Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Keeping Perspective

Using Parelli techniques is brand new for me. Gwen is also, essentially, brand new to me, and although my enthusiasm is through the roof, I've really got to make sure I keep things in perspective. And the most important thing I need to remember is that: am new to Gwen. I can't expect her to immediately form a strong bond with me. We've been doing great in the round pen, but the problem is that we won't always be in the round pen! There is a very big world outside of that little enclosed space.

Today, I really learned a lot about where Gwen and I stand right now. It was my day off work, so I headed out to the barn around noon. Very slow time of day, considering most of the riders here are kids/teens (i.e. in school during the day). So it was just me, the barn owner, and a guy around my age that helps out and rides a bit. My barn is a very close-knit group; more family than anything else. So we (guy and I) were encouraged to take a trail ride since the weather's been so cooperative, and I was agreeable since I thought it would be a nice, undemanding outting for Gwen and I (a little plodding down the trail, taking some time outside the round pen)... yeah. Maybe I was a little too quick with that "not really herd-bound" assumption.

I bare-backed around in the arena to see how she was feeling. The wind was starting to pick up a bit, and she was moving a bit faster than I'd like (considering we were about to go down a trail, which usually get's them much more hyped up). But I wasn't discouraged. I borrowed a western saddle from the lesson tack-room (with permission from the barn owner, of course!) so that I'd have something a little more solid beneath me (keep in mind I haven't really ridden a horse in.... oh, probably two or three years) in the event that Gwen went a little extroverted on me.

We started out well enough. I let Jake (aka, the guy) lead the way, and we headed down the road toward the trail entrance. Gwen really wasn't thrilled, right from the get-go. She kept looking back toward the barn, jigging into the street (toward the barn), and got all tense. She wasn't panicking, or fighting me, so I continued on with the hope that once we got out of eye-sight, she'd settle down a bit and follow the other horse (who is not exactly a stranger, just not one of her bestest-buddies). But she never really settled down, and it was clear that all she was really thinking about was going back to the stable.  We had our first real big issue when we got to the trail head.

The trail turns off the road, and immediately slants downwards. It's a narrow path, but not super steep, although the ground on each side also starts to rise. Gwen had no interest in walking on the path that went downwards, and actually hopped from one bank to the other to avoid it. I'm proud to say that I remained calm and relaxed through the whole thing, and I tried to work her through it, but after the third try it was clear that she was avoiding the path intentionally, rather than just being confused about where to go.

It became really clear that things were going to get out of hand, and I could only see two options: I could swat her butt with my split-reins and /make/ her go down that hill (and promptly ruin everything I've been trying to build with her)... or I could call it quits and head back to the barn. At this point, Jake was halfway down the hill, but he'd politely stopped and was waiting for me to get Gwen going.  I told him point blank that this just wasn't happening today. She wasn't ready. We had to go back. I would happily go down the trail on another horse (plenty of lesson horses I could take) but it just wasn't going to happen with Gwen.

We headed back. She was definitely eager to get back to the barn, so instead of fighting with her the whole way, I just dismounted and walked her back by hand (and she walked very nicely on a loose rein at that point). I apologized a half-dozen times to Jake (and I could tell he was disappointed not to be going on the trail) but felt absolutely no guilt about my decision.

When we got back to the barn, I told everyone I would be taking her in the round pen for a bit, which I did. Pivotal moment for me! Old me would have had her trotting and cantering around the round pen to work out her energy. New me left the saddle on, but took off her bridle, played a little Friendly Game with the reins, and then drove her away from me with body posture until she began turning toward me on direction changes (only took a lap or two around the pen, too). When she started following me, and giving me her attention again, I re-bridled her and got back on. There, I played a little more with the reins from on her back (which she is definitely not as comfortable with as when I do it on the ground) and then asked her to move forward. I didn't care what direction she went (we could do donuts for all I cared) but she had to at least be moving forward at a walk. Did this for a minute or two until she was dropping her head, and then we practice flexing toward my knee and giving to pressure (which she did beautifully). Hopped off, and took her out of the round pen.

I wasn't ready to let her go yet. The whole Trail Ride problem had me thinking about Round Pen vs The World, and I wanted to see how good we were when other horses/people/places were a distraction. I took her down the road again, this time just leading her on a loose rein. She obviously did not want to leave the stable, but her behavior was WAY better than it was when I was on her back. I kept the reins loose; she had the option to stop and go back if she really wanted to. But even though she was clearly not thrilled with leaving, she didn't fight me and she followed me on loose reins all the way down the rode.

Whenever we came across something that she was really looking at (barking dog in the yard across the street, shadows in the trees, etc) we stopped, and we stayed put until she got a nice long look at it. If I ever felt like she was getting a little wound up, I'd use the porcupine game on her nose to back her up and get her to refocus her attention elsewhere. The reins stayed loose, and she'd follow me when I started walking down the road again.

We didn't make it all the way to the trail head, like I'd initially wanted, but we did make it about halfway. At that point, the grass on the side of the road really opens up a little, and there's a couple trees that the path winds around. I thought it would be nice if I let her graze there, but she didn't have any interest in the grass at all. We spent a minute or two really checking the place out, and then I led her back to the barn.

When we got back, I untacked her and spent a lot of time rubbing/grooming on her. I used my grooming mitt, and I could practically hear her say "ohhhh yeah... that spot!" when I rubbed up by her ears. She even leaned in a little bit and really let me scrub at her forehead. I got gobs and gobs of hair off of her with that mitt. After grooming, we did some grazing. I intentionally kept her out of the turn-out area until her attention was entirely focused on something besides her buddies. Even though the grass patch is right by the turn out, she was pretty happy to focus on that instead. She kept an eye on Cool and Star, but she also kept an ear on me, and graze toward me (moving toward me as she grazed, if that makes sense), even if I was not near the turn out.

So, that was a very lengthy description, but I think it's pretty important for me to remember this day. It wasn't our best day together, but it was a very, very educational one. I learned a lot about Gwen. I learned that she trusts me enough to follow me down the road away from her buddies, but only if I'm leading her on the ground. I've learned not to try to push ourselves too far too soon, and that I'm willing to put my relationship with Gwen first, even if it means missing out on trail rides or disappointing other people. I've also learned that making my bond with Gwen stronger (or at least as strong as) her bond to her buddies, is something I'm going to have to really, really work at.

Plan for now is to continue round pen work, to act as a foundation for when I start taking her into the arena. The arena is definitely going to be challenging for me, since one side of it acts as the fence to the turn out area, where Cool and Star are. This means that any time we're in the ring, her attention is not going to be focused completely on me. Hopefully, that will change with time and patience. For now, it's something I have to accept.

This experience has also got me thinking a lot about what Gwen's horsenality might be. I'd really been thinking of her as an LBI, but now I'm reconsidering... she's definitely an introvert, just not sure if she's LB or RB.

No pictures today, unfortunately. Maybe tomorrow!

J

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