Re: Crud going around and a fall
- From: cindi <allisonacres@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:15:52 -0800 (PST)
hey Robin,
I hope you aren't too sore! Chances are Calibra might not ever do
anything like this again, but you might want to work on it a bit just
in case, since sometimes after it happens once they are primed for it,
so to speak - you know how they combine stuff? The semi hitting its
big noisy brakes when driving by the arena is no big deal, and the
wind blowing the metal roofing making it creak is no big deal, and the
dog running into the arena is no big deal, but when all three happens
at once it's suddenly the end of the world? You might find that
whatever initially spooked him won't bother him again UNLESS it
happens right at that point in mounting that causes him to remember
you hanging off him with your toe in him... you know what I mean. But
this isn't a reason to mount quickly! Trying to speed it up can cause
you to ignore subtle signs that it's about to go south, and it can
transmit a "high energy" vibe to your horse, which is not what you
want when mounting... I always slow things down and break it into
steps whenever anything starts to go wrong. That gives me a chance to
show the horse each and every response I want, and to not get either
of us in a situation that becomes too big to handle. At his level
it's probably been forever, if ever, since he's had a rider hanging
off his side... that can be pretty scary for a horse who's used to
things like that not happening.
so, just a thought - you might want to mount more slowly, not more
quickly... Get him used to each and every small tiny step of the
process, and used to the idea that he stands still no matter what's
happening during that process. I can't do the dressage you do, but
schooling for safe mountings is a big big part of what I do. I teach
all the horses to become used to whatever might happen, first with
normal mounting, then with sacking out during mounting. I have to do
this since students are not always graceful when they mount. ;-)
So, we do the steps, first just normally, and then with spooky stuff
going on also like flapping tarps or whatever we come up with:
- stand while person is on mounting block
- stand while person reaches for you
- stand while person lifts foot toward stirrup
- stand while person puts foot in stirrup (not too far! :-)
- stand while person puts weight in stirrup
- while person bounces on mounting block
- while person stands up on the one side of the saddle (hips over the
seat, facing forward)
To teach the "stand" part we do whatever we are working on UNTIL the
horse stands still. Then release. Release means back off and give
the horse a minute, NOT immediately progress to the next step, because
increasing the intensity of the stimulus is not a release, it's
additional pressure... This means that we follow follow follow the
horse with the mounting block until he stops moving, then we take it
away... repeat until the horse stands still while the mounting block
is placed beside him... etc etc etc. An important part is often the
stand still while the person stands up on one side of the saddle,
since horses often take this to mean it's so so so close to being
almost time to go. Plus they often get afraid if they find us hanging
off their side, either while mounting or while falling during a ride.
So we work this a lot, from both sides of the horse.
If at any time we have to step down, we continue to stay right
alongside the horse, rubbing our body on him, and follow follow follow
until he stops moving. This is an important bit, because if he finds
you hanging off his side alarming, and you fall away from him by some
mechanism, he will then have found his "release" from your falling
away... when in fact he needs to find his release from his feet
stopping their movement.
We also do the Jeffries method (basically desensitizing your horse to
your whole body rubbing all over him, by laying on him bareback and
rubbing yourself all over, I've been meaning to do a video for YouTube
since I don't think I've seen a good online demo of this.) And we do
objects hanging off the saddle too... The whole point is to instill in
them "when something awful happens, don't take your attention off the
task at hand and don't do the wrong thing with your feet [1]." It
takes a lot of repetition of the release coming at the right time.
This kind of thing might seem silly to the upper level riders, but it
can become really important in a big hurry, and if the training isn't
already there, sometimes you are left wishing it was... ;-) I think
that when somebody has an upper level type horse they can get lulled
into a false sense of security about this foundational stuff.
Especially because instructors who do the "bigger" stuff often don't
have the patience or the inclination to work on this other stuff...
But these higher level horses need this sort of training so much
specifically because they are higher level; they don't get the
experience of their rider hanging off them all disorganized very often
(not like lesson horses for whom it happens daily! :-)
[1] I had written "when something awful happens, just stand still" but
a more accurate way to describe it is "continue doing what you are
supposed to be doing when something spooks you." Don't move your feet
on your own... because I don't always have them stand still when they
are about to spook/nervous/whatever. With some horses that'd mean
we'd never get from point A to point B... ;-) But if they are
*supposed to be* standing still at the moment they spook, then I want
them to continue to stand still. If we are trotting along or
whatever, I want them to continue trotting along. Etc.
take care and it was nice to hear from you. Glad your lung thing is
better!
cindi
.
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- Crud going around and a fall
- From: Robin Ryan
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