Left Brain, Right Brain

One thing I love about feeding the horses at the college, is that on Thursdays I have to put the horses away. My helper is pretty lazy, and loves to get out of whatever she can...and so, the job is always left to me. I won't let her know that I actually like it.
Twister likes this job too. She has figured it out that when I pull her out of her stall at this late hour...that it will be quick, and so she is very accommodating. I tell her..."OK Twister... you're a working girl today... lets put those horses away." "I halter her, tie the lead rope to serve as a macate reign and hop on her back...no saddle necessary for these quick jaunts. She does pretty good at moving so I can open & close gates, and doesn't get excited when the horses run out to their lots. A nice steady trot is my preferred speed... and she listens pretty well.
Last week, it was getting late, and cold and I was in a bit of a hurry to get done... There were 3 groups of horses to get out to their lots... and I was letting Twister trot pretty fast. I kind of marveled at the fact that I wasn't scared but lost balance when I thought about it too much... but quickly remembered to relax and let her move me... an we went quickly about our work.
During my tutoring with Marina she often quotes things from my Centered Riding by Sally Swift, which encouraged me to pull it off my shelf and I often will read a bit before falling to sleep. Last night I was reading Chapter 4 Learning and the Brain. Apparently I have been riding with my left brain! The left bain is practical, rational, analytical and among other things...verbal. It thinks too much!
The right side of the brain reacts naturally. It doesn't ask questions. It just goes with the flow and IS. The trick, it appears is to get all this rational stuff in order so that it is natural... and trust that it is there. Because the left side is verbal, it takes too long to go through a list of things to get right...You are halfway through an exercise before your mind can verbalize it all.
I am so fascinated by this new discovery...and see from a lot of my problems stem.
Plan Before, Relax, Trust Myself, Trust my Horse... There might be something more to this. I am going to ponder it for a bit.

Send by Success!

Today was good with Native, and I am hopeful that I have figured something out....and he wasn't just having a good day. The class is getting ready for their first ride on their colts. They're doing alot of ground work, and when they "pass" the groundwork test they get a bag.
Today was cold, about 30 degrees... but it felt really cold. The warmth was sucked out of my hands, through insulated leather gloves instantly so moving around felt pretty good.
I went through my list of groundwork exercises that Native & I are working on. Whenever I start something different he gets worried, then calms and gets comfortable until I change it again. So I am trying to keep things changing all the time so he can't get comfortable in anticipation...knowing whats next. I want him to look to me to know whats next. Even changing direction makes him uncomfortable, he stiffens up and shoots his head up, until he realizes i just want him to walk, shaped around me. I felt like it was getting as good as it gets with this horse and went to take the test.
When I have to preform I must get a bit nervous (like the horse) because it always goes much worse that it goes when I kno I'm alone. Native, of course, picks up on this and gets nervous too. I muddled through most of the exercises, but the sending around was bad. Natives head was up, he was stiff, and the hind wasn't going under. Chuck would say, "Get more Hindquarters." but I wasn't getting a change.
Chuck took Native and got more hind quarters, and a few good steps. And showed me (again) what enough hindquarters looked like.

I took Native and we worked on this some more. I had to keep asking for HQ, every time he quit yielding I'd ask again by lifting on the lead, and pointing at his hind. And then something clicked. His head came down, his legs were reaching under and I could change directions with only a little correction. I changed it up and did other things in between, but he moved correctly when I came back to the send-around exercise. The test... show Chuck, have an audience, preform in front of another.
And it went well. Native did exactly what I needed him to do. As if he was saying...I'd have done it like this all along if you had just asked properly.

Native & My Legs Part 1

One of my favorite things about having a near-by college with an equine Studies Department is that when I have a problem that can't be easily fixed in class, there is a staff of student tutors.
Marina is one of my favorite people...she has this sixth sense that tells her my legs are hanging 1 inch off from where they should. She can see when my shoulders drop, and when I am slouching. I wish this was all that is wrong with me... but the list goes on and on...and my bad everything affects my horse.
For now, one of the biggest things wrong with me is my legs. They are super jacked up. They hang wrong. My feet point in the wrong direction. When I am riding and get scared my legs get stiff....add this to my other problems and it looks pretty dismal.
As Marina patiently and with humor tells me again and again how my legs should be, her descriptions reminded me of a book I keep meaning to get out again and read. Centered Riding by Sally Swift. "Pretend your legs are so long that you can wiggle your toes in the mud" and " put your feet out so that if your horse disappeared from under you..you would still be standing.
We work on it...and she says I am improving... but blast these legs!


This is how I try to imagine myself when concentrating on fixing my legs.

My assigned horse in the Colt Starting Class in Native. (remember, I am not actually starting a colt, I'm just watching everyone else do it) Native is a really cute sorrel bugger with a big white patch on his nose adding to his slightly dorky appeal. I am a little nervous about Native since everyone I have seen ride him, never had the look of calm control. Native kinda just runs with his nose out...clearly not worried about the wishes of his rider.
We started with groundwork for the first 2 days of working with the horses. Right away while sending him around his nose shot out, weary of me & the end of my lead rope I guessed. I want a horse to walk around me in a relaxed manner. His nose should be down, with a bend in his poll, eyes on me, and hind legs crossing over as he walks. I asked the instructor, Chuck about it and he pointed out how stiff Native was and suggested I do alot of getting him to move his hind quarters over and reward him liberally. I found that when I lifted on the lead rope to cue him to move his hind quarters, and let off really quick, encouraging him to keep moving around, I could see some relaxation in his head & neck. This and a whole lot of rewards of petting should let him know I am not here to beat him with my rope and get things a bit more relaxed.
The 2nd day of groundwork was nicer and he did all the groundwork exercises like a champ. He is nice & bendy in his neck. He backs well with slack in the lead, and even backed in a circle, when I asked him properly.
Tomorrow we ride.

Colt Starting Class

It is fun to say Yeah, I'm in a "Colt Starting Class"...
They kind of look at you strange.
So I say "Oh I'm not brave enough to start a colt... I'm just taking the class to learn what I can and go along with what everyone else is doing.
The strange look remains.
Then I realize they think I said "cult".... Yeah I'm taking a class on starting CULTS... but I'm just going to go along with everyone else.
~sigh

Purpose of this blog:
A requirement of this Colt Class is to keep a journal. I thought it would be much more interesting to keep my journal electronically....and even add some pictures every now and then.
With the possibility of an audience...I may be able to keep this up. I am not good at keeping up a journal. I usually fizzle out after the 3rd entry.
So in short, this blog will help me to fufill a requirement of the class, train me to be more reilable as a journal keeper, and help to instill the wealth of knowledge I absorb while attending these colt, not cult, starting classes.