KL: what happened next

Well its been a couple of weeks now since the clinic. Fi has been ridden both weekends, and has been sound. Though she did look slightly sore on line last week. As usual she was better under saddle.

I experimented a bit with the trot, and found that going rising "unlocked" it a lot. This is interesting because there are times when she objects to me rising - often when she first trots (and may not be fully warmed up).

So although it makes sense that rising would allow her to move more freely, there were good reasons why I wasn't ! I wonder whether this is a "cue" she has learnt - that sitting is more likely to mean a slow western jog, and rising means "dressage" trot ?

Something that came up with one of the other riders in their sessions was about how you stop the horse. Her horse was bunching up in the downward transitions and her back end seemed to pop up. Kathleen suggested the rider think of the back feet doing the transition... and that improved it. It seems that the horse was having trouble directing the energy when the downward transition was front feet first - like running the back feet into a brick wall... at speed !

It is an interesting challenge for the rider - to breathe, have the footfall continually in mind, and direct the horse where to go. I have been listening to some CDs from Paul McKenna recently - and he uses a technique where he gets you to count down from 300, and then talks you through the session while you do so. I wonder whether that "split attention" practice is helping in the multitasking I now find myself facing.

I know it is partly because it is all still front of mind. So I have to try and time in thinking the hind feet to, for example, a halt, while also getting the timing of the exhale and hand aids spot on. It is a bit like rubbing your stomach while patting your head ;)

Anyway, I've also been using Kathleen's "0.5 on the leg and then back it up" (with the whip) with Rosie and my mother. Rosie seems a lot happier and has a better attitude that way (we had been heading that way before the clinic, but Kathleen's words gave me a better way to explain it). Rosie still feels she can negotiate everything, but is starting to listen to the rider for longer periods of time before then coming up with her own ideas again. Although quite a cheeky little pony she is, underneath, quite insecure. So being offered leadership is something she is beginning to feel is a comfort zone. The downside is that she is then more affected if her rider gets a bit wobbly and nervous !

We also had the chance to try them all in a treeless saddle the other day. It was a size that better suited mum than me, but was quite an interesting experience. My sister now has a different model that is one size up - and we all prefer. I can hopefully borrow it to try on Fi at some stage. When I tried Fi in the original treeless, she was fine but not entirely sure about rising trot. (went tense, flicked her tail etc). I felt I was going too far back as I sat. I adjusted the saddle slightly further forward (more where her western saddle would sit), and that helped a little - but then the girth was really too far forward. It will be interesting to see if the dressage treeless suits her any better.

I still have to sort out what to do with my Easisit. I have not taken Fi down to get it checked and refitted because of her unsoundness. It simply did not seem fair to put a sore horse in a trailer and expect her to balance ! But if she stays vaguely sound, I really ought to make my mind up if the Easisit is ever going to suit the pair of us. If not, perhaps a treeless dressage saddle is an option ? It is certainly a lot lighter !

Kathleen Lindley - more

Kathleen carries a bottle of drink on a small loop, and tends to let it swing as she talks and teaches. Someone asked her about it - she said "its a teaching tool as well as a bottle of drink" and asked a question "how do you stop the bottle from moving quickly but without disturbing the liquid inside ?"

People start suggesting things - and Kathleen checks them out. e.g. dropping it stops it - but disturbs the water... and so on.

Then she reveals the answer - as it swings up, she directs the energy and brings it to a halt - it stops and the liquid inside is smooth. "redirect the energy" she said, with a smile ;)

Kathleen Lindley July 12th (day 3)

One of the sessions I watched before riding included working on getting the horse to the mounting block. This was something that had been described to me before but I hadn’t seen first hand. In this scenario, the horse’s “job” is to come and “pick up” the rider from the mounting block. The horse is halted a few strides away from the block and the person gets up on the block. The person uses a “kiss” cue to ask the horse to take a step forward.

