Good day today. Peter rang this morning to ask, seeing that it was such a perfect spring day, could he bring Emmy down and we'd have a Natural Horsemanship play. For the first time Balthazar ran away when I went to get him but I think it was the excitement of having a strange horse in the yards. He wasn't hard to catch. Cleaned both horses up and took them to the arena. Peter helped me with the preliminary 'games' to assess the readiness of the horse to work. Balthazar was a bit 'up' at first but soon settled. Emmy, an old hand from many camps and much practice at home, was unfazed by the strange surroundings and strange horse. Peter helped me with some problems, specifically Balthazar spiralling in on the circle. Also, going through the games gave me some homework. I did use c/t during todays session. I don't want to bump him, as Peter suggested when I was attempting to get Balthazar to give to a turn on the hindquarter. I want to just use consistent pressure and when he gives, to reward that give. Balthazar did pick it up so I'm very pleased. Also, I don't want Balthazar to disengage his hindquarter to stop on the circle. He is too ready to face me already. I want him to stop on the circle, ideally bent to the same degree on the circle when he halts as when he's is going.
Certainly I don't have the xperience of Ken Falkner or Pat Parelli and am probably wrong in attempting to do things my way but I want everything I do on the ground to be relevant when I am on his back. For example to halt when walking beside the horse, Ken advises asking them to give the head *away* from the handler. There's something else too whether it's a tug on the lead or what I don't remember, I just remember thinking I wouldn't be riding the horse and asking him to move away from my hand flapping at his eye. I've been walking parallel, saying whoa and raising the hand with the lead rope, trying to duplicate from the ground what Balthazar would 'feel' when I was riding (plus using the voice of course). So that's what I did. It's not Faulkner, it's not Parelli but until I can see the sense of asking him to give way to a flapping hand, it's what I'll do. If he learns the commands through clicker training, it's not so much 'giving to pressure'. He can learn everything he needs to know with a reward as the goal to have an attempt at it.
Instead of asking for a complete sloppy circle of turning on the forehand or turningn on the hindquarter, I would ask for one good step and reward that. Because we moved on to other exercises I didn't attempt to perfect them. I just wanted the basics to practice when Peter's not around. I can look for improvement when we practice solo. I truly believe c/t is a far superior method of training. Giving to pressure works but what's in it to motivate the horse? Why should he try for you?
Unfortunately Balthazar was lame. Not badly. It only showed up at the trot on the circle as a bit of unevenness. Still, he's been 'spelling' for two years so I'm not sure what else to do. It's the same hoof that had the abscess but that's long ago now and shouldn't be affecting him. Could find no swelling or heat in leg or hoof. Of course I don't have hoof testers so can't tell if it's the hoof or not. The lameness is very minor yet I don't want to ride him when he's not right. Took the saddle down and thought if everything went well I'd have a ride on him.
Peter is goingn to modify my old endurance bridle, made of lightweight nylon, so that I can attach reins to it. He took Balthazar's measurement (above the muzzle). Riding with this modified bridle will give clearer signals than riding with the knot below a regular rope halter like a pseudo bosal.
I didn't realize I missed horses so much. I fed them every day, turned them out in the morning, patted them, checked them over for problems, sometimes groomed them, especially in the spring when they are losing their winter coats, but otherwise I hadn't interacted with them for such a long time. Now I'm excited, looking forward to going bush, riding in company (Peter's got an old friend, also a horseperson who is keen to trail ride), and just spending special time with my special horse.
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