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Ozzie
Jan 30, 2011 15:20:31 GMT
Post by el on Jan 30, 2011 15:20:31 GMT
Plans for this year - back in fulltime job 3 hours from the Oz, so major plan is to get unpaid leave for a few weeks!
Schooling wise, tune up soft walk & bends, then the next major step is soft trot & bends in trot. Trot currently means Oz getting a bit revved up so we need to make it all cool, calm and relaxed. I forsee me having to do a lot of in hand jogging on that, thus am trying to get fit in Dublin in prep.
In terms of me, am trying to get Steve to return to ireland this summer, catchup in MadCatLadies and think myself & Mo are back to Blanch this Oct. Also will be heading to the Widdicombes at some stage for a catchup as well in Devon.
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Ozzie
Jan 31, 2011 10:07:50 GMT
Post by kas on Jan 31, 2011 10:07:50 GMT
They sound like good plans, apart from being so far from The Oz of course.
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Ozzie
Feb 7, 2011 21:48:44 GMT
Post by el on Feb 7, 2011 21:48:44 GMT
I MISS MY HORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Ozzie
Feb 9, 2011 21:26:47 GMT
Post by kas on Feb 9, 2011 21:26:47 GMT
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Ozzie
Mar 19, 2011 15:54:08 GMT
Post by el on Mar 19, 2011 15:54:08 GMT
SUMMER 2011!!!!!!Fair enough, its still March, lashing rain and awful but day 1 of our summer training! Oz has been out doing nothing since about October, so I came down from Dublin, and moved himself & Doug from the field into the paddock for a run around and a bit of fresh grass. Lovely weather. Lunch was ready so went in for that, all geared up to do Oz after lunch. After lunch, Oz caught himself after demanding neck scratches, and then got a groom and a bit of tlc. At this stage the rain which had been forecast as coming in from the south west had started to make its presense known. I was going to just throw on a saddle and see how it went but Oz doest work well in the rain (tends to insist on facing the one direction) so I thought maybe save that for tomorrow. I had even the lasso out as well! Anyway, rain had started, it was windy and overcast, and wherever we went Doug insisted on galoping past us at regular intervals. At this stage Oz & I just ignore him. Oz was a bit on his toes at the start, so I just walked him a few times around the perimeter of the paddock, to get us going somewhere together and get him thinking a bit more about me and working together. When he went too fast he ran into the end of the rope (cute enough he got near it once or twice but never actually touched it). So we started like this, with the 'windswept' look: Did a couple of laps both ways until our heads were a bit more aligned together, and we looked more like this: Note Dad's horse who was strategically following us around Anyway, got a fair few head throws (normal) and a few very minor rope nibbles (got back peddled) but nothing major. After a while of the walking around, started to get some big yawns from Oz. A good sign usually! Then as my photgrapher at this stage had gone indoors due to rain, I decided to see what moves we still had from last year and try and wrap it up then. So we still had: walking - both of us starting together when I raised my energy walking - both of us stopping together when i breathed out circles - with softness & bend thourgh body, soft ribs not over bent neck, and HQ furtherest away on both reins turning - both of us turning when I turned my body standing still - an oldie but a goodie head down from pressure on knot under chin - done head down, softness, 1 step backup - still here head down, softness, reverse 180 circle - still there straight sidepass - yup shoulder in - yup trot - got a bit messy, so I went back to a fast walk and insisted he stay up with him, so then he mixed up a walk and jog quite well stand while I throw stuff - yup, rope over head, neck, legs, back, waved hands around head grand football - yes he still wants to play football with the basketball Think that was about it. He was fairly focused in on me, definitely not bad anyway, not distracted looking away, just one or two feisty moments in trot when he felt good about himself. Told him he was wonderful and left it here. Soaked.
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Ozzie
Mar 20, 2011 11:55:18 GMT
Post by el on Mar 20, 2011 11:55:18 GMT
ok, absolutely thrillied!! Did about 10 mins GW (good slow walk, normal walk, fast walk turns and jpgs on a loose rein) then 45 mins in the saddle. Lovely day, sun out, chilled horses and a photographer present!!!!
Walk to Oz, threw rope over his back from a distance, he didnt seem surprised then put on the halter properly. Picked 2 two feet on one side. Then went to other side but had to move him over to make room for myself. So touched his girth area, and instead of moving over, the smart alec picked up his near fore propoerly and then waved it about at bit. Well I cracked up! First time he's done that, normally he argues when you try to pick up his feet after a while off.
All feet done, saddle on, (ohh is that the auld girth again he said to me), then went on walk & jog around the paddock then put up girth again. Did a little circling, soft and backup, stand in front and go left or right, Oz really listening to me and in work mode.
