Ground Driving, A Ladd Update, and Expanding Our Horizons

Sunday evening I ground drove Daisy for the first time in at least a month and a half. I wasn't sure what to expect, but. . . she was excellent! She was completely responsive to my voice commands, which is interesting because I don't really use them while riding (at least not the forward commands; I do use woah). I really want to get a cart and hook her up, but I'm leery. . . I was hoping I could find a cart in the area that I could borrow just for the first time to see if she could even handle it, but I didn't have any luck. So if I do it, it would require driving an hour or so away to pick up a ~$500 cart, in the hopes that Daisy even takes to it. So at this point, I haven't done anything more than think about it.

Monday morning finally left time for me to ride Ladd. He was full of it, as seen when he came cantering up to me full speed in the pasture and almost plowed me over. He had canter on the brain the whole time we were in the arena; I was trying to ride my PC dressage test with him, but the trot circles were turning into fights to see who would win; me at keeping him at a trot, or him at winning a canter. He was lathered up and sweaty after a half hour, and I took him out on the trail. He was surprisingly well behaved. I admit I'm a little anxious about riding him outside because when we canter, I always have the feeling that I'm on the edge of losing control, and I hate that thought. Not so on Monday; he was right in my hands the whole time, energetic, but disciplined. 

This is him and I before our ride:

Tuesday morning I took Daisy out for a ride Western. We headed out on a road we generally ride on, but we didn't turn back where we normally do. She was getting bored and lazy with the roads we always ride on, so we carefully crossed a busy road onto a new road. As I expected, she instantly perked up and was curious about her surroundings again. Love that!

The last time she was trimmed, I fear she was trimmed too short (in fact, I know; her sole was visibly too low to the ground) and as a result, she's been sensitive on stones. This aggravates me, because trimmed correctly, I know she (and all horses) can be sound, but being an advocate for barefootedness is not easy when my own horse isn't sound. I've been using her easyboot gloves for every single ride, which solves the issue and she's fine that way, but I still wish she could just go bare. 

Ah well. Onwards and upwards,

Oh you know, the last... 2 Weeks.

If there was ever a time that school was keeping me busy, it is now. Midterms are this week. The good news is, I don't have school at all on Thursday...and technically not Friday, although my Friday is filled. But Tuesday and Wednesday I have testing. Joy. So here I am. Posting. ;) (I should be studying..... )

I took these pictures last week Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Below are Jayda (right) and Skyler (left), Jenny's horses. I love how the photos turned out. These are just two. The one below is slightly edited....the next ones aren't at all.

Jayda again.

And Daisy-- Her friendly face. ;) She really only comes in one flavor: grouchy. But it's generally just an act ;)

Enjoying her hay.

I took her home soon afterward. My parents went on a week long trip, and even though the barn where Daisy was at is only a mile down the road, we thought it'd be easier to have her home and not have to get rides there daily.

I ended up only taking her harness home, so this week was just harness stuff. 

I was surprised to find that she was a little spooky going out the first time on the driveway in harness. It wasn't extreme in any way...but she's normally very stoic, not looky or alert at all. Under harness however, she was alert and a little hesitant to proceed. Once I talked to her a bit and convinced her it was ok, she went.

I learned something this week: appreciate the length of reins used in riding. Because there's a big difference in ground driving with long reins and trying to discipline a horse, and simply riding and disciplining. Daisy tried every chance she had to turn around and go home; whenever I asked her to move onto the driveway from the side. The frustrating thing was that I had no real control over it; it's hard to figure out how to be demanding in what you ask when you have to legs to use on her sides. I ended up walking to her side each time and shoving her in the right direction. She figured it out.

Thursday I worked with her and a sled. First I just walked her around the sled on the ground, then I walked at her sides, pulling the sled next to me on each side until she was comfortable with the noise and appearance, and then I looped the sled's rope over my arm while I ground drove her. There was a slight initial shock, but she was completely over it in 5 minutes. And don't let the snow kid you; the sled still made a loud scraping noise.

Saturday I had my friend (Lydia) sit in the toboggan and I sat on Daisy's back and pulled her. It was hard to get moving from a stand still; I almost slid off the back. So Lydia would get the sled moving, and then we'd pull it. Daisy did really well with the weight! She wasn't spooked by it at all. We even did a tiny bit of trotting.

At one point this week, I went in the house in the middle of stall cleaning to get something, and got held up. I was gone about 20 minutes, and came back to find this... I think this was her escape / steal dinner plan. It didn't work either way. Haha :)

Today Daisy has a cough. She coughed a couple times yesterday, but I didn't really acknowledge it. Today she's been coughing all day...mostly when she eats hay or finishes eating it. I don't think it's really caused by the hay; it's the same hay she always eats, it's not visibly dusty, and she gets most of the hay that she eats shaken out anyway. The one horse boarding at Jenny's got a bad cold a couple weeks ago, and now two of Jenny's horses are coughing too, so I think Daisy has the same thing. Even though, it's a shame. I'm going to give her a few days off (although I may end up riding her back to Jenny's tomorrow) and see how she is. 

