Tag Archives: horse

HOW CLINTON ANDERSON’S METHOD HELPED ME CORRECT A BEHAVIOR PROBLEM WITH MY DRESSAGE HORSE

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DCIM100MEDIA

 

I was reminded once again of the hazards of equestrian activities a few days ago. My horse fell on me.

She had been giving me some trouble for a few days and it was getting progressively worse.  I was familiar with this bad behavior, as she had done it before. It had been over 6 months since the last incident so I thought I had trained it out of her.

The problem was her reaction to the leg and spur when I asked for vertical flexion (giving in the poll). She does find it difficult, but instead of resisting, she slams on the brakes and starts violently throwing her head around.  I ride her in a thin loose ring snaffle, but when she has resistance on her mind, she’s so strong she can rip the reins out of my hands.

On this day, she stopped, and started throwing her head around. I bent her nose to my boot and she started to go sideways.  I could feel her losing balance. I thought some sense of self-preservation would kick in and she would either stop or go forward. Instead, she pulled her head down and sideways, her front leg went straight out, and down she went.

It felt like slow motion, and she initially went down straight, like a camel. It gave me time to get my feet out of the stirrups. By the time she was all the way on the ground, she rolled slightly sideways onto my leg, but I was able to pull it free.

Her ongoing difficulties caused me to search for answers in unusual places. I’m most familiar with dressage training, but none of the techniques I tried on her worked.

I found the answers at a Clinton Anderson demonstration. He refers to his training techniques as The Method. I found the groundwork very effective and have been working my horse using his Method for about a year.

I was glad for it on this day. I didn’t want to get back on, so I did various groundwork exercises. After she was relaxed and listening, I got back on asked her to go forward on a loose rein. She complied and I ended the session.

I needed a way to translate the ground work to under saddle. The next day I asked my husband to help me. I put the rope halter on over her bridle, got on, and had him do the groundwork. She is trained to follow the lead, so whenever she got stuck, he would pull her head to the inside and point with his arm in the direction I wanted to go. If she didn’t respond, he would swing the stick.

This worked great, as long as she knew he had the line. The minute he took it off, she stopped.

I decided to leave the line on the halter and hold it myself. That did the trick. If she stopped and refused to move, I would pull her head slightly to the inside, and she would follow the lead.

After a few minutes, she was pretty solid and I could catch her before she stopped and essentially prevent the behavior.

The video shows the second day. I had my husband help me again. You can see at these certain points in the video where she stops and I work through a few different things. Initially I thought if I yanked the line it might help her focus, but I could see that after about a minute it wasn’t working.  Pulling her head to the inside was the most effective. Although the stopping never went away entirely, at least I had a way to deal with it.

Most people would say a horse that reacts badly to the leg should be made to go forward. I would say that too.  I normally would swallow my fear, put the reins in one hand, and either use a long jumping bat or spank her with the long rope. The problem is she shuts down, and if she is irritated with the bat or the long rope, she will either buck or swing her head and pull the reins out of my hands. The head swinging is what caused her to fall before.

I’ve learned that sometimes being patient and non-confrontational is the best way to handle her. Each horse is different, and if I do something that doesn’t work, I have to admit that I was wrong and try something else.

I included another video to demonstrate some of the groundwork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq0sB5eXVZ0 Liesl – riding with rope halter and 14 ‘ lead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noS8ivJ0I-U Justine – groundwork exercises

DRESSAGE TRAINING USING BEND

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Today I’d like to share some video of my horse Liesl. She’s now seven years old and as I detailed in prior posts, it has not been easy with her.

About a year ago, after I learned of Clinton Anderson, and studied his techniques, I realized I was trying to make her change to fit my method. I was thinking in a very narrow way. She wasn’t responding to me in a positive way, so there must be something wrong with HER. In fact, there was something wrong with ME.

I needed to change my approach. To do that I needed to understand why she acted the way she did. Now of course I can’t really know the operation of her mind, but I tried to break it down into smaller pieces and not assign emotions to her actions.

The techniques I learned really helped me unlock her potential. Whenever something isn’t working, I don’t try to force it. I take a step back and think about why she might be acting the way she is. What can I do to convince her that it’s easier to do what I want?

