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