Is there anything this mare doesn't already know?
It is a valid question where Katana is concerned. I *thought* I was getting a green broke mare and yet every time I ask her what I think is something new, she either gets it instantly because she is so damned smart, or she already had the knowledge. Probably the latter, although there have been one or two things I've had to introduce with groundwork. I am sure she has no idea about trotting poles, but that is about it.
I admit to having heavy hands. I try very hard to soften but it is a throw back from riding racehorses, re-establishing my core strength and my balance. Today I wanted to do those lateral flexion exercises, so I set up my plastic buckets in a row. A while back one horseperson said to me I look down too much. Yeah, I am always looking for gopher and badger holes in this province. However, I persevered in looking up and another friend said, don't push your shoulders back, lift your ribcage. Two simple things which balance me better. Today, while doing the lateral exercise I had also been told, move your shoulders not your hands. IE, depending on which direction, lower the opposite hand and move the opposite shoulder back, and of course your arm and hand come with it. A bit like squeezing the trigger while shooting, versus pulling it. I have to say it was an eye opener. Something so damned simple and yet effective. It also gave Katana very clear cues to show what I wanted. Curving around the buckets with a supple neck and no resistance.
I am a mostly self-taught rider. I've never been able to afford clinics or many riding lessons and learning to ride on racehorses where you basically point them in the right direction, gave me no real knowledge of the finer points of riding. However, since like most horsepoeple I want to do well by my horses, I persist and learn.
It was like introducing the fly spray today. Before when I've tried she's swerved violently and wanted none of it. But Katana works things out very quickly. Once she realised I wasn't going to give up, she did, to the point where I could spray her everywhere, and I mean everywhere, which immediately makes me think, yeah, she's been sprayed before. Or, the brain kicked in and told her she wasn't dying from it, it didn't hurt, and hoo boy, I may as well do what my human wants. Merlin, my gorgeous pinto knew it gave him relief and would almost welcome being sprayed, so, oh well, another tick in Katana's box of tricks.
I've noticed since i have done more ground work with her she is much easier to handle riding. She softens and relaxes. I do have to be very clear what I want and she then gets stuff so quickly. And whether that is because she remembers it or simply she understands my cues doesn't matter, it is only intriguing to know what she knows.
I am pretty sure she was broke by a guy. Why do I say that? because she responds to a deeper voice. Interesting today when I swapped saddles from her to Sabre. Sabre wasn't responding to groundwork today. I hadn't intended to ride him as well but he needs more exercise than Katana because he is one of those horses that looks at grass and is fat. So I bit the bullet and the dh was standing by the gate, so I said open it, we are going down the road a little ways.
My non-horse husband watches Katana a bit and then goes up to her when she started hollering, pats her neck and tells her not to be so silly, that Sabre will be back in a bit and he said, she just stood with him. No frantic running around. Both horses know the dh pretty well but he rarely will venture into the pasture with them. But she let him fuss her and rub her face and, actually Sabre will do the same, because the dh is familiar and calm even tho he is nervous of horses he doesn't know. That is so lovely for me and I smile quietly, because when we do, which we will, get our own acreage, it means that when we do maintenance etc, he will come into the fields with me. We have been so lucky t have free range on the acreage where I keep Katana and Sabre because it has taught the dh just what needs to be done. Like the ahrrowing and how we bloody well should have sprayed for weeds this year, but we thought we were moving. The result is way too many dandelions and clover etc not to mention thistles. Plus the upkeep of the fences and how to use hotwire efficiently to keep a smallish pasture in grass longer.
Those things are work that most acreage owners do automatically. Things I know have to be done but which the dh used to think, nah, you don't have to. You do. Like picking up the poo and cleaning water tubs. He simply didn't know or realize the neccessity of it all. It takes energy, of course but, hey, he's noticed that the tiredness he feels is a different kind of tiredness from what he is used to. He has worked 24/7 his entire life, always the provider but he did that in bloody great excavators, so walking is not his forte. However, while I have no wish to cripple him, when he had congenstive heart failure and nearly died, sometimes you have to push yourself a touch.
He's been keeping the acreage as free of gophers as he can, which is no easy task. It means walking and shooting. He thinks, wherever he shoots about how the horses are going to react. Of course that is common sense, but he didn't know horses. As happens Katana and Sabre are used to shotgun shooting since there is a range just downt he road. A 22 sounds quite different and they do react to it, but only if the sound bounces in certain ways. Now they barely flinch.
