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Post by beksnjake on Nov 19, 2012 13:23:38 GMT
She comes in very calmly so I don't think there's anything electric by the field entrance. While I was away Heidi looked after them for me and she let Rosie find her own way to the field from the yard (all of about 5m!) which she did - apparently bit speedy once she got into the field but soon settled. So I'll continue to do that.
Nice little session in the school today - very very windy so had to work on keeping Rosie's attention on me as she was constantly hearing things in the distance. But she does come back to you & is now actually coming to stand with me, if we pause for some thinking time. Got some nice sideways movements with both front & hind feet. Back up is getting less tense too, she still will at times back up one foot at a time but as I've said before she finds backwards emotionally difficult. I am able to be quieter & more subtle in how I ask her to back up now (not that I was "shouting" but louder than with Jake!) so I know the diagonal pairs will come in time.
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 21, 2012 12:21:52 GMT
Rosie D & The Bekster are invincible You all know me - I am a fair weather weather. I don't do rain - of any sort (OK last years Rushers Cross clinic in June was an exception - a very wet exception!!). I also don't really do windy weather either - so combine the two and I am most definitely not a happy bunny. This morning it was WET and WINDY and mother made me ride out! In fairness to mum, I am trying to hack out Rosie at least a couple of times a week with her & Jake to familiarise her with our hacks, plus I do need to know what she is like in all weather, but god I hate rain! As we came out of our yard a huge juggernaut approached - the driver stopped for us but Rosie started fussing a bit, not because of the lorry but because Jake had backed into her. We decided to go back into the yard but Rosie (bless her) couldn't quite work out how to push open the gate so wouldn't initially walk forward. I manged to lean over her neck & push the gate and she walked through quite happily what was quite a small gap! Lorry goes past and we start off again. As does the rain (oh deep joy!). Anyway we have an uneventful hack, very windy in places & somewhat damp. Rosie's energy was a little more up today - when we trotted she would take off very fast, but did settle into a more rhythmical steady trot after a few strides. I think she does find it difficult to trot at the speed I am asking her to as it is much slower than she is used to, but its coming. Just as we approached home mum said "Oh there's a tractor ahead" - yep a big green & yellow one with a trailer on the back! The driver stopped for us, opposite a driveway we could have gone into, but there was room to ride past. I told mum to keep Jake walking and I'd see if Rosie would go past the tractor. . . . . . . . . . . of course she did She hesitated slightly as we approached and I just kept my legs on and told her to walk on. The trailer was full of sheep too, who fortunately did remain quiet as we walked past. What a superstar this little mare is
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 21, 2012 18:17:40 GMT
Turning out seems to be settling too. What we now do is open up the field entrances (we have 3 lots of slip rails so you can vary which entrance you use when it gets muddy). Then as you walk past with Jake, just quietly undo Rosie's halter. Initially she would run round the yard a bit, now she follows Jake and then canters off as she goes into the field. Jake is so good, he just stands quietly as she runs past & then will join her once you've taken off his halter. She still is running but it's definitely slower than last week so I have no doubt that in a few weeks we should be able to lead her out.
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 22, 2012 13:25:19 GMT
Today I just worked Rosie in our yard, wanted to see if I could get her to walk to the field entrance. She will plant by her stable if she thinks you are going to take her out, don't know why. Anyway armed with a pockets full of treats (very food orientated is our Rosie!), I just quietly asked her to change her weight or even better still take a step forward. We got to the edge of the stables, so then I took her back to outside her stable & sat on the mounting block enjoying the sun. I moved the mounting block a few feet towards the field and allowed Rosie to find her own way to me (& a treat!) without any pressure on the rope. Each time she moved to me she got lots of praise and we sat in the sun together, just being for a few minutes. I eventually got the mounting block to the field entrance and Rosie joined me. No obvious anxiety but I did notice that she didn't graze (Jake would have had his head straight down!). Jake then called to her & she whickered back but didn't leave me After a couple of minutes I took her back to her stable. Think I need to do lots and lots of this - it was totally intuitive and off the cuff but seemed to work.
