Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2009 9:48:45 GMT 1
Now, I love nice big TB and TBx mares, ok? Of course, I love all horses, but what really gets my own ears pricked is a nice big girlie. So what is it about Ronnie, a little teddy bear of a pony that is just so gorgeous? You'll find out when I remember to take my camera!
One thing I LOVE about Ronnie is that he lives at the livery yard just over the road from me. As the part of being an RA I like least is the driving, this is a big plus.
Ronnie's owner, Claire, called me last week as she was just really down in the dumps that things weren't working. At the moment, there aren't major issues - although he doesn't like being mounted - it's more just the connection has gone. At first glance, that's a surprise as both Ronnie and Claire are lovely, warm personalities, made for each other. Talking to Claire, though, she knew where she'd gone wrong. Trying to improve things, Claire has been using Parelli for a while. With the focus on doing a fixed game that the horse should respond to, process rather than communication, they had stopped listening to each other.
We did some leading, which has already started getting Claire more focussed on what Ronnie is looking at, where his attention has drifted to, and then moved onto longlining. Just to note, we're not doing the Perfect Manners exercises because we need to move away from structured exercises and onto just listening and responding.
Ronnie longlines nicely, when he believes you. This is what we're working on with Claire. She has to convince him. There's a very tasty willow bush, just past A, and it was getting nicely pruned each time we went past (yum!). So real forwards energy and belief, to push him past.
One trick Ronnie had learned was spinning. Very effective, that one. You are asked to walk off on the lines, but by popping in a quick spin, preferably one that gets the lines wrapped round your legs, you instead get to just stand and look cuddly while your silly human huffs around untangling you. He he he! Good one, that! Here, the key is to watch his head. He'll bring it in slightly just before he spins. Just slight contact on the outside line to keep him straight and hey presto, Ronnie is still on the track! Again, this is a great exercise in watching out for the small stuff, learning his patterns and getting in there early.
We then had a look at mounting. First of all, Claire explained and showed me what he does. She leads him to the block and he stands there ok, but as soon as she picks up the reins, his head shoots up and as you progress to mounting his then starts to fidget. Clearly something present or past has bothered him.
We broke it down, first just leading him up to the block, waiting till he was relaxed with that, then getting Claire to get on the block (I love this bit, getting your client to do step exercises until the horse is settled, while you just stand there watching!). So far so good, Ronnie was ok with this. Then Claire went to pick up the reins. Oh no, Ronnie didn't like that! We worked through with pressure and release until he was relaxed about that too. It took a little longer than I'd expected but in the end he was happy.
For a while. Then it went downhill again. So, we had to have a look at exactly what Claire was doing with her hand, why he might not like this. What we noticed was that he's ok when she's touching the near side but not the off side. I'd felt his back before and didn't get any real ouch reactions, however, a more targetted feel and I think Ronnie has some soreness just on the off side of his withers, maybe shoulderish too. So, we called it a day there and Claire has booked physio Mish Brooker for Saturday morning.
Ronnie has one more lesson to learn. It is a sad one for a horse who is clearly fading away through starvation (no, Ronnie, we don't quite believe that one) - no more hand treats, no more polos. Ronnie is quite nippy. The hand treats have stopped, replaced by a rattly bottle. It is, I'll admit, a hard lesson for a horse. One minute he's encouraged to bring his head to you, the next minute he's told that's no longer on. Because he also challenges with his head and there is a risk of being bitten, this does have to stop, though. I personally would rather have a really clear "no" than an on-going battle, leaving the horse in a state of uncertainty as to what the rule now is. A couple of shakes of the bottle and life is clear again. He is now leading really nicely, with focus on Claire as a leader rather than Claire as a snack.
He is such a good boy, I do like him ever so lots!
One thing I LOVE about Ronnie is that he lives at the livery yard just over the road from me. As the part of being an RA I like least is the driving, this is a big plus.
Ronnie's owner, Claire, called me last week as she was just really down in the dumps that things weren't working. At the moment, there aren't major issues - although he doesn't like being mounted - it's more just the connection has gone. At first glance, that's a surprise as both Ronnie and Claire are lovely, warm personalities, made for each other. Talking to Claire, though, she knew where she'd gone wrong. Trying to improve things, Claire has been using Parelli for a while. With the focus on doing a fixed game that the horse should respond to, process rather than communication, they had stopped listening to each other.
We did some leading, which has already started getting Claire more focussed on what Ronnie is looking at, where his attention has drifted to, and then moved onto longlining. Just to note, we're not doing the Perfect Manners exercises because we need to move away from structured exercises and onto just listening and responding.
Ronnie longlines nicely, when he believes you. This is what we're working on with Claire. She has to convince him. There's a very tasty willow bush, just past A, and it was getting nicely pruned each time we went past (yum!). So real forwards energy and belief, to push him past.
One trick Ronnie had learned was spinning. Very effective, that one. You are asked to walk off on the lines, but by popping in a quick spin, preferably one that gets the lines wrapped round your legs, you instead get to just stand and look cuddly while your silly human huffs around untangling you. He he he! Good one, that! Here, the key is to watch his head. He'll bring it in slightly just before he spins. Just slight contact on the outside line to keep him straight and hey presto, Ronnie is still on the track! Again, this is a great exercise in watching out for the small stuff, learning his patterns and getting in there early.
We then had a look at mounting. First of all, Claire explained and showed me what he does. She leads him to the block and he stands there ok, but as soon as she picks up the reins, his head shoots up and as you progress to mounting his then starts to fidget. Clearly something present or past has bothered him.
We broke it down, first just leading him up to the block, waiting till he was relaxed with that, then getting Claire to get on the block (I love this bit, getting your client to do step exercises until the horse is settled, while you just stand there watching!). So far so good, Ronnie was ok with this. Then Claire went to pick up the reins. Oh no, Ronnie didn't like that! We worked through with pressure and release until he was relaxed about that too. It took a little longer than I'd expected but in the end he was happy.
For a while. Then it went downhill again. So, we had to have a look at exactly what Claire was doing with her hand, why he might not like this. What we noticed was that he's ok when she's touching the near side but not the off side. I'd felt his back before and didn't get any real ouch reactions, however, a more targetted feel and I think Ronnie has some soreness just on the off side of his withers, maybe shoulderish too. So, we called it a day there and Claire has booked physio Mish Brooker for Saturday morning.
Ronnie has one more lesson to learn. It is a sad one for a horse who is clearly fading away through starvation (no, Ronnie, we don't quite believe that one) - no more hand treats, no more polos. Ronnie is quite nippy. The hand treats have stopped, replaced by a rattly bottle. It is, I'll admit, a hard lesson for a horse. One minute he's encouraged to bring his head to you, the next minute he's told that's no longer on. Because he also challenges with his head and there is a risk of being bitten, this does have to stop, though. I personally would rather have a really clear "no" than an on-going battle, leaving the horse in a state of uncertainty as to what the rule now is. A couple of shakes of the bottle and life is clear again. He is now leading really nicely, with focus on Claire as a leader rather than Claire as a snack.
He is such a good boy, I do like him ever so lots!
