Tuesday, September 8, 2009

VIDEOCLIP Meet Isaac 1 -- Overcoming Challenges of Pulling & Bolting




video
Posted by at 7:57 AM
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12 comments:

  1. Karen- I had been having an issue with my horse backing up while leading off with his hind feet instead of his front feet. It was really my fault because I always concentrated on him moving his front feet first in the backup. Anyway, as I viewed how you backed up Isaac, I was able to take that information and apply it. Today, as I worked with my horse, I thought only of him moving his back feet first and to my amazement, those are the feet he moved with first! I experimented with this not once, but many times and had the same great result. I should say, that as soon as he lifted that hind foot I offered him the float immediately. He picked this up right away, it was great! Love this new site, hope to see more posts soon!

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  2. Hi MyHorseSnortz :)

    Do you mean that he stepped back a step with a hind foot when you meant for him to step forwards with a hind foot first? (I’m asking Isaac forwards in this video, don’t think I backed him up). That is great that you are really thinking about the sequence of footfalls and connecting your release of more float with a specific foot. There is some detail you mention here that I am not completely clear on though. Here are a few notes that highlight some key differences between a step forwards and a step backwards that may be helpful.

    So when your horse steps forwards, he pushes off his hips (or that is what he is built to do naturally), and for that reason the float is associated with the hind foot reaching forwards, as in the video. But when he steps backwards, we are looking for a diagonal pair of feet to step together. He may step with a "split" diagonal at first, most likely front then opposite hind. As he gets more confident and offers more, he will step the diagonal pair together.

    The key to keep in mind as you experiment is where the weight needs to go to keep it "loaded" over the spring in the hips, with the shoulders free.

    When stepping forwards, he starts from the hips, so he can support lifting the shoulders as he steps. In the backup, he needs to step so that he stays rocked onto his hips, to be athletically available for the next maneuver. His better offer would be a diagonal pair together. If he steps more slowly with one foot at a time in the *backup*, you'd prefer the front then the hind. He may be doing this or both together.

    A good way to get a feel for this, vs. committing it to memory (much harder!) is to get down on hands and knees and try it yourself. Try two "strides" both ways: 1) hand then knee, repeat; 2) knee then hand, repeat) and pay close attention to the distribution of weight during the "steps" and after. In 1) the weight is more over the shoulders and there is a spot where it easy to hollow the back. In 2) the weight is more over the hips and the lift in the lower back is better supported.

    As a related side-note… under saddle, Leslie associates the FEEL of the float sliding DOWN the shoulder groove with that shoulder lifting UP and reaching back in the backup. It’s important to keep in mind that it is the whole diagonal moving under you, which becomes the new balance point for the next stride. The sensitization of the shoulder groove to the feel of the float with the timing noted is a crucial part of a feel and release foundation. It is the foundation for a stop, with shoulders elevated, when you set your rein down on the wither. It is also the foundation for balanced and snappy turns (a feel on the outside float elevates the shoulder and shifts the weight to his hips). With this in mind, when backing your horse up from the ground with the halter knot or from further in front, you’d be encouraging the elevation in his shoulder ( which lifts the ribs/back and frees the tip in the pelvis). The shoulder he moves will coincide with the opposite hind stepping as you suggest, when the diagonal pair step cleanly together. With the diagonal pair stepping together, the backup will become generous and straight.

    I hope this is helpful. The thing is to think about the structure of the horse and how he has springs in the zig-zag of bones (hip,point of buttock, stifle, hock) in his hindquarters. The front-end does not have this characteristic, more like posts to hold him up :) So for a light ride we aim to keep the weight over the springs he has available in the back and thus support a free and elevated shoulder. This is what he does naturally, unless he has inadvertently been taught otherwise (which can easily happen, even by doing something as innocent as hand-feeding treats!), or an injury has caused him to compensate in some way etc.

    Above all, if you're experimenting and observing how he responds to your feel, you're on the right track :)

    Karen

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  3. Hi Karen! So glad I was able to get a "refresher" with Isaac's video. I tried getting Cowboy to move his back feet today. But first I had to catch him. Seems he's fine when I have empty hands, and when the halter is in my hands...well you saw...So I did some "planned ignoring" and scratched his leg to change my vibes...probably half an hour or more before we got the halter on. The trying to walk with him...
    He planted his feet after every step. I tried focusing on his back feet moving, and stood with my hip out (left hip out, his left hind leg posed to take next step--right?)The funniest thing was his lips were quivering, so he was thinking about SOMETHING! (Cris says, "yeah, he was thinking about how he wasn't gonna move!") I did give him line when he took steps, but it was SO SLOWWWW and mostly waiting in stand off. I wasn't sure if he was "locked up" so I tried moving towards his back feet, and he stepped away --actually pretty good back feet movement with very little front foot movement as he pivoted around WEIGHT ON HIS FRONT (both directions) then he took a step forward but immediately braced again. *sigh* What am I doing wrong? (He is getting better at lateral flexion tho... what he won't do for a good scratch!)

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  4. Hi Karen

    If he has his left hind set back, ready to move next, I'd step my right leg back as I offer the float (opening the hip on the same side as his as I face him). You are creating space as you offer this to him in 3 ways, more float, opening of your hip and moving away.

    If you are leading him somewhere, keep your life up and get going as he livens up, or you will probably only get a step.

