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Jun. 1st, 2013 07:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickMore horses. I foreshadowed horses all the way down when the weather got nice and there was a reason for that.
I took Punch for a spin yesterday after work. Someone was doing some sort of bizarrely loud machinery operating (sounded maybe like an atv) down in the holler, which made her tight. I got off and walked a bit, until that went away. She settled down some so we walked halfway around the buckwheat field until my helmet hit a branch, which upset her (the noise) and she leaped forward. I got her re-settled down again and we practiced hitting the helmet on branches some more until it wasn't an issue. And then coming up out of the holler to home, we encountered a groundhog. Now, I know it's a groundhog because I've seen it before and I know it dens there. Punch just saw/heard the tall grass rustling suspiciously. Apparently it was very suspicious rustling. She about blew a gasket.
Note to self: Punch's circles are not very effective when the entire horse is rigid like a board. *sigh* It was not one of our more relaxing outings and there was no intentional trotting. On the plus side, there was no actual bad horse behavior and nobody died. Just... it was tight and sudden and she never really settled all the way back down.
After that was Fiddler, who is doing a lot better at a variety of skills. He's softer, faster, when I've hopped on him. He bends better (neck) at bend-to-a-halt, he walks forward better when we're going forward, etc. His whole body is more relaxed and his expression is nicer about the whole thing. He's getting the idea. He is still wobbly, particularly when I get on him. This is probably at least partly due to the fact that he's a narrow little drink of water and I'm a hundred and sixty pounds of torque on him when I hop aboard. (Still haven't tried getting on the wrong side. I need to do this.) Also, he is not really ready (balance) to trot out yet. He's still too wobbly. It takes the time it takes, I guess.
Also, both Punch and Fiddler have learned to ground-tie for reasonable amounts of time (two big circles around the horse, walked slowly, plus also some leaning against the pickup truck), which seems to have done wonders for their mindset. If they can pay attention to me and hold still long enough to not-move for this, they are probably OK for getting on and riding. I am kind of a fan of this skill. It's easy to teach and good for their minds.
The entirety of the riding gig is related to respect. If you have respect (and it is easier to get it on the ground than it is to get it on the back), you are not going to have near the problems that you might otherwise have. Even if shit gets real, because the horse respects you, he will look to you for a solution to his woes. Respect does not mean just beating the horse. That doesn't work, exactly. Respect means defending your personal space bubble, not letting the horse move you around, shoulder you out of the way, or make decisions regarding what he is doing when you're with him. Seriously, he has like 23 hours of the day to do whatever he wants. Expecting him to pay attention to you for about an hour a day is NOT an undue burden. Also, horses are hierarchical. Unless you're riding a boss mare, they're pretty OK with having to do what other horses say, 24-7, because they don't know any different.
So I get Fiddler out of the field and lead him up to the hitching post (for real, we have one) and tie him up, long enough to eat from the feed pan on the ground before him. I go and get his feed (can't put it out ahead of time because random marauding calves would eat it before we got there) and make him step back from the feed pan before I pour his feed in. I do not like being crowded or having to pour feed around the horse's nose. It's a little thing to me, but it's a respect thing for Fiddler. Making him step back, at this point, consists of a stern look, but if he didn't respect the look, I would have to enforce it as needed.
Also, I would totally fail Horsemanship Skills like in 4-H. I was watching La train some hapless child on Horsemanship Skills the other day and realizing that I totally sucked at it. Like, you're not ALLOWED to let go of the horse when you're bridling it. Ever. You're supposed to have a neck rope on the horse after you drop the halter and you are supposed to be HOLDING that neck rope while you are bridling the horse. I cannot bridle a horse one-handed, so I don't know how eight year olds can do it. As for me, I have the reins (loop reins) over the head of the horse before I drop the halter and the horse doesn't wander off because I will beat him if he does that and we both know it. (Ropes in the mind are better than ropes in the real world because you don't have to hold onto the ropes in the mind.) So I am there with the reins over the neck, headstall in one hand, bit in the other. No hand is holding the horse. Horsemanship fail. But, I can't help but think there are a lot of disrespectful horses out there walking off from children who are trying to do things with them...
And I get off the horse wrong, every time. EVERY TIME. I get off the horse wrong. Correct: Remove right foot from stirrup. Swing it over horse's butt while putting belly on saddle and removing left foot from stirrup. Then, drop body to ground kind of along the body of the horse. Incorrect: Remove both feet from stirrups. Lean forward, swing either right or left leg over butt of horse, land on ground. It's very smooth, fast, and works fine. But it's wrong.
Part of me is secretly thankful that Horsemanship Skills didn't exist back when I did 4-H. I realize that they are helpful and worthwhile and provide a solid foundation for kids, but I would totally have hated Horsemanship Skills testing and its rather rigid insistence on the One True Way of doing things.
