Little Successes

AAARRRGGGGGFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLGGGGGGGLLLLLLLL! FINALS! BLERGH!

Okay, now that is out of the way, onto good things. I haven't had too much time to play with Royal (see above), but what little time I've had has been fairly successful. Last Friday was nice and sunny, so we played out in the field on the 45-foot line. He gave me some really nice, soft trot and canter pretty far out on the line. So I, of course, decided to ramp it up and see how he did at the gallop. He tends to get really tight and high-headed, so I anticipated some fireworks. Which I got, a little. He's a little hard to slow down afterwards, so I think the next step is to just let him gallop until he comes back into the canter by himself. But right now, he's not fit enough for that, so we'll just keep doing "sets" OnLine and riding for now. Research has shown that doing sets are really efficient at fitting up a horse and hopefully it'll keep building his self control.

I also may have, erm, altered his tail slightly.

I banged it. (By the way, the term "banged" supposedly comes from the practice of banging tails on blades with blocks of wood to blunt the end) It's not the most radical, but I can definitely see the difference when he moves. I'm not sure I like it, since he doesn't hold his tail like a regular sporthorse. He tends to hold it straight out, especially at higher speeds. So I probably won't do it again. I've trimmed the hairs at the top of his tail and that looks better (will have pictures of it soon). Also, look at the black hair on his legs. It seems like it's staying a lot longer this year, even though he started shedding earlier.

On Saturday, it was cold and rainy and dreary, so we were confined to the indoor and practicing stuff on OnLine. I set up a 2'6" jump and had him practice jumping out of stride. Again, he did very well. He tends to find a pretty good take-off spot on his own, so all I have to do leave him alone when I'm riding. Then I decided to try desensitizing him to the clippers, which also went fairly well. It didn't help that it was raining and someone was longing a young'un in the arena, who was having too much fun bucking and rearing, which got Royal's blood up. But he still let me have the clippers around his head and ears, and actually clip his legs.

He was not very sure if he liked the look or the rain. He was really not happy with the rain.

Sunday we practiced trailer loading. He hasn't been in the trailer since last October, so he was a little nervous, but willing to hop on and off. I didn't have a lot of time, so I left it there. We continued with it on Tuesday, but this time I actually got smart and used the clicker. He tried to be all weary, but the power of cookies won him over. I got it him to stay in the trailer for 5 seconds before backing out. But I need him comfortable in the trailer for the start of our Summer Adventures.

You may remember my *New Years Resolution(tm)* post back in January, and while most of the plans are going fairly well, there have been some changes. First of all, I am NOT planning on competing at Otter Creek, at least not in the spring HT. We're not at the point with the GoC where I feel comfortable adding the stress of competition to it yet. So, instead, I'm dropping that plan and adding three (!) new competitions. The first is the spring version of the MN Hunt Cup! Yay! I was ridiculously excited the news and I'm still very excited. Low-key and relaxed x-c experience not too far away and it was so fun. I don't know if we'll do as well this time, considering a lot of the competitors didn't quite know the purpose of the event: to practice pacing. So, who knows. But it'll most likely be great, and a friend is probably going to be competing as well. Awesome! Then we have the Carriage House Schooling Show, doing the 2' jumpers as a confidence builder, but hopefully also the walk-trot dressage tests. Again, it'll depend on where Royal and I are with the GoC. And, in late June, we have a SCHOOLING horse trial! I know! And it's not too far from the farm, except...

Royal is moving. After graduation, I need to focus on getting a job and more experience for vet school. So, he's going to live at a family member's place, which is going to be a lot cheaper for me. I'll be losing both the indoor arena and closeness to the Cities, but I'll have a lot more space for my jumps and the ability to set up a little dressage arena, plus space for galloping. We'll also be close to a trail park, so I'll be able to do lots of trail riding. So, quite a few pluses, but I'm sad to be leaving the farm. Royal's been there for over six years, and it's become like a second home to me. But the horse care aspect has started to slip (Almost all the shelters in the pastures have collapsed and I am REALLY tired of picking burrs of Royal's mane and tail), and it's not set up for someone like me. So, it's sad, but a necessary change.

The adventure's only begun...

Turning "Oh no!" into "Oh boy!"

Easier said than done, but we'll give it a shot.

Over the past couple of weeks, The Overarching Theme(tm) of our sessions has been trying to fundamentally change how Royal moves and how he perceives new things. Well, the second one has been The Over-Overarching Theme of our journey together, but now I'm really starting to focus on it. And, as you might imagine, it's kind of slow going.

