First Bareback Ride!

Yay!!

So, today I went out not expecting to ride at all. But I went out, and I was like, hmmm, I don't really feel like walking her all the way to the roundpen (which was what I was going to do originally). So I got out my rope reins for the first time (yay!), and put them on, and worked on flexing away from the pressure. She got pretty confused at first, despite her looking quite dashing in her new get up:

Lookit how pretty! Purple's a good color on you, girlie!

So basically, I stood at her left shoulder and gathered the reins up in my right hand as though I was riding, and put pressure on either one rein or both. If it was one, I waited for her to give to the pressure sideways and flex away from the pressure; both reins, she had to back up.

Just starting to understand the pressure! (And being cute.)

Naturally, I'd click when she got the right answer and drop the reins completely in a big, obvious release. Then I gave her a bit of carrot for being such a smart horse!

Grumpy face!? But you just got a treat! :(

That's better! Happy ears! And more chewing.

She started to understand after a few repetitions that there were 3 answers to my asking her a question with pressure: left, right, and back. Soon she started to go through all her options if she was stuck or confused. Soon she started to realize that there was a method to my madness, but it took a little while.

Remember that I said she was being ridden in a western leverage bit? Well, she doesn't know how to neck rein, and I don't think anyone ever taught her how to direct rein, either! A horse that doesn't steer... no wonder she has trouble listening! She was never actually taught anything!

Cuteness!! It took me a while to get one where she was lookin' at me

with both her ears forward. She was a tad bit grumpy that the treats stopped ;)

So it wasn't her being unwilling... she just didn't know. (Look at that face.. I mean, really, how could she ever mean any harm!?)

Like I said, soon she began to understand that one rein meant steer, and two reins means back and/or stop. Since she was doing so well, I thought I needed to switch it up a bit, since we'd been doing this on both sides for a while. So, I walked her to the fence, and wanted to teach her to stand for mounting. But... what do you know! She didn't need to be taught! She stood just fine while I climbed up on her paddock fence and hopped up on her bareback. She was trying to crib, though, so I put pressure on one side of her halter to flex her towards me, and she did! Click and treat!

And here's the great part: she really hasn't been clicker trained for very long. I wasn't sure how she'd react to it undersaddle. What'd she do? She stopped, and twisted her neck around to my boot and waited for me to present her treat! Wow! Wasn't expecting that one!

Not a care in the world!

So, I squeezed for us to be off, and she balked a bit. I don't think she was taught what leg cues are supposed to mean very well, or maybe she really is just ornery? Who knows! So I bugged her until she took a step forward, and I clicked, and gave her a treat. The next time I asked her to move off my leg? Lo and behold, she walked off perfectly fine! Maybe she really was just confused... So I let her step a few more steps, clicked, and treated. Then I added in the one-side pressure to get her to turn; she thought it meant "stop." I clucked at her and put a little more leg pressure on while holding the rein to the left, and she took a few steps toward the left. Good girl! Click and treat!

Hmm... you want something, don't you? (She's trying to figure 

out what the pressure means now that I'm on top of her!)

Through this baby step method, I was able to ride her around her field, bareback and in a riding halter, with no trouble at all! She just needed some encouragement to know when she was doing something right, and I gave it to her. She needs to work on straightness and continuing on the path I set her on, but she steers and listens much better now!

So then, we worked on her understanding two-rein pressure and that it was different from one-rein pressure. I used both reins to stop the forward movement, clicked, and treated. I did this a few times, and then I kept pressure on when she was stopped to get her to shift back. She didn't understand this at first, and tried flexing both ways, and giving at the poll, and curling her neck to get away from the pressure (no bit you can evade sweetheart, sorry!). Finally she began to shift back just a tiiiiny bit - click!! Treat!

I asked again right after she finished her treat, and she backed up almost immediately. So smart!!

This is a video of one of her backing up tries. I'm sitting on her, and then I gather up the reins to put a little bit of pressure on. She backs up, and the sound you hear is me clicking her. Then I lean over and she comes around to get her treat! :D

Afterwards, I petted her lots and let her munch her hay for a minute or two.

Her ears look so floppy here! haha

So then, I walked her to a stall and fed her dinner and groomed her while she ate. Unfortunately, I totally forgot the HHC I bought to work on her coat, and I was so upset with myself! Her tail is still much too static-y and lacking moisture, but her coat is looking so much better. I even think I can see that she put on a bit of weight since I first brought her home! Glee!!

But then, I notice... THIS:

Lookit that fat leg! Ugh :( She wasn't walking funny at all, or anything, but man, good thing I didn't lunge her today! Dodged that bullet, yes I did. Note to self: groom BEFORE working with her, so you can notice these things! But I would've seen if she was lame, and we didn't do anything but walk today, so it wasn't really a big deal.

However, I was very sad. I felt it, and it didn't seem to be hurting her at all - she picked it up fine, put weight on it fine, and didn't mind me feeling on it and poking around it. It was a bit hot, though, which is bad news! I told Nick about it and he said he did hear squealing and a kick that connected to something solid, so she probably kicked out at the fence. Silly mare! If it doesn't go down in the next few days I'm going to pick up some liniment stuff for it. Nick had some, but he's out, so I'll have to grab some myself. Hopefully it'll be less noticeable tomorrow! If not, I'll pick some up on Wednesday and bring it out to her Thursday. (Stupid school schedule!)

Hi!

...why are you pointing that cell phone at me?

I ended up turning her out with her neighbor horse, a little tricolor paint mare who's about 18 and probably a good 2 hands smaller than Reina. I thought Rei would boss her around, since she's big and has a bit of a queen attitude, right? Nope. Little mare bossed Rei! It made me laugh. We'll see if this keeps up and who ends up bossing who. Nick said they talked over the fence all the time, though, and seemed to get along well, so we're hoping this will cure Reina's nasty cribbing habit and make her a bit less bored. If not, I have a cribbing collar on its way to me soon, so that should fix it in any case.

Overall, it was a very good day! She's a total love and we're really bonding. I could lay on her neck while she walked and she didn't care, and we sauntered around bonding for a while inbetween me teaching her things. She's very laid back and really loves getting attention from me, which is great, because I love snuggling and grooming her!

So I leave you with some more adorable pictures from today:

She looks like she's pondering the meaning of life in this one.. hehe.

Wondering why I'm walking away from her when I still have treats.

Being ADORABLE because she wants treats! It's so hard to resist.

I'm going out to ride tomorrow, but I won't be on Rei - I'm gonna ride one of Nick's horses. I hope I'll have time to play with Reina a bit before I leave, but how much time I have will depend on how ready I feel for my test tomorrow night, so... I'm not expecting much. But I will be trying very hard! In fact, the only reason this got written was because I'm nursing a physics headache as I type this.

Today I learned:

1. Reina continues to prove how smart she is.

2. She can be super adorable when wanting treats... must resist!

3. She's not stubborn; just confused. And even if she is stubborn, it goes away with a click and a treat. Force is absolutely unnecessary!

4. We need some more work on responsiveness to cues before we start trail riding and conditioning and such.

5. Having a general marker for "okay, clicker training is over!" is quite important. If I don't give her a peppermint and pet her and say, "Okay, good girl! All done!", she gets a little nervous and nudge-y and wonders why we stopped playing. Note to self: be consistent!

Today Reina learned:

1. Pressure from left = go right.

2. Pressure from right = go left.

3. Pressure everywhere = stop/back up!

4. Leg pressure = go!

5. Click means stop and turn your head around, ears forward, and wait patiently for treat!

6. Kicking fences is bad. (Well, I hope she learned this from her fat leg!)