A word from the trainer about the first 30 days of training

Josh, (also known as "husband") has been putting the first thirty days of riding on Hazel, and has graciously agreed to write a guest blog post. I would never, ever pester him until he agreed to do this. No, never.:) 

But really, I have backed off all training on Hazel because I feel like the riding is enough for now. When she gets done with a ride, I think she deserves the night off from other stuff, except maybe a brushing or something. Plus, the horseflies have been TERRIBLE at dusk, which is when I usually work my horse. Horsefly season around here lasts for just a few weeks and then they're gone, but they really make the horses miserable for those few weeks, even with fly spray. 

Without further delay, here is what Josh says about Miss Hazel Mae Perkins Morris. 

Hazel is very smart and is picking up on things really fast.
Some of her strengths lie in her natural ability to turn on her hind end.  She can really turn around well and crosses over perfectly.  For just 10 rides she is coming along really well.
She has had a phenomenal stop from the first ride and has kept it throughout.  We started yesterday learning to yield to leg pressure and she is catching on pretty well.  Still not as soft with it as i would like but she is coming on strong.

Her weaknesses will be haunting us for a while in that she is 4 years old and already starting to get set in her ways. She is still pretty heavy and trying to get away from the bit.  Slowly she is coming around.  Her reverse leaves a lot to be desired.

Hazel has the mind and body to do all that we want her to do such as roping, ranch rodeos, kid horse, stock horse, and trail (though this may take a little longer).

Today we continued on yielding to leg pressure and getting soft in the bridle.  I think this will come faster once the stinking horse flies are gone in a few weeks.  I do think that if you can get them to pay attention with those things biting them all over then you will have a nice horse in the end.  We also worked on getting a decent back up (more than 1 step).  Toward the end of the ride she finally got soft to the pressure and backed up quite a few steps, and I immediately stopped and got off( it was that good).

She is still going to need work on getting soft in the bridle and separating her hips from her shoulders.  That will come much later, but if she will learn now how to give to pressure anywhere that will make things much easier and progress that much faster.

Day 10- And her name is...

Last night's ride was in a new location - at the retreat center arena - with me riding Tex around the arena, and lots of poles, tires, and obstacles around. Josh didn't take the mare over any of the obstacles, but he did ride her for a solid 15 minutes. She really tries to please. So far she has not swished her tail or pinned her ears in irritation at all. She stops almost naturally.

I have decided to call her Hazel Mae. :)

Here is a link to her first ride.
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Day 9- the first ride

The mare's first ride was much longer and more advanced than I was expecting. Josh wants to put the first 30 days on her just to put an experienced foundation on her for me. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I agree. It seems like a great idea for someone who has put the first 30 days on many horses to do this, so that there's no room to mess this up. On the other hand, I am sad and want to do this myself. It's a growth process for me as much as it is the horse, and I would like to try it again to see if I can do better this time. Plus, I'm afraid that I won't feel as proud of her progress if I don't do it myself. I feel a bit torn, but I think I'm going to trust Josh on this one, and hopefully not regret it.
TM

The mare's first...

Day 8- I learned when to stop

Tonight I didn't get to work the mare until around 9:30 pm. I was sleepy and a little fuzzy in my thinking. I left her unsaddled and just lunged left and right at the walk, with some direction changes. Josh gave me a little feedback on my direction changing methods, which I was thankful for. He told me to get rid of the stick and just use my body, and he was right- it gave her clearer signals and gave me less to worry about in my hands. She really started watching my body language tonight, particularly my feet. Perhaps this is because horses may watch other horses' feet closely.

Speaking of other horses , one thing that I've been pretty happy with is how respectful this mare is of my space. At the Perkins ranch, they don't handle their horses much. They pull them out of the pasture as yearlings to halter-break them, and then put them back out to pasture, only handling enough to deworm and vaccinate them. This mare has been in a herd for four years, and I am appreciative of what healthy respect habits she has learned from the other horses in her herd. It's quite a bit different than Tex was. He was more of a spoiled pet when I got him at two years old, and it took a while to get him OFF of me.

Anyway, back to lunging. I was lunging along at a walk, in the (mostly) dark, asking her to change directions here and there, and she did it well. So, I added something- I asked her to trot and then change directions at the trot. It was a little soon for that, so I took it back down to the walk. Well, I got bored with that, so I kissed twice to ask her to come back up into the trot, holding my sending arm high. Then, I dropped my arm down and said "easy" to ask her to slow down. She did it nearly immediately, two or three times (which was amazing).

THIS IS WHEN I SHOULD HAVE STOPPED!
but no....