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Post by quest on Nov 22, 2012 18:48:22 GMT
Wow brilliant, just think of the relationship your building
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 22, 2012 19:41:35 GMT
She is very sweet quest and is beginning to look to me for reassurance - but unlike Jake I have set firm boundaries right from the start. She knows that she does not just walk into or out of her stable - I have had no barging at all. She waits until I say she can move. She backs away from her stable door when asked. She is also picking up her feet as I touch her legs with a simple command of "hup". She leads politely too. I can't believe how good she was with the tractor & trailer yesterday. The anxiety over turn-out is going to take time, you can see her getting tense as you put on her rug, so in time I will work her in the yard with her rug on. I think some of it is the fact she is turned out at night, but she has no reason to worry, she is only turned out with one other horse who is not going to crowd her at the gateway - in fact in the mornings she tells Jake to get back as she comes in first, Jake will just stand at the open gateway until I get him (trained him well!). And she comes in really quietly. So it's all a bit of a mystery.
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 24, 2012 13:11:03 GMT
Another session in the yard this morning after I'd ridden Jake. Just put the halter on Rosie (with 12ft rope) & then put on her rug as it was beginning to rain quite heavily. I then just repeated what I did on Thursday. Much quicker to get into the field this morning - she's a quick learner! Even led her round the field and back into the yard twice. Got a little tense when I undid the halter in the field - was just experimenting to see what the trigger is for her, so did it back up & then repeated that a couple of times, giving her a treat when she became less tense. At no point did she try to leave though. Am pleased with her but this is very much a work in progress.
Meant to say that interestingly we get really nice soft back ups when we do this work in the yard because Rosie is thinking back towards Jake rather than forward into the field!
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Post by frenchie on Nov 24, 2012 20:47:09 GMT
You could incorporate some head lowering into the mix Beks, when this is good you can use when removing her halter. Might help her to stay more relaxed. Worth a try
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 25, 2012 11:05:51 GMT
Good idea. I have been doing a bit of head lowering with her. She naturally carries her head quite high & I have picked up a bit of anxiety from Rosie when asking her to lower her head - similar to when I ask her to back up. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Post by el on Nov 25, 2012 11:32:32 GMT
love reading this great work becks
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 25, 2012 15:58:40 GMT
Thanks el. This is proving to be a very different experience for me compared to when I got Jake 14 years ago. A lot of what I'm doing with Rosie feels pretty intuitive but in reality it's based on prior experiences. Over the past 4 years I've worked hard on my feel & timing and that I feel is showing in my work with Rosie. Jake has been a great teacher & Josh was great to work with too. But I think Rosie will take my horsemanship to another level.
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Post by redhorseracinguk on Nov 25, 2012 17:35:02 GMT
I am keeping up with this and lurking between prep for baby's arrival. I love how well you seem to be getting on with Rosie. I can't wait to visit next year. Well done Xx
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Post by beksnjake on Nov 28, 2012 15:15:05 GMT
Turning out is improving, seemed as if we had turned a corner last night as it only took five minutes to get Rosie into the field and she stood quietly while I took off her halter. I have been putting a little more tension in the rope when I'm putting her out, not a pull but more of a directing thing. It's been very interesting how Rosie then plays with this, adjusting her weight slightly & changing the pressure on the rope before walking to me & getting the release (& a treat!) - Jake has never done this - or perhaps he did in the early days & I just didn't have the timing or feel to know what it was. Am pretty sure I'll have mum doing this with her within the next week or so!
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Post by beksnjake on Dec 2, 2012 17:09:14 GMT
Ha ha just read last post, how wrong could I be! But think we have a solution that seems to be working. Taking down the slip rails and allowing Rosie to find her way into the field, with no pressure.
Today I bit the bullet and hacked out Rosie with mum, meeting up with L & Polly. God it was funny - Jake & his harem! Both mares were a little put out at not being the only female & kept checking each other out. At one point Polly over took Rosie and firmly positioned herself behind Jake but Rosie nipped back in place when Polly stopped to have a poo ;D
Jake was seemingly unaware of the rivalry going on behind him but I suspect he was secretly rather chuffed to have 2 mares with him. Only slight problem we had was the volley of gunshots that happened very close to us and all of the ponies jumped but all settled very quickly. We changed our route slightly on the way home so that we wouldn't be so close to any further shooting - this is an increasing problem at the moment, not organised shoots but individuals just shooting anywhere on any day. Trouble is you never know where they are!
Rosie got a little wound up by Polly trotting up too close behind her (had repeatedly asked L to keep her distance but I think Polly was trying to get to Jake) but it wasn't anything to worry about. A lovely ride in the winter sunshine.
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Post by beksnjake on Dec 2, 2012 20:54:08 GMT
Been weigh-taping Rosie weekly since I got her and she has put on about 25+ kg over the past four weeks and measured her today and she is 15hh - just!!
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