Sunday, July 2 (Cheryl) Day 28

 

Today Perry graduated to carrying me (aka the food lady, as the ponies call me at our farm). Only safe horses are allowed this honor, because if I become hurt who will feed them? Thus it is voted on by all summer campers and Nayborly horses that before I ride a training horse it must be adequately trained, because no one wants to miss a meal! So off  Perry and I go trotting around the arena.

 

At first she is not sure if she should go, as I feel different than Kelsy and Perry is used to one person’s feel. After about ten minutes she has a good handle on me and is feeling better about herself. What I feel from Perry is that she is totally safe and very balanced for a young horse; she does not have that wiggly baby feeling. What I also get from her is a neurotic energy that she must keep busy. Our Haflinger Precious also has this energy at times and all you have to do is direct it, not try to stop or control it. Like Precious (who is 19 years old) she may always have some of this energy, but if you know what to do with it she will also always act like the lady she is.

 

After more trotting, bending, forequarters and backing it now came time to canter. Off we go, and at first Perry is confused about my canter aids and thus trots fast first but does eventually canter. The only canter aids she has felt before this have been Kelsy’s. So we try again and do better, again she is very balanced for a young horse. We take a little walk break and then it is time for the right lead. There's still some confusion, but this time I up the pressure and Perry becomes offended and kicks out. I become offended right back and shut her down, move her off the leg she kicked out at, and cue her into the right lead.

    

After our arena work I say to Kelsy, "let's go out on the hill and in the field." I know Perry has a hard time standing and being left alone so I want to feel what that is like, as someday other people may have to ride this behavior. Feeling what is happening can often give one new ideas on how to change a behavior. First we go in the field and Perry does well, standing is happening today. We are not alone as other horses are grazing nearby, but Kelsy says sometimes that does not help. After some work in the field, up the hill we go and again Perry is very sure-footed and strong for a three year old. At the top I tell Kelsy to leave us on her horse. Perry starts to dance a little, then backs a couple of steps and stops and stands. Good girl! She gets lot of rubs. After a little time I decide to walk off before she feels she has to move, that way it is my idea to go, but we can’t move because she is stuck on a tree. The vine Maple goes around the front of her right hind leg and back between her back legs, putting pressure on the back or her left hind leg. This probably helped for standing still while being alone in the woods! So I call Kelsy back to see if I should stay on and ride out or get off and untangle her. Kelsy says go a little left and it should slide out ok. Perry and I angle left and start forward. She starts and then stops because her right leg is still caught by the tree. I ask her to walk again and we are free of the tree. At no time was Perry upset or scared by the mess around her legs. So I guess all we need to help her stand still when she's alone with tons of vine maple trees!

 

We move to a new location and try the standing game again. This time there's no tree and she starts to bounce around, so I bend her like Kelsy has started doing and soon she is still for a moment, thus we walk while it is my idea. Kelsy is back by now so we try again. There's less bouncing and once again Kelsy is back to leave again. We try once more and Perry is better yet. She still has lots of work to be ok with this and some days will be better than others, but we will just give her plenty of opportunities to practice.

 

At this time I would say Perry is a great horse but needs a rider with the skills to help her be the best she can be, someone who will understand her neurotic moments and be ok with them as we are with Precious. It was a good ride.

 

Monday, July 3 (Cheryl) Day 29

 

My friend Theresa came over today with her three horses to ride all day. The plan was to ride with the girls, but Kelsy had to work in the morning and Chesna had to be in town working all day. So Theresa and I started riding horses without them. First we took our own horses out for a couple of hours and when we got home Kelsy was there ready to ride. I said I would ride Perry again for her and later I did ground work with one of Ches’s. We all tacked up and headed off through the fields to the elk hill. This is where Perry had so much stress a couple of days ago when Stuey was with her, but we did not have Stuey this time. But we did have her new pasture mate Ally.

 

When we got to the hill Ally needed to practice her canter so Kelsy went up the hill with Theresa behind. Perry and I are at the end of the line only trotting, and she is good. So back down the hill we go and this time Kelsy and Theresa go up the hill and I stay at the bottom. Surprise surprise Perry is good, no moving around, just looking up the hill for her friends. So we walk up the hill and meet them as they come back down. Kelsy and Theresa once again go up the hill and Perry and I walk part way up the hill and then take a side trail. We then come back to the main trail and wait for our friends. Perry is good the whole time. Maybe the work Kelsy did a few days ago has made a change.

 

Ally and Perry have been good girls so Kelsy and I are done and start for home. Theresa said her horse needed to do more hill work (he was not being good). Kelsy and I waited at the bottom of the hill for Theresa to be done. Not to waste training opportunities, I tried to go away from Ally and stand alone. Guess what we did great, and Ally of course does not care, she says standing is a good thing. Then we change places with Ally making her closer to home than we are, and we can no longer stand. Just when you think you have it figured out they humble you. So the standing or lack of standing is about friends and home. I play the bend until her feet stop and then move those feet while it is my idea. This is the place where some of her neurotic energy comes up and has to be directed. We just keep working at standing and then moving just before I thought she could no longer stand. Finally Theresa is done so off through the fields we go to home.