I have seen the kiss cue used before, in trailer loading. There is a distinction here that the kiss is a cue used in context. Kathleen commented that her trailer loading cue is “an open trailer and a kiss cue”. She has horses that will cue off the open trailer alone and that is not always ideal/wanted.

In this case the kiss cue is being used in the context of the rider being on top of something – a mounting block, a fence, a tree stump etc etc.

The horse learns that the kiss cue means step forward – and will ultimately string it all together so one kiss gets the horse all the way in to position. As the horse learns this however, they sometimes swing their hindquarters away from the block. If this happened, Kathleen stayed on the block and asked the horse to move (normally back) until a sideways step back in to line happened. She commented that it was the horse’s job to fix that issue. i.e. that it is not up to the person to create the straightening step – just ask the horse to move and let them fix it.

Kathleen also commented that initially, when starting to teach this, the horse does not understand what end result is wanted. So as soon as possible, you let them know. When the horse got close enough for mounting, Kathleen felt over the saddle, rocked it, patted the horse. But she didn’t get on. She got off the block, walked away with the horse and started over. After the first couple of times she also moved the block and started over some place new. The association with the saddle helps the horse put the work in to a context “oh its about mounting….”

To our session: The final day of the clinic tends to be a day for consolidating what you have done the previous days

I had been riding Fi in her normal bridle (loose ring French link). Kathleen asked me about trying the Rockin S snaffle. I asked why (did she think Fi had a problem with inconsistent contact ?) but said yes anyway as I had no problem trying something new. Kathleen just wanted to see if Fi would settle more in her head/mouth/contact with the different bit.

My objective for the last session was to improve the walk enough to start thinking about the trot. She was still not settling in walk-halt all the time but was a lot better. In walk I worked on using the footfall (inside foot) to lead/make turns – this acted as a “test” of her calmness and my mental focus before we moved in to trot.

At one stage she started wanting to bug out about something at the audience end of the arena, but I was so focused on footfall and I just kept asking her to come back to me and focus, and she settled. (Kathleen commented later – that was the most consistent *I* had been).

Initially the trot was quite rushed and it felt like there was no real connection. Mentally Fi was busy and all over the place and I felt I was trying to “catch” her thought with mine. Trying to “do” footfall, breathing, and ask for softness was difficult. Kathleen suggested focusing on breathing and footfall.

I realized I was reverting to leg and hand, for example when Fi veered away from the long side, rather than using the footfall as we had in walk. When I focused on the footfall again I realized she was veering off the longside because the going was deep there. When I “insisted” she stay out, she then rushed – basically she was finding it difficult. I hadn’t been listening enough to realize that and when I then asked her to stay in slightly, she seemed to offer back that she would try the deep stuff if I wanted.

As we worked on trot, every so often she broke back to walk. I found if I thought not only of the footfall under me, but also of the next few strides ahead, the trot got smoother and she broke less. (Katheen commented that we do this automatically when we walk ourselves – managing where our feet are now and planning how to deal with where we will be walking soon. Perhaps by being more aware of that in the everyday, it would make doing that when riding easier for me). However it still felt a little like I was riding with the handbrake on and I need to think a bit about why that might be. There was less swing in the trot than there had been in the walk.

When talking about the footfall in trot, and how I had found it hard to get and keep a connection when Fi got mentally busy, Kathleen commented that there needs to be connection going both ways horse-to-rider and rider-to-horse, but those two flows/connections may not be in the same place.

I asked Kathleen later if she thought the Rockin S snaffle had helped Fi at all. I did feel she was very slightly more solid and consistent, but it was hard to know if that was the snaffle, or all the other stuff we were working on. Kathleen said she felt it had not made a big difference.

Key themes:
It is way too easy to revert to "old" behaviour and habits when things start to unravel, but that just makes them unravel faster and further (DOH!)
You can't hear what your horse is saying unless you are listening (rather than "talking" consistently). Having a still quiet mind is not the same as doing nothing.