One of the techniques Clinton uses to supple his horses is bending left and right, both on the ground and under saddle. The key is to bend the horse, then hold the pressure until the horse releases. It’s not just sawing the neck back and forth.

When I first tried it with my horses, I couldn’t believe how stiff they were. Neither one of them could bend more than slight sideways. It took weeks of daily practice until they could easily swing their necks from side to side on the ground.

When I started it under saddle at a standstill, the immediate reaction was again stiffness. I couldn’t get much bend. The video is taken after a few weeks of practice.  Liesl actually tries to beat me to each side, I’m barely touching the reins and she offers the bend.  The video also shows the desensitizing to the stick and string.

When they are moving it’s harder to feel the give but I would describe it as almost like a hollowing, rubber band feel in their neck and body, and they lighten in the mouth. This horse was so stiff every time I asked for the bend in either trot or canter she would revert back to her most common resistance, which was stopping.

At that point I had to ask consider the possibilities – was it impossible for her, or was it too difficult and she wouldn’t try? Since she can’t talk, I assumed that yes it was difficult, but that I should still ask, and accept less. After a little trial and error, I found the place where she can try and feel successful.

The longer video shows this work in the canter, and I’m incorporating the half-pass. She’s still very stiff, so I don’t ask for perfection, but I do want extra bend in the sideways to help supple her.

She’s also just starting her flying changes. They are still awkward but I’m not too concerned if she changes before I ask, or if she changes a little bit late. I’m just trying to give her the idea.

I’m finding that this bending concept really helps me to understand why things go wrong, how to deal with it, and also to be accepting of less as long as they try. It makes for a pleasant ride every day.

I work on my own and make many mistakes. I’ve learned not to be afraid of the mistakes. Horses are very forgiving, and I’ve been able to undo more of my training errors than I believed possible.

I’m so glad I found this technique and didn’t give up on this horse. And I never thought I’d say that I enjoy riding her. What an amazing transformation. It never would have happened if I was too stubborn to admit I was wrong, and change.

Video links are below:

http://youtu.be/Gfi5zUlBH4c
http://youtu.be/835MPOUW9xo

STRENGTHEN YOUR (MENTAL) CORE

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As I wrote in prior posts, I have a horse that is difficult. I’ve learned techniques to manage her behavior, and we steadily make progress. She is now seven years old and I hope to show her 3rd level dressage this year.

This horse does relapse back into bad behavior. So not all the techniques I’ve learned work 100% of the time. At first I tried to follow them to the letter.  I told myself I must not be doing it right if it doesn’t work. But on my own, with nobody helping me, I found this wasn’t productive. It was wrong-headed thinking. I had to make a decision about where to go with the training.

I don’t think I can ever sell this horse. Her behavior can be unpredictable, and I feel it would be dangerous to pass her on to someone not skilled in dealing with it. Someone who could deal with it would probably get frustrated and turn to methods not conducive to making the situation better. More than one person told me she just needed to be beaten.

So as I think about it, what keeps coming into my mind is that I am responsible for her. I’ve had her most of her life, so whatever her problems, I had a hand in making them. No, she isn’t fun to ride sometimes, and when things are hard, it’s easy to want to give up. I say to myself that I deserve better. But so does she. She needs me to get better so she can reach her potential.

I accepted my role in her life. That it wouldn’t be easy, that it would be frustrating, and that I couldn’t seek professional help because people were so critical of my solutions and wouldn’t allow my ideas in.

Sometimes in business, you are in situations you don’t want to be in, and it would be easy to say, it’s too hard, it’s too much work, or my personal favorite, it’s not fair. But you have to ask yourself if you are the best person for the job. Could someone else do it better, or are you uniquely qualified? Will someone else even be willing to do it?

If not, then you must take it on. You must do it even if you don’t want to.  You must do it even if you don’t see any reward beyond yourself, even if it won’t get recognized. By experiencing this on your own, without outside influence, your core will become stronger, and this will intersect with an unknown opportunity in the future. This is the foundation for success.

YOU CAN LEARN SOMETHING FROM EVERYONE

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Liesl age 2

Liesl age 2

I have a horse with really bad behavior on the ground. I’ve owned her since she was six months old. It started the day I got her, she ran me over on the way out of the trailer and I’ve been wary of her ever since.