I let my fuzzy brain decide to do it both directions and "really solidify it." Well, in the next ten minutes I'm pretty sure both of us got nothing but more confused. It was around 9:45 by this time. I couldn't think clearly, I wasn't cueing correctly, and she was trying her hardest to please me but she just couldn't figure out what I wanted, and by then, neither could I. Josh then gently stepped in and helped me find a stopping place- I brought her back down to the walk, asked for one direction change, which she did well, and then left it at that.

I'm proud of myself for not getting totally frustrated and giving up, nor blaming my horse. It wasn't her fault, and really, I learned the lessons tonight. I hope I don't make too many of these mistakes. I'm also thankful to have a good assistant helping me stay on track- one who has gotten gentler and more encouraging with his instructions over the past few years.

Day 7

Today the kids were tired and I didn't have a lot of time to work with the mare. I saddled her up, not too gently, lunged to the right and left, working on quicker direction changes. I flexed her to both sides, then added a hips-over while flexing. I picked all four feet, and she gave me a little trouble on the back right. But, when I say trouble with her, it's really a light term. I truly believe I just had my hand in the wrong place and she was trying to do the right thing and get away from pressure.
If we had not had so much rain, I would have gotten on the mare yesterday or today. However, the ground is too slick, and there is too much room for a traumatic error.

The history of the man behind the Perkins Ranch

http://www.bscenemag.com/cover-story/health-wealth-horses

Miss Poco 349- a day-by-play

Miss poco 349-
Day 1- May 26, 2014
Getting a saddle on her.
I started with the blanket, and within 5 minutes she was ready for it to be on her back. I only had intentions of blanketing, but she was so receptive to it that I went ahead and put a saddle on her. In fact, she was so gentle we thought that she may actually be broke after all, and that there was a mistake in the sale catalog! To test that in one manner, we put a snaffle bit in her mouth to see if she knew what to do. It was new to her, but she only chewed on it for about 10 minutes and then settled down to her happy place, holding it still in her mouth, head down. I saddled her again that night and picked her feet up. She was quick to respond to pressure.

Day two - figuring out what she knows
I saddled and flapped the stirrups around. She was a little spooky. At one point while she was tied she got a stirrup caught on the fence and did a little hop.
She obviously is not broke- she snorts at every little thing, gets the white-eyed look at the blanket, steps away from the saddle in fear, and doesn't open her mouth for the bit.
However, it won't be hard to get her that way if I take it easy.
I got the stick out and did a little poking and prodding on her shoulders, neck, and hips to see if she knew to step away from me. She didn't know it, but she picked it up faster than any horse I've ever worked with.

Day 4- Sneaking the Fly Spray
It's horsefly season, and horse spray is a necessity to keep these poor horses sane during this time of year. The mare wasn't crazy about the spraying yesterday. Today, on top of saddling and letting her hold the bit in her mouth, I brushed her while holding the fly spray in the other hand. I would brush and brush, and then when she wasn't looking, nonchalantly spray the fly spray, and when she would look to see what was going on, keep brushing. I'm not a fan of sneaking things onto my horse, but I see no reason for a big battle about this. She noticed it after I had sprayed a few times and stepped away from me. She'll get better at this within a few days.

Day 5- The Day Off

Day 6- progress on the feet, direction changes while lunging, and being ground tied, flexing laterally.
Today I saddled her up and instead of gently placing the saddle on there, I slung it up onto her back. She only startled a little and then settled right back down.
We lunged at the walk because the ground is wet. She did her direction changes a little rough, but improved with work. By the end of the session it wasn't pretty, but she was at least understanding correctly what I was looking for in the direction changes and doing it willingly.
WILLING would be a really great word to add to this horse's description.
She held up all four feet well enough to pick the mud out of all four of them for the first time.
Ground tying is one of the LASH association's trail obstacles, so we began that today. I led for a while, then deliberately chunked the long lead rope onto the ground in a pile in front of the mare. Then, I took small steps backward while facing her, and if she moved as much as one foot, I would correct her and put that foot back in place. At first she wanted to follow me, and I would back her. Then, she began just moving one foot forward, and seemed to even make moving that one foot a game- she would move it forward, and I would move it back. Then, as I was stepping away, she would move it forward again. She did this a few times, and had it not been a training session I would've been entertained. After three tries and a little more firmness on my part she got the hang of it and obeyed 100 percent, holding completely still as I walked 4 steps away. We'll add more distance later.

Today I was rattling a feed sack over her stall to get her used to loud noises, and when she got startled, she got down LOW and cut a 90 degree angle away from me. It was absolutely beautiful.

This mare literally picks up things after no more than four times of doing it, and lateral flexing for the first time today was no exception to that. It's so easy that it's almost boring to talk about.

I'm still toiling over finding the right name for this smart, willing, gentle, snorty gal...