Thursday, July 27, 2017

Weird riding lesson

What an odd lesson. Katja took the donkey along for the first time, cuz she expressed interest last time and I told her the donkey would love it. Bellis sure did, she had a great day. Oh, and we weren't here, it's way too slick and wet here now, we were at the Schutzhund club (SV) which is a 5 minute walk from here.

I had Mag in Baasha's black tack today and Katja noticed immediately, "He's in BLACK!" I said, "It's a black sort of day. I mean, I just get bored sometimes and switch colors."

But I noticed too, he looks totally different in black. I was sad to see Baasha's breastcollar is starting to come apart, but I was proud that it still has Baasha's horsey license on it, saying WUPPERTAL 2009.


At the SV, there is a gravel parking lot that I have used for ground work. It was great to see Kati's reaction to the place. This is wonderful! Look at the trees! Indeed the parking lot is not ideal for parking, cuz there are enormous oak/beech trees throughout.

She pointed to a group of 4 trees that were evenly spaced and said, "It's our clover-leaf, made by trees!" I said, "Huh! You're right." I thought she'd be using the trees, but I didn't know she'd use them so intensively. Then she found another group of 4 evenly spaced trees and said, "Here is another! Let's use it too!" The great thing about these natural cloverleaf cones, this area is not level, and one area has a drop off, so Mag had to negotiate the sharp turns on land that pulled away from his hooves. Yay! (And yah, she noticed how unbalanced he is, as usual.)

She got me riding the cloverleaf pattern but Mag was distracted. He could see the horses across the street, and didn't feel comforted by Bellis' presence at all, for some reason. The donkey was just munching the entire time, and thankfully Kati didn't let the donkey steal her attention from me and Mag.

She wanted to continue to help me with my goal, that Mag can do turns on the forehand and haunches. A very slow process, one half step at a time.

She decided, wisely, to break up this difficult, frustrating work with mental breaks which entailed the cloverleaf pattern, or using the entire border of the area and doing trot/walk transitions. Mag is frustrated with the pivoting work cuz he has no idea where his legs are or what I could possibly want. I am glad that Katja has taken on the challenge of helping me with this. Cuz it's not really fun. However it is a great exercise for me to refine my aids. First, seat bone aid. Second, leg aid. Seat bone control is paramount to my training with Mag, that he understands that my weight is always the foremost cue about where I want him.

As soon as I tried to "reward" Mag with a border walk/trot, the moment I asked for a trot, he bucked! Or kicked out, I couldn't tell. I was pissed, he hasn't bucked for a year. (If you can call it a buck.) I yanked is mouth to one side and whacked him on the face with my hand. I absolutely will hit my horses in the face, from the saddle, if I feel they're putting me in danger. I said, "No kicking with people around!"

This slap is mostly an emotional punishment, "Wow, I'm so naughty SHE HIT ME!" It always devastated Baasha, so I didn't have to hit him very often.

I'm sure Katja was shocked but she said nothing, thankfully. Well, actually, she said, "He's probably sore from your long ride yesterday."

I thought, "HE'S SORE?!" OK it's possible, but I was on the ground leading him so much of the time I was in pain this morning as I tried to crawl out of bed. But, it's possible.

Re: punishment: I hope she realizes that all the other times Mag acted up today, resisting by pawing, etc, I ignored, because that doesn't put humans at risk. I do not scold my animals unless they are disrespectful or dangerous - crowding, pushy, or bitey/kicky.

They can paw to China and I will just wait for them to stop. I won't punish an animal for things that are not critical to me. I would never scold him for chewing on things, pawing, head tossing (Oh how I hate that), cuz those things don't endanger anyone. Go ahead, knock yourself out. And funnily, there were many trees that have Mag teeth marks on tonight, cuz we were using him to block forward movement during the pivoting work, and if we got too close, he took out all his frustration on the bark. Eventually she told me, "Face Mag at the next tree, but not too close!": )

Then during another "reward" period in the cloverleaf, he started yawning. How odd to ride a horse who is yawning. That might be a first for me.