Kathleen Lindley July 11th (day 2)

While watching another rider, I asked Kathleen whether we set up some problems for ourselves because we create releases rather than letting a natural release happen out of the situation. She did a demonstration on me where, facing each other, we held each other’s forearm and she asked me to say when she made a release. I could feel the slightest of pressure change. I identified 3 different releases and she told me afterwards – one was from her fingers, one from her elbows, and one from shoulder/back. Then she dropped my arm – and asked me how that felt. It felt awful ! Kathleen commented that a release can be going from a “4” to a “3” and that going to a “0” often is not the good thing we think it is AND means we then have to make the connection/contact again before we can ask again.

In my session, we started with the work we had finished with the day before – walk-halt. Fi was calmer and getting the calm halt more often, or moving her feet less when asked to turn. Sometimes she was just moving her front feet in the turn and Kathleen suggested I just “mix up” the front feet and ask for the halt again. As she was getting it maybe 50% of the time, we then moved on to work on something else (the walk).

Kathleen asked me to think the hind feet through under the cinch. Then she asked me to think of swinging the front feet out under her nose. Both of these improved the walk and calmness. Then I had to add them both together! That was a bit harder as mentally I needed to think hind –front – hind –front so had to swap between images (cinch, nose, cinch, nose) and get which foot I was thinking right. And remember to breathe! The walk slowed and it felt as if Fi was waiting for me to “think” each foot. The walk was also softer. I used the footfall for halt as well, planting the hind foot and thinking the nose down. The first few times were solid halts but she did still struggle sometimes to be soft and not move her feet. I found it hard to get the image back when she “left” mentally, but overall it was a big improvement.

I had worked on some of these ideas – feeling footfall in walk and halt – 3 years previously. But moving the hind and fore feet was something I had seen done with other people and tried at home by myself. Working on this with Kathleen was quite a different experience as you have someone there who can guide you in what you are doing, and feedback on the result. It was a more intense experience, with much better results. It was as if before I had been thinking the feet with “lightness” but this time it was with a real connection, one that was solid for a majority of the time.

Kathleen commented that on day 1 Fi had not really been trying – but today she was.

Key themes for the day:
Focus – my focus on footfall massively improved both the walk *and* Fi’s focus on the job at hand

Kathleen Lindley July 10th

Kathleen Lindley, 10-12 July 2007

Background – Fi has DJD in her left hock and this has led to referred issues elsewhere – most obviously in the foreleg on the same side, but possibly in her back as well. Last time Kathleen had seen Fi and I, I had wanted to work on her spooking – but there were movement, saddle fit and pain issues all contributing to that so it was difficult to know how much was going to be left of that when some of the underlying issues were dealt with. I had been auditing Mark Rashid clinics since then and using some of the ideas from those to work with Fi. Fi was showing some unlevelness right up to about 10 days before the clinic, when she suddenly seemed to improve (despite losing a shoe). So I had everything crossed that she was going to stay sound AND cope with being ridden 3 days in a row while being stabled.

Day 1: I was riding in the third slot and the first horse had already been assessed and sent home. So I was feeling pretty nervous about how Kathleen would feel about Fi’s current state of movement and whether she was going to be happy to try working with her or not. I had briefly asked Kathleen (in passing at another clinic) about the idea of bringing Fi to a clinic, and I knew she was ok with it in principle. But I was not sure where the boundary was between the horses that she won’t ask to work, and the ones she will.

So, I tacked up in the hope it would be needed, but bunged a halter and line over the bridle just in case. I had taken Fi into the outdoor school earlier for a leg stretch and see if she was still looking good (she was) so I was hoping it would work out. While Kathleen was answering questions about the previous session, I just walked Fi round the arena so she could take a look, once both ways. She was curious but not freaked out – which was a good sign to start with.

