Bodhi the Great

My friend Marci comes out and rides Bodhi sometimes. She will be looking in on him while I am gone in Africa which makes me feel better. Here is a lovely photo she took of him. This also captures the snow we had in mid April!

I have discovered that my horse is very opinionated. I have now had several people try Bodhi for partial boarding and it is very obvious who he prefers and who he does not. He always tries a bit of sass with any new person much to my dismay. He pretends he does not know a few things and tries to convince them that "actually riding is just standing in the middle of the ring!" He also likes to proudly show them things they did not ask for. "Look at what I can do!" He then settles right down when the person is not impressed...

But some people he just shuts down and completely disrespects. In some respects I am not happy he is ever disrespectful. I thought I raised him better! On the other hand it is interesting to see what he will just not stand for. It is neat to see the individual even though sometimes it is a bit embarrassing.

Golden days of early summer

Are here... I am frantically packing and trying to sell and give away most of my belongings before we move to Canada at the end of June. It is quickly approaching. I stare at the lush green tree line trying to memorize the Florida landscape. I do love trees!
I have not really been working Bodhi so much as playing with him. A little canter here, a little jump there. Lots of grazing and we both sputter out of our motivation rather quickly. What are we trying to accomplish again? Oh that's right rehabilitation. I figure playing around with ground ples obsticles, transitions, and lateral work is the best thing. Only time will heal. Only time will tell when he is 100%. I think he is hovering around 95%. right now.



Look At the good boy reaching under. The look of concentration is also priceless.



Here I set up a combination of a small jump he had a canter up to and trot away from--for ground poles.



I don't know why my pony has developed a jump. This is proof. He is no longer flailing over things any more. He jumps. :)

Click and treat!



We practiced more bridleless riding. I know it looks like I have reins but the reins are actually atatched to the halter and than cliped around his neck. I messed around with it today. You can not apply halter pressure this way but I felt better having the "rein" if I wanted it. All in my head I know but isin't all of our "controls" for horses. I should be wearing a helmet. I suck.




So this is what I am up. to Fooling around. How but you guys? Are you having fun with your horses?

Harder Faster Stronger

First 2 photos to go with Grey Horse Matters Spa Day. Bodhi was in the spirit of beautification and was given a wonderful mask by Pokey the TB.



Right now Pokey is offering buy one get one half way up your legs. Limited time only!


Yesterday we tried the trot under saddle. Just to see. Just because I am so bored with walking already. No good. I figure as long as he drags at the trot I should not try it under saddle as I don't want to habituate him to dragging his toe under saddle. I want that floating feeling back!

One of the boarders has been begging me to jump her pony Dusty for just about forever and I have been resisting ( I am not sure why). I haven't jumped over 2 feet in I don't know how long. Years. Maybe 5 years? Well I finally hopped on her pony and jumped up to 2'6. She begged me for 3 and I was feeling pretty good but I still declined. Maybe next time. Man can that pony jump. I thought my old jumper was point in shoot but this little guy is amazing. Just don't stop at the gate. He rears. So cute.

Anyways I want to re do my goals. This is more for my documentation then your entertainment I guess so bare with me.

Under Saddle

• Softness on the bit
• Lateral steps at the walk
• corners
• Duration of work on the bit
• Bend
• Transitions
• Bitless work (if my bridle EVER comes in the mail!)
• Bridless work
  

Clicker Work

• Ground Tie- I have had a hard time figuring out how to shape standing as it is almost the absence of behavior. I read this post and now I am ready to give it a shot
• Head lower on cue
• Spanish walk- I have this idea that teaching Bodhi to pick up his feet high and teaching him to sustain it would be really perfect for shoulder rehab. Also I have been meaning to put picking up feet on a cue for a while now. He is always offering the behavior and I have just been lazy about it.
• Generalize the back and the liberty work cue with the three D's (Distance Duration and Distraction)

Me Time

• I want to ride more horses- There is Dusty, Pokey, and at Anna's there is Abby, Sneaker and her new pony. I have rides I am just being nervous and not utilizing them!
• Jogging- I started with 1/2 mile. My first goal is to get up to 2 miles.
• Yoga and Pilates- once a week or more to build those core muscles
• Work on my riding position ( elastic arms, even seat bones, loose hips that move with the horse, neutral pelvis, siting on my inner thigh not my butt, toes in etc etc...)

Great Weekend!

I had a great weekend. I went on a trail ride into a neighborhood with some fellow boarders and Bodhi and I worked on clicker work. He will now pick up a cone and hand it to me (to be fair sometimes he hits me with it!) I have also had some really amazing aha! moments for training in general that are still in the works but I can not wait to share. They are about poisoned cues and Natural Horsemanship. But it is Monday and I have work to do so lets roll the pictures of the ride!