I took Punch for a spin yesterday after work. Someone was doing some sort of bizarrely loud machinery operating (sounded maybe like an atv) down in the holler, which made her tight. I got off and walked a bit, until that went away. She settled down some so we walked halfway around the buckwheat field until my helmet hit a branch, which upset her (the noise) and she leaped forward. I got her re-settled down again and we practiced hitting the helmet on branches some more until it wasn't an issue. And then coming up out of the holler to home, we encountered a groundhog. Now, I know it's a groundhog because I've seen it before and I know it dens there. Punch just saw/heard the tall grass rustling suspiciously. Apparently it was very suspicious rustling. She about blew a gasket.
Note to self: Punch's circles are not very effective when the entire horse is rigid like a board. *sigh* It was not one of our more relaxing outings and there was no intentional trotting. On the plus side, there was no actual bad horse behavior and nobody died. Just... it was tight and sudden and she never really settled all the way back down.
After that was Fiddler, who is doing a lot better at a variety of skills. He's softer, faster, when I've hopped on him. He bends better (neck) at bend-to-a-halt, he walks forward better when we're going forward, etc. His whole body is more relaxed and his expression is nicer about the whole thing. He's getting the idea. He is still wobbly, particularly when I get on him. This is probably at least partly due to the fact that he's a narrow little drink of water and I'm a hundred and sixty pounds of torque on him when I hop aboard. (Still haven't tried getting on the wrong side. I need to do this.) Also, he is not really ready (balance) to trot out yet. He's still too wobbly. It takes the time it takes, I guess.
Also, both Punch and Fiddler have learned to ground-tie for reasonable amounts of time (two big circles around the horse, walked slowly, plus also some leaning against the pickup truck), which seems to have done wonders for their mindset. If they can pay attention to me and hold still long enough to not-move for this, they are probably OK for getting on and riding. I am kind of a fan of this skill. It's easy to teach and good for their minds.
The entirety of the riding gig is related to respect. If you have respect (and it is easier to get it on the ground than it is to get it on the back), you are not going to have near the problems that you might otherwise have. Even if shit gets real, because the horse respects you, he will look to you for a solution to his woes. Respect does not mean just beating the horse. That doesn't work, exactly. Respect means defending your personal space bubble, not letting the horse move you around, shoulder you out of the way, or make decisions regarding what he is doing when you're with him. Seriously, he has like 23 hours of the day to do whatever he wants. Expecting him to pay attention to you for about an hour a day is NOT an undue burden. Also, horses are hierarchical. Unless you're riding a boss mare, they're pretty OK with having to do what other horses say, 24-7, because they don't know any different.
So I get Fiddler out of the field and lead him up to the hitching post (for real, we have one) and tie him up, long enough to eat from the feed pan on the ground before him. I go and get his feed (can't put it out ahead of time because random marauding calves would eat it before we got there) and make him step back from the feed pan before I pour his feed in. I do not like being crowded or having to pour feed around the horse's nose. It's a little thing to me, but it's a respect thing for Fiddler. Making him step back, at this point, consists of a stern look, but if he didn't respect the look, I would have to enforce it as needed.
Also, I would totally fail Horsemanship Skills like in 4-H. I was watching La train some hapless child on Horsemanship Skills the other day and realizing that I totally sucked at it. Like, you're not ALLOWED to let go of the horse when you're bridling it. Ever. You're supposed to have a neck rope on the horse after you drop the halter and you are supposed to be HOLDING that neck rope while you are bridling the horse. I cannot bridle a horse one-handed, so I don't know how eight year olds can do it. As for me, I have the reins (loop reins) over the head of the horse before I drop the halter and the horse doesn't wander off because I will beat him if he does that and we both know it. (Ropes in the mind are better than ropes in the real world because you don't have to hold onto the ropes in the mind.) So I am there with the reins over the neck, headstall in one hand, bit in the other. No hand is holding the horse. Horsemanship fail. But, I can't help but think there are a lot of disrespectful horses out there walking off from children who are trying to do things with them...
And I get off the horse wrong, every time. EVERY TIME. I get off the horse wrong. Correct: Remove right foot from stirrup. Swing it over horse's butt while putting belly on saddle and removing left foot from stirrup. Then, drop body to ground kind of along the body of the horse. Incorrect: Remove both feet from stirrups. Lean forward, swing either right or left leg over butt of horse, land on ground. It's very smooth, fast, and works fine. But it's wrong.
Part of me is secretly thankful that Horsemanship Skills didn't exist back when I did 4-H. I realize that they are helpful and worthwhile and provide a solid foundation for kids, but I would totally have hated Horsemanship Skills testing and its rather rigid insistence on the One True Way of doing things.
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no subject
Date: 2013-06-02 07:21 pm (UTC)The stirrup dismount is easier if you're riding with a saddle with a horn though, which is probably the origin of it in 4H. Still bloody stupid to teach it to kids in English tack.