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.
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.
posted by seahorse | 2:59 PM
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