. My previous barefoot trimmer transitioned Calatar over five years ago and Marian is currently transitioning Eclipse. I am always interested in learning as much as possible so when I discovered that Marian was having a clinic I signed up right away. I have no plans to start trimming my guys anytime soon but I do want to learn how to trim before I move out west (which gives me a good two years). 

After sleeping through the alarm I drove down to Winston, GA as quickly as I could. When I arrived I met the other clinic participants and we started talking about various horse-related topics. It was nice to be around so many like minded people and we had many interesting conversations throughout the day. The clinic was excellent and it started off with us reviewing both the external and internal structures of the hoof. As a prerequisite for the clinic, Marian recommended reading Pete Ramey's Making Natural Hoof Care Work For You. I read this in addition to Jaime Jackson's Horse Owner's Guide to Natural Hoof Care and have been very satisfied with both books. Keeping horses barefoot has always made so much sense to me but these books are excellent resources and are quite informative for those still unsure about the benefits of barefoot horses. The next topic of discussion was common hoof pathologies and Marian shared her experiences of how natural hoof care can rehabilitate horses suffering from such conditions. We also talked about the crucial role that diet and environment play in hoof health and briefly discussed Jaime Jackson's Paddock Paradise, a book that I plan on reading before I purchase my own property. After lunch, Marian showed us some maintenance type trimming and made it look so easy. Many of her horses have not been trimmed in over two years but thanks to their diet and environment their feet looked amazing and actually needed very little trimming. 

When Marian was done trimming the first horse, we took a break to watch a clicker training demonstration with Meg Eades. It was very interesting and is something I would like to learn more about. I had some misconceptions about clicker training and thought that it would surely result in pushy, mouthy horses but Meg showed that this is not the case when it's done correctly. I could see how much more the horses offered and it reminded me of when Linda was using cookies to reward Remmer when he was learning passage at liberty. I think that clicker training has the potential to work really well with the principles of natural horsemanship and I am looking forward to trying it out when I have some extra time.