The Game of Contact has really been an eye-opener for both of us. Royal's been getting a lot better at stretching, to the point were any slight pressure on the reins meaning streeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch, and he's gotten way better at holding it too. His whole way of moving has changed too, for the better. Even playing OnLine, he rocks back on his hindquarters, has smoother transitions, and moves a lot more fluidly. Seems all he needed was to learn he could do it. Last weekend, I tried moving from Phase 2 to 3 (frame), but that was not very successful. I was sharing the arena with someone who had two horses tied up along the east end of the arena, so I could only do a 20-meter circle, which was fine, until the other person started lunging one of her horses, and the other one started throwing a fit. Shaking her head, banging the tie rope against the wall, and making a big commotion about the fact that no one was paying attention to her. Poor Royal is already scared of the mare, and her tantrum only scared him more. I managed to quit on a somewhat good note (he held the frame and contact for two steps), but made a mental note to try that again only if I'm alone.

The other thing I'm trying to work on is getting Royal over his fear of texture changes on the ground, namely blankets and tarps. This is the one bugaboo I have not been able to solve, so I tried doing some clicker training with the Blue Blanket Of Death to see if that would help. It has, a little. He'll walk over it, but he's still very wary and snorty about it just being there. So, not really confidence. I've tried everything I can think of and I'm all out of ideas. I've e-mailed for some help and in the meantime, I'll keep going with the clicker training. We'll see what happens.

About the bonnet in my Jumper Chic post, it is actually a custom-made bonnet from Faibel Farms, and it was totally worth it. I'm worried that this very mild winter means that the bugs are going to be horrible, so I figured I should get a bonnet to help protect the sensitive one when we're riding outside and it should be royal blue. Unfortunately, royal blue fly bonnets are hard to find, and the few that I did looked like something my cat threw up. So, I researched custom fly bonnets, and Kristina at Faibel was the only one with reasonable prices (way less than $100!) and the ability to have a royal blue base. So, a very pretty Christmas gift for me and Royal, which I think will come in very handy. The ears are a bit large now, but I swear Royal's ears shrink in the winter, so I'll see how fit when it gets warmer. But for now...

Bat Horse! Doesn't he look cute?

The New Cave On Wheels or We Haven't Won The Porcupine Game

We all know this was coming.

I sold my other trailer on Wednesday and bought the new one the nest day. It belonged to someone I know and who needed to sell it fast. It's a 1993 Trail-Et two horse straight-load bumper pull with lots of room for Royal. And it looks cool.

I don't have much experience backing up trailers, so last night I watched a bunch of Youtube videos on how to back up trailers. Most helpful was a series by a semi driver who broke it down into little steps that I was saying out loud to myself as I practiced backing in the local high school parking lot this morning. I'm sure I looked like I was nuts, but once I got out to the farm, I was able to back it into its spot with very little trouble. A few more times and I'll get the hang of it.

Royal was less enthusiastic about it. Besides the fact that its new! and weird! and different! which always sets him on edge, he hadn't been in a straight-load in years and the last time didn't end well. To make a long story short, he wiggled out of a 3'x1' escape door while still tied inside the trailer. And he didn't get badly hurt, only had a few scrapes.

I've previously mentioned that Royal had a tendency to turn around in the other trailer, which is just not an option in this one. That had to have made him nervous, since he had to carefully reconsider how to get out. It took about an hour to get all four feet in, with a lot of help from my trusty clicker and carrots. Then we got to the butt bar. Once Royal could stand in there for more than five seconds, I tried fastening the butt bar. I then found out that Royal is not totally respectful of pressure in Zone 4. He respects it in Zone 1 and yields off the halter like nothing, but is willing to blast through pressure in Zone 4. So he would hit the butt bar and lean on it. No panicking, just leaning, waiting for it to open. Then the new guideline became that if I went to unhook the butt bar and he started backing into it, I would walk up to his head, ask him to move forward and start over. He got that message pretty quick, and would wait for me to say "okay" before backing out, but we'll see if it sticks tomorrow when we go to Steepleview.

This is not an ideal situation, or even a very good situation. I would love to leave the trailer in his paddock for a while or just load him everyday for seven days before going anywhere, but that isn't practical right now. We'll just have to muddle through and try to make everything go as well as possible.

Time to Think

I haven't written lately mostly because I've been too busy. I still have plenty of Royal-time and other happenings, but just not the time to write about it.