Hopped into the saddle then and sat sit for a few minutes chatting to Dad. Oz relaxed into it, and soon his eyes were closing. Got a few head shakes, including one as I touched down into the saddle.
Then sat for a bit longer, then asked for a few lateral flexions.
WELL!!!
Soft & light wasn't in it!! Of course from looking at the picks I need to remember to never pull back when i'm acking for these and will fix this nect time. But OMG soooo light, not one brace, absolutely just folowing the feel --- as good as we've ever done them and nearly as good as KOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stoked, as they say in the US, gave him another rest. At this stage the yawns started, head shakes pretty much stopped, so then after every move we got a huge YAWN from the Oz.
Then did some softens in front without movement - gorgeous
Then soften a back up a few steps - GORGOUS - so light!!!!!!!!!!!
Then soften - walk - stop- doubel chekc we're soft - lovely.
That was about it. Very chuffedm 1st day in the saddle in 6 months, and for the first time ever he rememeber what we had done together last year.
The old feistly Oz is still there & well, but if i've got this far I can def get further with him. YYYAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!
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Ozzie
Mar 20, 2011 14:37:22 GMT
Post by louisec on Mar 20, 2011 14:37:22 GMT
Brilliant! Clever boy:-)
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Ozzie
Mar 20, 2011 14:50:00 GMT
Post by el on Mar 20, 2011 14:50:00 GMT
can you believe she's just put a saddle on my back! I'm coming with you..... Going somewhere together Yes of course I remember how to backup from a suggestion Handsome horse! Time to go asleep Close up of Oz asleep Soften and backup woohoo a diversion! Still together Best my little pony impression One of many many yawns...... One of Ozs many thoughts
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Ozzie
Mar 21, 2011 9:15:41 GMT
Post by kas on Mar 21, 2011 9:15:41 GMT
Looking great El.
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Ozzie
Mar 26, 2011 11:23:25 GMT
Post by el on Mar 26, 2011 11:23:25 GMT
I had a few questions on displacement, detailed here I was pondering all week while I was in Dublin
Thoughts, theories, reasons, does your horse do it? When I'm focused on Oz he often likes to put this focus elsewhere on nearly things - eg attacking the pole or basketball on the ground while I'm riding, or prob related when I'm on ground when I ask him to do stuff if other horse is near he's likey to have a go at him.
Bens input which got me thinking:
I appreciate that he's emotional and his mind is in a different place to his body and he wants to reunite them
hhmmm. So I can get a soft walk, at the speed but not direction (honestly he was leaning towards the pole and I let him take over for a few steps, not something Steve would have left him way with and I need to not do that again WATCH EVERY STEP as I was taught!) I want with a horse who's not quite really there with me, if he's trying to focus / be let out his emotions on other objects rather than directly with me.
I'm happy he's not throwing a fit/focusing his slightly destructive emotions with me, but not sure how to help the reasons behind why he's emotional. Thoughts - is it an issue?
Also - when he is put under more lot of stress - when he took him down to jump up / slide down a tall bank, physically within his capabilities but mentally challenging, he tried to bite Dad when he landed at the botttom who was the nearest thing to him, better than the bunch of brambles beside him lol (unusual, he was quite hyped up) and then when he jumped to the top, buck-assed his way further up the hill as well full of energy. Again a bit emotional, but this time more emotions and the destructive manifestation of this was low level agression at us / bronking about whichever came easiest.
Thoughts?
Bens thoughts:
With Zorro I don't tend to classify his emotions very much, kind of think of him as being emotional or calm- I don't know what he's really thinking and it seems to me he actually goes displacement crazy when he's excited as much as anything else, so I don't see it as purely a stress reaction by any means.
The things I do to help change his emotional state with this kind of stuff is to get his mind and body in the same place. Mostly that actually means taking control and giving him something to do and think about. So if Ozzie is dropping in towards the pole I would take that as a sign that he wasn't ready to be going in a straight line yet and maybe do some more intricate shapes that would give him something different to think about and bring his mind back onto thinking about what I'm asking for. Under saddle those changes really just mark a loss of attention.
In the second situation that sounds like he felt he was a bit overfaced there and he needed to move his feet to release it. I would think that maybe building up more to a task like that or giving him more preparation would have resulted in less of a reaction.
Makes sense We brought him over ditches as well, but multiple sized ditches, (they a bit more technical - ideally we're training Oz when in doubt to jump them economically, due to the type of country/things he might facing hunting locally) building them up over a few days, and while the last one was big, we just got a focused Ozzie who actually went in and stood calmly beside Dad when he wasn't sure what to do, waiting for guidance.