Tie also is doing great! He got a bath on Sunday and when I let him loose he took with a canter and a buck and rolled! This is the first time we have seen him roll so he must me feeling better!

It just clicked!

I am reading Karen Pryor's new book Reaching the Animal Mind in which it has a section on her pony training days and "Pony surfing" I will tell you no more but I do encourage anyone interested in shaping and positive reinforcement to pick up a copy!

This long weekend was fantastic as I got to work with Bodhi and the clicker. We are working on three main things and I will try not to move on till we have these on cues (though it is so hard!).

manners cue- to work on his over eagerness during training. I was rewarding him when he kept his head away from my hands and pockets

Targeting- While leading he is the slowest walker in the universe. It leads to me feeling like I am constantly nagging him. We used his targeting behavior to work on walking speed. I used a dressage whip as the target.

Undersaddle we worked on transitions and being forward. I clicked and rewarded for speed in which he responded to my legs and voice to trot and canter. We then worked for a sustained trot and he was clicked when he maintained his speed on his own.

All three areas are well on their way, he responded consistently and seemed to understand what I am asking for. The next step will to put the behaviors on a cue. The cue for the anti-mugging I think will be me saying "Manners". The cue to increase his speed while leading will be "walk-up" The cues while riding will be my same neg reinforcement cues but by using positive reinforcement as well I hope to really soften up my aids. I would like to not use spurs anymore. I have been told by trainers I use them correctly, and I know they can be a good tool I just don't like the feel. I am very excited as Bodhi was more forward yesterday than he has been in a while with spurs. How powerful this is! I think we both have more fun too. Which is after all the most important part.

Tie is well. The picture is of him begging for a carrot. He is such a ham. When I wonder if the things I did to get Tie were worth the trouble and problems in my realtionship with the owner I just to have to look at him to know the answer. I am thankful for Tie and I think he is thankful for me (and Kathy too!)

Are we sure this is Florida?

We have ice in our buckets, and frost in our grass. This is just not right! There is actually a chance of snow tomorrow night. It has not snowed here since 1989.

Bodhi is doing fine. I have not had but one real ride on him since returning from the holidays. Two other people have "borrowed" him for trail rides though. All reports of his behavior were positive. Both people did experience some jigging (his favorite trail ride activity) but otherwise he was a perfect gentleman. I am actually glad he is doing it universally. I was beginning to think it was my nerves that caused his antics. In reality I think it is his frustration over how much slower he walks in comparison to other horses. He will soon learn that if he would just relax and lengthen his stride then he could keep up!

Our last ride Bodhi got his left(problem) lead over a pole from the trot three times in a row. He had this determined and tenacious look on his face that made me feel like this lead thing has finally "clicked" for him. We will see. I would like to show him in training level in the shows coming up this month and next but it all depends on this one lead. I am trying to decide if I should take him anyways if he does not get it in time. Taking him into intro again would not be the end of the world. I am really just interested in the experience of showing for him not anything else though I am eager to rise to the challenge of a higher level. We will see.

Tie is in good spirits and seems to be slowly gaining weight. He has received his latest food increase this week and we will see where this leads him. He has been a bit wobbly which has the GP BM and I concerned though our vet says this is a normal thing for an old horse like him to experience. Has any one else had a wobbly senior?

Haircuts and scatter brains

I have not been writing lately because I am feeling a little scattered. I am having a hard time finishing a thought let alone a sentence. So I will just keep it simple today and give an update on Bodhi.

Bodhi has been doing awesome. We had a lesson on Saturday and my instructor was impressed in how much Bodhi had improved since she last saw him ( about a month and a half). She said he was really starting to develop suspension at the trot-very floaty. We also showed her how we can jump now and she was just as surprised and impressed as I was. I can not really explain how excited I am to have a jumping Haflinger. I love my pony and but I had already accepted that we would be flightless. Now the idea of going fox hunting and going to hunter paces is back and I am excited about the possibulities.

She gave a me my list of things to work on filled with the usual suspects of working on changing of bends, keep my elbows back and bent and stop throwing him away at the canter depart. She also gave me a few exercises to work on the flying lead changes. Before the lesson I felt a little wild when I asked for the change like I was looking for the combination of aides that would illicit it but there was really no rhyme or reason to my actions. She wants me to focus on just changing the bend and that should be enough. I think this weekend I am going to work on some more canter transition work, and possibly challenge Bodhi with some jump variety and maybe even raise the height a little. He can do it I am sure but I am a big baby!
Bodhi also got a hair cut. The B.M. gave him a trace clip as he was getting so sweaty during rides. She did a great job! I am debating right now whether to pull or roach Bodhi's mane. It is a mess and he keeps ripping it out! Poor itchy man. I feel so bad for him as he itches and scratches away big patches of hair and skin with his bug allergies but have found no real solution for the problem. If it would just stay cold then he would have some relief but alas we live in Florida!