 

Again Perry, as with most young horses, will need a rider who can help her in times of stress and confusion. Perry is a very intelligent horse who does not always like it when humans out-smart her. She is not sure that they should make decisions that effect her and maybe her safety. Again, it is during these times that her energy and worry come up, and a rider must be confident enough to help her.

 

Tuesday, July 4 (Kelsy) Day 32

 

Today Perry got to help out with a new camper. Everyone has to do their part to help out around here. The new camper, Bear (another Haflinger), was ridden a handful of times as a three year old and is now five. He doesn’t know the cues to go, steer, or stop. Ches was working with him in our arena so I hopped on Perry bareback to help get Bear to go forward. Perry got to be "the tail" as we call it--a very important training device. Most horses will follow "the tail" in front of them, so Perry had to trot all around the arena letting Bear follow her. I think she was good and happy to have me riding her again.

 

Because Bear was being so good Ches wanted to try cantering. As "the tail," off Perry and I would go down the long wall and then wait in the corners for Bear and Ches to catch up. When they did we would canter out of the corner down the long wall again with them close on our heels. Perry did a great job of helping a fellow camper learn the ropes!

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Wednesday, July 5 (Kelsy) Day 31

 

Yesterday we had a good idea (or not, you never know) to try on Perry. She hates bits and spends most of the ride trying to kill them, it doesn’t matter what kind of bit we use. A million years ago Mom got a sidepull like thing (see picture) to use on her Appaloosa gelding. It didn’t fit him so it's just been hanging around useless for that day when we might need it. Well today was its day, because we decided to try it out on Perry. She’s light and easy to ride in a halter so I figured she’d be just fine in the sidepull thing. However, she seemed to take a strong disliking to it right away. The minute I put it on her she went backwards and hit the wall. She also immediately tried to chew on the bit, but figured out that there was nothing to chew on and seemed to be very annoyed by it. It didn't help that she was already in a bad mood for some reason.

 

Ches and I headed off to our neighbors' place with 120 acres of hayfields. In the first part of July they mow a path--or what we call the track--through the fields to do hay rides with friends. Plus they let us ride out there. Ches and I have been waiting all summer for them to mow so we could have the track back. Perry didn’t seem to think the track was so great. She started out by not stopping when I asked, which is not typical for her. On the way out we did a ton of trot halt transitions and bending to get her used to the sidepull, which she responded to just fine. When we got to the track Perry didn’t want to go first and spent a lot of time spooking and trying to take over (either stop and not go or take off faster than I wanted). At first I just went with it thinking she would chill out in a minute or two because she normally does. But after a whole lap around she still hadn’t slowed down or chilled out. So I decided if she had all this energy to burn then we might as well use it up. Off to the elk trail we went! She seemed to remember that the elk trail meant work and settled down some.

 

It isn't uncommon for people to baby along young green horses. Instead of expecting them to act like horses they expect them to act silly, and then wonder why they do. I believe Ches already said something along these lines, but I’ll say it again. Once they are comfortable with the rider, treat them like a trained horse. Expect them to do things when you ask clearly. If they can’t that’s fine, just re-ask in a better way until you get the response you want. Don’t get in over your head or their head but try new things. Young horses need to learn new things and be pushed at their own speed, for some it’s slow and for some it's faster. Perry gets things very quickly and remembers them day to day, so I expect her to be on good behavior at all times. That doesn’t mean she’s going to be and that we aren’t going to have days where she and I work just on the basics.

 

Today was a back to the basics day. She wanted a job to do so we worked on canter transitions up the elk trail. After about five to six times of cantering up the trail and walking down she seemed to have spent her silly energy and was ready to work. Each time coming down the hill she was expected to walk on a loose rein. If she couldn’t I’d ask her to back up a few steps, and then we would continue to walk like nothing happened. After all this we went back out on the track and she trotted and cantered on a fairly loose rein without too many reminders to stay slow. When we came back home she got all the sweat washed off, a drink of water, and a handful of treats. Sometimes the horses go on the highline for an hour or so after we ride them so Perry got to dry off on the highline. After that she went out on grass with Stuey.