As an experienced horsewoman, I assumed I could apply all that I had learned so far to try and correct this behavior. I would say I was about 90% successful. She is mostly trustworthy, but that 10% of the time she isn’t, is extremely dangerous. She’s knocked me down many times. She doesn’t have a confirmed respect for personal space.

This year, I began to think there was no hope and I would have to sell her. I ride alone most days, and I was concerned she would knock me out and nobody would find me for days.

I had joined the American Quarter Horse Association, and began receiving their magazine. I was really impressed with the professionals in the Western discipline, they seemed to be very knowledgeable about how horses thought and reacted to people, and in reading the articles in the magazine I started to think differently about how I interacted with my horses.

I wanted to see this type of horsemanship in action. As a dressage person, I considered myself fairly open minded, but I think each discipline tends to think of itself as ‘all wise.’ I was so frustrated with my horse I decided I had better drop that attitude or this problem wasn’t going to get solved. I decided to travel to Oregon and see a Clinton Anderson clinic.

Those two days blew my mind. Watching him work with the horses was amazing. He spent a lot of time talking to the audience and really giving us a thorough view of how the horse’s mind worked. I wasn’t sure how to apply it to my riding, but I could definitely apply it to my ground training. I took so many notes I ran out of paper and had to write in the margins of the program.

I purchased a rope halter and lead, and the stick he uses for what he refers to as his Method. I started to work with my horses based on the notes I took at the clinic; my dressage horses learned to stay out of my space, yield to pressure, and even do rollbacks! I felt like I had been given the key to the secret horse training society.

My mare can now be safely led to and from the arena with no problems. She is calm and can be handled by anyone. She also had trouble loading into the trailer, but he had a technique for that too. I was grateful for it when I went on a three day road trip to California and halfway there she decided she didn’t want to get on the trailer. I knew exactly what to do.

They say there is no teaching, only learning. Now I believe it. I can learn something from anyone, and sometimes the learning comes from unusual sources.  I had to be willing to change my mind and admit I was wrong. Because I can do that, I can get better. It is a hard thing to do, but the rewards are great.

HORSES TAUGHT ME HOW TO REALIZE SUCCESS IN BUSINESS

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2013 Region 6 Championships

2013 Region 6 Championships

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved horses. I think I’ve ridden a horse almost every day for the last 30 years. When I was a kid I would go to the barn and hang out all day, hoping someone would let me ride their horse. Even when I had my own, I was still begging people to let me train theirs. To me, there’s nothing better than being in the saddle.

The last 20 years I’ve spent riding dressage horses. It can best be described as ‘horse ballet.’ This is a labor-intensive and largely unrewarding sport. It takes 5-7 years to train a horse from basics to the Olympic level of Grand Prix. Most horses don’t make it. You really have to pursue dressage because you love it. They say it takes 2 lifetimes to achieve a real understanding of dressage, and I believe it. Whenever I think I know it all, something comes along and changes it, brings me back, makes me feel like a beginner again.

The only reason I pursued a business degree, and became a CPA was because I thought that would be a well-paid career that would allow me to pursue my passion of riding. It has rewarded me with the financial means and flexibility to follow my dreams.

I approach my business career the same way I approach my horsemanship. I always strive for excellence. Early in my career, I was hired on as an accounting clerk at several different private companies. The accounting departments would be large when I started, and then as time went on, people left. They weren’t replaced.  I picked up their job duties, produced outstanding results, and earned promotions. I managed to work the same amount of hours, sometimes even less.

My superiors would notice. I wasn’t always rewarded monetarily, but they were very flexible when I asked for time off to ‘do my horse stuff’ and just told me ‘whatever you want as long as you get your work done.’  It meant so much to me. I always felt I was fairly compensated for my work, I was doing what I loved, and I thought life couldn’t get any better.

Over time I’ve come to recognize my superior organization skills as a valuable asset.  I hope to use this blog to share some of my experiences, usually through a story about my horses. Accounting tends to be dry and technical, we like our lists and our procedures. I want it to be dynamic and fun, and I want to help people become more organized so they also have the time to pursue their passion.

My horses have brought me so much joy and contentment in my life. Of course there are heartbreaking setbacks, and times when I get tired and want to give up, but I keep on. It is truly something wonderful.