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Hobby Forum Index » Equestrian » Rain And All That Riding Jazz...
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| Eileen Morgan... |
 Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:16 pm |
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Guest
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Well, backing her, at any rate.
Started out with Michelle doing some longe work, just making sure she
was quiet and not crazy. Then we went to pulling around on the saddle,
the stirrups, bumping her. I brought in the mounting block and she
spooked at me carrying it, so Michelle had me throw it at her (making
sure not to hit her, of course) and then she worked her in hand around
it, over it, on it, in front of it, behind it, laterally, straight, you
name it. Then Michelle got on the block and patted, rubbed, slapped
bumped, dragged around on the saddle, etc.
I had my helmet and XC vest on, got on the block, did the same, and we
turned her head so she could see me there on both sides, with my
scratching her face. Then I stuck a foot in the stirrup, heaved up onto
my belly, and lay there. We let Rain look at me with both eyes again,
then took one step and I slid off. Later, rinse, repeat both sides 2x I
think each.
Then we had the "now, touch her side with your hand" (ie, so you can
mount and dismount with a swinging leg and not get killed if it touches
her, or carry a whip and touch her, or whatever). This was the Cue To
Freak Out and Rain took a big leap and buck. I slid off, Michelle made
her work some and took to slapping her flanks and hips with the longe
line all looped up. The point of that was since she was over reacting,
we wanted a big stimulation until she would ignore it. Worked her a
little more, stood her up against the block. I draped over the saddle
again, not touching. Michelle asked her to take two steps forward and we
had Cue to Leap again. This time she got a bigger corrective workout,
then Michelle worked her on and over and around the block some more.
Michelle put the saddle way back in the middle of her gut and pulled it
tight like a quasi buck strap and then worked her to get her to engage
with the discomfort of a bad saddle location and get over it.
Once she was bored of the whole 'people are pulling, patting, leaning,
and thumping on me' thing, we went back to my putting a foot in the
stirrup, stepping up and laying over her back. Then Michelle backed her
up rather than having her go forward (hard to leap and buck in reverse
gear), then brought her forward again.
Next she had me stand on the block with it pulled back away from Rain,
lean over and grab the cantle, dig my elbow into her loin for some
balance, and leap off the block, twisting sideways to body check her
with my side in the Cue to Kick Zone--if she cow kicked she'd just get
my butt, not anything terribly important. AND then I sort of hung/pulled
into her side until she got bored of moving away from me and just braced
and stood. We did this on both sides until the leap and bump routine was
No Big Deal.
When that was no big deal we went back to the side where we had the
Bucking Leaping When Touched Issue (mind you, standing on the block I
could lean over her and thump or rub away on those spots of her body
with no response, it was just when we had my weight AND being touched in
the no touch me zone that we had issues). I eased on, we took some
steps, first a few back (less than last time) and then some forward.
THEN I went back to running my hand around on her side and hip, patting
and rubbing, and she stood up like a brick.
So! We started very well indeed, had some Rain Dramatic Queen time, and
then went back to very good again.
Carl was filming with the video camera, so tonight or maybe tomorrow or
the next day we will get some clips up on my web site so folks can see
what I am talking about.
I know if we had gotten on very quietly with very low stimulation Rain
would have stood, taken some steps, and not exhibited any behavior. BUT
the goal here is to teach her that she must tolerate, that sometimes
mounting blocks move or make noise, she might bump it with her legs, I
might kick her side by accident getting on or off, etc etc and this has
to be No Big Deal.
Tomorrow, more of same, hopefully with less drama!
Eileen Morgan, Crash Test Dummy
The Mare's Nest
http://www.themaresnest.com |
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