What do you do for a  sick horse?

Talk to you all soon.

Harness News & Clinic Details

Tuesday evening, Daisy was trailered over to Jean's. I have absolutely no pictures, but that's alright.

With the help of  my friend Lisa, we harnessed Daisy for the first time. It mostly went well!
Except for what you see below. 

I have no idea what those straps are called, but the two parallel ones are supposed to be right there....but there are no keepers to keep them from sliding. How's that supposed to work? What's more, this is a horse size harness, but Daisy's a small horse. The harness fits her fine, but how it would be able to fit a bigger horse, I don't know. In a few places, we have it on the looses hole possible. Like I said, it fits her, but her being a "small" horse, I can't see this fitting anyone bigger...which is a little strange.
But the 'biggest problem' is still those straps.

We simply put them through that other strap (so I have no idea what the terms are for the harness parts. Crupper I know... that's about it.), which works, but I just wonder if that's where it belongs? That's where I'm putting it from now on in any case, though.

I ground drove her in Jean's arena with the harness. It was so fun, it's much easier to do with the harness. Lisa gave me some tips as she watched me go around...I hold my reins and whip the right way  now ;) I was holding them like a lunge line for whatever reason, but now I can hold them like regular reins.

The pictures in this post were all taken with my cellphone; I forgot my camera.

Yesterday I took her out and ground drove her outside in her paddock.

She was a really good girl.

We have excellent weather right now.Yesterday and today it was in the 40's!

The clinic was very cool as well. It was done by Joann Long of Gentle Dove Farm. Various obstacles were set up around the ring...in the end, there was a "car-wash" (tarp cut in strips to walk through), followed by cardboard and flowers to step on on the ground, then a tarp with pool 'noodles' and empty plastic bottles all over it to walk over. Along the way, there were noise distractions. We all rode in a long line with a leader (me) through the obstacles, one after the other. It was cool the way it was done because you were constantly keeping your horse busy trying to keep up, or turn at the same place as the horse in front of you, that you didn't simply ride up to an obstacle and try to get your horse through. It flowed nicely. By the end, Daisy went over the tarp half way unfolded, didn't even flinch over the crackling water bottles under her feet, and got through the car wash with all the strands down (we started with no strands, then went to one, then two, then a few more, etc). We practiced a technique called "head-away" where if there was an obstacle that could potentially spook your horse and you didn't have enough time to completely work through it, you bend their head the other direction and shift there hips toward the object. At the very end of the clinic, we rode the horses around, getting closer and closer to, a flare in the middle of the arena, which the horses were surprisingly good with. We also heard and air horn, and if the horses handled it well at distance 'a', we would step closer, and then closer, etc. Most of the horses were alright with that.

If I have time, I want to do another post tonight. But if I don't get to it... Happy New Year's eve! ;)

I Just Can't Help Myself...

I want to blog!

Today was an excellent day at the barn. The last few times I've gone to ride or ground drive have not been stellar. Riding as been alright, but she's already getting bored of the arena some days, and so the riding doesn't go as well. Before today, the last time I ground drove (I don't remember one) was sort of chaotic. I was trying to enforce the "whoa" by voice command, and then "back" by voice command. She would stop, but then she'd get impatient and want to walk, so she just would. Or she'd stop, and then all of a sudden move sideways, so that the lines ended up over her back. At one point she turned so sharply from a standstill that the line went over her back and slid under her saddle. She tensed up into a spook (a stationary one). I talked her off the ledge, fixed the lines, and had her going again, but she was just too antsy that day. She was in more of a mood for galloping hills than placidly walking the arena. I was a little worried about how that all ended.

Today I ground drove her again, with her English saddle (tomorrow a friend of mine is going to harness her for me and show me how to do it when Daisy gets over to Jean's house). She was the opposite of last time! She was really excellent. She had the voice commanded "whoa" down perfectly, and she stood until the moment I clucked, and then she'd move right off without any help from the whip (I found what I think is a driving whip in Jenny's barn. It looks like a long whip, but with a much shorter line at the end...so I'm going to think it's a driving whip). I realized that I was probably confusing her last time I ground drove because 90% of the time when I asked her to stop, I asked her to back as well. Today I made sure to do very little backing, so that each time we'd stand it would be only for standing. She backed very well as well. Her only problem at this point with it is that the lines keep pulling on her mouth even when I want her to just stand, so it sends mixed signals and takes her a minute to realize I only want her to stand. But considering that, she's doing well. 

