India Acts Like a Grown Up Horse

As I drove out to the barn this morning when the temperature was at freezing, Katherine sent me a text telling me that "Horse people are crazy." Yeah, perhaps we are, but has she ever considered that maybe it's that crazy people are attracted to horses?





So, two pictures taken of me and India this morning by Elaine. I'm bundled up with my new Mountain Horse parka that I just adore with the heat of 1,000 suns for it keeps me warm and has all sorts of pockets for storing chapstick and my cell phone and a snot rag and there's still room left over for gloves and plenty of crevices for hay to snuggle into so that I can find it hours later when I go searching for my house key.

Today India and I worked on turns on the haunches so that she can use her forehand better in turns. Just two days ago India and I went on a big adventure to Camden, South Carolina to work with Kathleen Lindley and the four and a half hour drive over is so worth it because we learned a lot and we started learning how to do turns on the haunches so that India can improve her turning. I came home very pleased with how well India is doing, how smart she is, and what we have to work on. If I can pull it off, we'll return in March. But today I went out and rode POTU and the pictures above are from today. None were taken in South Carolina because I was too busy riding and Kathleen was too busy teaching, so I never pulled my camera out of its bag. Elaine was at the barn today and took these two.

India is a rock star.

Yes, you've known that since she was born, but Friday and Saturday she demonstrated again how good she can be and came away with rave reviews of cute, smart, balanced and great.

She didn't jump right in the trailer Friday morning, but it only took about 20 minutes and I got her to load and unload three times nicely before asking her to stay in the trailer and I shut the center divider and off we went. The trip took about four and a half hours, so India got lots of practice riding in a trailer.

When I got to Kathleen's place, she offloaded very calmly and Kathleen offered that we could put her in the round pen for a few so if she wanted to run around, she could. It was quite a hike to the round pen, down a long drive with pastures on either side full of curious horses, but India was on her best behavior as we went. Once in the round pen, she didn't run at all, just walked around exploring. We offered her water, but she didn't seem interested in it. While she was doing this, Kathleen and I discussed what I wanted to work on in more detail. I'd already sent her a narrative of our background, so she wasn't starting from complete ignorance, but she asked some questions about how she'd been started, what she'd done already, and I filled in that history and talked about my riding background, too.

After about 20 minutes, I led India all the way back to the trailer to tack up and she stood quite nicely for that. I didn't put on her bridle as Kathleen wanted to see what ground work we did normally, so I demonstrated and we discussed it. I have been cutting back a good bit on the ground work the past few months as it seems to me that when I do it, it was becoming less a real exercise and more just going through the motions of engaging the feet, but no longer engaging the mind. It also has the purpose of helping India relax so she's not tense, but lately she's demonstrated much more maturity and not acting like she was going to go all Crazy!Horse, even though I've not been able to ride her all that much because of the weather and the short days, so I've been wondering when we could get away from always doing ground work. Kathleen agreed with me that she's five, it's time to start treating her like a grown up horse who knows her job, and since she was so very relaxed while we stood there talking, Kathleen said to just mount up and go. So that's what we did.

Let me interject that Kathleen also told me what a fantastic start Jenny has given her and how nicely trained she is at this point. All the ground work served a very good purpose and is very worthwhile, especially with a young horse, but India is now five and she should act like a grown up horse that can go to work under saddle with minimal to no ground work. If while tacking up India was acting a fool, then ground work might be necessary, but if she's behaving, treat her like an adult.

And India lived up to expectations. We walked and trotted around the round pen quite nicely on contact with some lovely walk/trot/walk/trot/halt transitions with some sitting trot thrown in for good measure. Kathleen asked me to do some figure eights and change directions and after about for changes she said, "Ah ha! I know what we're working on!" and asked me if I felt India drop onto the forehand for one or two strides as we changed direction at the apex of her turn. And why lo, I did! And Kathleen explained that all of this ground work that had been engaging the hind, while very good for its intended purpose of teaching India to move laterally, had also taught her to fall forward as she turned and since that's what she'd been taught, that's what she did. And I blame myself for this one for Jenny was always very careful to make India pass cleanly through the turn when doing ground work, emphasizing that India needed to not move forward into Jenny's space when completing the move, but I know for a fact that when I would practice with India, I never could do it as cleanly as Jenny. So, India was learning to drop on the forehand when finishing the exercise. This is not to say that the exercise wasn't worthwhile, for it was, but caution must be taken to be sure it's done correctly. I've watched Wendy, Jenny's mare, do this same exercise and she rocks back on her haunches as she brings her front end through. Exercise done correctly!

