It's been a bit since I've posted.
Today was the first lesson/ride since I've been back in town.
Wheeler was a bit off today so instead we used Suzette for a lesson. Suzette is a green paint horse, very calm but also rather mare-ish. So it was to be a learning day on how to train a horse, versus riding a horse already trained. It was my first time really working with Suzette and the first time for my lesson girl and it ended a rather successful experience. I knew enough about her from the few times I did interact on the ground to know what to expect.
The biggest lessons today were 'flexibility', 'keep it simple' and 'ask loud'. We learned the cues used to ask Wheeler to do something simple are much more subtle than the cues used to ask Suzette. We learned an opening rein and when to use it, why it's 'loud' but not 'strong'. We even discussed the word 'loud' versus other terms we could use How it's more like enunciating and projecting to someone who has a hard time understanding a language than yelling at them because of it. Both are 'loud' but one is more helpful than the other.
Flexibility we discussed in changing our goals for the ride to meet what the horse gives us/is capable of. So in Suzette's case, she liked to stop any chance she could get. This started in the downward transition of trot to walk, but we found that even telling her 'good girl' at the trot could cause it. So we went from focussing on walking after the trot to continuing to trot despite being talked to. Once that was accomplished we tried a little trot to walk and we found she understood better. By the end the things we has started to work on were not really relevant as we found where the buttons that needed pushing were.
That said, we talked a bit about 'intent'. I asked her, as we discussed what we were going to ask Suzette to do at the trot, was she responding the same to every time we said "good girl"? This was emphasized by the mare continuing to go when I asked this question. No, she didn't. She only did it when we were actually talking to her. Horses know 'intent'. They read our tones and body language more than we realize and as such there is a lot we can expect them to understand, if we know how to ask it. And example being lunging and allowing a horse to play on the lunge, versus asking a horse to work. With proper training, the horse knows the difference between these scenarios. They know the difference between when we ask them to move over and mean it, versus when we'd just like them to but, oh, it's okay if they don't want to.
I reminded her as she worked with Suzette even on the ground that she was training her every moment. Was that also happening with Wheels? Yes, but because he's older, knows what he's supposed to do (and does it) and behaves himself on a regular basis, we allow him more leeway than a younger horse who still has to learn.
So that was fun! It was a mental work out for both and ended really well. By the end Suzette was willingly doing what was asked of her rather than testing the waters and she was happy to do what we wanted, rather than grumpy that she didn't get her way. A lot of it, I reminded the girl through the ride, was breaking things down, asking clearly and remaining flexible to the response we got.
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