I've been thinking a lot lately about training the green horse, mostly because Bailey just got over feeling "green" in my head and now I've got a new "green" OTTB. If you know me, you know my obsessive brain will sit and grind on something until I find a solution that starts working for me. I can't help it. The subject, at least, is interesting to me because despite the fact that Arya and Bailey are both (pretty much) Thoroughbreds, they are very unalike. I'm sure I know why; Arya was raised as a racehorse, while Bailey wasn't "raised" - she is, after all, the #feralredhorse and was basically a semi wild thing until they hauled her out of the pasture at 4 and threw a whole bunch of new stuff at her at once.
Both of the mares have some behavior issues on the ground; they both want to be distracted and lunge like drunkards, and both tend to invade your space and want to walk all over you. I know it takes time, and I know it takes consistency to resolve the issues. Thankfully Bailey was great training for Arya, who is stronger and a bit harder to handle.
Bailey, however, was always quite bold in a chicken-shit kind of way. She took easily enough to new things without too much anxiety or panic. Foxie was anxious, but not nearly so bad as Arya is, so maybe it is a track thing. Or a "I've had less than perfect interactions with people" thing. Foxie was, at first, a terror to jump because she was forward, on her forehand, and had no brakes. Bailey was easy to teach to jump, and progressed quickly because she rarely got frazzled about things. She was better with single fences than things like bounces, but she figured them out fairly quickly and without drama. She wasn't too fussed about hitting poles (which is why I jokingly called her Miley and started to wonder if clear rounds were ever in our future) but not being too fussed is kind of a nice attitude.
Arya, on the other hand, is starting to show me several things:
- She prefers to walk or run. Trotting is not her thing, despite her trot being quite well balanced and nice.
- She is utterly allergic to wood. Like, leaps over ground poles allergic to wood.
- New things (at least right now) cause her to shut down.
The last point is a bit disappointing to me; I know it's mostly a mix of being green and not knowing me well enough yet, but after reviewing trot poles on a circle Monday night, I pointed her at a pair of poles set out as trot poles. And she screeched to a halt and refused to move forward. I got off, and tried to lead her forward. Nope. I removed a pole, and it took a good smack or three with my lead rope to get her to step over it. And then I introduced the second pole again, much farther away. And then moved it in 2 feet. And then another 2 feet. And then she would walk over it, and then walked through them under saddle. But any attempt to trot the poles resulted in her cantering them. Admittedly, she did get praised because she bounced them perfectly on her first try, but still.
I really like to trot new stuff because it's been so effective with Bailey - I have more control over the feet, and because of that, I had more control over making her go. This doesn't seem the case with Arya. So far,, my voice seems to be the deciding factor. I don't ride her with spurs, and like most OTTBs she does have a bit of a beef with a whip.
Am I supposed to just... canter everything? I feel like it doesn't get much simpler than poles. Crossrails seem to frazzle her, just like the trot poles did. I'm nervous to put her over even a x-rail with the sides at 2' because I have this feeling two things will happen: she could jump me out of the tack into the next millennium, or stop, hard, and if I stay on and get to the other end of the fence... she's going to take off with me.
My plan, tonight, is to keep trying; we will try the trot poles again and try for an actual trot. We will work on keeping our brain in our head. I'm heavily considering throwing a pelham on her, even though I know it is a risk. The french link pelham I have went over fantastically with Foxie, and went swimmingly along with Bailey - until she felt the leverage, and then it caused lots of panicked rearing because she was "trapped". It could cause rearing, and there's always the greater risk that I'll slam her in the mouth because I'm out of shape and don't give Bailey extravagant releases. There's also the chance that she will take off with me and I will die. I don't love the mullen mouth pelham Fox wore for years, but perhaps that is a slightly safer option?
So. I'll be waffling over that for the next 6 hours or so.
Yay, baby horse problems!
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| Bailey's first ride at home, #7 |
Both of the mares have some behavior issues on the ground; they both want to be distracted and lunge like drunkards, and both tend to invade your space and want to walk all over you. I know it takes time, and I know it takes consistency to resolve the issues. Thankfully Bailey was great training for Arya, who is stronger and a bit harder to handle.
Bailey, however, was always quite bold in a chicken-shit kind of way. She took easily enough to new things without too much anxiety or panic. Foxie was anxious, but not nearly so bad as Arya is, so maybe it is a track thing. Or a "I've had less than perfect interactions with people" thing. Foxie was, at first, a terror to jump because she was forward, on her forehand, and had no brakes. Bailey was easy to teach to jump, and progressed quickly because she rarely got frazzled about things. She was better with single fences than things like bounces, but she figured them out fairly quickly and without drama. She wasn't too fussed about hitting poles (which is why I jokingly called her Miley and started to wonder if clear rounds were ever in our future) but not being too fussed is kind of a nice attitude.
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| Baby's first oxer |
Arya, on the other hand, is starting to show me several things:
- She prefers to walk or run. Trotting is not her thing, despite her trot being quite well balanced and nice.
- She is utterly allergic to wood. Like, leaps over ground poles allergic to wood.