Since Carriage House went fairly well, I signed us up for a cross-country schooling event this Saturday. The idea is to let Royal encounter "unusual" obstacles, like banks and ditches, in a laid-back setting. I had the idea to tape my clicker to the handle of a crop so I could "click" Royal while riding. I was able to find a cheap yet sturdy crop and, while it looks ugly, it works. I was able to play plenty of Friendly Game with Royal but he still tends to get a bit amped when I carry it. On Sunday, we were doing some jumping and I had two 2'6" fences set up in a four stride line. Royal did it in three. So I was thinking I'd scrap that idea since he'd already be pretty energetic going cross-country anyway, and I didn't want to add to it.

Fast-forward to Wednesday. After a great warm-up, including a Soft Feel at the canter, I created a scary obstacle consisting of a bright blue western saddle blanket draped over a 15" high pole on the Bloks. Royal trotted right up to it... and slammed on the brakes 5 feet away. I was surprised but laughed. We tried again, and he overjumped it by two feet. A couple more passes and he was jumping over it like nothing. So I decided to make it into a "ditch" by laying the blanket under a 9" high pole. For some reason, he still spooked at it, but did hop over. Once he was doing that pretty well, I took the pole away. For some reason, that made him almost melt down completely. He would completely stop any forward motion beyond a certain point, so I eventually got the Clicker Crop out and would tap my leg until he at least tried to go forward. I wasn't trying to make him go over it, just try. He did go over, but it was a scared little deer leap. He wasn't acting like an RBI, just wasn't to keen on getting close to the Blanket of Death.

It took a few sideways leaps before he went straight over it and then it took what felt like ten million Squeeze Games more before he went across it like it was no big deal. And we did end up messing it up.

Luckily, it's washable. But it was so weird how frightening he found the blanket just lying on the ground with nothing above it. So, trekheners and liverpools yes, ditches no. He also got quite a bit of emotional sweat, and was breathing quite hard even though all we did was walk. Much more mental/emotional exertion than physical. I just tried to be as quiet as possible and let him work it out, although I did have to do a few strong one-rein stops when he tried to bolt away from the jump. Hopefully he was able to work out all his demons, although I may attach a savvy string to my saddle on Saturday. That way I can help him out if he gets stuck, but he won't feel threatened.

Royal enjoying a nice roll in the arena after being hosed off.

I also sold the big trailer and got a new used one. Will post pictures of the new ones when I can.

PNH Blogging #24 - A time PNH made things harder for you and your horse

Trailer-loading, most definitely. My family currently owns a 3-horse slant (which is for sale, btw) which has a mid tack. The horse area is big and open which is very nice for claustrophobic horses getting in, but not so good for horses that are not willing to stay in the trailer. And Royal was one of those horses.

I tried for five years to get him to stay in the trailer without being forced. But nothing worked. He'd hop right in... and immediately turn around and try to come back out. I tried loading and unloading until he realized it was no big deal, but that just ingrained the habit further. Asking him to keep his nose straight with my carrot stick only lead to panic. And he absolutely hates to be lead into the trailer. So, the way it worked for those five years was he'd get in the trailer, turn around, I step in and ask him to turn back around to the front stall, get in position, tie him, and close the divider. It was always very tense, but I had no idea how to make it better. I couldn't spend untold hours loading and unloading him, nor could I leave the trailer in his pasture for him to explore on his own.

So, I got my clicker. And I started the clicker training process.

Step 1: Load the clicker. This just means you establish the click as a good thing. You click and immediately give the horse a treat. Click/treat, click/treat, click/treat, click/treat, all in rapid succession. I used Royal's favorite: Winnie's Cookies for this, but I also had small pieces of carrot.

Step 2: Start the puzzle. I lead Royal over to the trailer with the door open. He looked at the trailer, I clicked and gave him a treat. He looked again, click/treat. I ask him to step towards the trailer, he did, click/treat. He put his nose on the trailer floor, click-treat. Now we're getting somewhere.

Step 3: Shape the behavior. Then I only started trying to get him to load himself by getting progressively more particular when I would re-send him. First, I started only clicking and treating if he put a hoof in the trailer. Then 2. Then putting those two a little further in. Then trying to get his hind legs in. Then the Jackpot (two whole cookies) came when all four feet went in and, for the first time ever, he didn't immediately turn around. This was HUGE. Click/treat for that five times in a row, then asked him to go a little more into the trailer. Then all the way back. Then put his nose on the tie ring. Then stay there for a while. Then wait for me to walk up to him. Then for calmness while being tied. Calmness while being untied. Calmness walking out.

Everything was broken into tiny steps, with lots of retries, re-sends, and some guidance in between. All in all, the whole process took about an hour, and it's been reasonably stress-free since. I think some of his stress has to do with the fact that the trailer is a bit small for him (it's a 7'x7') but he's a lot better now. If I am able to get a new trailer this year, this is the process I'm going to follow, because it works for us.