She said (rather ineptly) "Tired, Mag?"

I knew it was stress, he was trying to self-soothe during this anxiety-provoking lesson at the GSD club.

He kept staring off at the neighbor's horses, he would not stop. He did everything we asked, but we only had half of his attention.

Amazing how he can multitask! I guess I should be proud of my boy. Huh. At the time I was just feeling a little fearful.

But it's hard to be nervous when Katja is there, she's  not an expert trainer, but she's wonderful about not pushing either horses or riders.

She seemed thrilled with our little trot walk transitions, even though I could feel Mag saying, "You don't really want to trot, I can feel it." Every time, I convinced him, and he was fine, no more kicking/whatever that was.

At one trot Kati said, "OMG he is like one of those Lippizzans! He's completely round and prancing!" I sighed cuz I'm sure that's not a good thing *lol* Mag does like to arch his neck and prance, and I would rather have relaxation.

I also asked her to help me with backing in a straight, not crooked line. I am grinning right now because she gave me a nice compliment. Somehow Mag was backing mostly straight today, and didn't require much input from the trainer. She said, "You know what you're doing. You look straight ahead and think backwards, without leaning or turning or anything." I said, "Well, I can't exactly turn around and look where I want to go!!" She said, "Honestly, some riders do look down, or at the ground next to their horse." Hm!

The yawning was disconcerting, the constant distracted state was really rough on me, but he still obliged us.

Our final exercise was so cool, this why she gets my money. She said to walk/trot the boundary line again. Then she'd shout out, "Stop and turn his shoulders left" OK...then, "Trot on!" and then "Halt, turn his hind end right!" OK...then, "Walk on, halt, shoulders one step to the right!" and so on. And we did it, for the most part, not perfectly, but the exercise itself had mental breaks of forward movement.

I looked at my watch. 10 to 2. I said, "Can we be done? That was great!" She was thrilled with us. Lots of cookies all around.

I rode Mag all the way home, on Hohestrasse, even though when I tried to lead, he resisted, he was too nervous. It wasn't a cool day, but it was overcast and windy, and he had no courage at all. Cowardly Mag. *sigh*

She encouraged him on the street, but he was not up to leading the way home.

Almost home, there were 3 middle aged people in the street, and the guy was holding a map, and looking at us like, HELP!

Katja pointed at me and said, "She can help you." We pulled both animals into the driveway of a neighbor's house.

The old man said they are looking for a water mill.

This region is known for its multiple water mills, used for many purposes in times of yore. Nowadays they are relics, beautiful relics. Or renovated into restaurants, the most of them that I know.

This region is deeply carved with little streams, whose water was used for industry. I'm sorry I do not have more photos to show you of all the water mills around here. But I know I've blabbed about them a lot the last year, cuz Wuppertal also has them.

I was sure they meant the mill closest to our house, which is only a 10 minute walk. The man said, "No, we want to see Rausmuehle." What?

First of all, they are going the exact opposite way as that toward Rausmuehle. They were walking toward the Talsperre (watershed)! I said, "Where is your car. Do you have a car?"

They said, "We left it. We're hikers. We WANT TO HIKE."

I said, "Rausemuehle is 1 hour by foot from here.  ONE HOUR!"

This grey haired, sunburned lady said, "We WANT to walk, we enjoy it."

I said, "OK then, you need to go back the way you came, find the fast street by the Aldi, and then make your way down into the other valley."

(The "Other Side" I'm always talking about lately as I ride with people from down there.)

Then Mag pooped on my neighbor's beautiful cobblestone driveway. SIGH

Then, of course, Bellis pooped, cuz she relieves herself ONLY when she has immediately witnessed Mag pooping. Ugh.

Then the owner of the house came out and said, "Hallo Frau W."

He knows my name? How!? I don't know his.

