mandy
Young horse
Posts: 62
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Ozzie
Sept 20, 2009 15:13:17 GMT
Post by mandy on Sept 20, 2009 15:13:17 GMT
Great stuff Elaine, your flyin!
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Ozzie
Sept 20, 2009 18:23:42 GMT
Post by Elaine on Sept 20, 2009 18:23:42 GMT
Ahh Well not quite, but hopefully heading the right direction at a steady 35 miles an hour
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Ozzie
Oct 4, 2009 12:06:19 GMT
Post by Elaine on Oct 4, 2009 12:06:19 GMT
Right, Sunday morning, both Elaine & Oz half asleep.... so I thought.... right, what can I do here so that it makes life a bit easier and we both have a bit of fun? Answer: Use props! So off we went to the hill / dig out area in the middle of the paddock. First walked up and down the hill over a telegraph pole - nice & steady no rushing. Next it was the little jump up & down at the side of the hole - about a 70%, but when he jumped down it was a little rushed on the landing and he lost focus a bit and went into trot. Mmm I thought. Then it was a walk up and then a walk down the steep part of the hill (about 5 steps of a hill maybe). Good walk up (about 80%) walk down was messy - he decided he was going and went into a trot which I hadn't asked for. So thoughts..... like with the jumping on the flat I'd done with him a while back, I wanted him to stay in the gait I asked for.... so if he approached a jump in walk, I'd like him to stay in walk after it too, unless I specifically asked him to change gait upwards or downwards. Also I think if horses rush stuff, you're not getting the quality - they're physically doing it but their mind might not always be engaged. Of course this is the big thing with Oz - its worth nothing unless I have Oz's mind with me. How to get his mind with me is to slow things down, be really specific about what I want each leg put and then reward his tries. So back to the steep hill he trotted down. Our new plan - downhill, but one step at a time, and then back to halt. It worked very well. Took about 5 mins, Oz took his went down the hill in inches, Oz twigged very quickly it was one step then stop and wait. Also it was good as he had to think more about each step he took as it was so slow and then cos he had to balance like that for a minute or two until the next step. After that, the jump up & down was a breeze. For the jump up, he got so good at the 'whoa' means halt, I had him standing in front of the little ditch, then with one foot stretched out on the ditch, then a slow jump up, then a halt. For the jump down, I asked him to walk to the take off point, then stop. Then one step more till he was right on the edge, then stop. Then he waited patiently... Then another little cue, and he did an easy op down, absolutely no rushing, then walked away from it, still listening to me. Yay. We had the quality back After that, just a bit of messing, sidepassing both ways, tried to get him to sidepass towards me but he was a little confused that he should step towards me, as I was standing a bit too close to his side in my effort to get the stick over to his far side, little walk in a circle both ways WITH HIS TOTAL CONCENTRATION, nice trots both ways, only 1 head toss thing, told him he was great, walked him halfway back up the hill, took off his headcollar, walked away, and he stayed halfway up the hill looking at me.
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mandy
Young horse
Posts: 62
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Ozzie
Oct 4, 2009 19:28:41 GMT
Post by mandy on Oct 4, 2009 19:28:41 GMT
Brilliant!
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