I did a quick intro to Fi, what I wanted to work on (helping her move as well as she could) and off we went. We started just in walk. I don’t quite remember why, but we had a brief conversation about warming up – whether the horse really needed it or not (and how much). Fi had been standing in a stable. I commented that I needed warming up as well – and that when I had come in, I realized my heart rate was way high so was working on getting it down again (with breathing). The basic idea of the conversation was that warming up is something that probably takes less than a couple of strides – doesn’t need a big deal. I think this also ties in to what Kathleen says about the horse doing a job from the moment they have a headcollar on. So it’s not about warming up, they should already be doing a job…

We started working on walk-halt transitions. What was happening was that I was asking for halt, Fi was bracing into the halt, I was waiting for her to soften. Fi was going soft and then immediately trying to walk on again. (I was using the cue I had worked on with Kathleen 3 years previously, and was using the breathing approach I have seen Mark talk people through many times. Although doing it in practice, in front of an audience, is never quite so easy as it looks !)

Kathleen talked about how you do reward the try – but you have to go beyond that as well else they never actually do the job, just “try”.

What I had inadvertently set up with Fi was that the correct thing to do was go soft and walk on. Not that she was supposed to stay soft and stay still til I asked for something else.

So we worked on that. Ask for halt and then wait for her to settle and stay soft. When I didn’t just let her walk on when she went soft, she offered a set of responses other than just staying soft. She was very busy in feel and attitude – she would halt, soften, bump up against the contact, back up, chomp on the bit, lift her (right) foot, a whole series of patterns of behaviour. Then she added in left sidepass (but not right) as the back up etc failed to make a difference to what I was asking. (And I just kept representing – what I want is this – a soft halt).

As we worked through these patterns, she seemed to quiet and start to calm and offer the softness. But then the energy came back but more, and the patterns got slightly more frenetic and just as insistent. At this stage Kathleen asked me to start turning her, either way, and then halting when she offered to stop. i.e. I would ask for halt, Fi would brace halt then start to backup or lift a foot etc and at that point I would ask for a tight turn, and take the halt when offered. This started to get somewhere and by the end we were getting it maybe 50% of the time, with a calmer mind and pace.

Fi had been cycling through a set of patterns but was getting stuck offering the same options rather than starting to offer the calm soft halt. By changing the response (with the turn) I was countering what she was offering and trying to help her find the right response to what she was being asked for.

Kathleen talked about Fi not wanting to let go – not just of the behaviour but of her muscles etc. When she started to let go, it would do her a lot of good as she would be able to move better.

We did let her take a break and just walk a couple of times, and the walk each time was better – better movement, calmer, more swing.

Key themes for the day:

Reward the try, but don’t forget to move them on to doing the job they are asked to do
Be clear what you are asking for
Be consistent with your cues, what you reward etc

its raining its pouring...

well its been a while since I posted last. A number of reasons

one is the rain - we've had such changeable weather - mostly rain - that it has just been impossible to do anything

and when it has been clear, I've checked Fi on the lunge and just felt she was not quite there...

but the long awaited Kathleen Lindley clinic is next week. So I have been in a state trying to work out what to do. The pony I had in mind as a backup to Fi has gone back into sweet itch mode so could not stay in a stable :(

I'm going to be brave and take Fi and see how she goes.

One of the few weekends we did manage to get out, big sis came down with her highland pony and escorted Rosie and I along the road to the next farm, where there is some set aside. Mum did have a brief sit as well - off the road. Rosie was fine, if a a little shocked at the effort she was required to make ! We didn't see any traffic on the way out, but had 2 cars, a cyclist, and a strimming neighbour behind the hedge. It was only really the strimmer that worried her at all - she could hear it but not see it. Even then she wasn't naughty, just a little tense and hurried.

I think Rosie will be my backup pony if Fi does go lame.

Fi managed to lose a front shoe - but got reshod today. We may have to think about getting Rosie shod, at least on the front, if she starts to go out and about a bit more.