Playing in the Rain

By now I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but Avalon and I had such a good time today! 

My goal is to visit the barn more often than not. So far this month I have visited the barn twelve times. Since there are thirty-one days this month, I have to visit the barn at least sixteen times in order to achieve my goal. There are five days left, so after you do the math, I can only stay home one day to reach my August goal. This is why I drove out to the barn in the rain. 

As I drove (it's thirty minutes from my house), I dreamed up a plan. In my car I have a tarp, a raincoat, and an broken umbrella (from the last time I used it in my training). I lugged these objects, my grooming tote, and training tools into the round pen. All the horses in the pasture meandered over to check me out. I set my stuff down and turned to see all the horses walk past the round pen gate - except Avalon. She stood in the gateway. I clucked twice to her and she walked right in. I even held the gate wide open and stepped out of the way so that if she wanted to walk back out she could. Instead, she marched over to the pile of toys and started chewing on the umbrella. 

This is a rough clip, I have loud awkward music in the back ground and it's on snapchat. However, I caught the most hilarious moment at the end! 

Did you see it? She bit the button and extended the umbrella! 

I like to torture my horse ;)

When I walked her back to the herd she started to act a little herd-bound, so we turned around and walked back to the hitching post. 

Bedraggled and offended.

Once she stood and licked and chewed, I walked her back to her herd in the rain. I'm so glad that I've made time to visit the barn consistently this month!

We're on a Roll

Who is this beautiful filly? I wondered for a while if she would get dapples or not. I'm so glad she did. To be honest, I took these pictures a while ago and I don't really remember the session. The photos turned out well so I can't let them go to waste. 

See! When I took that picture I worried that the angle would make her head and body look odd, but I actually love the weird angle. It draws attention to her expressive face. 

Nothing beats that golden-hour lighting.

This picture is a little blurry, but it is proof that Ava has been relaxing and slowing down in the arena. 

I had to play with the sunset of course. She was standing in the perfect spot! 

Make the Right Answer Easy...

This is the way I've been tying Ava lately. She can still pull the rope off of the post if she forgets how to stand, but it gives her the illusion of being tied to a solid object. In this picture, she is totally relaxed, dozing off with her head resting on the hitching post. What a positive change!

My focus at the moment is teaching Avalon to think through her emotions. One of the ways I do that is by working her next to the arena gate. Her emotions are higher in the arena because of trees, vehicles, and construction (plus being separated from her herd). Conveniently, she is less afraid when she is next to the gate. To encourage her to use the entire arena, I've made the gate our work area, and the spookiest places of the arena our rest areas. That's where I took these pictures. 

At one point she lowered her head to the ground licking and chewing. I thought she might lay down, but she never got past pawing. Once she yawned a few times, I decided to head back to the barn on a good note. No, a great note. Yawning next to the spookiest tree? I'll take it!

Showing off.

I am the luckiest little girl. <3

Level Up

Avalon and I reached two exciting milestones in our training yesterday! I didn't get any pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination.

First, I "lunged" Avalon in a circular circle.

Side note: I use my own exercise that combines the Parelli circling game with traditional lunging. I don't remember if I've explained it before. Maybe that will be a topic for a future post.

Ever since I bought her, Avalon has made egg-shaped circles, bulging toward the gate and cutting toward me when she passes a "scary" area. I've tried different methods to change her behavior and finally, I found one that works. I use my training stick to yield her shoulder out on the "scary" side of the circle to spiral out. On the gate side, I wait until she pulls the lead rope taut, then I ask her to change direction. I was able to switch from my 12' lead rope to the 22' and still maintain a circular shape!

The second milestone was walking all the way down the driveway. The driveway at the barn is long and stretches through the trees for 500' or something (I am bad at guessing distances). In the past, Ava's herd bound behavior kept us from walking more than halfway. As I drove up to the barn, I saw the trash and recycling bins sitting at the edge of the drive. On whim I decided my goal for the day would be to walk all the way to the garbage cans.

It took quite a while, but I combined Warwick Schiller's method with some tips I picked up from the TRT method. We began walking down the driveway. As soon as Ava showed signs of distress and anxiety, I yielded her hindquarters in the TRT method. I believe that Tristan Tucker says that puts the horse in a position of power over their emotions. If I understand correctly, by yielding the hind end (and flexing the head laterally) you ask the horse to bend and release their tension. Over time and practice, the horse learns to take responsibility for their own emotions by bending and releasing on their own. As soon as Ava was soft and responsive, moving properly into the bend, I released and we rested for a while. Then we started walking again.