I longed her a bit before I drove her, just to see if she was lame, or how much energy I was up against. She was great on the longe, even at the canter she didn't buck, so I knew it would be a good day. It was. :)

I emailed with the clinician for Wednesday about what we'll be working on. Police techniques for handling situations like tarps, gates, flares, balloons, horns, and dragging stuff (etc). I'm so excited! I've never gone to a clinic.

Alright, I've got the blogging out of my system.

Dragging a Groundpole...& All That Other Stuff

I can't remember exactly, either Monday or Tuesday of this week was "drag a ground pole" day. Daisy was just fine with it, and so I declared Wednesday to be "lets drag a barrel day"...and, basically told myself that if she took to the barrel without too much trouble, then I would go on with the training with the end goal being her pulling a cart. You can see how that all went in this video:

I didn't start with leading her and dragging it. I got right up on her back. She was fine with it until it ended up next to her (the "Ahh!" moment) and then she was a little wigged out, so at that point I got off and dragged it while leading her(cropped it out because of time constraints). Then I got back on her and kept going. I know it looks like she's power walking, trying to get away with it...she's not really. While I was riding her, it felt totally normal, like she was focused on the barrel and knew it was there, but wasn't really worried about it all that much, even when it dragged over loud stones. Also, when she trots, it's because I asked her ;) She's a horse with a naturally active walk; that's something I love, because I've always been one who can't stand lazy walking horses. I personally think she did really well with the barrel...she's a horse that doesn't spook and totally lose it. She spooks in stages that you can see coming; it's easy to prevent them, or at least see them coming, and it's easy to talk her off the ledge. She's sensible, and she doesn't get so caught up in spooking that she doesn't listen. I'm so proud of my mare :)

Do any of your horses poop in their water troughs? 

Well. I think Daisy was trying to get back at me for the work I've been making her do. She pooped in her trough. Two days in a row. I got to empty it, scrub it, and refill it, two days in a row. I moved it a foot sideways the second time it happened, and spent the lesson that day getting all her bucks and energy out roundpenning. Not sure if it's connected, but her trough has stayed clean since then xD. 

Friday and Saturday I rode her outside for the first time since I came to Jenny's. We rode out in the snow (about 1/2 a foot) and walked/trotted/cantered...she was having a blast, and so was I. I feel like the ground driving and ground work is forcing her to track up more...because she felt like she was tracking up the whole time we rode outside. She tried to buck out of sheer joy a few times... ;)

So. I'm a little torn, but I've decided I'll ask for a harness for Christmas...and I've been checking out simple EZ entry carts on ebay...you just never know ;)

Until next time,

Ground Driving Day II

Details! Finally! ;)

Daisy was excellent at picking up the ground driving. Lydia came to the barn to be my assistant, and at first, every command I gave I had Lydia reinforce at her head. Within a short time, I had Lydia walking farther and farther away from Daisy (which scared Daisy, I think. She kept trying to follow Lydia anyway ;)) ) until it was just me and her. She did wonderfully! We were walking and turning circles and figure eights and stopping and backing. 

Sydney gave us the advice to practice dragging things, so that's what I've been doing. Sunday I started small with just a jollyball, but she obviously did that fine ;) so yesterday we dragged a wood ground pole. Granted, it is a sandy arena floor, but the pole did scrape against stones randomly, and it didn't bother Daisy at all, at the walk or the trot. Maybe it's ridiculous, but I actually have hope that she could learn to drive. Today (or tomorrow if we run out of time) I'm going to drag a barrel with her. (by drag I mean sitting on her and dragging it by holding on to the longe-line it's tied to.) If she takes the barrel in stride, I may just ask for a harness for Christmas. Who'd a thought Daisy could be a driving pony? :)

Thanks Sydney for all your help!

Ground Driving Training Begins

Daisy has been moved over to Jenny's! :) It's pretty exciting, especially because the day afterward we got a snowstorm that iced up our driveway and I wouldn't be able to ride anyway ;)

I've started teaching her to ground drive in the arena, per instructions that I found on google. Day one included sacking her out with the longe line and then letting it drag behind her as she walked so she'd hear and feel it rubbing on her as she walked and turned. She did so well! :) I'm very happy with it so far. She didn't move at all the whole time I was sacking her out, and she was really nervous about the line dragging either. She glanced behind herself often, but she still moved forward. Yesterday I just reviewed a bit before I rode, and she accidentally stepped on it once, but surprisingly she just stood still and wasn't even worried about it. Could she truly become a 'driving Miss Daisy' after all one day? I'm not sure. I'd LOVE to try, but I have no driving experience, and no cart. :-/

Yesterday after I rode I let her go and walked all over the arena with her following me; I hadn't even done a join up. Pretty cool :)

I'd say Daisy's happy there, with her horsie buddies ;)

 

Here's my short video of Day 1 training :)