    Be careful that you are not staring right at the feet you need to move. This tends to weight them down :) Remember bouncing energy off a fence post or tree or... behind the foot you want him to step up?

    I would not 'practice' disengaging the hips as this will get his front feet more stuck... but your experiment shows that he is likely stuck at the shoulders, not the back feet.

    The lateral flexion is good! This will help elevate/free his shoulders. I recall that he hardly bent his knees at all in his offer of his front feet in the back up. You might experiment with this too.

    If I'm imagining this close to correctly (?), I'd probably release the root of the neck via a pop on the wither, then move with some life in my own steps as I invite his back feet to follow the float. The point being, it sounds like he needs to free up his shoulders for his hind feet to have a place to go.

    Good luck!

    Karen

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  5. Thanks, I will work on the back up--front first with goal of equal diagonals in movement, right? Now, I took him for rides, several days in a row...and consistently, he just DOESNT want to make right hand turns, especially when it's in the open. I experimented with giving more float on the right side and making sure my shoulders and hip were also going/open in that direction, and even trying to get it BEFORE the turn and he would start bending left unless i reached down and had to ungraciously tug him to the right. Of course now my head is practically at his neck (on the righ side), and I have to give him some taps with my left heel. Im sure there is pilot error, but I don't know if any of the ground work we covered would specifically help (at the beginning) for this matter. We often have problems walking in a straight line in the open, too...could this be related to his crossfire issue? I know, I need to get you over again!!

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  6. Oh, and one more question...EATING while undersaddle...pop on the withers? He's getting quite crafty...(sorry to hog the blog!hope others will share their experiences/questions too!)

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  7. Karen

    You are on the right track with your thinking, but the float on the inside rein won't work until more things are in place than we could do in one session :) If I remember correctly he leans on his left shoulder at a standstill...? So it will be harder for him to turn to the right - he has to shift his weight off the front left and across a diagonal that is not really there for him (in terms of bearing weight front left and right hind). Your backup work will help with that too.

    For now, since we only started the new meaning in the float on the inside rein, I'd suggest the following when riding. If he takes over to the left, when you asked for right, rather than pulling the rein in the new direction (to the right) and bumping his shoulder over (if I understood that correctly), which is a workable presentation through driving and constant pressure, you might also try this, to get a step closer to feel and release and to be consistent with the groundwork you've started: shorten and lift your right rein UP to ask for his jaw to release (and with it, his mind), while asking for the right hind with your right leg. When you feel a release in his jaw and right hind reaching further under, release float in your rein. Then you are building the same thing as we started on the ground: if you feel pressure on the rope/rein, offer your mind, soften in your hips and step towards the rope/rein to find your float.

    The difference offered here is that driving the outside shoulder and pulling the inside rein will put him on his forehand during the turn. This other suggestion uses pressure and release too, for now, but in a different way. When he gives his jaw, he releases elevation into his shoulders (and his mind to you), and when he reaches with his inside hind, he is shaped to push off his hips, into the turn, with a lighter shoulder.

    This may or may not make sense before seeing this "live". But I thought it was worth a shot!

    Karen

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  8. p.s. I really have not put word out about the blog, so more will join us when I get to that :)

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  9. Yeah, i can't even feel his rear feet when Im riding (I've tried counting, and only get a feel for the 1 and 3 aka the front)...so this last bit is gonna take a while for ME to figure out (smile). *sigh* If only we had nothing else to do but play with our ponies, eh?

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  10. Karen

    I can coach you how to do this... anyone can do it, not hard, honest! For now, just guess, you probably feel it more than you know :)

    KM

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  11. ok here's some recent observations: backwards, he's pretty good with the left diagonal, but tends to follow it right after wtih a step back by the right rear foot. The the right front starts to go back, and is followed quickly by the right rear stepping back . So if i number him LF 1, LR 2, RF 3, RF 4, he does 1/4,2..3,2..1/4 suggestions to get 2 and 3 better syncronized?

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  12. Hi, wasn't sure exactly what you meant in the post, but since we looked at this together I thought I'd reply now!

    Essentially you observed that when he steps backwards with his left diagonal (LF, RH), he was consistently following with an extra step with his LH and shift of his weight to the RH. We also observed that he has a tendency to lean on his left shoulder at times too.

    This explains the challenges with turns to the right: hard for him to unweight the right hip to reach his inside hind under (to support his weight in the turn) and/or hard for him to shift off his left shoulder to travel to the right.

    It was really something to see how much his turns improved by first drawing his attention to that left diagonal, helping him better connect those two quarters, and lighten them up on the ground. Then offer better timing with his feet from the saddle - setting the left diagonal for balance - and asking for his mind, rather than 'wrestling' his head and neck around (at times :), to make the right thing obvious and release him to the new (right) direction.

    When I rode him to show you this, I was pleasantly surprised by quite how fast he went from taking over with his own ideas, to engaging in mine. He was really quite light on those tiny circles in each direction - no leg pressure and only a hair on the (lifting) inside rein. And how effective you were in putting that together in the 15min countdown to the bus! Super star, he was, you too :) As Bill Dorrance often reminds us: horses want to get along... they just need to understand what we mean by what we do (ok that is more a Leslie phrase I think).

    They really seem to enjoy us getting in time with their feet and helping them be prepared for what we want by placing the feet for balance in the maneuver we are about to ask for.

    What fun he was. Just wish we'd filmed that one............

    Happy Birthday once again!

    KM

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