Today my friend and I had the opportunity to go out and ride at a local county park. It sits right on the beautiful Columbia River and since I first started riding over 20 years ago, it has been my favorite spot to ride. It has everything you could ask for to expose my horse to many experiences. It has hills to go up and down, trees to go around, sand and beach with driftwood to walk over, flat terrain for smooth rides on circles and water that splashes at the feet. If we choose to ride there on weekends, it offers an additional challenge of riding around children and dogs. Today, two dogs wanted to check out the "big dogs" walking near them which fortunately, did not disturb either of our horses. It's not unusual for people to walk up to us with their kids and ask if they can pet the horses, even sit on them. In the interest of safety, we don't allow anyone to climb on our horses.
When I first began riding there with my mare Sally, it was not with the control, emotional and physical that I have now. I recall her racing off when she saw waves from passing ships, with me clutching to the horn of the saddle. Fast forward to today....
I currently ride a lightweight endurance saddle with NO horn on my horse Chanty who is now a veteran of the park, the trees, the water, the dogs and most of all the walk back to the trailer. For those of you who ride anywhere outside of an arena, you know that for horses whose number one priority is safety, just the mere act of returning from a ride can turn on the fast forward switch in their brain. When I first encountered this, I tried several of the recently popular techniques that involved disengaging the hindquarters. Unfortunately, that also meant I had to pick up on the bit and pull her head around to slow or even stop her. After several months of trying to control her speed on a straight line, she was no calmer or slower. If anything, she had begun to resent the contact with her mouth and the constant bending. I would become more frustrated and the fighting would begin. If gentle slow pulling didn't work, then I'd try hard, aggressive tugging.
The information I was reading said that the discomfort of stopping every few feet by using the one rein stop, would discourage the horse from running off. This may work for the left brained (see Parelli "Horsenality" DVD from the Success Series) horse, but my right brain extrovert feels more trapped, claustrophobic and threatened if I use her mouth, head or neck to control her.
What's interesting about Chanty is she is like every other horse-basically lazy. When her emotions are under control, she walks slowly, she canters very slowly and does not like to sustain either gait for very long at the same speed. Her trot, on the other hand, is her signature gait. Being a saddleseat Morgan, she loves the high stepping trot that carries so much ground per stride that she makes every other horse canter, just to keep up with her. But, when Chanty is nervous, scared or excited, she can move at a brisk walk or a downright gallop. Every time we headed back to the trailer after our ride through the park, she would "kick it up a notch" and it seemed there was no stopping her. Until......I learned how to break up the long ride back to the trailer with small "rest stops" along the way. The trees in the park made it easy. Similar to Cathie Anderson's technique using cones and the bitless bridle, we would first walk, then trot and finally canter from tree to tree. Just before we reached a tree, I would quietly say Whoa and gently pick up on the reins and release quickly with even the slightest slowing. Of course, it was important to use my seat and legs before reins, but best of all, the mere presence of an object in her path gave her something to focus on each time we headed back and forth. She knew what came just before we reached the tree, the rock, the log or whatever we were using at the time.
Pretty soon, it took less and less effort to get her to stop and best of all, she never felt nervous or worried or uncomfortable, because I didn't pull on her mouth/face, nor did I move her in sharp turns and circles. She began to walk off at a nice slow pace, loose rein. The closer we got to the trailer, the more rest stops in between, but that was fine with me. She got back to the trailer as calmly as she had left. The big accomplishments with horses (and with life) are usually the result of a series of small victories. After all, a long ride is just a series of short rides....
When I first began riding there with my mare Sally, it was not with the control, emotional and physical that I have now. I recall her racing off when she saw waves from passing ships, with me clutching to the horn of the saddle. Fast forward to today....
I currently ride a lightweight endurance saddle with NO horn on my horse Chanty who is now a veteran of the park, the trees, the water, the dogs and most of all the walk back to the trailer. For those of you who ride anywhere outside of an arena, you know that for horses whose number one priority is safety, just the mere act of returning from a ride can turn on the fast forward switch in their brain. When I first encountered this, I tried several of the recently popular techniques that involved disengaging the hindquarters. Unfortunately, that also meant I had to pick up on the bit and pull her head around to slow or even stop her. After several months of trying to control her speed on a straight line, she was no calmer or slower. If anything, she had begun to resent the contact with her mouth and the constant bending. I would become more frustrated and the fighting would begin. If gentle slow pulling didn't work, then I'd try hard, aggressive tugging.
The information I was reading said that the discomfort of stopping every few feet by using the one rein stop, would discourage the horse from running off. This may work for the left brained (see Parelli "Horsenality" DVD from the Success Series) horse, but my right brain extrovert feels more trapped, claustrophobic and threatened if I use her mouth, head or neck to control her.
What's interesting about Chanty is she is like every other horse-basically lazy. When her emotions are under control, she walks slowly, she canters very slowly and does not like to sustain either gait for very long at the same speed. Her trot, on the other hand, is her signature gait. Being a saddleseat Morgan, she loves the high stepping trot that carries so much ground per stride that she makes every other horse canter, just to keep up with her. But, when Chanty is nervous, scared or excited, she can move at a brisk walk or a downright gallop. Every time we headed back to the trailer after our ride through the park, she would "kick it up a notch" and it seemed there was no stopping her. Until......I learned how to break up the long ride back to the trailer with small "rest stops" along the way. The trees in the park made it easy. Similar to Cathie Anderson's technique using cones and the bitless bridle, we would first walk, then trot and finally canter from tree to tree. Just before we reached a tree, I would quietly say Whoa and gently pick up on the reins and release quickly with even the slightest slowing. Of course, it was important to use my seat and legs before reins, but best of all, the mere presence of an object in her path gave her something to focus on each time we headed back and forth. She knew what came just before we reached the tree, the rock, the log or whatever we were using at the time.
Pretty soon, it took less and less effort to get her to stop and best of all, she never felt nervous or worried or uncomfortable, because I didn't pull on her mouth/face, nor did I move her in sharp turns and circles. She began to walk off at a nice slow pace, loose rein. The closer we got to the trailer, the more rest stops in between, but that was fine with me. She got back to the trailer as calmly as she had left. The big accomplishments with horses (and with life) are usually the result of a series of small victories. After all, a long ride is just a series of short rides....
What beautiful photos you have here. Makes me want to hop on a horse!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to hear you are having success while using the bitless bridle.
I'm happy to hear that the techniques in the DVD are helping as well.
It's really good for going down hills with young horses or ones that want to rush. If you do a constant pull the loose thier head and neack they need for balance, and to be able to look where they are going.
When I take very steep hills and I want to go slow, I just say "Ruger (he's my new horse so I'll start using his name, even though the only one who's ridden him is my dog Scooter) a-n-d whoa. Then pull and release my reins. I'll let the horse take three or four more steps, then start over with my cues, shorten my reins just a tad to get ready to squeeze and release, sit deep on my pockets, while saying "Ruger and whoa"
It works out nice, no rushing and tugging.
Thanks for sharing your adventures!
Cathie Hatrick-Anderson