Spot on Mr. Z I think!
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Ozzie
Mar 26, 2011 11:30:26 GMT
Post by el on Mar 26, 2011 11:30:26 GMT
So, I had been thinking about making sure I paid more attention to Oz for the ride this Saturday, including: - When doing lateral flexions not to pull back at all - Watching every step. So choose where I want to to, and if Oz 'takes over' and starts to lean another way, like I did last year, ask him to reverse and take a step away from where he wants to go - Also bear in mind changing from going straight to bends etc and see what Oz brings to the table Caught Oz, threw on a saddle, walked, jogged around, stopped, backed up, turns into me and away from me by touching his neck (prep for reinless riding hopefully). Circles with bends, small backup in circles and soften & backup on a straight line. All grand. Hopped on, girth a bit loose, so hopped off, tightened it, did a quick jog on foot with Oz then hopped up again. Stood still for a while and felt Oz relax. Glorious weather in Tipp btw, sun shining, blue skies, amazing!! First up lateral flexions without any pulling back. Very good. Did 10 in a row, 5 on each side nice & light. Then I wanted to ask Oz to go forwards and I normally ask him to go back first and didn't want him to start preempting this. So asked him on and on he went a few steps. Released. Made sure I had chosen exactly the direction I wanted him to go in before I asked him to move. Then asked for 10 steps with a soft backup, but he thought this was a bit too much for him and wanted to keep doing his own thing at the end, so made it easier again. Stop, ask for 1 step forward, release. Yawns started then. Continued like this. Choose where I wanted to go (spot in the distance). Ask for softness, then ask Oz to walk on. Oz wasn't really that mellow though. Had opinions the WHOLE way through. I'd ask him to go this way, after 2 steps he'd start to lean the other way, I'd asap ask him to reverse and then take on step in the direction he didn't lean towards. Rinse & repeat. So kept at this, making sure I was on control of the feet but he did try to take over (moving a foot in his preferred direction) quite often. Anyway, kept at it, Dad appeared down with the tracter so got him to focus on me, ignore all that and keep his mind in my game so to speak. Still lots of attempts to take over though subtley from him. Then to make it easier for his head, as he loves having a physical goal, particularly one he can use as displacement, I wanted to get more of a sense of us working together, not him trying to go off on his thing and me asking him not to the whole time, so started to point him towards various physical objects in the paddock. Barrels, basketballs, poles, whilte jumping blocks. This worked much better. Where I wanted him to go was clearer to him (physically) and he kinda wanted to go there go to kick the object, so off we toddled a good way around the paddock to all the objects. Walked to them, no more leaning away from my direction, a quick bash of something when we got there & a rest, then off again. Also in the middle somewhere when he'd stopped leaning other directions I got some lovely circle with bend like we'd been doing at the clinic in Tipp last year Anyway, back to the walking to points. Dad at the stage was loose schooling Dougal around the paddock in walk & trot which Oz pretended to be mesmersied by until I reminded him I was still there, so it was good to get Oz focused on me with distractions as he's prone to using them as an excuse to do his one thing if I dont call him on it asap. Oz was relaxing and chilling the whole time, so then got a bit more clever and started to point him at various objects, but just before we reached them, we'd do a LOVELY turn!! bend, balanced (YAY) and then head for another object. So by the end of it we were doing lots of big circles & serpentines in the paddock, ignoring distractions, just walking on & on & on, in directiosn I choose, both of us going together, no more subtle arguments from Oz, on a relaxed horse and it was great. I'm going to bring all my notes from working with Oz back to Dublin with me next week and read them all again. It is great to feel though like you're both improving a little with every ride.