It is so nice, however to do something together and even though this is my hobby, when we work together we are a team. Who knows, he might even ride one day. He's hinted at it. I will make sure katana is completely bombproof first, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did one day. He has ridden before and I only learned that a week or so ago. Huh, 35 years and I only just learn that. He's as bad as katana at keeping secrets.
I admit to having heavy hands. I try very hard to soften but it is a throw back from riding racehorses, re-establishing my core strength and my balance. Today I wanted to do those lateral flexion exercises, so I set up my plastic buckets in a row. A while back one horseperson said to me I look down too much. Yeah, I am always looking for gopher and badger holes in this province. However, I persevered in looking up and another friend said, don't push your shoulders back, lift your ribcage. Two simple things which balance me better. Today, while doing the lateral exercise I had also been told, move your shoulders not your hands. IE, depending on which direction, lower the opposite hand and move the opposite shoulder back, and of course your arm and hand come with it. A bit like squeezing the trigger while shooting, versus pulling it. I have to say it was an eye opener. Something so damned simple and yet effective. It also gave Katana very clear cues to show what I wanted. Curving around the buckets with a supple neck and no resistance.
I am a mostly self-taught rider. I've never been able to afford clinics or many riding lessons and learning to ride on racehorses where you basically point them in the right direction, gave me no real knowledge of the finer points of riding. However, since like most horsepoeple I want to do well by my horses, I persist and learn.
It was like introducing the fly spray today. Before when I've tried she's swerved violently and wanted none of it. But Katana works things out very quickly. Once she realised I wasn't going to give up, she did, to the point where I could spray her everywhere, and I mean everywhere, which immediately makes me think, yeah, she's been sprayed before. Or, the brain kicked in and told her she wasn't dying from it, it didn't hurt, and hoo boy, I may as well do what my human wants. Merlin, my gorgeous pinto knew it gave him relief and would almost welcome being sprayed, so, oh well, another tick in Katana's box of tricks.
I've noticed since i have done more ground work with her she is much easier to handle riding. She softens and relaxes. I do have to be very clear what I want and she then gets stuff so quickly. And whether that is because she remembers it or simply she understands my cues doesn't matter, it is only intriguing to know what she knows.
I am pretty sure she was broke by a guy. Why do I say that? because she responds to a deeper voice. Interesting today when I swapped saddles from her to Sabre. Sabre wasn't responding to groundwork today. I hadn't intended to ride him as well but he needs more exercise than Katana because he is one of those horses that looks at grass and is fat. So I bit the bullet and the dh was standing by the gate, so I said open it, we are going down the road a little ways.
My non-horse husband watches Katana a bit and then goes up to her when she started hollering, pats her neck and tells her not to be so silly, that Sabre will be back in a bit and he said, she just stood with him. No frantic running around. Both horses know the dh pretty well but he rarely will venture into the pasture with them. But she let him fuss her and rub her face and, actually Sabre will do the same, because the dh is familiar and calm even tho he is nervous of horses he doesn't know. That is so lovely for me and I smile quietly, because when we do, which we will, get our own acreage, it means that when we do maintenance etc, he will come into the fields with me. We have been so lucky t have free range on the acreage where I keep Katana and Sabre because it has taught the dh just what needs to be done. Like the ahrrowing and how we bloody well should have sprayed for weeds this year, but we thought we were moving. The result is way too many dandelions and clover etc not to mention thistles. Plus the upkeep of the fences and how to use hotwire efficiently to keep a smallish pasture in grass longer.
Those things are work that most acreage owners do automatically. Things I know have to be done but which the dh used to think, nah, you don't have to. You do. Like picking up the poo and cleaning water tubs. He simply didn't know or realize the neccessity of it all. It takes energy, of course but, hey, he's noticed that the tiredness he feels is a different kind of tiredness from what he is used to. He has worked 24/7 his entire life, always the provider but he did that in bloody great excavators, so walking is not his forte. However, while I have no wish to cripple him, when he had congenstive heart failure and nearly died, sometimes you have to push yourself a touch.
He's been keeping the acreage as free of gophers as he can, which is no easy task. It means walking and shooting. He thinks, wherever he shoots about how the horses are going to react. Of course that is common sense, but he didn't know horses. As happens Katana and Sabre are used to shotgun shooting since there is a range just downt he road. A 22 sounds quite different and they do react to it, but only if the sound bounces in certain ways. Now they barely flinch.
It is so nice, however to do something together and even though this is my hobby, when we work together we are a team. Who knows, he might even ride one day. He's hinted at it. I will make sure katana is completely bombproof first, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did one day. He has ridden before and I only learned that a week or so ago. Huh, 35 years and I only just learn that. He's as bad as katana at keeping secrets.