 

Thursday, July 6 (Kelsy) Day 32

 

Today Ches and I again headed out for the track. Perry was still upset about the sidepull but only spent about ten minutes pouting and fussing this time. Once on the track we trotted and cantered a little bit, working on stopping when asked and not blowing me off because cantering is more fun. She was light, responsive and was listening to my aids about 90 percent of the time, so I was pretty happy. Ches was riding a horse that needed to work on going away from his buddies and seeing as Perry needs to work on staying behind that’s exactly what we did (and those two are now “riding buddies”). Ches would canter off around the track and Perry and I would try to walk and sometimes even stand (Perry says standing is pointless because it doesn’t get you anywhere). If she couldn’t walk on a long rein (meaning on the buckle) then I would bend her around until she stopped moving her feet and bumping against the rein with her nose. Once she stopped moving we would go back to walking or standing until the next time she couldn’t contain herself. By the end of the ride she was fairly okay with walking on a loose rein and having the other horses leave her. She still struggles with standing but it's getting much better. Bending her and moving her hindquarters only seems to get her more frantic about getting to her friends. I only asked for that if she does one of her mini rears (front feet 18 inches off the ground) or snakes/shakes her head. I don’t like those things at all and keep telling her there are better ways to deal with her stress (not sure she believes me, oh well). Overall I was happy with the fact that she is getting better about the other horses coming and going, and that she remembered the day before and behaved herself.

 

Friday, July 7 (Kelsy) Day 33

Today when I put the sidepull on I didn’t get the evil eye from Perry (yay). Perry’s new riding buddy Bear needed to try out going through the creek and riding our wooded trails. It was one more chance for Perry to work on horses leaving her behind. So off we went across our hayfield. The grass is almost as tall as Perry so it’s a challenge to keep her from eating to much, as anyone who has a Haflinger can imagine. Of course Perry was more than happy to go splashing in the creek and get a drink of water before moving on to the trails.  After walking with Bear for a bit, Perry and I branched off on our own. She’s getting good about leaving other horses, she worries a little but goes willingly on a long rein. We walked around on our own until we ran into Bear again and then tried to stand still as he left us. Ches and Bear would come and go up and down the trails and Perry was expected to stand. If she couldn’t I would just bend her around until she could. She and I spent almost all of the ride playing the standing game. If she could stand for a short amount of time then we would go on a walk about and then try to stand again. On the other side of the creek is where Ches and I have a mini cross-country course complete with logs and a ditch (and a few jumps people would think we are crazy for even considering jumping). I walked Perry right up to our ditch, which she didn’t seem to notice at all. I kind of worried that she didn’t see it because she was thinking about her buddies who were some place behind her, and that she would fall in and scare herself. To avoid this I walked her over to the side of it. Ches and I spent 45 minutes one day trying to get Pippins (of all horses!) to walk through the ditch from the side, and Perry just walked in like it was nothing. So by ourselves I walked up to it again and asked her to jump over it, which she did just like she’d been doing it all her life. I had to go find Ches and Bear to show them what Perry could do. Ches was proud of her for jumping it without a lead horse.

 

Saturday, July 8 (Cheryl) Day 34

Yes, I rode Perry again. Kelsy was working today and then had a ball game with her dad, so late evening Ches and I headed out for a ride. Perry wore her new side-pull and a bareback pad (old ladies can ride without saddles too) and off we went to the neighbors' track. As always I feel safe on Perry because I know I can ride whatever she may do. People do not need to believe in horses, they need to believe in their ability to ride horses. If you doubt that you can ride what a horse may do, DO NOT GET ON THAT HORSE and find one you can ride safely.

As we got to the track Ches and Bear left us and I decided to use a serpentine to work on bending at the trot. Perry of course wanted to go with Bear, and bending on the serpentine away from him was hard because she wanted to go through her shoulder to him. When this would happen we would stay on a circle until she followed the feel in the direction I wanted. At times this meant we had to stop and bring our forequarters across before resuming trotting and bending. After 15-20 minutes of this Perry had the dance steps down and around the track we went to Ches and Bear. We were headed home (thus she had more reason to go quickly), so I directed her back to the serpentines with the same rules. This time things came together faster. It only took a few minutes of circling, stopping and bringing the forequarters across to have her energy and attention the way I like it.

As we continued around the track we found two deer out for evening grazing and both horses took a quick look before walking ahead. Then Perry finally got to lead and what fun she had with no bending, just trotting on a long rein thinking she was in charge (but we all know differently). Then there was a dead standing tree where a tree should not be. We stopped to take a look but Bear trotted right past. Perry didn't want to be leaft behind so we trotted by with an ear on the tree. We finished off walking the last bit home by still practicing bending, just because I like a horse who bends soft and light at any time and any place (the girls say I am obsessive compulsive about this and they may be right).

Perry is much happier in her side-pull now that she is used to not having a bit to chew on. The bit chewing was very distracting to her and the rider; she can now focus more on the ride.  Perry is also a very smart, busy, energetic horse that will need a lot of variety in her life to stay happy. I feel if she does not have this she will become creative with her energy and that is something a smart horse should never have the time to practice, as often this scenario results in behavior that humans do not like.

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Go to Perry's sixth week of training (new website)

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