I pointed to the poop piles and said, "Shall I come back and remove that!?"

He said, "It's no problem."

I said, "REALLY? Cuz I will come right back and remove it at no cost to you. For a small price, I will leave it here for you to use on your garden." HA HA?

He smiled, and said, "No, really. It's no problem."

He had been watching me give directions from his house window and apparently was amused/appeased by that?

I said, "Do you own a shovel?"

"Yes."

OK then.

I sure hope those elderly people found Rausmuehle. It's a hearty walk up and down steep hills, no fun at all.

I imagine they had dinner reservations, cuz they have excellent Sauerbraten, my favorite German food.

I'd love to someday ride there and just tie Mag up and eat next to the stream.

Almost home, Katja did a little Parelli work with the donkey, curious if she would do it. Yes, Bellis has had 2 Parelli freaks work with her in the past, so Bellis reacted appropriately. Katja said, "Wonderful, she's watching me and responding so well to my body language."

Then she said, "I want her. If you ever need to give her up, I will take her!"

COOL.

I said, "I have 4 people waiting to take my horse if something happens to me, but you're the first that wants Bellis."

AWESOME.





Cuz I do not plan to live the rest of my life here, and Bellis could outlive me.

And when (not IF) I get back home, I can see myself putting Mag on a plane.

I hit him in the face today but I think he will be exceptional someday.

I told Katja, "I look forward to next week, when I know he'll be better!"

She said, "He was great!" I said, "He wasn't completely with us, but next time I think he will be."







10 comments:

AareneX said...

"I know these were the rules yesterday and the day before, but maybe not today--I'm gonna push and find out!"

Oh. The rules are still the rules.

Fiddle and I have this conversation (stretched out over a week or two) about every 10 months. Kicking, balking, bracing, and bucking, she has to test them all. And when the rules are still the rules, she stops...for a while.

Sigh.

EvenSong said...

Sounds like a great lesson. Especially with Kati being so flexible with locations and activities.
Have you done any of the forehand/haunch turns from the ground? The cues can be similar (though no seatbones), and it would teach him the movements without the added complication of a rider. Then extend to ridden. It's great that you are breaking up the mental stress and physical work (collection) with the forward movement. Loved Kati last little game. Did Mag respond well to that, compared to standing at the trees?
The yawning can be a sign of stress, but can also be a *release* of stress!

lytha said...

Aarene, Not sure he's re-testing, cuz he's so oblivious, but it could be, if his memory is that good!

ES, Funny, Katja asked me the same thing, "You've done this from the ground, right?" Hm...no. Well, OK then: )I just really don't like paying for a lesson where I am not on the horse, because it's so expensive. Isn't the yawning both a sign AND a release of stress?

TeresaA said...

You didn't switch the saddle did you? Because that might be why he was bucking. I only ask because of the reference to the black tack.

lytha said...

Teresa, good question, but no.

Unknown said...

You'll have to get some pictures of Mags in black. I bet he's beautiful!

Kitty Bo said...

He's being an Arabian. All the Arabians I had were subject to their ADD, Arabian Distraction Disorder. What I love is that you don't melt into fear or worry. Listen, I don't have any problem with someone popping their horse on occasion. I think we all get it.
Often when I was jumping Khanalee, he'd do a little woopdydoo buck on the first one, which I ignored. That was just exuberance though.

lytha said...

Chelsey, I'll try next time!

KB, There are ways to make horses head shy. I'm not really sure what they are. But I never made Baasha head shy and I whacked him with my hand on the side of his face from the saddle more that a couple times in his life. So, you were a jumper? Respect!

lytha said...

Chelsey, OMG I HAVE TO TELL YOU WHERE I WENT TODAY! Hint: I stood at Worf's post on the bridge. !!!

Kitty Bo said...

I wasn't a jumper as much as I liked to jump. First time I showed Khanalee was at a little jumping schooling show. I never went over 2'6".