- New things (at least right now) cause her to shut down.
The last point is a bit disappointing to me; I know it's mostly a mix of being green and not knowing me well enough yet, but after reviewing trot poles on a circle Monday night, I pointed her at a pair of poles set out as trot poles. And she screeched to a halt and refused to move forward. I got off, and tried to lead her forward. Nope. I removed a pole, and it took a good smack or three with my lead rope to get her to step over it. And then I introduced the second pole again, much farther away. And then moved it in 2 feet. And then another 2 feet. And then she would walk over it, and then walked through them under saddle. But any attempt to trot the poles resulted in her cantering them. Admittedly, she did get praised because she bounced them perfectly on her first try, but still.
I really like to trot new stuff because it's been so effective with Bailey - I have more control over the feet, and because of that, I had more control over making her go. This doesn't seem the case with Arya. So far,, my voice seems to be the deciding factor. I don't ride her with spurs, and like most OTTBs she does have a bit of a beef with a whip.
Am I supposed to just... canter everything? I feel like it doesn't get much simpler than poles. Crossrails seem to frazzle her, just like the trot poles did. I'm nervous to put her over even a x-rail with the sides at 2' because I have this feeling two things will happen: she could jump me out of the tack into the next millennium, or stop, hard, and if I stay on and get to the other end of the fence... she's going to take off with me.
 |
| I'm not completely unused to this but still. |
My plan, tonight, is to keep trying; we will try the trot poles again and try for an actual trot. We will work on keeping our brain in our head. I'm heavily considering throwing a pelham on her, even though I know it is a risk. The french link pelham I have went over fantastically with Foxie, and went swimmingly along with Bailey - until she felt the leverage, and then it caused lots of panicked rearing because she was "trapped". It could cause rearing, and there's always the greater risk that I'll slam her in the mouth because I'm out of shape and don't give Bailey extravagant releases. There's also the chance that she will take off with me and I will die. I don't love the mullen mouth pelham Fox wore for years, but perhaps that is a slightly safer option?
So. I'll be waffling over that for the next 6 hours or so.
Yay, baby horse problems!
No advice on bits, with Ramone it was a let's try everything sort of deal. With Dante so far the first choice has been absolutely fine and no need to change out. It's always frustrating when they choose shut down as an option since that also makes it so very, very hard to get through to them that everything is going to be ok.
ReplyDeleteGreen horse probs! I feel your pain haha.
ReplyDeleteHenry really likes to shut down also (whereas Mystic will bring the sass). I have no idea if this is any help but it seemed to help Henry a lot to get an excessive amount of verbal praise and pets for doing almost nothing. You trotted over one pole? OMG BEST HORSE EVER GOOD BOY. Even when I took him to a little show I talked to him and patted him the whole time (which was good for a last place trot pole finish haha). I don't need to do it as much now but for some reason it seemed to really help him. I also sort of view in it a positive light that he freezes/stops when he's unsure, I prefer that to bolting off into oblivion haha.
Good luck tonight! I like the idea of experimenting with other bits too :)
I would stick with poles at the walk and trot before you do any more jumping. Just putter. Don't put a time limit on things. Don't get angry at her. The more you make it unpleasant to walk or trot over a pole, the harder it may be in the future. So what if it takes her weeks to master trotting over a single pole? Put single poles all over the place and just get her used to plopping over them throughout the ride. Heck, maybe even put them in her pasture or the barn so she HAS to walk over it to get to her grain, etc. I personally would not bit up because she needs confidence not leverage. Time, time, and more time. No agenda. You can do this!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. Going faster is not going to get you anywhere faster. Slower is faster in the end. #goodenglish ;)
DeleteBut how does one slow down an equine freight train who answers questions with speed? Alas. #ottbproblems
DeleteQuiet, methodical repetition. Seriously until you are so bored and she is so bored that she does it calmly. Like maybe you do the same walking exercise over poles for weeks or even months until she can do it at the trot. I think the key is YOU stay quiet and unfazed by her. Something is causing her anxiety (and her answer is speed), so just keep showing her she can walk over one pole again and again and again. Like I said, maybe put them all out around your ring and just do a walk warm up with lots of changes of direction and keep walking calmly over the poles. It might not happen for a few rides, but eventually if you stay calm, I bet she will give in and figure it out. Calm. Slow. No fighting.
Deletei just wrote out my next post on that velvet horse i'm riding and in discussing her flat work, remembered a favorite quote from a trainer: "if what you're doing isn't working, slow down." that philosophy has worked super well for the horses i've tried it on despite all their individual little quirks, and they've all benefited from being shown each component piece of a puzzle before being asked to solve the whole thing. i wonder, in arya's case, if there's some sort of similar work you can do that approximates pole work but is somehow visually different? like just working on "sending" her over or through things from the ground, around other types of obstacles like cones or the mounting block. or maybe using more natural style elements like big branches or something? idk...
ReplyDeleteWe definitely need to work on sending - I like that idea! And she could definitely do with being more worldly and see and work around more weird things.
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