Last night I went out to groom Pepsi (didn't have time to ride) and he ground tied the WHOLE time! (At least 30 minutes! Woo-hoo!) He still will try to occasionally move a bit, but I've been consistent enough now that usually all I have to say is 'eeeent!' when he's about to move and he'll stop. And if he DOES still move a foot or two, now I can usually just say OVER and he'll go back to where he was. (If I REALLY need his attention, I can give a finger tap on the shoulder, but for the most part that's not necessary now.)
Considering several months ago I was basically beating him in the wash stall to keep him from running over me, I consider this HUGE progress. Needless to say, we're BOTH happier now! :D
Also, I HAVE been riding, just not posting. But, after my mini-lesson last week, I realized that I've been letting my expectations drop SO low that they were barely non-existent. That's stopped. Now when we walk we WALK, and when we halt we HALT and we don't do anything until I ask him to. And I'm riding with the dressage whip again at the walk a) to increase my coordination with it so when we go back to trot work I won't be whomping him inadvertently and b) so that when I ask for something at the walk and he doesn't respond I have an IMMEDIATE comeback. He's gotten MUCH more responsive to my leg because of it, and I keep checking myself to make sure I'm not asking for more than he can handle. (He can only go about 4-5 strides at the walk right now while REALLY using his back and stepping under himself, so I make sure to ask for him to engage, use the whip if he doesn't, then praise when he DOES use that hind end and really steps under himself, and then I leave him alone for that 4-5 strides AND continue to leave him alone for the next 4-5 strides while he goes back to his 'normal' walk. This way I'm not CONSTANTLY pushing him and asking him for things that he's not physically capable of doing and hereby making him sour about the work. After his normal 4-5 strides though I ask again for engagement and the cycle continues. ;) )
Generally speaking, I just have to up my expectations, and make sure that he meets them. He's smart enough that he can as long as I make it clear what I want and be consistent about it.
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4 comments:
Good for you for having high expectations. Julia has been on my case about that with Surf, telling me that I cannot settle for less than I want :)
Can you come to maryland and teach my beasties to ground tie?
what a good boy for ground tying for so long!!
I often "take what I can get" from a horse instead of pushing him to do what I know he is capable of. Good job on upping the expectations.
Yeah, I've been taking what I can get from him a lot too, which is why I'm officially upping my expectations!
(I mean, really- how HARD is it to just stand still?!?)
Wow, what a ground-tie expert!!! :) I do remember the one blog post where he was threatening to kick you in the wash stall...what a HUGE improvement!
Expectations are a tricky area. I've had one instructor say that they should be flexible and depend on each ride, and Gayle is quite firm that the horse will do what you set out to do that day (assuming it's a reasonable request for their ability). I think the moveable expectations are dangerous because they tend to slip lower and lower as the horse realizes you'll keep dropping them! ;) But it sounds like you're doing great!
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