Many faces of the Donkey

At Greener Pastures where I board I have been able to get to know two donkeys who serve as guardians of the property.....

Kurly the Jack is quite a ham...



Karma our Jenny is very shy and sweet

Why Horses? How I see it

Two blogs that I follow Tucker the Wunderkind and Eye on the Horsee posted some wonderful pictures that illustrate why they choose to have horses in their lives despite the cost in time, money and sometimes sanity!
Here are a few of mine. I hope anyone who sees this will share with me the pictures they feel capture that special feeling one get's with equines.
The Pictures are...

-Dancer, The nervous TB mare, coming up to me after liberty work

-Velour my first true equine partner getting a pre-ride stretch like he got everyday that I owned him (5 years) or rode him (10 years)

-Bodhi caught looking beautiful and wild during a lesson one day.

-Bodhi and I sharing some quality time in the barn isle after a ride

Bareback, bitless and carefree?

Bodhi and I are well. The rain has kept us from doing a lot of riding and the accompanied blues from all these gray days has kept me from posting. Bodhi and I are still struggling with the canter work. We do best bareback so I have ridden the last two times that way and had some nice canter departs. It is really hard for me to sit back and straight at the canter and my trainer thinks (and I think she is right) that it is causing Bodhi to go on the forehand. I think this issue with my posture is the last major cross road I am hitting from my change over from hunt seat to dressage. I have not found my groove yet at the canter so everything just feels wrong! Ech! I am a dressage rider now but it is so hard to let go of the old comfortable ways of riding. Practice is what it will take of course and I seem to find my balanced place better when I ride bareback so I will stick with that.

Since I have been riding a lot bareback I have been getting Bodhi very light with seat and leg aids and really trying to think "reins for headset only" as my trainer always reminds. That got me to thinking why do I need to stick metal in my horse's mouth to accomplish this and would he not be softer if I tried something like a bitless?
SO I am thinking about Dr. Cook's Bitless Bridle

It seems well regarded....Has anyone personally used it?

Although it is expensive and I feel not essential (I already have two nice bit bridles for heaven's sake!) I feel compelled to try it. The website offers a one month trial period so if I do not like it I don't have to buy it. Can't lose right?

Meet the Crew

I have been posting now for a while (my 12th post!) and I thought it would be beneficial and fun to show anyone reading my cast of characters...

1st Picture is my dog Stella and me.
AKA stellardog, B-dilly, B-dunk, stinky and deamon spawn.
She is a Catahoula leopard dog/goat cross I adopted from animal services. She is a destructive force of nature, a danger to other dogs and small animals, and an absolute cuddle muffin.

2nd Picture is Chris my husband
AKA The Horse Husband and Moogers
His interest are football, history and teaching English as a second language. He is a tolerant guy of my horse habit and is actually quite helpful around the barn.

3rd picture is Dancer.
You may begin to hear about her as I am getting money off my board to work with her. More details to follow though she is a 13 yr old TB Mare with some issues.

4th is of course Bodhi!
AKA Bodhster or Bodhzilla

This is my family! Thanks for looking in.

Vertically Challenged

Bodhi Has been improving with keeping a bend and not falling into the inside. Probably as I am doing better about not dropping my outside rein. It is amazing that he so green yet most of our problems can be solved with a change in my equitation. Like he is just waiting for me to get with the program! Like when I don't have my elbows bent he just fusses and fusses and then the light bulb goes on in my head and I fix it and he just drops into the bit and drives forward from behind. I can just hear him say "finally idiot! I was wondering when you were going to fix that" Sometimes I wonder who is training who.
Jumping is another story. Poor Bodhi. He just doesn't get it. I have never trained a horse to jump that is so naturally ungifted before. He either falls over it or runs through it. This is the first time since I got him that I miss owning a big Thoroughbred. Yesterday I schooled him over this little oxer (I mean baby tiny). He was doing better and relaxing his back so I gave him alot of rein and the little booger tried to refuse! I of course went into hunter training mode and schooled him over the fence several more times, but it broke my heart to feel him bouncing against my legs wanting to evade. How can he be sooo bad and sooo unwilling. I stopped him after a bit and realized how much he was blowing. He was completely spent. I felt horrible. No wonder he had started to try and refuse I was over working him. What would have been super easy task for a big Thoroughbred is really hard for my little haflinger. I should not have pushed him so hard. I need to sit back and figure out a new strategy to get him more confident over fences while challenging him enough that he takes an interest. I need to possibly take some over fences lessons my self.