The Ever-So-Long Post-Camp Writings

As you have probably already deciphered from the title, Woody and I returned home last night at about 7 o'clock at night. We both had the BEST week with Harry Whitney, and had some HUGE changes. I will start from Monday, the arrival day.

We packed up Monday, and Terrie arrived to help me with loading Woody at about one. We allowed him to sniff the trailer a bit, and then I tried sending him in. He got onto the ramp, and then he backed up. Terrie pointed out the most important thing to do with him while trailer loading is to allow him to back out (don't trap him in the trailer because that will worry him), but immediately after he backs off (he doesn't even have to be off the ramp), send him back in. We did this for a while; sending him in, him backing out, and sending again. Then things began to get animated. He would not let go of his thought "don't go in the trailer!" Eventually, after persisting through his antics, he gradually became ok with being in the trailer. We then worked with the butt bar, then closed him up and were on our way. This whole lesson, however, took about 90 minutes.
We arrived at the farm fine, and when we went to unload him, I asked him to step forward off the butt bar, wait, and then back out. No kicking this time! Harry greeted us and we got everything unloaded and and Woody settled in.

Tuesday morning was an early one. We got to the barn at about 6:45 am to feed the horses. On this particular day, Clare, Tenley, and Carol came to audit from the Parelli Play Group. I was so happy they could come and expand their horizons in their horsemanship.
This was the day that Ronnie Moyer, the Cowboy Chaplain and Bible study leader, drew some really good analogies from the Bible to apply to our horsemanship. He wanted us to imagine the round pen as the universe, the horse would represent the human, and we would represent God. He also made the point that, in this analogy, we as "God" need to do things that DRAW the horses interest, but not by forcing them or making them out of fear. He also gave a little "formula" that applies to both humans in their walk with Christ, and horses in their relationship with us: trust leads to security which leads to straightness. If we trust God and the horse trusts us, that trust leads to security for the horse and human. Once we have security in the Lord, and the horse has security in us, there will be a straightness in ours and the horse's life. However, before the horse will begin to trust you, he has to see a need of the human. He also talked about how everything we do is FOR the horse, not TO or AT them. Whatever we should do for our horses should have the reason of, "I love you too much to allow you to stay as you are" (whether it be anxious, fearful, "dull", shutdown, etc.).
That day I mainly worked with Woody at Liberty in the round pen. I really wanted to work on his desire to be with me, because I felt that he had no desire and that he would just tolerate me. I asked him to do some stuff (circles, walking off, etc.), and I felt like he was just going through the motions and putting out minimal effort. We then went online and worked on changing direction, breaking it down into the hindquarters disengaging, stopping, backing up slightly (in order to rock the weight back so they could step over), stepping the shoulder out and over, and sending them off again. Harry pointed out that Woody liked to push into me with his shoulder while he was on the circle, so I began asking Woody to stop, move his shoulder over, and go again on the circle. Along with this, I asked Woody for a canter several times. He was, at first, very unwilling to go into it, and when he did he wouldn't hold it long, so Harry came in and worked on livening him up. He used a flag to get him going, but he told me that the reason that Woody had such a difficult time getting going was that he didn't let go of thoughts easily (imagine that). He was stuck in the thought "don't go forward," so when Harry finally got him to let go of that thought he could go forward without any trouble. We also noticed that whenever I went to pet Woody's face he would look away. So, whenever I went to pet his face, I would stop before I stroked him when I saw his attention wandering, get his attention back, and then stroke him.
Kathy, another lady at camp, and my roommate, had a horse very much like Sassy. He was extremely touchy and whenever someone would rub his back or girth area, head, or neck he would swish his tail, put his head up, and cowkick. The biggest thing she worked on with him through the week was getting him ok with being touched (his ears were a big touchy spot as well). She ahs had him for a number of years and has yet to ride him. He is so difficult and challenging that even Harry said a number of times that he was not ready to be ridden. Kathy has come a long way with him though and got some really good changes in his touchiness, saddling, and a numver of other areas throughout the week.

Wednesday was the first day I rode Woody. I really wanted to continue working on Woody's canter, so we did just that. I rode him in the round pen after a bit of groundwork, and immediately Harry told him to liven that pony up, even in his walk, because his willingness in the walk and trot will carry over and effect his canter. He picked up the canter fairly easily, but he wouldn't hold it for long. We kept trying and it got better and better. Ronnie then got on Woody and tried to get him into a canter going his "bad" way (to the right). He couldn't really get it on the pen, so he went into the arena. His asked him to canter following these two horses turned out into the arena, and what do ya know! He went into a nice canter without bucking and really going forward. Woody definitely has some cow in him. I then got on, and Ronnie told me to let go of my reins. That was really hard for me to do, and I believe the reason for that is because I don't trust my pony. I feel like I need to have short reins so I can control him, and especially in the canter when he bucks I tend to pull on him. He told him that if I hold onto the end of the reins and hold onto his mane so I am not tempted to pull on the reins, that he would straghten out and go forward better. He told me that when he gets into a canter and bucks, if I react by puling on his head, I am disrupting and discouraging his thought to go forward, which is thet LAST thing I want to do with Woody. He also told me that by holding my reins long, Woody would become more sensitive to the reins because he wouldn't have to deal with all the "noise" that I make with the reins that means nothing to him. He would have to know that when he felt something on the rein, he was supposed to respond in some way.

Thursday was a big day for Woody and I. When our time came, we went up to the arena saddled and ready. I asked Ronnie how he would go about fixing some of the things he noticed and mentioned to me about Woody. He said that he could see Woody conforming outwardly, putting out minimal effort, not really being there with me, and just going through the motions. He talked me through some stuff with Woody, and man did we make some changes. I realized that Woody has been doing this basic ground skills stuff a long time, so he understands what I'm asking for when I, say, wiggle the rope. He just lacks the understanding that I mean what I say. So, I asked him to back up. He continued to stand there sleeping. I went kaa-pow, listen to me! Pay attention to me! And that he did. I backed him until there was a change. He looked at me differently, licked and chewed, and blew through his nose. I asked him again, and still, there was a drag in his response. So again, kaa-pow. The next time I asked he went the first time. Then I had to make sure he knew I wasn't mean and he wasn't weing punished, so I went up to him with the rope and rubbed his face. He was awake from then on. The thing is is that when I don't mean what I say (meaning I give him a LOT of time before I get big), he A) gets dull because he knows he can wait a while before doing what I asked and B) doesn't understand what I'm doing because I'm not being clear. With horses like Woody, I have to be as clear and black and white as possible or else they will become frustrated to some extent because you are not consistent.
~Eden