3/9/12 Dan phone call
Want to retain the sense of magic.
When Dan comes all goes great with Try and then I start to fall into old habits
and things slide—time to figure out how to keep improvement on my own.
1.
Fears, habits, old baggage, filling the bucket
a.
Gate: stop and consider, far gate—no reaction.
Try still has feelings about leaving the ring but knows the good deal is to
stay calm or fake it—this isn’t right or wrong just good information. Trust my
instinct about when to make a big deal and fix it.
b.
Ultimate Passenger to the clover. Variation:
sweet and sour spot passenger game. Can build the game from timing or place.
Try might decide to offer me the leadership.
c.
Goal for Aug: canter bareback with pad without
thinking about it—patterns/precision. No stirrups goes here also. No stirrups
creativity clover leaf in the field/patterns/trail??—Steady Eddy Variety:
music, ?box, weave, serpentines. The trick is getting my mind off of both.
Turning loose of watching myself. Examples are playing tag, drill team, cow
stuff. Role playing/mind game—can I bring some old dance coaching techniques in
i.e. trashing the dance. How silly can we be? Music.
d.
Touching all over: Showering face/teats and
vet—like girth/sedate/holding/rubbing nose if she pulls away—make it a game.
Watch for ways she has trained me not to upset her.
e.
Canter downhill for me approach and retreat.
f.
Trust: goal-Dropping and Rolling—after shower go
to her fav spot to roll on 22’ line to allow her some drift and sit and wait
for her to roll. Allow the time and distance, good girl. Poop and pee in
barn/wash stall—good girl. See if this will change—great feedback that the
relationship is changing.
g.
Taking bit out of her mouth-touching teeth on
metal: Take off the bit—slip it off her ears and not lower it until they are
completely quiet. If nice and calm let it come out gently. If she is really
worried use the other hand to hold the bit and take it out without any banging
or clanging.
2.
Successes
a.
Try happy demo 7 games with 4 dressage
women—comments on happy horse. Try likes to feel smart—LBI?? Try and I lifelong
learners.
b.
Follow my shoulder: weave. Weave a good start to
matching shoulders because she knows the pattern—now build on it. Shoulder
match has the advantage that Try sees what I am connecting with her and I trust
her first so she can connect/trust me.
c.
Coming in from the pasture—moods when I see her
issues: Keep a record of this and ask myself what happened yesterday. Big ride,
carrots only, my being gone a few days. Horses can be bored in the pasture—it
is not natural—in the wild they have a role or job. Also an issue is comfort—if
Try isn’t comfortable—weather, flies, pasture mate, she may be cranky when I
see her. LBI into comfort.
d.
Jumps more relaxed—maintain gait—barrels still
more effort than necessary. I asked about 3 day versus 7 day program. The real
question is understanding Try’s horsenality and knowing WHY are we doing it and
staying progressive with it. I.e. take a break and then in a couple weeks:
build on it, use it or get off of it or Try will perceive it as being drilled.
3.
Riding Issues –
a.
Counter—I can do as maintain lead in a turn and
I think I can pick up a counter canter if I keep Try from changing to be
correct.
b.
Change of leads on line—forward foot inside
front and back. YES this works so much better than finding pairs.
c.
Picking up canter or posting trot—I feel the
shoulder but not the HQ. some steps to help—at the trot feel the swing of the
barrel. Also helpful might be to close my eyes.
d.
Flying change online: drop back to
resend—important not to resend zone 1 (sends sh off the circle)—3 or 4 to shape
on the circle to prep her body for the new lead. Interesting—Dan says cross
fire or cross canter most often happens when the horse is emotional so this is
good feedback.
e.
Exercise: shaping on circle—HQ into straight
line and ask for lead change w/my upper body—I get nice change in the front but
I can’t tell what is happening in the rear.
f.
Cross canter—slow her up to fix—feels bad—she
will fix as feels bad to her too
g.
Great setting up with little HQ yield then ask
sooo much more polite and clear
h.
Craig Johnson clinic: I don’t ask for flying
lead changes until I feel their body is ready.
i.
Practice the ingredients. Control thru HQ tea for two
j.
4.
Where are we with stuff from last visit?
a.
Where is Try thinking – sometimes not in pasture
but lightly by time we come in—often start out reading my mind and then
gone—i.e. ride bridleless/light cueing for ??15 minutes then can’t get it back.
If we lose precision, I lose connection. Why—her brain is fried, mine, I tick
her off. Dan suggests moving to more intensity sooner, more quickly to more
advanced stuff. Also Try will give effort up to a certain level then she says I
don’t want to take it further and work harder—it would help if she could see a
purpose in what we are doing.
b.
Any tasks requiring intensity be sure to engage
into it, power up init. Can’t get it from easy going and nice when it takes
more power to do the task.
c.
Intensity don’t put up with it, zero tolerance,
get over it Try,Try this is something we need to do and its your responsibility
to power up here and use your big engine BUT make it a game. Phases, my
attitude.
d.
Shaping on the circle—zone 1?/match my
shoulders/HQ/not an issue riding Exaggerate, use more energy or phases—is she
trying? Putting in enough effort to figure it out (no).
e.
Sideways is huge mess—Try keeps bringing body
parts to me—crazy 360s—not fast or far—am I the new sweet spot? So sweet and
dear of her—hard for me to say no—so play with it awhile. Pay attention to her
feet: are her HQ falling out?
f.
Cutting: speed? Yes. Warmup/do in pieces. More
basic version is sticking together, snappy transitions. Have to warmup for
snappy. Ie. Will Try to a snappy backup for me?
g.
Try and I trusting each other to be creative and
figure things out.