There were times I wasn't sure we would make it. The barn owners were moving hay with the CAT. A loud white pickup drove past us twice, which caused Avalon even more anxiety. And when we finally got to the garbage bins her emotions absolutely sky rocketed. But we were finally standing next to the bins. I flapped the lids a little, until she lowered her head and cocked a hoof. At one point she called for her herd, but when no one answered, she brought her attention right back to me.

Overall, the day was utterly successful!

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

I don't have anything new to say, so I'll let these pictures tell the story.

One Day, Two Sessions

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Morning

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Early Sunday morning, I slipped out to the barn for a few minutes before church. I was pressed for time. The air was already hot and sticky. We walked into the round pen, perfectly in sync. Two steps, stop, back a step, stop, one step. She matches me step-for-step, even through gates. In the round pen I groomed her for a little while. She was so relaxed that I jumped on her back a couple times - just for kicks. True to her behavior so far, Avalon accepts a human on her back in a halter and loose lead rope.  

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Evening

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When I returned to the barn around six o'clock, all the horses were in the back pasture. Avalon didn't give me any trouble leaving them, even trotting beside me back to the barn. She did become a little agitated when I tied her up. However, I was still able to tie her like a "big girl".

Avalon is increasingly responsive in the round pen. I don't like to round pen horses by chasing them around, I prefer to be able to direct their movements with subtle body language. In the past, Ava has preferred to run around with her head in the air. If I ask her to change direction, I have to race in front of the "drive line" (the point of the shoulder). She will sneak past me instead of turning around if she can get away with it. 

But this evening, she was more interested in hanging out with me in the middle of the pen than galloping around the outside. I only had to take a few steps to redirect her. 

Let's Take a Trip Back In Time

A few weeks ago, I wasn't feeling as positive about Avalon's progress as I am today. Her head and emotions were sky high every day I visited. On this particular day, I began by using the temporary pond that sprang up in the pasture as a water obstacle. Ava was spooky and concerned, but she did walk through it both ways without running me over. 

When I am expecting to do more high-energy work (cantering, jumping) I like to put boots on Ava. She has a habit of stumbling and falling. I don't think it is a coordination or neurological issue, because when she runs in the pasture she's fine. She just lets her mind wander to all the spooky surroundings instead of her feet.  

Anyone know if these look good or not? I'm not a good judge of boot fit. The splint boots are size medium; the overreach boots are small. Feel free to tell me if I put them on wrong, the overreach boots have left and right on them, but the splint boots do not. I try my best

In the arena, she was gorgeous but distracted. I had hoped to bring her energy up, but it was already sky high. 

We returned to the sit-on-fence-and-redirect-attention-until-she-calms-down exercise from May. 

Not too spooky to try biting her boots.

Head down but spooky still

Afterward, I tied her and walked back to the arena to pick up my stuff. She stood perfectly even when I was out of sight.

If Every Day Was Like Today

I almost didn't visit the barn today. Last week I went six or seven days. It's easy to fall into a pattern, "I missed yesterday and the day before, what's one more day?" However, I stuck to my plan and drove out to the barn. Avalon was in the most wonderful mood. She was laid back and attentive the entire session. I walked out to her in the pasture and put the halter on. As usual, I laid the lead rope over my shoulder and she followed me out of the pasture. Most days I don't even have to hold the lead rope, she just follows my body language. As long as the rope is there, she follows. She even trotted beside me today, without any direct pressure on the rope, just body language. 

When I reached the wash area I realized I had left my tie ring in the barn. So we graduated to "big Girl" tying today. She stood like an angel. Check out that relaxed headset. I love to see her with a loose lip and cocked hoof. 

Too bad the lighting is awkward.

I saddled her up and took her to the arena. She was relaxed and responsive at the walk, trot, and canter. Even when she raised her energy in response to cars driving by or the wind in the trees, she never reached the brain-melted-out-the-ears stage. I don't have pictures, and I don't know how to put it into words, but this session was perfect. Everything was perfect. The connection was there, the words flowed between us. I wish it was always like that. But I know that if every day was like today, today wouldn't be so extraordinary.

Avalon and I had a great day! It was hot, but the breeze kept it from being too hot. We spent our session at liberty in the round pen. We even got a few steps of sideways at liberty. She reared once - seems to be her default reaction when she doesn't know the right answer. This time, I pushed her through it and she didn't try that answer again.