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Ozzie
Mar 27, 2011 10:53:58 GMT
Post by el on Mar 27, 2011 10:53:58 GMT
Went up to Oz who immediately presented me with his neck to scratch. Caught him, walked down, threw on a saddle then did some walking & jogging in hand around the perimiter of the paddock. Did turns with me, away from me and a few circles with bend. Got one fright/rush at one point, no idea why just ignored it and kept going without a break. Hopped on, stood still for a few minutes. Lateral flexions, all nice, remember not to pull back! Plan today was to get softness and then relax again. Oz had started pre-empting a little "softness and walk forward" as one move. So did that a few times to get it into his head. Then had our obstacles around the bottom of the paddock, so walked from on to the other, letting him have a rest at each - and a go at kicking it (block) biting & picking it up (ball) and standing on it (barrell on its side). When he reached the basketball, he actually picked it up in his mouth, and then we rode with it in his mouth across the paddock to the next white block, where he dropped it again. The got a bit better and asked for a turn just before the object so so did longer walks about the paddock in various directions. Did a few 10/9/8's but not that long, more 5/4/3's to keep things easyish. At the end, was just standing still and for the craic I thought I'd see how our sidepasses were. I'm not sure if I ever did a 1 step sidepass from halt when riding just in the middle of the field. So opened up outside arm & leg, light contact on other rein to block forward movt and one leg on to push him over. This was too many cues or Oz who was really focused but moving about forwards, backwards, the othe sideways really trying to figure it out. So I stopped everthing, then just opened my outside leg, pressed my other leg on his side one or twice and low & behold off he stepped sideways as relaxed as a lamb, no braces just a chilled out step or two over. No walking on, no nothing. Rest. Asked again using very small cue to go the same way, got another step!!! Then to push my luck, after standing still for a few seconds, asked him to sidepass back the other way. Another perfect step. Thrilled, he knew he was great, did a HUGE yawn, and then hopped off & left it there. Amazing. V impressed at how much Ozs brain was focused on figuring out what my cues meant, it was a bit breathtaking really. It was also nice to have him working on figuring me out, rather than me trying to figure him out!!
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Ozzie
Apr 2, 2011 14:43:14 GMT
Post by el on Apr 2, 2011 14:43:14 GMT
- WATCH EVERY STEP - I was back up in Dublin again for the week, and one day on the train home (DART) nearly missed my stop as I was day dreaming about how I could get Oz to line dance. ;D Anyway! Made it home for lunch today, so when I drove in unusually OZ twigged me straight away in the jeep and actually stopped eating for about a minute watching me walk away from the jeep - very strange. Had lunch, avoided the wash up grabbed my saddle and halter and headed out. Went to catch Oz so he walked away on some little mission then I could see him watching me from the corner of his eye, bend through his body (I was walking along behind him) and he turned with a bit of a hindquarter yield, then stopped so from a distance I asked him to do more of a HQ yield (2 or 3 steps) so he was then facing me, WHICH HE DID! Gave him a scratch, caught him, threw on the saddle went for a walk & jog then fixed the girth. Nice turns on a loose rein towards me and he now turns away from me when my hand is near his neak, or sometimes when I touch his neck near me he'll turn (yield away). Back to collect my hat. He was looking at the gap, expecting Dad out with the camera, and so wanted to stop facing the gap for me to get up, so I refused to let him and we kept walking in a few small circles until he decided to stop when I suggested, not when he proposed, and ended up with him at a halt where he couldn't see the gap. Got a nice yawn & lick and chew out of him then. Hopped up, horse relaxed but then got too relaxed and closed his eyes for a snooze. Lateral flexions took a little then as he wasn't listening or awake, but got better. from halt, did a step sideways both ways, then stopped. Got soft (not as good as last weekend due to sleepy Oz), and got walk forwards a few steps, and backwards a few steps. Rest. Then did 4 steps forward, then backwards, then forwards then backwards, all without a break, no issues from Oz. Then decided to line dance. The plan was to do a square. few steps forward few steps sideways (eg to the right) few steps backwards few steps sideways (eg to the left) Got him listening nicely for this! We didn't always get it right first time, but we did do it all a few times, and sometimes when he got a little confused once he got the sideways step he got an immediate rest. I kept him going through the exercises when we were going well, and when he needed an obvious 'well done' he got a little rest. I could see this line dance exercise coming together quite well in a few more rides. Then did lots of big circles with bend. What was great about Oz today was he wasn't really leaning in opposite directions to me very often at all. In the circles sometimes I loose the legs (about maybe once per circle) and he bends but then keeps the bends and goes out the shoulder sideways so I need to be more on the ball to block that I think as thats him taking over. Covered more of the paddock as well today which was good and again without the need for props to help him along. Then - WAIT FOR IT - did shoulder in on both reins. First time great & soft. Then on the other rein when I asked he braced against me and trying to lean off into his own direction . So we went back to something more simple then when I had him again, asked for it again on the other rein - GOT IT!! Also then went a bit fancy and while heading up the paddock, did lots of semi circles - so walk across the diagonal and change bend on the straight line to new bend, then 180 degree semi circle, etc all the time heading up the paddock. Very easy to get new bend, this one I was quite impressed with the OZ!! Distactions - in terms of distractions, at the start he thought a photographier was going to appear from the gate so got him focused on me rather than the gate before I got up. When Mum appeared then at the gate nd came down to the paddock, again Oz totally focused in ou her, so I turned him away asap and asked him to soften, listen and sidepass so he came back again quickly. That was about it. When I took my feet out of the stirrups at the end, he stood still for a while then started to walk backwards. Not sure why, if he was just saying 'get off, you usually do now;. So I put my feet back into the stirrups and got him to walk on a bit. Then halt again. Then feet out of stirrups. Then as he stayed at a halt this time I got off. Walked back to the top of the paddock, took off the tack, Oz got a small handful of grass from the laneway, and stood watching me while I disappeared away. A nice session. - very impressed with shoulder in - nice to have up both working to figure each other out in the linedancing - softness not quite as good as Oz asleep - nice GW at the start - Oz will give any distraction his full attention but I got him back easily - few headshakes at the beginning of the GW (3 in a row!) a few (not many) in the saddle and a good few both yawns & licks & chews in the saddle. I ignore all of them. - great to move about more of the paddock without any props - the semicircles up the line were quite cool! - REALLY REALLY appreciate that I seem to be able now to throw on a saddle after 5 days off and have a horse who's willing to work with me. The nibbles, bites, etc in the GW have gone for the moment anyway. Not having to work him every day to have a 'positive' ride is MASSIVE.