So, how to get India off the forehand during turns and to teach her to sweep her forelegs and cross them over? Why, but turns on the haunches of course! So, stopping in the middle of the ring, I asked India to then weight her back end, but how do you ask a horse who doesn't know how to weight her back end? You ask her to back of course, which India does pretty well, although she and I have only been consistently working on backing since last September and my rides since daylight savings time ended have been few. So, as soon as India began to back, I softened the inside rein and used the outside rein to press against her neck, very similar to neck reining. India found this puzzling and fidgeted forward and back as she tried to figure out this new behavior from me. She took a step sideways to the inside rein and I immediately rewarded this by softening the reins. We did this many times, maybe 20 in the next hour and you could see the light bulb going off in POTU's brain, which prompted the compliment from Kathleen that India is a smart pony, too. Can you tell that I love Kathleen for her brilliance? Oh yes!

So, I would walk India forward, then ask for a halt in the center of the ring. Once nicely done, I would ask India to weight her back end and soften the inside rein and press the outside rein against her neck and then India would sort this out in her head. If she took a step laterally, which she did quite a few times, I would soften the outside rein a bit, but still keep contact, really get the contact even in both hands, and then ask her to halt and cue for a back, but as soon as I felt her weight shift towards the back end, I would drop the contact and ask her to walk forward. She was rewarded with a a trip halfway around the round pen on very loose rein and then we'd start over again. The times that she didn't give the sideways movement found her getting stuck in place, so I would ask her to back to get her feet moving again, which meant even rein contact and she would back a few steps and then get a short release, but no forward walk was in the picture and I would ask again for the lateral movement. She got stuck maybe three or four times, but overall she did really well and we ended with several good steps laterally, so that was our hour under saddle. As I walked her around the round pen I asked her for several direction changes at both a walk and a trot and they were much better. Already India is processing what she learned about sideways movement and applying it.

Saturday we began with work in the arena and we kept working on the lateral work. India was much faster about giving me the desired lateral movement, stepping to the side with the inside leg and then crossing over with the outside. She obviously thought about what we'd done while spending the night in the round pen and put that thought into action. The other thing we worked on in the arena was her moving forward quietly and consistently and not using strange objects outside or inside the arena as an excuse to stop.

Kathleen pointed out that horse babies are able to make all the decisions about what goes on in their lives. Adult horses must cede decision making to the rider and this is a big adjustment for the youngster to make. Often, if the newly-started filly gives control to the rider in one area, they will want to maintain the same percentage of real estate and thus try and take control in another. So, when India is walking around the ring and sees a ditch full of icy water just outside the arena, she stops and gets squirrely. It's my job to tell her that it's no big deal and keep your feet moving and in the direction we were going. I'm not to up my energy level and kick her forward, I just point her head slightly off center and ask her to move. When she does, I use the reins to direct that movement back the direction we were going. So what if we draw a squiggly line in that area of the arena? She never took more than 10 steps in a different direction before we were heading in the one I wanted and after three or four laps around the arena, she was walking calmly forward and not stopping at ice in ditches or round bales covered with tarps just outside the arena. When I picked up the trot, she stayed right on the rail, modulated the speed according to my posting speed, and looked very professional trotting in a nice frame and best yet, when I did a circle or half circle to change direction? She was utilizing what she'd learned about lifting her forehand and reaching with her inside shoulder! It all builds together nicely.

We also went on a nice trail ride after working in the arena and she did very well, especially the part where she followed Kathleen's gelding through a large and fairly deep puddle without any hesitation going in. Kathleen said that I needed to get her out in the wide, wide world more, so as the days get longer and warmer, I'll take her to Horse Camp and the Hitchitee Forest. Tonight's forecast is for freezing rain and sleet, but the days are getting longer.

Today when I was working, she did the very same thing near the gate of stopping and not wanting to move forward, so I just turned her head and she walked three steps towards the center and then we were back moving in the direction I wanted without any argument. The next time around the arena when we got to that spot, she kept moving forward nicely.

Also, when I asked her to practice her turns on the haunches, she showed me how much she's learning by responding to my aids very quickly. Alas, no good pictures of that, but I was very pleased with my smart, smart girl.

India is growing up. It's all good. :-)