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Ozzie
Apr 3, 2011 12:11:16 GMT
Post by el on Apr 3, 2011 12:11:16 GMT
I LOVE MY HORSE!!!! Lovely sunny morning in Tipperary. Caught the Oz. Tacked up. At one stage I was adjusting his saddle, walking from one side to the other past his head. For some reason his nose was about one inch from the ground as my feet went right past, he wasn't at all bothered. So went for a walk with a mellow horse. Saw 3 loose dogs up the top of the paddock Oz a bit fascinated but got his attention back on me asap quite easily and off we went. Walked, I did a fast walk he jogged along on his own accord to keep up. I must figure out how to do this when riding as well, so instead of cueing him to trot and waiting them for it to happen, I do like in GW and I build up energy he realises I'm going somewhere and comes along with me. Back from our wander, hoped up and sat still. Today we didn't sit still for long as I didn't want to get a sleep pony. So maybe 5 or 10 seconds later, lateral flexion on both sides. Then as when he doubt he seems to be getting into a 'backup' frame of mind, I wanted to focus on forwards today, so soften and then forwards we went. No arguments from Oz. Also our sheepdog was running around the small paddock which was good distraction tolerance for Oz. So one thing I had wanted to work on was circles - two things: 1. doing circles with no drifting and loosing the legs in parts 2. doing circles with the same bend throughout - not a lot of bend here, very little bend here, etc. So my plan to try was to do HQ yields the moment I felt Oz drift to combat that, and then concentrate on the circles and correct bends as needed as we went along. Then see how many circles we could do in a row without ANY drifting and with a fairly regular bend throughout. This was SUPER!!!! The work itself worked well (got up to 3 circles on both reins without any of the issues and then would give him a break to relax) but aside from that, it was a bit like I could just focus on the exercise with Oz, his head was in 'work' mode, no arguments, no distractions, a bit like riding a (COUGH) normal horse!! We must have spent maybe 15 mins riding around the bottom of the paddock as needed, doing lots of circles, bends, moving around, HQ yields, changing rein, new circles, etc. It was just an absolute pleasure. Didn't need any props to walk too, but did notice Oz does get more distracted when he's just walking in a straight line as he doesn't seem to be as focused on me as much. He works better moving around on a bend when I'm monitoring the bend & leg drifting. In the straight walk, we do still get softness, walk, loose softnes a bit, halt, regain softness, relax. I think if I can crack how to ask for softness in a straight walk that we will us both something to preoccupy our minds when we do walk straight which will lead to Oz having more focus on me and less potential distracted moments. Got only a few head shakes, and either a yawn or a lick & chew every time Oz got a rest. Then we had a rest at halt. Then I asked for softness and put on my right leg only. Got a step sideways. Delighted!! Told Oz he was great. He was chuffed too!! HUGE HUGE HUGE yawn right up in the air for ages. T'was nice that he enjoys our successes as well! Then asked again for 2 steps this time, got it, rest again. Then asked for the other rein, a little confusion, but released after he got it, rest. Then a walk back down the paddock, more circles then again, then left it there. GORGEOUS ride.
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Ozzie
Apr 3, 2011 16:04:07 GMT
Post by el on Apr 3, 2011 16:04:07 GMT
Went back out to Oz to groom him this afternoon, so he was lying down. He made no effort to get up, instead closed his eyes and tried his best to fall asleep as I picked out two of his feet, groomed all over, brushed his mane and sat on his back.
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